Mega Airport Prague - advisory thread

[Premek 276]

11 hours ago, sydney1962 said:

quite sure that entries of simobject.cfg en prepar3d.cfg are not same numbers, every time when installing

updates apcontrolled airports they are screwed up.

@sydney1962 Just a question - have you ever used Migration Tool?

[WebMaximus 320]

OK, so I checked the troubleshooting steps under nr 6 in the first post.

 

I'm not using SODE, I have a fairly fresh installation of P3D and I haven't "tweaked" it in any way and my SimObjects.cfg looks fine when it comes to the numbering and I do have an entry for APC in the exe.xml file in C:\ProgramData\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v3. One thing I noticed though is there's a backup of dll.xml made by Prague but I can't see any entries in dll.xml related to Prague...I wonder if that could be a clue something is missing that should be in dll.xml?

[WebMaximus 320]

To me it  seems more and more likely the problem is caused by APC and in my case that it's not loading at all because after starting P3D and loading up the flight where I'm situated at Prague I don't see any APC entry under the Add-ons menu in P3D and IIRC there should be something related to APC in that menu right?

 

Also when checking the Processes tab in Task Manager I can't find anything related to APC.

[WebMaximus 320]

Looks like I was correct because this is what it looks like after I manually loaded APC simply by double-clicking it after P3D was started and the flight was loaded. So now I just need to figure out why it won't load automatically with P3D although there's an entry for it in exe.xml.

 

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[Premek 276]

28 minutes ago, WebMaximus said:

I wonder if that could be a clue something is missing that should be in dll.xml?

There should be no entry in dll.xml from APC.

 

20 minutes ago, WebMaximus said:

To me it  seems more and more likely the problem is caused by APC and in my case that it's not loading at all because after starting P3D and loading up the flight where I'm situated at Prague I don't see any APC entry under the Add-ons menu in P3D and IIRC there should be something related to APC in that menu right?

There is no entry in Add-on menu in the sim! Where did you take this info man?

I'd bet the problem is somewhere in your config/p3d setup. I'm not saying it is worng. Just there is something different. If you like I can see your system via TeamViewer and we can check.

[WebMaximus 320]

OK, so I figured it all out now.

 

The problem was not a configuration issue in P3D, that I tweaked anything or that the numbering of entries was incorrect or anything else down that road. The problem was instead that apparently the installation program of Prague will set APC to run as admin because I certainly didn't do this myself and if you do that you must also run P3D as admin. You can't run P3D normally and then load add-on modules as admin and after doing some experimenting the same is true vice versa - if you have P3D configured to run as admin APC (or any other similar add-on modules) also need to be executed with admin privileges.

 

So now after configuring APC to not run as admin it executes just fine with P3D and the scenery loads perfectly fine.

 

Lastly I would say that I find it a bit scary having an installation program that will configure a program to be executed as admin without asking about it... From a security perspective that is really a no-no.

 

My guess is you decided to make it this way because lots of people are running P3D as admin and for that reason APC needs to be running as admin as well to load correctly but fact is if everything would be developed and configured correctly in the first place nothing should need to be running as admin...not any modules nor P3D.

 

With this said my recommendation is to have the installation program first check if P3D is configured to run as admin and if not APC shouldn't be configured to run as admin either. And next thing, you should really make some kind of pop-up box appear giving the end user a chance to confirm that APC will be set by the installation program to be executed as admin.

[WebMaximus 320]

12 minutes ago, Premek said:

There should be no entry in dll.xml from APC.

 

There is no entry in Add-on menu in the sim! Where did you take this info man?

I'd bet the problem is somewhere in your config/p3d setup. I'm not saying it is worng. Just there is something different. If you like I can see your system via TeamViewer and we can check.

 

Since nothing is changed to dll.xml why do you make a backup of that file then? And at the same time there's no backup of exe.xml...the file that indeed is changed by the installation program for Prague... Maybe you just mixed them up?

 

As for the Add-on menu entry my bad...I mixed APC up with some other add-ons...not easy these days to keep all different add-ons apart...

 

And lastly for the actual cause of the problem I just posted the solution and no...it had nothing to do with my config but how the installation program for Prague works.

[Premek 276]

4 hours ago, WebMaximus said:

With this said my recommendation is to have the installation program first check if P3D is configured to run as admin and if not APC shouldn't be configured to run as admin either. And next thing, you should really make some kind of pop-up box appear giving the end user a chance to confirm that APC will be set by the installation program to be executed as admin.

I'll pass that to Aerosoft guys who provided the installer.

[WebMaximus 320]

11 minutes ago, Premek said:

I'll pass that to Aerosoft guys who provided the installer.

 

Honestly I'm surprised how the installer is even able to pull this off, to install a program and set it to be executed with admin privileges without the user knowing about it. I would almost call that a spotted security hole in Windows but maybe it's possible because I have UAC disabled.

 

Anyway I'm happy I was able to find the culprit without investing too much time into troubleshooting and I'm looking forward to the return leg back to Stockholm-Arlanda. Your scenery looks really good now that it's working and both the VAS footprint and the performance seem impressive from what I've seen so far!

[DarrianCZE 84]

4 hours ago, WebMaximus said:

 

Honestly I'm surprised how the installer is even able to pull this off, to install a program and set it to be executed with admin privileges without the user knowing about it. I would almost call that a spotted security hole in Windows but maybe it's possible because I have UAC disabled.

 

Anyway I'm happy I was able to find the culprit without investing too much time into troubleshooting and I'm looking forward to the return leg back to Stockholm-Arlanda. Your scenery looks really good now that it's working and both the VAS footprint and the performance seem impressive from what I've seen so far!

 

This is not a security hole actually. Command line can do almost "anything" which you can click via Mouse. And it is not a security hole either, as this will require Admin rights for the installer itself. So the user is actually permitting it ;-)

[WebMaximus 320]

But I didn't run the installer as admin but maybe it is because I have UAC disabled as mentioned earlier.

[iFlyCZ 2]

On 9. 7. 2016 at 9:00 PM, WebMaximus said:

But I didn't run the installer as admin but maybe it is because I have UAC disabled as mentioned earlier.

Well, as the installer itself should be opened with admin privileges, they usualy come with "run as admin" by default. with UAC enabled, that yellow dialog that asks you to permit it to run as admin pops up when you open that installer. One thing the UAC does is asking you if you want to run the programs as admin, so if you disabled it, then it just trusts the installer, and maybe just pop up that blue box asking you if you want to run program downloaded from internet. So if you think that an installer is not asking you to run as admin is a "major security issue", then you should keep your UAC enabled.

[WebMaximus 320]

Yep, I guess that explains what happened here.

 

Still though I think it would be a good thing for the installer to check if the user is running P3D as admin as well because if not you'll run into the issue discussed in this thread.

[iFlyCZ 2]

Hi Přemek,

 

recently, I've installed the captainsim 707 aircraft, and so I wanted to fly with it from/to Prague. But when I loaded up onto a stand, the docking system said UKWN TYPE altough I ran HarvesterLauncher several times, even as admin.  so I opened up the CustomerAircraftData.cfg file, and found that it seems to only detect some aircraft. So I wanted to edit the cfg myself to include the 707, but I can't find where does the harvester launcher gets that ReferencePointOffset value. Any chance of finding out?

[Premek 276]

48 minutes ago, iFlyCZ said:

I've installed the captainsim 707 aircraft, and so I wanted to fly with it from/to Prague. But when I loaded up onto a stand, the docking system said UKWN TYPE altough I ran HarvesterLauncher several times, even as admin.  so I opened up the CustomerAircraftData.cfg file, and found that it seems to only detect some aircraft. So I wanted to edit the cfg myself to include the 707, but I can't find where does the harvester launcher gets that ReferencePointOffset value. Any chance of finding out?

 

@iFlyCZ Well - that's as designed. The 707 or 727 (as well as Tristar for instance) are not suported on gates. The decision was taken based on real situation where those types will be highly likely anyway served either on old terminal or at free stands (50 and up).

Without me to change the code there is no chance to modify CFG.

[iFlyCZ 2]

Oh, ok, I was hoping to fly with the 90's czech private airlines like CMA Central European Airlines, or maybe when I get the 727 with Air Terrex, but It looks like I will need to play a little bit with the aircraft.cfg files to get the right aircraft type so the jetway pulls up to the doors correctly if I get a jetway stand assigned on VATSIM

 

[mirage9 6]

Hey.Any solution for this problem?

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FSX AC Sp2

FTX ORBX 

Vector

Lots of sceneries.

No additional LKPR scenery.

[LAKY911 3]

Hi Přemek, 

1) Do you plan to update ILS06 and 24 data? Current RWY course is 61 and 241 deg.

2) ConfigurationTool.exe for me deosn't work. I use P3Dv3, but every time the ConfigTool sees just FSX and I can't choose P3D, therefore the ConfigTool exits. Any idea? 

 

Thanks,

have a nice weekend.

 

Lukas

[Premek 276]

@LAKY911

12 minutes ago, LAKY911 said:

1) Do you plan to update ILS06 and 24 data?

No

 

12 minutes ago, LAKY911 said:

2) ConfigurationTool.exe for me deosn't work. I use P3Dv3, but every time the ConfigTool sees just FSX and I can't choose P3D, therefore the ConfigTool exits. Any idea? 

I'll look at it.

[gforce800 50]

@Premek Can i ask you for the reason why are you not changing the runway approach course ?  Thanks

[LAKY911 3]

32 minutes ago, gforce800 said:

@Premek Can i ask you for the reason why are you not changing the runway approach course ?  Thanks

Přemek, I can't understand why you can't do it neither. Thanks for answer

[Premek 276]

@gforce800 @LAKY911 When changing the approach course I need to be also sure how FSX treats it. If it needs to "turn" ground poly, then it is no-go at all.

I need to look at it deeply and have absoutely no time right now as there are more important issues....

 

On the other hand - to bring you some positive news - I already sent new APC version to Aerosoft for installer preparation.

This version will improve jetways performance, fix jetways on stands 27-31 and allows manual control of jetways by Ctrl+J.

[LAKY911 3]

1 minute ago, Premek said:

@gforce800 @LAKY911 When changing the approach course I need to be also sure how FSX treats it. If it needs to "turn" ground poly, then it is no-go at all.

I need to look at it deeply and have absoutely no time right now as there are more important issues....

 

On the other hand - to bring you some positive news - I already sent new APC version to Aerosoft for installer preparation.

This version will improve jetways performance, fix jetways on stands 27-31 and allows manual control of jetways by Ctrl+J.

Ok, thanks. Now I understand. So maybe in some time, when you have time, maybe you'll do it.

Thank you! 

L

[WebMaximus 320]

Great with CTRL-J jetways, thanks!

[DarrianCZE 84]

On 16. 7. 2016 at 0:28 AM, mirage9 said:

Hey.Any solution for this problem?

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FSX AC Sp2

FTX ORBX 

Vector

Lots of sceneries.

No additional LKPR scenery.

 

Looks like an Afcad issue to me. Try to move Mega Airport Prague to the first spot of your Scenery Library. Also if that will not work, try to disable AEC in Vector for LKPR.