v270, 272 - VIEW ribbon

[nemoz2000]

Hi Tim,
I'm using Plan-G v4 in MSFS 1.32.7.0, Store version, in "same computer" mode.
Everything work well except for some reason I get no result from "view - Plan" or "view - Plan Elevation" in either v270 or v272. It works OK in v269.
The same Nav Database and DEM data is present in all cases and there have been no changes in any of the Plan-G options and settings. It makes no difference if I have loaded a .plg or a .pln file.
At present I've reverted to v269 and it's working but I wonder if anyone else has this problem?

[Tim]

That's not something I've come across. Is it limited to a particular flight plan? (if so, could you attach the plan)

Could you try this beta version of 4.2 and let me know if it still has the problem?
Please unzip it to a separate folder. You will need to build a new database, but this won't affect your existing one (different filenames)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8izdk0g25tkvzpv/Plan-Gv4.2.0.277.zip?dl=0

[nemoz2000]

No, it was not limited to any particular flight plan. I tried it with many, of both formats.

Now, the good news is that 4.2.0.277 works, albeit with a bit of drama.

At first I set up a fresh copy of v277 using a different data folder, but it contained latest copies of all the data which worked in 269. It did allow me to "view" the plan and plan elevation but did not display the old MSFS data on the map.

So I tried to rebuild the database and it crashed three times in a row, each at a different point in the build of airports from the "Official" folder, which was clear from the log file. There were several messages about "out of file space" or similar. I tried it both with and without the sim running - no difference.

Next step was to delete the old database file from the \data subfolder, named "Plan-G_NavDataMSFS.db" (it was 755 MB) but I left the one named "..._Bak.db" and all the "small" ones. This time it built a new database which incidentally is about 100MB smaller than the old one but appears complete. Ther was nothing obviosly wrong to me in the log file, but your expert eyes might spot something so I have attached a copy.

Thanks for the quick attention. These must be frustrating times for you and now we have this announcement today of a new MSFS 2024 coming sometime soon. I suppose it is about time to draw a line under the old one, but I hope we will still have our trusty Plan-G, the best flight planner around in my opinion.

[Tim]

There's a new checkbox on the Build Database dialog that basically prevents it from including aprons in the build. Aprons in MSFS (unlike every other sim) is pretty much any ground polygon on an airport. And that amounts to hundreds of megabytes of essentially pointless data - we're talking hundreds of millions of vertex records. And in Plan-G they're on'y used for drawing the airport chart. It's basically all these apron records that cause the out of memory errors. Getting rid of them makes the database much smaller, and puts less strain on the system. The only downside is less detail on the airport diagrams. All the taxiways and parking spots are still shown, so I think it's usable that way. At least until I have a full 64-bit build.

The navdata in v4.2 has a different table structure (paving the way for 64 bits), and so the file names have been changed. You can use a single Plan-Gv4 File folder for both 4.2 and 4.1 - they won't interfere with each other.

If you try building the database with Include Aprons unchecked, you'll probably find it completes without errors and you have the full data set. The database with aprons disabled will be around 530MiB

As for the MSFS 2024 announcement.... I guess the "10 year development commitment" for FS 2020 is just thrown by the wayside. Sure it looks pretty, at least in those few special areas that they showed us. But what it means to developers like me is the prospect of many months trying to figure out what the heck they've done and why nothing works any more. Cos they don't document it anywhere. (I'm still trying to find the TACAN data they supposedly included several updates back!)

[nemoz2000]

My old problem has returned, this time in v282.

A bit more sleuthing at my end shows that of all the view windows only Plan, Plan Elevation and Aerodrome fail to produce a new window.

Could my very complex monitor configuration be causing the problem? I use a total of five displays to make my home cockpit. There are three large curved ones combined in NVidia Surround at 7800 x 1440 pixels, 60 hz; and two small ones, each 1920 x 1080 pixels. Plan-G runs on one of these and there are Air Manager instruments on the other.

Ther three large ones and the Plan-G one are driven by a NVidia 3070Ti GPU and the Air Manager one by the on-board Intel graphics card.

When I run Plan-G on a separate computer (laptop) via simconnect the problem goes away. It is only when running Plan-G on the MSFS computer via a local connection (pipe?) that In lose the "Plan", "Plan elevation" and Aerodrome" displays. Thev laptop of course has its own display, hence my suspicion of my rather unusual display configuration.

I attach a Plan-G logfile but it doesn't tell me anything is wrong.

Any ideas?

Plan-Gv4_Log.txt

(29.58 KiB) Downloaded 215 times

Plan-Gv4_Log.txt

(29.58 KiB) Downloaded 215 times

[Tim]

Hmm. That suggests there's a difference in the window handling for those three popups that only causes a problem with your particular setup.

I'll do some investigating...

[nemoz2000]

I think I've fixed it.
After spending seeral hours last night and today, stopping and restarting a dozen or so things without any results, it came down to simply "Reset Tool Windows" in the General Options. It took two or three restars but eventually I have restored the Plan and Plan Elevation popups. The "Aerodrome" one still refuses to appear but I can get the airport diagram easily enough via right-click on the airport icon on the map.
So relax, Tim, and thank you -- there is nothing wrong with Plan-G it seems.

[Tim]

Ok, so it's just opening the popup outside the frame of the monitor. Phew!