FSXA How to remove this

[Chris Hewitt]

I've just about finished my 1960s model of OLBA (Beirut) but I've got a problem. The attached picture shows this object with the red radar scanner and the block it sits on including wooden hut to the left.

I've tried everything I know in ADE (00.00.9307) to find it and then remove it but no luck. It's not visible.
You might also notice the top of a double light street lamp adjacent. How that got there is anyone's guess.

No exclusion rectangle I've tried has worked so far so I'm hoping someone has some good advice. It might be something simple. Once it's gone, the airport is finished. Five years to get this far. Thanks.

 

[tgibson]

An exclusion rectangle using exclude all should take care of it, as long as it’s in a layer in the scenery library above where those objects are coming from.

 

[Chris Hewitt]

Thanks Tom, I've been attempting to fix this issue but I was unable to find any reference in the scenery library to that location using the centre display. I've now tried every exclusion there is but all I can think of is to upload the ad4 file and see if anyone has a moment to look at it.
The exact location of the object that needs removing is...
Lat: N33° 49.14'
Lo: E35° 29.52'

I've built this complete airport over the modern default airport so I've spent hundreds of hours in ADE in the last five years but this has stopped me in my tracks.

 

[tgibson]

I compiled your AD4 file and placed it into my FSX SP2. I went to the coordinates you posted above and there is nothing there.

My scenery and autogen settings are Extremely Dense. Thus I assume those objects are being added by some addon scenery you have installed. Are you using ORBX scenery in this area?

Hope this helps,

 

[Chris Hewitt]

I'll have a look, thanks Tom.

 

[GaryGB]

Hi Chris:

I also do not see that object in FSX with your prior build loaded from the last time we both posted about it in a previous thread here at FSDEV forum.

Windows 10 security is flagging the last known current version of FSUIPC for FSX, so I am crashing intermittently to Desktop, and may be unable to get FSX to run again until I fix something.

I did get IS3 Labels to load briefly for the prior build of OLBA in FSX before a CTD, and it did not show that object in any active BGL.

I have no 3rd party scenery for OLBA area installed other than yours.

I agree with Tom that you may need to do a GUID search.

Tom: Did Scruffyduck have a utility that could do a GUID search ?

Perhaps if the GUID and MDL file name for the object can be found by viewing the FSX default Airport Objects BGL in MCX, one may do such a search using Michael Heise's:

MH's FS Library Scan V1.0

https://library.avsim.net/download/...b174a16e858a18892f7357d84d5168e1bdb2b255b99e4

...or Don Grovestine's:

List Mdl V.1.0.1

https://www.owlsnest.eu/phpatm/inde...stMDL_1001.zip&directory=Don/Developer-Tools&


BTW: Martin Gossman has a repository of selected utilities by Don Grovestine at his OwlsNest webite here:

https://www.owlsnest.eu/dondeveloper.php

GaryGB

 

[Chris Hewitt]

Tom,

Yes, Orbx is installed but just the OPENLC_BASE file, not the Europe or America scenery. I deselected ORBX in the FSX scenery but it wasn't the cause.

I found the culprit by a process of elimination, hidden away in the ADD-ON/SCENERY folder by the name of 'OLBA_ezs.bgl'.
Removing it doesn't appear to have affected anything else that I can see. The unwelcome object is, however, gone.

Gary, it's for this very reason that my flight sim pc is always..always...offline. In the early days, it was nearly impossible to get FSXA to work with Windows 10. As soon as I found the version that did work, I shut the outside word out and everything has been smooth since. I use FS Recorder as a vital tool in this project and it only works with this current setup. I had to reinstall this, that and the other so many times, repeatedly, at the beginning that no Win10 update could now possibly provide any benefit. If it ain't broke...

So, the problem object is gone which only left the street light in mid air but I was unable to source that. However, the nearby fire station has now moved a few yards to hide it.... which is where the fire station was supposed to be anyway but couldn't because of the radar block.

Thank you both for helping me out here. It is appreciated more than I can say.

 

[GaryGB]

Hi Chris:

Here is the "Culprit":

FYI: Here is the ridiculous error message that IIUC, Windows 10 Security threw this morning about- of all things- FSUIPC.

Even more ridiculous was this error that popped up from the MalwareBytes BrowserGuard plugin for FireFox:

Has MS' Windows Security upset the entire FSX / FSUIPC ecosystem, and even fooled MalwareBytes FireFox plugin ?

Might MS wanting more of the FS Community focused on MSFS, motivate flagging False Positives involving FSX and FSUIPC ?


I guess I have to dig into this one to see if it actually is a false positive, or an actual Zero-Day FSUIPC exploit.

I consider it unlikely anything would get past the Dowson team; but who knows what Evil lurks in the hearts of men (kiddies ?).

I have never seen anything like this in more than 25 years of FS activities.


UPDATE: Regarding FSUIPC I did re-install FSX this year, but may not yet have updated my version for FSX Acceleration.

A repair install of FSX Acceleration and its native MS SDK in addition to use of LM's P3Dv1.4x SDK fixed this (...so far).


Also, Windows Security Real Time Scans were causing timing synchronization issues when reading folders with >5,00 files.

I disabled Windows Security Real Time Scans, which had re-enabled itself after I had previously turned it off.

GaryGB

 

[Chris Hewitt]

Yes, that's the one, Gary. I've got that image burned into my memory. Because it was a .bgl in my add-on scenery, I have to assume that I must have placed it there at some point but why, I can't imagine.

After five long years, today I've finished the airport which is the predecessor to the current OLBA which stands roughly on the same area of land.
It's an airport that is restricted to the 1960s as far as my project goes.

I don't suppose you know why third part apron floodlight towers sometimes, not always, remain blazingly illuminated during the middle of the day under a clear sky?
It's a random occurrence and often depends on the camera angle...but no big deal. I switch the viewpoint and off they go.

Thanks again for your help...bloody awesome, you and Tom.

 

[GaryGB]

I don't suppose you know why third party apron floodlight towers sometimes, not always, remain blazingly illuminated during the middle of the day under a clear sky?

It's a random occurrence and often depends on the camera angle...but no big deal. I switch the viewpoint and off they go.

Do you know of particular lights that show this behavior in your OLBA project for FSX ?

And might you by any chance be referring to the lights for FS9 and FSX era by Sid Schwartz ?


If so, I would say that Effect Parameters (and number of light Fx used per object) when 'placed' ...might merit investigation.


Effect lights as Attached Objects can be 'placed' in BGLComp placement XML source code used to make a placement BGL.

They can also be 'placed' as Attached Objects via AttachPoints on 3D objects (that may themselves be invisible).


Typically one would use Arno's ModelConverterX (aka "MCX") to ID the methods by which these Effect *.FX lights are made and placed.


Other related On/Off visibility issues may involve LODs linked to Altitude AGL as an effective determinant of camera distance / angle of view.


GaryGB

 

[tgibson]

As you can see from my photo, the lights are on when installed on my computer as well.

 

[Chris Hewitt]

Hi Gary, sorry for the delay. I've tracked the source for the floodlights as freeware created by Jim Dhaenens and the file itself is lightobj.bgl.
There's nothing in his notes that addresses daytime illumination.
The file is "native to FSX and created with GMAX and the SP-2/acceleration SDK" in 2008.

Sorry Tom, I can't see your photo.

 

[GaryGB]

I'll check this out upon my return later today.

I think I found those lights on Simviation.

IIUC, Tom refers to this one
(zoom in):

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/attachments/olba_fsx_test-jpg.96968/

GaryGB

 

[Chris Hewitt]

Thanks Gary. An odd thing...I did another ADE compile this evening for a slight change and this time, I ticked the DX1O option in the compile dialogue which results in all the apron and runways and taxiways lit up like a photographer's light table. Never seen that before.
I use Steve's DX10 fixer always and have DX10 ticked in FSX since the beginning, always have done.
Anyways, it's not a problem as such as not ticking the DX10 box in ADE still gives great results. Just a little strange but have reverted back again to not ticking that box in ADE.

 

[Chris Hewitt]

Hi Tom, I've now seen your picture. The floodlights are in exactly the same position I have them, six all together and I can see them all lit up. It's an intermittent behaviour, on sometimes and off the next.

 

[GaryGB]

Hi Gary, sorry for the delay.

I've tracked the source for the floodlights as freeware created by Jim Dhaenens and the file itself is lightobj.bgl.
There's nothing in his notes that addresses daytime illumination.
The file is "native to FSX and created with GMAX and the SP-2/acceleration SDK" in 2008.

Sorry Tom, I can't see your photo.

Thanks Gary.

An odd thing... I did another ADE compile this evening for a slight change and this time, I ticked the DX1O option in the compile dialogue which results in all the apron and runways and taxiways lit up like a photographer's light table. Never seen that before.

I use Steve's DX10 fixer always and have DX10 ticked in FSX since the beginning, always have done.
Anyways, it's not a problem as such as not ticking the DX10 box in ADE still gives great results. Just a little strange but have reverted back again to not ticking that box in ADE.

Jim Dhaenens' Effect *.Fx Lights are downloadable here:

https://simviation.com/1/download-file?file=fsx_lts.zip&fileId=35544

https://simviation.com/1/browse-Scenery+Design+Objects-100-12


Jim Dhaenens' lightobj.bgl Effect *.Fx Lights utilize AttachPoints on 3D MDLs with standard (non-)DX-10 mode Fx parameters.


You may wish to read one of the most informative threads on this DX-10 Fx Lights -specific topic I have seen thus far ...here:

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/effect-parameters-using-fsx-attach-tool.429670/


Some related search results:

https://www.google.com/search?q=sit...kDHRAmEiUQ8tMDegQICxAE&biw=1440&bih=744&dpr=1

GaryGB

 

[Chris Hewitt]

I've just read the link you provided, Gary.
Like the o.p. who posted his problem, my lights don't stay on during the day if I load the flight as a day flight.
It's only as a transition from dawn/dusk/night to day. If I change the time of day, say from night to day, within the actual 'flight', lights stay on. Load the flight as a day flight, no lights. I'll keep digging.