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Alta Config Tool - can't find SODE?


Rob Ainscough

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I have a SODE, SODE 1.2, SODE 1.3, and SODE 1.3.1 folder under Prepar3D root ... SODE currently contains SODE 1.3.1 files -- EXE.XML and DLL.XML both have entries.

 

Not sure why the Alta Config Tool says it can't find SODE folder?

 

Also, no airport buildings at all are displayed when I load up Alta ... is this another SODE conflict?  I did notice the SODE user guide that came with Alta is v1.3 ... do I need to switch in SODE 1.3 rather than SODE 1.3.1?  My understanding was that SODE 1.3.1 was supposed to be compatible with SODE 1.3 ... is this not accurate?

 

BTW, SODEPlatformManager is showing as Registered and Active.

 

Cheers, Rob.

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1 hour ago, Rob Ainscough said:

I have a SODE, SODE 1.2, SODE 1.3, and SODE 1.3.1 folder under Prepar3D root ... SODE currently contains SODE 1.3.1 files -- EXE.XML and DLL.XML both have entries.

 

Not sure why the Alta Config Tool says it can't find SODE folder?

 

Also, no airport buildings at all are displayed when I load up Alta ... is this another SODE conflict?  I did notice the SODE user guide that came with Alta is v1.3 ... do I need to switch in SODE 1.3 rather than SODE 1.3.1?  My understanding was that SODE 1.3.1 was supposed to be compatible with SODE 1.3 ... is this not accurate?

 

BTW, SODEPlatformManager is showing as Registered and Active.

 

Cheers, Rob.

 

Rob,

 

1. Only SODE 1.3.1 should be running, older versions should be disable (there are two dll.xml files and two exe.xml files for P3Dv3 - look at each one of them and make sure only the exe and dll under 12bpilot is running),

2. I'm not sure why SODE 1.3.1 is running under your P3D root, it should be installed to program files (x86)\12bpilot for the exe/dll while the data is stored under program data\12bpilot\sode

3. Once you sorted this out, you should have ENAT xml files under program data\12bpilot\sode\xml while the simobjects are under simobjects\misc folder of your flight sim root.

4. No airport building? Do you have another Alta AFCAD installed somewhere? 

 

Amos

 

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I too made the same mistake of thinking that the SODE that I had installed on the SSD that I have P3D installed on was what I was supposed to point the config tool towards.  Turns out that it was C:\ProgramData\12bPilot\SODE (note ProgramData and NOT Program Files (x86))

 

Panman

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This SODE saga is turning in to Xplane. 

Lets hope there is a backwards compatability ethic moving forward. SODE is great the dramas it creates are painful short term

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Just installed Alta X in FSX. No airport visible. Only some houses in the vicinity to the airport. The plane on ground appears to be floating above the ground. I have a lot of Aerosoft sceneries, also Torp , Bergen, Tromsø and Oslo. No problems with them. Svolvær had similar problems.., but worked after some tweaking. Alta is not. Any suggestions....?

 

Jan E. Stene

Stavanger

Norway

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9 hours ago, ageva said:

1. Only SODE 1.3.1 should be running, older versions should be disable (there are two dll.xml files and two exe.xml files for P3Dv3 - look at each one of them and make sure only the exe and dll under 12bpilot is running),

2. I'm not sure why SODE 1.3.1 is running under your P3D root, it should be installed to program files (x86)\12bpilot for the exe/dll while the data is stored under program data\12bpilot\sode

3. Once you sorted this out, you should have ENAT xml files under program data\12bpilot\sode\xml while the simobjects are under simobjects\misc folder of your flight sim root.

4. No airport building? Do you have another Alta AFCAD installed somewhere? 

 

 

Hi Amos,

 

Thanks for response.  

 

1.  Had check DLL.XML and EXE.XML including "alternate versions" and there is just one entry in each appropriately (no duplicates) pointing to the path SODE under P3D root.  No issue there.

 

2.  I need to check this ... how does SODE know where to get "it's" data?  My understanding it would be relative to dir SODE is loaded from?

 

3.  Will also check this out ... could be the problem.

 

4.  No conflicting AFCAD.

 

Cheers, Rob.

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2 hours ago, Rob Ainscough said:

 

Hi Amos,

 

Thanks for response.  

 

1.  Had check DLL.XML and EXE.XML including "alternate versions" and there is just one entry in each appropriately (no duplicates) pointing to the path SODE under P3D root.  No issue there.

 

2.  I need to check this ... how does SODE know where to get "it's" data?  My understanding it would be relative to dir SODE is loaded from?

 

3.  Will also check this out ... could be the problem.

 

4.  No conflicting AFCAD.

 

Cheers, Rob.

 

Rob,

 

1. Do a backup of C:\ProgramData\12bPilot\SODE before we start :)

2. Download the SODE 1.3.1 installation from http://sode.12bpilot.ch/?page_id=9

3. Remove any SODE installation via Programs and Features (you might have version 1.3.0/1.3.1

4. Go back to the dll/exe xml files under C:\ProgramData\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v3 and "%AppData%\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v3", look for SODE entries. If you find some, disable it like that:

  <Launch.Addon>
    <Name>SODE DLL</Name>
    <Disabled>True</Disabled>
    <ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad>
    <Path>P3Dv3\SODE\SimObjectAnimationModule.dll</Path>
  </Launch.Addon>

5. Rename P3Dv3\SODE folder to P3Dv3.SODE.off 

6. Install SODE 1.3.1

7. Run the SODE Platform Manager under C:\Program Files (x86)\12bPilot\SODE

8. Register both modules under P3Dv3

9. Check your dll.xml and exe.xml, they should be now include the right entries:

    The dll.xml right entry:

    <Launch.Addon>
        <Name>SODE Animation Module</Name>
        <Path>C:\Program Files (x86)\12bPilot\SODE\SimObjectAnimationModule.dll</Path>
    </Launch.Addon>

    The exe.xml right entry:

    <Launch.Addon>
        <Name>SODE</Name>
        <Path>C:\Program Files (x86)\12bPilot\SODE\SimObjectDisplayEngine.exe</Path>
        <CommandLine>P3Dv3</CommandLine>
    </Launch.Addon>

10. Check your  C:\ProgramData\12bPilot\SODE folder - if all data was removed, restore it from the backup we did earlier

11. Under C:\ProgramData\12bPilot\SODE\xml you should have five ENAT xml files:

      ENAT_SODE.xml

      ENAT_SODE_animation.xml

      ENAT_SODE_Clock_01.xml

      ENAT_SODE_Clock_02.xml

      ENAT_SODE_Terrain.xml

 

      Under your root P3Dv3\SimObjects\Misc you should have three folders:

      SODE_ENAT

      SODE_ENAT_Clock

      SODE_ENAT_DYN

12. Load Alta X config tool and click on SODE data path, point it to C:\ProgramData\12bPilot\SODE. Make any selection of the other settings and click INSTALL selected

13. Fire up P3D and load ENAT

14. If all goes well you should be able to enjoy Alta! If not, let me know and the next step will be TeamViewer session to understand what's wrong

 

Hope to hear good news ;)

 

Amos

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Hi Amos,

 

Thanks for the detailed response, unfortunately not so good news.  Tried to uninstall SODE v1.3.1 and got this error:

 

Please login to display this image.

 

Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a way around this ... just refuses to uninstall.  I might have to hit the registry and manually remove all entries related to SODE (any hints welcome here).

 

This is Windows 10 64bit.

 

Cheers, Rob.

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UPDATE:

The uninstall was failing because SODEPlatformManager.exe was set to "Run as Administrator".  An .msi can't be executed with "Run As Administrator" so the .msi was attempting to uninstall SODE that required Administrator rights. since .msi doesn't have admin rights it was failing.

 

So the question you should be asking me is "why did I have Run as Administrator set for SODEPlatformManager" ... well here is why, running SODEPlatformManager.exe would NOT register and activate ... it required that I set "Run As Administrator" on SODEPlatformManager.exe in order for the register and activate process to work.

 

As you can see, this is going to be a tricky issue ... SODEPlatformManager.exe requires Admin, but the Installer_SODE_v1.3.1.msi can't be run under admin and/or doesn't attempt to elevate privileges ... it's a vicious circle.  I'll need to add a reminder to make sure I remove the "Run As Admin" on SODEPlatformManager.exe before I attempt to uninstall SODE v1.3.1.

 

Alta Config did find SODE now.

 

I also have various other airports that used SODE (various versions) and I manually copied those files (from my backups):

 

C:\ProgramData\12bPilot\SODE\xml

HTKJ_L.XML

IDS_MYNN.xml

LatinWings_LEVC_Stands.xml

LOWL.xml

TNCB_SODE.xml

 

C:\ProgramData\12bPilot\SODE\SimObjects

Latinwings_ValenciaX

LOWL

MKSTUDIOS_ROME

SODE_DYN

 

Ran a quick test flight at Alta and I'm seeing buildings and more -- looks very nice!   Wonderful area, need to get some video up for this location.

 

I'll add this info to my ever growing P3D notes document.  For future use, it might be beneficial to come up with a unified SODE that can automatically merge SODE data and remove older versions of SODE ... it would probably reduce support time an increase end user enjoyment.  I'd also recommend you use an EXE for an installer (something like InstallShield Limited for Visual Studio - free) - that was it can use Admin rights and avoid security privileges issues.  

 

I don't recall seeing any mention on the purchase web site about the requirement for SODE, it might be beneficial to incorporate that into product description if a unified SODE is not in the works.

 

Cheers, Rob.

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when aerosoft developers continue to make every new airport with different sode's , apcontrollers or other controllers

I think the it will stop many people buying new software, because you almost have to be an it expert to get every running.

 

don't know if coming projects like brussel, frankfurt and Praha are going to use these controllers, but wonder what

have to be fixed to get it working  together with other aerosoft software.

 

when reading all these problems about alta-x and solvear will think twice buying this scenery, because like to fly and

not being busy for weeks to get scenery working.

 

hope that aerosoft will demand developers to use one single standard for future projects, or makes a configurator where you can swith things on and off so that confilcts are avoided.

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  • Deputy Sheriffs
42 minutes ago, sydney1962 said:

hope that aerosoft will demand developers to use one single standard for future projects, or makes a configurator where you can swith things on and off so that confilcts are avoided.

 

If AS (or a contracted developer) is not including SODE, people complain (because they want SODE).

If AS (or a contracted developer) is including an old version of SODE to stay compatible with their own previously sceneries making use of this version, people complain (because other developers use newer SODE versions).

If AS (or a contracted developer) is including the latest SODE version people complain (because it breaks compatibility with previous AS sceneries making use of an older SODE version).

 

Please keep in mind, that SODE is not an AS product, nor is it in the hands of AS to ask the SODE developer to stop improving his product (for the cost of breaking compatibility with older versions), nor is it in the hands of AS what other scenery developers are including into their products.

 

SODE is a new product which simply needs it's time to get stable (in terms of interfaces). As the sim market is relatively small (compared to other markets) it can be assumed that a customer knows about this. It is up to the customer to decide if he want to be an early adaptor, being at the "cutting edge", but risking some compatibility problems. There is no one around who is capable or able to take this decision away from the customer.

 

So IMHO it is a wrong approach to blame developers to provide new products/developments to customers. The consequence for not doing so would be no improvement and evolving products at all.

 

And yes, you are right, SODE is currently a tricky topic. But this has nothing to do with AS but solely with the fact that it is, as we say in Germany, still in his children shoes. Over the time it surely will grow out from them, become adult and the standard you are asking for. 

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12 hours ago, Tom A320 said:

Please keep in mind, that SODE is not an AS product

 

True, but AS is the publisher of the scenery and therefor takes/has the responsibility.
Don't get me wrong, I like AS and I like SODE but I had exactly the same issue as Rob.

Only after following each step provided by Amos (thanks for that!) I was able to use the scenery.
 

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I'm planning to publish a book - "SODE for Dummies" :D

 

I agree SODE can be tricky, specially if SODE 1.2 was installed and you're now migrating to 1.3x. Follow my steps, read the manual attached to SODE installation and always don't be afraid to ask assistant here (sometimes two minutes TeamViewer session can solve an issue you're dealing with for two days!).

 

Happy flying,

Amos

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SODE for Dummies would be a good idea as the "migration guide" by the developer leaves a lot to desire. I've been through this process with Svolvaer and it took me several hours to solve the problem of black textures. Thanks to this installing Alta went without problems. When using a third party tool developers should keep to the guidelines though, which Jo has not by installing the simobjects within P3D instead of User\Program Data and again using relative paths within the texture.cfg-files, so simply moving the folders will cause problems.

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hello Tom, 

 

I can respect the point of view of aerosoft , but it should be a good thing that there will be a pdf manual included with the

software with a step to step guide how to move from sode V1.21 to V1.30 for by aerosoft sold scenery.

because we have now search for many hours to find the bits and pieces to get it working.

maybe it should be a good test case to install all sode related scenery sold by aerosoft, so they can see what happened

and make a guide line pdf, in which order to install products to make to work without moving files allover de place.

also see there is now a sode V1.31 , is this breaking also V1.30 ?  cannot find info about this.

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  • Deputy Sheriffs
5 hours ago, sydney1962 said:

I can respect the point of view of aerosoft , but ...

 

For a good reason I wrote IMHO in my post. I am not affiliated with Aerosoft, I am just a moderator and (lately not too hard working) beta tester for the buses. So I can speak for myself only, but not for Aerosoft. Just wanted to make this clear to prevent anyone from taking my words as an official AS statement.

 

If the batch on the left, below the user image says "Aerosoft" (where it says "Deputy" for me) you can take the written word in the post as an official AS statement (unless it is otherwise marked as not being such). In all other cases it is not an official AS statement.

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  • Deputy Sheriffs

And to add one more thought:

SODE is  not developed by Aerosoft but a nice guy from Switzerland , trying to overcome all the gliches and backwards incompatibility of P3D with other other tools, tweaks and hacks that worked in FSX but no longer work in P3D.

And yes it is not perfect, but it is on a good way. Unfortunately (or luckily, depending on the point of view) the dev changed certain things in 1.3 making it less compatibel with older versions. Many devs of addons started with SODE 1.0, then switching to 1.20 und now to 1.30 causing some headache for the user. But it is solely the responsibilty of the dev which SODE version he uses and when and how he updates to the latest version.

So the only responsibilty writing a migration guide lies at the dev of SODE, not at the dev using SODE for his Addon and definitely not at Aerosoft distributing 3rd party products.

And the dev already wrote a migration guide, which is for sure not perfect as it can not cover any possible uses case. But I think he would be grateful when you help him to improve his product and its documentation.

 

And remember, SODE is (currently) not a payware only donationware. ;)

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What should be done anyway , is to update your product page with relevant info which scenery uses which version of sode

V1.2 , V1,3 or V1.31  and comment that different versions cannot be installed without breaking things and manually update

of sode files have to be done..

 

 

,

 

 

 

 

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21 hours ago, mopperle said:

SODE is  not developed by Aerosoft but a nice guy from Switzerland , trying to overcome all the gliches and backwards incompatibility of P3D with other other tools, tweaks and hacks that worked in FSX but no longer work in P3D.

 

Do you know if the dev is on LM's beta team?  LM are very open to incorporating (within reason) new features/methods to support 3rd party development.  LM have implemented many such new requested features over the past few years (from devs willing to "share" proprietary information) ... unfortunately many new P3D exclusive features are not being used (because they don't work in FSX) and or devs aren't taking the time to "discover" them and/or leverage them ... still bound to single deployment that must work in FSX (the ball and chain). 

 

This is starting to change as majority market is now in P3D's favor (in terms of buying add-ons), but it's a slow transition and we may soon be at the point where two separate deployments are necessary as P3D continues it's divergence and development with changes, updates, fixes.  Progress requires change but LM have tried to minimize the impact of those changes.

 

With that said, if the SODE dev in question isn't already on LM's BETA, I'd be more than happy to liaison contact with LM to be on the Beta team.  Just have him/her PM me.

 

Cheers, Rob.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well Guys, thanks for all your efforts and advice to get Alta running. Bought it and have spent now my my entire afternoon in googling and trying to fix this. Just like others I have no terminal or buildings and planes floating in the air. Why do I have to start uninstalling and reinstalling components to get this scenery to work ? I simply do not understand some of the obviously well ment advice in earlier messages. Why does one have to understand and manipulate XML files and so many others ?  I give up and will think twice before I again get involved with sceneries where this type of deep knowledge is required to get things running. Where are the times that scenery ran out of the box ?  I guess no way of getting my money refunded ?

happy flying - Dick

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