Hell of a problem replacing the whole of Orbx

[John York]

You wouldn't think it possible but last week, trying to tidy up folders and files I lost the whole of the contents of my 'F' disc! :'(

However, I was lucky.  I have an exact copy of it on my external drive, so; 'not a problem', I thought, 'I'll just copy and paste it all back to my now registry cleaned and empty defragged 'F' drive'.

It all went well and with a few minor adjustments where I had to run (activate) a few aircraft and a couple of other bits and pieces like UTX etc.  However, Orbx is a different matter.  I can copy the files and folders on to it ok, but can I get the FTX Central shortcut to work?  Well, no matter what I try, no I can't!

So much for backing up!!

Oh, and I've even tried to reinstall the AU SP3 disc and get Central that way.  But I keep getting a message to the effect that the address doesn't exist or I've typed in the the wrong address.  However,

with that installer there can't be a typo because it doesn't give that facility.  It chooses the address to send it all to, so to tell me then it doesn't exist is a complete nonsence! 

So, if anyone has any idea how I can get FTX Central to work, and, for that matter, the rest of it, I'll be very grateful.

John 

[rockliffe]

Oooops, sheesh, I feel for you matey, wish I could be of some help. No doubt someone will though...

[Wolter van der Spoel]

Hi John,

sorry to hear of the "issues" but did you check that the fsX path is correct in the registry ?

just to make sure it is correct look for the tooly on the suport page also advisable is to re-install the latest library files.

[Phil Manhart]

In line with what Wolter is saying, try running the Registry fixer tool from the Support page available here: FSX_Registry_Fix.zip

Also, like Wolter said, install the latest Orbx Libraries: FTXORBXLIBS_110315.zip

[John York]

I already had the latest library but installed it again with no difference.

But thanks, I'll try the Registry Fix.  Why am I not confident?!

I'll let you know.

John

PS - Ok - tried that.  This is what I got when I tried to run the registry fix.  Similar actually to the messages I get when trying to use FTX Central.

This first is quite ridiculous.  As demonstrated lower down it most certainly does exist, otherwise how could I navigate to it and fly using FSX?

And this is the folder on my 'F' disc with FSX in the first column last three entries.

John

Thank you ImageShack

[Wolter van der Spoel]

OK, so point the tooly to the current location of your fsX.exe and hit OK

in case off if you have Skype or TeamSpeak I could talk ya through it

[John York]

Thanks Wolter, I've just tried that but its the same problem, it keeps telling me that folder doesn't exist.

I've got an idea that when I tidied the folders to make it a more logical progression and avoid duplication, that the Orbx installation for some reason wants to keep going back to a folder that isn't there any longer.

Why that should be so when all the other applications and sceneries are working fine I don't know. I'll play around some more.

John

[Wolter van der Spoel]

Hi John,

in that case create a new folder with that name as the program will keep looking for it as it is an integral part of the FTX setup

[John York]

Sorry Wolter.  Don't quite understand that.

At the moment I have more or less everything in;

F:\\Program Files(86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\........all the stuff including OzX, Orbx etc.

However, in  'Program Files(86)' as separate stand alone files, I also have;  'Effects', 'Real Environmment Extreme 2 Overdrive', 'Scenery', 'Texture' and 'Sun Effect cfg'.

Can you please tell me exactly where to put the new folder, what to name it, and what, if anything, to put into it please.

There's another thing I should mention.  Nowhere can I find 'FSX.exe'.  All I ever find remotely like a .exe file is the 2.61MB file 'fsx' with the white airplane ikon on a blue background and which I assume is the '.exe' file?

As I've often said, I'm an old ignoramous so I do need you to lead me through this if you can please.  Unfortunately, our Skype connection is on my wife's computer in another room and always proves to be a most awful connection, probably because of where we live.  Otherwise I would love to do it that way and do thank you for that offer.

John

 

[ChandlerL]

There's another thing I should mention.  Nowhere can I find 'FSX.exe'.  All I ever find remotely like a .exe file is the 2.61MB file 'fsx' with the white airplane ikon on a blue background and which I assume is the '.exe' file?

Yup, that's the one. Windows, by default, doesn't show file extensions (like .exe) at the end of files. You can turn this on, if you like. When you're viewing your flight sim folder.

1) Press your ALT key on your keyboard to bring up a menu (File Edit View Tools Help). Click Tools to get the drop down menu, then click Folder Options. Go to the View tab. You're looking for the "Hide extensions for known file types" and that's checked off. Uncheck it. Click OK. You'll see file extensions like ".exe" ".doc" ".jpg" etc. from then on

[Wolter van der Spoel]

Hi John,

on your F: drive create a folder called "Microsoft Flight Simulator X"

in to that you move all the files except the REX ones

should look something like the attached screenie

[John York]

Ok Wolter, I have successfully updated the registry now after achieving this;

I've renamed the now empty last folder as it simply won't delete!  Everything, except REX is in the first.  So far so good.

However, what I can't seem to do is get the FTX Central to work.  I've tried pointing fsx to it but it still doesn't work. I get the message; 'FSX not found at the location pointed to by the Registry. F:\Program Files (86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X'.

I know that's the wrong destination but the Registry Fix confirmed the destination correctly as; 'F:\Program Files (86)\Microsoft Flight Simulator X'.

 

So how can I get FTX Central to look for FSX in the right bloody place?

Everything except Orbx is working really well.  This is getting so frustrating.

John

Thank you ImageShack

[John York]

This is a PS - To avoid misunderstandings, that defunct folder contains the following empty folder; Microsoft Flight Simulator which I also can't delete.

John

[Ian Routley]

When you say "Can't delete"  this can be:

1) open folder or file within folder (close everything)

2) permissions issue (Make sure you are admin, turn UAC off)

3) Folder attribute (see below)

Right-click the folder and select properties

Uncheck the "Read Only" checkbox

Click OK, and apply to all subfolders and files

Then try to delete it again.

[John York]

If it was only that easy Ian.

The first two options were not applicable, so I tried the third.  This is what I got;

Typical!

To be truthful, I'm getting to the point of giving up on Orbx and that silly FTX Central tool.  It's all too much bother.

John

Thank you ImageShack

[Griphos]

The problem isn't Orbx or the FTX Central tool.  You're not going to like hearing this, but the problem is that you cleaned your registry and then tried to move a bunch of program files.  The computer isn't a person.  It can't just look into your folders and see that files are there like you can.  It looks where the registry tells it to look.  The registry learns where to tell it to look when you install the program.  Wiping the registry and then moving files around will ALWAYS bugger up your programs.  It's not the program's fault.

So, instead of trying to fix a buggered registry (almost always a losing proposition, as something else down the line will likely have problems as well), you should probably just reinstall FSX and FTX and your other add-ons.  I know it's a pain, but there you go.  FSX is not a particularly streamlined program and fixing it so that it runs the way you have could well still allow problems down the road, but you'll be wondering what's causing them. 

If you re-install, you should install outside of the Program Files (86) directory that it wants to install to.  Windows is more protective of those directories than other directories and gets hinky sometimes about changes you'll want and need to make to the game. 

As for backups, unless you make a disk image, then you're never going to get programs back like they were from backups.  Backups are for data, disk images are for programs, because an image also creates an image of your registry and all the other program settings and locations necessary to make programs run.  You can always go into an external backup and get back data (photos, documents, etc), but you'll almost never be able to get back programs that work like they should that way.  I make a weekly image backup and can always revert my computer to its exact operating state of no more than a week ago should things go south. 

As for not being able to delete, it's probably actually option 1 that's stopping you (or the fact that you're trying to change attributes of folders/files in the Program Files folder...like I said, it's hinky about that).  Just because you don't have a window open doesn't mean the folder or file is not open.  You could check though the task manager, but not even that allows you to see most of the folders and files that are in use unless they are in use in a process or service that you recognize.  You can probably delete the folder and files by rebooting, or by booting into safe mode, deleting them, and then rebooting.   

[Wolter van der Spoel]

odd tought out of the box,

run a checkdisc with repairs enabled see if that clears the corrupted file issue

[Ian Routley]

As above ... you have a corrupted folder.

To be more specific, that folder exists in the File Table, but not in real life.

At a command prompt

chkdsk f: /f

to fix file errors ... it will inform you that it can't unmount the disc and needs to restart ... let it do this.

An ugly DOS-like screen will inform you of progress.

And no, this has absolutely nothing to do with FTX Central or ORBX  ... apart from the fact that you're posting on an ORBX forum.  So care and credit where both are due!

[John York]

What Griphos suggests is out of the question.  No way am I reinstalling that lot - life's too short!

Furthermore, the words 'Use Registry Cleaner' before reinstalling stuff is very common so am I to understand that in taking this very common advice I'm to blame?    Come on!

The blame I will take however is in trying to tidy up the folder and file system in the first place.  I know now that was a real big big mistake.  I should have left it as it is. 

Besides that, I have already reinstalled FSX as a repair and I repeat, everything else is working perfectly except for Orbx so its not unreasonable for me to concentrate on that.  I would say too that looking at the forum, there are others who have difficulties with the FTX Central, so it seems to me too that it's not unreasonable to expect to be able to re-download that control and install it so it works with a different folder and file system which I should remind everyone the folder and file system recommended by you Wolter.

I've tried the check disc Iain but it asks me if I wish to 'dismount' whatever that means but I can't work out how to answer it.  It gives the option of; (Y/N)_ but when I type in Y it does nothing;

What I could do is try to delete everything from that disc again, clean it, remove it using the 'Safely Remove Hardware' tool and then reinstall it, clean it again and put everything back but in what hopefully then should be a completely new folders system.

Obviously, I don't want to do that if FTX Central is still not going to work at the end of it, so your advice on that would be helpful.

The other alternative, and from my point of view, the better one, it seems to me is to completely uninstall Orbx only (excluding the airports and stuff) and then reinstall Orbx using the SP3 disc and all the updates and put in the newest library again.  Would that reinstall the registry where it should be and have a fair chance of success do you think?

John

[Ian Routley]

The idea is to correct erros on the Volume so you don;t have to remove and start again.

If you don't dismount the drive (N) it should give you the option of running when windows restarts.

Alternatively, so long as nothing is actively writing to the drive, see if it can dismount (probably not)

[John York]

Thanks Ian.  Truth is half the time I don't know what I'm doing with some of this stuff.  I'm a good operator is all.  The inner workings of the computer and programs are a complete mystery to me!

In the meantime, I've changed the folder structure back to more or less what it was and this is the furthest I've got with FTX Central since all this started;

Its been like this for about 45 minutes so far but I'm losing patience.  I'll give it a further 15 minutes and if nothing happens by then I'll stop it and use the disc check.

Yes, nothing happened and I got this;

Now I'm having difficulty even closing FTX Central!  I click 'Quit' and nothing happens.  I click the 'x' top right and get the above unhandled exception again.

Ok, managed to close it in the end and have run check disc dismounted and restarted the computer.  No difference.  FTX Central still doesn't work.

Ah well.  What a mess.

John

Thank you ImageShack

[Griphos]

Furthermore, the words 'Use Registry Cleaner' before reinstalling stuff is very common so am I to understand that in taking this very common advice I'm to blame?    Come on!

Yes, before "reinstalling stuff"!  But you didn't reinstall anything.  You used registry cleaner and then tried to move files and folders including programs from a backup to the original drive.  You can't do that without buggering everything up.  If you had uninstalled and then wanted to actually reinstall, rather than move things around manually, then running a registry cleaner can be a good idea to get rid of left over registry entries the uninstall process left behind. 

If you don't want problems like this in the future, then don't clean your registry unless you plan to re-install some program.

As for cleaning the disk and moving everything back to it, no, that won't fix your problem, I don't think.  If FTX Central was working before you did the "tidying," then it's very unlikely you have a corrupted .exe file as the problem.  And what you suggest doing means you still won't have the registry entries you need.  You're thinking in terms of files and folders.  Cleaning your drive and putting "fresh" files and folders back on it won't help.  The problem isn't with the files and folders (except if you deleted one and the file table got corrupted and still thinks it's there).  The problem is with programs.  Programs are not like files and folders.  They are files, but to work, most of them need other files in other folders and don't know where those are without registry entries, and they also often need settings that are also put in the registry.  Programs have to be installed.  And installing things is not just a matter of sticking files into folders. 

When you ran checkdisk, did you repair the file/folder errors it found?  Did it find any?

If you reinstall all Orbx products, then, yes, that should put all the registry entries you need, I would think.  But if you're going to reinstall all the Orbx products, then why not just reinstall from the start with FSX as well?  It sure wouldn't add much time to the process. 

And yes, best not to go messing with file and folder organization for programs. 

[Ian Routley]

I think at best you are going to end up with a mess following the current route.

The Unhandled exception is probably related to the corrupted files/folders.

I think cutting your losses now will be faster, and give you a cleaner problem-free FSX install in the long-run.  If the F: drive is only for FSX (and assuming it is reliable) I would reformat it.

Solving the corrupted folder deletion is only part of the battle.  You are still going to have broken registry entries, and possibly semirecovered file fragments.  FTX entries shouldn't require registry entries as such ... but you must have an intact FSX.exe registry entry for ORBX (and other) installers to work.

I would vote for a clean FSX / SP2/ SP2 install followed by all your add-ons.

And don't go fiddling with the directory structure again!

[oltimer]

What Griphos suggests is out of the question.  No way am I reinstalling that lot - life's too short!

So instead I''ll take three days fixing the issue, not the better half of just one for a full fresh install with minor headache. Now you have a true headache and sound like have even wasting more time then had you just did just reformatted and reinstalled fresh.

With add-ons it dose take some time, my last reformat/reinstall was like 12 or 13 hours worth of installing an downloading my add-on collection but at least the process was straight forward and was not a community issue.

Hope you get back right sounds like a pain to get back right.

[John York]

Check disc found no errors Griphos and Ian.

I don't think you two understand just how much there is to reinstall on that disc.  Its not only FSX and Orbx, its all of this too!

No way am I doing that, especially when I think of all the addon airports there are in the addons file.  Every airport in Britain for instance, all of them specially made accurately to fit VFR Photo Scenery.  Can you imagine how long that alone would take?  Some of the aircraft programs are not the easiest in the world to install either. 

When everything else is working fine except Orbx, the only things  I might be persuaded to do is to run the FSX repair facility which I've already done and reinstall Orbx which I've also already done but which I'm happy to do again if someone can tell me exactly what I need to do (in view of the lack of it in the uninstall feature in Program Features and Files) to completely get rid of the installation I have now, and then how to reinstall it.

Also what I should do about all the Orbx addons as shown below!

Thanks for trying to help but all I really want is for FTX Central to work but at the moment that seems just too much to ask.

John

[Ian Routley]

I don't think you two understand just how much there is to reinstall on that disc.  Its not only FSX and Orbx, its all of this too!

This is the decision you have to make.  In theory, if the paths on the drive are EXACTLY the same then it would not have mattered ... no registry entries to correct, becasue everything will be where it is expected to be.

That hasn't been borne out ... but as to installing all your add-ons ... you need to ask at some point how much progress you are making.

If you feel that uninstalling FTX is the answer, the FAQ section of the forum contains what you are looking for ... although you'll have to adapt it to what is going on in your install.

http://orbxsystems.com/forums/index.php?board=33.0

[John York]

Ok, thanks Ian.

I've deleted the whole of Orbx now and will defrag the disc.

Later this week,  I'll try to install it again from the SP3 disc and put on the latest patch and update.  If that works, the rest should follow on fairly easily.  Cross everything for me!

I'll let you know the outcome.

Thanks for your patience in trying to help.

John

[John Venema]

Seriously John, this has become a circus. You need to reformat your drives, reinstall Windows and then your apps and FSX. That route would have taken far less time than getting everyone here involved. I am locking this topic now.