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AIFP "Invalid control registration - MainPanel" error!

H

Hamza Tagorti

Messages
14
Country
tunisia
Hello,

I used to use AIFP on FS2004 without issue before I was forced to format my PC, but once I reinstalled it, it gives me an error on startup that says "Invalid control registration - MainPanel"... every action I do (whether it's adding bulk aircraft or anything similar..) gives me the same error, "Invalid control registration - SelectAircraft" etc...

It lets me add aircraft to an premade flight plan but the compile option is greyed out... even the compile parameters won't let me save any settings since the "Continue" button is also greyed out...

What do I do??

OS: Windows 10 Pro
Flight simulator: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 (Installed on an external hard drive)

1622880989751.png
1622881181537.png
1622881294846.png
 
The underlying problem is that AIFP cannot find FS9. (You'll note the Target Version groupbox on the Main Panel - where you used to see a FS9 radiobutton - is blank. ) Whether it's because FS9 :
  • re-installed in a non-standard manner such that the usual system registry items are not set, or
  • Is unable to access the "external hard drive
is impossible for me to say.

As a workaround, open AIFP.ini with a text editor and find the line that starts "Path to FS9=". If it's not there, add it. Complete the line with the fully qualified path to the folder containing FS9.exe on the external drive. Save the file and restart FS9. If FS9 runs, then you've got registry problems. You don't need to correct this because the workaround will be "adopted" by FS9 - but other apps such as ADE may have similar issues. However, if FS9 doesn't work (and the path you entered is correct), then the hard drive is most likely your problem.

Incidentally, I'm a little surprised that an external drive has sufficiently-fast response time to "power" Flightsim.
 
Thank you so much! it finally works now!
I had to add the path to FS9 to get it working!
I had to transfer my FS9 onto the hard drive (which has 1TB storage) with all of its addons (adding up to 107GB) before I formatted the PC, then decided to keep it on there in case anything similar happens again, and it actually runs great ^^
 
I had to transfer my FS9 onto the hard drive
Click to expand...
If by transfer you mean you simply copied your previous FS9 folder onto the hard drive, then I'm not surprised it didn't work. Your system registry still "thinks" FS9 is at its old location. You are likely to have a similar issue with any other program that determines FS9's location from the system registry. The workaround I gave you s specific to my applications.

You should have uninstalled FS9 before moving anything (all your aircraft/add-ons would have remained intact), moved the "remnants" and then re-installed FS9 at it's new location.

I'm not sure you can still uninstall FS9 now that it's no longer where the registry "thinks" it is. You may have to copy FS9 back to its original location (if that's still possible) to uninstall it. You can then re-install it on the external hard drive.
 
gadgets said:
If by transfer you mean you simply copied your previous FS9 folder onto the hard drive, then I'm not surprised it didn't work. Your system registry still "thinks" FS9 is at its old location. You are likely to have a similar issue with any other program that determines FS9's location from the system registry. The workaround I gave you s specific to my applications.

You should have uninstalled FS9 before moving anything (all your aircraft/add-ons would have remained intact), moved the "remnants" and then re-installed FS9 at it's new location.

I'm not sure you can still uninstall FS9 now that it's no longer where the registry "thinks" it is. You may have to copy FS9 back to its original location (if that's still possible) to uninstall it. You can then re-install it on the external hard drive.
Click to expand...
I might try that and put it back on the PC again.

While I’m on the topic of AIFP, I compiled 4 flightplan files, Tunisair, Nouvelair, Transavia and TUI fly, all from 2018, however only 1 or 2 planes show up at each airport, even though each flightplan is set to 1% activity and the traffic slider is all the way up.

any idea why that might be?
 
You haven't mentioned your method of checking. Without knowing that, all I can suggest are generalities, i.e., inadequate parking (quantity/size), looking at the wrong time. For reliability, you must either check a few minutes before departure or watch the landing - which could be somewhat later than programmed.

The SDK includes a utility called Traffic Toolbox Explorer. If you haven't already done so, I suggest you install it. It will give you the status of every AI aircraft
 
gadgets said:
You haven't mentioned your method of checking. Without knowing that, all I can suggest are generalities, i.e., inadequate parking (quantity/size), looking at the wrong time. For reliability, you must either check a few minutes before departure or watch the landing - which could be somewhat later than programmed.

The SDK includes a utility called Traffic Toolbox Explorer. If you haven't already done so, I suggest you install it. It will give you the status of every AI aircraft
Click to expand...
I check multiple airports at almost every 30mins , so that’s about 47 times for each airport, and all there is is one or 2 aircraft, with some them (like the A330 or the entirety of the nouvelair fleet ) not showing up at all, even at nouvelair’s hub, monastir airport
 
So what does Traffic Toolbox Explorer tell you about the others?

Incidentally, FS9 doesn't leave aircraft parked for long periods. My recollection is that you would only see then for 1 hour before and after departure and arrival. They will be "sleeping" at other times if not in flight.
 
Last edited:
I have never seen FS9 add or remove aircraft to/from gates, even after several hours of watching.
 
This is the most amount of aircraft I could get to show up at DTTA, an airport that's always swarming with Tunisair, Nouvelair and Transavia aircraft (tunisair's A330s and Nouvelair are still nowhere to be seen)
1623016430323.png
 
You keep repeating that there should be more aircraft appearing - and I'm not disputing that. But, in order to understand why they aren't appearing, you need to know the status of the missing ones. That's why I keep pointing you to Traffic Toolbox Explorer. Until you install that tool and investigate the missing aircraft, there's little more I can do to help you.

Also, you haven't yet commented on the adequacy of parking at the airports.
 
I used the Traffic Toolbox explorer but there's nothing on the status of the missing aircraft...

The parking seems normal I guess??
 
No, it's not normal!

The Traffic Toolbox shows status on every active AI in the system, If it doesn't display the missing aircraft, then, for whatever reason, either the aircraft and/or their flightplans are not in the traffic file. or, perhaps in your case given the situation with your system, (i.e., FS9 isn't where it's reported to be in the system registry) FS9 simply can't find some of the required aircraft on your system.. (My money's on the latter.)
 
I moved FS9 back to the PC and fixed the registry keys, Still no results...

Here are some screenshots of the flight plans of the missing flights, perhaps there is something I'm missing or don't understand...
1623074778815.png
1623074947626.png
 
Last edited:
There's nothing wrong with the displayed FPs and, in the absence of error messages during the compile process, there's nothing wrong with the flight plans generally. I can say with a great deal of certainty AIFP is not the problem.

The most likely cause of your issue is that you copied FS9 from one location to another rather than uninstalling and re-installing. As a consequence, you have a screwed-up registry as far as FS9 is concerned. Then you used FS9 in the new location which will have left remnants of data in AppData and perhaps other places "pointing" to the new location. And, now, instead of re-installing as I suggested (your add-on scenery and aircraft should still be intact), you have:
moved FS9 back to the PC and fixed the registry keys,
Click to expand...
Given those actions, I'm amazed that FS9 still runs at all.

Did you update the "Path to FS9" in AIFP.ini? If not, do so and recompile the FPs. If you've already done that, the only additional advice I can offer is to uninstall FS9 from your PC (hopefully you'll still be able do that despite your changes to the registry), re-install FS9 and check that your add-on scenery, aircraft and Tunisian traffic files are still intact.
 
gadgets said:
There's nothing wrong with the displayed FPs and, in the absence of error messages during the compile process, there's nothing wrong with the flight plans generally. I can say with a great deal of certainty AIFP is not the problem.

The most likely cause of your issue is that you copied FS9 from one location to another rather than uninstalling and re-installing. As a consequence, you have a screwed-up registry as far as FS9 is concerned. Then you used FS9 in the new location which will have left remnants of data in AppData and perhaps other places "pointing" to the new location. And, now, instead of re-installing as I suggested (your add-on scenery and aircraft should still be intact), you have:

Given those actions, I'm amazed that FS9 still runs at all.

Did you update the "Path to FS9" in AIFP.ini? If not, do so and recompile the FPs. If you've already done that, the only additional advice I can offer is to uninstall FS9 from your PC (hopefully you'll still be able do that despite your changes to the registry), re-install FS9 and check that your add-on scenery, aircraft and Tunisian traffic files are still intact.
Click to expand...
I updated the AIFP.ini, and yes , I’m surprised it still works too after what I’ve done to it 😂
And the good news is I’ve sort of figured it out.
There was an issue with the aircraft itself, more specifically the .air file.
I assigned different aircraft to the FP and it worked for them, then replaced the .air files of the faulty aircraft with new ones and added them back in!

For once DTTA and other airports are actually full!!

Thank you so much for your help, I highly appreciate it ^^ I hope I wasn’t a burden in anyways ...
 
Hi there, I've having the same "Invalid Control Registration" Issue, where the TARGET VERSION Group Box is empty with AIFP v3.4.3.13

It started happening after fully uninstalling LM P3DV4.5. installing/uninstalling LM P3Dv3; and reinstalling LM P3Dv4.5 about six months ago.
(I had deleted the original instance of AIFP when I'd uninstalled P3Dv4, not sure what version that would have been).
MFS has never been installed on this PC.

I think it might help clarity to specify the exact term anticipated to refer to the Target FSVer and Path to P3DV4 in the AIFP.INI file and how the path should be formatted If I have to manually add them, i.e. would it be...

Target FSVer=PV4 or P34 or PD4 or P3D4?

and for the path should it be...

Path to PV4/P34/PD4/P3D4 =
P:\P3Dv4; or
"P:\P3Dv4"; or
P:\P3Dv4\; or
"P:\P3Dv4\"; or
P:\P3Dv4\Prepar3D.exe; or
"P:\P3Dv4\Prepar3D.exe"

Perhaps you could also verify which Registry Keys might be being checked to establish the version and location of sim installed, because I installed the sim as per the LM P3D docs and have the following Reg keys:

e.g. Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4 has the SetupPath value set to P:\P3Dv4\; and an Installed String with a value of 1
Computer\HKEY_USERS\xxx\SOFTWARE\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4 has the AppPath set to P:\P3Dv4\
Computer\HKEY_USERS\xxx\SOFTWARE\LockheedMartin\Prepar3D does not have a value set in it.

The P:\\ Drive is a 200Gb Partition on a Samsung 860 EVO 1Tb SSD. The only thing in it is the P3Dv4 folder, a folder for the P3Dv4 SDK and a Tools folder containing ADE178, AIFP 3.4.3.13 and AIG AI Mgr 1.0.2.6.

Many Thanks
Chris.

BTW I have been using the AIG OCI tool with P3Dv4 - I mention it in case that could be 'interfering with' AIFP3 in any way

P.S.
If I try to import a sample txt flightplan from the Flightplans folder I get the following error:

************** Exception Text **************
System.IndexOutOfRangeException: Index was outside the bounds of the array.
at AIFP3._4__Dev_.CompileDialog.InitPath_Traffic(String sPath, Boolean bMergedFiles)
at AIFP3._4__Dev_.MainPanel.NewSourceFile(String sPath)
at AIFP3._4__Dev_.File_Handling.LoadFile(String sPath, List`1& listFP, List`1& listAC, List`1& listAP)
at AIFP3._4__Dev_.File_Handling.LoadMainFile(String sPath)
at AIFP3._4__Dev_.MainPanel.mnuFiles_Open_TextZip_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.RaiseEvent(Object key, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleMouseUp(MouseEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mea)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripDropDown.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mea)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripDropDown.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.8.4400.0 built by: NET48REL1LAST_C
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework64/v4.0.30319/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
AIFP3
Assembly Version: 3.4.3.8
Win32 Version: 3.4.3.8
CodeBase: file:///P:/tools/AIFP34313/AIFP3.exe
----------------------------------------
Microsoft.VisualBasic
Assembly Version: 10.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 14.8.4084.0 built by: NET48REL1
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Microsoft.VisualBasic/v4.0_10.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll
----------------------------------------
System
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.8.4360.0 built by: NET48REL1LAST_C
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Core
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.8.4390.0 built by: NET48REL1LAST_C
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Core/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Core.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.8.4400.0 built by: NET48REL1LAST_C
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.8.4390.0 built by: NET48REL1LAST_C
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Configuration
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.8.4190.0 built by: NET48REL1LAST_B
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Configuration/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Configuration.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Xml
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.8.4084.0 built by: NET48REL1
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Runtime.Remoting
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.8.4084.0 built by: NET48REL1
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Runtime.Remoting/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Runtime.Remoting.dll
----------------------------------------
ASToFra.Interfaces
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.5.0.0
CodeBase: file:///P:/tools/AIFP34313/ASToFra.Interfaces.DLL
----------------------------------------
OptaneShellExt
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/Intel/OptaneShellExtensions/OptaneShellExt.dll
----------------------------------------
SharpShell
Assembly Version: 2.2.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.2.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/Intel/OptaneShellExtensions/SharpShell.DLL
----------------------------------------
log4net
Assembly Version: 1.2.15.0
Win32 Version: 1.2.15.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/Intel/OptaneShellExtensions/log4net.DLL
----------------------------------------
PinningServiceApi
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/Intel/OptaneShellExtensions/PinningServiceApi.DLL
----------------------------------------
System.ComponentModel.Composition
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.8.4084.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.ComponentModel.Composition/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.ComponentModel.Composition.dll
----------------------------------------
 
If I try to import a sample txt flightplan from the Flightplans folder I get the following error:
Click to expand...
If you don't have a Target Version selected (and apparently you don't), I don't understand how you are able to import anything. Let's leave this until we get the registry sorted out.

The "Invalid Control Registration" message is an indication that AIFP was unable to find any version of Flightsim in the registry. AIFP searches the SOFTWARE folder first in Local Machine, then Current Users and finally Users for the key Lockheed Martin\Prepar3d v4 for a Setup path item than contains the path to Prepar3d.exe. Obviously, AIFP is not finding such an item on your system which suggests P3Dv4 did not install in t5he normal manner.

A workaround is for you to add an item to AIFP.ini with AIFP NOT running as follows : "Path to P3Dv4=fully qualified path to the PV4 folder that contains Prepar3d.exe", e.g., P:\P3Dv4. The next time you start AIFP, it should be OK. (But, I strongly suggest you sort out the registry issue.)

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4 has the SetupPath value set to P:\P3Dv4\;
Click to expand...
if that training ";" is not a typo, then perhaps that's your problem.
 
Hi there, many thanks for the help and extra info.

Inserting the following line into the AIFP.ini file
Path to P3Dv4=P:\P3Dv4
has brought back the 'Target Version' group box on the UI to show P3Dv4 selected; and I no longer get the 'Invalid Control Registration' Error on startup.
After running the program I'm also now seeing that another line "Path to P3Dv4 SDK" has been added automatically (I'd been anticipating the application needing to be told where the traffic tools SDK was).

In regedit, there's no trailing semi-colon (screens shots below), does this look correct?
regedit.jpg


the P3D location in explorer:
Explorer.jpg
 
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