After installing ETO v1.50, system can not find cfs3.exe

[mcbob]

System is win7 64 bit.
Ran the ETO v1.50 install per the instructions and got no indication that there was a problem. When I tried to run it, I got the ERA selection screen and picked 1. The screen changed to a message that said "the system can not find the path specified". There is also a box with the message "windows can not find cfs3.exe.
All versions had worked up through v1.40 hotfix.

[starbage1]

I was able to re-create your problem.

I had that happen, to me as well. Just go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\CFS3 ETO Expansion and run the cfs3.exe. That is actually the ETO 1.5

[mcbob]

Thanks, that helped. I did get it to play after two tries. the first time it hung up at the splash screen after the intro movie.
Is there a way to make the start button work? It still gives the same error if I try to use it. What about changing era's?

[starbage1]

Sure, go into the global layer folder for your ETO install folder
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\CFS3 ETO Expansion\global_layer

right click etoglswapper.bat uncheck read only
then right click the file and click edit
change ALL the "program files" (there are 6 lines in all, 1 at very bottom also) lines so that it starts with C:\Program Files (x86) instead(this is why it's not finding your install) If you didn't save it in x86 you have to plug in where you saved it to.
file save
recheck read only in properties for that file
click ok

done now the eras work.

To be honest I don't use the eras and have no clue what they are for anyways. Any era gives me any aircraft. Probably so the campaigns will work properly?

as far as pinning the eto icon to start menu..

go into your eto expansion folder
find the CFS3 ETO EXPANSION.ico
right click it create shortcut
now right click that shortut
delete the line in the target box and put "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\CFS3 ETO Expansion\cfs3.exe" into the target box
click apply
rename the icon to whatever for instance ETO 1.5
now right click that shortcut and click pin to start menu

Voila, file has the ETO icon and now in your start menu!
Now you won't have to search for it every time you want to play

[starbage1]

^updated the above

[mcbob]

Thanks again.
You're advice worked. I did have to add one step, but I'm definitely not complaining, I needed the help. When I tried to save the modified bat file it wanted to save as a txt file, then I remembered from the video of another update that I might have to change the permissions for the user. Then the edit saved as bat.
Now it starts like it used to from the icon on the home page, which was still there.

[starbage1]

Good to hear, you can turn that intro movie off in config as you probably know to make it start faster. Also turning off dual pass and checking on z buffer helps with FPS big time, among many many other things to change on the config.exe


here are the beautiful ARIS cloud textures Weikneira told me about
http://www.overflandersfields.com/Do...20Textures.rar

and the awesome Ankor shaders
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2918136/cfs/d3d8.20150506.beta.zip

[Capt. Winters]

done now the eras work.

To be honest I don't use the eras and have no clue what they are for anyways. Any era gives me any aircraft. Probably so the campaigns will work properly?

as far as pinning the eto icon to start menu..

The era's do a lot more than just allow campaigns there are many scenery changes from era to era. check out most of the RAF airfields in ERA2 they are dirt with minimal infrastructure, then as the war progressed they were updated to concrete. Buildings and the arrangement of buildings change as the war progressed. In the early eras you wont find all the big bomber stations in the scenery.
It allowed for missions to be set up specifically to target certain time periods and have scenery that reflected the real situation for each time period (well as much as any game can).

theres still a lot of work to be done on this sort of work for future updates to help build the immersion factor, take a few free flights and explore the scenery you'll be surprised

regards Rob.

[mcbob]

Unfortunately, although the start button works as it should, I can only get Era 1 no matter which Era I pick. The ETOGLSwapper.bat looks ok, so I will try the CFS3 ETO Expansion ORIFs Re-Install program. I'm not sure if I need to backup and then restore the spawns folder since this is a new clean unmodified install from ETO v1.0, that paragraph was not a Step in the instructions. The Re-Install instructions don't mention deleting the viewUI.xml or the unlimitedpilots.xml files like in the original install.
If this doesn't work, I guess it's back to starting all over again, unless someone has a better solution.

[HouseHobbit]

I shall try to help here, with ETO the pathways in the various .Bat files are very sensitive, what must be entered there.
There are several very good videos for this in the Sticky Thread.
And once you mis-load ETO, things can get very confusing..

Inside the global_layer folder..

ETOGLSwapper, Bat file, (first) you Must have the pathways set to something like this , in Win 7-8 machines:

:PRESENT
IF NOT EXIST "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\CFS3 ETO Expansion\1945_qclocations.xml" GOTO :1945_ERA
IF NOT EXIST "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\CFS3 ETO Expansion\1944_qclocations.xml" GOTO :1944_ERA
IF NOT EXIST "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\CFS3 ETO Expansion\1943_qclocations.xml" GOTO :1943_ERA
IF NOT EXIST "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\CFS3 ETO Expansion\bob_qclocations.xml" GOTO :BOB_ERA
IF NOT EXIST "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\CFS3 ETO Expansion\1936_qclocations.xml" GOTO :1936_ERA

At the very end of this bat file you will see this Pathway:

:END
CD "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\CFS3 ETO Expansion"

Notice all these lines as where to look: are to the same location
The inside main ETO Folder.. (CFS3 ETO Expansion> folder )
Right click on the ETOGLSwapper, Bat file, then to edit
when finished; Save and close

This tells the sim which QC locations is needed for each era.
And where to look for the needed files.
And where to look for the CFS3 .exe

Next bat file is the MASTERETOSTARTUP .bat

This is in the main CFS3 ETO Expansion folder

The pathways here should look similar to this

CALL ETOEraSwapper.bat
CD "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\CFS3 ETO Expansion\global_layer"
CALL ETOGLSwapper.bat
START cfs3.exe

This file tells the sim where to look for the GSL Glober layer files.
These change with each ERA>
And where the > .exe is located..

I have my main ETO 1.50 installed in the Program Files (x86) folder
Look at the How to, instruction videos in the Stick Thread and this will help you understated the structure of ETO also.

Another warning, once you mis load ETO , often the QC locations, or the GSL and uires, and missions folders can be Mixed up and you will have to be careful and reset them to the proper ERA (GSL, QcLocations) set up.
That is the problem sometimes when Mis-loading ETO..
Once you Mis-load it, these items change from ERA to ERA, you might have the QC locations for ERA one loaded, and the qclocations of ERA two in the main , Or the LIB might be for ERA two and the GSL be for ERA one.
all this changes>> and one must be careful when dancing and buggering up ETO.

But once you learn the pathways it is all very easy.

Heck, I barely read and write and was able to sort it out finally.
So can anyone .

Good luck, and watch the instructional videos in the Sticky Threads.

[mcbob]

I now have the ERAs working. To do this I have to turn off the Windows 7 UAC. I did not have to do this prior to ETO V1.50. I have seen a way to stop the UAC warning for just one program, I may try that. It may just eliminate the warning but still stop the program.
I did not run the CFS3 ETO Expansion ORIFs Re-Install program.

[starbage1]

UAC, since cfs3 was made before it was introduced on vista makes me wonder if that's why the frontline in the stock campaign for cfs3 wasn't working or moving at all for me. Some read-only or uac not letting my campaign missions register as completion and failing to save as successful properly along some line or folder.. Where that is I will never know..

[mcbob]

I now have the ERAs working. To do this I have to turn off the Windows 7 UAC. I did not have to do this prior to ETO V1.50. I have seen a way to stop the UAC warning for just one program, I may try that. It may just eliminate the warning but still stop the program.
I did not run the CFS3 ETO Expansion ORIFs Re-Install program.

I fixed the ERA's/win7 UAC problem by switching to winXP sp3 compatibility mode. I did not change the UAC program, and I no longer have to turn UAC off. I guess it makes sense as XP didn't have UAC.