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Can't start FG

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Can't start FG

Postby SKauy » Fri Aug 18, 2017 11:19 am

Hi,

I'm running Windows 10, Flightgear 2016.4.3. So, i use a joystick and i had a sqlite error. I looked it up online and it says i have to delete navdata. So I did. And for whatever reason I can't get FG to start. I normally start FG in administrator mode. I open task manager and on background process I saw fgfs for awhile and it disapear.
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Re: Can't start FG

Postby wkitty42 » Fri Aug 18, 2017 1:26 pm

yeah, deleting the navdata file was a hammer... some will tell you to clear that whole directory but that's an even bigger hammers... the proper tool is a scalpel...

on winwhatever, there was a semaphore file created to prevent data collisions when more than one copy of FG is running at the same time... there is actually no sqlite error... it is the semaphore that's causing the problem and it falls through the error reports to the sqlite one... the semaphore gets left behind when flightgear doesn't shut down properly... remove that semaphore file and things should be ok...

what are the files listed in your Documents\Flightgear directory?
"You get more air close to the ground," said Angalo. "I read that in a book. You get lots of air low down, and not much when you go up."
"Why not?" said Gurder.
"Dunno. It's frightened of heights, I guess."
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Re: Can't start FG

Postby SKauy » Sat Aug 19, 2017 3:14 am

Aircraft folder
Custom Scenery folder
Scenery folder
TerraSync folder
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Re: Can't start FG

Postby wkitty42 » Sat Aug 19, 2017 3:20 am

ok, click on your start button and type %APPDATA% in the field and hit enter... that should open a window where you can find the flightgear.org directory... inside there is where you'll find the files i was asking about...
"You get more air close to the ground," said Angalo. "I read that in a book. You get lots of air low down, and not much when you go up."
"Why not?" said Gurder.
"Dunno. It's frightened of heights, I guess."
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wkitty42
 
Posts: 9146
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Location: central NC, USA
Callsign: wk42
Version: git next
OS: Kubuntu 20.04

Re: Can't start FG

Postby SKauy » Sat Aug 19, 2017 11:55 am

Ok. I found it, what is the semaphore file I should delete?
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Re: Can't start FG

Postby wkitty42 » Sat Aug 19, 2017 7:29 pm

i don't know without you showing me/us the files in that directory ;) :lol:
"You get more air close to the ground," said Angalo. "I read that in a book. You get lots of air low down, and not much when you go up."
"Why not?" said Gurder.
"Dunno. It's frightened of heights, I guess."
User avatar
wkitty42
 
Posts: 9146
Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2015 4:46 pm
Location: central NC, USA
Callsign: wk42
Version: git next
OS: Kubuntu 20.04

Re: Can't start FG

Postby SKauy » Sun Aug 20, 2017 1:49 am

Oh! I'm so sorry xD here it is.
http://imgur.com/a/xRwRE
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Re: Can't start FG

Postby wkitty42 » Sun Aug 20, 2017 8:37 am

i think it is that pid file... remove it and see if you can load up and fly...
"You get more air close to the ground," said Angalo. "I read that in a book. You get lots of air low down, and not much when you go up."
"Why not?" said Gurder.
"Dunno. It's frightened of heights, I guess."
User avatar
wkitty42
 
Posts: 9146
Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2015 4:46 pm
Location: central NC, USA
Callsign: wk42
Version: git next
OS: Kubuntu 20.04

Re: Can't start FG

Postby SKauy » Sun Aug 20, 2017 10:11 am

Deleted it......still doesnt work :| I think its the navdata causing it.... but i deleted it :P
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Re: Can't start FG

Postby SKauy » Sun Aug 20, 2017 10:19 am

Oh nvm......... the navdata is in the recycling bin... :lol: i put it back in the flightgear.org file and it worked. Thanks
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Re: Can't start FG

Postby wkitty42 » Sun Aug 20, 2017 4:14 pm

the navdata cache file is a sql(ite) database... flightgear will build it fresh if it doesn't exist and it will update it if new data is found...

so just to confirm, removing the pid file let you get your FG running again so you could go flying?

also, in that same directory, you find fgfs.log and fgfs_0.log... your winwhatever is set to hide file extensions so you don't see the ".log" part in your snapshot... if you're asked for the flightgear log, fgfs.log is the one being requesting... fgfs_0.log is the log from your last run...
"You get more air close to the ground," said Angalo. "I read that in a book. You get lots of air low down, and not much when you go up."
"Why not?" said Gurder.
"Dunno. It's frightened of heights, I guess."
User avatar
wkitty42
 
Posts: 9146
Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2015 4:46 pm
Location: central NC, USA
Callsign: wk42
Version: git next
OS: Kubuntu 20.04

Re: Can't start FG

Postby SKauy » Tue Aug 22, 2017 9:02 am

Removing the pid file does let me play
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Re: Can't start FG

Postby wkitty42 » Tue Aug 22, 2017 7:31 pm

excellent! it took many many months of these reports before the dev team finally figured out the problem... it was only a problem on winwhatever, too... it has been fixed in newer versions and should not be a problem any more... i don't remember if they removed the PID file code or switched to another method... the whole thing is so that one can run more than one instance of the same FG at a time... the first one loaded is the one that gets to write to the navcache and similar places... the other loaded instances of FG get readonly access...
"You get more air close to the ground," said Angalo. "I read that in a book. You get lots of air low down, and not much when you go up."
"Why not?" said Gurder.
"Dunno. It's frightened of heights, I guess."
User avatar
wkitty42
 
Posts: 9146
Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2015 4:46 pm
Location: central NC, USA
Callsign: wk42
Version: git next
OS: Kubuntu 20.04

Re: Can't start FG

Postby JenniferT » Thu Jul 19, 2018 7:20 am

what is the semaphore file I should delete?
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Re: Can't start FG

Postby wkitty42 » Fri Jul 20, 2018 8:18 pm

AFAIK, there is no more PID file to worry about... the methodology was changed once the actual problem was figured out...
"You get more air close to the ground," said Angalo. "I read that in a book. You get lots of air low down, and not much when you go up."
"Why not?" said Gurder.
"Dunno. It's frightened of heights, I guess."
User avatar
wkitty42
 
Posts: 9146
Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2015 4:46 pm
Location: central NC, USA
Callsign: wk42
Version: git next
OS: Kubuntu 20.04


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