The mystery of the community folder

THE MYSTERY OF THE COMMUNITY FOLDER

Every since day one when I fell under the spell of FS 2020 I realized that if I ever want to advance my knowledge of this flight simulator that life begins with the understanding of the COMMUNITY folder.

The mystery started on day one when I was doing an investigation on the different ways get better performance by reinstalling the program to different locations instead of the default ones. It said something like moving all of your stuff to the COMMUNITY folder and having the other stuff at different fuzzy locations.

I decided against all that since I did not understand every thing it was saying. I will let the computer do what it wants.

So the computer installed very thing and it was up and running and I was a happy camper.

Just like every one else I started thinking about making it better by adding on.

When I was researching the ins and outs of adding on the very first thing that came up was that COMMUNITY folder and I started to look for it. I looked and looked and figured that it must be over at Oak island someplace.

Being frustrated is common place for me in this computer world so I decided to give up for now and get back to flying.

I still had this adding on bug in my head and I found myself at flightsim.com.

This David fella told me to look at

C:\Users\CatsRule\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Packages\Community

Looks like the programmers were trying to drill down to the center of the Earth.

I fired up the File Explorer and found only “C:\Users\” and it stopped there. The only thing below that was 3 folders, “15807”, “Default”, and “Public”

I must have the computer from hell.

During all this time I came up with a bad file or some thing that killed my computer and I called upon Microsoft to fix it.

They assigned an angel from God to me and he had to do a whole bunch of stuff and he fixed every thing.

I watched him work and it was amazing.

While he was working I noticed he added a couple of folders ( C:\Flight Simulator\.

Under Simulator was two folders called Community and Official.

Community was empty and under Official was another folder called “OneStore”.

Inside OneStore I found all of my airplanes and a bunch of other stuff.

I figure that he just made My life easier.

Could one of you guys that know what you are doing tell me how I can use this new location to add new stuff to my simulator like the Washington scenery that my friend JohnJohn gave me, airplanes and other stuff.

I think I gave you enough info and if you do this for me I will remember your kindness forever.

VFRguy

Glen, I am going to try to say this in as inoffensive way possible.

You don't strike me as the kind of guy who has mastered his computer. You also don't strike me as a person who takes direction very well.

If my assessment is correct, you are just asking for trouble to start putting addons into FS2020. The sim is still being substantially revised on a frequent basis, and many of the addons are using conjecture rather than documented knowledge to fabricate their addon. The SDK isn't even complete yet. Many of these addons will cause you immense grief if you don't know what you are doing, and clean your community folder before each update. I don't have any addons at this point. I am not saying they can't be deployed successfully, but I am warning you that you will become one of those chronic disgruntled if you don't know what you are doing.

I think you would be far better served, to master and enjoy the stock aircraft and scenery, until a more final SDK is finished. At some point, it will become possible to add addons with little problem, but I don't think we are there yet for folks like yourself! You were warned!!

Could one of you guys that know what you are doing tell me how I can use this new location to add new stuff to my simulator like the Washington scenery that my friend JohnJohn gave me, airplanes and other stuff.

 

If you have the Microsoft Store version, your Community folder will be here:

 

C:\Users\VFR GUY'S USERNAME\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Packages\Community

 

If you have the Steam version, your Community folder will be here:

 

C:\Users\VFR GUY'S USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft Flight Simulator\Packages\Community

 

Once you've located it, right-click on it and select Create a shortcut. Move the shortcut to your desktop so you can then open the Community folder directly.

I hear you loud and clear.

Why do you think I held off adding stuff to my FS?

I waited to hear from guys like you.

I have been down that dusty road before and I don't want to repeat that again.

You are wrong about one thing... I can do what I am told.

If I go a stray I can rely you to set me straight.

I guess I will not get that disrespectful Washington Monument fixed.

Glen, I am going to try to say this in as inoffensive way possible.

You don't strike me as the kind of guy who has mastered his computer. You also don't strike me as a person who takes direction very well.

If my assessment is correct, you are just asking for trouble to start putting addons into FS2020. The sim is still being substantially revised on a frequent basis, and many of the addons are using conjecture rather than documented knowledge to fabricate their addon. The SDK isn't even complete yet. Many of these addons will cause you immense grief if you don't know what you are doing, and clean your community folder before each update. I don't have any addons at this point. I am not saying they can't be deployed successfully, but I am warning you that you will become one of those chronic disgruntled if you don't know what you are doing.

I think you would be far better served, to master and enjoy the stock aircraft and scenery, until a more final SDK is finished. At some point, it will become possible to add addons with little problem, but I don't think we are there yet for folks like yourself! You were warned!!

 

Absolute nonsense. I have hundreds of add-ons, managed via Addon Manager, which places only links to addon files, rather than the files themselves, in Community. For me, MSFS is much enhanced with these add-ons, and has never run better. At least in regard to scenery, I have yet to hear of an example of an addon that has caused anyone trouble. The above-quoted post is uninformed rubbish.

Absolute nonsense. I have hundreds of add-ons, managed via Addon Manager, which places only links to addon files, rather than the files themselves, in Community. For me, MSFS is much enhanced with these add-ons, and has never run better. At least in regard to scenery, I have yet to hear of an example of an addon that has caused anyone trouble. The above-quoted post is uninformed rubbish.

 

Each one uses the sim their own way. That's something that has to be reminded from time to time.

 

E.g. what to say about myself: I deleted almost all of the stock airplanes (which I find boring), airports, challenges, lessons, etc that I will never use, and depend almost exclusively on 3rd party add-ons, both freeware and payware.

 

OTOH, since MSFS is an on-line simulator, everybody needs to be updated to the same version in order to keep consistency. Obviously, such updates may leave some of the 3rd party add-ons in your Community folder outdated, so probably you won't be able to use them again until the respective authors come out with updated versions, and it's useless to keep them in that folder.

 

What I don't know yet (and nobody has explained to me) is why it is said to be "crucial" to have your Community folder empty before every MSFS update. I have never moved anything out of that folder, and the "fury of hell" has never been unleashed. If something in the folder has become outdated after one of such updates, I have moved it out once that has been evident, and that's it. But why before? I don't know.

You are correct that some add-ons may become obsolete and need to be removed -- indeed I have done this. But the OP was claiming that add-ons in general are bad news and should be avoided, which is ridiculous.

Regarding the need to empty your Community folder before MSFS mandatory updates: IF you use an add-on linker that places only links to add-on files, and not the files per se, in Community, then you do NOT need to empty Community, because in that case it always contains only links; the actual files are stored in another folder and cannot be affected by an update.

I Never said addons are bad news, I said they are bad for people that don't know their way around the computer and may make careless installation mistakes. What part of they can be deployed successfully don't you understand?!

If you read Glen's other posts and this as well, you will see a trend in discomfort with the workings of his computer. One example is his remark about trying to get photogrammetry to work. My expectation is an addon linker will cause more problems than it solves for a person that can't set up the base software. Likewise, will a person that has difficulty adjusting settings, be able to discern which addons to update and when, much less solve a problem when one does cause a conflict. Before you use hyperbolic language, I suggest you read my posts with more attention to detail!

Edited June 10, 2021 by plainsman

To quote from your earlier post: "... many of the addons are using conjecture rather than documented knowledge to fabricate their addon ... Many of these addons will cause you immense grief if you don't know what you are doing." Both of these are baseless statements. What evidence do you have that addon designers are using "conjecture" or that they "cause immense grief"? Files placed in Community cannot affect the basic installation of MSFS, even if they are badly designed or don't work. Before giving advice to others, know what you are talking about. Edited June 10, 2021 by cobalt

The Community folder and it's contents have never been part of a hotfix patch or an update.

The mods/add-ons within the Community folder are entirely self-contained and don't alter any of the base sim files.

Avionics mods/add-ons such as the Working Title garmin screens and others which include avionics such as the FlyByWire A32NX, plus any 3rd party and default aircraft mods/add-ons will usually need to be updated themselves after every sim update.

I have 102 folders in my Community folder right now, of which 14 fall into the categories I've outlined above.

Only half of them need updating after a sim update, and those updates always include other improvements which the devs have been sitting on until the next sim update, so it's a bonus when a sim update happens rather than a pain.

Edited June 10, 2021 by tiger1962

I said that many of the addons are based on conjectures for the fact that many of those folks have no idea how the Asobo software is really working. They may work fine in one iteration, but fail after the next update. The SDK isn't even final yet. That is fact based not baseless.

We see posts everyday from largely the same people over and over, wherein an addon has caused "immense grief"! It may not always be the addon, rather how it is used, that is the problem. Sometimes addons have seemed to be the problem themselves, particularly some scenery files. I can't speak to experience, as I have not used them, but we see lots of posts about the problems they cause for some users.

Most addon files are placed in Community, where they cannot affect Asobo software. If you don't believe me, read Tim Wright's post. Your statement that you cannot speak from experience because you haven't used them, about sums up the situation. I wish you had said this at the outset, it would have saved a lot of time.

When I first got MSFS. one of the first things I found was the community folder and created a shortcut to it. That shortcut goes into a folder where I store all my flightsim info, notes. little navmap, shortcuts to other msfs folders, cfg files. etc. That way, I never have ot go hunting for anything ever again. I also keep a folder on the same drive that msfs is installed to which contains all of the addon scenery I am not currently using in individual country folders. That way, If I want to fly in Austria, then I put all my UK addons into a dump folder and move the contents of my Austria folder into the community folder (some prefer to use an addons manager for this, but I like to maintain control of my own file structures).

Avionics mods/add-ons such as the Working Title garmin screens and others which include avionics such as the FlyByWire A32NX, plus any 3rd party and default aircraft mods/add-ons will usually need to be updated themselves after every sim update.

 

OK, but that becomes evident only after the update, so it's after the update when you typically can take any corrective action, such as removing those mods from the Community folder, while waiting for updated versions.

 

On that basis, and also given that...

 

The Community folder and it's contents have never been part of a hotfix patch or an update.

The mods/add-ons within the Community folder are entirely self-contained and don't alter any of the base sim files.

 

...why is it said, and repeated ad nauseam, that you need to empty the Community folder before any update?

Thanks in advance, best regards.

It's simply Asobo being ultra-cautious. Putting that advice in the release notes of each update prevents anyone claiming that an update broke their sim without warning.

 

Sent from my KFDOWI using Tapatalk

I don't understand your animosity? I didn't say you or any proficient user should not use addons. There are people that are bright people that just don't comfortably negotiate their computer. Not everyone shares your proficiency. I consider myself a pretty proficient user, but choose not to use addons. I do see a lot of posts from folks who have created problems for themselves by using addons either carelessly or inappropriately or due to some flaw likely from an addon from a questionable source. Once again, if you are you, addons are not a problem. I would not trust my wife to install an addon, and she is certainly brighter than average, but she isn't very computer proficient. If someone is in that discomfort category, I don't think addons are likely to add positively to their experience.

Come off it, you've advised someone just today that add-ons aren't safe because the SDK isn't finished yet!

The worst that can possibly happen with installing an add-on into MSFS is that someone moves the .zip or .rar file into the Community folder without unzipping it first.

 

Sent from my KFDOWI using Tapatalk

I don't understand your animosity? I didn't say you or any proficient user should not use addons. There are people that are bright people that just don't comfortably negotiate their computer. Not everyone shares your proficiency. I consider myself a pretty proficient user, but choose not to use addons. I do see a lot of posts from folks who have created problems for themselves by using addons either carelessly or inappropriately or due to some flaw likely from an addon from a questionable source. Once again, if you are you, addons are not a problem. I would not trust my wife to install an addon, and she is certainly brighter than average, but she isn't very computer proficient. If someone is in that discomfort category, I don't think addons are likely to add positively to their experience.

 

I assume this is directed to me. No animosity here, but please recognize that you yourself used pretty strong language by saying that using an addon could cause someone "immense grief" (like a death in the family?)! My main point was, and is, that in responding to questions we should all stick to what we know, and stay within that boundary. Clearly someone who has never used an MSFS addon, by your own admission, is not in a position to give advice on addons. (Picking up on others' comments in the forums is no substitute for experience). For example, I am not qualified to discuss the intricacies of flight models or photogrammetry, even though I have read a lot about these topics. My admonition to you is the same: please dispense advice only based on what you know for a fact, not what you suspect might be true.

 

That said, I assure you (again) that you can safely use any addon that is placed in the Community folder. It cannot hurt your system or your MSFS setup, even if it's a poor job (in that case it might not work, but you can just remove it and no harm done).

 

Best wishes and happy flying!

Edited June 10, 2021 by cobalt

You are correct that some add-ons may become obsolete and need to be removed -- indeed I have done this. But the OP was claiming that add-ons in general are bad news and should be avoided, which is ridiculous.

Regarding the need to empty your Community folder before MSFS mandatory updates: IF you use an add-on linker that places only links to add-on files, and not the files per se, in Community, then you do NOT need to empty Community, because in that case it always contains only links; the actual files are stored in another folder and cannot be affected by an update.

 

The fact that Addon Linker, at the community folder puts shortcuts to the mods, and not the mods themselves, only means that MSFS looks for the mods via the shortcuts, but it has access to them, and are indeed active that way. So IMHO, should the content of the community folder be some kind of menace for MSFS updates, there is no diference about using or not using the Addon Linker.-

But the fact is that mods doesnt modify or overwrite any Asobo file, so in case of having problems, the fix is cleaning or moving away the mods from the Community folder. As far as I know, MSFS just allows mods to take precedence, if they improve or modify any Adobo file, without letting any modifications to the original one.

The fact that Addon Linker, at the community folder puts shortcuts to the mods, and not the mods themselves, only means that MSFS looks for the mods via the shortcuts, but it has access to them, and are indeed active that way. So IMHO, should the content of the community folder be some kind of menace for MSFS updates, there is no diference about using or not using the Addon Linker.-

But the fact is that mods doesnt modify or overwrite any Asobo file, so in case of having problems, the fix is cleaning or moving away the mods from the Community folder. As far as I know, MSFS just allows mods to take precedence, if they improve or modify any Adobo file, without letting any modifications to the original one.

 

As a conclussion (once and for all, I hope) I'd say there are 3 alleged reasons to move files out of the Community folder:

 

1) To prevent problems before a MS update: Since it's well established that the updates don't alter at all the contents of the Community folder, we can discard this reason.

 

2) To speed up loading times: Some say that replacing files by links in the Community folder (e.g. with MS Addon Linker) speeds up MSFS loading times. I think that add-ons are equally read by the program on loading, via links or files per se, so there should be no difference. I have not checked this out personally, though.

 

3) To use an alternate drive for the add-ons (either for room shortage or personal preference): to me this is the only case where moving add-ons to another drive and calling them using links is fully justified. Otherwise, using a linker is useless IMHO.

 

Hope that helps, best regards.

point 2 works , because you only load the stuff you need for that particular flight, so thats certainly a lot

quicker, if you have addons all over the world.

..... you are just asking for trouble to start putting addons into FS2020. The sim is still being substantially revised on a frequent basis, and many of the addons are using conjecture rather than documented knowledge to fabricate their addon. The SDK isn't even complete yet. Many of these addons will cause you immense grief if you don't know what you are doing, and clean your community folder before each update. I don't have any addons at this point. I am not saying they can't be deployed successfully, but I am warning you that you will become one of those chronic disgruntled if you don't know what you are doing.

I think you would be far better served, to master and enjoy the stock aircraft and scenery, until a more final SDK is finished. At some point, it will become possible to add addons with little problem, but I don't think we are there yet for folks like yourself! You were warned!!

 

:confused:

 

I have a long list of excellent addons with zero issues. The sim runs just fine.

 

As for updates - no problem because by using the excellent Addons Linker (which creates symbolic links) you can keep you addons *anywhere* without touching the Community folder.

 

There are some truly excellent modded planes on flightsim.to and also some great utilities (like SHIFT+Z mod!). Why miss out on all these things? I do agree the stock planes are good and so is the stock scenery but modding these games is where half the fun is ;)

This thread is a good example of good intentions -- warning against add-ons -- that were based on inadequate knowledge of the subject. The evidence is overwhelming that add-ons are not a problem, and in fact greatly enhance MSFS, as the previous poster noted. I hope we can put this issue to rest.

Glen, I am going to try to say this in as inoffensive way possible.

You don't strike me as the kind of guy who has mastered his computer. You also don't strike me as a person who takes direction very well.

If my assessment is correct, you are just asking for trouble to start putting addons into FS2020. The sim is still being substantially revised on a frequent basis, and many of the addons are using conjecture rather than documented knowledge to fabricate their addon. The SDK isn't even complete yet. Many of these addons will cause you immense grief if you don't know what you are doing, and clean your community folder before each update. I don't have any addons at this point. I am not saying they can't be deployed successfully, but I am warning you that you will become one of those chronic disgruntled if you don't know what you are doing.

I think you would be far better served, to master and enjoy the stock aircraft and scenery, until a more final SDK is finished. At some point, it will become possible to add addons with little problem, but I don't think we are there yet for folks like yourself! You were warned!!

 

BS...

I had an issue before too with the community folder. Best solution: Right click the zip file, a box will pop up. Browse to the location of your community folder. Again, should be in app data/local/ packages /the long named Flight Simulator Folder/ then select Commubity and unzip directly to NJ it. Mine works unzipping directly. Not v dragging and dropping but the other way. Let me know how that works and if you have trouble I’ll try to work something out with screenshots, it bear in mind your folder structure may be different than mine. I have tons of airports now and aircraft so you CAN add to this sim even BBC with updates