Add Ons option disappeares from FSX

[rmcconn]

Pete,

I've just purchased and registered a copy of FSUIPC4 for FSX and had a little trouble with the installation, in that the "Add Ons" option in the menu bar didn't appear, and I had to run the installation program twice to get this to show and to insert the registration key. On re-starting FSX a couple of times after that, all was well, with the FSUIPC option available under Add Ons.

When starting FSX up again today, the "Add Ons" option has disappeared again.

The Modules directory is still in the FSX root folder, and I note your reference to the file DLL.XML in the user guide, however I haven't accessed this or done anything to change it's location.

I have however downloaded, and am trying out a copy of FS Commander, which may have caused the problem.

Could you kindly advise.

Thanks.

[Pete Dowson]

When starting FSX up again today, the "Add Ons" option has disappeared again.

The Add-Ons menu is created by SimConnect (a part of FSX) in response to a menu request from FSUIPC. When it doesn't appear it means only one of two things:

1. SimConnect has, for some reason, not actually loaded FSUIPC in the first place, or

2. It has been loaded but then fails to connect.

There are few reasons for the former. Although it can happen due to a corrupt DLL.XML file, that would be a consistent problem, not an intermittent one. Just possibly other programs, also being added via the DLL.XML file may be causing SimConnect some problems. This was a symptom of a bug in the original FSX release.

The latter reason is probably more likely -- maybe a problem with your firewall or security program settings. If you had Acceleration or SP2 installed that shouldn't arise provided you are using FSUIPC 4.20 or later.

So, the thing now is that you've provided no useful information for us to go further. Even basic data is missing, like Version of FSUIPC? Version of FSX (original? SP1? Acceleration? SP2?). Lists of other Add-Ons installed?

I'd need to see the Install log and the FSUIPC4.log after a failed attempt -- both are ordinary text files found in the Modules folder. Also, your DLL.XML file -- though the best and quickest thing to do with that to make sure it is okay is to delete it and re-run the FSUIPC4 installer. It will make a good, new one.

I have however downloaded, and am trying out a copy of FS Commander, which may have caused the problem.

No, FSCommander is okay.

Regards

Pete