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Beta release for developers

arno

arno

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Hi all,

I'm happy to announce the first beta release of this new tool for other developers to test. Please find the beta version attached to this post. Make sure to first read the manual, since it explains how to install and use the tool.

Let me stress again that this tool should not be included in a product that is released to end users in this form. It first needs to be tested by more developers. Once it is stable, I'll make a version that can be released to end users.

Also, please make sure to backup your autogen folder before trying this tool. It's the first beta release, so there might still be a bug somewhere.

But aside from those two warnings, please go ahead and test the tool. Let me know what you think and if you have suggestions for improvements or if you encounter any issues.

EDIT: files removed since this beta was outdated.
 
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I made a custom AutogenDescriptions.spb and RoofDescriptions.spb and allowed ACM to append them first to a set of default descriptions and then again to a set that had been installed by FTX Central, both tests appear to have worked perfectly and all the custom 3rd party descriptions appear to be intact with just mine appended. I started the sim once more without making any changes and as expected the tool did not alert me that I needed to restart the sim. I think it's brilliant. Is there anything you'd like me to check?

ACM_testing01.jpg
 
Happy to hear it works on your side as well.

Which FS version did you test with?

If there are suggestions for extra features these are also welcome.
 
It was FSX/Accel MS boxed that I tried it in. I also tried removing my compiled .spbs and replacing them with the XMLs and that worked fine as well.

Here are the custom descriptions I made up:
http://www.cat-tamer.com/flightsim/atchmnts/ACM_test_descriptions.zip

I assume that once the custom descriptions are appended they stay there? I mean if you removed the My Scenery\Autogen folder or removed the scenery from the library after they'd been appended ACM wouldn't remove them, correct? I guess there's no way around that as it would remove all 3rd party custom descriptions in the event there were no supplied custom descriptions. I worry a little about duplicate GUIDs, supposing for example someone took the custom descriptions I attached above and changed the "JR_" prefix to something else and appended them from their own folder without substituting new GUIDs for the groupings? Would that be handled by ACM, and if so, who's descriptions "win"?
 
Hi,

I tested with the Steam Edition already as well, so that leaves P3D as a platform to be tested with.

Yes, at the moment there is no uninstall. I could probably add some feature to install definitions based on the file with custom definitions. But I do see some potential conflicts there, for example if different sceneries from the same author share some definitions.

I do indeed assume that the guids are unique and not shared between developers. I think that's an assumption we have to make. How would you else merge them? But if a guid is shared and another part of the definition differs the last one in the scenery.cfg "wins".

One scenario I'm not sure about yet is how to handle definitions that are used in different sceneries. Especially if the developers makes an update, there could be a scenario where the tool tries to merge two versions of basically the same definition.
 
Hi all,

I have uploaded a new beta, it's in the first post of this thread again.

I have made the tool more robust in case a file is not found, a backup is made of the autogen configurations when making changes. And the manual has been updated.

Feature wise I have implemented all features I wanted now, so unless testing reveals some bugs, this might be the first releasable version. I only need to make an installer for it.

The following items have not yet been tested:

  • Tested in P3D v1/v2
  • Tested on an OS different then Windows 7
 
Hi All,

Has anyone tested ACM with commercial sceneries' definitions yet? I am about to test whether a merger between Orbx and a 3rd party developper might work but was wondering if someone did try it already...
 
I haven't tested that myself yet (don't have any Orbx installed here at the moment). But good to test that as well.

Just be sure to make a backup in case something goes wrong :)
 
Yes Arno, of course I did all the backups no worries :)
So first try, FSX SP2 boxed edition, the tool detected the different autogen definitions in 2 active sceneries (Orbx England and France VFR Aquitaine) for which I added the 3rd Autogen folder and amended the definition files accordingly (so in that case AutogenDescriptions.spb, RoofDescriptions.spb and default.xml) but FSX crashed when trying to load one or the other scenery. I'll investigate the reason of the crash. Both definitions work fine independantly (so even if I bypass the FTX Central script) so maybe there is something with the GUIDs in the merged file.
 
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So the error log in FSX is the following:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BEX
Application Name: fsx.exe
Application Version: 10.0.61472.0
Application Timestamp: 475e17d3
Fault Module Name: StackHash_0a67
Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 00000000
Exception Offset: 74f8c9f1
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Data: 00000008
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1036
Additional Information 1: 0a67
Additional Information 2: 0a67899d84da386d66aa4d3906b24f4b
Additional Information 3: 15cc
Additional Information 4: 15cc4234a35fe9169409f60ab5c24571


I checked the merged spb files with Annotator and there are quite a few validation failures with some of the items: error is the same for all "Item referenced before defined". The strange thing is that these errors are linked to default autogen items and not specific Orbx or FVFR ones. I checked a few GUIDs for these items and they are the same as in the default FSX configuration files dated 2007.

Will continue to investigate but if you guys have any ideas...
 
I'll also check a bit, I haven't had crashes before due to faulty configurations.

How did you let those addons use ACM? Did you create an autogen folder and which files did you put there? The files in that folder should only contain the custom definitions, not the default ones. So typically only the developer can make those, not every end user.
 
I activated the autogen definitions of one developer (FVFR) to start with a stand alone FSX installation and created a specific autogen folder in the root of the Orbx England Scenery folder as per the instructions in the ACM documentation. I copied here the 3 definition files that have been amended by the developer (AutogenDescriptions.spb, RoofDescriptions.spb and default.xml). Then I ran ACM manually by using the command prompt in Windows 7 and passing the FSX path as argument. The merger went well as I saw no issue during this process and ACM did work as expected and amended the definition files in the FSX Autogen folder.
Of course the definitions from the developers contain the default definitions as well as custom ones as they are supposed to be swapped and used on a stand-alone basis. I saw in the ACM documentation that default definitions are not needed but here I assumed it was not a critical point (otherwise the documention would say 'shall not be included' or something along those lines).
I tested this independantly and just swapping the 3 files mentioned above does work but the whole idea behind ACM is precisely to avoid this swap and make the 2 sceneries work without restarting FSX and changing the autogen definitions.
I can test the other way around (activating Orbx first and then let ACM amend with FVFR definitions) and remove the default definitions from one of the 2 set of files either using Autogen Configuration Editor for ex and see how it goes.

I read above that JRobinson successfully managed to append his custom definitions to a set installed by FTX Central (so an Orbx scenery) with ACM so I am indeed wondering whether isolating the custom definitions from the default ones is actually a critical point to get a proper merger. However, if it is the case should we expect FSX to crash without any notice?
 
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So I deleted manually the common entries in both AutogenDescriptions and RoofDescriptions files of the Orbx descriptions and this time FSX loads the sceneries normally and the merger is working, I can use both Orbx and FVFR sceneries without switching definitions.
I don't know whether ACM could check if double entries are present in both files and remove them from the definitions to be appended to the active configuration or at least the documentation should emphasize on being cautious about this point otherwise the resulting file could cause a FSX crash (at least it did on my machine). Now, as you said this tool is mainly intended to be used by developers so I imagine they will only use their custom definitions as inputs here but I think it is worth flagging this point.
 
Thanks for all the research. Let me try to reproduce it here, maybe I can change the merge code to prevent this crash. I guess some of the default definitions are moved around a bit by accident.
 
Good news, I can reproduce the crash here. So now let me see what the cause is and how I can prevent it :)
 
Ok cool, on my end I tried today to launch the tool again and for some reason I can't load it any longer either via direct command line or the addon entry in the FSX exe.xml. Very strange as it worked fine 10 days ago... I tried on 2 different machines with FSX installed and same outcome, I can see the AutogenConfigurationMerger.exe process loading briefly in the memory but it kills itself after 2 seconds or so. I downloaded the tool again to check if the files were corrupted but no difference. Have you set any time limitation in the beta release or something?
 
Just to make sure, when the module get started it should remain in the memory until the scan of the active sceneries is complete, correct? I remember when I managed to load it last time it was automatically killed when the FSX process was terminated.
 
It will stop after it checked the autogen configurations. So normally that's after a few seconds. If there are no changes it will quit quietly.
 
Ok thanks Arno for the confirmation. That's really strange then, on 2 different PCs When I launch FSX and monitor the active processes via Process Explorer I can't see ACM loaded in memory from the time I click on the FSX icon to the configuration menu (so approx 15 seconds on my two machines). I remember it was loaded and appeared in Process Explorer for at least a few seconds indeed when I used it sucessfully last time. I appended some new autogen descriptions in one of the active sceneries and no splash screen and merger happened either, as if ACM did not start at all. I'll investigate this further unless you have an idea.
 
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