Anyone using aicarriers with ONLY the latest Java?

[GypsyBaron]

In trying to determine why someone is having difficulty getting
aicarriers to run on both WinXP and Win7 I'm trying to
eliminate possibilities.

So far, the aicarrier installations look fine. The EXE.XML file
looks fine.

The major difference I see between my working XP install
and his is that I have Java versions jre1.5.0_09, jre1.6.0_02, jre1.6.0_03, and jre1.6.0_04 on my system.

He has ONLY the latest 1.6 rev 18 installed.

Does anyone successfully run aicarriers with ONLY that
Java version?

Any other suggestions as to where to look?

Paul

[Roger]

Found this at the Avsim FsX forum when I had issues with AI Carriers, unfortunately I don't have his name...

After several months of search around internet to solve the JAVA error dialog box at the start of FSX, I found the solution on a Java developers forum.
A windows system file (mysteriously modified, maybe by a windows auto-update) that can be found under C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc. it's the hosts file.
Open it with notepad and add the following line if not there:
127.0.0.1 localhost
after the following line.
:: 1 localhost
Save it to your desktop ( window won't allow you too save back in it original place. Then navigate back to C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc and override the existing file with the modified one from your desktop.
That's it fire up FSX and enjoy AICarriers2r2.
It solved my problem but some others may have another problem. Please note that AICarriers can't be fired up independantly from FSX. Its need to be fired up via the exe.xml file.
The root cause is that IPv6 is incompatible with AICarriers and it need the IPv4 loopback address.
Why is the hosts file modified? I don't know.

[GypsyBaron]

Found this at the Avsim FsX forum when I had issues with AI Carriers, unfortunately I don't have his name...

-snip-
C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc. it's the hosts file.
Open it with notepad and add the following line if not there:
127.0.0.1 localhost
after the following line.
:: 1 localhost
Save it to your desktop ( window won't allow you too save back in it original place. Then navigate back to C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc and override the existing file with the modified one from your desktop.
-SNIP-

Thanks Roger.

I saw that post in all my searches and digging about.

I think the user is OK on that account. AIR the symptom
of the missing local host statement was an error message
popping up.

This user gets no error messages when starting FSX. The
only symptom is that aicarriers does not appear in the addons menu.

Paul

[Wozza]

Thanks Roger.

I saw that post in all my searches and digging about.

I think the user is OK on that account. AIR the symptom
of the missing local host statement was an error message
popping up.

This user gets no error messages when starting FSX. The
only symptom is that aicarriers does not appear in the addons menu.

Paul

Hi
From what your saying it sounds like the dll.xml in same folder fsx.cfg is in,isnt being updated with the needed info from the install.
Win7 handle's files in protected folders differently than xp
when the install app tries to write to the dll.xml file its being rerouted to a vertual memory copy of the dll.xml.The idea behind this is to stop virus's writting to files but it has the disadvantage of causing havok with older installers ect.You need to do it manually as per the read me in the carrier package or switch of the security thingie bob thats in vista win7
Wozza

[GypsyBaron]

Hi
From what your saying it sounds like the dll.xml in same folder fsx.cfg is in,isnt being updated with the needed info from the install.
Win7 handle's files in protected folders differently than xp
when the install app tries to write to the dll.xml file its being rerouted to a vertual memory copy of the dll.xml.The idea behind this is to stop virus's writting to files but it has the disadvantage of causing havok with older installers ect.You need to do it manually as per the read me in the carrier package or switch of the security thingie bob thats in vista win7
Wozza

Hi Wozza,

Thanks for that insight into Win7's behavior.

In this case, the fellow has both XP and Win7 machines and
aicarriers refuses to show up in the addons menu on either system.
The entry for aicarriers.exe is correctly entered into the EXE.XML
file ( the DLL.XML file is for dll apps, like FSUIPC ) so that
has been ruled out.
He has the latest Java installed plus I had him install Java
1.5.09 as well on the XP machine. Still no joy.
We're stepping through the possible stumbling blocks one
by one but so far not a clue as to what could be hindering
this application from running.

Troubleshooting across 5,000 miles and 8 times zones is
slowing the progress a bit but I'm hoping for a breakthrough
in what should be a simple "run the installer and go fly"
situation.

Paul

[mfitch]

My system is Win7 with only the latest Java (rev. 17 I think it is now). AIcarriers works fine.

Incidentally, the multiple copies of Java was an installer bug (feature?) that did not remove old versions. This went away some versions ago. I was thankful for this fix, since it meant I did not have to remove manually. I have no legacy apps to worry about.

[GypsyBaron]

My system is Win7 with only the latest Java (rev. 17 I think it is now). AIcarriers works fine.

Incidentally, the multiple copies of Java was an installer bug (feature?) that did not remove old versions. This went away some versions ago. I was thankful for this fix, since it meant I did not have to remove manually. I have no legacy apps to worry about.

Thanks for that input. When you installed aicarriers did you disable UAC first?

Right-click and "Run as Administrator" on the installer?

What directory did you install to?

My take on the Java installer was that they only recently began to
remove prior versions more as an attempt to prevent any security
problems that any "oversight".
In any case, the fact that your aicarriers works in Win7 with rev 17
answers my, question and allays any fears that that might be the
problem.

Paul

[mfitch]

I always leave UAC active. It has been a while since I installed aicarriers, so I don't remember if it was necessary to run the installer as administrator. I would not have done so, unless it failed to show up in the correct directory.

Do you have the ability to use Skype with the person you are helping? Skype can share the computer screen, so you could see exactly what was happening during installs. I did this when helping my parents with a computer issue.

[GypsyBaron]

I always leave UAC active. It has been a while since I installed aicarriers, so I don't remember if it was necessary to run the installer as administrator. I would not have done so, unless it failed to show up in the correct directory.

Do you have the ability to use Skype with the person you are helping? Skype can share the computer screen, so you could see exactly what was happening during installs. I did this when helping my parents with a computer issue.

Thanks for the info. he just managed to get the XP installtion done
OK but an install to the Win7 machine is still failing to produce results.

I do have Skype but I'd most likely need to get the latest and greatest
since I haven't used it in a couple of years. I was completely unaware
of the "screen share" capability and will certainly look into this if may
last set of recommendations to him does not yield positive results.

One would think this should be straight forward, even with the overly
"protect me from myself" nature of Vista and Win7 but thus far it has
been far from simple!

Paul

[Tulkas]

Thanks for the info. he just managed to get the XP installtion done
OK

Could you explain how? AIcarriers is not showing in my menu either. Windows XP

Thank you

Cheers

Tulkas

[GypsyBaron]

Could you explain how? AIcarriers is not showing in my menu either. Windows XP

Thank you

Cheers

Tulkas

It was a long, involved process of elimination that got aicarriers running on both this persons
XP system and his Win7 system.

In both cases, it boiled down to removal of the JAVA installation and reinstallation
of JAVA. I believe the version that worked on both systems was jre1.6.0_04.
That is the version I currently run on my XP system. I've no need for the latest
and greatest rev.

Go to this link and see if JAVA is working on your system. It wasn't on his.

http://www.java.com/en/download/help/testvm.xml

Wait for the Java applet to load and get the results.

There are many other things that could be the cause of a missing aicarriers entry
in the FSX menu system. First and foremost, after a working JAVA install, is
the correct entry in the EXE.xml file.

I'd post a copy of my EXE.xml but for some reason this $#^&^#* forum software
removes all the tags even when you wrap the copy in "code" "/code" tags.

There is a sample EXE.xml file included in the download of aicarriers.Refer to that
and just insure that the line with the "Path" tags contains the path to where
you installed AI Carriers.

Paul

[Tulkas]

Hi. Thanks for your answer.

The mistake was in the exe.xml, I don't know why it was pointing to the wrong path.

But there was something else.

I got it on the menu and working but there was no 'conf.d' folder no mention of it in the 'readme'. Once inside the sim, there was no option to place the ships ahead (5,10,... miles) nor to move the boats.

I uninstalled and since I had downloadad it from Avsim I tried now from Flightsim. This time in went fine and I had all the normal options available.

Aparently there are two versions around, one of them much more limited. I am almost certain that both were AIcarrier2, but maybe the first time I downloaded AICarriers1?

Cheers

Tulkas

[GypsyBaron]

Hi. Thanks for your answer.

The mistake was in the exe.xml, I don't know why it was pointing to the wrong path.
-SNIP-
Aparently there are two versions around, one of them much more limited. I am almost certain that both were AIcarrier2, but maybe the first time I downloaded AICarriers1?

Cheers

Tulkas

Glad you have it working now.

The latest version, as far as I know, is aicarriers2r2.zip

Paul

[deathfromafar]

I had the same problems as well and the rewrite of exe.xml fixed the error message. However AI Carriers still doesn't come up automatically so I had to create a shortcut to desktop of the AI Carrier exe which is located inside the AI Carriers folder. I wait for FSX to load and then I click the AI Carriers shortcut and all works normally now.

[cortomalteseit]

sorry to bring up again this old topic, but my AIcarries is not working, and it seems nothing helps.
i installed old versions of java, now reinstalled the newer one, checked exe.xml, did a manual install of aicarrier, tried to change the host file, everything... but i still have problems when launching the add-on (connect error box).
Any idea about it?