Problem number 2 today :(

I've changed over 100% to FSX Steam Edition but I have a folder which originally had FSX loaded in it C\FSX .... I've un-installed FSX ok but still in that folder in an Aerosoft file named "Fonts" and I can't delete it. It comes up with a message saying "This file is open in another program, close that file and try again" I've run the Windows task manager and I can't find anything running from any Aerosoft programs.

I need to delete the C\FSX folder because I want to re-install all my Horizon VFR Scenery into FSX Steam but on trying it insists on installing it in C\FSX and not into FSX Steam Edition.

Can anyone help? I've tried rebooting the computer but I get the same message pop up when I try to delete that folder. :(

Hi,

inside this folder there are one or more .TTF files, right? Those are TrueType Fonts, that are probably registered in Windows itself - so it is your OS which is holding on to those files. You need to delete those by using "Control Panel/Appearance and Personalization/Fonts"

Which folder is this exactly? I have a lot of Aerosoft stuff too, maybe I can take a look at it.

I had a similar problem once trying to rename my FSX folder. The problem turned out to be "Windows Font Cache Service". Press Windows key+R for a Run box, type msconfig and press OK. On the Services tab scroll down and remove the check mark from "Windows Font Cache Service", then "OK" and restart the PC as directed. You should be able to delete the FSX folder after doing that.

Jim

I had a similar problem once trying to rename my FSX folder. The problem turned out to be "Windows Font Cache Service". Press Windows key+R for a Run box, type msconfig and press OK. On the Services tab scroll down and remove the check mark from "Windows Font Cache Service", then "OK" and restart the PC as directed. You should be able to delete the FSX folder after doing that.

 

Jim

Disabling this service may have a negative impact on performance, albeit minimal. These fonts are commonly used on the FMC displays and the like and there is nothing wrong with caching them.

Plus you are producing artifacts in your system/registry, as there are fonts registered where the original file doesn't exist any more.

First tried what Mr Zippy suggested that didn't work.

also tried deleting the fonts as nuitkati suggested it didn't work.

and finally tried turning off the Windows Font Cache Service that Jim suggested that didn't work either.

Any more ideas I can try?

PS... many thanks for the suggestions so far :)

I turned the font caching service off in Dec of 2013 and it has never caused a problem. There is something wrong with caching fonts if the service ties up my FSX installation, that is not acceptable to me.

EDIT: Nibbo, you're going to have to get a copy of Process Explorer and figure out what "handle" is tying up your FSX folder. Click the "find handle or dll" icon (binoculars icon) and paste the filename of the font or the path to the FSX\fonts folder and it should tell you which process is tying it up.

First tried what Mr Zippy suggested that didn't work.

also tried deleting the fonts as nuitkati suggested it didn't work.

and finally tried turning off the Windows Font Cache Service that Jim suggested that didn't work either.

 

Any more ideas I can try?

PS... many thanks for the suggestions so far :)

Which fonts and what subfolder (full path) is this? I suspect you didn't get them all. But please post a screenshot of what exactly you cannot delete, maybe there is something else to see...

I turned the font caching service off in Dec of 2013 and it has never caused a problem. There is something wrong with caching fonts if the service ties up my FSX installation, that is not acceptable to me.

 

EDIT: Nibbo, you're going to have to get a copy of Process Explorer and figure out what "handle" is tying up your FSX folder. Click the "find handle or dll" icon (binoculars icon) and paste the filename of the font or the path to the FSX\fonts folder and it should tell you which process is tying it up.

Far be it from me...

But actually, this 'tying up your FSX folder' is not a fault of the cache. It is the (un)installer's fault that registered the font but didn't unregister it when you removed that addon before renaming.

Sorry, but I really don't like or recommend the idea of deleting/renaming folders of installed programs and much less the application of brute force to support this course of action. But I realize people do this and that developers often forget about proper disposal of their things - that in my book is the main reason why the performance of Windows systems typically degrades over time.

Far be it from me...

 

But actually, this 'tying up your FSX folder' is not a fault of the cache. It is the (un)installer's fault that registered the font but didn't unregister it when you removed that addon before renaming.

What you don't understand is that I didn't/don't uninstall anything - I rename the folder when I want to run an installer that won't fire it's load into any folder besides that defined in the registry as the FSX setup path. Then I rename the FSX folder back to original when I'm finished. At the time I was a developer/beta tester at Orbx so it was something I did often when there were problems with an installer and I wanted to see which files were being placed where. There are a number of other reasons a person might rename the FSX folder and create a dummy in it's place temporarily, particularly when you're developing things. I only suggested turning off font caching because that's what worked for me.

I'll let you handle this from here.

I turned the font caching service off in Dec of 2013 and it has never caused a problem. There is something wrong with caching fonts if the service ties up my FSX installation, that is not acceptable to me.

 

EDIT: Nibbo, you're going to have to get a copy of Process Explorer and figure out what "handle" is tying up your FSX folder. Click the "find handle or dll" icon (binoculars icon) and paste the filename of the font or the path to the FSX\fonts folder and it should tell you which process is tying it up.

I downloaded Process Explorer, typed in FSX and this list appeared

I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing. What do I need to do next?

Can you still see these fonts in the Control Panel ( and delete them from there) or are they gone already? If so, you might have to look for the registry entries for these font files and delete those. But be careful with that.

A very crude way to do this would be to boot Windows in protected or even command line mode, then delete the folder from there.

What I don't know is, how your Windows will react when you pull those files. You may have to reinstall the fonts for other programs to work.

One other thing to try, before you use a blunt instrument (i.e. regedit):

Try copying this Fonts folder to a different place (for example the SE base folder - if it is not already there anyway). Then reinstall the fonts from there and check if the handle on the old file gets released. I don't know if Windows works that way, but there is a chance it might. maybe following a reboot. Just right click the TTF file in its new location and select 'install'

OK to follow up on using Process Explorer, I couldn't remember how I deduced it was Font caching causing me the problem so I had to re-enable it and go through the process again. Now I remember, the PID (program ID) was the tipoff, here look at this screenshot:

http://www.cat-tamer.com/flightsim/atchmnts/windows_font_caching.jpg

You right click the task bar and open the task manager, then on the services tab see if you can find anything that matches PID 1236. Post another screenshot of what you see or just try disabling whatever it turns out to be in msconfig. Actually it sounds like nuitkati has a better idea if you can get windows to release those fonts without disabling anything.

In my case I just disabled the font caching service in msconfig to see if that would allow me to rename my FSX folder. It did, and I couldn't see any ill effects so I just left it that way. To be honest I suspect it was the PMDG 777 that started this service on my FSX fonts because as nuitkati mentioned it uses a bunch of special fonts in the FMC. I haven't flown the T7 since so possibly it doesn't work correctly. I don't much care about that and as you can see umm, it's reversible in the event it does cause a problem :) .

All that said, your Horizon VFR installer won't magically install into FSX-SE now or even after you delete the old FSX folder. You have to remove the FSX-SE side by side registry entries and replace them with an FSX-SE single install registry entry that mimmicks FSX-MS. Basically the installer still thinks FSX-MS is installed into C:\FSX because that's what it's finding in the registry for whatever reason.

You might try using the Flight 1 registry repair tool to fake out the installer by pointing the tool to fsx.exe located in your Steam FSX folder.

Hi Jim,

testing is a special circumstance methinks. Did you re-enable the font caching after you renamed the FSX folder?

You see, the reason why I'm so against this is, that this service is definitely not on the list of windows services you can safely disable (check Black Viper's site for those). The way I see it, MS implemented this cache for a reason. Windows uses TTF for practically all text that is shown to you anywhere. So by disabling the cache you are forcing the OS to fall back on some legacy code (that MS luckily left there, just in case) that reads font files directly from the disk (or the disk cache, as they are constantly needed everywhere). And if this file doesn't even exist eny more, still more code has to be processed for the error handling.

Even if you don't notice it right away, your system is not working as efficiently as it should. Disabling OS services may cause anything from 'nothing-at-all' to micro stutters, system hold-ups and bluescreens.

At the very least I urge anyone thinking about killing off Windows services to read up first on what they actually do, and if unsure, re-enable them when you are done.

Still, this whole thing is a bit strange. I wonder how these fonts got registered. If you do it by hand, of course they are, but in the normal FSX operation I never noticed this.