Recovering locked layout.json file

[heavyapproach 12]

16 hours ago, Phantoms said:

While mentioning repair and reset, just remember for Steam users that are use to using the Verify Files Integrity to make sure not to do so. Verifying File integrity in Steam will cause a complete reinstall the next time you launch the game. I know it doesn't affect this thread's situation, but thought I would put it in here for people that have the Steam version.

Good point to make for Steam users James

I'm using the MS Store version, but do have some other unrelated content on Steam, and the verify file integrity function does work well for that other content if a game file goes rogue and needs to be replaced, but clearly for Steam users of MSFS, this function is virtually the same as doing a complete reinstall of the complete 95GB of file content

It would be easy for a Steam user to think this function would simply isolate and replace the required file

[heavyapproach 12]

16 hours ago, Romeo_Tango said:

There is no guarantee even a reinstall will fix anything. MSFS has been unusable for me since about a week  before the North American update

My sim suddenly stopped responding to all control inputs even though windows shows them properly installed and calibrated. They even show up in MSFS and the animations respond in the sensitivity tab of MSFS. Also at every start up, engines are running and switches turn on and off by themselves.

Un installing and re installing did not fix the problem. A call to MSFS xbox department claimed that corrupted files are being left on my system after uninstall but they don't know what files, or where they are stored. They said only progress files (logbook etc) are stored on the cloud so a full windows re install removing all apps and documents should fix the problem.

They were wrong. A full windows10 re install and 12 hours of re downloading MSFS, and on first startup of MSFS the problem including, all previous settings and preferences of the simulator was back.

I have reported the problem using zendesk and MSFS help desk. I got an email response that they received my bug report.

I have removed my yoke and other flight sim peripherals and back to Sim racing as my means of stress relief. At least I can use my new HP G2 there.

If MSFS was released as pre release software I wouldn't be so frustrated as I would know I was buying an unfinished product. I expected to be able to use the software. I was wrong.

Any help would be appreciated, though I doubt anyone can help as apparently even Ms and ASOBO have no clue how their own software works.

Hi Robin

Sorry to hear that you've had this problem with your installation and that you haven't been able to get much in the way of help from the people over at the Zendesk

Think it's safe to say that everybody is having a love/hate relationship with MSFS up to this point depending on what day of the week it is and whether or not the latest current update has improved or broken anything in their installation....probably a 50/50 chance of it going either way....we're all hoping that the sim gets better and updates become a thing to look forward to....and not something to be concerned about

My problem was isolated to the layout.json file in the Longitude content, so without question your issue is on a much larger scale that I'm unable to offer any suggestions on how to possibly address, but I did want to make one small possible suggestion for an application that I use and has been really useful in cleaning up any left over residual entries in the registry that are buried deep in W10 and can cause problems when attempting to preform a reinstall of any program

You may be aware of this and have already used it, and admittedly I've never had to use it for MSFS, but I have used it multiple times for FSX when doing a reinstall and other much more complex programs, and can say without any doubt, that it absolutely works in finding and allowing you to delete left over registry items in W10 that would otherwise cause problems when attempting to reinstall a program

https://www.revouninstaller.com/products/revo-uninstaller-free/

There is also a paid version of Revo Uninstaller, but if you wanted to give this a try and see if it helps at all, just use the free version for the time being. The UI is really easy to use and it's not all all complicated if you just want it to find and delete anything left over in the registry after uninstalling a program. Somebody recommended this to me some time ago when I was having a problem with left over entries in the registry that were causing problems when trying to do a reinstall

I don't know if this will be useful in trying to get your installation back to where it should be Robin, but wanted to offer it as a possible suggestion just in case it helped

[heavyapproach 12]

14 hours ago, JimBrown said:

This might be a bit radical, but less so than doing a complete re-install of either MSFS or Win10:

Delete the "asobo-aircraft-longitude" folder and its contents from the "Official" folder.

I have tested this on my Steam version. Once the folder is deleted and MSFS launched, it appears in Content Manager as "In Library" and ready to download (399 mb).

The weird thing is that even with the entire contents of that folder deleted, but not the folder itself, it still appears in Content Manager as "Up to date". It is not until the folder itself is deleted that it can then be downloaded from the Content Manager again.

Hope this helps,

...jim

 

Hi Jim

Thanks very much....this absolutely corrected the problem and the Longitude content is back

At first I didn't think this sounded radical at all, I thought it seemed like almost too simple a solution to the problem....but knowing that I had already borked the Longitude and nothing that anybody had suggested in order to get it back had worked up to this point....and also realizing that I was rapidly approaching the point of residing myself to having to preform a complete reinstall, and any associated problems that may present in order to get it back if the next update didn't somehow do that....I figured what more damage could I possible do to it by just completely deleting the Longitude folder as you suggested and seeing if it would show up in the Content manager as being available to install?

I tried to cheat it at first and just attempted to 'move' the Longitude folder completely outside of the installation and hide it in Documents, but Asobo/MS were having none of that nonsense and wouldn't allow that to happen, so I pulled the trigger and just deleted it. Now it was sitting in the recycle bin, and much like the layout.json sitting right beside it, that was the original source of this whole problem, it was not going to let me move it back out of there no matter what happened next. I knew that I was committed at this point

I had already downloaded the patch that was made available earlier this morning, and that hadn't changed status of the Longitude being missing, but I really didn't expect that it would have, if an update was going to recreate the Longitude content, I thought it would be something more major that just a patch, so the sim was already closed when I followed your suggestion of completely deleting the folder

So I opened the sim and went into the Content Manager, and the Longitude was right there waiting as available content to download just as you suggested that it would be, I was stunned, not that you were right about this, but that the solution was so simple after spending so much time trying every possible suggestion that people here had made in order to get it back with no success

So thanks again for the suggestion and the solution Jim, and for removing the last resort possibility of having to preform a complete reinstall. I'll for sure make a mental note about your solution and pass it along to anyone else that may encounter a similar issue

 

[heavyapproach 12]

Also thanks to everybody in this thread that offered possible suggestions for fixing this problem....much appreciated

[JimBrown 596]

5 hours ago, heavyapproach said:

So thanks again for the suggestion and the solution Jim, and for removing the last resort possibility of having to preform a complete reinstall. I'll for sure make a mental note about your solution and pass it along to anyone else that may encounter a similar issue

Glad to hear it worked!

As I mentioned, I have the Steam version, so was not sure if it would work on the MSStore version due to the issues you had already experienced. But I figured that if you could remove the layout.json file, you oughta be able to remove the whole folder. 🙂

And, just to rub it in, I was able to move the folder out of the official folder, check the Content Manager to see that it did offer it for download, and then move the folder back to the Official folder without having to download it, and without any adverse affects. Score one for the Steam version. 😉

All the best,

...jim

 

[Romeo_Tango 143]

8 hours ago, heavyapproach said:

Hi Robin

Sorry to hear that you've had this problem with your installation and that you haven't been able to get much in the way of help from the people over at the Zendesk

Think it's safe to say that everybody is having a love/hate relationship with MSFS up to this point depending on what day of the week it is and whether or not the latest current update has improved or broken anything in their installation....probably a 50/50 chance of it going either way....we're all hoping that the sim gets better and updates become a thing to look forward to....and not something to be concerned about

My problem was isolated to the layout.json file in the Longitude content, so without question your issue is on a much larger scale that I'm unable to offer any suggestions on how to possibly address, but I did want to make one small possible suggestion for an application that I use and has been really useful in cleaning up any left over residual entries in the registry that are buried deep in W10 and can cause problems when attempting to preform a reinstall of any program

You may be aware of this and have already used it, and admittedly I've never had to use it for MSFS, but I have used it multiple times for FSX when doing a reinstall and other much more complex programs, and can say without any doubt, that it absolutely works in finding and allowing you to delete left over registry items in W10 that would otherwise cause problems when attempting to reinstall a program

https://www.revouninstaller.com/products/revo-uninstaller-free/

There is also a paid version of Revo Uninstaller, but if you wanted to give this a try and see if it helps at all, just use the free version for the time being. The UI is really easy to use and it's not all all complicated if you just want it to find and delete anything left over in the registry after uninstalling a program. Somebody recommended this to me some time ago when I was having a problem with left over entries in the registry that were causing problems when trying to do a reinstall

I don't know if this will be useful in trying to get your installation back to where it should be Robin, but wanted to offer it as a possible suggestion just in case it helped

Thanks for your advise and words of encouragement.

I truly have no choice but to abandon MSFS for now. 

Your advise to try 'Revo-uninstaller' is appreciated but I doubt it would work, as I have already done a complete Re-install of Windows10; removing all apps and documents, and the problem came back along with all my previous setting and preferences in MSFS. This at the very first startup of the sim, once the MSFS installation was complete. I even changed the MSFS installation from the default directory, as some folks claim to have less problems than those of us that went for a default installation.

The one thing that I observed is that all seems to work fine in the landing challenges (at least the one I tried in Chile.), so I think its safe to say the problem is limited to "free flight". I haven't tried any other activity....mainly because Ga free flight is how I like to enjoy MSFS. 

It seems that without some way to change to settings in the cloud MSFS is only taking up space on my hard drive. (I am not about to purchase another copy of MSFS to achieve this.)

Regards and happy flying, sounds like your issue has been resolved.

Robin.