Scotflight User Forum
General => Scotflight for FSX => Topic started by: Cruachan on July 19, 2013, 06:55:20 pm
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Hi,
I had pre-ordered this product and yesterday received notification from Flightstore that it had been dispatched :)
No word yet regarding Treescapes. Hope Earth Simulations Ltd are on the ball and are ready to release their coverage of this area.
And then there is........
Over to you Iain.
How lucky we are to have such talented developers eager to provide us with unmatched vicarious pleasure by satisfying our yearnings to explore and experience our beloved country from such a realistic aerial and ground based perspective.
Regards,
Mike
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Arrived this morning!
Am I the first?
It's a thicker box than usual - wonder what's inside?
Will install later today - can't wait.
Mike ;D
Edit: in fact the box is the same size as Scotland South. Scotland Central has 5 installation disks; Scotland South has 7.
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Also got my copy to-day, will be installing in the next hour. ::)
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Hi bluebell,
Lucky you - seems my joy at receiving the final piece of the jigsaw was premature :(
The darn thing won't install!!
I have an Alienware M18xR1 (Windows 7 Pro SP1) with all the other Scotland VFR Gen X Volumes installed + Treescapes covering those areas. However, the Vol 7 installer takes an age to load and appears to be having difficulty accessing the cab files on Disk 1. It's as if the drive is having a problem accessing the disk. I can get a file listing in Windows Explorer but as soon as I run the setup executable (tried as Administrator and disabled antivirus protection (ESET NOD32)) the drive starts what I describe as a repetitive hunting noise. Eventually the Setup welcome window opens and I can adjust the pathways for the installation. I click on Install and 240.21MB (this figure varies each time) of 3.77GB is extracted immediately. Then nothing and soon the dreaded (Not Responding) appears. Despite this notification the thing continues to load, albeit extremely slowly - after 15-20 mins 411.46MB had been extracted with '2 hours remaining'. Thinking there might be a problem with the drive I tried an external HP dvd420e drive but with identical results.
The odd thing is that the installer appears to work fine on my desktop drive under Windows XP SP3. Sadly, that's no longer a viable option as FSX/P3D performance on my AMD Athlon Dual Core 6400+ CPU is way behind what I can achieve now with an i7.
I should say that I can recall experiencing similar difficulties with one or two of the other volumes when they were installed a few months ago. On those occasions persistence reaped its reward and each Vol installed following several attempts. Not so this time.
I've written to Playsimspublishing support but, right now, I'm not feeling over optimistic. So frustrating after having waited such a long time for this release.
Just my luck - I should have curbed my initial excitement. Talk about tempting fate..lol
Mike
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Hi Mike,
You are not alone - I'm having the same problem. Currently, I'm copying the dvd's to hard disk and will try installing from there. It took a little under an hour to copy disk1, and it looks as though disk2 will be quicker. Not a rapid exercise, but faster than running the install off the dvd's.
These first two dvd's of volume7 are much slower to read than any of the other volumes.
Will let you know how I get on.
Charles
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Hi Mike,
Just finished installing and had a quick check flight from EGPD. All looks great.
It took over 2 hours for the first disk to install, the other four a lot less, just under 4 hours
in total.
Hope you get it installed that first disk seems very slow was showing 5 hour install at first.
Best of luck,
Tom.
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Hi Tom, Charles
Glad I'm not alone with this.
I decided to ignore the 'Not Responding' message and let the extremely slow extraction process on Disk 1 proceed. It completed after approximately 2-3 hours (not sure exactly as I got fed up waiting around) and when I returned the installer was requesting Disk 2. Thereafter the extraction and installation continued to completion at what I would consider to be normal pace and without any errors being reported. All was done and dusted by 8.30pm. Can't say exactly but I estimate the total time taken to have been 4-5 hours.
So, it would appear that the problem does indeed point to the Setup executable having difficulty with data access on Disk 1 while running under Windows 7.
Hopefully our experiences will help to reassure others that Scotland Central will install providing you are patient and leave it alone to complete.
Off to do a defrag then free space consolidation and finally a backup - I don't intend going through this again if I can help it. It will be interesting to get feedback from Playsimspublishing Support. I'll let you know what they have to say about this issue.
Regards,
Mike
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FWIW had similar including "hunting" noise from drive. Several times - then cancelled again - DELETED the Vol 7 folder then rebooted PC. Installed all in about 2 hours. It gets bu**ered if you don't delete because it recognises that some files already present. But be aware - if you cancelled then not all complete, hence delete. Had the same with Scotland North - wateron land - but delete folder and re-install - and be patient - and it'll go. Be aware of the .bat patch from FS new forum ex Tony after install
And then it's over to the Iains and Vicky
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Assuming my installation is okay, I thought the following might prove useful as a check:
Volume 7 File Count:
05mPhoto: Size on disk = 36.3GB (39,008,276,480 bytes)..... *see below
Scenery - 445
5mDTM: Size on disk = 883MB (926,642,176 bytes)..... **see below
Scenery - 445
Airports: Size on disk = 184KB (188,416 bytes)
Scenery - 18
Docs: 3 = 4.61MB (4,837,376 bytes)
Links: 2 = 8.0KB (8,192 bytes)
Vectors: Size on disk = 148KB (151,552 bytes)
Scenery - 4
*Size on disk incorrect as I have 9 zero length files
**File count may be incorrect - will update once this has been clarified
Mike
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Hi,
Completed a quick flight in the Robinson over the Isle of Mull. I note a bit of work is still needed around the coastline and lochs where there is noticeable bleed through of default terrain textures in quite a few places. Also, I note Loch Scridain is showing a line artifact projecting from the southern shoreline. Perhaps the Scotflight update will help tidy things up as I see Glenforsa (ULL) also requires some attention.
As I said, this was a brief flight as I was keen to see the Ross of Mull where my wife and I have had many enjoyable holidays over the years. I must say I was very impressed to see many familiar areas displayed so realistically. Just needs some Treescapes embellishment now. No sign of Vol 7 being released as yet. Hopefully it's not far off.
Mike
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Hi,
Successfully copied the installer from DVD's to USB3 portable drive yesterday and ran it this morning. It took 9 minutes from start to finish and worked perfectly. I may do the same with other volumes - it would help my resistance to reinstalls. :)
Charles
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Mike, I have 36.5 GB (39,248,805,888 bytes) for the 05mPhoto If you restarted the install - did you delete the existing Vol 7 folder? I've said elsewhere you may otherwise have incomplete or zero length files - I did. My 5mDTM a bit different - 10 less files, but you may not have run the mesh .bat patch from the Flightstore forum which which removes some incorrect stuff (you have to trust it - it's from TonyM I believe)
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Hi Mike 'birdmanmike'
Darn it, you are quite right. I really don't think I can face going through all that again - I may have been lucky first time around and now I'm feeling that I don't want to risk losing what has in fact appears to have installed successfully.
The zero length files in my installation are all in the 05mPhoto folder and are 9 in number:
12_1477_380_05mP.bgl
12_1477_381_05mP.bgl
12_1478_375_05mP.bgl
12_1478_379_05mP.bgl
12_1478_380_05mP.bgl
12_1478_381_05mP.bgl
12_1479_374_05mP.bgl
12_1479_375_05mP.bgl
12_1479_379_05mP.bgl
Any chance you could zip these up from your installation and send them to me, please? it would save an awful lot of hassle. My email address is m.g.c.campbellATbtinternet.com.
Also, I'd appreciate a little help finding the mesh .bat file at the Flightstore Forum. I've tried but without any success - probably not looking in the right place.
Many thanks.
Kind regards,
Mike
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The patch page here under Vol 7 http://forum.flightstore.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=7
Main forum index for FS http://forum.flightstore.co.uk/index.php. Trying 175 Mb upload for email via Google drive
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Guys,
If you have the freeware "7 Zip" installed you can simply, (once you locate the right disc - I don't have a file list), open the cab file and copy out the files you need. Literally drag and drop them into the correct folder.
When installed correctly you should not have any default scenery on display. Only place you may encounter a problem is the Mull of Galloway if you have the new ES Isle of Man installed. The IOM terrain files break the Volume 8 ones. The fix is to located the IOM terrain lower in the library than Volume 8 and all is well.
Tony
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Hi Tony,
You beat me to it!
There was I pondering the problem while munching my breakfast and suddenly I realised that I might be able to open a cab file with Winzip or, indeed '7 Zip' - I have both. While querying the oracle (my iPad) to confirm this possibility I dipped back into the forum to find your reply :) Thanks, I'll give it a shot and report back.
Mike - Thanks for the links. I had no idea that the VFR Patch page existed. I recall applying some fixes to previous volumes but I may have missed some others. I'll check.
Regards to you both,
Mike
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Hi Mike,Tony
Well, I've followed your guidance and the state of play is now as follows:
Volume 7 File Count:
05mPhoto: Size on disk = 36.5GB (39,191,793,664 bytes)
Scenery = 445
5mDTM: Size on disk = 857MB (898,678,784 bytes)
Scenery = 434 (excluding the Anomaly_Fix_DTM_Vol_7.bat file)
Removed = 11
Mike - it would appear that our figures still don't quite match. Could you check the file count again in the Removed folder, please?
I extracted those 9 files from Disk 1 using 7-Zip and compared their sizes with those in your zip file (many thanks) and they were identical. However, there is still a shortfall of 57,012,224 bytes between my figures and yours after they are installed ???
Tony - at the Flightstore VFR Patch Page I note that Volume 8 is being referred to as 'North' Scotland when I think it should be 'South'.
Regards,
Mike
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37.4 GB (40,180,637,696 bytes) 445 files for Vol7 918 Files, 11 Folders
05mPHOTO 36.5 GB (39,248,805,888 bytes) 445 Files, 1 Folders
DTM 883 MB (926,646,272 bytes) 446 Files, 2 Folders (scenery and "removed" within scenery), "removed" folder has 11 files of 26.6 MB (27,963,392 bytes)
Maybe one of those photo files is short . .
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Hi Mike,
Thanks!
Looks like I'm almost there.
Overall figures for the Volume 7 folder are:
Size on disk = 37.3GB (40,123,625,472 bytes)
Contains 918 files, 11 Folders
Again, I think you are most likely correct. Disk 1 was the problem disk during the installation so it's more than likely that one or more files have not been extracted fully - hopefully it occurred early on in the installation otherwise this may take a while to track down. I suppose I could shortcut the process by extracting all the files in the cab archives from Disk 1 onto an external drive, using my XP based desktop PC, and then overwrite those same files in the Volume7\05mPhoto\Scenery folder on my M18x laptop installation (remember W7 and Vol7 (Disk1) = uneasy relationship).
I've just come across Iain's post regarding the conflict between the Scotflight Coastlines and the Vol7 GenX scenery. I wonder if that's what I've been seeing in various places along the shoreline around Mull and, in particular, at Loch Scridain? I've now deactivated the Scotland_Coastline entry in Scenery.cfg and I'll go for another flight to check it out.
Regards,
Mike
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Probably - deactivating coastline did it for me (or that dodgy .bgl). I did do a circum-something of Mull after- no probs/no waves. just want 2.5 now!
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You aren't alone with your install problems, Mike. AutoRun does not seem to work properly with Disk 1, which is rather strange. Testing would surely have revealed that? When it finally started to install, I was given an estimate of SEVEN hours for the entire process! That was ridiculous, so I stopped the install, removed the stuff that had been added, and started copying the contents of each DVD to a temporary folder on my hard disk. As you and others have noted, those first two disks are stubborn little sods, and it took me nearly one hour EACH to copy the contents to the hard disk. Thankfully, the final three DVDs only took around 12 minutes each. When that had been done, I successfully installed Scotland Central from the temporary folder.
There was a note in the DVD case about AutoRun. Something to do with a Microsoft recommendation to prevent security issues, but I am not sure that it was a good idea. Previous volumes have been OK, so I am not sure why a different method had to be used for this one....
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Hi Mike,
Bingo! Our figures now match exactly. There were 2 additional files immediately following the 9 zero byte files that were the wrong size. Looks like I'm sorted now from the installation standpoint :)
Curiously, I noticed something a bit odd: The cab archives on Disk 1 have exactly the same content - 133 files. This I noted while extracting the files from each subsequent cab archive to add to the list extracted from the preceeding cab archive. A message popped up asking if I wanted to overwrite each file. I responded 'Yes to all' and the extraction proceeded to completion without any changes to the extracted file count or file sizes. Seems rather pointless. There appears to be a need for only one cab archive on Disk 1 as the rest seem redundant.
Unfortunately, none of this has changed the coastline conflicts I'm seeing around Mull. Here are the coordinates of an example:
LAT: N56 22.39 LON: W6 3.95 ALT: 2500ft Mag 140
Regards,
Mike
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Hi Mogget,
Welcome to our little exclusive club!
Looks like this issue has the potential to attract quite a few complaints from frustrated customers. Does seem odd, however. Surely it's not unreasonable for us to make the assumption that the installation process would have been thoroughly tested before going to market? I'm guessing that this release has been dogged by quite expensive delays. Perhaps there was an element of pressure to release the product and consequently some compromises may have been made in order to expedite matters towards the end of the development cycle.
Could you scout around Mull, please, and tell me if you can spot the same coastline anomalies that I'm seeing - see previous post for an example.
Regards,
Mike
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Hi Mike
I don't believe I am seeing any problems in the areas you mention on Mull with the GenX coastline. That is however with our forthcoming version of Scotflight in place but this should give the same results as the Scotflight coastlines being disabled in the present version, if you have that active.
You might want to temporarily disable all Scotflight areas and see what you get.
As you mentioned Glenforsa earlier, here is a view of what it should look like in Scotflight.
(http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/1295/jequ.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/5/jequ.jpg/)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
Iain
Scotflight
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Hi Iain,
Big week for you and your team! Another 'final hurdle' in what is proving to be a great and unique project.
The image posted was grabbed with Scotflight coastlines disabled but I'll try again with all of Scotflight disabled and see what difference that makes.
Mike 'birdmanmike' mentioned a 'dodgy .bgl'. Any ideas what he was referring to?
Mmm, that's a very tasty image of Glenforsa - looking forward to the next update.
Regarding the relationship between Scotflight and the forthcoming Treescapes Vol 7, are there any priority considerations to be recommended in the scenery library?
Kind regards,
Mike
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Mike (Cruachan), the dodgy bgl was a cvx correcting UTX coastline for NW Scotland, in the Scotland Coastline/scenery folder. See my recent posts. I found that was the culprit, but read Iain's post in the first topic this section
http://www.scotflightscenery.com/forum/index.php?topic=291.0 and disable Scotland Coastline in scenery library
and my previous post there for the nitty
I think you'll find that hopefully solves Mull. - and improves Kyle of Lochalsh etc.
Mogget, the small print Vol 7 says "auto" autorun disabled by MS as prone to malware or something - it's not the disks it's the MS software open to exploitation. Just open the disk 1 and double-click setup.exe. Also open "details" on the setup window when it eventually opens. I can't for the life of me see any need to copy to disk then run setup - when I got it working after false starts, it ran in about 2 hours. I was however installing to a SSD ;)
I am (very)reliably informed the install process was tested on random copies from at least 2 boxes when they arrived at FS :P
It's all fine for me just want 2.5 from Iain . . .
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Hi all
There's no 'dodgy' bgl as such, the file name my be misleading in a way.
Taking out the whole Scotflight Scotland_Coastline area from the Scenery library is the answer for now.
Iain
Scotflight
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Hi Mike 'birdmanmike'
I think there may be more to this install problem than you are suggesting, at least in my case. I did try running the setup executable (+/- as Administrator) but with the same results and, as soon as I clicked on 'Details', Windows 7 Pro 64bit tells me the program is 'Not responding'. However, as I mentioned in a previous post in this thread, if you sit back and ignore this message the installation should continue, albeit verrrry slowly but speeds up once Disk1 is out of the way. To be honest, were I to be faced with having to do this again I would go down the copy disk content route. Unfortunately, many faced with this for the first time are unlikely to be aware of the folder structure or indeed savvy enough to survive this process without help.
However, I accept that whereas I'm suggesting an apparent incompatibility with Windows 7 and the Scotland Central Setup executable there may be something else about my laptop system setup that is getting in the way. The only other thing I can think of is my antivirus installation (NOD32). This seems unlikely as I've tried disabling it prior to the install and the results still remain the same.
Regards,
Mike
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Iain, think that's what I was trying to say - especially following your other post. It's what I did first. Just for interest that I isolated that one .bgl in my case, but your post explains and of course it's easier.
Mike , yes, it seems odd, I had "not responding", very slow to start with, hat's when I deleted again AND rebooted before trying - and then suddenly it ran AOK. I've backed up the drive as normal on a raid 1 server for belt and braces and on an external drive. I trust I'll never have to load from disk again . . .
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Hi Iain,
My fault...I think!
[Area.154]
Title=Scotflight Photo Coast
Local=D:\Program Files (x86)\Scotflight\Scotflight-FSX-Photo\Scotland_Coastline
Layer=154
Active=FALSE
Required=FALSE
Being a clever dick I changed Active=TRUE to FALSE, saved scenery.cfg and assumed Prepar3D would detect the change. It didn't or at least I thought it hadn't. On a whim I fired up Prepar3D and went straight to the Scenery library to find that the Scotflight Photo Coast entry was still checked!? Unchecking it has now resolved all my heartaches - coastlines look fine now with no artifacts visible... so far.
Changing the subject... a little (I would start a new thread but my username seems to be appearing quite a lot in the forum - perhaps I should keep my head down for a while ;D), I've supplied 4 links below to a few screen captures taken since finalising the Scotland Central installation:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v168/Cruachan/Mull%20-%20VFRGenX%20-%20in%20Prepar3D/Mull_1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v168/Cruachan/Mull%20-%20VFRGenX%20-%20in%20Prepar3D/Mull_2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v168/Cruachan/Mull%20-%20VFRGenX%20-%20in%20Prepar3D/Mull_3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v168/Cruachan/Mull%20-%20VFRGenX%20-%20in%20Prepar3D/Mull_4.jpg
I must say the terrain elevation detail is terrific but, as with some other areas in the Scotland VFR GenX series, I remain a little disappointed about the colouration of the terrain. I appreciate that how it appears depends largely on the conditions that existed at the time when the aerial photos were taken but it does look as if the photo imagery was captured during a prolonged heatwave causing parched, lifeless landscape tiles with little or no hint of vibrance wherever you look. Is this about as good as we can expect until Scotflight and Treescapes arrive to brighten things up for us? Your images, Iain, always appear so lush and fresh but we don't really get to see much of the countryside beyond the Scotflight 'boundary'. Perhaps I'm just being too picky, but I do wonder what you and others feel about this?
Kind regards,
Mike
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Mike (Cruachan)
Your experience seems to match mine almost exactly. AutoRun may well have been disabled because of a malware threat, but it seems that it has been almost completely disabled! I too was confronted with the "not responding" message after opening the folder and attempting to run the setup.exe itself. As you say, other users that have no knowledge whatsoever of stuff like this may well be totally confused.
I am not sure that I understand why AutoRun was disabled in this fashion, considering that the previous volumes seemed to work just fine.
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Aargh - it's not the disks, it's the MS software on your machine! That's changed since you installed the previous volumes . . rant, rant , burble . . .
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Hi Mike (Cruachan)
I am not the best person to comment on the GenX scenery as, to be honest, I have only seen a very very small percentage of it whilst adding features to Scotflight. Hopefully Scotflight goes someway to adding a little bit extra.
Perhaps others may like to give their impressions on the photoscenery itself.
Iain
Scotflight
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Hi Mike 'birdmanmike'
Oh, with all due respect, I think maybe you're being just a tad unfair. Whatever the cause, many end users will soon encounter the problem. It is not their fault. Only those with sufficient motivation and/or the required knowledge will succeed in getting around this issue without help.
Assuming there was sufficient pre-production testing then this hiccup would certainly have been detected. Perhaps some folk have not been affected; I found that the installer appears to work fine while running under good old XP (SP3). However, if our small sample is anything to go by then it is likely that we will soon see significant numbers who have been similarly affected. My own feeling is that the developers/publishers should have anticipated this and acknowledge the fact that there could be a problem ASAP. A workaround should be made available for all those who have purchased the product, whether it is needed or not.
Regards,
Mike
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Mike, I'm not sure what you mean. I'm only saying if it's software probably giving the problem it is MS in the OS. I'm most certainly not suggesting it is the user's fault and it's "a tad unfair" of you to suggest I am. Demonstrated if you like by you getting it to work when using XP which has had no updates for some considerable time. I had several tries before I got it working and mentioned how I got it to work (in order to help!). In that it is MS software I am not quite sure how the developers should be expected to anticipate someone else's (MS) problem.
I do know that some of the delays were caused by deficiencies in the product and then ensuring the product installed correctly - which is why it was pulled a couple times. I also know the product installation was randomly tested with no problems before being sent out.
Given the problems I had, including load noise from the DVD drive, and re-reading (hunting) giving the long load times, my not inconsiderable experience (only 45 years in IT as I've bored on about before) points to some DVD/drive problems. To be exact, the DVDs seem a bit thicker than most, which would give problems on some drives. While I didn't try another drive as I got it to work, someone else did - and it worked. You point out that you're using a laptop - were you using a (notoriously feeble) internal drive on that?
Anyway, it's only a few here that seem to have a problem. A lot more have gone out. There has been nothing on the Flightstore forum about problems which would leave one to believe that the whole installer or MS is a bit of a red herring. I am now going to re-install the whole thing using a different (external)drive. If as I believe, it is a physical DVD/ drive problem, we'll see. It would be the same as having dirty or scratched DVDs. It results in repeated reads to get over a checksum problem, slowed data transfer etc. software hangs. Not the installer itself but how the installer is read in to the PC.
I'll get back on it. If there is a problem, it's not the developer (they just produced the data) but the packager/DVD producer. I'm just trying to help. Let's not anticipate by saying "acknowledge the problem" on this Scotflight forum. 'twould be better to go onto the Flightstore forum or contact FS directly. Andrew at Flightstore has said as such.
Mike
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Ok I uninstalled, deleted all files and attempted using a cheap external drive - got offered 10 hours for disk 1 and it took half an hour to do 150 bytes. Importantly the file icons on the disk too ages to load and so did the splash screen. I re-booted, deleted the Vol 7 again took the disk 1 and thoroughly cleaned it of finger-marks and put it in the internal drive again. It loaded fast and installed disk 1 in just 15 minutes. Overall I got 15, 22, 25, 15, 18.. On average it takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours for all (from other users) The extract speed is pretty variable within those.
No hunting noises, just a steady high speed hum . It just seems that given the density the disks need to be scrupulously clean of finger marks etc., and the drive clean and dust-free. The disks need to be very accurately placed in the tray.
FYI, several hundred Vol 7s were sent out Friday I understand and no problems yet reported to Flightstore - so many end-users? it seems nothing to acknowledge? I dunno, but can only say if you've still got problems go to them. I don't, at least not of my own making, so good luck
Mike
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Hi Mike,
My reply was merely a reaction to your response to Mogget's post which I felt, at the time, was a little unnecessary. However, if it turns out that I have misunderstood then, of course, I apologise to you unreservedly.
It seems to me at least that my experience has been mirrored by others who have contributed to this thread. I cannot say whether our drives are at the route of the problem. My customized laptop was built by Dell (Alienware M18xR1) and the internal drive is of the Blu-Ray variety. I have had it for nearly two years now and thus far the laptop and drive have delivered faultless performance. The only disks this drive has had difficulty with have been from the GenX Scotland series. Apart from 'Scotland Central' I forget which of the others were also affected. However this recent experience reminded me of similar behaviour during previous installations and invariably it was the first disk of each installation that was the problem.
The reason I decided on this particular laptop was Alienware's past reputation for building high spec cutting edge products. My assumption is that they would use high grade components. Whether this policy has changed since Dell purchased the brand name I cannot say but I would hope not.
Anyway, it's still early days. We don't yet know how many will experience problems.
I'm surprised to hear you say that Microsoft have not been updating XP for a while. I have always preferred to apply updates manually and confess I haven't done so for a few weeks. My understanding is that support for XP continues until April 2014, so surely they are obliged to continue with the provision of updates until then.
Again, I'm sorry if I have got the wrong end of the stick and, quite evidently, caused you some irritation in the process. At this stage I'm not certain any of us really know what is at the root of this particular issue. I can only hope it's just a few who have been affected. As ever, time will tell.
Of course I should acknowledge how valuable your input has been. Thank you! We're it not for your timely help, guidance and provision of figures it is quite likely that I would be returning the disks for replacement.
Regards,
Mike
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Mike you are correct -but it's security updates only -and on 64 bit only. even Win7 was not supposed to last much longer - although given MS backtrack on Win 8 - who knows? Knowing some of the developers and testers associated with Vol7 I may be a little biased, but I do do not doubt their integrity. I quite agree that this is not necessarily a Vol 7 problem - indeed , when testing today, I found Vol 6 disk 1 gave trouble, but cleaned it was OK. I also found anomalies with water/default showing through with 6 - due to the same problem with incomplete (zero length) loads. Now I used to buy Dell in various forms, until I discovered when trying to upgrade that they used non-standard (actually reversed) mobos (in desktops). I have built my own PCs specifically or mainly for FSX and Photoshop for some years now - yes, not all can. You may find this http://www.simforums.com/forums/the-fsx-computer-system-the-bible-by-nickn_topic46211.html interesting on ready builds. I have no idea if it is the drive or the DVD but I do incline to the possibility it is c**p quality DVDs (the plastic or the recording), given my experiences. Nevertheless it does seem to work better with clean and good quality components. I am at fault also - I only use DVDs now for really big stuff, much preferring to download - including NL2000, all 40 gig , bit by bit. Whatever, so far there only appear to be 2 or 3 of us who have had a problem, and we're all past it. so lets wait and see.
In the meanwhile, I find Vol 7 really good, and just what I wanted to complete UK mainland - at least when Iain finishes 2.5 and maybe Vicky completes V7 Treescapes . Nothing will beat good quality photo. Whatever, let's see.
Cheers, Mike (the birder)
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Someone has posted a thread about this at AVSIM, so more people are experiencing the same problem......
http://forum.avsim.net/topic/414144-playsim-vfr-scotland-central-dvd-problems/?p=2722437
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Hi Mike (the birder),
Back on air! That's good as I do believe this needs to be explored a little further.
You have mentioned on more than one occasion that you achieved success after cleaning the problematic disks. Is it possible that this change in behaviour was merely coincidental and in fact had nothing to do with the cleaning? I say this for two reasons:
1. The virgin disks in question are clean (or should be) straight out of the DVD case. All I ever do is give each disk a quick blow of air before insertion in the drive - more from habit than because it is strictly necessary.
2. With certain previous volumes in the GenX series, i found success was achieved following several attempts and the installation then proceeded normally.
This would appear to confirm that it's most likely to be a disk read issue and the disks themselves are at the root of the problem. Hopefully the numbers affected at this stage may turn out to be relatively small and this fact alone may point to inconsistent quality control at the Producer end of the production process resulting in some of us receiving defective disks.
I don't believe we should be pointing the finger at the end user's drive as those affected are experiencing similar behaviour. Certainly some drives may be better at circumventing this issue or perhaps it's just a matter of luck or the care taken when the disk is inserted. However, that doesn't seem very likely, except in extreme cases, as one would assume that the design of these things is supposed to cater for such variables.
Regards,
Mike
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Hi all
I have let this thread run on again, however I do think we should be seeing more about this on the Flightstore Forum. If there is a problem with discs then it is Flightstore that you want to do something about it.
Iain
Scotflight
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Hi Iain,
Fair comment. Would you have any objection if a post at Flightstore included a link pointing to this thread to avoid having to explain our experiences and theories all over again? You could then lock the thread to discourage any further needless additions. I confess that this has happened already over at Avsim and this was before I realised 'Mogget' and Christopher Low were one and the same person. I apologise if this was out of line.
Regards,
Mike
Edit: Perhaps we could provide a link to the relevant Flightstore Forum.
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Hi Mike
No problems if you use a link to Scotflight Forum.
Iain
Scotflight
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I have already mentioned this over on the Flightstore forum, Iain. Unfortunately, the Flightstore forum is very new, with only a handful of posts. It is also not particularly well signposted from the main site.
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The two comments I can make is that my installation went on perfectly together with Tony's patch. And my second comment about the scenery is that having flown from East to West, North to South and around quite a bit of the coast, I've nothing to criticise.
Lastly, I'm just glad that after so long we have the complete mainland. Of course it will be futher enhanced as and when with Iain's 2.5 and treescapes.
I really would like to see someone, anyone, take a shot at Northern Ireland. Erm..perhaps I could have worded that a little better? ;) :)
John
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Hi Iain,
Perhaps this is no longer necessary. I've just come across a very informative post by 'FlightstoreSimAdmin' over at the Flightstore Forum:
http://forum.flightstore.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=8
The content of this post makes a great deal of sense and goes a long way towards explaining our difficulties.
I propose a line can now be drawn under this topic.
Regards,
Mike
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I must say, after reading this thread I was a bit concerned about the install of Vol 7 (own all prev versions) my pre-order was a wee bit late arriving due to a change in my debit card details that Flightstore quickly sorted after an email) but with a well prepared system already it installed pretty quickly and with no problems or errors (I never use autorun BTW) its good to have this final chapter and also Scotflght to go with it too.
Good Times indeed.
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There are a couple of patch/installer fix's for Vol 7 Central Scotland on Flightstore now, one for a mesh problem and one for those who at near end of install answer they have other Scotland volumes but only one, the installer assumes you have both other mainland volumes if you answer yes, I guess most of us here will have all the volumes though.
http://forum.flightstore.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=7 (http://forum.flightstore.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=7)