August 21, 20196 yr I had to do a full reinstall of P3D and all addons after an Operating System change. I got to reinstalling Lorby SI Addon Manager and it took 3 tries of installing and uninstalling because the first 2 times it kept telling me it couldn't find the P4AO_Scenery_Groups_V4.xml folder. After the 3rd reinstall of the manager, it doesn't tell me it can't find that file now, but every single default scenery is violet and per the documentation, that indicates the path is wrong. I opened the folders in the P3D install folder and all the BGL files are there. https://prnt.sc/ovftnx https://prnt.sc/ovftv7 I remember before the reinstall that all these files were green so something is really not right here. If I add a scenery to the manager, it does show as green, but all the defaults still stay violet. Steven Destazio (DVA12924) "There's not reason to be alarmed, and we hope you'll enjoy the rest of the fight. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?" - Elaine Dickinson We all started learning a product/feature at some point in our tenure within the flight sim community. Please understand that and understand that people come here to learn how to solve problems, not be harassed because you feel you are better than everyone else. We are all equal. Show respect and you'll get respect. Please don't guess at a solution unless trial/error and remember we are here to help each other and learn/teach from each other. Check your ego at the door. We should be interacting as if we will be sitting next to each other on the flight deck, not grade school bullies.
August 21, 20196 yr Commercial Member 20 minutes ago, samisahusky said: I got to reinstalling Lorby SI Addon Manager and it took 3 tries of installing and uninstalling because the first 2 times it kept telling me it couldn't find the P4AO_Scenery_Groups_V4.xml folder. There was a bug in the 1.44 b02 version causing the error message. The app was trying to create a backup of a file that doesn't exist if you never used the scenery groups. The bug has been fixed yesterday and a new P4AO version 1.44 b03 is available for download. 20 minutes ago, samisahusky said: but every single default scenery is violet and per the documentation, that indicates the path is wrong ...or that it is empty. Sorry, but something like that is impossible to diagnose in a forum. I suggest that you send me an email, the address is on the last page of the manual. I suspect that you may have a problem with the P3D registry entry regarding the installation location of the sim. If you have moved P3D and your registry didn't "get" that change, then P4AO cannot see your default scenery folders.The same would happen if the registry entry doesn't exist at all or is otherwise broken. Best regards Edited August 21, 20196 yr by Lorby_SI LORBY-SI
August 21, 20196 yr Author I managed to get them all green, but I had to go into each one and add the FULL file path to each entry for the location. Example - Before: Scenery/0000 After: C:\Users\StevenP3D\Desktop\P3D\P3D MAIN INSTALL\Scenery\0000 Then they would turn green. I don't recall having to ever do this before when I've done a full reinstall. Is this normal? Steven Destazio (DVA12924) "There's not reason to be alarmed, and we hope you'll enjoy the rest of the fight. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?" - Elaine Dickinson We all started learning a product/feature at some point in our tenure within the flight sim community. Please understand that and understand that people come here to learn how to solve problems, not be harassed because you feel you are better than everyone else. We are all equal. Show respect and you'll get respect. Please don't guess at a solution unless trial/error and remember we are here to help each other and learn/teach from each other. Check your ego at the door. We should be interacting as if we will be sitting next to each other on the flight deck, not grade school bullies.
August 21, 20196 yr Commercial Member 7 minutes ago, samisahusky said: I managed to get them all green, but I had to go into each one and add the FULL file path to each entry for the location. Example - Before: Scenery/0000 After: C:\Users\StevenP3D\Desktop\P3D\P3D MAIN INSTALL\Scenery\0000 Then they would turn green. I don't recall having to ever do this before when I've done a full reinstall. Is this normal? No, this is not normal. Please note what I wrote above: I suspect that you may have a problem with the P3D registry entry regarding the installation location of the sim. If you have moved P3D and your registry didn't "get" that change, then P4AO cannot see your default scenery folders.The same would happen if the registry entry doesn't exist at all or is otherwise broken. Check this registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\Lockheed Martin\\Prepar3D v4\\SetupPath The value must point to the location where your P3D main program folder is (=location of the prepar3d.exe, default: C:\Program Files\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4) Best regards Edited August 21, 20196 yr by Lorby_SI LORBY-SI
August 21, 20196 yr Author I did install P3D but then make a system change with the user name (it had a spelling error that was driving me crazy). Since I had only reinstalled P3D and P3D SDK and 2 REX programs, I decided I would uninstall it all making sure all the files left over were deleted and then reinstall. I'll double check the name change on the registry once P3D is reinstalled and be sure there are no lingering misspelled user name entries in there. I'll have an update in about 30 minutes or less. Steven Destazio (DVA12924) "There's not reason to be alarmed, and we hope you'll enjoy the rest of the fight. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?" - Elaine Dickinson We all started learning a product/feature at some point in our tenure within the flight sim community. Please understand that and understand that people come here to learn how to solve problems, not be harassed because you feel you are better than everyone else. We are all equal. Show respect and you'll get respect. Please don't guess at a solution unless trial/error and remember we are here to help each other and learn/teach from each other. Check your ego at the door. We should be interacting as if we will be sitting next to each other on the flight deck, not grade school bullies.
August 21, 20196 yr Commercial Member 1 hour ago, samisahusky said: I did install P3D but then make a system change with the user name (it had a spelling error that was driving me crazy). Since I had only reinstalled P3D and P3D SDK and 2 REX programs, I decided I would uninstall it all making sure all the files left over were deleted and then reinstall. I'll double check the name change on the registry once P3D is reinstalled and be sure there are no lingering misspelled user name entries in there. I'll have an update in about 30 minutes or less. You should consider installing P3D to where it belongs: in C:\Program Files. As per Windows rules, that folder is for installed 64bit executables, not your desktop. Instead, make sure that all your addons get properly installed to content folders outside of the core sim. Best regards LORBY-SI
August 21, 20196 yr Author Looks like it's working correctly after uninstall/reinstall. Now to uninstall Microsoft OneDrive for making me have to go thru 867,934,736,278 registry entries. And then back to reinstalling all P3D addons. Steven Destazio (DVA12924) "There's not reason to be alarmed, and we hope you'll enjoy the rest of the fight. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?" - Elaine Dickinson We all started learning a product/feature at some point in our tenure within the flight sim community. Please understand that and understand that people come here to learn how to solve problems, not be harassed because you feel you are better than everyone else. We are all equal. Show respect and you'll get respect. Please don't guess at a solution unless trial/error and remember we are here to help each other and learn/teach from each other. Check your ego at the door. We should be interacting as if we will be sitting next to each other on the flight deck, not grade school bullies.
August 21, 20196 yr Author Just now, Lorby_SI said: You should consider installing P3D to where it belongs: in C:\Program Files. As per Windows rules, that folder is for installed 64bit executables, not your desktop. Instead, make sure that all your addons get properly installed to content folders outside of the core sim. Best regards Since FSX 32-bit days back on Windows XP I haven't liked or preferred installing into any windows folders. By keeping everything in 1 main folder I can just copy /paste that 1 folder to a backup hard drive (not to be used as a reinstall backup, but an overall back up of installed addons and their config files if needed). And by 1 folder, it's is NOT everything thrown into the same folder. The folder paths would look like: desktop\P3D\MAIN INSTALL... desktop\P3D\Lorby Addon Manager desktop\P3D\REX\SkyForce3D desktop\P3D\REX\TextureDirect ...and so on. Basically every single addon gets it's own folder inside the desktop/P3D folder, including the main install has it's own folder. Nothing else gets installed into the "MAIN INSTALL" folder. It's basically the exact same as installing everything into Program Files, but I have more control over organization and modification this way. There are tons of addons that have their own update exe files and I recall having spent a long time looking for those before I started this method, but now, all those update exe files are all easy to find and not scattered about Windows. Even REX installers instruct you to NOT install into Program Files folder. This way is just easier for me, and it works - has for years and will for years more to come. Steven Destazio (DVA12924) "There's not reason to be alarmed, and we hope you'll enjoy the rest of the fight. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?" - Elaine Dickinson We all started learning a product/feature at some point in our tenure within the flight sim community. Please understand that and understand that people come here to learn how to solve problems, not be harassed because you feel you are better than everyone else. We are all equal. Show respect and you'll get respect. Please don't guess at a solution unless trial/error and remember we are here to help each other and learn/teach from each other. Check your ego at the door. We should be interacting as if we will be sitting next to each other on the flight deck, not grade school bullies.
August 21, 20196 yr Commercial Member 1 minute ago, samisahusky said: has for years and will for years more to come. Don't be so sure about that. OS security may not allow executables everywhere on the machine in the future. The thing is this: sure, the method works. But it is not supposed to. There are rules how a Windows machine has to be set up and maintained. You can disregard them, but you do it at your own risk. From a programmers perspective this is right up the same alley where people dry their pet in the Microwave. This can never be a "recommendation", only a working around the system security mechanisms. You have no guarantee that it works at all, and your encounter with P4AO was one of those instances where things are not so easy. And there is one more concern - the default installation paths are the only ones that developers will have used to test their products. It is not the same as "installing everything into Program Files" - because you are not supposed to do that either! Only the simulator and programmatic addons belong there, each in their own location. Content addons on the other hand, like aircraft, scenery, effects, textures, shaders etc. don't belong there, they have to go somewhere else. That is how I have set up the sim - in Program Files there is only the vanilla P3D installation. Everything else ends up on one of 3 additional drives with simulator content, linked by one single discovery path on an NVME. So the simulator always stays clean. I can uninstall and reinstall it at leisure, without ever compromising the addons. Theoretically anyway, the recent example with ORBX shows that one has to compromise there too. Best regards LORBY-SI
August 21, 20196 yr Author 10 hours ago, Lorby_SI said: From a programmers perspective this is right up the same alley where people dry their pet in the Microwave. That's pretty absurd. 10 hours ago, Lorby_SI said: You have no guarantee that it works at all, and your encounter with P4AO was one of those instances where things are not so easy. Actually, it DOES work - I just launched it and it works fine, still. Worked for FSX on Windows XP, FSX on Windows 7, P3Dv4 on Windows 7, and works for P3Dv4 on Windows 10 ... the ONLY reason I had issues with the Addon Manager was because I had installed P3D, then realized a spelling mistake in Windows Username that needed to be changed. After I changed the Windows Username, P3D did not have the name changes in the registry keys. A quick uninstall and reinstall of P3D into the exact same folder on my desktop fixed that problem. If I had found the spelling error before installing P3D, then there would never have been an issue in the first place. 10 hours ago, Lorby_SI said: And there is one more concern - the default installation paths are the only ones that developers will have used to test their products. From the REX user manuals that come with their products https://www.realenvironmentxtreme.com/rex4td_install.pdf 3. Due to the extra security measures Microsoft placed on the Program Files (x86) folder, we HIGHLY recommend installing REX outside of this folder! Not doing so may lead to issues with the operation of REX. For Windows 8 users, REX MUST be installed outside of the Program Files (x86) folder. 4. If REX, FSX or Prepar3D are installed into the program files (x86) directory, UAC (User Account Control) MUST be turned OFF in Windows to allow the proper communication between the two. 5. IF FSX or Prepar3D is installed in the Program Files folder you may need to set Permissions and Sharing so that REX may write the necessary files into the simulator. This is despite the installer defaulting to the Program Files (x86) folder when launched where you will see a big bold warning to change that file path to something else. I would show you a screenshot, but since it is already installed I cannot see that screen again without uninstalling first, and that's not worth an uninstall. So the well known DEVELOPER of REX has the installer defaulting to Program Files (x86) folder and the warns users to install it somewhere else 🤔 10 hours ago, Lorby_SI said: Theoretically anyway, the recent example with ORBX shows that one has to compromise there too. I have ORBX installed (5 programs from them) and never had an issue doing it this way. Regardless of where one would suggest I install my sim on my computer despite it having worked for 13 years of doing it this way, and all my testing thus-far on the new Operating System has shown it is still working, this is not the reason for the OP, which has been solved. Therefore, we can close this ticket and close this thread. Thanks. Steven Destazio (DVA12924) "There's not reason to be alarmed, and we hope you'll enjoy the rest of the fight. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?" - Elaine Dickinson We all started learning a product/feature at some point in our tenure within the flight sim community. Please understand that and understand that people come here to learn how to solve problems, not be harassed because you feel you are better than everyone else. We are all equal. Show respect and you'll get respect. Please don't guess at a solution unless trial/error and remember we are here to help each other and learn/teach from each other. Check your ego at the door. We should be interacting as if we will be sitting next to each other on the flight deck, not grade school bullies.
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