KJFK scenery does not show in FS9

[cds001]

I think I found something: I sometimes use a Freeware Scenery Editor that uses lower cases throughout the scenery.cfg. The area-section therefore is written [area.001] instead of the original [Area.001] with a leading capital. As soon as I replace the lower case with the upper case writing (use Area.378 instead of area.378 in my case), it works! This even works if I only use the original upper case writing for the KJFK scenery and leave all other area.xxx with lower cases.

This in my view shows that both of us are right: you assumed a problem with my scenery.cfg and are right (sort of). I assumed a problem with your activation process and are apparently also right (sort of). It looks as if your activation software desperately looks for an entry beginning with a capital A and doesn't accept lower case leading a's in the section number. That to me is not really a bug but short-sighted programming. I suggest you correct bglman.dll so that it finds the scenery even if the writing is [area.001].

Of course, you can prove me wrong, but I am quite sure because I can reproduce the behaviour.

Regards
Christoph

[virtuali]

This in my view shows that both of us are right: you assumed a problem with my scenery.cfg and are right (sort of).

Not "sort of": you HAD a problem with the scenery.cfg. Something that FS9 could deal with, but it was a deviation from the standard format nonetheless.

I assumed a problem with your activation process and are apparently also right (sort of).

As I've said, this doesn't have anything to do with the activation. Activation was never lost. The reasons why the Addon Manager needs to check the scenery.cfg, it's because it needs to go into "do nothing" mode, if there's no scenery installed, otherwise you would be bugged with Trial messages just by flying the scenery area, even if you never had installed that scenery in the first place, just because its location is the same of a scenery known to the Addon Manager.

That to me is not really a bug but short-sighted programming. I suggest you correct bglman.dll so that it finds the scenery even if the writing is [area.001]

You are the first one reporting this, in the 5 years the Addon Manager has been out...and of course, the short-sighted programming, started in your freeware utility, which decided to *deviate* from the FS9 naming convention. When working over Flight sim config files, it's best not to assume anything, and write it back everything EXACTLY as it was.

I'm sure we would get many complains, if our installers changed the casing of the scenery.cfg section names.

However, we'll fix it for sure, because it's trivial enough to do.

[cds001]

Hi,

we now could dive into an academic discussion whether "activation" means only the decision of a rightful proof of purchase and the sequential allowing of the scenery to be displayed. I still agree that in this sense activation was never lost - that's exactly what I was told from your module.

But since the scenery didn't show up, I still regard that as a fault of the activation process as a whole - even if the ultimate reason was in the tampering of my scenery.cfg by a third-party tool. That's because this is such an obvious source of error to rule out that it is kind of strange you didn't do it in the first place. I do a bit of programming myself, and my search routines aim to find both character types - just to make sure.

Your indication that you're "sure we would get many complains, if our installers changed the casing of the scenery.cfg section names" reads a bit irritating, because that was never my point. The question to me would rather be if some of the previous complaints from other users about sceneries not showing up could ultimately tracked down to a similar problem. Most users do not perform a systematic error search, so they simply wouldn't know, would they?

However, I am glad to hear that our little conversation leads to the improvement of your Addon Manager. Does that mean tha there will be an updated installer so I could continue to use my Scenery Manager?

Regards,
Christoph

[virtuali]

Your indication that you're "sure we would get many complains, if our installers changed the casing of the scenery.cfg section names" reads a bit irritating, because that was never my point.

Which doesn't change that fact, that we *would* get complains, if we did that. That's a fact, and nobody would have accepted if we state that an another product that might have been fooled by that, was just because it wasn't smartly programmed, in case we broke it by doing that.

The question to me would rather be if some of the previous complaints from other users about sceneries not showing up could ultimately tracked down to a similar problem. Most users do not perform a systematic error search, so they simply wouldn't know, would they?

I assure you are the first one reporting it.

There was only ONE another case of "seeing the Addon Manager, but not the scenery", that happened if there was a duplicate AFCAD, or a duplicate area of the same scenery (in this case, FS9 will just not show anything), and it was always fixed that way, but it happened very rarely.

Usually 99% of the times, it's the Addon Manager not loading (thus not showing up) because it has been killed by the antivirus, the other 1% was duplicate areas, yours is the one and only exception.

I don't recall anyone being left with an unsolved case of "seeing the Addon Manager, but not the scenery", until now.

However, I am glad to hear that our little conversation leads to the improvement of your Addon Manager. Does that mean tha there will be an updated installer so I could continue to use my Scenery Manager?

The Addon Manager has been ALREADY updated yesterday night, just a couple of *hours* after your last report. The fact that you were the only one reporting it, doesn't mean it's not as important as any other bug to be fixed.

See the other not-so-apparent aspect of our sales method ? Since we offer a Trial version, it's in our best interest to fix every possible problem that is being found, because having a more reliable Trial version, will result in more sales.

You'll get it either by reinstalling the scenery (thanks to the self-update installer), or by downloading the Stand-Alone Addon Manager for FS9.

[cds001]

Very nice to hear! Will update my installation right away.

Thank you for being so patient with me and sorry for being rude at times.

Kind regards
Christoph