Seattle 2003 and SanFran 2003

[Guest]

Hi,I have the following problem : If I want to go to the map I have a CTD in low resolution and I must reboot the computer...So, if I remove some airports in packages folder (around 20) the problem disappear...For info I tested it with a clean and fresh install of FU3 patched...I have NO problem with SanFrancisco 2003...P3/800, 128, GeforceIIMX, SB live, Windows 98SE, DirectX8.1.My resolution desktop is 1024*768 16bit.Is there a solve ?Thank you in advance.Best Regards.Richard.

[Christopher Low 5,331]

Richard,Do you have any outer terrain scenery installed ? This is generally the cause of any problems with my mega packs. I am not sure how many packages you would need to remove (I'm pretty sure that it's nowhere near 20 though).I would recommend removing Pacemaker Landing Zone, since this conflicts with one of LGS "extra" airports. Other packages that I would suggest removing are Flying H Ranch and Auburn Academy.The alternative solution is to re-install FU3 without the outer terrain scenery, and then remove all of LGS "extra" airports from the Seattle airports folder. This is almost certain to solve ALL problems with my packages, since you would be setting up FU3 as I do. If you would like to do this, then I will let you know which folders to remove.Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Guest]

Chris,>Do you have any outer terrain scenery installed ? This is>generally the cause of any problems with my mega packs. I am>not sure how many packages you would need to remove (I'm>pretty sure that it's nowhere near 20 though).By now I have the "large" outer terrain of FU3 installed. That's all, no other addons... My OutterrAirports folder contents 43 objects.>I would recommend removing Pacemaker Landing Zone, since this>conflicts with one of LGS "extra" airports. Other packages>that I would suggest removing are Flying H Ranch and Auburn>Academy.I did it but no change about problem...>The alternative solution is to re-install FU3 without the>outer terrain scenery, and then remove all of LGS "extra">airports from the Seattle airports folder. This is almost>certain to solve ALL problems with my packages, since you>would be setting up FU3 as I do. If you would like to do this,>then I will let you know which folders to remove.No problem, I can make a try with that... But, forgive my question because I'm not sure to understand the complete structure of FU3 and packages. If I install FU3 without outer terrain scenery, is your packages will replace the outer terrain ?Thank you in advance.Best Regards.Richard.PS : Why it seems there is no problem with SanFRan 2003 ?

[Christopher Low 5,331]

Richard,If you install without outer terrain scenery, you will not have any of the generic scenery areas outside the two main high resolution regions (San Francisco and Seattle).SanFran has fewer added airfields, so that might be one reason why there are no problems.Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Hans_Petter 1]

The outer terrain sorts under the Seattle region. I remember Juvat mentioned a long time ago, "always start an OT flight from the Seattle region". Thus, one may assume that an OT installation adds to the Seattle airport number. I've found a few more problems with some flights in the Seattle region and may need to dump another Chris Low airport.When starting a flight from Coupeville I see the error screen flashing during the loading process but it doesn't hang. I've made several flights frome here and it didn't seem to matter. However, during the first of yesterday's flights to check out the Dungeness Spit the sim hung and I got the error screen again. The options were ignore or cancel. I was flying at the outskirts of the hi-res area, over the water. Next time I choose a route well within the hi-res area and saw no error message.Hans Petter

[Guest R_Driscoll]

I installed Chris' original San Fran package, and it has always worked well. Based on the discussion here I think I can safely install the new version as well.I have not commented here before because there are some points which worry me a little. I am still a bit concerned about the Seattle version for the reasons discussed here:- am I going to have to modify outer terrain / delete other airports ?- has Chris used all the existing models or only the original LGS/Bazza models? - does Chris' package overwrite other people's packages? Do I have to choose, reinstall etc.This is not to say I don't admire Chris' work - it is enormous. I think for newcomers the superpack is the way to go - it makes installation and upkeep easy. Its just that I would like to have the best of all worlds! I guess for the moment I could install all of the Seattle 2003 pack into a temporary directory, then one by one copy across the packages I need, but this sounds tedious and would not solve the problem of needing to reinstall the outer terrain ATC to allow direct flights to SanFran (which is my favourite use of the 747's!).So for the moment I guess I'll sit back and wait for these issues to be sorted out by the experts. Of which I'm not.RobD.

[Guest juvat2]

Hi,I recently compiled all the regionseattleairport info from the fbo.cfg and fbo2.cfg into a excel spread sheet. A very tedious thing. My hope is to have the patience to compile the same info from the regionsanfranairport folders and also for the outer terrain. An even more daunting task will be to comb through each package I have, whether its in-use or not and also compile their fbo info.My intention for doing this is to have a single document for folks to download so they'll see which frequencies are in use and for which airport. It could also be handy as a trouble-shooter for the problem we have with the ai screen freeze.Just to test the list of seattle region fbo info, I've found that Marcus' grand canyon west package uses a frequency(122.90) that several airports in the seattle region use as a unicom frequency. Is that significant? I really don't know. When I recently downloaded Chris's latest packages, I removed everything from my packages folder. The only thing I did not remove was the modded aiplan.txt and airspace.txt for Marcus' mb002 and 003 series in the regions folders.Before installing Chris' packages I started Flight Unlimited 3 and still had the ai screen freeze.Well, I wanted to give this info to you all. If you all think it's usefull to compile the fbo info like that, let me know.Here are the column names showing exactly what info I'm extracting. If you all think I should add something else like the fbo name number, let me know:Fbo Name, Airport Code, Atis-Ground-Tower Frequencies(Also whether unicom or not), Fbo Type, and Fbo Center.I can save it to different formats as well like wordpad, or htm.You all take care,Jim B. http://forums.avsim.com/user_files/9130.jpg

[Guest jonpoint]

Jim,Great stuff! This is what we need. I did a similar one back when I was playing around with OT frequencies but I've changed a lot of airports now and it wouldn't apply. We DO need a definitive listing and I'm glad you've 'taken the ball' here.Please continue - we appreciate the effort.:-waveJon Point*************************(effyouthree@hotmail.com)*************************

[Guest juvat2]

Hi Jon,Thank you for the much needed encouragement. My rough guess is it will be about 80 or 90ish more entries to cover Sf and Outter terrain. The tons of packages I've downloaded are going to be a bear to pick thru. The directories that I have them stashed, I plan on using win98's find tool-fbo or fbo2. Hopefully that'll quickly identify the packages that have airport mods in them as opposed to the scenery ones. I was thinking/hoping someone had to of already done this. When you made your list, what were your findings? Were you able to detect any frequency or ai path conflicts between the airports?I'd like to find a customizable utility that can search directories for specific strings such as fbo_name and dump all to a text file. The way I'm doing it now, one folder at a time, copy-paste, is very time consuming and in-efficient.Take care,Jim B.

[Christopher Low 5,331]

Jim,That's an interesting observation. Do you suffer any problems when Markus' Grand Canyon airport is installed ? Having suggested that, multiple airfields can have the same UNICOM frequency, so my guess is that problems only appear when two or more TOWER CONTROLLED airports use the same frequency. Does that sound reasonable ?Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Christopher Low 5,331]

Robert,I have used the existing LGS models in my two packs, together with one or two extra models like the Toyota truck and sailing vessel. I have also used Bogdan's model package that enables Seattle models to be used in the SanFran region (trees, buildings etc), and SanFran models to be used in the Seattle region (lighthouses).With respect to "overwriting other people's packages", that is unlikely. However, if you have existing versions of any of the airfields that are included in my packs, then it stands to reason that the chances of conflict are high :-)I completely understand your desire to have everything...even if that does include the outer terrain scenery :-lolChris Low,ENGLAND.

[Guest juvat2]

Hi Chris,1st I'd like to thank you for all the recent updates.I haven't re-installed any packages. The only ones installed are all of your latest with the upgrades. I'm pretty sure I know what will happen when I start re-adding the others-no difference. I had the ai screen freeze before your latest packages, and imagine re-adding the others will not bring on any different behavior. Here is something I've noticed-with just your current new packages installed my ai screen freeze occurs at about 20-40%. Before removing all the(various authors) packages and installing just yours, the freeze occurs at about 4%.There is one only way that I've "fixed" the freezes in the past. That was by removing all packages and employing the "modified packages" airports1.zip and flight3.zip by Hennie, and re-installing an original to best of my knowledge airspace and aiplan.txt.Of course the other way is a total removal and re-install.After all thats said, I've given up really worrying about the ai screen freeze. I like everyones packages and the outter terrain ones as well and am willing to put up with pressing the "esc" key to continue the load process.Earlier someone had asked if one package would over-write others. Unless the package folder has the same name, it can't/ won't. Flight Unlimited will just gamely attempt to apply all the contents in the packages folder as best it can. I think worst case a cdt will occur when the conflict gets too complex for her to handle. Example, I once had 3 Sanderson packages running at once. I went into fled and opened the packages. Fled was able to open all of them, where ther was a model conflict or congestion, I moved it. I discovered this by accident when I created my own package for Sanderson and noticed how significant the differences were between default and my mods while in-flight. Re-loaded fled, looked in my packages folder and ah-there they were 2 or 3 others from varying artists.Take care,Jim B.

[Guest]

I'm with you, Rob!!! This is an on-going issue that will probably only be resolved once we have access to the //$ource//. I would certainly be willing to undertake the endeavor (Equally certain that others here would do the same) to re-work the Flight3.exe/FLED.exe and DLL's to allow multiple ATC airports to use the same frequencies by placing a limitation on the range of each based upon Airspace characteristics...in effect forcing a recompile of the soundgroups as each "boundary" is reached. It just seems like we are batting our heads against the wall over this issue, currently. Perhaps some pressure upon EA would be appropriate? I am currently inquiring of them... Fly First...Play Later...--Noel

[Christopher Low 5,331]

Noel,Can you provide me with an e-mail address for Electronic Arts ? I would like to send them a letter myself regarding FU3. However, I think that the situation is slightly more complex than "EA have the rights to FU3, and should therefore have full control over the source code".Chris Low,ENGLAND.