Introduction to Managing Aerosimulations Add-ons in Prepar3D

Running multiple add-ons from Aerosimulations inside Prepar3D can transform your flight sim into a deeply immersive environment. High-quality aircraft, detailed scenery, and utility tools provide realism that brings each flight to life. However, with that richness comes complexity. Without a disciplined approach to add-on management, you can quickly encounter conflicts, longer loading times, and even crashes. This guide outlines proven practices to keep your Prepar3D installation stable, fast, and ready for any flight.

Aerosimulations produces add-ons spanning aircraft like the AS-350 or Caravan, sceneries for remote airfields, and utility tools. Each add-on integrates with Prepar3D through configuration files, DLLs, and asset overlays. When you stack several of them, interactions can create problems. Understanding the best ways to organize, update, and prioritize these add-ons will save you time and frustration.

Understanding Aerosimulations Add-ons

Before diving into management, it helps to know what you are dealing with. Aerosimulations add-ons fall into three main categories:

  • Aircraft add-ons: Highly detailed external models, virtual cockpits, custom systems, and gauges. They often include their own panel.cfg, aircraft.cfg, and sound folders.
  • Scenery add-ons: Airport or regional scenery packages with custom buildings, ground textures, and elevation data. These are placed into the Prepar3D scenery library and must be loaded in the correct order.
  • Utility add-ons: Tools that enhance flight planning, weather, or camera control. They typically inject via SimConnect or custom DLLs.

Each type interacts with the simulator differently. Aircraft add-ons can conflict if two attempt to use the same gauge DLL or if a texture replacement is shared. Scenery add-ons cause problems when polygons overlap or when autogen descriptions clash. Utilities can conflict if they try to hook the same simulation events. Knowing these distinctions helps you target troubleshooting when issues arise.

Core Best Practices for Managing Multiple Add-ons

Organize Your Add-ons with a Clear Folder Structure

Do not install everything into the default Prepar3D root folders. Instead, keep each add-on in its own dedicated folder, preferably outside the sim directory. Use a naming convention like Aerosimulations_Aircraft_AS350 or Aerosimulations_Scenery_KABC. This approach makes it easy to locate files, update add-ons individually, and back them up without touching core sim files.

When an add-on must be inside the sim folder (some legacy add-ons require it), use symbolic links or junctions to point to an external folder. Tools like Steffen’s Link Shell Extension can create these links. This keeps your sim directory clean and simplifies uninstalls.

Use a Centralized Add-on Manager

Manually modifying scenery.cfg or prepar3d.cfg every time you want to enable or disable an add-on is error-prone. Use a dedicated manager instead. Popular options include:

  • Lorby Addon Organizer: Allows you to create profiles, enable/disable entire add-ons, and see their load order. It works with both scenery and aircraft add-ons.
  • SimLink: A portable manager that uses symbolic links to activate add-ons without moving files. It is especially useful for testing new add-ons.
  • Prepar3D Add-on Linker: A simple tool that toggles folders in the scenery library.

With a manager, you can keep all add-ons installed but only active when needed. This reduces load times and avoids conflicts between add-ons that you are not using during a particular session.

Maintain Compatibility Through Regular Updates

Aerosimulations and other developers release updates to fix bugs, improve performance, and ensure compatibility with the latest Prepar3D versions. Always check the Aerosimulations website or your purchase page for updates. Do not rely solely on activation managers to tell you about updates – subscribe to developer newsletters or follow their forums.

If you run a version of Prepar3D that is not the latest (for example, you stick with v4.5 for legacy add-ons), verify that each add-on explicitly supports that version. Many developers provide version-specific installers or instructions. Using an add-on meant for v5 with v4 can cause missing features or crashes.

Scenery load order is critical. In general, smaller, more detailed sceneries should load above larger geographical areas. For instance, an Aerosimulations airport scenery should be placed above a regional mesh or landclass add-on. Most add-on managers allow you to drag and drop entries in the scenery library.

General rule of thumb: load order (from top to bottom) should be – airports, cities/landmark areas, regional scenery, landclass, mesh, then base scenery. If an Aerosimulations add-on conflicts with another scenery (e.g., overlapping AFCAD files), the one higher in the list takes priority. Check developer documentation for any specific load order requirements.

Backup Configuration Files Before Changes

Before installing a new add-on, updating an existing one, or changing your scenery library, always back up these files:

  • Prepar3D.cfg – main settings file.
  • scenery.cfg – scenery library entries.
  • Any add-on-specific config files like aircraft.cfg or panel.cfg if you have manually edited them.
  • Your SimObjects and Effects folder structures (or at least a list of what is installed).

Save these backups to a separate drive or cloud storage. If something goes wrong, you can restore a known working configuration without reinstalling everything. This step is especially valuable when experimenting with new add-ons.

Additional Tips for Optimal Performance

Disable Unused Add-ons During Flights

Not every flight needs every add-on. If you are flying a general aviation hop in the Pacific Northwest, disable heavy airliner add-ons and large international sceneries. Use your add-on manager to create profiles: one for GA flying, one for airline routes, one for helicopter operations. This reduces the number of textures, gauges, and DLLs loaded, saving VRAM and reducing loading times.

Monitor System Resources During Flight

Prepar3D is resource-hungry. With multiple add-ons, you can quickly run out of Virtual Address Space (VAS) or hit a CPU bottleneck. Keep tools like Process Explorer or MSI Afterburner running on a secondary monitor to track CPU, GPU, and memory usage. If you notice a steady climb in memory that never releases, you may have a add-on with a memory leak. Disabling add-ons one by one can identify the culprit.

Keep Everything Updated

This point bears repeating: do not ignore updates. Developers fix bugs that cause crashes or performance drops. Updates also ensure compatibility with new Prepar3D hotfixes. If you have many add-ons, set aside time each month to check for updates. Some developers offer auto-updaters; others require manual downloads. Bookmark the Prepar3D forum and the Aerosimulations support page to stay informed.

Consult Community Forums for Conflict Resolution

You are not alone in managing add-ons. The flight sim community has decades of collective experience. Forums like AVSim, SimForums, and the official Prepar3D forums are treasure troves of solutions. When you encounter a conflict, search for error messages or symptoms. Often someone has posted a fix, a load order suggestion, or a patch. Engaging with the community also helps you discover hidden tricks for optimizing add-on performance.

Troubleshooting Common Conflicts

Scenery Conflicts

Symptoms: missing buildings, floating terrain, or texture blackouts. These usually occur when two sceneries cover the same area. Solution: adjust the scenery load order so that the more detailed scenery is above. Alternatively, you can use a tool like Scenery Conflict Analyzer to detect overlaps. If both add-ons are from Aerosimulations and conflict, contact their support – they sometimes offer compatibility patches.

Aircraft Conflicts

Symptoms: gauges not displaying, missing sounds, or the aircraft failing to load. Often caused by two aircraft trying to use the same gauge DLL (e.g., SimConnect-based gauges). Solution: check the panel.cfg files of conflicting aircraft. If both reference the same DLL but expect different versions, you may need to install the gauge into a separate folder and update the path. Some add-on managers allow you to isolate DLLs per aircraft.

DLL Conflicts

Some add-ons inject a DLL into the sim process. If two DLLs hook the same function, you may get crashes. Symptoms: Prepar3D crashes on startup or when loading a specific flight. Solution: use the add-on manager to disable all external DLLs except core Prepar3D, then re-enable them one by one until the crash reappears. This identifies the conflicting add-on. Aerosimulations typically provides DLL-based utilities for camera or weather control – ensure they are the latest version.

Performance Issues

Stuttering, low FPS, or VAS exhaustion often stem from add-ons that are too heavy for your system. Solution: disable high-resolution texture packs if you have limited VRAM. Use lower LOD radius settings. Monitor memory usage and identify which add-on consumes the most resources. Some scenery add-ons allow you to reduce the level of detail in their configuration tools.

Advanced Strategies for Serious Simmers

If you have a large collection, consider moving add-ons to a separate SSD or HDD. Create symbolic links in the Prepar3D folders that point to the external locations. This prevents clutter in your sim drive and makes it easier to back up add-ons independently. Tools like Visual Subst or manual mklink commands can achieve this. Just ensure the drives are always connected before launching Prepar3D.

Create Profiles with Batch Scripts

For advanced control, write batch scripts that copy or symlink the appropriate add-on folders before starting Prepar3D. For example, you could have a script for “heavy airline flights” that symlinks 100GB of sceneries and aircraft, and another for “VFR GA” that only links a subset. This keeps your sim environment minimal for each session and greatly reduces loading times.

Use Community Compatibility Lists

Some users maintain spreadsheets of known working add-on combinations for specific Prepar3D versions. Search for “Prepar3D v5 add-on compatibility list” or similar. These lists often note which Aerosimulations add-ons conflict with others. Save time by consulting these before buying or installing a new add-on.

Conclusion

Managing multiple Aerosimulations add-ons in Prepar3D is not overly complex if you adopt a systematic approach. Organize your files, use a capable add-on manager, keep everything updated, and always back up your configuration before making changes. When conflicts occur, approach them methodically: disable add-ons in batches, check load order, and leverage community wisdom. With these best practices, you can build a stable, high-performance simulator environment that lets you focus on flying, not tweaking.