Newbie senior needs techie help!

    Thanks for your reply. I installed the program in late December and have been using it as installed since then. I then received the update message, so I installed the new version. I see that there are three World Updates in my Marketplace. Do I have to install them separately? If so, must I do them all, and must they be done in sequence? Then I want to apply the Flaps fix from this site. I have found my community folder and it is empty. How do add-ons work? Do they override the official details?

    I hope this will help to show the level at which I am now. Any advice welcome.

    Regards.

    I've helped many people become comfortable with exploring how to do more then basic things on their PC, so I'm not sure what your level of computer usage is but this stuff is pretty easy to do. I'm going to say it's time to get comfortable with making changes to files, unzipping compressed files, but once you do it a few times you should be able to get the hang of it.


    I believe you'll have to install each of the three updates separately in order. It took some time to download and install two updates, for me one update was a couple of hours, but it fixes many issues with the graphics etc. Yes the flaps will be affected after update 3 and you will most likely have to install the 3rd party flap fix on the website to remedy this. About the "Community" folder; your community folder is where you put most upgrades like skin liveries, airports, and other enhancements you download from the site, after you "Un-Zip" them. For this you will need to download a program called "7 Zip."


    I strongly recommend having another hard drive like an external hard drive ( or separate internal drive) to back up your community folder too once you start installing 3rd party upgrades, and I also usually scan them manually after downloading them with my own anti-virus software before "Un-Zipping" them. You have to unzip them because they are compressed files, and again 7-Zip is the best tool to use to do that.


    Backing up your community folder is as simple as making a copy of the "Community" folder and placing that copy in a safe place elsewhere on another drive. The reason you should do this is that sometimes a third party add-on (file) might crash Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and having a back up to restore your Community folder back too it's working state usually solves that problem.


    So update your Microsoft Flight Simulator to get rid of the ugly jagged terrain oddities in order starting with update one, then do the second update, then the third. After you install the updates read the section of this post on 7-zip that follows:

    (or you can read it while Microsoft Flight Sim 2020 Updates (However DO NOT Install 7-ZIP WHILE Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is updating)


    Downloading 7-Zip


    Then download 7-Zip from their website https://www.7-zip.org/ this is the link to their website. You most likely have a 64 bit version of Windows 10 so you probably want to download the 64 bit version. To check and see what version of Windows you have do the following steps:


    1. Right click the start menu (AKA: Windows Icon on the bottom left corner of your screen")

    2. Scroll up the pop up window that appears and select" System"

    3. This should bring up the "Settings" pop-up window, and if you look in the device information section of that window you should see a section called "Device specifications" in the white portion on the lower right.

    4. In the second picture I attached to this post (System info 2.png) the area in the red rectangle (in the picture) indicates if you have a 32 bit or 64 bit version of Windows 10.


    So now you know if you should download 32 bit or 64 bit versions of software, when asked.


    If all of this seems overwhelming or if you already know this feel free to let me know.


    Once you download your version of 7-zip navigate to the downloads folder and install it. Usually by double clicking it. To learn how to use 7-Zip visit this website: https://7ziphelp.com/how-to-use-7-zip


    7-Zip will decompress the 3rd party add on flies you download from the Flightsim.to website so you can place that folder in your "Community" folder.


    I'm happy to help you when I have time, if you've never made changes to your PC, it's easy to do you just have to get comfortable with it.

    Wow! What a detailed reply. Thank you so much.

    I'll start on the updates tomorrow and then do the add-on as you set out. I have an external hard drive and will do the backups. I have unzipped files before with Winzip, but I'll switch to 7-zip.

    I'll report back when I've done all the steps (hopefully I can do it without any snafus).

    Thanks again.

    Thank You Derpyair. I read your Feb, 21 reply. Like frankb I'm a newbie senior. Your clear, concise explanation is greatly appreciated by all newbies.

    The FlightSim community is very generous in giving help and guidance, but sometimes talks over our heads and their efforts are in vain. Thanks