Strange Problem with Scenery Database

[biffer]

Hi Folks,

For reasons best known to itself, EVERY time I load FS2004 nowadays I get a message telling me that it's, "Building Database for New Scenery Files." It does this whether I've installed new scenery or not. I've ticked the box to instruct it to empty the CD-ROM scenery cache on exit, but that doesn't make any difference.

Whatever it's doing, it's playing havoc with my frame-rates. I have it set on a max frame-rate of 25, and it will now typically jump from, say, 24 down to 6 or even zero, and then back up again for no apparent reason. It does this in scenery areas and at airports that never previously showed any frame-rate problems.

Constructive suggestions appreciated!

[fxsttcb]

I'd try disabling all of what you have installed including Add-On Scenery, test, then re-enable one at a time to see if you can isolate it...Don

[jgf]

Try deleting all the scenery.dat files; these will be rebuilt the next time you start the sim (so loading will be a bit longer) and often clears up odd scenery problems.

[biffer]

Try deleting all the scenery.dat files; these will be rebuilt the next time you start the sim (so loading will be a bit longer) and often clears up odd scenery problems.

Sounds worth trying, but can you tell me where I'd find these .dat files? Even good ol' Windows 7 'Search Files' can't find them.

Thanks!

[jgf]

There is a scenery.dat for each installed scenery, located in that scenery's root folder. You may have to select "show hidden files" on your system to see them (windows deems anything with a "dat" extension to be precious and sacred, something to be secreted from the eyes of mere mortals). These contain the instructions for loading the scenery and are what you see FS9 accessing/editing/creating whenever you add or change scenery; for some arcane reason one or more of these may, while not being "corrupt", have data that FS9 questions, instead of correcting it the sim squawks about it at every start up.

[biffer]

Well, folks, I have good news ... and not-so-good-news.

I tried disabling the last scenery I loaded (suggested by fxsttcb), and this seems to have restored a healthy frame-rate.

I also tried deleting the .dat scenery files (suggested by jgf), which kept an idiot amused for 20-minutes or so (there's a lot of .dat files!). Sadly, this didn't seem to have any beneficial effect and the sim' still insists on creating a scenery database every time I load the bugger.

Taking the approach that I'm just grateful that it works at all, methinks it may be best to leave well alone. Whether this glitch will lead to other problems further down the runway, I have no idea. Yes, it's quite irritating to get this message at every start-up, but if that's all that happens I could learn to live with it.

What do you guys and guysesses think???

Cheers!

[jgf]

"...(there's a lot of .dat files!)"

Just do a search for scenery.dat in your main scenery folder, when done click in the right pane and hit Cntrl+A (to select all) and delete.


Scenery changes are the only thing that triggers rebuilding the database, so obviously FS9 is still registering changes (perhaps a dat file is not being written ...I don't know if FS9 will override a read-only file in this situation but if not it's possible a folder is set to read-only). I would disable all scenery except default and see if the sim loads normally (you'll have to restart at least twice since FS9 will rebuild the database on the first restart); if all is well, add a dozen or so sceneries and try again (one of the scenery manager utilities will make this easier since you can then edit the scenery.cfg outside the sim so eliminate one cycle of loading and exiting). Eventually you'll isolate the problem scenery ...though this drawn out procedure may be more odious than the extra wait at each start.

[biffer]

"Just do a search for scenery.dat in your main scenery folder, when done click in the right pane and hit Cntrl+A (to select all) and delete."

Doh! Thanks, JGF. If I can extort some 'me' time over the weekend, I'll give it another go.

Cheers!

[nagai]

Also check the properties on your scenery.dat file check they haven't become read only. I had a similar problem a while back. And also check you fs9.exe properties are set to as run as administrator.

[biffer]

Also check the properties on your scenery.dat file check they haven't become read only. I had a similar problem a while back. And also check you fs9.exe properties are set to as run as administrator.

Thanks, nagai, I'll give it a try!