Readme and installation steps

  • Hello,


    First : this is neither a complain nore a critic of Rodeo ' subject I totally agree with


    Due to the frequent questions friends of mine are asking (and sometimes I am asking too) I just wanted to bring to you attention that all of us (including myself) who are uploading files should add clear and simple installation steps and readme files


    By "clear and simple" I mean that a beginner should understand


    I think it is important if we want to increase our "AFS2 community" which would be a benefit for all of us


    I think also it is bringing the sharing process to its completion because sharing something if the other is not able to enjoy it does not make many sense


    But, as usual, "just my opinion"

  • Hello "Lucky".


    Like you I have struggled with this but have found my own method which, whilst not technically pure, works without flaws. So here is my method (I have the Steam edition of AFS2 installed on my E drive).


    1. Under the folder: E:\Steam\steamapps\common\Aerofly FS 2 Flight Simulator AddOns I have created the folder "Scenery" so it reads thus: E:\Steam\steamapps\common\Aerofly FS 2 Flight Simulator AddOns\Scenery

    2. In the Scenery folder I have created country names (ie England)

    3. In each country folder I have created 2 further folders (ie Images and Places)

    4. In the Places folder I have created a folder called Cultivation


    So far so good, and I hope you're still with me! Now to get scenery into the correct places I do this:


    5. Download the scenery package you want (Izojub's scenery is a good place to start as it has everything).

    6. Unzip (I use 7-Zip as I use Windows) as follows:

    6a. Place all files from "Images" into the Images folder as in [ 3 ] above

    6b. Place all files from "Places" into the Places folder in 3 above


    ** NOTE ** you will have to drill down into the ZIP file to get to the various map tiles and this will be obvious when you do: for example, the images may well be 3 layers down. However I just copy all files and if it asks to over-write, I just do. After all, cultivation is merely a representation, not the exact buildings, so I'm not too bothered with actual fidelity.


    7. Make sure "Building Textures" from the Places folder has the following structure, for example:


    E:\Steam\steamapps\common\Aerofly FS 2 Flight Simulator\AddOns\Scenery\England\Places\Cultivation.


    That is, within Places there should be 1 folder that is called "Building Textures" - put the files from the "Building Textures" ZIP in here. The other files can just go into the Places folder - I just over-write when asked - as per my ** NOTE ** above.


    As to airports from FSCloudPort they are normally provided in zipped download form ready-made in a folder structure (eg EGGP Liverpool). I just copy the whole folder straight into the Places folder as in [ 3 ] above and AFS2 finds them OK.


    As I say, it may not be the "purists" method, but it works for me and I hope it helps you too. Feel free to come back to me for any clarifications.


    Finally - enjoy!

  • IPACS recommends that we do NOT place user addons in the official folder of the Aerofly FS2 (Steam folder). Because it can create clutter - and in addition, the folder structure can be changed in a later update


    If we want to install user addons in a location other than the C disk - for me - the following works smoothly:


    First I choose my big disk (D, E, F, etc.).


    Then I create a folder for Aerofly FS2 freeware addons: D:\extra_user_folder\


    Then I open the file "main.mcf" - and type in where AFS2 can find the new folder:


    <[string8][extra_user_folder][d:\extra_user_folder]>


    Then I copy / move the files (images, cultivaton, elevation, etc.) to their respective folders:


    D:\extra_user_folder\scenery


    ....................................\scenery\elevation


    ....................................\scenery\images (contains google-bing, etc.)


    ....................................\scenery\places (contains airports, cultivaton, etc.).

  • thanks ... and next questions ...


    is is everytime so ... or not when you use Mac / win 7 / 10 ... and also ...when you have Steam and / or DVD or a mix of it ...and also if you use normal version or Beta ... ?! :)


    it will be fine ...when we have " THE WAY " who works in every configuration ... and then ... make a little pdf and also youtube video and link it in every upload ?

  • Yes it would be important to know (and understand...) how it works in every case :


    Caution if you follow IPACS recommendations described by Hartman :


    Recommendations are :


    "

    IPACS recommends that we do NOT place user addons in the official folder of the Aerofly FS2 (Steam folder). Because it can create clutter - and in addition, the folder structure can be changed in a later update


    If we want to install user addons in a location other than the C disk - for me - the following works smoothly:


    First I choose my big disk (D, E, F, etc.).


    Then I create a folder for Aerofly FS2 freeware addons: D:\extra_user_folder\


    Then I open the file "main.mcf" - and type in where AFS2 can find the new folder:


    <[string8][extra_user_folder][d:\extra_user_folder]>


    Then I copy / move the files (images, cultivaton, elevation, etc.) to their respective folders:


    D:\extra_user_folder\scenery"


    ....................................\scenery\elevation


    ....................................\scenery\images (contains google-bing, etc.)


    ....................................\scenery\places (contains airports, cultivaton, etc.).

    "


    But : if you install addons like Boston from TriSoftSim wich consists in a "boston_ma" folder containing 1 "places" folder and 1 "images" folder :


    You have to put the places parts and images parts of this addon rescpectively in your scenery\places and Scenery\images folders of your user folder or it will not work despite it would work if putting the boston_ma folder in the scenery folder of AFS2 main's folder : don't know why , but believe me or not I did try both solutions...


    If you fear to mix your addons you can put them in subfolders with the addon's name : it still works !


    It works like this for me, "Jean Paul" being mi dedicated addon user folder :


    boston_ma's images map files are in : "Aerofly FS 2 Jean Paul\scenery\images\boston_ma" folder


    boston_ma's places folders and files are in "Aerofly FS 2 Jean Paul\scenery\places\boston_ma" folder

  • That said, it's just a shame that with the Steam edition, that the ''Addons'' directory systematically puts it in C: \ Documents, and that we have no possibility of giving it the order of a other placement path, such as in a drive D, E, F ...


    It would have been easier for everyone, than renaming a subfolder and modifying the 'main' mcf file.


    I find this to be a big programming error coming from either IPACS or Steam.


    Cheers,

    Pascal

  • I fully appreciate what Tomfa said. I have offloaded my GB and Ireland, Norway, Finland, Kathmandu and Paris because I ran out of memory. I only wish I knew of the "always defaulting to drive C:\Documents" when I had a 250gb SSD installed as my drive C! I have tried Hartman's solution without success so far but will keep trying.

  • Did you also try to make a symlink with " mklink "


    https://www.giga.de/downloads/…ellen-mit-mklink-so-gehts


    I think it should do what you want.

  • Did you also try to make a symlink with " mklink "


    https://www.giga.de/downloads/…ellen-mit-mklink-so-gehts


    I think it should do what you want.

    Yes this is a good solution if you want automatically put the content of "C:\Documents..." on another drive


    Personally I prefer let the installers do their job like they want and to transfer the folder or files manually to be sure what has been installed, so Hartman's solution is good for me : just a line to modify in main.mcf and some precautions in choosing where to put the different folders, but I have my own clean addon folder now...

    That said, it's just a shame that with the Steam edition, that the ''Addons'' directory systematically puts it in C: \ Documents, and that we have no possibility of giving it the order of a other placement path, such as in a drive D, E, F ...


    Yes I agree with you Tomfa : never did understand why they decided this knowing that on many computers the system drive is a quite smal*l SSD drive (*in relation with the size of AFS2 addons)


    But if the size is he only problem symlink is a good solution

  • But if the size is he only problem symlink is a good solution

    But is there another problem ? ... i only want help :)

  • But is there another problem ? ... i only want help

    I know and you do help (more than a lot) Higgy :) Thanks for all


    There is not formally another problem but sometimes AFS2's behaviour is hard to understand (at least for me) :


    For example if I put the boston_ma addon folder in AFS2's mais scenery folder it works, but if I put it the same way in my dedicated addon folder (created like recommended by IPACS ) it does not work unless I put the images parts and places parts in dedicated subfolders of my scenery's addon folder ! So if in main folder nothing else to do, if in the dedicated addon folder needs "parts management" to work : what other surprises for us :) ?


    Being here I wanted to ask other questions :


    If in some area you want to use two different mages sceneries of the same level and resolution (but not the same size), is there a way to give priority to one of them ?

    Should the highest priority be higher in the folder hierarchy ? (the lower priority being in a sub-folder) or conversely ? (if folder hierarchy has any effect according to images display priority...)


    This could be useful if, like it often happens,the area is quite perfect with one image providerexcept a small area you could patch with images from another provider...


    And if this works is it the same for places ?


    Also is there a simple way to exclude locally objects (especially cultivation objects) ?


    Sorry for te inconvenience if these questions have got replies in other threads


    Kind regards,


    Jean-Paul

  • Good evening Lucky,


    To put it simply:


    All my complete scenes, that is to say, a complete file

    with elevation, images, place, cultivation, I put it in the Addons / scenery folder.


    Take an example: With the scene in Venice, or Corsica

    You copied the Venice file in the directory

    Documents / Aerofly FS 2 / addons / scenery / venice

    ditto with Corsica

    What I rename in each file, in order to better find myself,

    it's IT_Venice, and FR_Corse


    Then to answer your second question:

    If you want to exclude cultivation from a scene or even a folder, do it like this;

    Example: Ireland, place, cultivation

    2 times underscore before the names __Cultivation

    ditto for a file;

    Example: IT_venice, __IT_venice, this also allows not to load too many scenes at the same time it allows to load AFS 2 faster.


    Well, I hope I could have helped.


    Good flight;)


    Cheers,

    Pascal

  • Thanks Pascal


    I know this is working but it is different from the recommandations from IPACS described by Hartmann

    before :



    Recommendations are :


    "

    IPACS recommends that we do NOT place user addons in the official folder of the Aerofly FS2 (Steam folder). Because it can create clutter - and in addition, the folder structure can be changed in a later update

    "


    So, anyway, for me : no more problems only different solutions :)


    Thanks for the help(s)



    By the way : any idea to manage scenery priority ?

  • Hartman's solution works fine for me but only after removing scenery and installing it again manually to my F drive. For some obscure (to me anyway) reason my system did not appreciate me just moving scenery from one drive to another.