Yesterday we released an update to Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition. This update resolved several issues reported to us by the community. The full update notes for this release can be found here
As part of the update notes we included the statement "For new installs, we now provide default versions of dll.xml and exe.xml files to improve compatibility with existing add-ons." Having reviewed the comments we received from the community it appeared that the wording of this statement could cause confusion and so we removed this sentence. We are very grateful for everyone who has taken the time to get in touch with us about this and would like to take this opportunity to further clarify the situation.
We were aware during the development of Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition that the game did not create a default dll.xml and exe.xml set of files in the local appdata directory (not the game install directory but in the local data settings files). It was therefore possible that if an add-on required access to these files it may fail to install correctly. We tested this at length with a range of add-ons and found that they all installed without these files. This may be due to the add-ons we tested not needing to access them or because they provided a default version of their own. However, it remained possible that some add-ons may require access to them.
When building the first update for Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition we included default versions of these files in the game install directory . Although FSX:Steam Edition without add-ons does not use these files, they are provided to allow the installation tool to copy these files to the local appdata folder thereby enabling any add-ons which might require them in the future.
When attempting to install an add-on, if you find that the installation fails due to a missing dll.xml and/or exe.xml, then it may be possible to manually copy the files from the installation directory to the local appdata directory, but you should also check the website of the add-on vendor to see if they have specific instructions.
We are continuing to monitor your feedback on Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition and would like to thank the community for your help in highlighting this issue. We know that we have not fixed all of the issues you have reported, but we are continuing to work to improve the product in the coming weeks.
The Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition Team
Dovetail Games