3. Installation

Little Navmap for Windows is a 32-bit application and was tested with Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 (32-bit and 64-bit).

macOS is supported up from macOS Sierra 10.12 inclusive.

The Linux version was built on Ubuntu but should work on other distributions as well.

The macOS and Linux versions are both 64-bit.

Each version of Little Navmap and the other programs come with a plain text file CHANGELOG.txt which has important notes and describes the changes between versions.

3.1. Updating

Delete all installed files of a previous Little Navmap version before installing a new version or install into a new folder. All files from the previous ZIP archive can be deleted since settings are stored in separate directories (except Creating Map Themes).

Warning

In any case do not merge the installation directories since old files can cause trouble.

There is no need to delete the old settings directory. The program is written in a way that it can work with old setting files and adapts these if needed. In some cases settings are reset to default once an updated version is installed.

3.2. Windows

The installation of Little Navmap does not change or create any registry entries in Windows and involves a simple copy of files therefore an installer or setup program is not required.

Warning

Do not extract the archive into the directory c:\Program Files\ or c:\Program Files (x86)\ since this requires administrative privileges. Windows keeps control of these directories, therefore other problems might occur like replaced or deleted files.

There is usually no need to run Little Navmap as administrator. Adapt folder permissions if you have to export flight plans to protected places.

Extract the Zip archive into a directory like c:\Users\YOURNAME\Documents\Little Navmap or c:\Users\YOURNAME\Programs\Little Navmap. Then start the program by double-clicking littlenavmap.exe. The extension .exe might be hidden in Windows Explorer depending on settings. In that case look for a file littlenavmap having a light blue globe icon.

You can install the Visual C++ Runtime Installer (All-In-One) v56 package from MajorGeeks.Com but this is only needed if you get errors when starting Little Navmap.

3.2.1. SimConnect

Little Navmap comes with a SimConnect library version 10.0.61259.0 (FSX SP2 / no Acceleration) and does not require a separate installation of SimConnect.

The included SimConnect library is compatible with all FSX and P3D versions as well as Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.

3.2.2. Improve Start-up Time

Anti-virus programs can significantly slow down the startup and execution of the program in Windows.

Therefore, it is recommended to exclude the following directories from scanning:

  • Disk cache for map tiles: C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Local\.marble\data
  • Scenery library and userpoint databasesC:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\ABarthel\little_navmap_db

These directories do not contain executable files and are accessed frequently by Little Navmap.

3.3. macOS

Extract the ZIP file and copy the Little Navmap application to the directory Applications or any other directory.

Note

The menu entry which is referenced as Tools -> Options in this manual for Windows and Linux can be found in the application menu at Little Navmap -> Preferences on macOS.

3.3.1. First Start on macOS

Note on first start on macOS: When starting the application you will get a message Little Navmap is from an unidentified developer. Are you sure you want to open it?.

To bypass this right click or Ctrl+Click on the application and select Open. You probably have to enter an administrator name and password once. The program can be started normally after this procedure.

This depends on the used macOS version.

3.3.2. Clearing the Quarantine Flag for Little Xpconnect on macOS

This applies for macOS versions Catalina and above if X-Plane does not load the plugin. You can clear the quarantine flag as follows.

  1. Open a Terminal window, then type cd, next press the spacebar but don’t press the Return key.
  2. Drag your Little Xpconnect folder located inside your .../X-Plane 11/Resources/plugins folder from the Finder into the terminal window.
  3. This will then add the full path of your Little Xpconnect folder to the terminal.
  4. Press the Return key.
  5. Enter the command sudo xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine *
  6. Input your password and press return.

Do not omit the * and make sure you are in the right folder after executing the cd command.

sudo is a command that allows you to run other commands as administrator. Therefore, it asks for your password. The command xattr changes attributes. The flag -r instructs xattr to change all subfolders too and the flag -d com.apple.quarantine tells it to delete the quarantine flag.

The Little Xpconnect installation was successful if you can see it in the X-Plane plugin manager.

You have to repeat this procedure each time you update Little Xpconnect.

3.4. Linux

Extract the archive to any place and run the executable file littlenavmap to start the program from a terminal:

./littlenavmap

Most file managers will start the program if double-clicked.

A desktop file Little Navmap.desktop is included. You have to adjust the paths to use it. You must use absolute paths in the desktop file.

If the program does not start run the command:

ldd littlenavmap

and send me the output. This shows which shared libraries might be missing.

3.5. X-Plane Plugin

Little Navmap can only connect to X-Plane using the Little Xpconnect X-Plane plugin which has to be installed as well.

The Little Xpconnect plugin is included in the Little Navmap archive but can also be downloaded separately.

The plugin is 64-bit only and is available for Windows, macOS and Linux.

Delete any old Little Xpconnect installations in the plugins directory before copying the new version. Do not merge new and old installations.

Copy the whole plugin directory Little Xpconnect into the directory plugins in the directory Resources in the X-Plane installation. The complete path should look like:

.../X-Plane 11/Resources/plugins/Little Xpconnect

The installation was successful if Little Xpconnect shows up in the plugin manager.

Note that Little Xpconnect does not add menu items in the X-Plane Plugins menu.

When connecting with Little Navmap select the tab X-Plane in the connection dialog. See also Flight Simulator Connection.

3.6. Additional Programs

The Little Navmap Zip archive contains two additional folders:

Little Navconnect: A complete copy of the program allowing remote flight simulator connections for FSX, P3D, MSFS and X-Plane.

Little Xpconnect: This is the 64-bit plugin that is needed for Little Navmap or Little Navconnect to connect to X-Plane.

3.7. Multiple Installations

Do not run more than one Little Navmap instances using the same settings folder in parallel. This can result in crashes when accessing the databases. Running several instances is prevented by the program on Windows but not on Linux and macOS.

You can instruct Little Navmap to create and use a different settings folder by passing the parameter --settings-directory to the executable when starting up. This is supported for all operating systems.

This parameter instructs the program to use the given directory instead of ABarthel and allows to have two instances of Little Navmap running with their own settings and databases.

Note that this does not override the full path and spaces are replaced with underscores.

Example:

How to use C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\ABarthel-XP as a settings folder on Windows:

  1. Right click on the littlenavmap.exe file (extension might be hidden in Windows explorer) and select Create Shortcut.
  2. Right click on the newly created shortcut and edit the shortcut properties.
  3. Append --settings-directory ABarthel-XP to the path in the settings field separated by a space before --settings-directory.
  4. Click Ok.
_images/winshortcut.jpg

Contents of the link properties dialog for the example above. Extended target folder input field to have the whole path visible.