Is there a particular reason why you want to play the movie?

I removed my config file from the folder and allowed the game to create a new one (which it did). The video still doesn't play.

 

Reasons for wanting the movie to play?... heh, heh... how can I put it... I love the game so I want it running perfectly as long as I can. This is despite the fact that I own MS Flight Simulator X Deluxe, which is also fantastic but doesn't hold that nostalgic place in my heart... It's not just the game that's important, but the whole piece of software (not to mention the pretty box it came in)!

Ooohhhh.

 

I took nomovie out of my config file last night. Guess what? My PC doesn't play it either. The video file is called lgvid.ax, XP doesn't recognise the .ax extension and the file won't play in media player, media player classic or winamp.

 

XP gives it a 'unknown file type' icon, confirming Lars' information from 31 August.

 

It goes ok on my Win 98 machine, and has a 'media file' icon there too. I dfidn't think of hunting for codecs so it may be time for a Google search.

 

Now I'm starting to think like Chris...

 

Cheers,

D

Nuh. Too late to edit now. That should read: 'The video codec is called lgvid.ax'

 

It might be worth reregistering lgvid.ax using regsvr32. if you don't fancy it, I'll give it a go on mine tonight.

 

D

The video still doesn't play.

 

Hi.

 

Reregistering lgvid.ax made no difference. I also found that the K-Lite pack doesn't help. Reinstalling it cleared the 'Windows encountered an error...' message I was getting when trying to launch FU3 with the intro video but the vid still didn't play. In WinAmp and Media Player I could get the sound but no image. I suppose there's something missing from the codec pack so I followed Lars' suggestion and went looking for the Indeo codecs. The current version 5.2 is payware at 15 dollars but the previous version 5.11 is now free and that works fine.

 

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/indeo_codec.htm

 

Having installed v 5.11 the video plays fine in Media Player, WinAmp and Media Player Classic. It's an .avi called lg_logo or something similar and from memory (last night is a long time ago) it's in the  ../genpile/ folder. It now also plays when launching FU3.

 

So I've disabled it again.

 

Cheers,

D

Hello.

 

During the 1990-2000  Microsoft Windows series was forced to use both IBM and INTEL original codecs - copyright  lincenses by the Companies..

 

Intstalling new drivers for win.95 or Win.98 the message often came up:

"Must be IBM compatible".

 

This is now History, but is nessesary to install Intel video codecs for some old games made for  DOS versions - Windows 3.1-Windows 95-Windows 98.

 

Lars Peter.

 

 

 

.

Thanks. I'm actually coming back pretty late from the office these days but there appears to be a ray of hope here.

 

Maybe I'll even spend the 15 bucks on the latest codec version (I see they mention it as "not supported for Vista" which is my current OS).

 

Anyway, I'm glad there is a potential solution, but what bothers me is why was it that the movie was working on my system before I reformatted the HD to do a fresh install of everything.

 

And more importantly, is there a way to fix the issue within the OS and the Flight Unlimited 3 files themselves without installing a 3rd party codec?

 

Would like everyone's opinion on that last question.

Hi.

 

 

 

Maybe I'll even spend the 15 bucks on the latest codec version (I see they mention it as "not supported for Vista" which is my current OS).

 

Why bother? 5.11 is just 5.2 without a few new extra bits, it's not a buggy 5.2. It's not a potential solution-- it plays that format of avi.

 

If 5.2 isn't supported under Vista you'd be wasting your money on extras you can't use.

 

 

 

And more importantly, is there a way to fix the issue within the OS and the Flight Unlimited 3 files themselves without installing a 3rd party codec?

 

I doubt it. FU3 doesn't hold the decoding software: that's the codec. A codec is a separate program that encodes or decodes AV data, not a bolt-on for the OS. Wanting to alter your OS to do the job would be rather like hoping to open a PDF with Windows. You can't change the *.avi either unless you port it to another PC which has the correct codec, decode it, re-record it under a different (currently readable) *.avi format and port that one back to your PC. A bit of a waste of time...

 

If it used to work before you rebuilt your s/w environment that's probably because at one time you installed or downloaded something that contained the codec, and don't have it any more.

 

Regards,

D

Guys.

 

Ligos Indeo Codec v5.11 did not work.

 

Any further suggestions?

Hi Omar.

 

Can you find the video itself? It's called lg_logo.avi or something similar and I think it's in the  ../genpile/ folder.

 

When you've found it, try playing it directly in Media Player, Media Player Classic, Quicktime, Winamp or any other media applications you have. Let us know whether it plays at all, especially note whether the sound comes through with a blank video or vice versa. That way we can at least determine whether it's FU3 or your system that's preventing it from playing.

 

I see (at last) you're using Windows Fister. From a position of ignorance (I use XP), it may be that the codec, and possibly your media applications too, all need administrator rights. Also, have you installed FU3 into a ../Programs/ folder or a root directory, or is it in a more accessible/editable location?

 

Cheers,

D

In my case, the file is called ea_lg.avi and it is located in the genpile folder. It playes properly in Windows Media Player using the LAV video decoder.

 

The installed location of the game is D:\Program Files\Flight 3.

Hi.

 

Three things come to mind...

 

First, the Program Files folder has strange security in Fister. You'd be better installing FU3 in its own folder, D:\Flight Unlimited 3\ or whatever instead of under Program Files. FU3 doesn't use the registry so you can just move the while thing directly across... EXCEPT... there are two text documents (somewhere - I've forgotten where) that point to the correct path for the texture tiles for Seattle & San Fran regions and unless you alter the path in them to match the new location you'll constantly be prompted to insert the CD in order to load the terrain.

 

Second, stuff in ..\Program Files\ can't always be accessed properly by other apps unless the apps themselves are given Administrator privileges. Most people know about this now so I'm probably preaching to the converted, but have you given FU3 admin rights? Right-click on its desktop icon, click Properties, Shortcut tab, Advanced and put a tick in the 'Run as Administrator' box.

 

Third, at least we now know it's not a missing or broken codec!

 

I'll dig out the location of the two text files when I get home though I'm running out of ideas now...

 

Cheers,

D

Hi.

 

The two files are:

 

..\flight3\REGIONS\sanfran\region.cfg

..\flight3\REGIONS\SEATTLE\region.cfg
 

If you move your entire flight3 folder to a new location you will need to change the second line in both to point to the new path:

 

          reg_cd_path g:\flight3\cdrom\seattle\maps

 

only (obviously) replace g: with the directory into which you've placed the ..\flight3\ folder. If you don't make the change you'll be prompted to insert the CD every time you fly one of the inner regions.

 

Cheers,

D

Hi,

 

I just confirmed with the install disc on another PC. The default install folder for the game is Program Files (at least with my installation disc). Do you still suggest that I move the game?

 

Running the game in Administrator mode causes it to crash immediately. Running in Administrator mode with Win98 compatibility runs the video but the color depth is reduced !!

Hi,

 

I just confirmed with the install disc on another PC. The default install folder for the game is Program Files (at least with my installation disc). Do you still suggest that I move the game?

 

Running the game in Administrator mode causes it to crash immediately. Running in Administrator mode with Win98 compatibility runs the video but the color depth is reduced !!

 

 

Hi.

 

Yes: move it to a more suitable location. I'm sure you noticed when installing that FU3 was written for Win 2000 or earlier when there were no access restrictions applied to the ../Program Files/ folder.

 

The best place would be in the root directory, so that the path looks like:

 

C:\Flight3\

 

or even in a custom games folder:

 

C:\My games\Flight3\

 

Just be sure to alter the two region.cfg files. Don't forget to make a backup of both first. The best way is to right click on the file and choose copy, then right click on an empty space in that folder and choose paste. You should then have 'region.cfg' and 'Copy of region.cfg' in the folder. Do it for Seattle and for SanFran.

 

Once you have everything exactly as you like it, you can even back up the whole installation by adding the entire ..\Flight3\ folder to a zipfile and stash it on a backup drive.

 

Cheers,

D