In preparation for the release of V 4.5, how do I back up all of my add-on liveries?  

That's not too tough. You only need the folders where the textures reside. So you go to \SimObjects\Airplanes\CS_airplane model name and look for all the texture folders there. They always come with the prefix texture. and then have a unique name.

If you want to find out, which one got installed last (this should be your added ones), just sort that view after the date for example.
You can also you just backup every texture folder there and later copy them to the new generated folder of 4.5, without overwriting existing files, so only your addon ones will be added.

The second part are the entries in the aircraft.cfg. Just open the file in notepad and backup all the stuff with [fltsim.XX] (where XX is a number).
Unless they fundamentally change something in 4.5 there, you can later add them to new generated cfg file of 4.5.
So it only is a bit of copy and paste work later consisting of the folders and the corresponding entries.

Unless they fundamentally change something in 4.5 there, you can later add them to new generated cfg file of 4.5.
As long as you are only adding the [fltsim.XX] entries, I can't see a huge difference between 4.4 and 4.5. One that will change (or at least it should), is the description= line.

[fltsim.0]
title=Captain Sim 757-200 FSX 0
sim=cs757-200
model=PW
panel=
sound=PW
texture=delta
kb_checklists=
kb_reference=
atc_id=N675DL
atc_airline=Delta
atc_flight_number=757
ui_manufacturer=Boeing
ui_type=757-200 PW
ui_variation=Delta
ui_typerole="Commercial Airliner"
ui_createdby="Captain Sim"
description=757 Captain (757-200 Base Pack) v.4.4\n(c) 2009 Captain Sim \nwww.captainsim.com
ui_wglts=0

It could be like this: description=757 Captain (757-200 Base Pack) v.4.5\n(c) 2011 Captain Sim \nwww.captainsim.com ;)

Mark

Mark is right, if the changes stay in that description only, everything will work.
If something is changed in the
sim=
model=
panel=
fields, it won't work with the copied stuff though. Shouldn't happen on an update, but even if it does, you can spot it and then change the saved entries to the new format if you like.

CoolP wrote on Aug 4^th, 2011 at 5:32am:

Mark is right, if the changes stay in that description only, everything will work. If something is changed in the sim= model= panel= fields, it won't work with the copied stuff though. Shouldn't happen on an update, but even if it does, you can spot it and then change the saved entries to the new format if you like.

Maybe it would be better to save the variants (FSX\Captain_Sim\757\variants) folder instead then. That way you can just add them again using ACE.

Mark

True. If all the liveries came via the ACE installation method, that's a good solution indeed.

Markoz wrote on Aug 4^th, 2011 at 6:11am:

CoolP wrote on Aug 4th, 2011 at 5:32am: Mark is right, if the changes stay in that description only, everything will work. If something is changed in the sim= model= panel= fields, it won't work with the copied stuff though. Shouldn't happen on an update, but even if it does, you can spot it and then change the saved entries to the new format if you like. Maybe it would be better to save the variants (FSX\Captain_Sim\757\variants) folder instead then. That way you can just add them again using ACE. Mark

I think most (if not all) of my liveries are through the ACE. So I will back up the variants folder. Thanks guys!  :)