So for what it's worth... this is advice, not a question

[b3burner]

Recently, I was having difficulties getting a Project Airbus A320 to work in SAMM. I followed all proper directions, but I couldn't see the model. And then downloading multiple versions of similar aircraft and looking at what all of them had in common, I hit upon the solution.

It was an insidious little bugger, because it was easy to overlook, hard to find, but ultimately would do in any attempt to display a static aircraft model.

The problem was a period (.), sitting in the " Title = " line of the plane's aircraft.cfg file.

When using SAMM for model making, the program will lift the title of the aircraft in the .cfg file, and use it as the name of the .bgl file in SAMM's scenery folder, as well as for the name of the texture folder. A period in the name of a folder is not a big deal, but a 2nd period in front of .bgl (in a file) is the kiss of death for a scenery file after compilation. The static aircraft simply would not display no matter how hard I tried.

But when I went into the aircraft's .cfg file, removed the period from the title= line, saved it, refired up SAMM and called up the aircraft again without the period, and compiled it... it created a .bgl with no additional periods, and then the aircraft displayed just fine after compilation.

I hope this serves to maybe help others who ever run into this situation when trying to use others planes to make static aircraft. Check the title line, as in the above case the person wanted to use a decimal point to denote his version number. Doesn't affect it as a user aircraft, but has disastrous results as a candidate for SAMM.

-- John

 

[gadgets]

Thanks, John. SAMM looks for and replaces characters in aircraft title that are not valid a path or file names. Looks like I need to add "." to that list.

Don

 

[gadgets]

John, please download the SAMM Development Release (2.2.03(a)) from http://stuff4fs.com and confirm that "."s in aircraft file names are replaced with "^" (a legal character). Thanks.

Don

 

[b3burner]

John, please download the SAMM Development Release (2.2.03(a)) from http://stuff4fs.com and confirm that "."s in aircraft file names are replaced with "^" (a legal character). Thanks.

Don

Don,

Unless I'm doing something wrong that I'm unaware of, I downloaded the latest version (2.2.03), and when I put the dot/decimal back in the title= line of the aircraft.cfg file, and compiled the aircraft, it saved the .bgl and texture folder names with the (.) (illegal character) and did not replace it with the "^" (legal character) you were suggesting above.

This is a map of my folder and file placement where I nest my static aircraft. Everything I've circled in red or drew a red arrow toward is where it named either a file or a texture folder after the aircraft.cfg "title=", and kept the period between the v & the 2:

 

[gadgets]

John, I asked you to download Development Release 2.2.03(a). To do so, go to the AIFP page at http://stuff4fs.com and click on the Development release menu item.

Don

 

[b3burner]

John, I asked you to download Development Release 2.2.03(a). To do so, go to the AIFP page at http://stuff4fs.com and click on the Development release menu item.

Don

Don,

Okay, sorry I misunderstood... I had just grabbed the first one I found that looked 2.2.03'ish. So yes, I went back to the site and found the DL specifically with the suffix (a) in it, installed it and tried it again. Unfortunately, unless there's something I'm missing, I went to compile the aircraft with the v.2 in the title= name, and it still made a file that read 'Airbus A320-212 CFM v.2 Germanwings.bgl'. And it still would not display the aircraft in the sim with that .bgl file name in my scenery folder for SAMM.

I was under the impression (from what you described), that with the 2.2.03(a) version of the program, that it would take the aircraft as is with the v.2 name, and automatically replace the . with a ^, so as to make the file read (after compilation): 'Airbus A320-212 CFM v^2 Germanwings.bgl', and that alone would make it a legal file name. It did not place the "vertical carrot mark" in place of the period.

I will also quickly add this: I was able to MANUALLY add the carrot mark (i.e.-- ^) in place of the period to the .bgl file (myself) and rename it in the scenery folder, and the plane showed up fine. But for what that's worth, one may as well simply delete the period, and call the file "v2", without any characters between the 'v' and the '2', and it pretty much accomplishes the same darn thing... I think.

So I don't know if at the end of the day, if I've helped you, or haven't told you anything you don't already know yourself. But there it is. Sorry I can't be of more help for the time being.

-- John

 

[gadgets]

Certainly the title shown on the main panel once you select the model of interest should now display the caret. However, it may be that further changes are necessary to carry this over to the .bgl file name. Unfortunately, I will be away from my development system for much of the next few weeks and won't have an opportunity to make any further releases during that time. By the time I'm "back in the saddle", I certainly should have found a fix and will re-release ASAAP thereafter.

Given that this issue has taken several years to show up and that you have noted a workaround, I'm sure most users will be able to cope with the 2.2.03 general release.

Don

 

[b3burner]

Yes agreed. While I can't duplicate the part you say about the title shown on the main panel (once I display the model of interest) should now display the caret, I'm content to let it go, until there's more of a pressing need to investigate further. If I'm one of the first people to find this problem, then it's probably not pressing. And it's quite simple to go into the aircraft.cfg file and simply remove the period myself. It is more the result of the unlikely scenario of finding an aircraft that just so happened to have a period in its 'title=' line of its 'aircraft.cfg' file. Just bad luck on my part, as that period doesn't affect the plane's ability to function as a user aircraft-- and the author intended it to be flown as a UA, not used as a static AI-- so he probably had no qualm about putting the period there; as it hurt nothing from his standpoint. Had I selected an AI aircraft as one would normally expect, my guess is I would have never run into this problem.

Final thought: And here I thought ^ was a carrot, not a caret. I guess both Bugs Bunny & I had it wrong!

-- John