Release candidate

[arno]

Hi all,

It has taken a while, but I'm happy to announce that there is a release candidate of the Autogen Configuration Merger tool.

I have modified the tool so that it can install itself. So the first time you need to call it with an install argument. In the typical workflow this is done by the installer of the scenery using the tool of course.

AutogenConfigurationMerger.exe install

This will launch the tool in install mode, which will make sure that the tool itself get's installed and that it gets inserted in the exe.xml file of FS. It will prompt for elevated permissions when needed. You will get a dialogue where you can select which FS version you want to install for. With an additional argument you can also select the FS version already, so when calling from an installer that already knows which FS version is being install to the user will get no choice anymore. The possible files are:

fsx
fsxse
p3dv1
p3dv2
p3dv3

After that the tool is inserted in the exe.xml and will run automatically when FS starts.

The only tihng not yet finished is the manuals. I have included the old developers manual. But it still needs to be updated for the information above. And I will still write a user manual as well.

So please try this latest version and once I have finished the manuals and there are no complaints after testing we can release this tool.

Edit: attachment removed since there is a newer version available now

 

[toprob]

That's great, although I did mean to test this earlier, I've been a bit busy, but it does now open up the door to a lot of new features in my scenery. I've always wanted to build a New Zealand autogen set, but it has never made sense while half my customers use FTX NZ, which just replaces the autogen config files. I still need to figure out how this would work alongside FTX Central, to prevent my autogen getting dumped, but it is a huge step forward.
Now I just have to find the time to redo all the NZ autogen...

 

[arno]

Hi Rob,

If FTX Central would overwrite the global autogen configuraitons, this tool will re-merge your changes in at the next startup of FS. The changes you have made to the autogen files are stored locally with your own scenery and the merge tool will check at each startup if they are still there or not.

 

[kevinfirth]

Hi arno, Will this be updated to include Prepar3D v3 as well? I think it would nicely complement the other changes LM have made to ensure changes to core sim files are not necessary any more? Cheers K

 

[arno]

I should and will try to do it before the release.

I don't have P3D v3 myself yet, so has the autogen system changed or is it just a matter of supporting another version for install, etc?

 

[kevinfirth]

Haven't had chance to check 100% but it seems from a glance through the SDK that nothing has changed in respect of autogen - perhaps they were already aware of your work and didn't want to reinvent the wheel? Cheers K

 

[arno]

The sooner it gets supported properly by the sim the better

But I'll add support. I'll just have to check the v3 registry settings and update a few forms.

 

[kevinfirth]

How about offering your work to LM to incorporate into the sim? Is that something you'd be willing to do? Maybe Dovetail for FSX SE as well? It would be one of the biggest steps forward for a long time in respect of autogen. Whilst your utility is great its usefulness to most end users will depend on devs using it, and I sorely suspect some like Orbx will just ignore it...as they've chosen to ignore the other Prepar3D v3 addon cfg amendments

 

[arno]

LM or Dovetail can do it much better by integrating it in the sim, I had to work around limitations from running it as a separate tool. So I sure hope they can do even better.

 

[arno]

Hi all,

I have uploaded a new release candidate to the first post of this thread. It should support P3D v3 correctly now as well.

Please have a try again and let me know if everything works well. Then a formal release of this new tool won't take long anymore

 

[Phil31]

Hi Arno

Having installed Prepar3D v3 recently I tried to install ACM (as I did on the v2.5).

After running the exe file the program asked me to choose the directory which I did. It created a scenerydesign.org directory with a file in it called autogenconfigurationmerger.

However checking the exe.xml files I have (either in the c: drive or in the roaming directory) nothing related to ACM was added.

When I launch Prepar 3D nothing happens neither (which I believe is normal given thet the exe.xml has not been updated)

Is there anything I have missed ?

Philippe

 

[arno]

Let me check, sounds like the install in the xml file failed. That's probably a bug.

 

[Phil31]

Arno

I just tried to create my own exe.file and then it seems to work fine.

So the only issue I noticed is that the installer does not seem to create the .exe file automatically

Philippe

 

[arno]

Hi,

There was indeed a small bug in the case, which resulted in the P3D v3 path not being found correctly. It has been fixed now and I have attached a new RC to the first post of this thread.

 

[Phil31]

Ok Arno thanks

 

[JRobinson]

Hi Arno I'm just trying this in P3D v3 and it seems to work OK but I got an unexpected result with the path in the exe.xml. Here's what I did:

-extracted AutogenConfigurationMerger.exe to the desktop
-opened a command window on the desktop and ran AutogenConfigurationMerger.exe install
-The browse button for the installation folder didn't seem to work so I pasted "D:\MSFS\AutogenConfigurationMerger" (this folder already existed and I emptied it first) into the box and let it install for P3Dv3
-ACM ran and appended my custom entries in D:\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v3\Autogen

The installer placed a copy of AutogenConfigurationMerger.exe in "D:\MSFS\AutogenConfigurationMerger" however the path in the %appdata%\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v3\exe.xml points to the copy on the desktop rather than the copy in the selected installation folder.

With a clean exe.xml in %appdata%\Microsoft\FSX I tried the AutogenConfigurationMerger.exe install fsx command from the desktop again and I see it also now has the path in FSX\exe.xml pointing to the desktop copy as opposed to the installed location from the previous install into v3. It seems you intended to get the ACM install path from the registry to place into the exe.xml(s) but instead it appears it's using whatever directory ACM is run from?

I then replaced my autogen with default from backup again and started P3D v3, ACM again ran, popped up the notification, and appended my descriptions both for roofdescriptions and autogendescriptions as expected, I opened them in the annotator and confirmed they're all there, ACM works well.

Jim

 

[arno]

Hi Jim,

Let me check, sounds like you found a bug. It might take the wrong path (in install mode it will run from your desktop, but it should take the path where it is installed to). I'll double check and fix it.

 

[JRobinson]

(in install mode it will run from your desktop, but it should take the path where it is installed to)

That's what I figured you had in mind and that seems like a good plan.

 

[arno]

I have uploaded a new version now to the first post. The issue with the exe.xml file is fixed now.

 

[marcoh]

Thanks Arno for this tool.
I've add to my new add-on "town of Paris" because there is new materials and extrusions inside. After complains of simmer (using FTX global) who cannot see news extrusions buidings of the town, somebody give me this information about you tool. It seem to work fine (for FsX for sure).