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FSdreamteam missing buildings


Agent00729

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Does anyone else have this issue? At all Fsdreamteam airports I am unable to see the buildings unless I uninstall/reinstall the scenery immediately before each flight. I have had this problem for at least a year or two. I am using Windows 7, not running FS9 in compatibility mode. The problem is particularly pronounced at KORD. Have the latest Addon Manager and everything. Does anyone know a fix or have experienced this?
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1. Do you problem airport sceneries appear normally in your scenery.cfg file and and are they all activated ?

2. Do your problem airports appear normally in your addon scenery folder and do the links from your scenery.cfg point to them correctly ?

3. Are all necessary BGL files of your problem airports present in your Airport name/scenery folders ?

4. Are all related BMP texture files present in your Airport name/texture folders ?

5. Could it be that your (example) problem airport is payware and that it has not (yet) been unlocked correctly for use ?

6. Have you tried installing your problem airport(s) via the normal FS9 procedure instead of via Addon Manager ?

 

Can you please supply an example freeware download file name for (one of) your problem airport(s), so that I can test it myself and then report my findings in this thread.

 

Thanks and regards

 

Hans

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Is your FS9 installed in any Program Files folder? If so, move the folder to another location like C:/FS /FS2004 and use the Flight1 Registry Fix program to reset the registry to the sim's new location.

 

Hi Tom, thanks for the response. It is not in program files.

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1. Do you problem airport sceneries appear normally in your scenery.cfg file and and are they all activated ?

2. Do your problem airports appear normally in your addon scenery folder and do the links from your scenery.cfg point to them correctly ?

3. Are all necessary BGL files of your problem airports present in your Airport name/scenery folders ?

4. Are all related BMP texture files present in your Airport name/texture folders ?

5. Could it be that your (example) problem airport is payware and that it has not (yet) been unlocked correctly for use ?

6. Have you tried installing your problem airport(s) via the normal FS9 procedure instead of via Addon Manager ?

 

Can you please supply an example freeware download file name for (one of) your problem airport(s), so that I can test it myself and then report my findings in this thread.

 

Thanks and regards

 

Hans

 

Hi Hans, thanks for the help. The airport is payware from FSdreamteam. KORD in particular. Everything is in the proper folders and activated in scenery library. Is there a proper procedure for installing it outside of Addon Manager? I believe the problem may be related to the Addon manager, as although the airport was released in 2011, the Addon manager required for its use is no longer compatible with windows 7.

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You ran this? I mean, download that stand alone executable from that web page and run it?

 

I found the built-in updater to be massively FUBAR which only confirms my suspicions about modules and how things can go to hell using them. Especially if you have a ton of modules installed.

 

Does this happen in other aircraft? Gauges might interfere with the communication path from the add-on's module functionality. Though, that's just a guess.

 

They create these modules and what have you to protect their product from being pirated yet it doesn't prevent it at all. It just adds more complexity for things to go wrong. There are better ways. Off the top of my head, a once in a while integrity online check for license verification using the block chain. The license can be buried and encrypted using ChaCha20 or AES in the software its self so that it can't be reverse engineered or facilitate the use of some hack wrapper.

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His problem is that he's trying to deal with decade-old scenery on an unsupported OS. Based on the thread in the other place, he just needs to upgrade to Windows 10 if he wants it to work (and support).

 

I don't blame FSDT. .NET deals with a lot of my compatibility issues but I'm at the point where I don't support XP (if it works, great, if not too bad) and Windows 7 is getting there (never mind 8). At some point there is a real cost to supporting these older versions and it's not worth the time it takes for a very small minority of the user base.

 

And FWIW, the updater works quite nicely. The challenge is that it has to run on users' computers. The more diagnostic data I get from my users, the more horrified I am and the more amazed I am that things work at all.

 

Cheers

 

Luke

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You ran this? I mean, download that stand alone executable from that web page and run it?

 

I found the built-in updater to be massively FUBAR which only confirms my suspicions about modules and how things can go to hell using them. Especially if you have a ton of modules installed.

 

Does this happen in other aircraft? Gauges might interfere with the communication path from the add-on's module functionality. Though, that's just a guess.

 

They create these modules and what have you to protect their product from being pirated yet it doesn't prevent it at all. It just adds more complexity for things to go wrong. There are better ways. Off the top of my head, a once in a while integrity online check for license verification using the block chain. The license can be buried and encrypted using ChaCha20 or AES in the software its self so that it can't be reverse engineered or facilitate the use of some hack wrapper.

 

Yes, this is what I have. Although the scenery is the same from 2011, the required addon manager has changed to no longer support Windows 7. As a result, the scenery apparently isn’t fully functioning properly in Windows 7. I suppose this is the issue. Haven’t noticed any issues with aircraft.

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His problem is that he's trying to deal with decade-old scenery on an unsupported OS. Based on the thread in the other place, he just needs to upgrade to Windows 10 if he wants it to work (and support).

 

I don't blame FSDT. .NET deals with a lot of my compatibility issues but I'm at the point where I don't support XP (if it works, great, if not too bad) and Windows 7 is getting there (never mind 8). At some point there is a real cost to supporting these older versions and it's not worth the time it takes for a very small minority of the user base.

 

And FWIW, the updater works quite nicely. The challenge is that it has to run on users' computers. The more diagnostic data I get from my users, the more horrified I am and the more amazed I am that things work at all.

 

Cheers

 

Luke

 

I’m sympathetic to those considerations. Though I wasn’t really really looking for support. I don’t expect continuous updates and improvements. Just the original software to run as it originally did on my machine when I purchased it. If it really isn’t worth the time, then that is sort of telling. All customers are customers, regardless if they are currently in the minority or not.

Edited by Agent00729
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At some point there is a real cost to supporting these older versions and it's not worth the time it takes for a very small minority of the user base.

 

Unfortunately for this group that's how most developers feel about FS9.

To view my repaints and other stuff just click on the image below!

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

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Agent00729,

 

I've never used "Addon Manager" since I began with simming more than 16 years ago and only now have I even heard about it's very existance. Instead I've been using the standard FS9 procedure for adding new sceneries and have never had any reason for trying anything else.

 

However, if you've never used this standard procedure before, it could amount to a bit of an adventure when trying it for the first time. So here goes:

 

For safety reasons I use a non FS9 related working folder into which I always unpack any new sceneries and only after I've checked everything and have gotten rid of any unessary ballast, do I begin with actual installations into my FS9 as follows:

 

First you place (copy/paste) your new scenery, possibly from your "safety" folder like I would have done, to where you normally store all your sceneries. Then open FS9 and on the very first screen you get to see, the one which has a number of selections down the left hand side and beginning at the top with: "Getting Started", you scroll down to "Settings" and select it by clicking on it. Then click on the "Scenery Library" tab to the right of it.

You now get to see your scenery library, to the right of which you see an "Add Area" tab. After you have clicked on this tab you need to navigate to where you have stored your new scenery. Click on it's main (airport name) folder and a new window will appear quoting the directory path and below it the airport name, which can be edited if you so wish. Click O.K. and you will get to see "Scenery" and "Texture" in a next window. Click anywhere in the blank area of that new window and your new scenery will become directly visible and active in your scenery library. You're now done but you may wish to edit the Priority via the "Move Down" tab on the right.

Now shut your FS9 down and re-start it. Then open any flight anywhere on earth and select "Go To Airport", in your case "KORD", from the "World" drop down menu. Your new Chicago-O'Hara airport should now be up and running normally.

 

Good luck and lets hear if you've now got it working correctly.

 

Hans

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Just the original software to run as it originally did on my machine when I purchased it. If it really isn’t worth the time, then that is sort of telling. All customers are customers, regardless if they are currently in the minority or not.

 

I think the challenge is that the overall environment, between your machine, the payments processor and the supported operating system does not exist identically to the way it was when you purchased the software. TBH, I think running on a supported operating system is probably the absolute basic. Outside the hobbyist realm, if you're looking for support most places won't even talk to you if you aren't that far.

 

Your challenge isn't FS9 - it's Windows 7. At this site you'll get a lot of moral support for running on an outdated OS, but it's like running on Windows 3.1 when XP came out.

 

Cheers

 

Luke

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Agent00729,

 

I've never used "Addon Manager" since I began with simming more than 16 years ago and only now have I even heard about it's very existance. Instead I've been using the standard FS9 procedure for adding new sceneries and have never had any reason for trying anything else.

 

However, if you've never used this standard procedure before, it could amount to a bit of an adventure when trying it for the first time. So here goes:

 

For safety reasons I use a non FS9 related working folder into which I always unpack any new sceneries and only after I've checked everything and have gotten rid of any unessary ballast, do I begin with actual installations into my FS9 as follows:

 

First you place (copy/paste) your new scenery, possibly from your "safety" folder like I would have done, to where you normally store all your sceneries. Then open FS9 and on the very first screen you get to see, the one which has a number of selections down the left hand side and beginning at the top with: "Getting Started", you scroll down to "Settings" and select it by clicking on it. Then click on the "Scenery Library" tab to the right of it.

You now get to see your scenery library, to the right of which you see an "Add Area" tab. After you have clicked on this tab you need to navigate to where you have stored your new scenery. Click on it's main (airport name) folder and a new window will appear quoting the directory path and below it the airport name, which can be edited if you so wish. Click O.K. and you will get to see "Scenery" and "Texture" in a next window. Click anywhere in the blank area of that new window and your new scenery will become directly visible and active in your scenery library. You're now done but you may wish to edit the Priority via the "Move Down" tab on the right.

Now shut your FS9 down and re-start it. Then open any flight anywhere on earth and select "Go To Airport", in your case "KORD", from the "World" drop down menu. Your new Chicago-O'Hara airport should now be up and running normally.

 

Good luck and lets hear if you've now got it working correctly.

 

Hans

 

Thanks so much for your help Hans. I’m sorry for the confusion regarding Addon Manager. It is actually something specific to this particular developer. Fsdreamteam requires it for their sceneries. Unfortunately, the scenery is tethered to Addon Manager and cannot be installed outside of it as far as I know. The problem is, although the scenery was created in 2011, the Addon Manager has been updated so it no longer functions properly with windows 7. Hence, the scenery no longer functions properly in windows 7. Hope that makes sense. Unfortunately, the standard installation procedure doesn’t work with them. But I do really appreciate your help.

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I think the challenge is that the overall environment, between your machine, the payments processor and the supported operating system does not exist identically to the way it was when you purchased the software. TBH, I think running on a supported operating system is probably the absolute basic. Outside the hobbyist realm, if you're looking for support most places won't even talk to you if you aren't that far.

 

Your challenge isn't FS9 - it's Windows 7. At this site you'll get a lot of moral support for running on an outdated OS, but it's like running on Windows 3.1 when XP came out.

 

Cheers

 

Luke

 

I agree that Windows 7 may be less advanced in many ways to Windows 10 (I also have a second system that I use for work that uses 10), however for my specific circa-2010 Flight Simming machine I find Windows 7 is ideal. I haven’t upgraded to 10 because I don’t want the heavier OS to take up more system resources. Regardless, I don’t think it matters why or why not I upgraded, just that the scenery I bought for it that worked great for many years now no longer does simply because of the authorization system they use.

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Agent00729,

 

Thanks very much for your explanation and my reaction is now that I find it more than strange that a commercial scenery developer/vendor makes the installation of their products (in-)directly dependent on a customer's version of Windows. Bad for sales and for their reputation in my opinion.

 

In any case a definite first for me in my very many years of simming.

 

Could it be that "Addon Manager" is just another name for the much critisized and problem ridden "Auto-installers" ?

 

Regards

 

Hans

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I find it more than strange that a commercial scenery developer/vendor makes the installation of their products (in-)directly dependent on a customer's version of Windows. Bad for sales and for their reputation in my opinion.

 

Almost every software developer has implicit dependencies on Windows. My guess is that almost nothing will run on pre-XP, and I don't think it's unreasonable for a software developer to support operating systems that are end of life. I certainly don't want to pay extra to cover it.

 

Could it be that "Addon Manager" is just another name for the much critisized and problem ridden "Auto-installers" ?

 

It's not. I can't speak to how it works in FS9, but in FSX and above it's using SimConnect to dynamically inject the scenery into the sim depending on location and field of view, which should optimize performance. It's not just a copy-protection mechanism.

 

And FWIW, having written client software of my own, auto-installers are orders of magnitude more reliable and accurate than depending on people to modify config files on their own, considering that the average simmer considers opening up an INI file in Notepad to be "OMG programming! it's too hard" and goes into heart palpitations when editing the registry (which is essentially just another, very simple, file system). I don't know how people support their products if they have no control or idea as to how they have been installed.

 

There's a reason why almost everyone uses automatic installers - they are convenient and reliable. They may not work in all situations, but that also reflects on the poor quality of people's systems.

 

Cheers

 

Luke

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I had and still have this same problem with FSdreamteam's KJFK. I contacted FSdreamteam who admitted there was a problem with the Key/License number. While it is OK for developers not to continue to support older systems and/or versions of FS, this needs to be clear in their advertising. When I bought this add-on it did say that it was for FS9 and worked in Windows 7. I checked! I don't buy payware that isn't compatible with my system!
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I had and still have this same problem with FSdreamteam's KJFK. I contacted FSdreamteam who admitted there was a problem with the Key/License number. While it is OK for developers not to continue to support older systems and/or versions of FS, this needs to be clear in their advertising. When I bought this add-on it did say that it was for FS9 and worked in Windows 7. I checked! I don't buy payware that isn't compatible with my system!

 

Oh yes, I’m sure it did say that! Especially since I bought my FSDT sceneries before windows 8 was even released. Anyway, I may have solved the problem. Try putting the scenery at the very top of the scenery library. I have done this per the advice of another user, and so far have not had the issue after several flights and tests. Let’s hope it’s a permanent solution!

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Agent00729,

 

Thanks very much for your explanation and my reaction is now that I find it more than strange that a commercial scenery developer/vendor makes the installation of their products (in-)directly dependent on a customer's version of Windows. Bad for sales and for their reputation in my opinion.

 

In any case a definite first for me in my very many years of simming.

 

Could it be that "Addon Manager" is just another name for the much critisized and problem ridden "Auto-installers" ?

 

Regards

 

Hans

 

Agreed. And even worse they change the requirement over time. Sorta feels a bit like a bait and switch.

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I'll check my other hard drive one day and see if I happen to have an older version of the updater. If I do, I think you could uninstall all of your FSDreamTeam products, reboot the computer, reinstall and use the updater I have. Though, this may not work if it goes online to retrieve the new crap.

 

The Wayback Machine didn't archive the older add-on installer and that's probably because the web Dev made it that way. I also tried some "Google dork" and couldn't find an older version of this add-on manager. I know I had that damn thing sitting here years ago, I just don't remember if I backed it up or not. Now I wish I did after reading this.

Edited by CRJ_simpilot
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Hi Hans, thanks for the help. The airport is payware from FSdreamteam. KORD in particular. Everything is in the proper folders and activated in scenery library. Is there a proper procedure for installing it outside of Addon Manager? I believe the problem may be related to the Addon manager, as although the airport was released in 2011, the Addon manager required for its use is no longer compatible with windows 7.

 

Is it in the CNN or MSNBC folder? :p Oh Lord, it will never work.....

 

Michael

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I have 4 installs. One is a test only, in c:\ for installs that won’t direct to the D drive. I tried to install my FSDT LAX and JFK sceneries onto another D install by copying it, and the buildings won’t show.even in W10.

Using the C install, and renaming all the folders like scenery, texture, effects and module allows me to see what goes where. It was 4 module files that need to be added. Viola, buildings / terminals appear.

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I have 4 installs. One is a test only, in c:\ for installs that won’t direct to the D drive. I tried to install my FSDT LAX and JFK sceneries onto another D install by copying it, and the buildings won’t show.even in W10.

Using the C install, and renaming all the folders like scenery, texture, effects and module allows me to see what goes where. It was 4 module files that need to be added. Viola, buildings / terminals appear.

 

You installed directly to the C drive? I have mine in the FS9 folder in the C drive. Do you know what files need to be added? Maybe this is the issue. Although I feel like there’s no reason I wouldn’t have them, as I’m not copying/pasting but using the installer.

 

Also, as an update, I thought I had it working by putting the scenery at the highest priority. That worked for a couple of weeks. But this weekend when I tested the buildings were gone again. I believe it may be related to the scenery.cfg entry, but not sure how to fix. Let me explain:

 

Initially, when I installed the scenery, there was no automatic entry in the scenery library. The installer is supposed to add it to the scenery library automatically. So I had to manually add it. But then, a day later, when I looked at the scenery library, the automatic “FSdreamteam KORD” entry was there. So I had two entries, the one I manually added and the one that the installer added.

 

Then, this weekend, when I went to check the scenery out again, the buildings were gone. I looked at the scenery library and the automatic entry from the installer was gone. Just my entry was there.

 

No matter how many times I reinstall, the installer won’t put the entry in the library. But I think this is the solution. Somehow I need to get the installer to do as it’s supposed to and put the entry in the library. And I need to figure out how to not get it to disappear.

 

I can’t get any fsdreamteam scenery installers to put the entry automatically as they’re supposed to. All I manually add. All have buildings that disappear after a certain period of time. But KORD is the one with the shortest period, sometimes days, sometimes minutes after installing the buildings disappear. Right now, to use FSDT sceneries, I have to reinstall before each flight and load up the sim without exiting to use them. If I exit, the buildings may be gone again.

Edited by Agent00729
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Yeah installed directly to the C and it worked. I have it on the D, but I as trying to add it to another install to the D and it had no buildings until copying the module files.

 

But that's only because I copy and pasted it from the working install to the D.

FSDT is tricky to install a little because of the Addon Manager thingy and for the reactivation thingy.

 

Have you contacted them about activating it etc etc?

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