LOAD_FLIGHTPLAN_FAILED Error

[c141fe]

Urs: here is some info for you that may help those folks getting this error message.

 

I recently started doing some long range flights with the PMDG 700-300ER. On some flights everything worked fine concerning EFB inputting the flight plan into the Garmin. But on other flights, such as KDFW-VHHH, I was getting the beep along with "Exception from FSX received: LOAD_FLIGHTPLAN_FAILED". I knew it wasn't a path issue as the file "EFB_current_garmin.pln" was being created normally in the "C:\Users\xxxxx\Documents\Flight Simulator X Files" folder.

 

The flight plan in question was copied from flightaware.com and pasted into EFB using the Route Setup|Select window. EFB processed and displayed it with no problems, but when I clicked the Activate button I got the error message.

 

I tried loading "EFB_current_garmin.pln" manually within FSX using the FLIGHT PLANNER window and nothing happened (failed to load). I began to suspect a problem with the plan itself. Here is the plan copied from flightaware (with airport IDs added at beginning and end):

 

kdfw FERRA5 PNH J17 PUB CHE J163 OCS J52 LKT MWH YVR QQ YZT KATCH B757 CJAYY 5700N 16000W 5600N 17000W DRAPP A342 AMOND OPAKE R580 OATIS OTR3 GOC Y88 KCC V52 CBE V17 LABEL Y50 IGMON A1 ELATO V521 ABBEY vhhh

 

- I noticed the 2 waypoints designated by Lat/Long (5700N 16000W & 5600N 17000W) and to see if they were causing the problem, I deleted them and then reloaded flight plan. Everything worked perfect.

 

- I started experimenting on the applicable lines of code in the .pln file and it turned out to be the way EFB processed the line.

-- EFB converted the waypoint "5700N 16000W" to which is to long. It appears that the ATCWaypoint id string is limited to 12 (10 characters + 2 quote marks)

-- I changed the 2 ATCWaypoint id to and and the pln file loaded fine

-- I then went back to EFB, pasted the above flight plan into Route Setup|Select, deleted the 2 trailing zeroes in the Lat/Long waypoints (5700N 16000W 5600N 17000W became 57N 160W 56N 170W) and then clicked Activate. WORKED LIKE A CHARM.

 

Bottomline: If any one is having this problem and the path to "\Flight Simulator X Files" is set correctly, they need to check their flight plan to make sure the name of any waypoint does not exceed 10 characters.

[GG_Flyer]

Hello David,

 

Thank you very much for noticing this. This weekend I will look at some tests and bring this to Urs' attention.

 

If the mis-conversion is occurring in a flight plan handler, then we may be able to offer a correction very soon. (If it's internal to the DP... maybe a little longer. )

 

With regards,

[jangoller]

Hello,

 

today I received the error message "LOAD_FLIGHTPLAN_FAILED" in the DataProvider. I searched this forum to solve the problem, but nobody seems to get an real solution for this error!?

I doublechecked my path settings for the flightplans. Everything seems to be fine. I find out that the error message appears when the flightplan contains coordinates. For an example: "EDDW 5257N00849E BKD MAG EDBO". EFB interprets the coordinates correctly but it isn't possible to transfer the flightplan to GARMIN GPS in FSX. Does anybody knows what is making the data transfer to FSX impossible?

I've tried to open the EFB_current_garmin.fpl-File in the FSX - it doesn't work. But if I save the flightplan-File as FSX-File via the Save-Option in Route-Setup and load this fpl-file manually in fsx - it works.
This may be a workaround but it will be more comfortable to transfer the flightplan automaticly in FSX. So what is happen?

[aivlasoft]

Hi 'jangoller'

 

thank you for investigating. Could you please send me the two flight plans (EFB and the resulted FSX plan) to support@aivlasoft.com. I just want to have a look whether it is reproducible on my system.

 

BTW, according to the forum rules, please sign your posts with your real first name. Thanks.

[Buffal186]

Just started my trial withe EFB and I'm having the same problem in Prepar3d 3.4. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Buffal186]

Sorry I didn't sign my name. New to the forum.

 

Brian

[aivlasoft]

Hi Brian,

what you describe is a known issue, but there's a workaround.

 

It the flight plan contains waypoints given as Lat/Long coordinates, then the auto-generated flight plan creates the above mentioned error when it is forwared to FSX/P3D, or loaded from the FSX/P3D internal flight planner.

 

The workaround is to save the flight plan using the "Save" button on the RouteSetup dialog. There you select to save the flight plan as FSX flight plan, then manually load it from the FSX internal flight planner.

 

Note: Development for EFB 1.x has been stopped after the last compatibility update for Win10 and .NET 4.0.

 

[RayProudfoot]

Gents,

 

I've switched from FSX:SP2 to P3D v3. I have uninstalled EFB and reinstalled the latest version, 1.6.8.33244. Everything is configured across my network with the display unit running on a separate PC.

 

When I load a plan generated by PFPX for FSX into EFB it loads okay but when I press Activate the Data Provider beeps and displays the message Exception from P3D received: LOAD_FLIGHTPLAN_FAILED.

 

But if I load the same plan into P3D's flight planner it accepts it. Different situation to the ones above. Is there a solution to this please? Surely I don't need to resave all my PFPX plans as P3D?

[RayProudfoot]

Bit more info. I decided to paste the route into EFB and it still failed. This is bizarre. Here is the plan...

 

EGLL CPT UL9 KENET UN14 OKTAD DCT MEDOG UL18 LANON DCT ABLIN DCT LAPMO EIDW

 

Why would EFB not accept such a simple plan? I can't find any reference in the documentation to LOAD_FLIGHTPLAN_FAILED which seems odd given how extensive it is.

 

Help please!

[RayProudfoot]

I've discovered that if P3D v3 isn't running the plan loads fine. But if I try to load it with P3D running it fails. Why?

 

And this is even stranger. On the Data Provider if I deselect Load / Update Garmin GPS system... it works fine. Why would that option cause this error?

[aivlasoft]

Hi Ray,

 

If the option " Load / Update Garmin GPS system" is ON and you press the "ACTIVATE" button from the RouteSetup dialog, the DataProvider is trying to load the current flight plan into P3D or FSX, but only if the simulator is running. 

If the flight plan cannot be loaded, the error " LOAD_FLIGHTPLAN_FAILED." is raised. The error does not occur when the option is set to OFF. So if you don't need the GPS flight plan in P3D/FSX you may set the option to OFF.

 

Quote

Why would EFB not accept such a simple plan?

I assume that EFB is accepting the plan, but the problem seems to be the GPS flight plan which is then created from this flight plan data.

 

I tried to reproduce it here on my system and it worked. The flight plan "EFB_current_garmin.pln" (see link below) is the plan which has been created by the DataProvider and this plan could be loaded into FSX.

 

EFB_current_garmin.pln

 

 

[RayProudfoot]

Hi Urs,

 

Thanks for your reply. I must have spent nearly two hours trying to resolve this yesterday. I even reverted to an earlier version of EFB but that wasn't compatible with P3D v3.

 

There must be a fundamental difference between FSX and P3D because I used exactly the same procedure in FSX to load a plan and that Garmin option would have been enabled because I've never turned it off.

 

The sim was definitely running in both FSX and P3D. I read through some other messages and saw a reference to Garmin which I guessed was for the GPS to use. As that is of no interest to me I disabled the option and bingo, the plan was loaded.

 

I use SimStarterNG to start P3D (and FSX before it) and that now includes an option to load a flight plan when the sim is stabilised. If there was a plan already in P3D and the Garmin option was enabled would that cause the error? It didn't in FSX but I wonder if it might in P3D.

[aivlasoft]

Hi Ray,

from my experience there is no problem to load a flight plan when another plan is already loaded. It just overwrites the plan. That's what EFB is done when you press either Activate or if the plan has been changed (e.g. removing a waypoint). After each change EFB creates a new plan and this new plan will then be loaded into FSX or P3D. I have never experienced any problem with this.

[RayProudfoot]

On 19/04/2017 at 6:41 PM, aivlasoft said:

Hi Ray,

from my experience there is no problem to load a flight plan when another plan is already loaded. It just overwrites the plan. That's what EFB is done when you press either Activate or if the plan has been changed (e.g. removing a waypoint). After each change EFB creates a new plan and this new plan will then be loaded into FSX or P3D. I have never experienced any problem with this.

 

Hi Urs,

 

I agree you can add another plan if one is already present. I've had no further problems with EFB since unchecking the Garmin option. Are you able to confirm if enabling that option still works with P3D when loading a plan?

[aivlasoft]

Ray,

I have had a look into the source code and I cannot see a difference in behavior because of different simulator types. It's the same place in the source code.

Again, it the option "Update GPS plan" is ticked, a new flight plan will be created and then forwarded to the simulator (P3D or FSX). Maybe the target folders for the flight plans are not properly set? On my system they are as follows:

FSX: C:\Users\[username]\Documents\Flight Simulator X Files

P3D: C:\Users\[username]\Documents\Prepar3D v3 Files

[RayProudfoot]

Thanks Urs. I'll check mine tomorrow and get back to you. I can't imagine mine will be any different. Just remind me, is write access required from the Display Unit PC or is Read enough?

[aivlasoft]

Hi Ray,

this feature is only used from the DataProvider. The flightplan itself is sent to the DataProvider via TCP. So from my point of view, no write access from the DU is necessary here.

[RayProudfoot]

Hi Urs,I had a different folder set for my P3D files. Once I corrected it to the same as yours (with a different username of course) the Garmin option works fine.

 

Thanks for your help.