Confused about the 486th Fighter Squadron...

[Easy Flier]

Thanks guys I'm getting there. I'm still confused on the files with the textures, that have more than 1 for a certain a/c. Do I choose 1 or do I need to make more planes.

Next problem is I think I have run over the 100 plane limit and now can't get a Quick Combat session to start on any plane.

What now..

 

[Fibber]

EF.......

........you are now entering the land of Hobsons' choice. You can make individual planes for each texture or one plane folder with individual textures. Different individual preferences and your choice on that.

As to nearing the ceiling, go to the "Downloads" and then "Utilities" and look through there. Pay heed to page three as there-on lie some utilities you may utilize to help you. Get Mortons' CFS2_utility" and it will help you on this.

Also the "clean-out file-list" utility is handy.

Did you by-chance glance at those txts files that I attached as well as the engine reference? Just curious if they helped any.

 

[Easy Flier]

........you are now entering the land of Hobsons' choice. You can make individual planes for each texture or one plane folder with individual textures. Different individual preferences and your choice on that.
As to nearing the ceiling, go to the "Downloads" and then "Utilities" and look through there. Pay heed to page three as there-on lie some utilities you may utilize to help you. Get Mortons' CFS2_utility" and it will help you on this.
Also the "clean-out file-list" utility is handy.


Did you by-chance glance at those txts files that I attached as well as the engine reference? Just curious if they helped any.

Well I only have 86 planes ,but I can't get anything to start-free flight,quick combat..nothin. Says data is missing and reinstall(not what i want to do)

I looked at that file see pic, ain't got a clue

 

[Fibber]

EF.........

....go to the "UTILTIES" downloads and find that Mortons file of CFS2_Utilities v2 " and run it!!!!!!!! It will start to tell you what is wrong with the plane installations.

In fact I will attach it here;

View attachment 2901

BTW: "I looked at that file see pic, ain't got a clue" WHAT picture?

 

[Easy Flier]

Here are pics of what comes up;

 

[Rami]

Reply...

Easy Flier,

I knew I should have answered this thread before going to bed last night. You're essentially getting a crash-course in CFS2 quirkiness here. Let me first assure you that these problems are not insurmountable, nor are they atypical. So let's start with your error.

The "failure to initialize the databases" error is a VERY common CFS2 problem. In short, CFS2 has problems when you approach or reach 100 aircraft. (There's some variance on that number) This does not just mean aircraft folders...each skin besides the one in the folder counts as well.

So if you have one aircraft which contains three textures, bingo! It counts three times.

Okay so far?

(This can also happen if you cross the 1,550-ish mark with .dp files in your OBJECTS_DP folder, but that's irrelevant right now)

So let's get down to it...how the h*ll do I fix this?

1) Figure out the trigger that is causing this. (For example...aircraft? objects?)

2) Depending on the operating system, find your "Windows Search" feature and open it, and target your CFS2 installation folder.

3) Run it twice, looking for these two file types...

3a) Filelist.dat

3b) .cdp

Delete all of these files which come up for each type.

Then, replace your quick combat file with one from a "clean" install.

From this point forward, if you decide to modify the .qcb file, (For example, say you replace the Japanese aircraft with German types) always have two files in there.

Have your main .qcb file there, then make another copy, rename this file with the extension ".bak," so that in case you have this problem again, you already have a "clean" quick combat (.qcb) file ready (once you rename the backup file) in case your install goes "tits-up" again.

Once you complete this, fire up CFS2 and let the filelist.dat files regenerate. Try free flight. If you get that message again, keep troubleshooting and repeat the procedure.

Also, here is a handy tool for editing the quick combat file: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=49&id=17975

 

[Easy Flier]

Rami,

Should I delete those files? I have that editor ie it only for QC, as I can't get anything to open

 

[Rami]

Reply...

Rami,

Should I delete those files? I have that editor ie it only for QC, as I can't get anything to open

Easy Flier,

Yes. Follow steps one through three in my previous post. Delete all the filelist.dat files, all the .cdp files, and replace the quick combat (.qcb) file with a clean version, as I explained below.

If this doesn't work, continue to troubleshoot and repeat until it works. It sure beats throwing in the towel and reinstalling CFS2.

P.S. - I should be back from church by about noon, EST. But be aware that the Bruins and Patriots are on this afternoon, so my presence on the forums will be spotty until this evening.

 

[Easy Flier]

Deleted all I could find, only thing that changed was I now get the message about all the missing planes then the need to reinstall about the missing data

 

[Rami]

Reply...

Easy Flier,

That's actually good. I'll explain why when I get home.

 

[Rami]

Reply...

Deleted all I could find, only thing that changed was I now get the message about all the missing planes then the need to reinstall about the missing data

Easy Flier,

So in other words, you're still getting the QC error? When you say you "deleted all that you could find," did you use Windows Search, or did you do a manual search?

Welcome to the learning curve, my friend. You sound like me several years back...

This brings up another point....

If you tried deleting the Japanese aircraft for an ETO installation, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

The sim looks in three places for aircraft information...

1) The individual AIRCRAFT folders,

2) The mdlnames.txt file

3) The Quick Combat file.

So, if you delete aircraft from the sim, you should delete their corresponding entries from the mdlnames.txt file. This way, the sim doesn't look for these aircraft when loading the game itself. (Come to think of it, deleting all aircraft entries from the mdlnames.txt file eliminates this problem entirely)

Also, you should check each individual aircraft's panel and sound .cfg files and make sure they are not alaised to any Japanese aircraft, or others you have deleted. If you find any, you can almost always download a new panel or sound package to fix the problem.

With regard to the quick combat file, the easiest beginner's fix for an ETO install is to swap German aircraft for Japanese aircraft. For example, the Bf-109 can serve as both a fighter and fighter-bomber, while the He-111 can be used as a level bomber and a torpedo bomber. For dive bombing, you can use a Ju-87 Stuka or a Ju-88 Dreifinger.

Once you do that, you can eliminate the Japanese aircraft entirely from your sim.

Please let me know if my analysis is accurate, and we can go from there.

 

[Easy Flier]

Easy Flier,

So in other words, you're still getting the QC error? When you say you "deleted all that you could find," did you use Windows Search, or did you do a manual search? Both

Welcome to the learning curve, my friend. You sound like me several years back...

This brings up another point....

If you tried deleting the Japanese aircraft for an ETO installation, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

The sim looks in three places for aircraft information...

1) The individual AIRCRAFT folders,

2) The mdlnames.txt file

3) The Quick Combat file.

So, if you delete aircraft from the sim, you should delete their corresponding entries from the mdlnames.txt file. This way, the sim doesn't look for these aircraft when loading the game itself. (Come to think of it, deleting all aircraft entries from the mdlnames.txt file eliminates this problem entirely)

Also, you should check each individual aircraft's panel and sound .cfg files and make sure they are not alaised to any Japanese aircraft, or others you have deleted. If you find any, you can almost always download a new panel or sound package to fix the problem.

With regard to the quick combat file, the easiest beginner's fix for an ETO install is to swap German aircraft for Japanese aircraft. For example, the Bf-109 can serve as both a fighter and fighter-bomber, while the He-111 can be used as a level bomber and a torpedo bomber. For dive bombing, you can use a Ju-87 Stuka or a Ju-88 Dreifinger.

Once you do that, you can eliminate the Japanese aircraft entirely from your sim.

Please let me know if my analysis is accurate, and we can go from there.

I'm gonna go and try and get rid of the aircraft as you said above, and not sure what you mean swap planes....

 

[Rami]

Reply...

Easy Flier,

I have uploaded this attachment for you. The first file, qc_plane.qcb, is a simplified stock Quick Combat file with stock aircraft. The "qc_plane_1.qcb" is a modification I hand-edited for the last hour and ten minutes, creating a quick combat file with many of the primary aircraft from Early Europe in 1940 and 1941.

You'd have to install the aircraft to use it, but you can use it as a template to understand what I'm trying to teach you. It strikes me that you might be a visual learner.

If you were doing a late Europe install (like the 486th Fighter Group), you'd include things like Mustangs, P-47s, P-38s, Tempests, Typhoons, B-24s, B-17s, and other aircraft instead of Blenheims, P-36s, D-520s, Hurricane Mk. Is, and others.

 

[Easy Flier]

Easy Flier,

I have uploaded this attachment for you. The first file, qc_plane.qcb, is a simplified stock Quick Combat file with stock aircraft. The "qc_plane_1.qcb" is a modification I hand-edited for the last hour and ten minutes, creating a quick combat file with many of the primary aircraft from Early Europe in 1940 and 1941.

You'd have to install the aircraft to use it, but you can use it as a template to understand what I'm trying to teach you. It strikes me that you might be a visual learner.

If you were doing a late Europe install (like the 486th Fighter Group), you'd include things like Mustangs, P-47s, P-38s, Tempests, Typhoons, B-24s, B-17s, and other aircraft instead of Blenheims, P-36s, D-520s, Hurricane Mk. Is, and others.

Rami thanks for all your help. I tried both still same result. I thought I would try something by removing the whole Airplane folder and put one with just a few planes-No Joy.. It looks like a reinstall. I'll try some other things first but don't look good

 

[Rami]

Reply...

Easy Flier,

When you do a reinstall and get the basic scenery set up, stop there and make a backup. Using that install, create an early and a late Europe install by renaming the installation folder, making two copies.

Then with these two ETO installs, (Early and Late) use the Quick Combat technique to get your aircraft set up for Europe, including sound and panel aliasing. Once you have that done, make another backup, and that way, so won't have to start from scratch.

 

[Easy Flier]

UPDATE...
Not sure what I did ,but I got one of the 357th Fighter Group missions to open. Still no Free Flight or QC error msg. says missing mission . At least maybe no reinstall

 

[Easy Flier]

Rami
Still only have the Mission and Campaigns. Is there a file that controls Free Flight and QC?

If i have to do a reinstall again, is there a easy way as the last time took almost 4 days -not lookin forward to that again-

Should I remove all the stock planes ,missions and campaigns or is that what messed it up last time????

 

[Fibber]

E.F.......

here is a simple batch file to clean out the those filelist files. Download and install it and run it. The program will clean out all those filelists. Also make sure that you delete the .index files in the main install of your theater. They will rebuild.


View attachment 2972

 

[Easy Flier]

here is a simple batch file to clean out the those filelist files. Download and install it and run it. The program will clean out all those filelists. Also make sure that you delete the .index files in the main install of your theater. They will rebuild.


View attachment 2972

Thanks

I must have cleaned them all out as nothing came up.

 

[Rami]

Reply...

Easy Flier,

You can save your scenery.cfg and all of your downloads. Create a new install, and transfer, piece-by-piece. That way, you can check your progress, and have a backup in case something goes haywire.