Illegal char in Runways.xml - MkRwy 5.11

[Pete Dowson]

1 hour ago, pellelil said:

He told me that scenery installed through the marketplace gets encrypted, and that is why MkRwy can find/read it

So how do we see the Paderborn one,? The only reason i don't have the Aerosoft one in the final data is that I a processing the FS-base version afterwards (whichj I can fix).

Maybe whether they are so encrypted or not is a vendor choice?

If i can't even access the folders they are in I've no chance, encrypted or not. don't forget, it's the folders I'm not seeing, not necessarily the files -- unless the encyption disguises BGLs as something else. Can you see them?

Pete

 

[pellelil]

In the Paderborn folder there are BGLs, but in my EKBI/EKCH-folders there is not a single BGL. I don't know if they get installed somewhere else, or if the file extension is changed as part of the encryption-process. The scenery folders were empty, but other folders (like texture had content). But as long as they are encrypted there is no way MkRwy can read them. The actual encryption is done by Asobo/MS (not the individual developers), however the developers might have a say if they should be encrypted or not? Perhaps not all files gets encrypted (why the Paderborn folder still contains BGLs)?

Any way, I don't think there is much we can do about it. Hopefully the default scenery remains un-encrypted, and all of the free community scenery as well.

[Pete Dowson]

2 hours ago, pellelil said:

In the Paderborn folder there are BGLs, but in my EKBI/EKCH-folders there is not a single BGL. I don't know if they get installed somewhere else, or if the file extension is changed as part of the encryption-process.

That's why MakeRwys doesn't even list the area -- it is looking only for folders containing BGLs.

2 hours ago, pellelil said:

Any way, I don't think there is much we can do about it. Hopefully the default scenery remains un-encrypted, and all of the free community scenery as well.

Payware scenery goes into Community as well -- Orbx stuff bought from their site and installed by Central for example.

As you say, I can't really do anything about it. I thought they'd only be encrypted to non-owners, that the decryption was automatic if the owner used the file.  Did you run Explorer "as administrator" when looking at the folders? Were you logged into Windows as the Administrator? (I think maybe both levels are needed).

If I try to copy files out of any of the MSFS folders Windows asks for confirmation that they should be unencryped in the process. I think the folders are marked for auto-encryption, but it sounds like that's a different thing. but it is why MakeRwys needs to be run "as administrator".

Anyway, if BGLs don't look like BGLs (or aren't even there ????),  then If folks want to use MakeRwys data it looks like they need to get their scenery from anywhere but the MS site, just in case. Else using things like external ATC programs with known defined gates, taxiways, etc, is going to be tough. they'll have to bumble along with default data.

Anyway, later today I'll attach a new build of MakeRwys with the ordering of the searching and processing changed. If you can try it and let me see the scenerylist.txt afterwards it would be useful, please.

Pete

 

 

[pellelil]

I have normally my windows configured to show hidden files, but I'll verify when I can.

Regarding the encryption its my guess that the files remains encrypted on disk (decrypted in memory when loaded by MSFS) to prevent an owner of "sharing" his purchased scenery with others ... but just a guess.

Naturally Pete, I'll assist if/when I can 🙂 If you haven't you can remove my suggested hack, as I am guessing its other issues that are at play here.

[Pete Dowson]

1 hour ago, pellelil said:

Naturally Pete, I'll assist if/when I can 🙂 If you haven't you can remove my suggested hack, as I am guessing its other issues that are at play here.

Okay. Please try the attached version (5.124).

I've removed the XML hack for now.

The main change is that is allows for 3rd party addons in the Official\OneStore folder as well as in Community. It now orders them like this:

Official\OneStore\fs-base*
Official\OneStore\fs-base-nav*
Official\OneStore\asobo-*
Official\OneStore\microsoft-*
Official\OneStore\* (other than those above)
Community\*

Of course only folders or subfolders containing .BGL files are included. If "FindFirstFile" finds no *.BGL files then the folder is not included.

I tested by copying my Aerosoft-Paderborn scenery as Aerosoft-PaderbornX in the Official\OneStore folder, but please let me see the scenerylist.txt file when you've run it. Thanks.

BTW, looking at the "content.xml" file in the LocalCache folder, which is used to disable official layers if needs be (MakeRwys takes note of this), it doesn't include non-MS/Asobo sceneries in the Official folders.

Interestingly it also isn't in the order used by MakeRwys. It appears to be only in the order they've been added by Asobo or MS. At present I have to assume the processing order doesn't affect the data I extract, that the data represents what you see.

Pete

 

MakeRwys.exe

[pellelil]

Pete having run the new MkRwy the Paderborn scenery appears just fine in runways.xml (and it have the correct folder-name):

<ICAO id="EDLP">
<ICAOName>Paderborn/Lippstadt</ICAOName>
<Country></Country>
<City>Paderborn/Lippstadt</City>
<File>G:\FS\2020Packages\Official\OneStore\aerosoft-paderborn\scenery\global\scenery\EDLP_Placement.bgl</File>
<SceneryName>aerosoft-paderborn scenery</SceneryName>

As requested I have uploaded the new SceneryList.txt
http://www.liljendal.dk/portals/1/files/tmp2021/SceneryList.txt

And if you for some reason needs to compare to the old (I uploaded the other day):
http://www.liljendal.dk/portals/1/files/tmp2021/OldSceneryList.txt

So it appears it was the order that was affecting the strange city-name I initially saw. Anyway thanks for your hard work my friend 🙂

 

[Pete Dowson]

2 hours ago, pellelil said:

So it appears it was the order that was affecting the strange city-name I initially saw

No, I don't think so. That was always with the default APX.... BGL. as I said. The result you have now is only because your Aerosoft version is overriding the default, as it should. If you switch that off you'll still get the problem with the default, which is why I suggested that you need to reinstall or at least repair your MSFS installation.

Anyway, thanks for testing. I note that your other two MS-Store 3rd party addons still do not appear -- not surprising with hidden BGLs -- which looks like making MakeRwys rather irrelevant in the not too distant future.

Pete

 

[pellelil]

I don't think there is anything wrong with my default Paderborn. As I wrote Monday at 06:01 PM, I tried removing the Aerosoft Paderborn, and ran MkRwy (scanning only the default Paderborn). After this there were no issues with the file generated by MkRwy (no weird chars, and the xml loaded fine into the sim. I then reinstalled the Aerosoft Paderborn, and again I saw wierd chars. That why I said yesterday that I tough it was the "order" (default vs 3rd party Paderborn) ???

Anyway its working fine now, and I hope MkRwy can remain relevant for some time. Otherwise I hope Asobo/MS are planning to make APT-, RWY- and TWY-info available to 3rd party software some how. The Aerosoft CRJ 550/700 have just released for MSFS embedded with its own nav-data, but as far as I understand this is temporary and the plan is that in the future these 3rd party aircraft should have access to NavBlue data from within MSFS. But naturally that is only valid as long as the scenery is build according to these, and I doubt this will contain all info we have thanks to MkRwy ... time will tell.

[Pete Dowson]

2 hours ago, pellelil said:

I then reinstalled the Aerosoft Paderborn, and again I saw wierd chars. That why I said yesterday that I tough it was the "order" (default vs 3rd party Paderborn) ???

But then the order was wrong -- MakeRwys was processing the Aerosoft one first, before any default scenery. So the odd characters were from the default. That's why I told you the date/time and size of my APX BGL so you could compare with yours. I can still compare the binaries for you if you like -- but you'd need to email it to me.

2 hours ago, pellelil said:

Anyway its working fine now

That's because now your Aerosoft version is processed last, after all of the default and Asobo and Microsoft scenery layers, just as it would be if it were in the Community folder like mine.

Anyway, I've released version 5.124 now, and put a Red warning in the doc about not being able to get data from encrypted hidden BGLs.

Pete

 

[pellelil]

Thanks, mailed the APX-file.

[Pete Dowson]

14 hours ago, pellelil said:

Thanks, mailed the APX-file.

Sorry, that was actually irrelevant. My error. The names are provided in text files called locPaks to enable MSFS to be 'localised'. These are in the Official\OneStore\fsBase folder, and the one MakeRwys refers to is en-US.locPak. The entries for Paderborn there are:

     "AIRPORTEK.EDLP.city": "Paderborn\/Lippstadt",

      "AIRPORTEK.EDLP.name": "Paderborn\/Lippstadt",

      "AIRPORTEK.EDLP.state": "NO STATE",

 

So, if anything was corrupted, it would be that.  Even so it doesn't explain the varied 'corruption' you appeared to be getting (other than in the Aerosoft version).

 

Pete

 

 

[pellelil]

Thanks for your efforts Pete. Don't know where the original weird city name came from, but its fixed with this updated MkRwy