Use of MSFS Addon Linker w/ Aivlasoft

[Berzerker]

Hello, I use MSFS Addon Linker, which can enable/disable addons and creates symbolic links to the directories in the Community folder. I'm assuming because of this, Aivlasoft doesn't want to read those directories, and I'm getting a "!! Skipped !! (Exclude definition)" notice for all of my custom sceneries.

 

Is there a way to have Aivlasoft be able to read these folders? If I set the folder to something else, it's highlighted yellow and I'm unable to scan.

[lonewulf47]

I doubt that the Add-On sceneries are skipped. Symlinks are treated as normal datapaths. Of course the Symlinks need to show up in the Community folder. The paths that are skipped are the paths "below" the usual scenery path or non-pertinent paths like texure, contentinfo and similar. Have you checked after building of the database whether the mentioned add-ons are REALLY NOT processed by the DbBuilding process? As an example I have attached the Airport Info Page of LSZH, which is created by FSDreamTeam and linked to the \communitly folder by a Symlink. Nevertheless it is processed and displayed normally.

 

 

And that's how the respective datapaths show up in the IEExplorer:

 

 

[Berzerker]

You're correct, it seems that it's not ignoring it, but the stand numbers don't seem correct. Would they not match the "world map" view? For ex: at LOWW stand E43 shows as "43E" but in the world map view, it correctly shows as "E 43" I assumed those would match.

 

I noticed there's a "navigraph" scenery layer as the 1) layer (I have this too), could this be taking priority or does that have nothing to do with the scenery itself?

[lonewulf47]

The navigraph layer only has an influence on navaids, which is - as from a few AIRAC Cycles back - always at top priority to ascertain that navaids - especially the ILS'es - are always used from the most recent AIRAC cycle and not by an eventual own definition used by the Add-On developer.

As for the stand numbering this always depends on the layout design used to draw the ground layout. As you can see in the screenshot attached, the ground layout correctly shows "E43" using Gaya's (ORBX) Add-On.

 

[Berzerker]

I am also using Gaya's ORBX LOWW addon, but my layout looks different from yours. As a side-note, this is in MSFS, not P3D.

 

[lonewulf47]

Ok, things are becoming a bit strange. I have uninstalled and reinstalled Gaya's (ORBX) LOWW airport and re-run the database builder (talking indeed also of MSFS). I now get pretty much the same layout and wrong gate numbers as in your screenshot, although there has never been an update offered by the ORBX system. There have been changes in the gate numberig within EFB lately, but on most airports the numbering seems correct. We will have to investigate on this matter, why in some cases the prefix and suffix is mixed up. Please stand by on this.

[aivlasoft]

I just wanted to add some information about the 'skipped' feature:

Quote

Aivlasoft doesn't want to read those directories, and I'm getting a "!! Skipped !! (Exclude definition)" notice for all of my custom sceneries.

Which folders and files will be skipped can be defined in a file named 'BglSceneryExclude.txt' (for P3D, FSX), or 'BglSceneryExcludeMsfs.txt' for MSFS. These two configuration files are located in 'C:\Users\<username>\Documents\AivlaSoft\EFB2\Server\DbBuilder\Base'. As lonewulf47 already mentioned above, these definitions only include locations which have not to be scanned and therefore shall speed-up the entire scanning process of the DbBuilder.

[Berzerker]

Thanks for the clarification on the skipped stuff, looking forward to any updates you have on this.

[lonewulf47]

It seems that we were able to identify the cause of the "misbehaviour". The main culprit is that MSFS DOES NOT follow (anymore?) some of the basic BGL rules regarding the so-called "delete-section", which tells the graphic engine of the simulator, which parts of the default (=generic) airport have to be replaced (=overwritten) by the add-On and which not. In this case the whole Taxiway section is concerned. Gaya's ground layout BGL is missing the Overwrite Flag for the Taxiways (which includes parking positions also). EFB is (so far) strictly following the Rules and thus DOES NOT replace the default taxiway system for LOWW. Therefore the default (=generic) taxiway layout is shown in EFB. Gaya however uses a somewhat simplified Parking Positions Layout, which is clearly seen in the Parking Positions shown in the simulator's GUI.

When ignoring the missing flag and replacing ALL TAXIWAYS AND PARKING POSITIONS, the correct (and identical to the GUI layout) Ground Layout is shown in EFB. Thanks god we were anticipating such problems during our continuous hard work with MSFS (politely expressed), thus we are able to present an easy workaround for this. You will soon receive simple instructions to overcome this unpleasant situation.

[lonewulf47]

I'm happy to present the solution for the misinterpreted ground layout BGLs. As chances are that more such cases will show up, we will at a later stage create a distinctive thread in the "Download" section of this Forum, where such "remedy" files will be collected.

As mentioned before we were preparing EFB2 to handle such events by creating a dedicated path in the EFB2 Client's file structure. See the picture below:

 

The folder "ARPT" was created with EFB2 V2.3 Build #131 onwards and is empty. It is dedicated to a special file format *.arpt. This format is uniquely used within EFB2 Client and is created in our own binary format. Whatever file is placed into this path must consist of this *.arpt format and compiled by our own compiler. Nothing else will have any effect. All copyrights for *.arpt files are held by Apprimus Informatik GmbH, manufacturer of AivlaSoft's EFB2.

 

Please note that this will only affect EFB2 Ground Layout. Nothing will be altered in the Add-On.
Please also note that this procedure is uniquely for MSFS.

 

Handling is very simple and straightforward:

Whenever similar discrepancies like mentioned in this thread will show up, a "remedy" file will be created by AivlaSoft to replace the EFB2 ground layout of the airport concerned. The user just copies this file into the "ARPT" Folder and restarts the Client. Nothing else is required. Whenever a user does not like the "remedy" file, he/she can delete it and restart the Client again. That's all. This file will be Add-On Developer specific and replaces in any case the EFB2 ground layout of the airport concerned. For the present case with LOWW the follwing file needs to be placed into this "ARPT" folder:

 

remedy file for Gaya Simulations LOWW: LOWW.arpt

 

Download this file, place it into the "ARPT" folder and restart the Client. This will represent the exact Ground layout with taxiways and parking positions as used by Gaya Simulation's LOWW Add-On.

[Berzerker]

Thank you greatly for the detailed explanation. I can confirm placing the APRT file in the directory does solve this issue for Gaya LOWW.

 

If we experience issues at other airports, should we be reporting them here or will they be created in anticipation by Aivlasoft?

 

Thank you again.

[lonewulf47]

It generally needs some analyzing work, before such a file is created and released. So at least for the time being we'll decide from case to case. It will generally depend on the accuracy and reliability of the scenery designers. In any case as a next step we will organize the whole matter in a separate thread in the "Downoad" section of this forum. Preparatory work is under way.