Scenery Error - in addon scenery [FSX Steam]

Has anyone found a solution for "SCENERY.CFG File error invalid remote scenery path in scenery area.120 ?

Has anyone found a solution for "SCENERY.CFG File error invalid remote scenery path in scenery area.120 ?

Why would we? The issue will be peculiar to your setup, it seems likely you have deleted (accidentally or deliberately) some scenery.

 

Just remove area 120 from your scenery.cfg file, you can do it through the Scenery Library if you know what you are looking for.

 

John

In this instance removing the entry is not as simple as that because, unless the OP has made major changes to the priority listing, the area in question is a default FSX scenery area and its removal from the list MAY impact a large area of scenery within the sim...

 

A couple of simple solutions depending on your current install state with regards to installed scenery....for all options make sure you have the correct file as there are various copies of the the file within FSX/FSX-SE but only one is the 'live' data file read at startup to 'load' the scenery into memory. Make a backup of the original file before hand by making a copy of it. The live file can be found at C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX or C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX-SE - this will depend on the circumstances when you first installed SE - if you had the boxed edition of FSX still installed then SE will be installed at FSX-SE, if you didn't have a boxed version installed it will be at FSX.

 

Only have default scenery installed (i.e. no other addons):

 

Option 1 - Delete the scenery.cfg file - Start FSX and a new file will be created. This will give you a new scenery.cfg file with only the default scenery entries. If the same error exist after this try option 2.

 

Option 2 - Validate/verify the install. You do this in your steam account. Google is your friend here to find out how to do it. This will check all of the installed files and replace any missing files. Once the process has finished reboot the PC using the appropriate method for the OS in use -

 

Win 10: by using the RESTART option.

Win XP/VVista/7/8 etc: by shutting down and then restarting the PC.

 

If you have addon scenery installed:

 

Method 3: Edit the scenery.cfg file:

 

1. Open the scenery.cfg file in notepad.

2. Locate the area.120 entry - it will look similar to this entry but NOTE that the specific entry details may be different - the item I have highlighted in RED is the important one:

 

[Area.120]

Title=Edwards_AFB

Local=Scenery\Cities\Edwards_AFB

Layer=120

Active=TRUE

Required=FALSE

 

Note that, in this case, the RED entry starts with Local= and is followed by the listed scenery's location (in this case it is pointing to FSX\Scenery\Cities\Edwards AFB). In your case, based on the error message, the entry will probably state Remote=

 

If all the other details are there (i.e. there is a location as per the example) simply change Remote to read Local. Save the file and test....

 

Option 4 - If you do have addon scenery installed you can still use Method 1 listed above but, as indicated, the new ,cfg file will only contain the default FSX scenery entries. You will then have to either re-activate any addons OR use the info in the backup copy to cut and paste the entries of the addons into the new scenery.cfg file.

In this instance removing the entry is not as simple as that because, unless the OP has made major changes to the priority listing, the area in question is a default FSX scenery area and its removal from the list MAY impact a large area of scenery within the sim...

Fair point. But the error message is suggesting it isn't there. Hence my mention of deleting accidentally or deliberately. It is usually the cause of such error messages.

 

John

 

PS - Edwards is Area 119 in my default file . . . odd.

To edit the scenery file with some some sanity, use the program Scenery Config Editor. I believe it's codded in Java so you'll need that. Also, Scenery Config Editor should give you any errors if it finds them in your scenery file.

 

This is one reason why I backup my important files like scenery.cfg, fsx.cfg, pilot records, awards, the controls config file, logbook etc. You can easily find these files with the program Everything.exe. https://www.voidtools.com/downloads/

 

The attached screenshot is what I backup. I also backup the whole of the FSX install. I even compressed the whole lot in a 7z archive and burned it to a 50 GB Blueray RE disk. I have in fact three backups of my FSX install, and these files shown in the screenshot are backed up to DVD/RW, Bluray RE, hard drives and in the cloud. I'm a backup hound let me tell you. Even all of my computers are cloned all the time.

Looks like I haven't did a backup of the logbook in a while. Haven't played all that much so it's not entirely necessary right now. But since I did fly a few week back I should backup the logbook. Those other files don't have to be backed up all that often. The rewards maybe, but the dll.xml and exe.xml files should be backed up if you add add-ons or modules.

Area.120

is folder

addon scenery/scenery

 

the error simply means (sub)folder: /addon scenery/scenery

is missing.

 

To fix: Close fsx, add (sub)folder:

/addon scenery/scenery

and start fsx again.

Error will be gone.

Edited August 31, 2020 by il88pp

I'd like to add an endorsement to longbreak754's "method #3"

I've had this error only once in my FSX history and when I looked in the scenery file, the offending entry was labeled "Remote" instead of "Local" and I sure didn't change it.

 

Manually changing the erroneous Remote entry back to Local certainly removed my problem.

 

As best I understand, Remote means that a scenery area on a slower storage device can be cached on the OS drive for better performance. I tried it once and there was, indeed, a cached scenery folder created.

 

Loyd

@ johnhinson

 

Hi John,

 

Your reply got me thinking. Checked what I will refer to as the FSX default backup file - the scenery.cfg file located in the root directory of FSX - and it lists Area.119 as Edwards.

 

Checked my 'live' file for changes and it appears at some stage my Area.120 (default Addon Scenery) has become Area 115 and all areas are out by one. However, as the Layer= numbers are all the same as the area number would indicate that I have not change the listing myself - if you change the priority listing the Layer= number changes - its the Layer= number that dictates in what order the scenery is loaded into memory. My assumption is that, although I can't remember for sure, when I first installed FSX years ago (this install dates back 2014 when I got the rig) I only installed the Deluxe part at the time and then installed the Accel pack later. However, everything works fine so no issue...

 

@ CRJ_simpilot

 

+1 on using SCE. I have used for a number of years mainly to create selective area .cfg files. Day to day, however, I tend to add new scenery entries manually.

 

@ il88pp

 

As indicated by Loyd a 'Remote Scenery Path' based error does not automatically mean that the folder is missing - IME it is always due to a cache error as described by Loyd.

 

@ Iilvaudais

 

Hi Loyd,

 

Thanks for the 'endorsement' - you beat me to it with the explanation....

Invalid scenery path area.120

 

means that the path for area.120 that is in the scenery.cfg file

(and that path in the scenery.cfg file most likely is:)

/fsx/Addon Scenery/scenery

 

is not corresponding to an existing folder.

In other words, the subfolder

/scenery

is not present in

/fsx/Addon Scenery

 

(IF the whole /Addon Scenery folder were missing you would get many more errors, about other area's. So it must be just that subfolder that is missing.)

 

al you need to do to fix that area.120 error is to close fsx, and then to create that subfolder.

/scenery

in folder

/fsx/Addon Scenery

 

---

don't believe me? Rename your /scenery subfolder to something else and start fsx. I'm sure you'll see the error pop up.

(close fsx and rename the subfolder back to /scenery and the error will be gone again.)

 

oh, and longbreak, your scenery.cfg was most likely re-numbered by SCE. That program has an option that does that.

----

 

oh, and longbreak, your scenery.cfg was most likely re-numbered by SCE. That program has an option that does that.

----

 

I am aware of the option - as I mentioned in my last post I have created a number of selective area .cfg files. Before settling on my current method I experimented with a number of ways of doing so and used the numbers reset option on a couple. As I have never changed the priority listing for default areas in any of my .cfg files the Area and Layer numbers have remained consistent. In my experience of using the feature it only changed the Area.XX number to fill missing gaps so that the numbers were sequential - it did not change any numbers for those already in sequence. Again, the Layer numbers were only changed to reflect the new Area.XX number.

 

However, the file I used to create the example entry is a copy of the original file created at around the time I installed FSX - this is clearly indicated by the date of it (22 Feb 2014) and has never been edited or even opened in SCE.

 

I have two rigs with FSX installed and have always stored the vast majority of non payware scenery outside of FSX in a dedicated folder structure which I keep up to date on both machines (i.e. if I add new scenery to PC 1 and intend to keep it I then add to PC2, manually editing the appropriate selective scenery.cfg file) as well as a single manual backup on a removal drive .

 

After the initial install test and activation process I simply copied the complete scenery over along with the current in use and selective area .cfg files. The entire contents of other relevant folders that also contain scenery files related to addons, such as the main Scenery\World folder for example, are also copied to ensure both rigs have the same setup.