Addon Scenery: Both Area and Layer Should Be Same?

[Guest]

I noticed when I boot up MSFS2002 with recently added sceneries that it hangs at 67% when building the new data base (through the typical Scenery Library) and it it likes to then crash and try to send an error report.I took a whole block of addons I had installed and deleted the sceneries within MSFS and now it "seems" to work fine. I have "seems" addressed like that because I read a post here a while back that sceneries should have both the area and layer number for any given addon the same. For instance;Area.115Title=VancouverRemote=Active=TRUERequired=FALSELayer=115Local=scenedbcitiesvancouvBut here's what mine is begining to look like (and Airport Libraries seems to be rather important!);Area.116Title=Airport LibrariesActive=TRUELayer=118Required=TRUELocal=scenedbasoRemote=Area.117Title=Generic LibrariesActive=TRUELayer=119Required=TRUERemote=Local=scenedbgenericgenericArea.118Title=Vehicle LibrariesActive=TRUELayer=120Required=TRUERemote=Local=scenedbvehiclesvehiclesArea.119Title=LandmarksActive=TRUELayer=121Required=TRUERemote=Local=scenedbcitieslandmarkArea.120Title=Propeller ObjectsActive=TRUELayer=122Required=TRUELocal=scenedbpropsRemote=Area.121Title=Addon SceneryLocal=Addon SceneryActive=TRUELayer=123Required=FALSERemote=Cache.000Title=Default Texture CacheLocal=textureRemote=scenedbtextureActive=FALSEArea.122Title=PHXMESHLocal=ADDON SCENERYPHXMESHRemote=Active=TRUERequired=FALSELayer=124Area.123Title=KPHXSignsLocal=ADDON SCENERYKPHXSignsRemote=Active=TRUERequired=FALSELayer=125You'll notice it starts becoming "uneven" after Area.115. By the time you get to Area.123 the Layer is at 125. What happened to layers 116 and 117?Is this common? Do I leave everything like it is or go in through notepad and make all layers equal to the area? Is there a limit as to how many addons you can have within a folder? Info...I have 318 sceneries in the Addon folder.All enabled.Cache Size is 9999 and checked empty cache on shutdown (or whatever is says down there!)FS Genesis Terrain Mesh is also added though I doubt this has anything to do with layering, but thought I'd mention it.I thank all in advance as usual. AVSIM (simmers in general) are the BEST when it comes to helping each other!!!Blessings,Jeff aka MrMertz :-beerchug

[Guest]

No, the numbers don't have to be the same (but having them the same MAY speed up loading, I haven't tested that though).Where your trouble is is that the numbers aren't a continuous range.Remove all the holes in both sequences by renumbering things until all the gaps are gone.

[Guest]

Jeff -You're the only other person I've come across who's got the same problem as me - the dreaded "67%".This usually happens when I install recent scenery for Alaska and BFU - mostly by Naji or Tom Fica. (No critsicsm intended)I first thoght it might have something to do with the Nova smoke effects - but removing them did not cure the problem, and other designers' sceneries with smoke work fine.Naji himself suggested a re-install of FS2002, and although after this, his sceneries would work by themselves, after installing all my other sceneries, the problem re-occurred.If you look in the FS2002 root folder after the crash, you'll probably notice that the INDEX file is huge - sometimes as big as 1.5 Gb. (many times bigger than normal).It's safe to delete this file - FS2002 will re-build it on next use.So it's probably some sort of conflict between sceneries made by a few designers that clashes with that of others - perhaps some sort of undocumented procedures are being used, I don't know.It's a great pity, because I'd really like to use Naji & Tom's sceneries - they looked really good the short time I was able to use them.Sorry I've not been able to offer practical help - perhaps other forum members who've had similar difficulties could reply.Good luck with it,Schofi

[Guest]

bump

[Guest sgreenwood]

Hi Jeff,I have had no problems with scenery, so I am not a "seasoned warrior" but perhaps I can help a bit. Here are my impressions of how the file is managed. A couple of simple experiments could confirm/reject them.>You'll notice it starts becoming "uneven" after Area.115. By the time >you get to Area.123 the Layer is at 125. What happened to layers 116 >and 117?You probably Deleted those areas with the Scenery Library menu.>Is this common? Yes.>I read a post here a while back that sceneries should have both>the area and layer number for any given addon the same. If you use the Move Up/Down arrows in the Scenery Library to change priorities, the layer number changes but the area number does not.If you delete an area, the area is removed. I don't know if the layers are renumbered at this time but I don't think so. When you add an area the sim probably adds 1 to the highest existing area and layer numbers and assigns them to the new area. I don't believe holes in either numbering sequence are reused, so (harmless) gaps are created.>Do I leave everything like it is or go in through notepad and make>all layers equal to the area? It should be ok. If you feel the need to edit the numbers in the cfg file, I recommend moving the scenery blocks so they are in order by layer, not area. (Make a backup copy of the cfg file first!)Then you can safely renumber both sequentially while preserving your current priorities. (Maybe someday I will write a little program to do this automatically.)>Is there a limit as to how many addons you can have within a folder? Some say a maximum of about 130 layers will be used.>Cache Size is 9999 and checked empty cache on shutdownIn your cfg file you have:>Cache.000>Title=Default Texture Cache>Local=texture>Remote=scenedbtexture>Active=FALSEThe last line indicates that the cache is not used. Your other settings don't matter.Stevewww.fs-traveler.com

[Guest RobA]

Same problem here with Tom's last scenery and a few others. It turns out the .afd file is the culprit. I finally found a small workaround. I install the scenery and activate as usual. Let the sim build the index file and crash. :-(. The I shut down the sim and recreate the FSNav database to get the scenery to show in FSNav. Lastly, I remove the .afd file from that scenery and start FS. Now I have no crash and the airport shows up in FSNav so I can at least see it. Still, no entries in the WorldGo To menu but better than nothing.Best, Rob

[Guest]

May I extend my grateful thanks to RobA. Deleting the *AFD.bgl's cured the problem!I spent most of last night re-installing Naji and Tom's scenery, and they all work!However, this raises an intriguing question - how come so few other FS2K2 users have reported this problem? (So far only me, Jeff & RobA).And what is it about the *AFD.bgl in their sceneries that cause the crashes?Is there a difference in the version of FS2K2 used by these posters and that of others? (I wasn't aware of different versions)Anyway, repect is due to RobA. You da man!Schofi

[wsieffert 0]

If it is truely an AFD file, you should be able to open it with AFCAD or use a scenery analyzer to view the contents. I would try AFCAD first to see if the exported *.txt file compares to any other AFCAD *.txt file.The other area of concern would be if these airports were already included in the default FS2002 AFD files. If so, the new files could be confusing the scenery generator.