My monster cockup

[Tailgunner]

This is a problem of my own making, so I must apologise for raising it - but I badly need expert advice.

At first, FTX ran very well. Then I began to get an error message when I pressed the Mode button: 'Error in procedure Copy [OFF] The process cannot access the file: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight simulator  X\Scenery\clockup.bgl because it is being used by another process.'

I thought that process was probably VSX. I had gathered from the thread 'Not being critical...' that VSX was't necessary. John had replied to one post with "delete VSX," and Theoddkiwi added "It is recommended to disable all VSX folders."  FSX library doesn't have a disable facility, so I simply uninstalled VSX.

Bad move. TFX disappeared, and I was back to FSX.

I reloaded VSX, but still no sign of TFX.

So I uninstalled TFX [from Add/remove: I couldn't find a way to open the TFX uninstall in the Program list] My intention was to reload it.

I then decided to run FSX first, just to check out the library.

But up came another error message: 'SCENERY.CFG file error. Local scenery directory [ORBX_AU\FTXAU48_CUSTOM\SCENERY] in scenery area.201 not found. Click OK to continue.'

I clicked, and nothing happened. Total freeze. So I went to FSX scenery cfg - and the only content is the list of default sceneries. Not a single add-on.

A disaster on this scale is beyond my comprehension. I haven't a clue what to do without making it worse. If there's a possibility of salvage and the team can suggest how, I'd be very grateful indeed...

[Holger Sandmann]

Hi there,

sorry to hear about your troubles.

Which scenery.cfg are you looking at? Given that you got an error message about an add-on entry I suspect you're not looking at the active .cfg (the one in the FSX root folder is just for reference). In XP scenery.cfg is in \Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\FSX. Not sure what the equivalent folder path in VISTA is.

Cheers, Holger

[Tailgunner]

Thanks for such a swift reply, Holger. As always, it's good to hear the voice of reason.  I checked that cfg, and praise be, it's complete and up to date. Peculiar thing: for years I've always used the root cfg, and had no problems. [Perhaps someone should publish 'Fsimming for Dummies'?] Now that all add-ons have vanished from it, I hope that in itself won't create problems ...

Although Add/Remove assured me that it had uninstalled orbx, all entries seem to be there still, so goodness knows why I get the scenery error message. They are -

[Area 201]

Title=FTXAU48_CUSTOM

Local=ORBX\FTX_AU\FTXAU48_CUSTOM

Layer=197

Active=TRUE

Required=FALSE

[Area 202]

Title=FTXAU46_SHORES

Local=ORBX\FTX_AU\FTXAU46_SHORES

Layer=198

Active=TRUE

Required=FALSE

[Area 203]

Title=FTXAU45_SCENERY

Local=ORBX\FTX_AU\FTXAU45_SCENERY

Layer=199

Active=TRUE

Required=FALSE

[Area 204]

Title=FTXAUO5_ROADS

Local=ORBX\FTX_AU\FTXAUO5_ROADS

Layer=200

Active=TRUE

Required=FALSE

Regards, Peter

[Holger Sandmann]

Hi Peter,

in FS9 the active scenery.cfg did reside in the FS root directory, it's new to FSX that it has changed to the "roaming" folders.

If you uninstalled FTX then you can just remove those entries manually from the scenery library; FSX is looking for them but the actual folders are missing because they were uninstalled.

Very strange though that uninstalling VSX would have removed FTX as well.

Cheers, Holger

[Quinn]

Well! - in XP I would open "Explorer" (Start|All Programs|Accessories|Windoze Explorer) - 1st thing - go to views and select "Details" (this folder crap is just that - crap) then select "Search"  - select "All files and folders" - put in "scen*.cfg" (without the quotes) - where it says "Look in" - select the most logical place(s) (where you installed FS AND C:)

Then work your way down the screen - select "Specify Dates" (select the date when the problem started and finish with current date) - leave the "dont remember" and make sure that you open "Advanced" and put a tick in the 1st 3 (system folders, hidden files, subdirectories - oops - stupid bloody subfolders)

Then press "search" - after it has done its thing you should have a list of files with all sorts of information that you may not have realised was there

After a bit of fiddling you will find a column marked "Date Modified" - click that a few times whilst it sorts itself and get to the one where the date orders are descending - that will show you the location of the "active" Scenery.cfg (the one that should be at the top of the list with the most recent date) - I would just delete the bloody thing but you may wish to rename it scenery.cfg.old

Then try again to load FS (with or without FTX) and let us know what the result is (it should rebuild itself and quite possibly even work) - that should give some of us some clues about what the flippin hell happened - I dont have FTX yet so I am just giving you my methodology of how to troubleshoot - without being at your keyboard it is a bit hard - at this point you are stuffed anyway so lets try and get you working again without too much drama or a great heap of re-installs

I'll try and remember to look back in on this one but I have a quacks appointment that may interfere again with my enjoyment of life - but there are plenty of others that can interpret your findings - let us know what happens

btw - I havent played around with the boss's vista machine enough (I cant find a bloody thing on it) but I am sure the equivalent will be there somewhere

[Tailgunner]

Many thanks indeed, Holger. You saved my simbacon: much appreciated.

Regards

Peter