ACTIVE FTX Central trouble switching regions in FSX

[bcummins]

FTX Central hung up while trying to switch from Oceania to North America, reporting an "unhandled exception: Access to the path 'F:\Microsoft Flight Sim X\ORBX\Scripts\Backup\restore.bat is denied'. Since then, getting proper airport elevations & related scenery has been inconsistent in FTX N. America scenery areas. I tried advice from another forum topic to set Central to N.America and then delete all N.A. ADE...OFF files in the scenery\World\Scenery folder. Then set Central to Default, then back again to North America. But this didn't solve my problem for North America FTX sceneries. I applied "Oceania" in Central and checked the same Scenery folder - no changes at all. Set Central back to North America and still no change in the folder - same 119 files were there, mostly NZ BGLs. Within FSX I had tested 8 scenery areas in FTX PNW, PF & SAK. Four were OK and four were messed up, but this "Scenery" file only contained a BGL for one of the "OK" airports.

I have a ton of FTX payware addons and would really like to get FTX Central working correctly again.

Brian

[Holger Sandmann]

Hi Brian,

 

it does sound like the activation/deactivation of the airport adjustment files had gotten out of sync. However, deleting any .OFF files from \Scenery\World\scenery only makes sense if you have duplicate files of the same name with a .bgl extension otherwise you'll completely remove the adjustment files.

 

Fortunately, there's a full set of backup copies in \ORBX\Scripts\Custom.na\OFF. Make sure that FTX Central is set to North America then copy and paste the entire set from the \OFF folder into \Scenery\World\scenery. Let us know if that fixes the issue.

 

Cheers, Holger

[bcummins]

I followed these directions, then started up FSX for Friday Harbour (I have all the N America scenery areas) and the problem is still there - huge ditches beside the runway etc. Shut down FSX, switched Central to "Default" and flew a flight in Europe. Closed FSX, switched Central back to "North America" and tried Friday Harbour again. Exact same problem. Shut down FSX. In Win Explorer I could see that the 299 identical elevation adjustment BGL files which are in the Orbx Custom.na OFF folder are also in the World/Scenery folder. I had earlier updated the Orbx library to 140405 so FTX Central is the latest version. Really puzzled and hope you can help. (Sorry for the delay in getting back to you as I didn't have any time this past week to fly.)

Brian Cummins

[Holger Sandmann]

Hi Brian,

 

if the elevation issue is limited to Friday Harbor then perhaps you have another add-on active that isn't compatible with our version? As it happens KFHR hasn't had its elevation changed by PNW meaning it doesn't have one of those adjustment files in \scenery\world\scenery.

 

If you can't find an obvious third-party entry in your scenery library menu then I'd suggest running a Windows search of your entire FSX folder tree for .bgl files that include KFHR as part of their names. It should bring up four bgl files that are part of PNW:

 

FTX_PNW_objects_KFHR_PLC.bgl

cvx_SBX_FTX_PNW_KFHR_Friday_Harbor.BGL

ADE_FTX_PNW_KFHR_Friday_Harbor_CVX.bgl

ADE_FTX_PNW_KFHR_Friday_Harbor.BGL

 

Anything else that comes up would be a potential culprit. If you're not sure post a screenshot or list of the search result with full file names and folder paths and we can help with further diagnosis; a good example of that is http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/74843-two-layer-main-runway-at-nzqn/?p=690129 . Make sure that full folder names and paths are visible. Instructions how to post screenshots are here: http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/38447-how-to-post-a-screenshot-on-the-orbx-forums/

 

Also see our compatibility index for PNW and third-party add-ons: http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/62404-pnw-compatibility-index/

 

Cheers, Holger

[shermank]

I am not really a party to this discussion except to say that Holger Sandman is an astounding resource and great friend to our hobby. I think I first ran into your work, maybe with FS98 and some freeware you produced. More to the present, your fund of knowledge and experience, not to mention patience with all of us amateur hobbyists, is commendable.you are a wonderful virtual friend!

Sherm

(Btw I have a few more ORBX sceneries than my signature reveals.i have just been too lazy to update the list..

[bcummins]

Hi Holger,

 

I only have FSGlobal 2010 (FTX Compatible version) as a possible culprit but turning it off doesn't make any difference for Friday Harbour so I don't know what's happened there. It was fine until my FTX Central hang-up problem, but I may just have to live with it. However, I do have payware for KORS and it is not working correctly at all since the Central issue and turning FSGlobal on or off doesn't make any difference. Here's a screenshot of KORS:

 

 

By the way, I am grateful big time for the excellent work you did a few years ago on Vancouver/Victoria. These got me into buying quality scenery add-ons resulting in many enjoyable hours of flying. It would be great if you, or a team like yours, could tackle the Banff-Lake Louise area. That would be terrific scenery!

Brian

CYYC

[Holger Sandmann]

Hi Brian,

So you ran the search for KFHR .bgl files and none other than those I listed came up? Are at least those files present?

For KORS you'd need to do a similar search, just with KORS as the search term. If you post the search results we can help with sorting out what's what.

Thanks for the kind words, also to Sherm! As for the Banff-Lake Louise area perhaps you're not aware that our Northern Rockies region includes all of the Canadian Rockies National Parks? https://www.fullterrain.com/product_nanrm.html

Cheers, Holger

[bcummins]

Yes, I search for KFHR .bgl files and found the 4 you listed and no others. Did the same for KORS and found these:

 

ADE_FTX_PNW_KORS_elevation_adjustment.BGL (in Orbx/scripts)

ADE_FTX_PNW_KORS_elevation_adjustment.BGL (in World/scenery)

ADE_FTX_PNW_KORS_Orcas_Isle.BGL

ADE_FTX_PNW_KORS_Orcas_Isle_CVX.BGL

FTX_PNW_objects_KORS_PLC.bgl

 

plus 55 other BGLs since I have the FTX_AA_KORS\Scenery.

 

However, I noticed that there is a copy of ORBX_KORS_15cm_PR.bgl in the FTX_AA_3W5 scenery file as well as in the KORS\Scenery. Not sure why this would appear in the Concrete scenery - maybe this is a problem for KORS although the Concrete scenery is working correctly.

 

RE: Banff - Yes, I have the Northern Rockies scenery but was thinking of considerable more detail and especially sharper mesh for the mountains.

 

Appreciate your help once again!

Brian

[bcummins]

Another update. All my problems began with an FTX Central issue on April 27 as noted in my original post and nothing I've tried since then has resolved the scenery problems. If the FTXC script is supposed to move adjustment files in and out of World\Scenery on the basis of which world region is selected/applied within FTXC (my assumption), then this is not working at all. I've applied Default, Oceania, Europe and North America, starting up and shutting down FSX inbetween each test and nothing changes in the World\Scenery folder - the same 299 ADE_FTX North America adjustment BGLs remain there, along with ai-traffic.bgl and FSX Decompiler.exe. I have re-downloaded and reinstalled the FTX LIBS 140405 hoping it might repair FTXC. I switched FTXC to Default and deleted all the ADE_FTX North America files from World\Scenery. Ran and shut down FSX. Switched FTXC to North America. Went to KORS in FSX and got the same result as my earlier screenshot. No adjustment files were in World\Scenery, so I copied the one for KORS into that folder and tried FSX KORS again. Exact same result.

 

Is there any way to uninstall and reinstall FTX Central?

Regards,

Brian

[bcummins]

I'm disappointed that there doesn't seem to be any solution to my Orbx scenery problems. I'll just have to assume that there are other issues with my system and live without KORS, PAPG etc until I have time to completely reinstall FSX.

Brian