answered When will this stop?!!

[demio]

On 9/7/2018 at 5:59 PM, Stewart Hobson said:

But it seems the stuff ought to be installed at the top, like all the rest.

Pretty sure they were placed right there by the MAIW installer, and by .xml method.

 

Some developers still use the .cfg method, some have adopted the .xml method. With P4AO you can control priorities as if it were all in the .cfg  - in my opinion it's indispensable. Almost all my add-ons are added via .xml. Exceptions are the default scenery, ORBX and one scenery by LHS (Budapest), whose object placer module won't run if it doesn't detect the Budapest entry in the .cfg (or at least that was the case when I installed it a while back). I use this entry to tell FTXC where to put it's layers.

 

Anyway, Ben is going to fix it, all is good!

[Stewart Hobson]

3 hours ago, demio said:

With P4AO you can control priorities as if it were all in the .cfg

SimStarter NG does the same.  I have complete control over where all add-ons are placed using this program.  And FTX Central isn't a factor in messing up the layers, as long as the Insertion Tool accurately places the FTX entries and the LC entries.

[demio]

15 hours ago, Stewart Hobson said:

And FTX Central isn't a factor in messing up the layers, as long as the Insertion Tool accurately places the FTX entries and the LC entries.

Doesn't have to do anything with where the FTX entries are placed. It has to do with where the .xml entries are placed.

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

as this seems to be continuing, to inform myself, I have downloaded the MAIW Matrix installer

and installed one region.

It is clear that

1. the Matrix installer does nothing at all to the P3D v4 scenery.cfg file and running FTX Central therefore

has no effect on the relative position of xml entries in the P3D scenery library.

 

2. it adds only the xml entries, places them and that without interference, xml and scenery.cfg entries

coexist perfectly well.

 

 

 

[demio]

Nick, your .cfg doesn't have gaps - yet. Pretty sure as soon as you have more .xml-entries at one place (e.g. more MAIW, and then e.g. an entry with non-FTX elevation correction files), and sort them with P4AO - maybe also SimStarter? - , it will happen to you, too.

 

Anyway, Ben has already said the enumerating-on-startup function will be removed, so as far as I am concerned, the problem is practically solved 

[Nick Cooper]

That is my exact point.

You were asked to account for the gaps in yours and suggested it was the MAIW installer.

It would appear that

 

1. this is not so

2. there is no need to have "gaps" in order to place xml entries wherever they are required.

 

Here are two of the MAIW entries, correctly placed and after FTX Central has been run.

As stated at the beginning of this topic, FTX Central acts only on the scenery.cfg file and it

has become apparent that xml entries can be added and placed at will without the need to

add or take away anything from the scenery.cfg file.

P3D v4 does not appear to be affected by there being multiple layers, one cfg and the others xml in

the same place and if other software is being used to amend the scenery.cfg file to accomodate

the xml entries, it seems that this is not necessary nor is it good practice.

 

 

 

[Nick Cooper]

and so on...

 

 

 

I see now that it is the Lorby tool that is the cause of your problem.

 

 

It does this by creating the unnecessary gap and also changing the layer numbers of the MAIW entries,

creating a problem that did not previously exist.

 

 

[demio]

35 minutes ago, Nick Cooper said:

suggested it was the MAIW installer.

I don't think I did. I am fully aware that P4AO changes the .cfg and the .xml layer numbers. And I want it to, because of the following:

 

35 minutes ago, Nick Cooper said:

there is no need to have "gaps" in order to place xml entries wherever they are required

I disagree these gaps are "unnecessary". I have hundreds of airport sceneries added via .xml method. For that amount, there has to be a method of sorting them. I do it according to geographical region, others choose the ICAO code, etc. For that to work, the sceneries have to be prioritized somehow. LM allows for that with a layer definition in .xml entries. But for that to work correctly, there has to be gaps in the .cfg.

 

Look at your 3 MAIW entries before the re-enumeration: They all have the layer number 3. Now, for the sake of argument, please imagine you would want to sort those in any way or fashion, for whatever reason. They will have to have distinct layer numbers (3, 4, 5), and because of that, the .cfg entries "Default Scenery" and "Vector_AEC" will have to have a gap of 3 layers in between (2 and 6).

[Nick Cooper]

Indeed, but if the scenery.cfg file is left alone, it is possible to add xml entries to every

layer and in any order that is required without leaving a "gap".

Here is an example, where I have changed the layer numbers in the MAIW xml entries

but not allowed the Lorby tool to rewrite the scenery.cfg file.

 

 

Here is one of the MAIW xml files, you can see how their scenery library entries are placed exactly where they need them to be.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<SimBase.Document Type="AddOnXml" version="4,0" id="add-on">
  <AddOn.Name>Military AI Works Region Africa</AddOn.Name>
  <AddOn.Description>Military AI traffic for Africa by MAIW</AddOn.Description>
  <AddOn.Component>
    <Category>SimObjects</Category>
    <Path>E:\P3D v4\Military AI Works\MAIW_AFRICA\MAIW_AFRICA_AIRCRAFT</Path>
  </AddOn.Component>
  <AddOn.Component>
    <Category>Scenery</Category>
    <Path>E:\P3D v4\Military AI Works\MAIW_AFRICA\MAIW_AFRICA_WORLD</Path>
    <Name>MAIW Region Africa World</Name>
    <Layer>3</Layer>
  </AddOn.Component>
  <AddOn.Component>
    <Category>Scenery</Category>
    <Path>E:\P3D v4\Military AI Works\MAIW_AFRICA\MAIW_AFRICA_OBJECTS</Path>
    <Name>MAIW Region Africa Objects</Name>
    <Layer>422</Layer>
  </AddOn.Component>
  <AddOn.Component>
    <Category>Scenery</Category>
    <Path>E:\P3D v4\Military AI Works\MAIW_AFRICA\MAIW_AFRICA_AIRBASES</Path>
    <Name>MAIW Region Africa Airbases</Name>
    <Layer>423</Layer>
  </AddOn.Component>
</SimBase.Document>

 

In short, the cause of your problem is the "gap" left in the scenery.cfg file by the Lorby tool.

It is my contention, as demonstrated, that the "gap" is not required at all and that when there

is no "gap", FTX Central and xml entries can coexist perfectly well.

[demio]

Nick, in your demonstration, the .xml entries are spread throughout the .cfg "Base" entries. I don't think this is technically acceptable, just as I am convinced you wouldn't accept FTX products to be spread out between other layers, either.

 

By the way, I am not trying to bash FTXC in any way. I am extremely thankful ORBX has provided this practical method of installing and updating their products, and I wish all mayor publishers would do so.

[Nick Cooper]

 

Helo,

it is not a recommendation.

I am just demonstrating that the entries can be anywhere at all.

It didn't make any sense to spread them out all over the library

so they wouldn't appear in the same screen shot.

 

This is your original post:
 

Quote

 

I also have a gripe with FTXCentral, because it seems to ignore sceneries that are added via .xml-method.

On start-up it seems to re-enumerate the scenery.cfg, but in doing so it spreads .xml-added-sceneries

throughout the layers, whereas before they were in discrete blocks.

 

 

 

 

I have apparently found out why this was happening and I hope shown you that it need not happen if the scenery.cfg

file is not left with unnecessary "gaps".

The Scenery Config Editor includes a useful function that will renumber the scenery.cfg file and "fill in" any "gaps".

 

However, this will not address the fact that the Lorby tool also renumbers existing xml entries which then spreads them out

again. As the MAIW installer sets them all at 3, I wonder why the Lorby tool then changes them to 4, 5, 6 and so on?

 

 

 

 

[demio]

Nick, respectfully, I have already addressed all those points in my previous posts.

[Nick Cooper]

Just trying to help you with your problem.

It may be some time before we see xml entries for Orbx products and you have the problem now.

You never know, someone else might find the information useful, or not.

Also, I now have lots of new AI aircraft, so thanks for that.