MSFS Package Tool and Steam Version

[scruffyduck]

It seems that the Package Tool shipped with the current SDK cannot find the Steam Installation properly and fails. If you have problems then Asobo are working on a fix

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Any word on the package tool and Steam?

 

[scruffyduck]

Not getting any sense. Quite a few complaints about it. I guess you are still unable to download the SDK?

 

[rhumbaflappy]

I have the SDK, but the packagetool does not work, so only the in-sim process works. Slows everything down for testing.

 

[piotrkol]

Tell me about it (also steam version). The amount of time lost on loading the sim is extreme :| Hope they get the package tool working, that'll cut the waiting time by half pretty much.

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Hi Jon. Do you have entries in your windows Environment Variables that relate to MSFS?

 

[scruffyduck]

I have the SDK, but the packagetool does not work, so only the in-sim process works. Slows everything down for testing.

In what way does it not work. I have it integrated into ADE and it works fine

 

[scruffyduck]

Hi Jon. Do you have entries in your windows Environment Variables that relate to MSFS?

Yep

 

[scruffyduck]

The performance time of the package tool seems to be driven by the time it takes to get the sim into a place where it can accept the input, Having built in compilers is a performance overhead we could do without, Once it is awake then build is quick. I need to test whether the package tool works faster if FS2020 is actually running

 

[MyPC8MyBrain]

Do you have entries in your windows Environment Variables that relate to MSFS?

 

[rhumbaflappy]

I get this:

C:\Users\dickl\Desktop\Smiley02>D:\Programs\Steam\steamapps\common\MicrosoftFlightSimulator\fspackagetool "C:\Users\dickl\Desktop\Smiley02\SimpleAerialProject.xml" -outputdir "C:\Users\dickl\Desktop\Smiley02" -tempdir "D:\Temp"
Error: Failed to Activate App Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App. hr = 0x80073cf1

It's a simple aerial package that compiles just fine within the sim.

D:\Programs\Steam\steamapps\common\MicrosoftFlightSimulator\fspackagetool "C:\Users\dickl\Desktop\Smiley02\SimpleAerialProject.xml" -outputdir "C:\Users\dickl\Desktop\Smiley02" -tempdir "D:\Temp"

 

[scruffyduck]

Looks like it is trying to activate the MS App which I don't think you have with the steam edition. It should be activating the Steam app. Perhaps this is the issue with the SDK for steam users. Have you tried doing this with the in sim editors?

 

[mariopilot]

FYI: I have been trying to compile aircraft. I have the Steam release. I get the same error. I can launch the package tool from within the sim, by opening the project and selecting "compile". This adds the loading times into the dev process.

 

[OzWookiee]

Looks like it is trying to activate the MS App which I don't think you have with the steam edition. It should be activating the Steam app. Perhaps this is the issue with the SDK for steam users. Have you tried doing this with the in sim editors?

One of the devs confirmed the other day that it is indeed opening the MSStore app and are hoping to change that.

 

[scruffyduck]

FYI: I have been trying to compile aircraft. I have the Steam release. I get the same error. I can launch the package tool from within the sim, by opening the project and selecting "compile". This adds the loading times into the dev process.

True - but the package tool can spend 30 seconds or so activating the app before it calls the compilers

 

[mariopilot]

True - but the package tool can spend 30 seconds or so activating the app before it calls the compilers

True, but MSFS can spend 10 minutes before it is done loading

 

[Szpike]

Can someone else test this and see if it works for them?

FlightSimulator.exe -I ";" BuildAssetPackages <path to XML> <temp path> <output path> Force Console

e.g.

FlightSimulator.exe -I ";" BuildAssetPackages "E:\msfs\SimpleAirport\AirportProject.xml" "E:\msfs\SimpleAirport\Tmp" "E:\msfs\SimpleAirport\Output" Force Console

It is not fast, and you will need to click the Steam warning about starting something with weird arguments. But it's still faster than launching the sim outright!

 

[rhumbaflappy]

I tried this after making the TMP and Output folders:

D:\Programs\Steam\steamapps\common\MicrosoftFlightSimulator\FlightSimulator -I ";" BuildAssetPackages "C:\Users\dickl\Desktop\SimpleAerialt\SimpleAerialProject.xml" "C:\Users\dickl\Desktop\SimpleAerial\Tmp" "C:\Users\dickl\Desktop\SimpleAerial\Output" Force Console

It seems like it's working, and after a bit the program stops, but the TMP and Output folders are empty. Not working.

 

[Szpike]

@rhumbaflappy did the Steam alert come up and get clicked on? The spool up time is very slow on that occasionally (before it even launches FS...)

It created tmp and output folders for me... - it should also pop up a console window with the output...

ETA: Interesting... it also seems to not work from cmd, only from powershell -- so I think there's something hokey about the quoting semantics.

 

[scruffyduck]

I assume this is to get around the non working package tool?