I'm out of ideas here, folks...

[Rami]

Good evening,

One, and only one of my installs has gone tits-up on me, and I can't figure out why. My Pacific install is generating some odd problems. (Not the Meridian / Iceberg install, Thank God)

I have a virgin install that I use for emergencies like this, but when I add all the files from my Pacific install systematically, including the objects_dp folder, the sim will not load properly. I have tried doing a "clean" start, but when I delete all the index files along with .cdp and filelist.dat files and fire up the sim, the STR_INDEX file and INDEX_FILE will not generate on their own. If they are added manually, then I can select bases and aircraft, but only the stock airfields show up, even though I have the scenery loaded in the .cfg file.

Additionally, weird files with random names, like 87C6, 37A, and 96F2 suddenly appear in the folder, without explanation.

I can't make heads or tails out of this, but all my other installs are completely normal. :dizzy:

Any ideas?

[MaskRider]

Hiya Rami,

Hmmm... sounds like a most vexing conundrum indeed.

When you say you are adding them systematically, do you mean that you are adding them one at a time- I am assuming that you have a bunch of individual add-on scenery folders that can be added one folder, or group of related folders, at a time- and then restarting after each addition?

When was the last time it was working? What was the last thing you did before everything went wonky? And don't be telling me it was adding my GSL version of Formosa! ;^)

Chris

PS It's got to be something really simple.

[Rami]

Chris,

I'm sure it has nothing to do with Formosa. :costumed-smiley-034 It was working today when I was checking layout files. I haven't made any modifications to it whatsoever in the last couple of days, other than some minor GSL adjustments to various places in the Pacific. :dizzy:

[Rami]

MaskRider,

I tested my virgin install, and it fires up fine with no issues, so whatever the culprit is has to be somewhere in my Pacific install.

[MaskRider]

Those random "code" fragments are kinda weird.

So this virgin install, the one you use for emergencies. After which addition of files from your pacific install does the virgin install stop booting up?

I am assuming that when you remove the files you have added from your pacific install the virgin install goes back to booting up okay? Yes?

Or am I missing something?

MR

[Rami]

Chris,

I've nailed it down to the SCENEDB folder; I'm now adding them one at a time. :very_drunk:

[MaskRider]

BTW, if what I described above- swapping files from the pacific install into the virgin install- is not what you have been doing, then I would give it a shot. Make copies of all the folders in your Virgin install that might be affected then start swapping in files and folders from your pacific install, restarting after each addition, until you hit on the file or folder that makes the virgin install stop working.

Of course I have no idea how big your pacific install is. It may be so massive as to preclude such a time consuming exercise.

But it seems to me it must be something simple.

MR

[MaskRider]

Chris,

I've nailed it down to the SCENEDB folder; I'm now adding them one at a time. http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/images/smilies/very_drunk.png

Andrew,

Ah, good. Be sure to let us know what it turns out to be.

Chris

[Rami]

MaskRider,

Added in the airfields by Arndt, AF, UncleTgt's Carolines, New Britain and New Ireland airfields/scenery, and airfields by Devildog73, and Dog1, everything okay so far.

Saving the best for last. :wavey:

[MaskRider]

Standing-by....

MR

[Rami]

MaskRider,

Apparently, with this install, I am not allowed to have more than 30 scenery layers in total. As long as I stay under this bright line, the sim works normally.

Odd, considering several ETO and MTO installs are over threshold.

Perhaps this has something in common with the wide variance of ships and/or objects you can have in the sim before getting CTD errors. :dizzy: :dizzy:

[MaskRider]

So you just need to deactivate a certain number of scenery layers and everything is fine?

Any scenery layers so longs as it keeps the total under 30?

MR

[MaskRider]

I guess what I am getting at is that lets say you have 36 available scenery layers. So long as you deactivate any random 6 layers everything is jake? There isn't any one particular one that will still cause the game to not boot up? In other words, it isn't the 6th deactivated layer that is the problem? And the preceding five are actually ok?

[Rami]

MaskRider,

I've narrowed it down to the MR Philippines folder. It's not a hard 30 marker. I'm going to try downloading the Philippines airfield packages again.

[MaskRider]

MaskRider,

I've narrowed it down to the MR Philippines folder. It's not a hard 30 marker. I'm going to try downloading the Philippines airfield packages again.

LOL! Uh, oh. :culpability:

MR

[Rami]

MaskRider,

There is something in the Philippines No2 package that is causing the problem. The only solution now is to go base-by-base to find out. However, my eyes are dropping as it's getting close to bedtime, so I will pick this up tomorrow and finishing isolating the problem.

[MaskRider]

Before dropping off. Do this please. Look at the bgl files in the scenery folder and tell me if they have API in the name?

[Rami]

Chris,

Every single one. So far, I can eliminate Binalbagan and Borongan as troublemakers.

The .bgl files in the No1 pack are named the same way, with no problems.

[Rami]

Chris,

Busuanga and Calapan are also trouble-free.

[MaskRider]

I'm listening.

The reason I asked about API being in the file names was because I didn't recall naming them like that. It indicates that I intended to make a version that was going to be GSL.

I just looked through my old FSSC folders and sure enough I have created GSL version of the airfields- but only got so far as renaming scn files and deleting the macros. Never created any GSL layouts except for Nichols and Nielson fields in Manila.

Mine are all name the same too and work fine.

MR

[Rami]

Chris,

Then this leads me to a wild thought, but one which would make sense of this. I think we done broke the game. With everything installed for the Pacific, (stock coastlines) I have 573 entries in my airbase.dat file, which includes...

Xavierb's Japan & Mount Fuji
Xavierb EAWWII (Bali-Timor, Java, Sumatra, Malaya, Celebes, Borneo, and the Moluccas)

MaskRider Japan No1
MR Solomons
MR Micronesia
AF Papua New Guinea
MR Papua New Guinea
MR Australia (With Darwin enhancement)
MR Marianas
MR Formosa
MR Dutch East Indies

Pearl Harbor & Oahu

UncleTgt's New Britain
UncleTgt's Carolines
UncleTgt's New Ireland

Dog1's New Caledonia airfields

Devildog73's Niigata airfield

Arndt's Aru islands scenery
Arndt's Merauke scenery

You don't suppose there's a hard cap of how many scenery.bgl files can be loaded by the sim at one time, do you? :dizzy:

[MaskRider]

I think we done broke the game.....You don't suppose there's a hard cap of how many scenery.bgl files can be loaded by the sim at one time, do you? :dizzy:

Heh-heh!

It wouldn't surprise me!

I take it there was no discernible issue with PI2?

MR

[Rami]

MaskRider,

Nope. I've been experimenting for a few minutes this morning, and it's the same issue regardless of which base it is. At a certain point, the sim says...no more!

[Rami]

MaskRider,

So in this case, it might be a good idea to have a Southwest Pacific install...(Solomons, Dutch East Indies, Papua New Guinea, Micronesia, New Britain, New Ireland, New Caledonia, Australia)

...and a Central/Northern Pacific install (Formosa, Japan, Philippines, Marianas, Iwo Jima, Aleutians, Midway, Hawaii)

[MaskRider]

MaskRider,

So in this case, it might be a good idea to have a Southwest Pacific install...(Solomons, Dutch East Indies, Papua New Guinea, Micronesia, New Britain, New Ireland, New Caledonia, Australia)

...and a Central/Northern Pacific install (Formosa, Japan, Philippines, Marianas, Iwo Jima, Aleutians, Midway, Hawaii)

Good morning Rami,

Or perhaps something a bit closer to the official PTO Area of operations?

MR
http://www.mask-rider.net/MaskRider2008/resources/map-pacific-and-adjacent-theaters-1942.jpg

[bearcat241]

The biggest contributor to this problem isn't a nebulous scenery layer hard cap, but more like a total scenery bgl hard cap. I've seen this occurrence a few time myself. Here's an experiment to verify what i'm saying:

(1) clean up all scenery installations from the scenery.cfg, making it essentially a virgin file.

(2) delete the usual suspects like you did before (index files, *.cdp's and filelist.dat files)

(3) boot the sim and allow it to establish a clean database.

(3) Use the same incremental re-installation process, but instead of whole packages in sequence like MaskRider Japan No1, MR Solomons, MR Micronesia, AF Papua New Guinea, etc., just install each with only one or two bgls. Keep going until you get the red light. I can guarantee a higher threshold in scenery layers.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Good morning Rami,

Or perhaps something a bit closer to the official PTO Area of operations?

MR
http://www.mask-rider.net/MaskRider2008/resources/map-pacific-and-adjacent-theaters-1942.jpg

I suggested this last night Rami. :banghead: Divide the theatre into different opaeras and reduce the number of scenery bgls as Bearcat241 hints and reduce the number of entries on the airbases.dat to more like 250. I think your install is too "heavy." :wiggle:

[UncleTgt]

Bit late to this thread. BC241 & SW07 are on the right track IMHO. I had the same thing happen to a PTO install several years ago. I was creating airbases for the Carolines area in FSSC & the new bases just wouldn't show in the airfield list no matter what I did:banghead:. Then I noticed the randomly named files turning up in the CFS2 root folder just like Rami described.

I could not get rid of them, & get new airbases to show in the QC or Freeflight selection lists until I deactivated scenery areas to get my total number of airbases down below c.200. So SW07's idea of separate installs for the "larger" op areas is the way to go...:bee:

[bearcat241]

Just checking back on this thread.

I noticed that i forgot to mention that deleting the weird, randomly named files, like 87C6, 37A, and 96F2 is also an essential part of the cleanup before re-installing anything. They are generated to "compliment" the refreshed, corrupted index files on each boot.

[Rami]

I suggested this last night Rami. :banghead: Divide the theatre into different opaeras and reduce the number of scenery bgls as Bearcat241 hints and reduce the number of entries on the airbases.dat to more like 250. I think your install is too "heavy." :wiggle:

Shadow Wolf,

I know you did. But part of the purpose in documenting this with a thread is to allow other users to be able to reference problems like this if/when they occur, and what to do about them. Knowledge is power.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Shadow Wolf,

I know you did. But part of the purpose in documenting this with a thread is to allow other users to be able to reference problems like this if/when they occur, and what to do about them. Knowledge is power.

...and Bearcat241's post above is a good example of that.

[kdriver]

I think the problem is the number of BGL files with AFD entries, not the overall number of BGLs. The limit is around the 200 mark. The civil flight sims have multiple AFD entries in the one BGL file. I copied all the AFD BGLs from FS2000 to CFS2, and sure enough, all ten thousand FS2000 airfields showed up in CFS2 Free Flight.

Rather than deactivating whole scenery layers, I got around this problem by separating the AFD BGLs and putting them in their own layers. I could then keep all scenery active and just activate/deactivate the AFD entries as required. MR's BGLs were a problem as the AFD section is combined with the scenery and flatten sections. I had to decompile them and create separate AFD BGLs.

It's a bit late now, but the ideal solution would have been for each author to combine the AFD entries for a particular country into one BGL file. Steve McClelland did this with his CFS2 airfields a long time ago.

Kevin

[MaskRider]

I think the problem is the number of BGL files with AFD entries, not the overall number of BGLs. The limit is around the 200 mark. The civil flight sims have multiple AFD entries in the one BGL file. I copied all the AFD BGLs from FS2000 to CFS2, and sure enough, all ten thousand FS2000 airfields showed up in CFS2 Free Flight.

Rather than deactivating whole scenery layers, I got around this problem by separating the AFD BGLs and putting them in their own layers. I could then keep all scenery active and just activate/deactivate the AFD entries as required. MR's BGLs were a problem as the AFD section is combined with the scenery and flatten sections. I had to decompile them and create separate AFD BGLs.

It's a bit late now, but the ideal solution would have been for each author to combine the AFD entries for a particular country into one BGL file. Steve McClelland did this with his CFS2 airfields a long time ago.

Kevin

Interesting post, Kevin.

MR