javelin9r wrote:This might sound silly, but my gauges folder is 1.73 GB. There are 154 folders within the gauge folder. The rest are 789 .CAB , 1,044 .gau, 97 .xml, and 16 .ini files. I can understand the .CAB, .gau, .xml, and .ini, but do I need all of those 154 folders, which when opened each contain a load of .xml, and .bmp's.
I surely don't need to open those folders, and place the contents back into the gauges folder ?
CAB gauges are compressed folders like zipfiles containing one or more XML gauges. The folders you mention are most likely uncompressed CAB gauges, which is quite common among freeware downloads. FSX recognises them by the folder name. They won't work if you move the contents to the Gauges folder.
I check out a lot of 3rd party aircraft for various reasons. If they're not already in there I usually paste the gauges into the Panel folders of the aircraft they belong to. FSX will recognise them from there & if you decide not to keep the aircraft you can simply delete it along with its gauges. This helps to keep the Gauges directory to a reasonable size.
My sim object airplane folder is 51 GB. Running FSX Gold Acceleration boxed version.
I am wondering if there is any way, or not, of "pruning" the load.
A little trick I've used for many years is to create a new folder in the FSX parent directory to install new aircraft to. You can have as many of these "hangar" folders as you wish, using appropriate folder names like Aircraft, Test or whatever suits you. Then a simple edit to FSX.cfg will allow FSX to recognise them.
Add new SimObjectPaths entries under the Main header like this;
[Main]
User Objects=Airplane, Helicopter
SimObjectPaths.0=SimObjects\Airplanes
SimObjectPaths.1=SimObjects\Rotorcraft
SimObjectPaths.2=SimObjects\GroundVehicles
SimObjectPaths.3=SimObjects\Boats
SimObjectPaths.4=SimObjects\Animals
SimObjectPaths.5=SimObjects\Misc
SimObjectPaths.6=Aircraft
SimObjectPaths.7=TestYou might have problems using the above method with aircraft with aliased panel and/or sound.
You can remark the new entries to disable them as you wish.
Note; the numbers must run in order without a break so you might need to renumber those you wish to use.
