The Mystery of the Disappearing Gauges

[Eoraptor1]

Gauges are vanishing in certain of my a/c. I first noticed this strange phenomenon with Milton Shupe's FSX native version of the F8F Bearcat, but I don't believe this has anything to do with that model in particular, excepting that it was in this a/c I first noticed the anomaly. Planes and rotorcraft that previously worked perfectly are now loading with no visible gauges in either 2D or virtual cockpit. I have no memory of ever having refused to activate a gauge when prompted, but here I am.

As of this writing, I have no idea why this is happening, but I do know a few things. So far, none of the Microsoft a/c have this problem. All of them work perfectly, both the stock a/c and those coming with Acceleration. Even the old CFS2 a/c portovers show all their gauges with no problems. Also, none of my payware add-ons have this issue. I have Warbirdsim, Milviz, and VRS models installed, all of which work perfectly.

Has this happened to anyone else? If so, what did you do to fix the problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

JAMES

[Jafo]

First course of action is probably to delete the fsx.ini and allow another to be rebuilt.
It's possible a 'corruption' has 'denied' the gauge addon allowances you'd originally accepted...;)

[Eoraptor1]

First course of action is probably to delete the fsx.ini and allow another to be rebuilt.
It's possible a 'corruption' has 'denied' the gauge addon allowances you'd originally accepted...;)

Thanks Jafo. I'll try that later today.

JAMES

PS Just Another "Freaking" Observer?

[Jafo]

Thanks Jafo. I'll try that later today.

JAMES

PS Just Another "Freaking" Observer?
Yes....I'm an FIA and FIM 'Observer' [Comms] in motor racing ...;)

[Eoraptor1]

First course of action is probably to delete the fsx.ini and allow another to be rebuilt.
It's possible a 'corruption' has 'denied' the gauge addon allowances you'd originally accepted...;)

Jafo,

I can't even locate the fsx.ini in either of my installs, yet it must have been created. I can't have screwed up that badly. Please, feel free to treat me like a complete newbie; my brain is turning to fizz over this problem and I might be missing something blatantly obvious.

JAMES

[Cees Donker]

I think letting the fsx.cfg dissapear has pretty much the same effect. Back up the old one first.

:wavey:

Cees

[Eoraptor1]

I think letting the fsx.cfg dissapear has pretty much the same effect. Back up the old one first.

:wavey:

Cees

Thank you for answering, Cees. I did try this solution, but it didn't work. I won't have any time to work on this today, but it's turned out to be a real poser.

JAMES

[Jafo]

Aaaargh ....my mistake...typo and all....it's the 'fsx.cfg' ...;)
However...if that didn't work then you'd need to investigate exactly which gauges were not showing...by looking at the relevant panel.cfg [s].
If it's the same ones missing for each aircraft and they don't show on any others ie TOTALLY missing you'll need to hunt down where they are referenced ie. in the general 'gauges' folder and see if they are there.
If they are...but don't show in the a/c then I'd start wondering whether an AV proggy has overstepped its mark and has defined them/it as 'evil'.

[Jafo]

Also....check whether a recent a/c install hasn't overwritten/replaced an existing gauge with another newer/older one that maybe conflicts with others in the problem a/c's ...;)

[llanning08]

Check your Antivirus Quarantine. Sometimes the antivirus thinks gauges files are suspicious. The gauge may be restored and flagged to prevent future false detection by the antivirus. I've seen "disappearing files" before.

[Eoraptor1]

Thanks for answering everyone. I'd have responded sooner but we just had a death in the family. I'll try those fixes as soon as I have time. Since my last writing, more gauges have disappeared. It's really frustrating. I'd finally gotten my install working just the way I wanted. Thanks again.

JAMES

[Eoraptor1]

Alright then. I have the problem solved. FSUIPC4 was missing. Not corrupted; missing, like in The X-Files. I have no idea how this happened in one, let alone two installs, but this seems to have been the root of all evils. I can only conjecture that I accidentally removed it while I was doing something else. I caught on to what happened when I loaded my VRS Superbug, and the MFDs informed me I was running an unregistered copy, which I know is wrong because I still have the installation disc I got from Best Buy, and the original receipt. I immediately went into ACM and got an error message saying the program couldn't communicate with FSUIPC. I went on to check FSUIPC and it was missing. I don't know how or why. Once I did a quick reinstall, FSX began asking for approval on the gauges again, and they reappeared. I finally found my inner Sherlock. Now I can fly the FSX Native Bearcat.

Thanks to all who responded to my thread. It really helped.

JAMES

PS Did you know the exterior model of an unlicensed Superbug looks like a giant can of Spam sitting on the runway?