FSDT and P3D V3.4

[virtualflying 2]

Ever since FSDT have released their new "Live Update" system it has been nothing but trouble for me. I personally liked their old addon manager because I never had any problems.

I had an issue with P3D so I decided to delete all my sceneries and addons (except aircraft). I reinstalled all of them but FSDT addons, P3D worked great. As soon as I installed GSX, P3D now won't launch. It loads the sceneries then just disappears, without appearing on the event viewer. I have a lot of addons from Flightbeam and FSDT so I'd actually like to use them but this new "Live Update" feature has just been nothing but trouble.

Normally, I can run the Live Update and it will fix itself, but it never has.

I am not asking for support, hence posting under the P3D Forum, just posting to let people know of my troubles with it in case anyone else had this issue.

[peppy197 165]

Your experience is exactly as I have had: read my solution;

 

For some odd reason ever since adding KSFOHD trial I must usually perform the following to get P3DV4 to load:

I have to delete the files SceneryStatus.bin and OldScenery from C:\ProgramData\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4 every time to regenerate the scenery indexes or some odd thing, otherwise my P3D will not fully complete a load to startup.

You also must "kill processes" for P3DV4 IF you had tried to run it before and got the shortloading, as P3D although not at all visible with the UI, is still running.

 

Although this works, I have to do it before each loading of P3dV4, and some odd reason, sometimes I dont have to....

[virtualflying 2]

18 minutes ago, peppy197 said:

You also must "kill processes" for P3DV4 IF you had tried to run it before and got the shortloading, as P3D although not at all visible with the UI, is still running.

This was probably the most annoying problem I've ever had, because it doesn't show up in Event Viewer, it just disappears into the task manager.

23 minutes ago, peppy197 said:

For some odd reason ever since adding KSFOHD trial I must usually perform the following to get P3DV4 to load:

I have to delete the files SceneryStatus.bin and OldScenery from C:\ProgramData\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4 every time to regenerate the scenery indexes or some odd thing, otherwise my P3D will not fully complete a load to startup.

Would this be required only when you install new sceneries, or every time? If I have to do this every time I will because it magically started working, thanks so much!

[ESzczesniak 128]

I'm also having problems that I all seemed to start with the move to the v4 versions of the FSDT scenaries.  I would get things running by deleting the scenery.cfg, but v3.4 wouldn't load once I ran the stand-alone add-on manager for v3 and v4.  P3D v4 runs fine for me.  I'm giving up on P3D v3.4 for me and uninstalling it all as we speak.  Not the solution for everyone, but I give up on this and v4 has enough ready for me (Orbx/PMDG, etc) and not too long for a lot else (NGX).  I'll likely have to reinstall v 3.4 at some point when I end up having an itch for some carrier flying in the VRS, but for now it's gone.   

[peppy197 165]

I use an app called Process Explorer, freeware, google it

Then I can close the remnant P3DV4, then I delete said files which forces a rebuilding of the scenery indexes (or cache...whatever) which then allows for a flight.

Sorta frustrating but better than repairing P3DV4 all the time....

[Mitch24 194]

I have had nothing but problems with FSDT since I have installed V4, the GSX hotkey no longer comes up, Couatl crashes non-stop randomly, and It  has become pretty much routine to "restart" everytime I want to simply use GSX.

I thought about reporting it to their forums, but it seems like his forums are overloaded with support problems that he can't keep up.

I honestly think FSDT sales would increase 10 fold if they would take note of what Flightbeam did and say goodbye to the Add-on Manager forever. 

[Dave_YVR 968]

I uninstalled my FSDT, FB airports and GSX when P3d V4 was released. I then rebooted the PC, installed P3d and then started on GSX and followed by each airport that I own. Besides the initial wondering to myself "where the hell am I supposed to install this new addon manager to?" it's all run and continues to run without issue. I'd post the issue on the support forum either way.

[swiesma 625]

Just want to say: I have no problems at all in v4 with GSX, FSDT KSFO, KCLT, KJFK etc.

[virtuali 4,419]

10 hours ago, virtualflying said:

I have a lot of addons from Flightbeam and FSDT so I'd actually like to use them but this new "Live Update" feature has just been nothing but trouble.

Normally, I can run the Live Update and it will fix itself, but it never has.

Just the fact that starting the Live Update usually fixed your problem, it's already an indication that whatever problem you are having, didn't had anything to do with GSX or any other FSDT program.

One thing the Live Update does when it starts, is to clear a Windows registry compatibility flag, which sometimes is set by Windows automatically when a program doesn't quit cleanly or doesn't start, which will prevent the sim to start so, I can see why you might have been mislead there was some "problem" the Live Update had to fix and, since it was the Live Update that "fixed it", you assumed it was an "FSDT problem", and thought it was "required" to run the Live Update for some reason.

But that's not the case: the Live Update is just fixing a generic problem that might have been caused by anything else, because it's removing the bad registry setting that is preventing the sim from start.

Of course, if your installation now has a different problem, which cannot be fixed by just resetting that flag, now the FSDT Live Update cannot fix it, so you are now assuming that it must have some kind of different problem.

[virtuali 4,419]

9 hours ago, virtualflying said:

Would this be required only when you install new sceneries, or every time? If I have to do this every time I will because it magically started working, thanks so much!

This is not required, of course, and it's an indication that something is wrong in your install which, again, doesn't have anything to do with FSDT.

Have you edited or added the KSFOHD scenery area in the scenery.cfg, maybe because you thought it was required ?

The reason of the question is that, if you solved the problem by removing the OldScenery file, which is a backup copy of the scenery.cfg file, it's possible you have a problem in the scenery.cfg file.

And the reason why I'm saying this doesn't  (normally) have anything to do with KSFOHD, or the FSDT installers or Live Update, it's because the scenery.cfg file is NOT used in P3D 3.4 anymore! The last version of the sim where our installers still use the scenery.cfg, is 3.3.5 but, under 3.4 and above, sceneries are added in the add-on.xml so, the scenery.cfg is not touched anymore by the installers.

Which means, if you still have issues somewhat related to the Scenery Library and the scenery.cfg, they are totally unrelated to the FSDT products. However, since something like GSX, for example, must read the Scenery Library, a problem with the it, like a corrupted file, could cause problems TO IT so, it would be the opposite way around: the problem with the scenery.cfg is causing a problem to our software, not the other way around.

Of course, this is not the proper place for troubleshooting so, please, do not reply here about this issue but, instead, come to our forum, so we can help you understanding precisely what was the REAL reason for it.

[virtuali 4,419]

6 hours ago, Mitch24 said:

I have had nothing but problems with FSDT since I have installed V4, the GSX hotkey no longer comes up, Couatl crashes non-stop randomly, and It  has become pretty much routine to "restart" everytime I want to simply use GSX.

Couatl doesn't crash "randomly". There's always a reason for this, sometimes are corrupted AFCAD files, or antivirus interfering, and sometimes bugged audio drivers.

Of course, when users report a reproducible case of a problem, it's always fixed, which is obviously proven by the constant updates. 

 

6 hours ago, Mitch24 said:

I thought about reporting it to their forums, but it seems like his forums are overloaded with support problems that he can't keep up.

Posting here instead of the proper support forum is precisely the worse thing you could do because what's really happening, instead, is that every single problem is always dealt with and replied to.

[virtualflying 2]

5 hours ago, virtuali said:

Just the fact that starting the Live Update usually fixed your problem, it's already an indication that whatever problem you are having, didn't had anything to do with GSX or any other FSDT program.

I used to have Live Update work but within a week or so it stopped fixing the problems, so it caused me to reinstall all my FSDT and FlightBeam addons.

5 hours ago, virtuali said:

saying this doesn't  (normally) have anything to do with KSFOHD, or the FSDT installers or Live Update, it's because the scenery.cfg file is NOT used in P3D 3.4 anymore! The last version of the sim where our installers still use the scenery.cfg, is 3.3.5 but, under 3.4 and above, sceneries are added in the add-on.xml so, the scenery.cfg is not touched anymore by the installers.

Which means, if you still have issues somewhat related to the Scenery Library and the scenery.cfg, they are totally unrelated to the FSDT products. However, since something like GSX, for example, must read the Scenery Library, a problem with the it, like a corrupted file, could cause problems TO IT so, it would be the opposite way around: the problem with the scenery.cfg is causing a problem to our software, not the other way around.

I never knew that... I'll probably go off to your forums then.