FSX-MS RealWorldScenery Problem

[KFXE 13]

Hello,

I purchased FLORIDA RealWorldScenery NorthEast, NorthWest, Central and Southern.

all of them worked as expected Except The NorthEast set of files.

Instead of extracting the BGL files as all the other 3 did, this one simply creates a 7 Zip Archive file named RWS-FloridaNorthwest.7z which is password protected.

The Developer is of no help.  They aren't home and don't answer posts on their "support" forum.

Anyone else encountered this and know how to get around it?   No passwords or keys are supplied at SimMarket for this.

Edited February 16, 2020 by KFXE

[charliearon 3,023]

Do you have 7 Zip on your computer?  I use it instead of WinZip. The file isn't a 7Zip .RAR file?

[KFXE 13]

1 hour ago, charliearon said:

Do you have 7 Zip on your computer?  I use it instead of WinZip. The file isn't a 7Zip .RAR file?

Hi Charliearon,

The download is 17 compressed files and one EXE file for decompression.  The included EXE file that does the extracting automatically.   You don't have to have 7z installed at all.   It's all in the exe file.  I tried using 7 Zip individually on the files and it does not work.

This is what it looks like.  You run the exe and it extrakes/makes all the BGL files from the other files.

 

I suspect they have made a mistake creating the exe file that extracts all the BGL files.  I've contacted their support email but no idea how long a reply will take.

Alternatively, I suspect RWS has just adopted a password system to protect their files and forgot that people who had already purchased would not have received a Key and Password to decompress the protected archive.  Perhaps if you purchase now the purchase will include a Serial Key and password instructions?  

Thanks for the reply.

Edited February 17, 2020 by KFXE

[KFXE 13]

Still no go on the RealWorldScenery, FLORIDA NorthEast scenery.

Tried downloading the files again.

[KFXE 13]

What would be very helpful is if the MD5 hashes for these files was published.   That way it could be EASILY determined if your downloaded copy is intact or corrupt  So far, they are not made available but perhaps I might post MD5 hashes of the files that worked.

[KFXE 13]

So, I finally got this issue resolved by the great folks at 7Zip (Special thanks Igor Pavlov and Sheli, who were patient and stayed with me until they figured it out).    I think the RWS developers didn't know what help to offer and I stopped hearing from them.  Turns out one of the files in the download set was incomplete.  Anyone who downloads the RWS  Florida Northeast scenery from SimMarket should check that files 001 - 016 are the exact same size because at the time I was trying to resolve this they were not, and that caused the issue..  Maybe they will have fixed it by now.  I offered the developer to tell him what the issue was, but again, no reply.

i also get a lot of scenery twitching whenever I install their 3D Environment pack into the Florida scenery.   They said they've never heard of the issue.   I took the time to create and send them a video of it but they would not respond about it (I contacted them several times to ask if they received it and never received a reply).   So without their feedback I don't know what the issue is.

My take on RWS after the end of the day is that it's  a pretty good set of scenery files and work well and can add a lot to the sim.  If you can get their scenery in a bundled deal the price is also good.  So you have to weigh support against the price.  I'm sure they will fix the issue related to the file that caused me problems soon.  Personally, I could never get their 3D Environment add on to work properly.   Is it just my computer (see signature for specs) or is there a problem with the scenery mesh?   I don't know.   I just know it really wrecks the scenery whenever I have it installed so I removed it.    Too bad because it looked promising.   The developer suggested a different way to install the files and I haven't tried it yet, but I don't see how that will solve the issue.  I'll do it eventually just to see.  If it works, I'll report back and say so.   If you are using the Florida RWS scenery WITH the 3D Environment add on and it works and there is no twitching please let me know.  I'm running FSX Deluxe on Service Pack 2.

As long as all the files unpack properly, RWS is a good, affordable option.   Tech support, however, is spotty and their forum hadn't had any posts for 5 months when I was there initially trying to get help with this Florida Northeast scenery.......it was a bit frustrating to pay for something then have a hard time getting support when it wouldn't work.

The developer did answer me a few times but was not able to resolve the issue.   I could be wrong, but my gut feeling is the developer just didn't really want to be bothered with the issues.   He did however, give me a link to an alternate download site from which I was able to get a proper version of the file I needed as suggested by the folks at 7zip.  So in the end I was able to fix the scenery.  So, glad about that....but I never got a reply about the twitching issue.

When it works, RWS is good.  If you're looking for scenery I know that MegaScenery and Orbx also have some good stuff.  

Hope this helps someone.

(PS....the MD5 hashes I mentioned earlier would have helped resolve this issue......but knowing that files 001 - 016 all had to be the exact same size was easier)

 

Edited February 22, 2020 by KFXE