I have installed the Milviz Beaver into P3Dv5.3 and it is able to be loaded but I don't see the proper Radio with a gps window wanted. I want to use the MVAMS to choose a different radio .... the 530/430. I assume the MVAMS is looking P3D4 because after using MVAMS to choose the Milviz 530/430 and saving the change is not made. I also have FSX installed and the MVAMS works fine. I have searched for a solution but have come up empty.

5 hours ago, j35 said:

I have installed the Milviz Beaver into P3Dv5.3 and it is able to be loaded but I don't see the proper Radio with a gps window wanted. I want to use the MVAMS to choose a different radio .... the 530/430. I assume the MVAMS is looking P3D4 because after using MVAMS to choose the Milviz 530/430 and saving the change is not made. I also have FSX installed and the MVAMS works fine. I have searched for a solution but have come up empty.

I did some monitoring of the MVAMS file and registry accesses.

And MVAMS looks for installed sims via the sim's HKCU registry key (the current user registry hive).

Once it has all the sims installed paths it searches for the particular aircraft in the various sim's SimObjects paths.

I performed a test update changing a few settings and found MVAMS does find the P3D v5 installed aircraft and successfully changes the settings.

You should see an "Aircraft_backup.cfg" which is created by MVAMS and "Aircraft.cfg" where both will have the same file date.

The DHC-2 also runs the Milviz lighting service.exe for its lights management by the looks.

So, provided a default install into the Sim Root is followed and MVAMS is running as an Admin, all should be good.

 

A couple of things to check.

• Assuming the use of the current "FreeBees" installers from the MilViz downloads links ?
• P3D has its HKCU registry key created ?
• MVAMS is run as Admin ?
• Sim is not running at the time of the change of MVAMS settings ?

Thanks Rogen for the reply. Is there a link somewhere which gives the steps to follow for the registry changes. I am not very familiar with such things. I did check both installs of P3d and FSX steam on my computer and the  "Aircraft_backup.cfg" and the  "Aircraft.cfg" are not present in P3D5.3 but are present in FSX/simobjects/airplanes/dhc-2 beaver milviz.

I have the latest installer for Milviz Beaver.

I did setup MVAMS to run as Admin.

Not able to do:  P3D has its HKCU registry key created ?

Thanks for any help

Edited September 25, 20232 yr by j35

I have P3Dv4 installed on the side of P3Dv5 and mirror the v4 compatible Milviz planes to v5. So if I change something with MVAMS in v4 it is changed in v5 too.

Thanks blaunarwal but not sure how or what  to install P3Dv4 on the side of P3Dv5 and how to mirror compatibilty Milviz planes.

If you have v4 just install in it's own directory. Don't mix with v5. Install the milviz plane in v4 as wanted by the installer. Then mirror the simobject folder of the Milviz plane into P3D5 at the same location. You can link with right click and selecting "Link source" then go to P3D5 into simobjects airplanes and right click again then "insert as ... Hardlink".

Sound, Effects and gauges need to be copied into v5. It is easier to install the plane into v4 and v5 just with pointing the installer to this path. Then you have all files needed. 

Sorry, searched for NVAMS but couldn't find anything 😕

What is NVAMS? 

Edited September 25, 20232 yr by jcomm

2 hours ago, jcomm said:

What is NVAMS?

It's MVAMS (not NVAMS) and it's an acronym for "MilViz Addon Managment System".

Being the aircraft managment tool for configuring the MilViz/Blackbird freebees and their other aircraft etc.

 

 

Edited September 25, 20232 yr by Rogen
Added example pic

 

19 hours ago, j35 said:

Not able to do:  P3D has its HKCU registry key created ?

Ok, so we're just going to cover a little info on the Windows registry first.

Windows has a big database of settings known as a Registry where each main Registry set is known as a hive, and where each setting is known as a key.

It's kind of like a folder structure where you can browse down to the level of keys and thus settings for Windows and applications.

You don't want to "play" in the registry unless you know what your doing... as the Registry does hold all the settings related to the operation of Windows itself, as well as installed applications like P3D. That said there is no harm in looking at or searching the registry using the default Windows registry tool "Regedit", Google searching is a pretty good option if you want to find more about the Windows Registry.

The main hive is HKLM or the "Local Machine" hive where the settings apply to the entire machine, P3D does create registry keys here when P3D is installed.

However the Registry hive MVAMS looks at is the HKCU, the "Current User" hive, this hive should have a set of P3D registry keys as well and it is this set of keys that should be confirmed.

The process would be to run Regedit and browse down the folder structure looking for the P3D registry keys.

The path is "Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v5" like shown in the pic below noting I've created some specific keys for my own use e.g. "AppPath.SpecificInstall" and "NOTE", also I've never owned P3D v2, I just manually created a set of Prepar3D v2 keys for my own testing purposes

The main key referenced will be the "AppPath" which should contain the path to where P3D v5 is installed and you should be able to browse down through the key sets in the left pane just like browsing down a folder structure.

Does the v5 key and AppPath value exist ?

Cheers

 

 

Edited September 25, 20232 yr by Rogen
spelling

Yes they are.

4 hours ago, jcomm said:

Sorry, searched for NVAMS but couldn't find anything 😕

What is NVAMS? 

Sorry for the misspell.

6 hours ago, blaunarwal said:

If you have v4 just install in it's own directory. Don't mix with v5. Install the milviz plane in v4 as wanted by the installer. Then mirror the simobject folder of the Milviz plane into P3D5 at the same location. You can link with right click and selecting "Link source" then go to P3D5 into simobjects airplanes and right click again then "insert as ... Hardlink".

Sound, Effects and gauges need to be copied into v5. It is easier to install the plane into v4 and v5 just with pointing the installer to this path. Then you have all files needed. 

Thanks for the info blaunwal. I will have a look and see what I can do. Efforts appreciated.

Edited September 26, 20232 yr by j35

2 hours ago, Rogen said:

 

Ok, so we're just going to cover a little info on the Windows registry first.

Windows has a big database of settings known as a Registry where each main Registry set is known as a hive, and where each setting is known as a key.

It's kind of like a folder structure where you can browse down to the level of keys and thus settings for Windows and applications.

You don't want to "play" in the registry unless you know what your doing... as the Registry does hold all the settings related to the operation of Windows itself, as well as installed applications like P3D. That said there is no harm in looking at or searching the registry using the default Windows registry tool "Regedit", Google searching is a pretty good option if you want to find more about the Windows Registry.

The main hive is HKLM or the "Local Machine" hive where the settings apply to the entire machine, P3D does create registry keys here when P3D is installed.

However the Registry hive MVAMS looks at is the HKCU, the "Current User" hive, this hive should have a set of P3D registry keys as well and it is this set of keys that should be confirmed.

The process would be to run Regedit and browse down the folder structure looking for the P3D registry keys.

The path is "Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v5" like shown in the pic below noting I've created some specific keys for my own use e.g. "AppPath.SpecificInstall" and "NOTE", also I've never owned P3D v2, I just manually created a set of Prepar3D v2 keys for my own testing purposes

The main key referenced will be the "AppPath" which should contain the path to where P3D v5 is installed and you should be able to browse down through the key sets in the left pane just like browsing down a folder structure.

Does the v5 key and AppPath value exist ?

Cheers

 

 

Yes they are there.

On 9/26/2023 at 10:47 AM, j35 said:

Yes they are there.

Well... that's a dilemma...

The MVAMS app is finding P3d v5 just fine on my machine.

Where monitoring shows it looks at the AppPath registry key in HKCU for the sim installation path, then searches all the found sim paths looking for instances of,

<AppPath>\SimObjects\Airplanes\DHC-2 Beaver Milviz <type>\aircraft.cfg looping though each found instance

Backing up as Aircraft_backup.cfg prior to making changes to the aircraft.cfg.

Sounds like (on your machine at least) it's either not searching (e.g MVAMS is not aware of P3D v5), or is searching but not finding the defined P3D v5 path for the aircraft.cfg (invalid path entry ?).

 

Probably best to confirm full paths and versions.

The link below shows the v5 installer as "MilViz DHC-2 Beaver 210720.exe", this is the one I've got.

https://milviz.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=137

The MVAMS.exe Properties/Details shows as version 0.9.9.0 with a date modified as 29/03/2017.

And there is also a file in the MVAMS folder titled "version_lib-mvams.txt" containing the text "Milviz MVAMS 1.0.0 - November 2019".

Sooo... what have you got ?

 

Monitor result for MVAMS.exe for P3D v5 AppPath HKCU registry key search.

Date & Time:    27/09/2023 4:11:51 PM
Event Class:    Registry
Operation:    RegQueryValue
Result:    SUCCESS
Path:    HKCU\SOFTWARE\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v5\AppPath
TID:    15344
Duration:    0.0000022
Type:    REG_SZ
Length:    62
Data:    H:\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v5

Monitor result for MVAMS.exe first P3D v5 found aircraft.

Date & Time:    27/09/2023 4:12:03 PM
Event Class:    File System
Operation:    IRP_MJ_CREATE
Result:    SUCCESS
Path:    H:\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v5\SimObjects\Airplanes\DHC-2 Beaver Milviz\aircraft.cfg
TID:    15344
Duration:    0.0000434
Desired Access:    Generic Read
Disposition:    Open
Options:    Sequential Access, Synchronous IO Non-Alert, Non-Directory File, Open No Recall
Attributes:    n/a
ShareMode:    Read
AllocationSize:    n/a
OpenResult:    Opened

 

Cheers

Edited September 27, 20232 yr by Rogen

Well I installed the P3dv5 of the beaver that you linked too. The Garmin now shows and works, however, the pop up window for the garmin does not open up when right clicking on the panel window in sim. Also I choose the no-spinner version in the MVAMS and the spinner version shows up in the sim. I no longer have the P3dv4 on my computer.

As for the MVAMS.exe Properties/Details shows as version 0.9.9.0 with a date modified as 29/03/2017, in my computer no version is showing and date modified is 9/28/2023.

As for the MVAMS:    file in the MVAMS folder titled "version_lib-mvams.txt" containing the text "Milviz MVAMS 1.0.0 - November 2019", my situation is completely different. There is no version_lib-mvams.txt folder.

The path I am using is c/users/jack/appadata/local/mvams/versions so I must be doing something wrong. Also where I did an uninstall and then a reinstall for P3Dv5 may have changed layouts.

Please don't give up on me yet.

I did a search for the pop up not working and found a post with the same issue and he solved it by placing in the DHC-2 Beaver Milviz panel.mv530_430 a list of instruction to make it work. I did the same info and when saving the computer gave a message from notepad that I did not have permission from Lockheed Martin to save changes to this file.

21 hours ago, j35 said:

Well I installed the P3dv5 of the beaver that you linked too. The Garmin now shows and works, however, the pop up window for the garmin does not open up when right clicking on the panel window in sim. Also I choose the no-spinner version in the MVAMS and the spinner version shows up in the sim. I no longer have the P3dv4 on my computer.

Ok, so that version of the DHC2 installer is also the one that's available for download from the BlackBird "FreeBees" link on their website, noting the freebees installers are the latest installers and are what should be used for installing into P3D v5.

If you don't already have them all I'd recommend downloading and taking note of any DRM keys that may apply, as in actuality they are pretty good overall, not A2A level good, but certainly better than most.

Yes the Popup of the GPS (and I assume you mean the MilViz Garmins) is a bug, where I also assume the thread you've referenced to resolve is this one ?

Looks like the spinner cover is also a bug, it swaps from pointed to rounded, however although MVAMS does update the config ini file with prop_cover=none, the cover always remains.

There is some visibility code in the model for a Nocover option, however it does not appear to function, does it function on your FSX install ?

 

22 hours ago, j35 said:

I did a search for the pop up not working and found a post with the same issue and he solved it by placing in the DHC-2 Beaver Milviz panel.mv530_430 a list of instruction to make it work. I did the same info and when saving the computer gave a message from notepad that I did not have permission from Lockheed Martin to save changes to this file.

P3D was not running at the time ? or stuck running in the background ?

A running application will typically lock files in use to prevent changes.

Also what is the path P3D is installed to ?

Ideally it should not be the "Program Files" path due to the high level of access permissions P3D needs to run.

You might need to run NotePad (or better yet NotePad++) as an Administrator so NotePad has permissions to write and save.

 

21 hours ago, j35 said:

As for the MVAMS.exe Properties/Details shows as version 0.9.9.0 with a date modified as 29/03/2017, in my computer no version is showing and date modified is 9/28/2023.

As for the MVAMS:    file in the MVAMS folder titled "version_lib-mvams.txt" containing the text "Milviz MVAMS 1.0.0 - November 2019", my situation is completely different. There is no version_lib-mvams.txt folder.

The path I am using is c/users/jack/appadata/local/mvams/versions so I must be doing something wrong. Also where I did an uninstall and then a reinstall for P3Dv5 may have changed layouts.

Sounds like the Windows view option of "File Name Extensions" is disabled (which makes for easily confusable file names).

If it is you'll see in \AppData\Local\MVAMS 2 x MVAMS files, one will be named just MVAMS with an orange icon with a shield, the other will be named MVAMS.exe with an icon like a sheet of paper with a ball on it.

With Show "File Name Extensions" enabled you should see the full names of MVAMS.exe and MVAMS.exe.config and thus be able to check the file properties of the correct file.

Enabling showing of "File Name Extensions" is an easy task available in the Windows File Explorer View and Show/Hide section of the Explorer ribbon where it's just a tick box you can tick on or off.

The Show/Hide option can be done just on the MVAMS folder or at the "This PC" level, your choice. I have it enabled at the "This PC" level because I always want to see the file extension a file has.

 

As to an MVAMS folder titled "version_lib-mvams.txt", it's not a folder - it's a text file. It's likely displaying as just "version_lib-mvams" if show "File Name Extensions" is not enabled. When opened in notepad it should contain text, what does the text say ?

 

MVAMS is installed into the following path of my workstation, \AppData\Local\MVAMS\ where there are 21 files and 4 folders, one of which is named "Versions"

Folders:

• Configurations - This folder holds the various aircraft config .ini files that MVAMS changes.
• Modules - Contains .dlls for each installed aircraft.
• Utilities - Contains a charts manager application.
• Versions - contains folders which in turn contains .xml files referencing a version number e.g. the DHC2.xml contains <Version>1.1.0.20</Version>

Given the info above I'm not quite sure by what you mean using a path of "\appadata\local\mvams\versions\", can you clarify ?

Cheers