AICarriers Aggravation

[TARPSBird]

My AICarriers install in FSX has suddenly gone totally stupid and I am about out of ideas for troubleshooting. I'm using the AICarriers Net version, I have Microsoft.NET 4.0 installed, I've checked the exe.xml file to make sure it contains the right path to the AICarriers.exe file, and I haven't added or changed anything in the aicarriers.cfg file. When I start FSX I see the AICarriers icon in the bottom tray of the screen but it says "not connected" to FSX and doesn't appear in the add-on menu with FSUIPC as it usually does. I had the AICarriers folder in the main FSX folder when I first saw the problem, tried moving it to Programs and changing the exe.xml file to point to it but still no success in connecting to the sim. If I'm missing any troubleshooting steps, somebody please let me know. I like carrier flying in FSX and want to get my ships back.

[fsafranek]

When you start FSX and see the icon that continues to read, "Not Connected", right-click on it and select Exit.
Then go to the AI Carriers folder and manually launch AICarriers.exe.
See if the icon re-appears and eventually reads, "Connected to Microsoft Flight Simulator X".
Check for the dropdown menu and if that works then we know AI Carriers itself is now working.

I have found that sometimes AI Carriers doesn't shut down when you close FSX.
It will never reconnect at that point. Thus the manual restart.

I've always run my copy of both the java-based version and the .Net version from a separate
folder way outside of the sim so I can't really comment of the plus or minus of location.
Just make sure the <path></path> line in exe.xml is correct.
My exe.xml is located in the \AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX folder.

Hope this helps.

[TARPSBird]

Frank, thanks for the reply. I tried manually starting AICarriers after starting FSX and the icon appears but status is "not connected". I will mess around with it later today when I'm not so tired. Maybe revert to Lamont Clark's original Java version and see if that works. If anybody else wants to comment please fire away.

[TARPSBird]

Totally I totally gutted AICarriers from my computer and reinstalled it with total attention to detail. First attempt was Lamont Clark's original Java version. Never got past the select aircraft screen, a Java error box popped up with multiple lines of Java stuff that apparently wasn't working. Gutted that version, then installed Orion's AICarriers NET version. AICarriers started up with FSX but no connection. Exited from AICarriers and tried manually starting it with FSX paused, once again it started up but no connection. I wonder if this is a SimConnect issue, and here is where I have a total lack of knowledge. I have attached a screen shot of my Add & Delete Programs display. Should there be multiple SimConnect entries or just one???

[Seahawk72s]

For what it's worth I have only one entry, ending in 61259.0. I have FSX-Accel with the .net version.

In my "exe.xml" I have:

<Launch.Addon>
<Name>AICarriers</Name>
<Disabled>False</Disabled>
<ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad>
<Path>C:\Program Files (x86)\AICarriers\aicarriers.exe</Path>
</Launch.Addon>

[TARPSBird]

Thanks, Seahawk72s. I obviously have extra SimConnects that could be causing the non-connection problem. Your exe.xml file is same as mine except for the path so I think I'm good there.

[fsafranek]

My AICarriers install in FSX has suddenly gone totally stupid ...

So it was working. What changes have you made to the PC or sim between the last time it worked and the day of your original post?
Perhaps it is all fine but something new messed it up.

Also maybe put the launch section for it as the first item in exe.xml in case something new that also used that file broke the file and everything below it.
And maybe temporarily (after making a copy) remove any other addons mentioned in the exe.xml file so that AI Carriers is the only thing that that file launches.
Just trying to make sure that it can work properly on its own. Then add things back in one at a time in case that pinpoints the culprit.
You might also copy and past the contents of exe.xml (with everything in it) here so we can have a look as well

[TARPSBird]

Attached are screen shots of my AICarriers exe.xml file as well as my attempt to open/run the program as administrator. I am the only person with access to this computer so am I the administrator by default...? The exe.xml shows AICarriers currently located in Program Files. That is a result of my unsuccessful troubleshooting, I've had the AICarriers folder located inside the FSX main folder before this problem and it worked fine there. I've made no tweaks or additions to FSX except for test flying Yashico's A7MB and Shessi's recent FS9-native A5M Claude. Both those planes are self-contained packages with no files/folders to place elsewhere. I know for sure AICarriers was working in mid-May when I downloaded Roland Laborie's F-8 Crusader package.

[Cees Donker]

Attached are screen shots of my AICarriers exe.xml file as well as my attempt to open/run the program as administrator. I am the only person with access to this computer so am I the administrator by default...? The exe.xml shows AICarriers currently located in Program Files. That is a result of my unsuccessful troubleshooting, I've had the AICarriers folder located inside the FSX main folder before this problem and it worked fine there. I've made no tweaks or additions to FSX except for test flying Yashico's A7MB and Shessi's recent FS9-native A5M Claude. Both those planes are self-contained packages with no files/folders to place elsewhere. I know for sure AICarriers was working in mid-May when I downloaded Roland Laborie's F-8 Crusader package.

So it's solved?

Cees

[TARPSBird]

So it's solved?

Cees

No, I still have the problem. I've been flying in FS9 more than FSX lately because I test-fly Shessi's new planes. I wish I had flown tailhook planes in FSX more recently so I would have a better idea when AICarriers failed. Orion Lau, the creator of AICarriers.NET, has not posted here in a long time or over at FS Dream Team. Same with PhantomTweak, who was real familiar with AICarriers. Starting to think I'm out of luck for fixing this. I think it's a SimConnect problem but I'm not about to mess with that without some "adult supervision".

[fsafranek]

My copy of exe.xml for FSX has an <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> line at the top.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<SimBase.Document Type="Launch" version="1,0">
    <Descr>Launch</Descr>
    <Filename>exe.xml</Filename>
    <Disabled>False</Disabled>
    <Launch.ManualLoad>False</Launch.ManualLoad>
    <Launch.Addon>
        <Name>AICarriers</Name>
        <Disabled>False</Disabled>
        <ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad>
        <Path>E:\Program Files (x86)\AICarriers\AICarriers.exe</Path>
    </Launch.Addon>
</SimBase.Document>

Maybe add that to your's and see what happens?