Fsdreamteam missing buildings

[agent00729 3]

Does anyone else have this issue? At all Fsdreamteam airports I am unable to see the buildings unless I uninstall/reinstall the scenery immediately before each flight. I have had this problem for at least a year or two. I am using Windows 7, not running FS9 in compatibility mode. The problem is particularly pronounced at KORD. Have the latest Addon Manager and everything. Does anyone know a fix or have experienced this?

Edited April 12, 2021 by agent00729

[trioer 10]

I did have this problem. I solved it by always having KORD at the very top scenery priority. Always #1. Even if I moved to #2, the default buildings would pop back in. 

[virtuali 4,419]

14 hours ago, agent00729 said:

I am using Windows 7, not running FS9 in compatibility mode

Whenever you install anything for FS9, you must always install the latest stand-alone Addon Manager for FS9 as the last thing you do, because it's the latest version, which supports the new activation system, it's only included in the Stand-Alone Addon manager for FS9:

http://fsdreamteam.com/sa-addon-manager

However, we cannot guarantee it will work under Windows 7, which went completely out of support in January 2020

[agent00729 3]

13 minutes ago, trioer said:

I did have this problem. I solved it by always having KORD at the very top scenery priority. Always #1. Even if I moved to #2, the default buildings would pop back in. 

Thanks, I will try it. Although my problem is not that the default buildings are there, but that the fsdreamteam buildings are gone. So the taxiways and AFCAD is working, just no buildings.

[agent00729 3]

2 minutes ago, virtuali said:

Whenever you install anything for FS9, you must always install the latest stand-alone Addon Manager for FS9 as the last thing you do, because it's the latest version, which supports the new activation system, it's only included in the Stand-Alone Addon manager for FS9:

http://fsdreamteam.com/sa-addon-manager

However, we cannot guarantee it will work under Windows 7, which went completely out of support in January 2020

Thanks for the reply.

Ok, interesting. So say even if I paste a new freeware airport from avsim into the addon scenery folder, I will need to reinstall the addon scenery manager again every time? I already have the latest one installed.

[virtuali 4,419]

7 minutes ago, agent00729 said:

even if I paste a new freeware airport from avsim into the addon scenery folder, I will need to reinstall the addon scenery manager again every time

Surely not. I was just referring to reinstalling anything from FSDT. 

[agent00729 3]

Ok got it. So maybe the problem was that I installed another fsdreamteam after I installed the latest addon manager? My system is still showing the latest addon manager though.

[virtuali 4,419]

8 minutes ago, agent00729 said:

Ok got it. So maybe the problem was that I installed another fsdreamteam after I installed the latest addon manager? My system is still showing the latest addon manager though.

I don't know what you did but, again, the thing is very simple: the Stand-Alone Addon Manager must be installed LAST.

If still doesn't work, then I'm afraid the problem might be Windows 7, as I've said in my first reply.

[agent00729 3]

Also, if it doesn’t work properly for windows 7, is there any way to get it working? Since this was the OS the scenery was originally bought and supported for, it seems like it shouldn’t suddenly not be working. I can understand if it was the other way around and I couldn’t get it to work (ie, if I upgraded to windows 10 and the scenery I bought for windows 7 no longer worked, that would be my fault and shouldn’t expect it to work) but I would think scenery shouldn’t suddenly stop working on the original OS.

[virtuali 4,419]

The old versions required the Addon Manager to activate the scenery on Esellerate, but Esellerate closed in 2019 so, in order to let user to continue to use their products bought, we had to update to a different system (Soraco QLM), and integrated it with the Addon Manager, and re-uploaded all orders and activation keys there. This being an updated software, requires currently supported OS and libraries to be used.

So, if you used the old version of the software which was compatible with Windows 7, you wouldn't be able to activate the scenery anymore, since there's no activation server running anymore, since Esellerate shut down all its servers in September 2019. But the new version of the software doesn't work with Windows 7. We haven't done anything specific to prevent it from working but, simply recompiling a software using the latest VC++ compiler, latest libraries, which are required to ensure the product will work on CURRENT OS, can break compatibility with outdated OS, and there's not much we can do about it.

Edited April 13, 2021 by virtuali

[agent00729 3]

1 hour ago, virtuali said:

The old versions required the Addon Manager to activate the scenery on Esellerate, but Esellerate closed in 2019 so, in order to let user to continue to use their products bought, we had to update to a different system (Soraco QLM), and integrated it with the Addon Manager, and re-uploaded all orders and activation keys there. This being an updated software, requires currently supported OS and libraries to be used.

So, if you used the old version of the software which was compatible with Windows 7, you wouldn't be able to activate the scenery anymore, since there's no activation server running anymore, since Esellerate shut down all its servers in September 2019. But the new version of the software doesn't work with Windows 7. We haven't done anything specific to prevent it from working but, simply recompiling a software using the latest VC++ compiler, latest libraries, which are required to ensure the product will work on CURRENT OS, can break compatibility with outdated OS, and there's not much we can do about it.

That is unfortunate. Is there any way I can get the sceneries to work without addon manager? I understand that the circumstances around the issue are difficult, but the end result for the customer is the same: the original OS system requirements under which the sceneries were sold no longer allow the sceneries to function properly.

Edited April 13, 2021 by agent00729

[virtuali 4,419]

I'm sorry, but there's no way to make the scenery working without the Addon Manager, they used it for other features like docking systems, seasonal variations, and many others. not just for activation, and removing those features is not only unfeasible, because all these sceneries were made more than 10 years ago ( the FS9 SDK required Gmax, which is also not available anymore ), but it's not right for users that use a supported OS and, same as you, can rightfully say they bought the scenery with the features allowed by the Addon Manager.

[agent00729 3]

6 minutes ago, virtuali said:

I'm sorry, but there's no way to make the scenery working without the Addon Manager, they used it for other features like docking systems, seasonal variations, and many others. not just for activation, and removing those features is not only unfeasible, because all these sceneries were made more than 10 years ago ( the FS9 SDK required Gmax, which is also not available anymore ), but it's not right for users that use a supported OS and, same as you, can rightfully say they bought the scenery with the features allowed by the Addon Manager.

Virtuali, I really admire your work and sceneries that make the FS world come alive. But this begs the question, why should anyone buy an FSdreamteam scenery if in a few years time when the next OS comes along, there is no guarantee that the scenery will work properly anymore? It’s more like purchasing a subscription to use for a certain period of time rather than owning the scenery.

[virtuali 4,419]

2 hours ago, agent00729 said:

But this begs the question, why should anyone buy an FSdreamteam scenery if in a few years time when the next OS comes along, there is no guarantee that the scenery will work properly anymore?

That's not what's really happening here. Our products, even the oldest ones, have not stopped to work because "the next OS came". We HAVE worked to keep the software updated to support that new OS which came along so no, the release of a new OS is not the problem, the problems starts to happen if you decided to stay to use old OS for years after it went officially unsupported.

Windows 7 normal support ended in January 2015, and the Extended support ended in January 2020. Not updating your OS after it went entirely unsupported is/will cause you far more problems that just not being able to use old FSDT products, your system is at high risk of being targeted by malware or hackers ( the same happened after XP went unsupported ), browser support will fade out, security certificates will expire and nobody will renew them for Windows 7, web sites will start to fail because they might require new browser support.

Quote

It’s more like purchasing a subscription to use for a certain period of time rather than owning the scenery.

You never owned the scenery in the first place. Software and every other copyrighted work never belongs to you, it's only licensed.

This includes your Windows 7, that OS you thought was "yours" ( it never was, it was licensed to you by Microsoft ), which is the thing that is causing you problems, because Microsoft gave it a lifespan of exactly 10 years and THIS is the real cause of your issue. So yes, you basically "rented" Windows 7 for 10 years.

If Microsoft never stopped supporting it, it would have kept backward compatibility with the various system libraries (.NET/VC++, etc, ) we had to use to keep it running on the newer OS, so the updated Addon Manager would probably still run in Windows 7. Using an unsupported OS has far more complex repercussions than just not getting the latest security fixes.

[agent00729 3]

I see your point with the license vs ownership. But for all intents and purposes the distinction is almost irrelevant here. I own a licensed copy of the work, not the IP itself, but it still should enable me to use the software according to the terms of the license agreement. That’s great that you have worked to get the scenery to run on new OS. But it shouldn’t come at the expense of ending functionality on the original users’ versions, it should be in addition to the original ones. This is essentially shifting the system requirements over time for the same software. FS9 didn’t stop working on windows XP when Vista came out. Microsoft Office 2010 didn’t stop working on windows 7 when 8 came out, etc.

The issue here isn’t whether or not Windows 7 still works, because it does, it’s the subtle shift in system requirements for a purchased product designed and advertised to work for it. 

Edited April 13, 2021 by agent00729