Virtualcol Otter X _ July 17th

[Firekitten]

There's constructive criticism Bill, and there's downright insults... not all developers have the same experience as others, some have less... but you know what? This isn't that bad with a few tweaks and fixes, and as we had NOTHING before, it was a pleasant surprise.

The recent update fixed a number of bugs, quite well... honestly, considering the developer posted in this topic, your replies were downright insulting and rude... beyond criticism.


Everyone starts somewhere, everyone improves, frankly, for a functional otter $12 was pittance... I'm happy to support the developer and encourage further development and advancements with future releases.

Don't like it? fine, but sitting there and finger painting with your fecal matter over the product and developer is a little much.

[Obie311]

Some developers seem to have a deserved reputation for less than stellar products. The answer is not to grouse about their products, but to just steer clear of such developers. An add-on you don't use isn't a bargain no matter what price you paid.

[edakridge]

I agree with what has been said here about NOT insulting the developers. The product may not be up to A2A or PMDG standards, but with some tweaks to the flight dynamics it is fun to fly. Anyone who wants to run down someone else's work should try doing it themselves before opening their yap. For 12.50 american I can live with having to do a few tweaks here and there!

[Francois]

yeah...faux pas Francois..you could have started a new thread rather than head butt this one

If it was conceived that way, then my apologies.

[falcon409]

Anyone wanna take a stab at why I might be getting this error message when I try to run the update? I've tried it with UAC turned on and turned off, it makes no difference.

[wellis]

There's constructive criticism Bill, and there's downright insults... not all developers have the same experience as others, some have less... but you know what? This isn't that bad with a few tweaks and fixes, and as we had NOTHING before, it was a pleasant surprise.

The recent update fixed a number of bugs, quite well... honestly, considering the developer posted in this topic, your replies were downright insulting and rude... beyond criticism.


Everyone starts somewhere, everyone improves, frankly, for a functional otter $12 was pittance... I'm happy to support the developer and encourage further development and advancements with future releases.

Don't like it? fine, but sitting there and finger painting with your fecal matter over the product and developer is a little much.

100% agree...

[edakridge]

Falcon, did you try running as administrator?

[falcon409]

Falcon, did you try running as administrator?

Yes I did. No difference.

[falcon409]

I've sent a request for help to the developer. No one here seems to know what this could be. Also consider that I had just installed the Otter about 30 minutes before I tried the update. One works and the other doesn't? Apparently it's only me, otherwise someone else would have mentioned it here. . .either that or I'm the only one who bought the airplane and I don't think that's the case.

[Hdguy]

Falcon. I bought it too Install went without a hitch and so did the update?

Did you shut down your AV to install ?

[falcon409]

Falcon. I bought it too Install went without a hitch and so did the update?
Did you shut down your AV to install ?

No, never do, but as I said. . .if one installer worked and then right behind that I get this from the updater???

I'll try it to see but I'm expecting the same outcome.

UPDATE:
SOB. . . .and that's all I'll say about that!

[gavinc]

Falcon,

I am running Win 7 and downloaded and installed the original Otter and the update without any issue.

The error message would suggest that your user account doesn't have access to the file or folder. Have you tried
a) downloading the update again to another location?
b) copying the file from your download location to somewhere else and then running it.

I am pretty sure it is an issue with your pc rather than an issue with the Virtualcol product.

Gavin

[emfrat]

I run FSX A in Win7x64, with the sim in C:\FS10
I bought the VirtualCol Otter, it downloaded, unzipped, installed and flew OK, albeit with some odd numbers showing on the dials. No prob, there was an update in the pipeline.
So I downloaded the update today, unzipped it and ran the exe as admin. It found the original install and announced a successful result.
I started FSX and got "there are multiple aircraft with the same name". I know how to fix that, and I thought I did remove the duplicates, but on re-starting FSX there were only half the original planes available. So I uninstalled, reinstalled to a separate folder, added the update and then copy/pasted to my FS10. This time, the only aircraft listed under Manufacturer=De Havilland Canada was a Twotter. I checked through the complete list in the selection screen but the others were still missing, even though the cfg files looked OK.
So I confirmed FSX's opinion that it wasn't there by deleting the whole lot.
I won't be buying any more VirtualCol products. Their philosophy is good, but the execution is woeful, IMHO.

More in sorrow than in anger,
MikeW

[falcon409]

Falcon,

I am running Win 7 and downloaded and installed the original Otter and the update without any issue.

The error message would suggest that your user account doesn't have access to the file or folder. Have you tried
a) downloading the update again to another location?
b) copying the file from your download location to somewhere else and then running it.

I am pretty sure it is an issue with your pc rather than an issue with the Virtualcol product.

Gavin

If you read my post in red, then you misunderstood it's meaning.
"Hdguy" above had suggested that I may have left my Anti-Virus program running while I was attempting the installation. I said I never turned that off when doing installations and that I would try it but didn't expect any different outcome. The "UPDATE" statement shows the outcome. It was the AV that caused the message, not the PC or UAC.

[ChrisJD]

It was with some interest I read the problems with the update by emfrat. My set up is Win 7 & FSX is on F:\FSX. I too applied the update, ran FSX, no VCol aircraft. Checked & found there were no textures - all had been deleted. I re-installed the original textures only. Ran FSX & also had duplicate aircraft - but only for the Turbo Amphib - the others seem OK. Double & triple checked & there ARE NO duplicates on the cfg. file. I will continue to try & find a solution, but like emfrat, I am coming to the end of my patience with VCol. There is only so much you can put up with for the low purchase price. Also more in sadness than anger. ChrisJD

[ncooper]

Try this.

Delete the six folders that begin with Vcol_dhc3 from your
Simobjects\Airplanes folder.

Then install the aircraft.

Then install the update.

There is nothing wrong with either of the installers.

Nick.

[falcon409]

Try this.

Delete the six folders that begin with Vcol_dhc3 from your
Simobjects\Airplanes folder.

Then install the aircraft.
Then install the update.
There is nothing wrong with either of the installers.

Nick.

I have to agree. Even the problems I had were self inflicted in a sense. Neither installer did anything other than simply install what it was meant to install (all variations of the Otter). The update installed as it should without any conflicts or lost aircraft or liveries.

[ChrisJD]

Thank you for your replies. I removed all 6 Vcol Otter folders from FSX. I re-installed the original program. I then ran FSX. All 6 aircraft loaded & flew perfectly. I then ran the update. Loaded FSX. 5 aircraft loaded & flew perfectly. The 6th one - the Turbo Amphib. told me I have duplicate models & did not load. I re-checked the cfg. file & there are no duplicates. Next?

[Lane Street]

Thank you for your replies. I removed all 6 Vcol Otter folders from FSX. I re-installed the original program. I then ran FSX. All 6 aircraft loaded & flew perfectly. I then ran the update. Loaded FSX. 5 aircraft loaded & flew perfectly. The 6th one - the Turbo Amphib. told me I have duplicate models & did not load. I re-checked the cfg. file & there are no duplicates. Next?

The duplicate model folder warning will (should) give you the path to one of the duplicates.

Note that this warning is for duplicates in the sim, not in an aircraft.cfg.

Not having duplicates in an aircraft.cfg does not rule out the possibility that you have duplicates spread across multiple aircraft.cfg files.

cheers,
Lane

[emfrat]

OK, I gave this another try, just to see what's what.
I installed the original into an empty folder called Area_2. This gave me an Effects folder, a Gauges folder and a SimObjects\Airplanes with six subfolders, 3 for the piston and 3 for the turbo.
Copied these six into Area_0 for reference.

Ran the update installer, to Area_2. This gave the same folder structure and names as before, but when I looked at the cfg for the piston floats aircraft the entries were all titled for the turbo amphibian, e.g.

[fltsim.0]
title = Virtualcol DHC3 OTTER turbo amphibian hbair
sim = Vcoldhc3totter
model = 1
panel =

The rest looked OK, except for differences in the model= lines, which could well be corrections done by the update.
There is something wrong with the update exe file.

MikeW

[ncooper]

I have just deleted the six folders and run both installers again.
Exactly the same result, all the aircraft show as they should and
no duplicates.

Do you perhaps have another folder somewhere in your airplanes
folder with the turbo prop model in it?
You might try deleting the six folders and then checking to see if
any of the aircraft remain in your aircraft menu.

[emfrat]

Nick, sorry mate, but I had deleted all and also run the uninstaller before I started again.
I don't know of any other DHC-3 Otters, so I did not have any installed beforehand.
I then installed the original aircraft to Area_2, which produced the expected result.
No prob so far.
I copied the six folders to Area_0, to let me compare them later, then ran the update exe, pointed to Area_2. When I compared the aircraft.cfg files in Area_0 to those in Area_2, the Area_2 ones had been changed so that the config for the piston floats aircraft had been changed to those for the turbo floats plane.
At the very least there is a big problem with the update installer.

ATB
MikeW

[ncooper]

I have also installed the update to a dummy folder
and each aircraft.cfg entry refers to the correct aircraft.
That is to say that the first three from the top are piston
engined and the second three are turbo props.

There is nothing wrong with the installers here but I am out of
ideas for now as to why the update seems to be broken at your end.

[emfrat]

Nick, I don't seem to explaining this clearly.
1) I installed the original aircraft to a dummy folder, C:\Downloads\Area_02.
2) I then copied the six files to ..\\Area_0 so I could compare them.
3) I then ran the update.exe, pointing it to Area_02
All six files in Area_0 were unchanged.
In Area_2, the folder names were unchanged, but the Aircraft.cfg within the piston floats folder had been changed to the cfg for the Turbine aircraft.
That is what is wrong - the update exe incorrectly changes the cfg files in the original install.

MkeW

[ChrisJD]

At last the problem solved!! emfrat - you are correct - the update named the PISTON otter amphib Harbour Air as a TURBO otter amphib Harbour Air which is the same as the correct turbo otter amphib Harbour Air. All I did was remove the 'turbo' from the piston amphib name on all 5 textures & all is well. Now to see if the updates are OK. ChrisJD