Had a pretty serious GSX update this morning...

[pgde 571]

Thanks to Ray for this link to freeware for GSX users -- 

 

[IanHarrison 521]

14 hours ago, pgde said:

Thanks to Ray for this link to freeware for GSX users -- 

 

Sorry to throw a spanner in the works. I find Cartayna to be (for me) far too complicated to install and I didn't see any obvious benefits, when I did manage to get one airport installed (maybe not correctly, I admit).

Obviously, I am doing something wrong. But I have removed every trace of the Cartayna files, which seemed to have screwed up my Sim. 

Edited November 28, 2021 by IanHarrison

[Ray Proudfoot 8,930]

6 hours ago, IanHarrison said:

Sorry to throw a spanner in the works. I find Cartayna to be (for me) far too complicated to install and I didn't see any obvious benefits, when I did manage to get one airport installed (maybe not correctly, I admit).

Obviously, I am doing something wrong. But I have removed every trace of the Cartayna files, which seemed to have screwed up my Sim. 

The worst that can happen is you either get duplicated jetways or none at all. It generally involves renaming the existing jetway BGL to off so it disappears and then dropping the contents of two folders into their respective parent folders.

Finally, you need to edit the ini file in Users\AppData\Roaming\Virtuali\GSX\eham000.ini to point to the AFCAD file for that airport. I made up that name as an example.

Sometimes there will be an exclude file supplied to remove the existing jetways allowing the Cartayna ones to have priority.

The advantages are much nicer jetways and things like SafeDock parking signs which don't exist in the 3rd party airport. Clearer pushback options such as "Face NW" rather than "Face right" can also be helpful.

Amd if the jetways don't immediately appear you can just force a restart of Couatl within the sim to reload all the jetway data if a path was wrong for example.

[IanHarrison 521]

1 hour ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Finally, you need to edit the ini file in Users\AppData\Roaming\Virtuali\GSX\eham000.ini to point to the AFCAD file for that airport.

I think that could have been my mistake. How do you know what that file is called and where it is? I looked at a couple and they are in different locations.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,930]

29 minutes ago, IanHarrison said:

I think that could have been my mistake. How do you know what that file is called and where it is? I looked at a couple and they are in different locations.

The ini files supplied by Cartayna will always be in that folder and the first four letters is the ICAO. The remaing digits are unimportant.

If you mean the name of the AFCAD they generally include the letters AFD and are under 150Kb in size. Order the scenery folder by size ascending helps identify them

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

On 11/27/2021 at 9:18 AM, pgde said:

Thanks to Ray for this link to freeware for GSX users -- 

 

Ray, I just downloaded the zip...can you please explain how I use the contents...where they go...what must I do to enact them with GSX_2.  Thanks.  I have my Addon Manager GSX window open, and don't know where to put these folders...or their contents...

[Ray Proudfoot 8,930]

6 minutes ago, Sesquashtoo said:

Ray, I just downloaded the zip...can you please explain how I use the contents...where they go...what must I do to enact them with GSX_2.  Thanks.  I have my Addon Manager GSX window open, and don't know where to put these folders...or their contents...

If you’re referring to the Cartayna zip there  should be a pdf for each airport. The instructions are contained in that as they do differ for each airport depending on which configuration you want and the specifics for that airport.

You can close Addon Manager, it’s not required.

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

18 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

If you’re referring to the Cartayna zip there  should be a pdf for each airport. The instructions are contained in that as they do differ for each airport depending on which configuration you want and the specifics for that airport.

You can close Addon Manager, it’s not required.

So look for the PDF's...ok...thanks!

[Ray Proudfoot 8,930]

1 minute ago, Sesquashtoo said:

So look for the PDF's...ok...thanks!

Just unzip the contents to anywhere. I use my HDD as speed isn’t required. Then look for airports you own and check the version number.

Those for v4 should still work for v5. The only thing that may differ is the name of the AFCAD you reference in the ini file.

You'll soon get the hang of it. 👍

[virtuali 4,419]

22 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Finally, you need to edit the ini file in Users\AppData\Roaming\Virtuali\GSX\eham000.ini to point to the AFCAD file for that airport. I made up that name as an example.

That's not required, because even if the .INI contains the whole path which was valid on the .INI creator system, GSX will only use the filename to match it to an AFCAD, ignoring the path entirely so, the .INI files can be shared without worrying where the matching scenery is installed.

The things to look for when using 3rd party GSX .INI files are:

- Does the matching scenery comes with multiple AFCAD variations (different runway configs due to wind, with static planes or only AI, etc. ), which can usually be switched from a separate utility ? If yes, do these AFCAD use different names or not ? If they do, that might not be really compatible with each other, due to differences in their parking spots so, it's usually best if they don't use the same name, which also means the GSX .INI profile will only load for one of them.

- Has the scenery AFCAD being updated since the GSX .INI profile was made ? If updates only fixed issues, usually with nodes, or just added taxiways/changed/renamed taxiways and other paths, it's usually OK to use a GSX .INI made for a previous version but, if the update changed the parking spots, there might be issues, especially if parking spots were switched or renamed.

- Does the .INI file come with an associated Exclude .BGL ? If yes, it must be placed in the Addon Manager\Fsdreamteam\Exclude folder, so it could exclude the jetways that came with the scenery. If, instead, it comes with an .XML Exclude, which is the source code for that exclude, it must be first compiled into a .BGL, using the GSX Control Panel, which will automatically create .BGL version of all XML Excludes it finds in that folder, if the .BGL is missing or outdated. If, instead, the .INI DOES Exclude default jetways, but it doesn't come with either an Exclude .BGL or .XML, it's required to open the GSX customization page on that airport once, so the .XML Exclude could be created starting from the .INI, and then compiled with the GSX Control Panel.

- Does the .INI file use Custom Textures using Render To Texture in P3D4.4/4.5 ? Are those textures supplied with the .INI ? If they are not, you won't see anything in P3D4 (if the texture hasn't been placed in %APPDATA%\Virtuali\GSX\Texture, and you should see a default replacement in FSX/P3D5.

Since the Custom texture feature doesn't work in FSX or P3D V5, the latest GSX version will now automatically scan these files and, for each parking spot that a custom texture is used for handling, catering or the jetway logo, it will be reverted to default automatic choice, but the file will be saved back as a NEW copy, with a "p3d5only=1" setting in the .INI file, so P3D V4 or FSX will not use it, preventing errors for trying to find a model that doesn't exists, but the original file will be left intact with all custom textures, in case you want to use it with P3D V4. In addition to that, the new P3D5-only .INI file, will contain comments for every line that had its custom texture replaced, which can be used as a reference to know where you might want to restore them using a stock GSX texture, since now we added about 300 new liveries and improved/updated lots of the old ones too so, chances are the texture which previously required a custom texture supplied with the .INI, might already be in as stock GSX so, it should be fairly easy, using the comments in the .INI file as a guide, to know which parking spots need to be changed to have a similar result in P3D V5, even if the scenery required some custom textures.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,930]

5 minutes ago, virtuali said:

That's not required, because even if the .INI contains the whole path which was valid on the .INI creator system, GSX will only use the filename to match it to an AFCAD, ignoring the path entirely so, the .INI files can be shared without worrying where the matching scenery is installed.

That must be a recent change to GSX because I can remember a few years back the path needed to be valid. It sounds like only the name of the AFCAD is now needed.

That’s a lot of info to digest Umberto. I hope it’s in the manual so we can absorb it without needing to refer back to this topic. Knowing you I’m guessing it is. 😉

[virtuali 4,419]

32 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

That must be a recent change to GSX because I can remember a few years back the path needed to be valid. It sounds like only the name of the AFCAD is now needed.

It's been like that since GSX airport customization first came out.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,930]

13 minutes ago, virtuali said:

It's been like that since GSX airport customization first came out.

I've used \scenery\filename.bgl more recently and that works. I guess it just seems logical to use the full path to the file. Clearly not now necessary.

[virtuali 4,419]

1 hour ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

I've used \scenery\filename.bgl more recently and that works. I guess it just seems logical to use the full path to the file. Clearly not now necessary.

You probably used that because that's what we put in our own custom profiles: we remove the first part of the path and leave only the "generic" part. But we never did because it was required, just as a "documentation", to have a reminder where that file is usually found, without putting an absolute path which doesn't look nice.

But, as I've said, it wasn't needed, GSX always read the filename only.

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

On 11/28/2021 at 10:00 AM, Ray Proudfoot said:

Just unzip the contents to anywhere. I use my HDD as speed isn’t required. Then look for airports you own and check the version number.

Those for v4 should still work for v5. The only thing that may differ is the name of the AFCAD you reference in the ini file.

You'll soon get the hang of it. 👍

Ray, I have 'coffee'ed' up...and it really looks daunting...I know one thing...Im gonna spend three times the time spent reading the PDF's, before I touch the keyboard and mouse....  I am a wood worker...you know...'measure twice, cut once..", lol!

Edited November 29, 2021 by Sesquashtoo