Default Zurich BGL and Approaches Missing

[MadSci 0]

First, let me apologize. I'm sorry to have my first post here be a plea for help. I did several searches and couldn't find anything that seemed to relate to my problem, so here goes.A few days ago, I installed the Zurich scenery, version 0.7, from FreeZ, after discovering a previous version in the AVSIM Library (I checked their website out and it transpired that a newer version was available only through their download page). After installing it, I activated it in the FS9 Scenery Library, just like I'd done with other sceneries in the past, and just like the instructions in the readme file said to do. Following this, I went and activated the airport in AES - just in sponsor mode, as I don't have the funds readily available to purchase any credits - as per the instructions. Next, I removed the Project AI AFCAD I had for Zurich airport from the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator 9\Addon Scenery\scenery directory, as I am aware that having multiple non-stock AFCAD files for an airport is an inefficient use of computer space. I entered the simulator to check the airport out, and after finding that I had neglected to install very many European airlines into my AI library, went out and downloaded and installed a number of World of AI packages, including SWISS, which obviously had the greatest impact at Zurich. I then went and flew a flight from Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport to Zurich, using the default FS ATC, and experienced no problems. They vectored me in to a runway 16 ILS approach; originally, they had wanted me to use 14, but not knowing the airport and the weather being foggy, I asked for the longer runway, which they approved. Following the flight, I exited FS as normal and shut the computer down for the night. The next day, I turned the computer on and opened up the AFCAD file for the FreeZ scenery, just to see what it looked like, and spent some time fiddling with parking statistics and the like, just to make sure that every airline taking off and landing at the airport had at least one spot with its code first in the list, so that they could have priority parking at at least one gate. I also removed the line in the airport properties saying that the airport was in the province of Zurich; there is no such province, and besides, I'd read that having different things typed in the properties of stock and add-on versions of the same airport can cause haywire, and non-US airports do not have provinces entered into their info in FS9. I then opened FS to fly another flight to Zurich, and upon approaching the airport, the ATC gave me a visual approach to runway 14. Thinking, "That can't be right; FS ATC always does ILS approaches," I opened up the list of approaches for Zurich and found only visual approaches listed, which of course was unusual, considering that just the day before I had been given an ILS approach to 16. I landed the plane and exited the flight. The next thing I know, the Create a Flight screen in FS9 has frozen the program and I've had to exit using CTRL-ALT-DELETE. I immediately went into AFCAD to check that the Zurich AFCAD was still there, and found that, in the Open Airport dialogue box, there was no stock airport displayed in grey text, just the mod one from FreeZ, as seen in the attached image. I don't know how or why, but it appears that for some unbeknownst reason, FS has simply lost the data on the Zurich airport - probably its BGL file - and all of the approaches associated with it, and for some reason, this lost data is casuing extreme instability on the Create a Flight screen. Every time I've tried to open Create a Flight from another screen in the UI interface, it locks up and I have to resort to CTRL-ALT-DELETE. When the program starts and displays the Create a Flight screen, it's extremely sluggish, with a framerate of around one per second, and it won't load the textures on the default Cessna's revolving image, but it at least doesn't cause the program to stop responding. I can still fly flights using the Select a Flight screen, and then the Go To Airport feature in the World menu in the simulator itself, and it should be noted that all other airports besides Zurich are working as normally and I am experiencing no less FPS than I usually would, even at Zurich.I know that all default airport BGLs are stored in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator 9\Scenery directory, and I presume Zurich's would be in Eurw (which I take to mean Europe West), but I have no idea what Microsoft's strange naming code for their BGL files is, so I can't really figure out if Zurich's is missing. Even if I could determine which it was, I don't have even the faintest idea of which .cab folder the file would be located in on the FS CDs, so I would have to spend weeks, perhaps, looking for the correct file, and all this without knowing for sure if it would solve my all of my problems - I'm fairly certain that it would solve the Zurich approach issue, but not so much that it would do the same with the Create a Flight screen. As much as I think the two are related, I can't be one-hundred percent sure, so solving one may not solve the other.Any feedback and/or help is much appreciated, although, I must admit, it feels rather good to at least have my thoughts on the problem typed up, almost like getting something huge off of my chest. Thanks in advance!

[John Hinson 22]

I know that all default airport BGLs are stored in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator 9\Scenery directory, and I presume Zurich's would be in Eurw (which I take to mean Europe West), but I have no idea what Microsoft's strange naming code for their BGL files is, so I can't really figure out if Zurich's is missing. Even if I could determine which it was, I don't have even the faintest idea of which .cab folder the file would be located in on the FS CDs, so I would have to spend weeks, perhaps, looking for the correct file, and all this without knowing for sure if it would solve my all of my problems - I'm fairly certain that it would solve the Zurich approach issue, but not so much that it would do the same with the Create a Flight screen. As much as I think the two are related, I can't be one-hundred percent sure, so solving one may not solve the other.

Hi Brian,The default LSZH is in file Flight Simulator 9\Scenery\EURW\scenery\AP950150.BGLThe absence of that file will also cause the loss of other airports in that area, so it should certainly be present.John

[MadSci 0]

First off, thanks for your quick reply John!I gets stranger as I go on. I just checked my Scenery\Eurw\scenery folder, and the AP950150.BGL file is there. However, although all of the other BGL files in that folder with the prefix AP - AP948180.BGL and AP949150.BGL, for example - were modified at 2:27 am on May 31, 2003, about the time FS was in development (looks like someone was working late at ACES that night), AP950150.BGL was last modified on November 12, 2008, at 9:50 pm. I can only surmise that the installation of FreeZ's Zurich included this new file, which seems to be corrupt. But that doesn't explain at all why everything worked flawlessly the first time I tried a flight using the scenery, and the Create a Flight screen didn't start misbehaving until immediately after my second flight. It's as if the automatic installer had some impossible timer in it, to install this file after a certain amount of time. I should probably also say that the AP950150.BGL file on my computer is 159 KB in size, so if anyone wants to bother checking theirs to see how large it should be, I can compare the two.P.S. What exactly is Microsoft's BGL naming code (I only want to know so that if something like this happens again, I can immediately tell which files are missing and/or damaged)?

[Swoop 0]

Hey Brian and John, I just checked my installation for FreeZ .07 and I am not getting the ghosted (Stock) airport displayed for LSZH either. I checked my Eurw folder and the file is there...AP950150.BGL. I've gone ahead and spot checked a number of the other airports in that bgl file and they are listed and refer to the AP950150.BGL file properly.So that is a mystery, but I am also not experiencing any frame rate issues or related troubles. I have noted in the past, however, that adding AI traffic_xxx.bgl files that cannot find the aircraft referenced in them can cause frame rate and loss of texture issues in other aircraft and anywhere in the world.Brian, do you know the name of the traffic files for the AI aircraft you just installed? If you do, you could try renaming them to traffic_xxx.Original, or something similar, and see if your frame rate and texture issues subside. It also appears that the FreeZ installation has installed something that Afcad does not understand, nor do I! Maybe Mr. Hinson can clue us both in :)Mark

[John Hinson 22]

Hey Brian and John, I just checked my installation for FreeZ .07 and I am not getting the ghosted (Stock) airport displayed for LSZH either. I checked my Eurw folder and the file is there...AP950150.BGL. I've gone ahead and spot checked a number of the other airports in that bgl file and they are listed and refer to the AP950150.BGL file properly.So that is a mystery, but I am also not experiencing any frame rate issues or related troubles. I have noted in the past, however, that adding AI traffic_xxx.bgl files that cannot find the aircraft referenced in them can cause frame rate and loss of texture issues in other aircraft and anywhere in the world.Brian, do you know the name of the traffic files for the AI aircraft you just installed? If you do, you could try renaming them to traffic_xxx.Original, or something similar, and see if your frame rate and texture issues subside. It also appears that the FreeZ installation has installed something that Afcad does not understand, nor do I! Maybe Mr. Hinson can clue us both in :)Mark

Well, I'm not using that scenery (I use FS DreamTeam's) so I can't give definitive answers, but my guess is that the scenery you are using is installed using an auto-installer and that it has done some naughty things behind the scenes without telling you. Perhaps the new scenery uses a different airport elevation and it has been convenient to remove the original data from the default bgl, but it is a crude method. Another scenery developer for another airport in the same zone could do the same with the same file and then everything would be a right mess. It is a bad thing to do, and there are better ways to do it.The naming code for these files is AP (for airport data) followed by grid references (or similar) for the rectangle of area covered by the file.John

[MadSci 0]

Mark,I just tried renaming all of the new traffic BGLs to Traffic_xxx.ORIGINAL files to invalidate them, and the Create a Flight screen stilll freezes up. I should clarify, I guess; the simulator itself is not freezing, nor does it have any texture issues. Only the Create a Flight screen, the one where you set up the flight, is freezing up and refusing to display the textures on the rotating aircraft image. Once I enter the simulator itself, usually through the Select a Flight screen (the one that has all of the default "historical" flights and any flights that have been saved in the past on it), everything is as normal. I can select any aircraft I wish by pressing ALT, clicking on the Aircraft menu, and then scrolling down to the Select Aircraft option. I can use the Go To Airport feature of the World menu without any issues. I can even set up full IFR flights using the Flight menu's Flight Planner option. Every one of these screens, once entered, behaves perfectly normally, as does the actual simulator itself - with the exception of the missing approaches at Zurich. The only thing that doesn't function correctly is the Create a Flight screen, the one where just about every simmer sets up their flight before clicking on that magical Fly Now button and being swept away in their dream cockpit. The main problem, other than the inability to set flights up before I actually enter the simulator, is that, when I go to land at Zurich, ATC vectors me on a visual approach path the gives very little time to line up with the runway. Of course, I still dial in the ILS frequency to the NAV1 radio, hit the approach hold button, and use the Flight Director's guide bars to get to the ground safely - I have to hand fly it because I don't trust the autopilot the line up properly with under six miles left at the point of localizer intercept, particularly when the glideslope and localizer are both being intercepted at the same time. FS's autopilot just isn't that good. But I'm more worried about the Create a Flight screen and the possible damage in places other than that one BGL file that I might not have yet discovered than strange approaches at Zurich.EDIT: John, I just saw your post now; as you can see I've been composing a rather lengthy reply. FreeZ does indeed use an auto-installer, although with the number of downloads on their website, one would think that this sort of thing would have been brought up elsewhere. Like I said, the strange thing is that FS ATC did an ILS approach on my first flight, indicating that the original BGL file was still in use, and the Create a Flight screen only began to freeze up after my second flight to Zurich, the one where ATC used visual approaches. The only thing I can think of is that by removing the false province information and changing parking codes in FreeZ's AFCAD file, I somehow managed to remove data that was, instead of being stored in the default BGL file, as is standard, was somehow stored in the new AFCAD file.

[Swoop 0]

Thanks for the insight John...Brian, another thing you can try is grab the file below and run it. See if you come up with any errors. Duplicate titles and missing or mis-number [fltsim.x] sections in the aircraft.cfg files are an issue and should be cleaned up. I'm still thinking that this is an AI issue but we'll see if I get stumped, (which is not that hard to do :)MarkAI Flight Support (AIFS) Home Pagehttp://aifs.pvdveen.net/AI Flight Support (AIFS) Donwloadhttp://aifs.pvdveen.net/Download/ACA2007_Light.zip

[MadSci 0]

Hmm...I just realized that FreeZ had a support forum on their own website. A few other people have reported issues with FS crashing to desktop, but most of them were related to add-on ground texture sets and were easily resolved. There is one unanswered post from July 7 with an issue on the Create a Flight screen. I'm curious to see whether they resolved the issue or not, and if they haven't tried anything further, I want to see if I can persuade them to try using the Select a Flight screen to load FS and see if they have the same issues as I do. But that's going to have wait until tomorrow eveing, I think, because I have rehearsals for a show I'm in all day tomorrow and won't be home until after 10:00 pm. But I'm determined to get to the bottom of this.P.S. Mark, I will download those files and run the programs tomorrow evening. If I do it now, I will undoubtedly botch something in my bleary-eyed stupor, and the last thing I need is another FS issue to deal with. :(

[John Hinson 22]

Only the Create a Flight screen, the one where you set up the flight, is freezing up and refusing to display the textures on the rotating aircraft image.

This sounds like a separate issue to me - usually this is caused by a faulty aircraft.If you use the default startup flight, you may have a fault with your default Cessna 172 setup.If you have your own start-up flight configured (using a different aircraft, which may be faulty) try removing it so that FS will revert to the default one. If it then works OK you can set up a new default flight.If that works, then the aircraft.cfg may need fixing for the faulty aircraft - check the sim= and model= entries are correct.I don't think AI traffic files are going to affect this.

The only thing I can think of is that by removing the false province information and changing parking codes in FreeZ's AFCAD file, I somehow managed to remove data that was, instead of being stored in the default BGL file, as is standard, was somehow stored in the new AFCAD file.

It is possible that the supplied AFCAD file had other data in it - if you edited it with AFCAD2 it would indeed be silently removed. AFX would warn you. If you can reinstall the originally supplied file, and then edit it but save at a higher scenery layer, the amendments should work without affecting the other features. There is no problem with duplicate AFD files in this situation, as long as the co-ordinates are the same.The original AP950150.BGL file is 158 KB (162,309 bytes), by the way, dated 31/5/03.John

[Swoop 0]

Brian, if you want to try what John has suggested and need the original FreeZ Afcad, PM me with your email address and I'll send it to you. The AP950150.BGL you can grab from the original FS9 disks. It's on Disk 3 in MSGAME8.CAB...Mark

[N60JBravo 27]

I have been following this with interest and would like to give my 2percent of a dollar.I think the OP is experiencing 2 seperate issues and agree with John that the Create-a-Flight screen issue is most likely a problem with the default flight. To expand on that I suggest you find a line in your FS9.cfg that begins Situation= and delete everything after the equal sign, save the file and restart the sim.In regards to the ILS approach, is it possible that the first flight was in IMC so ATC gave you the ILS and subsequent flights have been VFR so you are given a visual approach?Hope this helps,Joe

[jvile 1]

There are 50 airports in the AP950150.BGL. There is no decompiler going to extract all the correct data for all 50 airports. If you could decompile the entire bgl and if you could assemble/compile you will get errors. multiple Missing: Time or Distance, ERROR C2031multiple Bad COM type.ERROR C2031Once the errors are fixed you may now have a much smaller AP950150.bgl since decompilers available do not understand scenery placement that is also located in the AP950150.This is one of the reasons scenery designers should never damper with the MS protected root bgl's like PTSIM, FreeZ and others are doing. The compiler that MS gives us and the one they use are very different. We are allowed to compile a single airport as an enhanced airport and not the entire AP9nnnn.bgl.It takes 2 airports in FS9 to make a single airport work. The enhanced AFCAD airport only edits and blocks certain airport scenery (visual and non-visual). FS9 has to use both the stock AP950150 and the enhanced AFCAD airport as a pair for everything to work properly. Approach code when using AFCAD/AFX must be in the AP950150. If by chance a blocking statement was added in the enhanced airport bgl by AFX this will nullify all approaches. When you open any 3rd party airport with AFCAD you MUST see both the bold print and the ghosted print LSZH ICAO code. This is telling you that AFCAD is falling back on additional code in the root bgl that is not allowed in the AFX or AFCAD 3rd party airport. Contrary to popular belief a AFCAD/AFX enhanced airport does not take the place of the default airport. MS will not allow any of their stock airports to be completely blocked out with a new enhanced airport. However with all that said this airport (LSZH) by FreeZ starts falling apart at the very fundamental runway coding. My Xwind runway technique is corrupt and its clear that the developers of LSZH did not use my advance version tutorial that shows how to reverse the secondary end of the runway listing, set the compiler runway size and texture, set the correct lat/lon, etc.. They also tried to use runway 10/28 as the primary landing runway which is actually the Xwind runway.I would suggest you contact the developers and explain all these issues and the loss of all approach code. When all else fails the developers could use ADE9 which is a very intellegent airport editor including my Xwind and approach editors that work with the 3rd party enhanced airports. ADE9 does not flush out needed code for a airport to work but adds all the code that AFCAD/AFX cannot deal with.

[ronzie 21]

I had some Zurich scenery installed a couple of years ago. I had weird elevations on taxi ways especially noticeable in winter. The installer made a backup of the default AP950150 file. I put it back and it became usable.I don't recall offhand if that was the same developer.I am very cautious of auto installers as there are others that attempt to replace the AP files. Consider also other scenery that uses them. A wholesale AP replacement could foul those up.

[MadSci 0]

Everyone,Thank you so much for all the help with this issue. In particular, I would like to thank Mark and John, because after replacing the probably-corrupted AP950150.BGL file with the original one from Microsoft, my Create a Flight screen now works perfectly again. In addition, thank you to jvile (sorry; I don't know your real name, and you didn't your post with it) for the technical explanation behind what was going on. I've yet to try a flight to Zurich to see if the approaches work, but it's my best guess that they will. The default Zurich airport is now listed in ghostly test in the Open Airport window in AFCAD, so I'm pretty sure that everything's cleared up. Now, I only hope I don't have planes sinking into the ground at Zurich or something, but if I do, I think I can live with it, because I'd rather have that than a dysfunctional FS.By the way, after posting in the FreeZ support forum, I recieved this in response: "About Approaches: Perhaps they get "overwritten" by our AFCAD or removed by our excludes. But we're not changing any standard flight simulator files" Clearly, this is not entirely true, because the AP950150.BGL's date of modification after the FreeZ installation was in 2008 - well after all development of FS9 had ceased - and this is the first add-on scenery I've installed for this part of the world. This, of course, means that by process of elimination, it can be deduced that the only thing that could have modified it was the FreeZ installation. On another note, I'm not sure whether to contact the developers regarding the issue with modification of default MS files, as I don't have a full technical understanding of how the process works and what exactly it screws up, and I don't really feel comfortable pointing to this thread and saying, "Well, Member X over AVSIM says this," in any sort of official correspondence.

[John Hinson 22]

Now, I only hope I don't have planes sinking into the ground at Zurich or something, but if I do, I think I can live with it, because I'd rather have that than a dysfunctional FS.

If you do experience that (and that is the commonest reason that people modify the APxxxxx files, just let me know and I will tell you a very easy way to fix it without complicated modifications of that sort.Best wishes,John