Broken .AIR Installer

[A32xx 129]

Hi Mark, I don't think Warren's trying to install aircraft with the .air file, I think he's trying to open the .zip files he's downloaded - but his .zip files have become associated with Adobe Air so that when he double-clicks on a .zip file it launches Adobe Air instead of the zip utility. 

[Mike777 163]

Whichever file type is associated with Adobe Air, just right click on it, choose properties, then right near the top of the properties window you will see "Opens with" and the option to change it.  For .air files change it to AirEd which  you now have installed.   If it ends in Zip change it to Windows Explorer, if it isn't already set that way.

There is no such thing as installing an aircraft by clicking on the air file.  The .air file is not an installer, it is a data file that is read by FSX in conjunction with the aircraft.cfg file. 

Mike

[John Hinson 22]

3 hours ago, Mike777 said:

 it is a data file that is read by FSX in conjunction with the aircraft.cfg file.

Uh?

John

[Mike777 163]

11 minutes ago, John Hinson said:

Uh?

If it's FS9 then the .air  file is a data file that is read by FS9 in conjunction with the aircraft.cfg file.

Happy?

Mike

[pschlute 37]

If he had followed the earlier advice of uninstalling Adobe Air, and your advice of re-associating .air files , this thread wouldnt now be on its second page.

 

If folk come on to forums asking for advice they should follow the advice they are given.

[wdomke 0]

Okay.  I know about .zip files.  I've been unzipping them for a good while, too.  When you unzip this one (and many others I have successfully installed) you will get an .air file which is usually in the aircraft folder for the aircraft.  Up until now I have been able to use these to install the aircraft.  Usually this has happened without any reference to Adobe AIR Installer files.  It just happened.  This process is also usually called for in the "readme" files.

I will try A32xx's suggestion on the .zip files, but I still think it's a compatibility issue with Adobe.  I have tried several times to simply place the files in the appropriate FS9 folder, without avail thus far.  But I will give this a shot and report if it works.  Thanks for all suggestions.

I think it's possible this may be a gremlin somewhere in my operating system, and I am not the only person to have experienced this installation issue.  It has happened in a number of other applications that have had to be installed.  If it is a compatibility issue, maybe Adobe will come up with a fix that works.

I do appreciate everyone's suggestions.  I have also tried most if not all suggestions, including uninstalling Adobe Air.  Fortunately I can live without this particular aircraft and I have plenty of downloaded aircraft or paint schemes already in my FS9 system.  I assure you that if any of the suggested fixes had worked for me I would have said so and then quietly returned to my corner of the hangar.

Warren

[Mike777 163]

4 hours ago, wdomke said:

Okay.  I know about .zip files.  I've been unzipping them for a good while, too.  When you unzip this one (and many others I have successfully installed) you will get an .air file which is usually in the aircraft folder for the aircraft.  Up until now I have been able to use these to install the aircraft.  Usually this has happened without any reference to Adobe AIR Installer files.  It just happened.  This process is also usually called for in the "readme" files.

Hi Warren,

If I may, I would like to try to understand better exactly what is happening.

I take it that you can unzip the file with the aircraft you want to install. 

So what happens when you just copy and paste the files and folders for your aircraft into a suitably-named folder in FS9/Aircraft?  Typically these files and folders include aircraft.cfg, a file ending in .air, a model folder w/ the model inside it, a panel folder, a sound folder.  There may also be folders with effects that have to be copied into FS9/effects and a folder with one or more gauges that  have to be copied into the FS9/Gauges folder.  At what point does this copying not work?

Mike

[wdomke 0]

Mike, the copying works.  It goes down just like it would if it were not zipped.  Problem is that it won't open in FS9.  And these are FS9 applications.  I have done editing on the .cfg files in the past--especially with repaints of existing aircraft.  I have also created a couple of panels for aircraft I downloaded that didn't have what I considered to be good panels.  No virtual cockpits yet--I'm not that smart or that brave.

I have had aircraft open that didn't have gauges on the panels, and I have found a way to put the gauges there.  So I do have a little bit of knowledge of some parts of this process.  I seem to recall in the past (when I had older computers than my current one) that I had some installer files that were .exe, and I don't recall how those worked.

AirED does open the .air file, but that's all it has done for me.  There appears to be something missing, but I haven't a clue what it is or where to find it.

Now, this isn't critical.  I would really like to have the B-52 running in my simulator, but I can live without it.  I have plenty of aircraft I have a lot of fun with as it is.  BUT...

...I don't like a machine to beat me.  Or a gremlin.

Warren

[Mike777 163]

42 minutes ago, wdomke said:

Mike, the copying works.  It goes down just like it would if it were not zipped.  Problem is that it won't open in FS9.  And these are FS9 applications.

It sounds like you do have a lot of familiarity with editing aircraft files! 

Does the aircraft show up as an option to load from the FS9 opening screen, or is it just not  showing up at all?

42 minutes ago, wdomke said:

AirED does open the .air file, but that's all it has done for me.

All that AirEd does is allow you to view and edit .air files.  It doesn't "install" them.  However if the aircraft is not showing up at all, you can use AirEd to check if it is set as an AI aircraft (which won't show up as an aircraft available to load).  Open  the .air file and see if the parameter Aircraft Type = is set to something other than 0.  AI aircraft are set to 2, which makes them invisible when you try to load an aircraft. (Don't know what 1 would do.).  If this parameter is set to 2, change it to 0 (zero) and save it. Be sure to back up the .air file before you modify it.  See if you can then load the aircraft.

You should also check that the entry in the aircraft.cfg file for each livery is pointing to the name of the .air file (as I explained a few posts ago).

Mike

[Skywatcher 133]

I downloaded the B-52 to see what it involved to install it. All that needs to be done is:

1. Extract the folder B-52D_G_X_GMAX and B-52H_GMAX to the FS Aircraft folder

2. Extract the contents of the Effects folder to the FS Effects folder

The B-52 is then installed and will be found under Boeing in FS.

No need to do anything with .air files. I think you may be getting confused regarding .air files because they may be showing up for you as Installer Package under the Type area. The .air files are not actually installer files to install the plane. All that needs to be done is use the install procedure I have outlined above and the plane will be installed and will work. The FS .air files are showing as Adobe .air files on my system as well as I have many Adobe products installed. The FS .air file has simply been wrongly associated with Adobe. The .air file in FS has nothing to do with Adobe and nothing to do with an aircraft installation for FS. You do not click on it to install a plane. Hope that clears things up?

[pschlute 37]

13 hours ago, wdomke said:

you will get an .air file which is usually in the aircraft folder for the aircraft.  Up until now I have been able to use these to install the aircraft.

 Usually this has happened without any reference to Adobe AIR Installer files. .........but I still think it's a compatibility issue with Adobe.

 If it is a compatibility issue, maybe Adobe will come up with a fix that works.

 

Warren

Please listen to what I and others have been trying to tell you.

The .air file part of an aircraft download is not an installer, has never been and never will be an installer, you are wrong in saying you have used them to install aircraft. You have not.

It is not a compatability problem with Adobe Air, but an association problem.

Adobe Air knows nothing about flightsim .air files, never has done and never will do. There is no patch or fix because none is required..

 

Please read the thread from the beginning, because otherwise you will just end up going in circles.

 

[Skywatcher 133]

Warren,

Below is what I think you are seeing. This is my default Cessna 172 folder. As you can see the FS air file has an Adobe icon. It also says it's an installer package. The icon and the words stating installer package are incorrectly assigned to this FS air file by the Adobe software. The FS air file has nothing to do with Adobe but Adobe incorrectly thinks it does and has assigned the icon and description to the FS air file. The Adobe software is not capable of doing anything to the FS air file as this is an FS file and not an Adobe file. You install FS aircraft via the methods explained across the web. The air file in FS is not used to install any aircraft in any way. It's not an installer. The installer part is being wrongly attributed to the FS air file by Adobe. If you reset your file associations as explained by A32xx you will remove the confusion.

[wdomke 0]

Well, it worked!!  All I had to do was uninstall Adobe AIR Installer and I did change the file to a compiler, but I don't think that made a difference.  The B-52 will load.  I will need to set up the gauges, but I've done that before, and it is just time-consuming, not that hard.

I really do appreciate the help and advice.  I had actually been able to use the Adobe AIR utility to install several aircraft, but there must have been a compatibility issue.  Anyway, you were right.  I was wrong.  I know I learned something.  I hope this dialogue might have been instructive for anyone else having this problem.

I may be upgrading to a new computer one of these days, as mine is beginning to show its age.  I had a friend do some software cleanup and he upgraded the machine to Windows 10 from Windows 7.  Fortunately I do have time to shop around.  Meantime, it works.

Thanks, again.

Warren

[pschlute 37]

17 hours ago, wdomke said:

  I had actually been able to use the Adobe AIR utility to install several aircraft,

 

I give up.

[Skywatcher 133]

22 minutes ago, pschlute said:

 

I give up.

Well, I found if I ask for a cheeseburger with no pickles sometimes a scenery might not install correctly. Maybe having the pickles removed causes incompatibility with the cheeseburger so now I always leave the pickles on.