"generating new scenery database" EVERYTIME FS9 starts!!

[jacsantos 0]

I've tried to search for this ocorrence since I remember this exact same issue being discussed here not very long ago but found nothing.I never had this problem before, until today afer instaling the latest PAI china package....I know this message is normal to apear in the first time FS is run after the package instalation, but it's apearing to me everytime I start FS9 without ANY change made to FS...Does anyone has a clue about this issue?What can I do to remedy this situation?P.s: The message is "only" anoying since it apears that no harm has or is being made to FS, once again aparently....Thank you in advance for any information about this problem...

[jacsantos 0]

please....anyone could at least tell me why?I know this has been discussed, I just don't know how to find it in the search function ( must had a non elusive topic name...)once again thank you

[Guest Madtrapper]

Hi Jose:I was just wondering...? In the Pai China Package that you installedif it has a airport listed... that is not in your Fs9 airport list.gotta start somewhere:)TrapperIditrod coming March 5/2005

[Guest danowat]

Your scenery.cfg file has become corrupt, there are a number of layer or areas that now have the same number.You need to find out which and change them.Dan.

[Guest Madtrapper]

Hi Jose:Did you download the fixed version from PAI released at 11:40GMT feb26/2005.TrapperIditrod coming March 5/2005

[jacsantos 0]

thank you very much Dan!!! That was the problem!!!Now solved :)Once again thank you for your help.

[Guest flightplan]

Hi,Dan, my name is Tom, and I saw your response regarding the layers in the scenery.cfg file. I'm sort of new to scenery design and was wondering how do you determine how many layers(and the numbers) a scenery has. I have a similar problem with FS9 building a new database even when I have not installed any new scenery. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.Tom:-)

[Guest danowat]

In theory (someone correct me if I am wrong) every scenery entry in the scenery.cfg file should have a unique {AREA} and {LAYER} number, and these should ascend in numerical order.Sometimes it is neccesary for the {LAYER} number to be different to the {AREA} number due to things like mesh and landclass placement that has to be placed below a particular area, but that is a different matter.What happens is that most/all installation programs that deal with the scenery.cfg don't deal with it very well, either on install or de-install, this leads to the scenery.cfg file becoming "corrupt" and having duplicate {AREA} or {LAYER} numbers, and FS cannot cope with any {AREA} or {LAYER} that has the same number as another {AREA} or {LAYER}, this leads to the continual rebuilding scenery database.Also be aware that ANY change to ANY file in ANY scenery folder will cause FS to rebuild the scenery database, and also any change in traffic bgl's will do the same.Dan.

[Guest malcolmt]

Hi DanI too have this problem and thought there could be a fix.So, the solution is to load the scenery.cfg file into say, notepad, and go through and manually delete duplicate AREAs and LAYERS?Many thanksMalcolm

[Guest danowat]

No, don't delete duplicated areas, renumber them.There is infact a small program around, can't remember where exactly, that will do it automatically, but I find this causes problems with areas that need to be in a specific order, i.e. landclass layers that need to be "under" and airport.Dan.

[alastairmonk 0]

For what its worth, I manually adjust the scenery.cfg file so that the Areas number for a given scenery is the same as its Layer number. This doesn't take as long as it sounds - just arrange the layers as you want them (manually or using the FS2004 Scenery Editor) then start near the top of the file where your additional scenery is listed and adjust the two parameters so that both are the same and sequential.Obviously there are layering considerations associated with Mesh and LandClass, but I also tend to group my scenery by geography as well. This makes life easier if you need to slightly rearrange the geographical layers when needed.It also goes without saying that I back up the file first.Some autoinstallers don't seem to be able to count beyond 97, so its always worth checking after you've used one of these to add another scenery. Normally the latest scenery will be at the end of the file and have the highest number. In the inverted way that FS2004 behaves, this means that the newest scenery has the highest priority.Alastair

[jacsantos 0]

Great information thank you all :)I didn't know a change was made to PAI china package.I will redownload it ASAP.One more question if I may:Is the behavior of the scenery.cfg similar to fs.cfg in what concerns "auto repair"? That is: if I delete scenery.cfg will FS automaticaly rebuild a new one, or no?

[Guest danowat]

The main trouble is auto-installers ######ize the scenery.cfg file, and there aint a thing you can do about it.Just another reason to hate auto-installers with a passion ;)Dan.

[Guest flightplan]

Hi,Thanks, Dan, for your informative reply. I have just started getting into some scenery design and it's addictive. I find that I'm building stuff- - at least trying to - more than I fly.Take care,Tom:-)