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Something that made me go. . .hmmmmmm?

OleBoy said:
What leads you to decompressing and compressing in the method you suggest? Is there a particular sign or situation that arises (aside from, or like this topic/remedy) that alerts you to doing so?
Click to expand...

Two signs I look for:

1. When selecting an aircraft in the aircraft selection screen it takes too long to return to the Free Flight screen.
2. When I exit the flight it takes too long to return to the Free Flight screen.

I will know if the cab files are the cause of the problem by looking at the size of the cab file I get with using the FSX SDK cabdir.exe as compared with the original size of the cab file. If I get a larger or smaller cab file (doesn't matter which) then I am fairly confidant that I have found the cause of the problem.
 
So basically this is a task that gets started from a clean install of FSX (and/or) removing all the aircraft from the simobjects folder and going about your method one-by-one. Start FSX/load aircraft, etc, etc, if I'm following your lead.
 
Many thanks to Ed and Mike for addressing this issue; I hadn't encountered this fix before ! :applause:

GaryGB
 
OleBoy said:
So basically this is a task that gets started from a clean install of FSX (and/or) removing all the aircraft from the simobjects folder and going about your method one-by-one. Start FSX/load aircraft, etc, etc, if I'm following your lead.
Click to expand...

Not necessary. Note that this problem will occur by selecting a particular aircraft; the fact that you may have many problem aircraft is not a concern. By selecting a particular aircraft in the aircraft selection screen and it takes too long to return to the Free Flight screen would indicate that you have a problem with that particular aircraft.
 
Interesting results here.

I'm sure you know, but cab files can be de-compressed into folders and will still work fine without re-cabbing. They will take up more HD space though. Would be interesting to see how that effects load time.
 
DaveWG said:
Interesting results here.

I'm sure you know, but cab files can be de-compressed into folders and will still work fine without re-cabbing. They will take up more HD space though. Would be interesting to see how that effects load time.
Click to expand...

Inasmuch that the problem is caused by the compression software that is used; I would say not re-cabbing should work dandy as well. I re-cab because of two reasons:

1. Compare the size of my cab file with the original cab file to see if that is the cause of the problem.
2. Save disk space.
 
mmann said:
My times are:

- to reload FSX (not a cold start but a subsequent start) is 8 seconds
- to load the selection screen is 1 second to exit the selection screen with the Seabird Seeker with modified cab file is 1 second
- to load the flight is 1 minute and 8 seconds

Needless to say I have a lean and mean FSX and Windows XP; which is why I was able to nail down the problem with the Seabird Seeker so quickly. :icon_lol:
Click to expand...

:::LOL:: very cool.. If my fsx installation were any fatter it would qualify to the world book of records. Thats ok though.
 
falcon409 said:
Hey Gary, where you been hiding?
Click to expand...
Hi Ed:

Oops... I've been so busy I lost track of yet another thread ! :icon_lol:

Well, I'm keeping occupied with several projects in development, helping others with their Beta tests, and trying to get a Fly-in going with the Emma Field folks for the area covered by FTX Eastern PNW and further Eastwards into CRM... in late October or sometime in November if possible.

Hope you and any others with an interest in some MP flights on FSHostClient and TeamSpeak this Fall will consider joining in... the more the merrier ! :wavey:


GaryGB
 
GaryGB said:
Hi Ed:

Oops... I've been so busy I lost track of yet another thread ! :icon_lol:

Well, I'm keeping occupied with several projects in development, helping others with their Beta tests, and trying to get a Fly-in going with the Emma Field folks for the area covered by FTX Eastern PNW and further Eastwards into CRM... in late October or sometime in November if possible.
Hope you and any others with an interest in some MP flights on FSHostClient and TeamSpeak this Fall will consider joining in... the more the merrier ! :wavey:

GaryGB
Click to expand...
That sounds awesome Gary. Should I just continue to monitor this forum or is there one you frequent more often? Don't want to miss it.
 
Beaufighter said:
This is good ! Would like to try.
Where can I find "FSX SDK cabdir.exe" ?

thanks
Click to expand...
Normally it's a separate installation under Microsoft Games. Should read "Microsoft Flight Simulation X SDK". If you find that, then click it, then click the next folder "SDK", then "SimObject Creation Kit", then Cabdir SDK. There you'll find the Cabdir.exe file. All I did was decompress the original cab file (extract to a folder). Change the folder name (in this case I just deleted the space) and then dropped the folder onto the cabdir.exe file and it built a new cab file with the correct name. Then just move your new cab file back to the gauges folder and you're all done.
 
Unfortunately the CabDir SDK available from FSDeveloper is for FS2004, I have never tried that version but if you do not have the FSX SDK available it should be worth a try. The cabdir.exe I was referring to is the one that comes with the FSX SDK matching your FSX, in my case this is the SDK for Acceleration. The SDK for FSX is not available if you are using the Standard Edition, only the Deluxe and Gold editions have it. If you do try the FS2004 version, please post your findings back on this thread for the benefit others.
 
Some additional notes from my recent experiments:

1. The CabDir SDK available from FSDeveloper which is for FS2004 works perfectly well.
2. Not re-cabbing the folder also works, but takes up extra hard drive space.
3. The space that I mentioned removing from the folder name is only required if you use Cabdir.exe from a command line.

Edit: Sorry just a brain fart. Note that in number 3 you can leave the space in the folder name but use double quotes in the command line i.e.: CABDIR "SB7L Gauges"
 
Two tricks to speed up FSX loading time

I have two tricks to speed up FSX loading time:

- when I quit FSX, I try not to stay on the "free flight" opening page, I choose the "setting" page. The next time I fire up FSX, the default flight is not even loaded up

- I frequently clean the [Trusted] section of the fsx.cfg file: this is the (some times incredibly long) list of "trusted" gauges (gau and dll only, cab are not concerned). So I guess FSX try to find all these gauges at startup and this takes quite some time... If you delete your favorite aircraft gauge name from this list, no big deal, you'll have to say "yes" to the question "Are you sure you want to run this *.gau software?" next time you choose this aircraft

PS1: big sceneries slow down FSX startup a lot... you gotta get used to this... At least some scenery designers include a utility to disable their scenery when you're not flying there, like FTX or NL2000 ...

PS2: If you don't have cabdir, you can use windows IExpress (C:\Windows\System32\iexpress.exe). Unless you are publishing your aircraft and try to keep things neat, don't bother cabbing your xml gauges... disk space for gauges is minimal compared to scenery folders....
 
Guys,

Can anyone give an idiots guide to using the FS2004 one. When I click on the .exe, a black screen appears asking me to press any button. When I do, it dissapears. I have it in a folder outside my FSX root folder (as are all my planes), what should I do ?

Cheers

Neil
 
guzler said:
Guys,

Can anyone give an idiots guide to using the FS2004 one. When I click on the .exe, a black screen appears asking me to press any button. When I do, it dissapears. I have it in a folder outside my FSX root folder (as are all my planes), what should I do ?

Cheers

Neil
Click to expand...

1. Extract the gauge CAB into a folder with the same name as the CAB file.
2. Place the folder created in step 1 in the same location as your Cabdir.exe file.
3. Drag that same folder and drop it on the Cabdir.exe file which should then create a CAB file with the same name as the original one.
 
Cheers, one will have a dabble !

Worked perfectly, thankyou

The Comet now loads as fast as all my other aircraft :salute:
 
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