resolved ORBX installed via Central 4.... but no effect on FSX

[Airspeed]

Transaction ID: 5a27ca786ff35 original order no FSS0248129, FSS0185645, PC Aviator 11350, all transferred to ORBX Direct

Have been happily using ORBX for 7 years. FSX had to be reinstalled, and I've reinstalled all my ORBX using Central 4.

Central has put everything into a new ORBX folder inside my main FSX folder. I thought that I read somewhere that this is not where it should go?

All the FTX AA entries have been automatically inserted in the Scenery Library,  and are ticked active.

When I visit the airports, they seem to be stock standard FSX, and for others, like Flinders Island, made for ORBX AU, there are solid black fences and rows of black rectangles, which may be attempted trees.When I tried to reinstall Holgermesh AU/NZ which shows ready to install, I'm told that it is not available. Maybe it is now part of ORBX AU?

Net result is that I have lost all my specialised Australian scenery.

Assistance appreciated. Cheers, Mike

[Nick Cooper]

Hello Mike,

 

what you may have read about the ORBX folder applies only to P3D v4.

 

AU Australia (v1) does not contain any airports.

AU Australia's scenery library entries start with FTXAU, rather than FTX AA

 

You will of course need to reinstall all of the Orbx airports that you have licenced,

payware and freeware.

Your symptoms may suggest that you have yet to install the Orbx Libraries.

The row of black rectangles that you mention could also be this:

 

Orbx do not seem to do a version of Flinders Island, perhaps that is by OzX and

their libraries are not yet installed?

 

I have tried to use Orbx Central to install Holgermesh and it simply did so.

Here it is at work:

 

 

[Airspeed]

Thanks Nick,

I've attached some screen shots.

As you see, Holgermesh fell over again.

Avalon is still not ORBX, and it took about 30 minutes to load, though I have 16Gb RAM.

Moorabbin loaded, many real life signs appear, but some black rectangles on the runways, no Coke trucks at the Coke warehouse etc.

I'll try some others, having some issues due to thunderstorm today.

Any errors obvious in the Scenery Library?

Still don't understand why I am having this unprecedented bother.

Regards, Mike

 

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

it looks like you have not added Holgermesh to your Orbx Direct account yet.

You are seeing "Free", whereas I see "Product Owned".

[Airspeed]

Hi Nick,

When I click on a payware product which I do not own, I am shown the product and offered to add to cart. If I click on a freeware product which I don't own (Emo Mission, eg) I am told that it's free, then I click on INSTALL which immediately changes to PRODUCT OWNED, and starts downloading. When I do that with HM AU, I get the error. I see EMO Mission in the list of freeware, but not HolgermeshAU. I am guessing the fact that it's not on the list is why it reports the error.

Regards, Mike

[Nick Cooper]

Hello Mike,

I have downloaded the files and put them into my Dropbox.

Unzip the file and then copy the entire ORBX folder into your FSX

root folder.

If you let me know when you have them and I will delete them.

LINK

 

[Airspeed]

Thanks Nick,

Downloaded and expanded into FSX.

Appears in ORBX folder.

Appears on Scenery Library.

Did a file verification on Avalon, YMAV, see attached screen shot.

Went to Avalon, still no ORBX scenery, see attached screen shot.

Is it safe for me to delete every ORBX file on my computer, except Central 4 and the Holgermesh that you made available, then start from scratch? I'm concerned that Central might not recognise me as an "owner" if there are no files at this end.

Totally confused, regards, Mike

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

to me, your top down shot looks about right, I seem to be seeing the curved roofed buildings.

[Airspeed]

Hi Nick,

My recollection was evidently partially incorrect, I thought that there was more infrastructure along the runway.

What is definitely missing, is the usual Jetstar collection of airliners at their terminal. In fact, there's no moving people or trucks either.

Something is wrong, like Moorabbin not having numerous Coca-Cola trucks at their warehouse. The mystery omissions are at at least two payware airports.

Sim Objects/Airplanes (sic) contains the usual pages of FTX aircraft, but whether the full 100% is in the folder, I can't say.

Regards, Mike

[Airspeed]

Back again,

Saw some user screen shots of ORBX Avalon, showing the painted 747, back in 2017.

The whole curved building is better detailed than my current experience, and I don't even have an UNpainted 747.

I've attached pics of the one included in the user forum, and mine to show the difference.

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

your picture, assuming that it is the one at the top, does seem to be of the Orbx product.

Please make sure that your Orbx Libraries are installed and up to date and that you have

ticked the Australia v2 option in the control panel.

The lower shot looks remarkable and so very much like a picture of the real thing.

[Airspeed]

Hello again, Nick.

As I suggested in my first post, maybe Holgermesh has been included in AU. Apparently, it is just not needed with AU V2, and that's why it's not available.

Unfortunately, having now purchased AU V2, and uninstalled AU, then deleting Holgermesh from the ORBX folder and deleting Holgermesh AU from the config folder, AU V2 refuses to install because it hasn't had an official "uninstall". I can't uninstall, because Central doesn't know that it was inserted.

Please advise how I can get past the attached hold up.

Regards, Mike

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

if I had known that you intended to install Australia v2, I would not have wasted your time or mine advising

you on Holgermesh or providing you with its files.

 

You will need to remove FTX_AU_HOLGERMESH.TXT file from ORBX\User Documents\Versions.

You will also need to remove the scenerylib_AU_HOLGERMESH.cfg file from ORBX\scripts

[Airspeed]

2 hours ago, Nick Cooper said:

Hello,

your picture, assuming that it is the one at the top, does seem to be of the Orbx product.

Please make sure that your Orbx Libraries are installed and up to date and that you have

ticked the Australia v2 option in the control panel.

The lower shot looks remarkable and so very much like a picture of the real thing.

Turns out it was real, but as it was in "screenshots" I didn't know until later. Having read more, I found that users could update to the (attached, left) state by applying a new .dds. I did that, and as mentioned in the topic, had to let the original file of the same name get overwritten. Thought all was therefore OK. After that update, mine's on the right; if there was no 747 in AU, I wonder why its .dds file was present.

[Airspeed]

37 minutes ago, Nick Cooper said:

Hello,

if I had known that you intended to install Australia v2, I would not have wasted your time or mine advising

you on Holgermesh or providing you with its files.

 

You will need to remove FTX_AU_HOLGERMESH.TXT file from ORBX\User Documents\Versions.

You will also need to remove the scenerylib_AU_HOLGERMESH.cfg file from ORBX\scripts

Hi Nick,

I had no intention of upgrading to AUV2, but I thought this was the only way I'd be satisfied with the appearance of Avalon.

Tried to do as you instructed, and even uninstalled Holger PNG. Searched my entire computer, but the only occurence of scenerylib_AU_HOLGERMESH.cfg is in a 2008 backup on Drive F, so could not delete that. It was not in the Dropbox download, so maybe it gets created when the full installation is performed?

Searched ORBX and FSX to be sure, for any mention of Holgermesh; only reference is in OZX, and that's just a note to say it can be downloaded from ORBX.

Went into FSX scenery library and ensured no Holgermesh there at all. I let it rebuild the scenery database, then closed. went back to Central 4.0.5, but it gives me the same refusal as above.

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

please check again in ORBX\User Documents\Versions.

The only way that Orbx Central can detect the scenery is there.

Try taking a look yourself, instead of relying on a Windows search

[Airspeed]

Hello Nick,

I had personally looked, finding nothing, I got Windows to double check me.

Today I had the same refusal, so I removed SA OLC; that seemed to do the trick, and let me install AU V2.

Verified files, see attached. Went to Avalon, none of the enhancements visible.

Shot 1, Jetstar terminal, no Jetstar aircraft, no aircraft anywhere on the airport.

Shot 2, Verified.

Shot 3,  No 747 next to large hangar, hangar detail nothing like the screen shots from 2017, no aircraft nearby, empty Jetstar pad in front of green roofed terminal. No sign of moving baggage handlers or airport traffic of any kind.

Thanks for your continued attention. Any other suggestions, please?

Regards, Mike

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

did you tick the Australia v2 box in the airport control panel?

[Airspeed]

Hello Nick,

Airport control panel; unsure which you mean, so.....

I've attached Scenery library with ticks automatically entered by Central 4.0.35, and the airport selection box with Avalon selected. This is how I get to Avalon, and when I just repeated it, the airport was deserted as in previous shots.

(I don't know if this has any relevance, but for what it's worth:

I am running Windows 7 Home Premium; I haven't seen any warnings that I need W10. In fact, when I booted this machine as W10,  FSX told me that my usual key code was invalid.) 

Sorry, need to go to bed now, next response tomorrow.

Regards, Mike

[Doug Sawatzky]

Hi Mike

 

Please open Orbx Central and go to the airport installed page, then click on the "Configure" option, then ensure the Australia Version 2 option is selected.

[Airspeed]

Hello Doug,

I hadn't seen that V2 tick box when I previously checked the configuration; I'm guessing it was added when V2 installed. Didn't know I had to do that.

In short, no, but it I added the tick, went to FSX, it updated the two scenery databases.

Went to Avalon, not any difference in any respect, see attachments.

I realise that this must be frustrating for you folks, but keep in mind that I tried everything I could think of without success before I even contacted you for help.

 

pic1: Jetstar, no AI, no moving people or trucks, no static Jetstar aircraft.

pic2: No 747 with or without paint, hangar is the old style.

pic3: Top down, as you can see, not a single parked aircraft.

pic4: I have no idea what the V2 control tower looks like, but this is what I've got.

I'm hoping that I won't have to uninstall FSX again, but if I have to, I will.

Please pass on thanks to Nick,

Regards, Mike

 

[Nick Cooper]

pic1: Jetstar, no AI, no moving people or trucks, no static Jetstar aircraft.

No aircraft, a few moving people

pic2: No 747 with or without paint, hangar is the old style.

747 is present

pic3: Top down, as you can see, not a single parked aircraft.

Me neither, apart from the 747

pic4: I have no idea what the V2 control tower looks like, but this is what I've got.

It looks like the one I see

 

You do appear to have most of what is there, just the 747 seems to be missing.

Please check that all your control panel options are ticked.

The same control panel that Doug guided you to.

[Airspeed]

OK Nick,

I really can't understand why other installations of YMAV show the 747, but not mine.

I've looked at the texture and BGL files, and though there are 63 pages of static aircraft.BGL, here we are with nil static aircraft. There is a texture file for the Canberra gate guardian, and a mention of Canberra in the .BGL, but my search could not find the Canberra either.

 

I was pleased to see that the user instruction manual for YMAV shows two Jetstar airliners at the terminal, (pic2 below) so read with great interest, finding that Avalon can be populated using FTXAUNZAI. I read the manual for the AI package, and though Central verifies the files, I can't see how to actually open that editor, to insert some visitors. The only mention of the facility is a json file in the config folder (see pic1)

I have tried watching the runway and terminal before, during, and after Arrival and Departure times according to the real Avalon schedule, but no aircraft become visible ten minutes either side of the timetable, so either they are not part of the package, or the AI was set to an earlier timetable, or again, my installation is letting me down.

 

I do like to see detail, hence my "fly low, fly slow".

For the same reason, I added the external aircraft at YMMB Moorabbin Air Museum, as they were omitted from the ORBX version.

 

Hoping that we can resolve the YMAV glitches, and get an explanation on ORBX AI, regards, Mike

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

all I seem to have done is break my own copy.

Let's ask @Graham Eccleston about the AI.

[Graham Eccleston]

The B747 was originally placed as an AI aircraft as part of the FTX AU AI Traffic pack. It was later changed to a scenery placed item however it would seem the updated placement file was never included in the FSX file set for YMAV Avalon.

 

Below are the two files concerned. Please download these and add them to your ORBX\FTX_AU\FTXAA_YMAV\Scenery folder overwriting the existing files when asked.

 

static aircraft_lib.bgl

 

avalon_static_PLC.bgl

 

I will pass these files to the Orbx Central guys to update the YMAV FSX installer.

 

The moving people (PeopleFlow) were added to the P3D V3 and V4 installers as an extra and were never included in the initial FSX installer.

 

[Graham Eccleston]

From your comments above, it would seem the FTX AU AI Traffic pack may not be working. There can be a number of reasons for this.

• Check the AI Traffic Control Panel in Orbx Central to ensure one or more of the FTX AI Traffic files have been selected.
• Check Settings - Traffic within FSX and ensure Aircraft and General Aviation Density settings are at an appropriate level. I would suggest you use 100% for both as a starting point and then reduce one or both to a level to suit your personal preference.
• Check that you have no FS9 traffic files on your system. FS9 and FSX traffic files are structured differently and when one or more FS9 traffic files are discovered, FSX will disable all the FSX ones when loading a simming session. FTX traffic files are all FSX ones while third party traffic files from World of AI and some MAIW traffic files are FS9 ones.

The FSX AI Traffic pack was prepared a few years ago and would reflect airline schedules appropriate at that time. Jetstar arrivals and departures may not be in accordance with current movements. It should be noted that there are a number of Qantas aircraft scheduled to appear periodically at the Avalon maintenance area and these should be visible if the pack was working as intended.    

[Airspeed]

Thank you Graham, and again to the others who have contributed.

 

I now have the 747 visible, happy about that.

 

Still haven't found the Canberra.

 

I have no AI traffic apart from the default in SDK and the AUNZ from ORBX. The boxes are ticked on the control screen, and the world AI has been disabled by ORBX.

I've had the settings for traffic at 100% to ensure that nothing was missed. I guess the only way to find out if the Jetstar aircraft are visiting, will be to watch for half an hour at 16x speed, and if nothing turns up in that virtual 8 hours, I'll know that something's not right.

 

Is the ORBX AI an actual editor? As posted above, I haven't found how to launch it. If I can do that, I could probably check the parameters for Avalon then either modify to current timetable, or at least set the sim time to coincide with the parameters to see if the AI is visible.

 

If you prefer me to create a new topic regarding AI, I will do so.

 

Kind regards, Mike

 

[Graham Eccleston]

You can find the Canberra lurking in the trees on the left of the road into the airport.

 

 

You should not need to do anything once you have installed the FTX AU AI Traffic pack. Just make sure everything is installed in the default location and you should be good to go.

 

Can you check that all that all the aircraft folders are where they should be. You should have 125 aircraft folders  named FTX AU ******** within your SimObjects/Airplanes folder. There should also be 3 Traffic_FTX ***** files in your Scenery\World\Scenery folder.

 

It may be helpful if you could post a screenshot of your Scenery\World\Scenery folder so we can make sure all is in order.

 

I note you have YMMB Moorabbin installed. This would be the best airport to check for AI aircraft activities as this one should be alive with AI movements.

 

You should also note that AI aircraft will not appear with the sim run at a rate above 4x.

[Airspeed]

All useful information there, Graham! Thanks for locating the Canberra, I missed it among the trees when I "drove" off the freeway, following the freeway signs.

 

Confirmed there are 125 FTX AU folders in Sim Objects/Airplanes.

 

Scenery\World\Scenery

Starts with heaps of "elevation adjustment" files, then;

....KSGU elevation;

6 x BNX;

1x bvcf

6 x image globe;

1 x lak

Then the traffic files per screenshot below:

 

Sounds like you are saying that I can't edit AI using the ORBX AI, which contains fixed data. I need an external editor?

 

Thanks for pointing out the speed limitation for AI; the batman was there waving like fury, but no aircraft.

 

Yes, Moorabbin is close to my heart as I used to live not too far away, and did some flying lessons there. I was a member of the museum too.

If anyone is interested, the Museum add-on, (which was uploaded to OzX, and downloaded about 300 times) is still available.

I can give a link to my website, or if you are at all interested in taking it as a free download, I'm OK with that. Refer pic2

 

Kind regards, Mike

[Graham Eccleston]

Thanks Mike. I already have the aircraft at the Moorabbin Air Museum, a nice little addition.

 

I don't recognise the files trafficNAVAL, trafficmerch and trafficCRUISE. Is it possible for those to be FS9 traffic files. Could you move them out of your FSX folder temporarily and see if your AI aircraft appear please.

[Airspeed]

Hello Graham,

Cut & pasted those two shipping files to another drive.

Went to Moorabbin last night, changed time to a weekend afternoon, but none of the expected T & Gs, or any other air traffic.

Road traffic very evident, and a few moving people. Found a couple of twin engined stationary aircraft, similar singles and helicopters.

Tried again with time set to system time and reset, this afternoon. As you mentioned, it should be alive with actual traffic and training flights; not one movement sighted.

I have seen them previously, so something has gone awry with this current installation.

Cheers, Mike

[Graham Eccleston]

Hi Mike,

 

Your files for the FTX AU AI Traffic pack seem to be in order. For the package to work, you just need the Traffic files in the Scenery/World/Scenery folder, which you have, and the aircraft folders in the SimObjects/Airplanes folder, which you have. The only thing stopping the AI aircraft from appearing is the presence of a FS9 traffic file somewhere on your FSX install.

  

There is a program you can use to identify FS9 traffic files on you system. You can get it here.

 

http://stuff4fs.com/Applications/AIFP/Downloads/AIFP3221.zip

 

Once installed, select Find FS9 Traffic Files under the top menu item Bulk Traffic. If any FS9 traffic files are located, you will have an option to recompile them if you wish to keep them.

 

This program can also be used to modify traffic files should you wish to do so.

 

[Airspeed]

Hi Graham,

Success!

Never knew that finder existed.

Turned out that there was some AI built into a Tasmania scenery file.

Moorabbin now has aircraft parked all over the place, they taxied out and did their stuff.

Thank you and any of your team who assisted you.

Now, if I can just get my computer to load up in less than fifteen minutes.....

Kind regards, Mike

[Graham Eccleston]

Great to see you are all sorted. Enjoy your flying.

[gr.eg]

On 2/1/2020 at 5:25 AM, Graham Eccleston said:

There is a program you can use to identify FS9 traffic files on you system. You can get it here.

http://stuff4fs.com/Applications/AIFP/Downloads/AIFP3221.zip

 

Once installed, select Find FS9 Traffic Files under the top menu item Bulk Traffic. If any FS9 traffic files are located, you will have an option to recompile them if you wish to keep them.

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for this heads up!

I've tried the software and found an old little FS9 traffic file (dated 06/04/2007!) "Traffic_safe.bgl" that I've OFF renammed! Because I suspect it's here from a long time (source not found, perhaps something from NZ scenes?), thank you.

My question: I've tried other menu options like List of registration numbers used more than once and Missing aircraft used in traffic files to check my FSX/A configuration => as AIFP3221 found some elements, do you think that they could give some trouble or performances slow-downs? The problems are in some traffic files delivered with Orbx scenes. To illustrate my discoveries, I've saved the results, please could you have a look to the 2 joined files? Can the traffic files be corrected if necessary? Thank you!

ListOfRegistrationNumbersUsedMoreThanOnce.txt MissingAircraftUsedInTrafficFiles.txt

[Graham Eccleston]

If we were to use individual aircraft only once, there would be a significant reduction in the amount of AI aircraft you see in the sim. It is totally impractical to reproduce every aircraft using particular airports in the real world so most AI models are used more than once.  We do take care to ensure the same model is placed so as not to appear more than once in the same region/airport.

 

I also note you have duplicate aircraft in Samoa. AI traffic for this region pack are included in the FTX AU AI Traffic pack. If you have both installed, you should deactivate the Samoa specific AI traffic.

 

The missing aircraft you have identified are from very old traffic files which have since been replaced by the FTX NA AI Traffic pack. 

[gr.eg]

Hi Graham and many thanks for your explanations.

 

I just desactivated these 3 files if I understood what you meant 

• Traffic_ORBX_NRM_GA.bgl
• Traffic_ORBX_PFJ_GA.bgl
• Traffic_FTX_Samoa_AI.bgl

Perhaps should I desactivate the KEGE, KMRY, KPSP and KSEZ too? But I thought they brought special traffics (like helicopters at KPSP?).