I didn’t move the original install of Addon Manager. That remained in place embedded within my P3Dv4 structure. On reflection it’s better in C:\Program Files.
They shouldn't have been in the P3D4 folder in the first place.
Since June 2017, when P3D4 came out, we default installing outside the simulator folder. But of course, you are free to choose any folder and, in fact, nothing prevents you to install *inside* the sim, even if it might not be the best choice, now that you can (and you are supposed to) install elsewhere.
I just copied the relevant folders in the Documents\P3Dv4 files to the equivalent in P3D. Logically it should have worked but I guess you design things to prevent piracy. Fair enough. At least I didn’t have to activate my airports or GSX.
Piracy doesn't obviously have anything to do with this, unless you picture ourselves as being so naive that piracy could be stopped just by preventing users from moving files. Of course, the fact you didn't had to reactivate should prove you that: NOTHING related to the placement of files or the installation of the simulator has anything to do with piracy protection or will cause the activation to be lost.
The ONLY time you'll lose your activation is:
- when you reinstall Windows
- when you change major hardware component, like the mainboard of the CPU ( changing the video card won't be considered a major change )
So no, the reason why files cannot be moved easily, is that we require the all our files to stay together, since they have dependencies from each other (for example, JFK uses GSX docking systems, files and textures, so it must be sure where to find them) AND the installer sets some keys in the registry to store the folder which was chosen at install, in order to be sure you don't install each FSDT product in a different folder altogether.
So, ideally, if you *really* know what you are doing, you CAN move files, but you'll also have to update those registry keys.
Which, incidentally, is precisely what the installer does, when you follow the aforementioned uninstall/reinstall procedure. That's why I told you to follow that, rather than acting on the registry manually.
