OnCourse Software

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It's still not clear (to me) how you update the PF3 database... With PF3 you MUST run the MakeRwys utility

I run MakeRwys if there have been any changes at all to my addon airports (or after a sim update), otherwise the data in the runways.csv file will be exactly the same as the last time I updated the PF3 database. I had already checked the runways.csv file - that has VOVZ too, not VEVZ (maybe if it had VEVZ instead, PF3 would stop having this problem??). Running MakeRwys.exe before updating the PF3 database makes no difference to this little issue anyway (as one would expect) - I tested it. The new runways.csv file still shows VOVZ, not VEVZ.

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It doesn't matter if an ICAO is changed in the RW, PF3 only knows what is in the simulator, via MakeRwys. There's no way to change this in PF3, you would have to change it in the sim.

... as I say, MakeRwys has VOVZ... and I have changed everything in the sim - it's all up to date with the new ICAO.

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My guess is the file containing the ICAO code in question is in the PF3FSXData.dat file, which you cannot change with a text editor

Maybe: as you say Dave, I cannot check that.

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Please attach your flight plan so I can see if it works here

OK

Sorry, this is getting a bit more long-winded than I had anticipated. Bottom line is I cannot use the proper ICAO code for Visakhapatnam Airport without PF3 crashing. Not exactly a deal-breaker of course. It would be satisfying though to get to the bottom of why PF3 is still reporting that it cannot find 'VEVZ' (and why it is even looking for it); but if you're busy, or getting fed up with this topic now, don't worry too much about it Dave!

Thanks for the file.... I will check it out here and no, I'm not getting fed up at all

Regarding MakeRwys though, it doesn't work with XP

Later: Tried your flight plan with FS9 and of course it loads but when connecting to FS I get the message that VOVZ doesn't exist in the DB. Changed the flight plan references for VOVZ to VEVZ and it loads and connects perfectly

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Regarding MakeRwys though, it doesn't work with XP

In what way? As far as I can see it works perfectly well: if I add a completely new airport (maybe one that recently opened, RW) to my XP scenery and run makerwys.exe, the new airport appears in the updated runways.csv file and then loads OK into PF3 too.

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Later: Tried your flight plan with FS9 and of course it loads but when connecting to FS I get the message that VOVZ doesn't exist in the DB. Changed the flight plan references for VOVZ to VEVZ and it loads and connects perfectly

So I need to change my PF3 flight plan from VOVZ to VEVZ? Did your PF3 crash after the 'can't find....' message? Mine always does.

So is this a version of makerwys written specifically for XP and who developed it?

Later: So Mr Google tells me yes, there is a version of MakeRwys for XP. Not by Mr Dowson of course.

Now, doing a quick scan of the product description it says it produces a Runways.csv file, but I couldn't find details of any other files it produces. Please tell me it does and what they are. If it only produces the one file then that's the problem here I think

Yes, this must be a version of makerys.exe for X-Plane, different from Pete Dowson's version (I had forgotten that fact).

I am not sure which files it creates itself, but in the XP folder I have various files, some or all of which are used by PF3 to create its database. Some of them, I know, come from the PFEtoXPlane plugin. Apart from this issue with ICAO codes, I never have any problems when I rebuild the PF3 database: it runs and completes fine and the new database is recognized and used by PF3 with no 'complaints'. (Now I have said that of course, I have tempted fate!!).

The files that are installed by PF3 or PFEtoXplane (all in the main XP11 root folder) are:

f4.csv, f5.csv, g5.csv, makerwys.exe, r4.csv, r5.bin, r5.csv, runways.csv, Runways.txt, Runways.xml, t5.bin, t5.csv

Okay, that's good, but it would be nice to know if those files are generated by MakeRwys (as they are with the Dowson version) or if there's another step you have to take (maybe with the PFE plugin) to complete the task, as it really does look like something is out of sync here

I don't know Dave... rebuilding the PF3 database per se has never given me any problems in XP11. Just this ICAO issue. I may try replacing VOVZ with VEVZ in some of the files and see if that helps more than it hinders