Tortuga47

Actually I do, I have a Geforce 2080 with 8GB VRAM, and it seems there are problems with the latest drivers, so I reverted to version 461 and all runs fine EXCEPT when I set ObjectFlow to active. That leads to a CTD as before...... Too bad, but as you said "it seems I have to live without it" Have a great weekend nevertheless!

I can now report with confidence that Orbx Central is doing its job according to the book after I have made a final test to check my re-installed app. First I deinstalled LFKX Meribel and LFLJ Courchevel (which is the prerequisite for Meribel) and there was no trace left of them in the Library. Then I installed LFLJ again, opting for the Library as installation directory. (see pic 1) The updated library folder can be seen in pic2 below. The symbolic link created was then inserted into the ini-file (see pic3) and the final outcome was very satisfactory (pic4). Note that Central inserted the Mesh BELOW the scenery (perhaps based on the naming including A and B to determine the sequencing). Next I did the same process with the addon for LFKX Meribel and the verious stages are documented below with the second series of screenshots. All I had left to do was some "beautification" workg by shifting the three new entries around and group them with other Orbx products, but respecting that mesh has to be below those sceneries. The last picture shows Meribel BEFORE installing the addon. It was marked as coming from Global airports.... I hope this litte experiment and the documentation of the various steps can help others to better grasp the inner workings of Orbx Central and show the clever design behind it. Thank you, Jon, for being so patient and supportive with this old man! Have great weekend and all the best to you and yours Juergen

Yes exactly, and that is why I decided to start from scratch so to speak. I deinstalled the Central completely, left my Orbx liberay intact, then reinstalled the new Central again and tried to imitate your example! To my surprise (or rather not perhaps) it worked now as advertised! The program deleted the link from my Custom Scenery folder and the files from the Library after deinstalling EGHI. I then clicked install, was presented with the choice and opted for my Orbx Library. After about a minute or two, the files appeared in the library again AND so did a symbolic link to that directory from the library in my Custom Scenery folder. All I had to do then, was to start XP (I had kept my scenery-packs.ini file intact) and voilá - all looked just fine AND Orbx Central did the job without further intervention from my side! So it seems that there was some kind of bug or glitch in my old installation which is now taken care of and I should in future have less work to do..... Of course the occasional checking of the order in the ini file still will have to done after installing or deinstalling some other add-on scenery. - As to the guides, yes I understand that not all sceneries have them included and that is accptable. There are other ways to get the required information for a field and in the case of Meribel that was the French AIP where I found charts and detailed information about the Altiport Meribel LFKX. So here too: problem solved! Thank you a thousand times for your help and patience for guiding me through this adventure and learning experience. Have a great day and best wishes for you and yours Cheers Juergen P.S. a screenshot is attached below

True! And I honestly do not know where those hangars come from, probably Global airports, as I do not have any other addon for EGHI except Orbx .... After some more tweaking and reordering of the ini file I now see the same hangars as you do, but please do not ask me why and how I did that All set here now I guess, so thank you again for your help and support, Jon! cheers Juergen

Hi Jon, still within the same topic of the inner workings of Orbx Central I have another question for you.... I have both LFLJ Courchevel and LFKX Meribel in my library and already was wondering why Central installs both sceneries into one and the same directory, please see here: Within that directory there is a subdirectory ""Custom Scenery" and in that one there are three more subdirectories: Orbx_A_LFKX_Meribel_Airport, Orbx_A_LFLJ_Courchevel_Airport, Orbx_B_LFLJ_Courchevel_Mesh. No traces found in the Custom Scenery folder in XP though. How can I use those sceneries WITHOUT creating the symbolic links myself manually? That is what I did and all looks just fine, so no problem there, just out of curiosity I would like to understand how Central does that for instance in your installation (like the other example you showed above) and what the resulting links would like like. Is there just one link to the directory created during the download process? That would be "Orbx_A_LFLJ_Courchevel_Airport" as shown in the two pictures below..... OR, does it create three perhaps even four links? i.e. one for the download directory and three more for each of those listed in its own Custom Scenery folder? THAT is what interests me mainly. Thank you for your help in understanding all this. Regards Juergen P.S. The link to a user guide for Meribel is not there (see third picture) but for Courchevel I am presented with a leaflet containing useful information and even a chart

Hi Jon, thank you for your reply. I have done that multiple times and NEVER has that link appeared in my Customs Scenery folder all by itself. I had to do that myself by going into the Orbx library and creating that symbolic link, then drop it into my Customs Scenery folder. It is full of those links, because I only physically stored the default sceneries installed by XP11 there, all other third party sceneries I have stored on an external drive to save space on the internal drive with XP on it. All add-on sceneries are stored on G:/X11Scenery and all Orbx files are in the library on G:/Orbx Library with various subdirectories for each simulator. in my case that is msfs, p3dv5, and xp11 (as my FSX sceneries are stored within the Orbx subdirectory in FSX itself for historic reasons and stemming from the days of good old FTX central So to me it is still a mystery how Central will manage to produce a viable scenery_packs.ini file in MY customs scenery folder without creating those symbolic links (as it is described in the manual and confirmed by you above.....) All I can do is create those links myself, sorry. Cheers Juergen

As I understand it, the scenery has to be listed in scenery_packs.ini and in order to get there it has to be present in Custom Scenery directory either physically or as a symbolic link. So in order to de-activate it, I erased all three instances from the Custom Scenery directory and the ini file and let XP do its job. Or, I deleted the compete ini file and let it be created by XP at startup, the result is the same.... All looks OK except for the two planes sticking their noses through the gates, when the TEGB files are correctly placed (manual intervention necessary) as instructed by Mr. Venema himself in 2018 (the source I mentioned in my earlier post). If you have any idea how to get rid of those two noses, all would be ideal and looking similar to the advertised pictures in the shop. Thank you for your patience and help, Jon! Have a great day Juergen

That is very helpful and clear, thank you both! It is also how I would interpret the wording used in the manual, however in my case the scenery is installed and appears in the Orbx Library, subdirectory xp11, but NOT in the ini file nor in my Customs Scenery folder as a link. The links I have there I all created them MYSELF. Jon said: "Orbx Central would have linked it into Custom Scenery via a symbolic link method." Exactly what I do MANUALLY, Central never does that for me unfortunately, but that is what I would like to see, of course..... That is why I wondered (and stil do....), how I can check if all is OK, if I do not see any symbolic links created by someone else than myself I have to experiment some more, perhaps I´ll discover something hidden to me so far... one never knows, right? To be continued...... Regards Juergen

I have tried various ways to get my Orbx products into XP11 and the safest method has been to install into the sim directly. Then they appear in the Custom scenery directory and are included into the scenery-packs.ini file (not always in the correct order, but that can be solved. If however I install them into my Orbx Library, they appear there in the xp11 subdirectory but do not show up in Custom scenery and as a consequence also not in the scenery_packs. ini file, So, they are not loaded into the sim at all. The manual published here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QqebVX8fUFdFtOOEMR1ZULkhhieenQHNopfNY-5_K0Y/ states however, that .... ++++++ Many of our users wish to install Orbx products outside their simulator directory. Before Central, this was a difficult process that often involved creating symbolic links. In Central, we handle this process for you with libraries. Central libraries work with Aerofly FS 2, Prepar3D v4, and X-Plane 11. Installing products outside the simulator allows you to ensure your products are safe after simulator re-installs. ****** and more importantly this: ************* In simulators such as Prepar3D v4, Aerofly FS 2 and X-Plane 11, Central can install products into a library for that simulator. Libraries allow you to install a product anywhere on your computer, then they will be seamlessly linked to your simulator in the background. In simulators from FSX to Prepar3D v3, Central will install the products directly into the simulator directory as FTX Central v3 does. All of this configuration is handled for you by Central. We’ve tried to make the installation process as easy as possible. In most cases, you’ll just click the “install” button and then the product will be installed automatically. ************ So how exactly does Central do that, please? All I can do at this moment is to create symbolic links from the Library/xp11 directory into my Custom scenery folder .... Thank you for an explanation and instructions on how to proceed correctly when using the library solution (on another drive for instance). Kind regards Juergen

Hello Jon, over the weekend I did not do very much on my PC, but today I discovered another "interesting" glitch.... Depending on GBE South being active or not, there are two different views of the same area in EGHI. It is near the end of the area with the two hangars and with the GB TE active there are DOUBLE hangars and no slding doors in the front ones with two planes sticking out there noses (but they seem to come from some other addon...). Also there are no further planes visible except mine in front (see picture) If I de-activate that overlay and it is also no longer included in the scenery_packs.ini file of course, I only get ONE building with sliding doors closed (the noses are still there) AND a few other planes populating the tarmac (see other pic). Do you have any idea how I can get the nice static planes but NOT the double hangars? THANK YOU and have a good start into this new week! Cheers Juergen EDIT: The double hangars are now gone! I found an old thread where it was said that the place of the GB TE region was crucial and that it should be BELOW Global airports (which it was....) and the Landmarks (which it was not). I have reordered my ini file following that rule and VOILÁ the second hangar is gone! And the static planes on the tarmac appear as they should. Now I am only left with the noses....

THANK YOU VERY MUCH, Jon! That is extremely helpful and should settle this issue once and for all, I hope. Sorry, but I searched the ini file for GB South and only found one instance of the overlay. I now think that I might have checked another version of it, though. Again, many many thanks for your help and patience! Have a great day and weekend. Cheers Juergen

Hi Jon: I did not wait for your reaction, sorry, but went ahead and deleted my ini file, started the sim and let it create a new one from scratch..... The result is amazing.... As you can see here for yourself this seems to be at least very close to what was advertised! There are two airplanes sticking out their noses, though..... The last pic shows the default version offered by Laminar it seems... For your information I shall also attach the newly created scenery_packs.ini file and would like you to have a closer look for possible glitches in the sequencing. I have not tested much so far, but at least EGHI and EGLC look great now, perhaps there will be problems with other sceneries now, but remains to be seen. So, after some experimenting and with your experienced help my original problem with EGHI just showing a basic scenery layout is now settled. THANK YOU !!! However with all this I asked myself why the Orbx Central does not offer as much help and a few tools for XP11 like it does for Prepar3D. XP still remains a good program and will be around for some time at least as long as MSFS is still in its infancy and does not have much to offer except good graphics.... Take good care of yourself and your loved ones in these risky times, please, and stay safe! Thank you again and if you find the time, please check the attached ini file. Cheers, Juergen scenery_packs.ini

Thank you VERY much for your reply and the discovery. I shall attack this right after lunch and let you know more. Cheers Juergen EDIT: Lunch break is behind me now, but I can only find ONE instance of the TEGB South Overlay in that file (I downloaded it just now again from here to be sure to have the identical file). Here is the few lines before and after that one instance: ************************* SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Orbx_A_GB_South_TrueEarth_Custom/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Orbx_A_LOWI_Innsbruck/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Orbx_A_LOWI_LOJT/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Orbx_A_US_NoCal_TE_Custom/ //SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Orbx_B_GB_South_TrueEarth_Overlay/ marked for better identification SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Orbx_B_LOWI_Overlay/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Orbx_B_US_NoCal_TE_Overlay/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Orbx_C_GB_South_TrueEarth_Orthos/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Orbx_C_LOWI_DrapedOrthos/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Orbx_C_US_NoCal_TE_Orthos/ ************************* Can you point out where you found the second instance, please? THANK YOU. Will be waiting before I do anything else.....

Here is the latest version displayed ..... In addition to the Orbx scenery I also had the one by PilotPlus activated (do not even remember where I found that one as the homepage is gone). So far I am very disappointed by the Orbx scenery, in particular as I never saw it except in their online shop, haha.... I still hope that Jon or some other experienced user will be able to solve this mystery... Thank you Juergen

Would it be too much to ask, Jon, if you did the same for me? Hoping to get closer to solve my problem with the display of Southampton... Thank you in advance. Cheers Juergen scenery_packs.ini

I paid for this however..... (advertised with this picture in the online shop where I bought mine.... How can I get it to show in my sim? Please help, my friends

Whereas the tarmac in Southampton looks like this: Any ideas what could be the reason for this? Does the ini file help in any way, Jon? THANK YOU for your support. Cheers Juergen

I would rather expect something similar to this (LOWI scenery)

Thank you very much for your reply, Jon! In fact I had OrbLibsXP installed, checked the integrity and got an OK. However, and because you mentioned scenery-packs.ini, I then archived my version together with the Orbx backup of it and DELETED it. Restarted XP11 and let it build a new ini file and...... now the same place looks like this and much more like a typical runway in Orbx scenery :-) : Thank you for your help again, I think this settles the issue for the runway (unless you still find that something does not look right of course....) The remaining scenery still looks not what it should be, sorry Cheers Juergen P.S. In case you are interested to see what exactly is the difference between the two ini files to perhaps help you to spot similar problems faster, here they are for your information. Edited after another closer look: It seems that the parking areas both for cars (look to the right edge of the first pic) and planes i(better seen in the second pic below) is not as it should be, those are simple flat photos (see pic attached) There is still something left to do I guess..... NEW_scenery_packs.ini OLD_scenery_packs.ini

Hello: I just a few minutes ago purchased the scenery for Southampton for about 15 Euro and when I first opened my simulator with a Tristar on the active runway I did not believe my eyes!!!! It seems to me that something went terribly wrong here with a gravel runway and very rough grass and tarmac, low details on the buildings etc. Just see for yourself here: Please tell me that this is NOT what I paid for and how to get this right. THANK YOU! Juergen

Unfortnately that still seems to be the case as of this day....

Same result. It does not matter WHERE the dll is stored, as soon as it is set to ACTIVE=true, it produces the CTD.... Sorry for that, but it seems I have to live without it (and it is good to know that I am not the only one with this issue Thank you again and have a great day Cheers Juergen I can only start P3D with this setting:

Have already created C:\Orbx and synchronized with Central, now starting and holding my fingers crossed....

Ok, Nick, now we are talking..... That is not a problem, just let me know on which level... Root, subdirectory, Program Files....

I have answered that and the answer is NO. So what does Rick want me to DO now? That is my question..... He said above: "Could you try doing that?" Hence my question of "doing WHAT precisely?"