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MAIW outside P3Dv4+ main folder

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Hangouts_MAIW
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MAIW outside P3Dv4+ main folder

Post by Hangouts_MAIW »

Hi,

I read the following in one of the manuals from MAIW:

P3D allow you to separate AI Aircraft, scenery etc. from your main sim installation. We highly encourage you to make use of that functionality. It allows for easy re-installation / update of your simulator and keeping things together.
Example
Create a folder “Military-AI” that contains the following subfolders:
• Effects
• Scripts
• SimObjects
• Texture
• Traffic

Now make these folders known to your simulator (make sure you do that correctly!). Which content goes where is self-explaining.
This would be ideal setup to keep all your military AI in one structure separated from anything else.


Unfortunately I do not know how:
Now make these folders known to your simulator
Which files should I edit ( 'add-ons.cfg' , 'simobjects.cfg', 'scripts.cfg ' )
I hope someone can give me a good explanation on this subject.
Thank you in advance for replying.
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Jon
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Re: MAIW outside P3Dv4+ main folder

Post by Jon »

This program will do the work for you.

https://militaryaiworks.com/download-ha ... maiw-tools
"To Err is Human, To Forgive is Divine. Neither of Which is SAC Policy."
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Hangouts_MAIW
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Re: MAIW outside P3Dv4+ main folder

Post by Hangouts_MAIW »

Hi captain Jon,

Thank you so much for replying.
My strategy would then be: see what folders and files Matrix will create and 'copy'' that
for Prepar3D v5... if that would work... with my topic I also implied the question for
Prepar3D v5., hence the title 'MAIW outside P3Dv4+ main folder'. +
Anyhow thanks for replying!
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Greg
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Re: MAIW outside P3Dv4+ main folder

Post by Greg »

P3D no longer requires fiddling in config files. You still can as a legacy from FSX, but the new "addon" system is much more powerful.

Matrix uses this addon system. If you just want to check out how it works, download a small region like Oceania, then have a look at your "Documents\Prepar3D v4 Add-ons" folder. In it should be a folder for the Matrix region (and one for the global library) with an "addon.xml" file. This file contains all pointers for P3D.

More information is in the SDK documentation. Go to "Software Development Kit (SDK)" => "Add-ons".

P3Dv4 SDK docs: https://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv4/LearningCenter.php
P3Dv5 SDK docs: https://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv5/LearningCenter.php
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TimC340
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Re: MAIW outside P3Dv4+ main folder

Post by TimC340 »

To take advantage of the xml-based system for adding or managing scenery other than Matrix, I strongly recommend Lorby’s Prepar3D Addon Organizer - it works for V3, v4 and v5.

https://www.lorby-si.com/downloads.html
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TimC340
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Re: MAIW outside P3Dv4+ main folder

Post by TimC340 »

Hangouts_MAIW wrote: 17 Jun 2021, 12:55 Hi captain Jon,

Thank you so much for replying.
My strategy would then be: see what folders and files Matrix will create and 'copy'' that
for Prepar3D v5... if that would work... with my topic I also implied the question for
Prepar3D v5., hence the title 'MAIW outside P3Dv4+ main folder'. +
Anyhow thanks for replying!

All you have to do is copy the entries in Program Data/Lockheed Martin/Prepar3D v4/scenery_add-ons.xml to the same place in v5. This tells the sim where to look to include the Matrix addons. Mine looks like this:

<AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Content\Military AI Works\MAIW_GLOBAL\MAIW_GLOBAL_OBJECTS_CUSTOM</Path>
<SceneryCRC>-605756960</SceneryCRC>
</AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Content\Military AI Works\MAIW_GLOBAL\MAIW_GLOBAL_OBJECTS_GENERIC</Path>
<SceneryCRC>1790581521</SceneryCRC>
</AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Content\Military AI Works\MAIW_GLOBAL\MAIW_GLOBAL_WAYPOINTS</Path>
<SceneryCRC>1205744132</SceneryCRC>
</AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Content\Military AI Works\MAIW_AFRICA\MAIW_AFRICA_WORLD</Path>
<SceneryCRC>-821167110</SceneryCRC>
</AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Content\Military AI Works\MAIW_AFRICA\MAIW_AFRICA_OBJECTS</Path>
<SceneryCRC>-805578126</SceneryCRC>
</AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Content\Military AI Works\MAIW_AFRICA\MAIW_AFRICA_AIRBASES</Path>
<SceneryCRC>-1122329698</SceneryCRC>
</AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Content\Military AI Works\MAIW_ASIA\MAIW_ASIA_WORLD</Path>
<SceneryCRC>-1999179723</SceneryCRC>
</AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Content\Military AI Works\MAIW_ASIA\MAIW_ASIA_OBJECTS</Path>
<SceneryCRC>16410937</SceneryCRC>
</AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Content\Military AI Works\MAIW_ASIA\MAIW_ASIA_AIRBASES</Path>
<SceneryCRC>-624579372</SceneryCRC>
</AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Content\Military AI Works\MAIW_EUROPE\MAIW_EUROPE_WORLD</Path>
<SceneryCRC>-951515662</SceneryCRC>
</AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Content\Military AI Works\MAIW_EUROPE\MAIW_EUROPE_OBJECTS</Path>
<SceneryCRC>1615784378</SceneryCRC>
</AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Content\Military AI Works\MAIW_EUROPE\MAIW_EUROPE_AIRBASES</Path>
<SceneryCRC>582763905</SceneryCRC>
</AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Content\Military AI Works\MAIW_NA\MAIW_NA_WORLD</Path>
<SceneryCRC>1147234460</SceneryCRC>
</AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Content\Military AI Works\MAIW_NA\MAIW_NA_OBJECTS</Path>
<SceneryCRC>-231368578</SceneryCRC>
</AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Content\Military AI Works\MAIW_NA\MAIW_NA_AIRBASES</Path>
<SceneryCRC>1925827436</SceneryCRC>
</AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Content\Military AI Works\MAIW_OCEANIA\MAIW_OCEANIA_WORLD</Path>
<SceneryCRC>-393514856</SceneryCRC>
</AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Content\Military AI Works\MAIW_OCEANIA\MAIW_OCEANIA_OBJECTS</Path>
<SceneryCRC>702570332</SceneryCRC>
</AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Content\Military AI Works\MAIW_OCEANIA\MAIW_OCEANIA_AIRBASES</Path>
<SceneryCRC>125884640</SceneryCRC>
</AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Content\Military AI Works\MAIW_SA\MAIW_SA_WORLD</Path>
<SceneryCRC>309556591</SceneryCRC>
</AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Content\Military AI Works\MAIW_SA\MAIW_SA_AIRBASES</Path>
<SceneryCRC>1461154342</SceneryCRC>
</AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<AddOn.SceneryComponent>
<Path>G:\Military AI Works\Content\Military AI Works\MAIW_SA\MAIW_SA_OBJECTS</Path>
<SceneryCRC>53195451</SceneryCRC>
</AddOn.SceneryComponent>

If you want to copy and paste this, note that my MAIW Matrix is on Drive G! It'll need changing in every line. Edit: save a copy of your old scenery_add-ons.xml before you play with it!
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TimC340
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Re: MAIW outside P3Dv4+ main folder

Post by TimC340 »

I should add that this isn't an entirely smooth process. Lockheed Martin have updated a great many ICAO airfield identifiers from their previous 1990s-era Microsoft values, so some airfields may not display correctly and some flightplans may not work. Both of these issues can be addressed as they are found by using AIFP to alter flightplans (the latest version will do it automatically) and ADE to alter airfield identifiers. I haven't actually found any problems as yet, but if I do I'll flag them up here.

I should also add that the Matrix Control Panel will not work directly for P3Dv5. Any adjustments you make there will affect BOTH v4 and v5.To that end, if you have to alter flightplans or airfield identifiers, you may need to create new folders and cfg entries for your adjusted files. It's not difficult - but for identifier-adjusted flightplans (which would then not work in v4), it's probably easiest to put them in v5s scenery/world/scenery, and for adjusted airfields use Lorby to bring them into the sim.
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Greg
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Re: MAIW outside P3Dv4+ main folder

Post by Greg »

TimC340 wrote: 19 Jun 2021, 10:06 All you have to do is copy the entries in Program Data/Lockheed Martin/Prepar3D v4/scenery_add-ons.xml to the same place in v5. This tells the sim where to look to include the Matrix addons.
You really shouldn't touch/copy/move anything in ProgramData. Those files are generated by P3D based on all addon packages it could find in the three potential addon package sources.

Matrix simply adds "add-on.xml" files that can be auto-discovered in "Documents\Prepar3D v4 Add-ons" even if you don't have P3Dv4. If you want to copy that to P3Dv5, simply copy the same structure containing the add-on.xml files to "Documents\Prepar3D v5 Add-ons".
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TimC340
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Re: MAIW outside P3Dv4+ main folder

Post by TimC340 »

Yes, that's actually a lot simpler way of doing it!
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