Disabled Scenery Area in Library, Now FS9 Won't Start

I really hate to open a new thread when the answer to this must be in the forum someplace. I'm just not using right search terms.

 

I ran Simple Airport Scanner to weed out duplicate airports. At KDTW I have 3 : in Addon Scenery/Scenery /AF2_KDTW;

Addon Scenery/DTW Scenery /Scenery /AF2_KDTW_future; and Addon Scenery/KDTW V2 /Scenery /AF2_KDTW.

 

I went into Scenery Library, found DTW Future and unchecked the box to Disable the area.

That should have left only KDTW v2 in the Scenery Library.

 

Restart FS9 and at the splash screen I get the Microsoft Flight Simulator has Stopped Responding message.

So I have no way to get to the Scenery Library to adjust things.

Is there a way to set this right by editing the Scenery Config file?

Any thoughts or solutions gratefully accepted.

Install scenery config editor.

It marks errors and duplicates in red. And has a "fix" button.

Thanks TG. Never needed and editor before. Did some manual fixes but this problem is a new one.

Not going to let 26 years of desk top flying go away because of Detroit. I'll let you know what happens.

One duplicate Layer then this -

 

Uncaught Exception! This shouldn't happen!

(SCE Version: 1.1.9)

Please copy the contents of this box to a support request

java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException

 

at Main.main(Main.java:50)

Caused by: java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException

at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)

at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)

at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)

at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)

at Main.main(Main.java:38)

Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Argument not valid

at org.eclipse.swt.SWT.error(Unknown Source)

at org.eclipse.swt.SWT.error(Unknown Source)

at org.eclipse.swt.SWT.error(Unknown Source)

at org.eclipse.swt.custom.StyledText.setSelectionRange(Unknown Source)

at sce.swt.tabs.editor.InfoPane.doButton(InfoPane.java:240)

at sce.swt.tabs.editor.InfoPane.doButton(InfoPane.java:219)

at sce.swt.tabs.editor.InfoPane$1.widgetSelected(InfoPane.java:85)

at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.TypedListener.handleEvent(Unknown Source)

at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.EventTable.sendEvent(Unknown Source)

at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Widget.sendEvent(Unknown Source)

at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display.runDeferredEvents(Unknown Source)

at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display.readAndDispatch(Unknown Source)

at sce.swt.dialogs.HandleExceptionDialog.open(HandleExceptionDialog.java:86)

at sce.swt.SceneryConfigEditor.open(SceneryConfigEditor.java:345)

at sce.swt.SceneryConfigEditor.main(SceneryConfigEditor.java:104)

... 5 more

Manually placed // switch in front of both KDTW in Scenery Config file. Still get MSFS Has Stopped on splash screen.

Removed last KDTW from Addon Scenery made in 2011 leaving only the stock airport. Same result.

Suggestion from another thread was to REMOVE the Scenery config file, restart and MSFS would generate a new config file.

That doesn't work either. Message says "Scenery Config is missing."

Really don't wan to reinstall FS9 and reinstall years of aircraft, flight plans and scenery.

Any other work around ideas? Am I approaching this wrong?

Did you uninstall problem airport or just deactivate it in the scenery library? I'd uninstall it, you might've broken something by removing the duplicates. I'd uninstall the airport files, then run FS and if it still crashes then check the scenery.cfg to make sure there are no other entries left for KDTW.

I fear this advice might be too late, whenever a change you make causes something to stop working, the first step should be to undo the change you made and see if that fixes it.

 

The possibility exists that the problem lies elsewhere, not in Detroit.

 

Have you looked in ...\FS9\Scenery\World\scenery for any files related to DTW?

 

"Manually placed // switch in front of both KDTW in Scenery Config file"

 

That is not the proper way to work with the scenery.cfg, IMO. Simply change the Active= line to...

 

Active=false

 

BTW, which scenery.cfg are you editing? Where is it located?

 

Have you made any other changes to your PC? Things like Windows updates?

 

peace,

the Bean

Removing the scenery.cfg file is a no-no. Somebody confused it with the fs.cfg file. Its worth a shot to remove it and restart FS9 as it will build a new one, but remember all setting will be default.

Did you uninstall problem airport or just deactivate it in the scenery library? I'd uninstall it, you might've broken something by removing the duplicates. I'd uninstall the airport files, then run FS and if it still crashes then check the scenery.cfg to make sure there are no other entries left for KDTW.

 

Unless there is an "uninstall" program I don't know about, I simply removed the DTW airport from the Addon Scenery file after deleting it from the Scenery Library when I was able to get FS9 to open up that far. There are no other DTW in the scenery.cfg file. No third party scenery for the area either.

Last thing I was working on before that was alterations to KPAE a week ago.

I fear this advice might be too late, whenever a change you make causes something to stop working, the first step should be to undo the change you made and see if that fixes it.

 

The possibility exists that the problem lies elsewhere, not in Detroit.

 

Have you looked in ...\FS9\Scenery\World\scenery for any files related to DTW?

 

"Manually placed // switch in front of both KDTW in Scenery Config file"

 

That is not the proper way to work with the scenery.cfg, IMO. Simply change the Active= line to...

 

Active=false

 

BTW, which scenery.cfg are you editing? Where is it located?

 

Have you made any other changes to your PC? Things like Windows updates?

 

peace,

the Bean

 

Lets see if I can hit all the questions:

No updates to windows. No new drivers or updates.

Nothing in scenery\world\ scenery referencing DTW.

Once FS9 opened enough to get to Scenery Library, I unchecked the new DTW. last action before all this happened.

The scenery.cfg file is in Flight Simulator 9 root directory eg: \Flight Simulator 9\scenery.cfg

 

I can go back and change = false and delete the switch. Old habit of advice years back . . .

Many thanks for all who are taking an interest in this puzzle.

 

Problem lies elsewhere . . . . is there a good process of elimination for that?

That's not where the active scenery.cfg file is. Where it does hang out actually also depends on what OS you have.

 

And the proper way to remove an airportis to first open fs. Then to go to settings--scenery library and delete the entry for the addon. To save. And then close fs.

 

Only then is it safe to open the addon scenery folder and remove the files from there without causing issues.

(and don't remove the wrong airport, one that is still in the library. If you do that you're in trouble again.) (if that happens, just close fs, and put the removed airport folder back. Your pc has a recycle bin for a reason. Don't empty it every day. Or make a folds that you put removed airports in, instead of in the recycle bin.

 

strange though, as even then, fs should still start.

 

Your fs not starting is most likely due to something else. For example a corrupt default flight.

OS is Win7 Ultimate SP1

 

Quoting myself here from two posts:

"I simply removed the DTW airport from the Addon Scenery file after deleting it from the Scenery Library when I was able to get FS9 to open up that far."

and

"Once FS9 opened enough to get to Scenery Library, I unchecked the new DTW."

 

Probably did not make that clear. There were two DTW in the Scenery Library at one time.

DTWv2 and DTW Future. In both cases and in different sessions (trying to make only one change at a time) I eliminated both in different ways.

 

Since I could not get FS9 to open to the point where I could get to the Scenery Library, I opened the scenery.cfg file (whcih is now apparently the wrong one.) and placed the switches // for DTW Future.

 

After that FS9 opened to the point where I could get the Scenery Library.

 

Then I could go to DTWv2, uncheck it in the Scenery Library, close and shut down FS.

Then went to .cfg and deleted the AREA for DTWv2. DTW Future was not present in the Scenery Library due to the switches being placed.

 

That left an AF2_KDTW in Addon Scenery\scenery. That was deleted with the expectation that

I would be back to just the Stock DTW.

 

Given the WIN7 OS, where do I look for the REAL scenery.cfg file?

 

Have tried three times to open FS9. I can get to Create A Flight page but any action

on that page, including trying to go to the default flight gets the Stopped Working mesage.

 

No answer from Scenery Config Editor support on the error message I get with that.

 

Thanks for the persistence of all . . .

Close fs9

Open the fs9.cfg file. (make a backup of it first.).

Find the line

situation="whatever it says in the line"

 

change the line to:

situation=

 

start fs9

you will get the normal default flight.

 

There's a good chance that fixes the problem. And that it all had nothing to do with the scenery.cfg elf at all. Even if it doesn't, don't change the file back.

Scenery.cfg in fs2004 after all. Sorry 'bout that.

Confusion factor has been raised.

Just so I understand the troubleshooting thought process:

At what point did we stop talking about the scenery.cfg file and switch to the FS9.cfg file? What clue shifted thinking away from scenery.cfg?

 

QUOTE: "There's a good chance that fixes the problem. And that it all had nothing to do with the scenery.cfg elf at all. Even if it doesn't, don't change the file back"

 

Change the scenery file back or the FS9.cfg file back?

 

The default flight was changed months ago to KBYS with a helicopter.

But when working on an airport fix I will go to Create A Flight and change the location to the airport I'm working on, leaving the helicopter as the aircraft choice.

 

Always learning . . .

Cautiously optimistic . . . . I can fly ! It's a 172. but it's flying.

 

THANK YOU ! yea, I know it's yelling . . . sorry. Now I'm testing scenery, flattens and

excludes in a couple of places and so far (touch wood) looking OK.

Would system restore to a date earlier before you altered anything help ?

Ah,yes. I switched a bit fast there perhaps.

A corrupt startup flight can stop fs from starting.

 

An error in the scenery.cfg will only profuce: "error, scenery area xxx is missing"

(which is not really a big problem if all that's missing is an addon scenery.)

It won't stop fs from starting.

 

 

to get out of the corrupt startup flight error, you

 

close fs first

then go to the fs9.cfg and change:

situation="startup flight name"

to

situation=

and save.

then start fs9 again

you get the default startup flight (c182) and all is well again.

Couple of things you might be interested in. For one, always, ALWAYS have one airport installed at a time. The default is an exception.

 

You could use Fileseek and wrap quotes around a word you are searching for and search the entire FS2004 directory for "KDTW"

 

What that will do is find the presence of those letters in any and all files. This can clue you in to any and all scenery that may be active.

 

Another tool you can use is everything.exe to search for files. It's a hell of a lot better than Windows default search. I just turn off indexing from the hard drive properties and use Everything.exe.

 

If you have files with no backup, that is a huge no, no. Go ahead and buy an external USB hard drive that's large enough and either use AOMEI Backupper and do a clone of the entire OS, or simply copy and paste the FS2004 folder to the external hard drive.

 

I have two HDDs in my computer: an SSD and a platter. The platter is 1TB and is spill over for music, downloads and other crap. It also holds a FSX backup. In addition to that I backup the entire FSX folder to an external HDD and I clone the entire computer to another external HDD. So I have three backups. The external HDDs are stored in a fireproof safe rated for electronics stuck in ziplock bags since if there was a fire moisture will be persistent inside the safe.

 

Just some food for thought. Always plan backups. If you don't even have a UPS and the power goes out, your data might become corrupted if the machine was on. I've seen this time and time again with computer help posts on all kinds of computer forums.

 

https://www.fileseek.ca/Download/

 

https://www.voidtools.com/downloads/

il888p - I'm going to have to cut and paste this advice to a HELP doc in my FS9 file. So I can remember it next time. Thanks for your work.

 

Gasman - I suspect going back to a system restore point might work. But if the issue was

with a corrupt default flight, the same problem may emerge again. . . possibly

 

CRJ_simpilot : ditto on the backups. That was part of the puzzle. I went back and reloaded a

DTW scenery that I know worked from a full file back up and still the "Stopped Working" Message. Found an AF2_KDTW from 2011 as well and same result. Never occurred to me that the

Default flight could get corrupted, much less how that would happen.

 

Still testing things out. Now to reinstall an ADE generated airport to test.

 

So - next question: I have seen posts that say in the SCENERY LIBRARY your AddOn Scenery

file should occupy spot Number 1 on top of the list POSITIVELY ! This way any airports in that file load last and override other scenery you may have loaded. I figure this assumes that nothing in the Addon Scenery file deals with the same airport that might from a third party scenery source.

 

Then other posts that say the AddOn Scenery file should be moved down to at least BELOW

any add on sceneries like from MegaScenery. Theory being that the airports in something like MEgaScenery are better than something you may have added to Add-on Scenery file.

 

Personal preference ? Looking for trouble? Needless complication? Or do both approaches have merit?

 

Cheers all -

Spoke too soon. Just because I could Slew the default a/c around does not mean it can fly.

The default 182 brakes will not release. It will Slew. L makes lights come on, Q still controls sound etc. ( . ) for Brakes for makes the aircraft drift backward.

Tried to change to a different a/c and the "Stopped Responding message" appeared.

Deeper comlication than I thought. Can I find a fs9.cfg libe to disable or reassign the brake function?

OK. Changed BRAKES in "settings" to the DELETE key and that works. Can change Aircraft - at least to default a/c and they are working. Can't remember how to get the Lat Long Heading and air speed to appear at top of screen. Shows up on Slew mode only.

Pressing shift + Z will show coordinates and FPS, etc. You can press it three times.

Got it. Thanks for refreshing my memory.

 

Quoting my self here:

So - a related question: I have seen posts that say in the SCENERY LIBRARY your AddOn Scenery

file should occupy spot Number 1 on top of the list POSITIVELY ! This way any airports in that file load last and override other scenery you may have loaded. I figure this assumes that nothing in the Addon Scenery file deals with the same airport that might from a third party scenery source.

 

Then other posts that say the AddOn Scenery file should be moved down to at least BELOW

any add on sceneries like from MegaScenery. Theory being that the airports in something like MEgaScenery are better than something you may have added to Add-on Scenery file.

 

Personal preference ? Looking for trouble? Needless complication? Or do both approaches have merit?

My Addon Scenery folder contains AFCAD and ADE files for airports I do not have detailed scenery for. Therefore it's at the bottom of the list, so any detailed sceneries will take priority over those. If I need to edit a detailed scenery's airport, I place the edited file in that detailed scenery's folder, which gives it priority over any generic airport in the Addon Scenery folder. If I ever get a new detailed airport, once installed into the Scenery Library it will automatically have priority over any generic airport file in the Addon Scenery folder. Neat and tidy.