• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

A few R23 bugs

lordofwings

lordofwings

Messages
639
Country
panama
Been playing the whole day with it and here a few bugs.

I rearranged my airport then I moved the windsock within the boundaries but a ghost copy remains in the original place. I can select it but never delete it. The one that was placed within the fence is also selectable but I can delete it. I moved the whole thing around, refreshed screen and all but the ghost windsock remains there and cannot be deleted.

My airport is at 33', I set the runway altitude to the same. I had placed a tower, changed it from medium to small and all of a sudden it was medium again and complaining that it was not at the same altitude (error checking) even though the dialogs showed that the tower WAS indeed at the correct (33') altitude. Then I changed it back to Small Tower and the error checking warning disappeared. I guess the application is not refreshing its internal state properly.

Sometimes when editing an apron things get messed up and the app starts creating a new apron. There is no context menu to "abort" the apron. Then I go and select something else. The unfinished apron stays there but as soon as i select something else again and go to the drawing board the apron disappears. Yet at compile time it finds and internal error saying something about a discarded apron.

Apparently the app forgets its "Generate scenery to..." and "SDK location" settings. When I start again it is gone and I have to set it again as I did not install it in C:...
 
Last edited:
lordofwings said:
Been playing the whole day with it and here a few bugs.

I rearranged my airport then I moved the windsock within the boundaries but a ghost copy remains in the original place. I can select it but never delete it. The one that was placed within the fence is also selectable but I can delete it. I moved the whole thing around, refreshed screen and all but the ghost windsock remains there and cannot be deleted.
Click to expand...

So I understand what is happening here. You created a windsock in FSX Planner, and then dragged it to a new location, and it created a copy, instead of removing the old one, leaving you with two windsocks in FSX Planner?

My airport is at 33', I set the runway altitude to the same. I had placed a tower, changed it from medium to small and all of a sudden it was medium again and complaining that it was not at the same altitude (error checking) even though the dialogs showed that the tower WAS indeed at the correct (33') altitude. Then I changed it back to Small Tower and the error checking warning disappeared. I guess the application is not refreshing its internal state properly.
Click to expand...

The tower altitude bug is a known bug. We have addressed it for release 24.

Sometimes when editing an apron things get messed up and the app starts creating a new apron. There is no context menu to "abort" the apron. Then I go and select something else. The unfinished apron stays there but as soon as i select something else again and go to the drawing board the apron disappears. Yet at compile time it finds and internal error saying something about a discarded apron.
Click to expand...

Hopefully we'll be able to get a how-to guide done soon for creating aprons. The right clicking and left clicking can be complicated when creating aprons occasionally. We know exactly how it works because we programmed it that way - but for everyone else there may be some confusion - hence having a good how-to guide should help.

Apparently the app forgets its "Generate scenery to..." and "SDK location" settings. When I start again it is gone and I have to set it again as I did not install it in C:...
Click to expand...

What OS are you using? People with Vista have experienced this due to Vista's security settings. Right clicking the FSX Planner.exe file and choosing Run As Administrator fixed the problem for them.

-Russell
 
As for the windsocks it created multiple copies as I tried to move it several times. At a point only two were showing but when I looked in the XML there were about 5 windsocks.

I am using XP Pro SP2. I did not install in C, my OS is in the D: partition. You should never make the assumption that the program is always installed in C: (or in a particular path for that matter). It runs fine in a restricted account (this is not VISTA related).

I believe what might be happening is that you guys are storing these compile settings (output folder and SDK dir) in a file that is stored in the installation directory. That is not a good practice with modern OS systems because of security. It should be stored in the application data/local settings of the user profile (Document and Settings/Application Data/.... in XP), each user has its own rather than one for all given that it can be adapted. Changing the permissions to Run As is not only a bad practice but it is only a workaround, not a solution.

Don't take it wrong, it is just a remark from not only a user but software developer as well and I can tell you FSX Planner is one of the best tools out there. I tried many many others and the quality of workmanship (programming, user interface, usability, bug density) was just apalling. FSX Planner has left a very good impression on me.

I was just wondering.... Can it also be used to generate XML scenery in FS9 ? I mean, if one can choose the SDK dir where BGLCOMP is located and FS9 uses XML as well.
 
lordofwings said:
As for the windsocks it created multiple copies as I tried to move it several times. At a point only two were showing but when I looked in the XML there were about 5 windsocks.
Click to expand...

That'as very odd. We'll see if we can figure out what the problems is.

I am using XP Pro SP2. I did not install in C, my OS is in the D: partition. You should never make the assumption that the program is always installed in C: (or in a particular path for that matter). It runs fine in a restricted account (this is not VISTA related).
Click to expand...

The paths we provide are the standard default MS paths. Of course systems can be different, using D (E, F, etc) drives. We therefore aloow the user to set the appropriate path.

I believe what might be happening is that you guys are storing these compile settings (output folder and SDK dir) in a file that is stored in the installation directory.
Click to expand...

That is not how we do it. Preferences are stored in the registry, and any files used to store data for the app are placed into the application data/local settings folder for the user.

I was just wondering.... Can it also be used to generate XML scenery in FS9 ? I mean, if one can choose the SDK dir where BGLCOMP is located and FS9 uses XML as well.
Click to expand...

It might work if you left out anything that was an FSX only object, such as boundary fences. It hasn't been tested though, but if it works for you please let us know.

-Russell
 
I installed R24 (had R23 before) and changed the permissions of the .INI file in the installation folder to allow my restricted account to write to that file.

Unfortunately I am still faced with the annoying problem that FSX Planner always forgets my settings for Output Folder and SDK Folder. Every single time I start up the program I have to change these settings again :(
 
lordofwings said:
I installed R24 (had R23 before) and changed the permissions of the .INI file in the installation folder to allow my restricted account to write to that file.

Unfortunately I am still faced with the annoying problem that FSX Planner always forgets my settings for Output Folder and SDK Folder. Every single time I start up the program I have to change these settings again :(
Click to expand...

Did you try right clicking on the exe and then choosing Run As Administrator?

-Russell
 
Now it really crapped out :(

Using the runas (which it shouldn't be necessary) involves more work (for my painful wrist) than replacing the paths with the ones I use. if you don't mind could you tell me which registry key I have to create or modify to specify both the Output path and the BGL SDK path? that would really save me a lot of work. I tried regedit but could not find such path written anywhere.

So, out of curiousity I tried running it as administrator and just like the restricted account it can never find La Guardia.xml. That is because you changed the name to "KAGL La Guardia.xml". Anyway that is not my problem because I have nothing to do with La Guardia.

The problem I have now is that after using it once as Administrator now I cannot use it in a restricted account. In the restricted account I can start the program and shows me a blank workarea. Then I choose to open my airport XML as I have been doing from the beginning. It briefly shows a small status dialog that it always does when it is reading and processing the airport XML. But then.... absolutely NOTHING is displayed, the works area is empty, no windows are open.

That is one of the problems I noticed in R22 too, if you remove the property windows that normally pop up on the left side of the work area there is no way to bring them back. All my settings are in View XYZ and I can't see the properties. For that matter my airport is also NOT displayed anymore and before I tried this runas administrator I had no problem with my airport in a restricted account. Same happens if I now try to open La Guardia from my restricted (work) account.

Another thing to notice is that now it is also not possible to quit the program. The menu items are operational, you can interact with them but if you choose File|Exit the program stays there and never exits. I think that perhaps it thinks it has displayed the Close/Save Confirmation window (or perhaps it has but for some strange twist it is invisible like the others) and since one can't click OK then it does not quit. Clicking on the X icon on the window control box (top right) also does not do it. You have to use Process Explorer to kill the application.
 
Last edited:
lordofwings said:
Now it really crapped out :(

Using the runas (which it shouldn't be necessary) involves more work (for my painful wrist) than replacing the paths with the ones I use.
Click to expand...

Why does it involve more work?

As for it being necessary or not to run an application as an administrator, there are times in Vista, due to security settings, that it is necessary to do so. FSX Planner writes some settings as system settings. It seems that depending on the user's setup that Vista doesn't allow these to be written unless the application is being run as an administrator.

So, out of curiousity I tried running it as administrator and just like the restricted account it can never find La Guardia.xml. That is because you changed the name to "KAGL La Guardia.xml". Anyway that is not my problem because I have nothing to do with La Guardia.
Click to expand...

We'll check that to see if it is looking for the appropriate file name. Glad it's not your problem though. :)

The problem I have now is that after using it once as Administrator now I cannot use it in a restricted account. In the restricted account I can start the program and shows me a blank workarea. Then I choose to open my airport XML as I have been doing from the beginning. It briefly shows a small status dialog that it always does when it is reading and processing the airport XML. But then.... absolutely NOTHING is displayed, the works area is empty, no windows are open.
Click to expand...

Can you post the xml file you are tyring to open?

That is one of the problems I noticed in R22 too, if you remove the property windows that normally pop up on the left side of the work area there is no way to bring them back. All my settings are in View XYZ and I can't see the properties. For that matter my airport is also NOT displayed anymore and before I tried this runas administrator I had no problem with my airport in a restricted account. Same happens if I now try to open La Guardia from my restricted (work) account.
Click to expand...

Have you tried using the options under the View menu to display the appropriate windows after they are hidden? Those commands have been there ever since the object property windows have been able to be closed.

Another thing to notice is that now it is also not possible to quit the program. The menu items are operational, you can interact with them but if you choose File|Exit the program stays there and never exits. I think that perhaps it thinks it has displayed the Close/Save Confirmation window (or perhaps it has but for some strange twist it is invisible like the others) and since one can't click OK then it does not quit. Clicking on the X icon on the window control box (top right) also does not do it. You have to use Process Explorer to kill the application.
Click to expand...

This is very strange and I have not heard of anyone else having this issue. If we find anything we'll let you know.

-Russell
 
Hi Russel,
Here some answers....

- It requires more work because you click on the icon, then click on the "Other User" radio, then select the user in the combobox, then type the password. That is much more than just using the folder browser to set the right folder. However, I do not see why storing that should require administrator permissions. There is a registry hive for user settings.

- I know about the "View" items in the menu, as I mentioned I had them all enabled and the properties were not showing. For that matter not even the airport diagram. All that with the same good XML file that had not been changed so there is nothing wrong with the XML file. Even opening the sample La Guardia (you have to browse for it) did not display anything.

- The quiting part remains, so I have to kill it. I did reinstall the application and all these problems were still happening.

On a happier note I managed to get it to display my airport (and La Guardia as well). Since it was not opening an XML I tried and opened the last BGL I had generated (out of the same XML) and only then it showed up my project. Then after that I was able to open XML files again. Very weird.

- The problem with it not finding La Guardia you will be able to reproduce if you do a fresh install. The problem will become obvious during the first time wizard saying it cannot find "La Guardia.xml". That is understandable because as I mentioned, the actual file name is "KGLA La Guardia.xml" ;-)

Cheers and thanks for this app. finally I can make a decent airport without wizardry!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top