TerraMaxx not retaining settings in 11.50r3

[jfwharton]

I am running the release version of X Plane 11.50r3 and while TerraMaxx will set a season it will not retain the setting when X Plane is exited.  Instead when I start X Plane 11.50r3 again TerraMaxx is set to OFF.  Before it used to retain the last setting.

[sundog]

My guess would be that your Resources/plugins/TerraMaxx/settings.dat file has somehow become corrupt, or cannot be written for some reason. Try deleting that file and allow TerraMaxx to recreate it when it starts, and see if that helps.

[jfwharton]

I have already tried that and the file is blank inside when it is recreated.  So TerraMaxx is able to create the file it just isn't putting any settings in the settings file.

Edited October 3, 2020 by jfwharton

[sundog]

20 hours ago, jfwharton said:

I have already tried that and the file is blank inside when it is recreated.  So TerraMaxx is able to create the file it just isn't putting any settings in the settings file.

Hm, I just tried it here under X-Plane 11.50 (the released version) and it saved and restored my TerraMaxx setting successfully. If it's not some sort of filesystem issue I'm not sure what it might be. If you could attach your log.txt there's a slim chance it might tell us something.

@Cameronhave you ever encountered this with any other customers?

[jfwharton]

I tried last night changing over to Vulkan.  First I set it to Fall and then quit X Plane and restarted.  It had retained the settings.  Then I changed to Summer and did the same thing and it saved as well.  So I changed airports and then exited X Plane and started again and then it was set to OFF.  So I just started X Plane 11.50r3 in OpenGL mode at KCOS and TerraMaxx was set to OFF.  I set it to Summer and when it finished I exited X Plane.  Log1.txt file is the log file for that session.  I then started X Plane again and resumed the last flight.  Checking TerraMaxx it was set to OFF.  I then exited X Plane.  The Log2.txt file is for that session.

Log1.txt Log2.txt

[jfwharton]

I just did a test by disabling all plugins except TerraMaxx.  Started X Plane and set TerraMaxx to AUTO (it was OFF).  Exited X Plane and started again and checked TerraMaxx.  It was OFF again.

[sundog]

Really weird; I don't see any clues in your log files. Do you have any anti-virus products installed that might be sporadically interfering with our ability to write our settings file? Or maybe some sort of automatic backup software?

[jfwharton]

I use Norton 360 but it hasn't caused any problems in the past.  I have exclusions set to exclude my X Plane 11 folder and subfolders.  So I just added a specific exclusion for the settings.dat file and will try that.  But this is strange.

Edited October 5, 2020 by jfwharton

[jfwharton]

So I'm doing some additional testing.  I verified the integrity of the game files and as expected 150 or so files failed to verify and were reacquired.  This is caused by my use of one or two addons that enhance the airport textures (Airport Layout Enhancement Solution and Airport Enhancement Package).  Once the files were reacquired I started X Plane 11.50r3 and changed TerraMaxx from OFF to Auto.  After the textures were installed I exited and restarted X Plane.  TerraMaxx had retained the Auto setting.  I was in Vulkan.  I exited and restared and it was still in Auto.  I switched to Open GL and changed over to Summer.  Exited and restarted and it was still in Summer.  From this it would seem that something in one of the two airport enhancement packages I use was causing the issue.  I will continue to troubleshoot to see which one is causing the issue.

Update.  I spoke too soon.  Just started a flight in Open GL in X Plane and TerraMaxx is back to OFF.  Haven't reinstalled any airport enhancement textures.

[jfwharton]

So here is what I have discovered.  If I use Vulkan then TerraMaxx maintains the settings.  If I switch over to Open GL then it does not.  I want to use Open GL because the weather engine I use only supports Open GL.

[jfwharton]

Welll I guess so much for using TerraMaxx any more.

[sundog]

I really can't think of how Vulkan vs. OpenGL would affect TerraMaxx's ability to write its preferences file. It works exactly the same way in both cases.

We haven't heard of this happening from anyone else, so at this point I suspect an issue with your file system. It might be time to re-install X-Plane, and the add-ons you care about, into a new, fresh directory - preferably on a different hard drive if possible.

[Ben Russell]

My guess is that some OpenGL friendly plugin is changing the "working folder" and not restoring it properly which leads to Terramax writing its pref file to a folder its not expecting.

The test is of course to remove all your plugins and then test only Terramax in OpenGL in isolation and see if the problem persist with just terramax or if it's actually triggered by something else that only shows up in OGL mode.

[jfwharton]

Thank you for your suggestions.  I have already disabled all plugins except TerraMaxx and it still worked the same way.  Of course disabling probably isn't the same as removing the plugins.  So I renamed my X Plane 11 folder and did a clean install to a new folder, installed TerraMaxx along with the X-Aviation plugin.  Still had the same issue in Open GL.  So I guess I'm done for now because I am definitely not reinstalling Windows 10 for this issue.  I will just have to remove TerraMaxx and do witnout.

[sundog]

I'm admittedly at a loss; I just now tested TerraMaxx under OpenGL and it did save and restore its settings successfully here.

 

[jfwharton]

If your's is working and mine is not then it's probably a profile issue in Windows 10 (I am running Windows 10 2004).  That would require I create a new profile and them most likely have to reinstall things, which isn't worth it.  So for now TerraMaxx is unusable for me unfortunately.  I do not have any other issues with X Plane that I am aware of so it's not worth going through any more to fix it at this time.  It's a shame that Windows 10 is so self-corrupting that it breaks things every time there is a major windows update. But this sort of thing should not be profile related.  The installation should be straight forward so perhaps something is not quite correct with the permissions set up by the TerraMaxx installation.  Whatever the case i will not be using TerraMaxx any more.

Edited October 7, 2020 by jfwharton

[jfwharton]

I believe I have come up with a solution that will at least work for now.  I changed over to Vulkan and started X Plane 11.  I then changed TerraMaxx to each of the settings (Auto, Summer, Autumn, Mid Winter, Deep Winter) exiting X Plane after each change since TerraMaxx does not update the settings.dat file unless X Plane is exited.  I then copied each of the individual settings.dat files to separate folders, one for each setting.  Then I changed the properties of each of those files to make them read only.

I then changed over to OpenGL and started X Plane 11.  TerraMaxx now retains the settings in the settings.dat files since it cannot overwrite them.  So depending on the season I will have to copy over the appropriate settings.dat file depending on the time of the year.  But the file permissions are still the same for the TerraMaxx and SeasonsXP folders regardless of whether X Plane 11 is in OpenGL or Vulkan so I can't explain it either why it isn't working as expected.  My only thought is if it is related to some change LR made in 11.50 as it relates to Windows 10 2004 which I am running as 2004 broke some other plugins which needed to be updated for that Windows version.

Update.  I normally like to keep TerraMaxx in Summer so that my winterized ortho textures stay in Summer and I used a weather engine to create seasons for Autumn and Winter as it works on all scenery types.  So I just tried copying the Summer settings.dat file over and started X Plane and then tried changing over to Autumn and then exiting.  I was glad to see that TerraMaxx was still set to Summer when I restarted X Plane.  So this workaround will do for now.

Edited October 8, 2020 by jfwharton

[Torkermax]

I too am having this issue! Is it being ignored or just the way it is?

[Cameron]

1 hour ago, Torkermax said:

I too am having this issue! Is it being ignored or just the way it is?

I suggest you actually take the time to read the topic.

[Torkermax]

16 hours ago, Cameron said:

I suggest you actually take the time to read the topic.

Wrong answer!! for one I have no settings.dat file. that the best answer?