POI not shown in FSX, problem still remaining ?

[DesignMedia]

Hello,
I downloaded yesterday the newest version of XPOI (full Installer). The installation had no problem but when going to one of the supported airports, for instance Frankfurt/Main, FSX shows only the airport POI (the ones that XPOI retrieves from FSX directly) In the settings of XPOI, I activated everything, there is no message indicating problem with the connection to Geonames.org server, and even the search for POI works. I tried to reinstall XPOI, but it still doesn't display the Geonames POI.
For the moment, I have only the trial version but I plan to buy the soft because I think it's really convenient. But if the trial doesn't work...

As the search works, it cannot really be a problem with the connection to Geonames server, or am I wrong?
I read the topic http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=3862.0, which is very similar a problem as mine, but it seamed to have been fixed in the newest installer.

I have FSX + Acceleration Pack, on Win 7 64 bit.
Thanks for an answer

[virtuali]

Do you have a Couatl error log file in the %APPDATA%\VIRTUALI folder ? If yes, please attach it here, so we can check it.

[DesignMedia]

Unfortunately there is no couatl error log file in the %appdata% virtuali folder, only a keymapping.ini and xpoi.ini file. I will attach the xpoi.ini file, maybe it helps.
[featureClasses]
H = 2 1 GULF STM LK RF CNL SPNG
L = 2 1 PRT PRK
P = 2 1 PPLA LCTY PPL
S = 2 1 LTHSE OILT BDG CH SCH CSTL PP PAL RUIN RECG FRM AIRP DAM HSP CMTY ANS RSTN TOWR PO MLWND
U = 1 1
T = 2 1 BCH MT HLL ISL CAPE PLN
V = 2 1 FRST

[settings]
titlesDistance = 100
enableFacilities = 0
inexactPois = 2
whichFacilities = 63
geoNamesServers = ws2.geonames.org
enableWikipedia = 1
enableGeonames = 1
floatingFacilities = 1
wikiLanguage = de

[virtuali]

Yes, the .ini was the problem, because is still referencing to a geonames server which has been disabled.

Try to change the line from this:
geoNamesServers = ws2.geonames.org

into this:
geoNamesServers = ws.geonames.org

[DesignMedia]

I will list all the changes I made:
- change to ws.geonames.org -> Geonames POI not working, wiki not working
- change back to ws2.geonames.org -> the same
- change again to ws.geonames.org -> everything works
Happy, I decided to buy the product, but when the activation confirmation pops up, all the geonames POI disappear !! -> Geonames POI not working, but wiki works
- change to ws2.geonames.org -> the same (geonames not working, but wiki works)
- back to ws.geonames.org -> the same
- turned off geonames and then on again -> everything works !
But when restarting FSX a little bit later, the same problem as before, neither geonames POI nor wiki working.
Still no couatl error log file.
The search function worked every time.

Where is the problem ? It seems to me like if changing the server name into either ws2 or ws helped, but only for one time, after restarting FSX (and so restarting XPOI) the same problem appears.

 

 

[virtuali]

When you activate the product, you have to restart FSX for XPOI to recognize you are not in Trial anymore.

However, the program is working fine, but it seems the geonames servers are behaving erratically these days, possibly because of being overloaded with requests. You had the impression that changing the server name had some effect, but that was just coincidental, it was really just the server not always replying. Note that, XPOI will retry automatically about every minute so, POIs will likely appear as soon the server will be up again.

[DesignMedia]

So it seems that it is a server problem...
I hope that the servers will have less problems in the future, otherwise XPOI will unfortunately be not very useful, as, when you need it, it is likely not to work.
Isn't it possible to use an offline database, that would be used when the geonames servers aren't available. That database would obviously not be always up to date, but I think that's not such a problem ! Better a not completely up to date information, than none at all ! I think that a lot of users would really appreciate such a feature!!!

[virtuali]

otherwise XPOI will unfortunately be not very useful, as, when you need it, it is likely not to work.

It's not "likely" to have it not working, it only happened a couple of times in the about 2 years XPOI has been released. According to the genonames admins, the overload was caused by smartphone applications that connects there, due to the high phone sales in the holidays period.

Isn't it possible to use an offline database, that would be used when the geonames servers aren't available. That database would obviously not be always up to date, but I think that's not such a problem !

It wouldn't be trivial to support an offline database, but we are looking into a different solution. Geonames also offers a premium access option with an higher availability, we need to evaluate the traffic generation potential against the cost and the number of users.