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Installing MSFS SDK

n4gix

n4gix

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My friends, is it possible to install the MSFS SDK on a computer that does not have MSFS installed?

You see, I have one computer dedicated to development and have Max2018, Photoshop CS2, and assorted other useful tools installed. I need the SDK to add the necessary Max plugins, etc. to that computer. Everything I build in Max is exported/compiled to the sim computer via my LAN. This works quite well as my dev pipeline, and also allows me to work in relative comfort from my front office.

I've found it is quite difficult to work directly on the sim computer because of all of the sim hardware in the way.

I have a separate computer dedicated strictly as a sim computer, and will of course be installing the MSFS SDK on that one as well.

I really do not want to install MSFS on my dev computer just to be able to install the MSFS SDK... :eek:
 
n4gix said:
My friends, is it possible to install the MSFS SDK on a computer that does not have MSFS installed?
Click to expand...

Bill,

From within MSFS 2020 DevMode, select install SDK and you will be able to save the SDK .msi file to your computer. Copy it to the other computer and install the .msi. I haven't tried this myself but I will now on my laptop and see if it installs without the sim being present.
 
That worked. I now have the SDK correctly installed on a separate system without the sim.
 
Your problem is that the SDK uses internal compilers that are in the sim. The Package Tool effectively opens a stub sim and calls the compilers. Without a sim present I would expect an error to be raised. So you can create xml, resources etc but you won't be able to compile them

OK I may have been inaccurate since I am talking about airport and scenery design. It may be different when creating assets
 
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Hi Bill. I have mine installed on separate PC as well. The SDK does seem to install when I copied the msi file and ran it. I tried compiling the simple aircraft source file in Babylon and it seemed to work. But beyond that I have not actually exported to FS. I also have Max2018. I'm still confused though why different versions of 3ds get different plugins but that is a diff issue I hope will get resolved.
 
Thanks everyone for the information. I'll see how that works tomorrow. I want to install the SDK on my sim computer anyway because I may end up doing scenery, etc., so will copy/paste the .msi file to my dev computer and see if the tools show up in Max2018. I'll see if I can load/export/compile the sample aircraft successfully.
 
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