"XXXX" is not a recognized airport identifier

[ymnoor21]

Re: "XXXX" is not a recognized airport identifier

Okay, now I have another issue. Now that I've updated all the flight plans to use the new ICAO code VGHS, TG is showing 33K+ flights on the Home screen but on the actual "Traffic Global Flight Plans" page showing only one flight plan even though no filter is selected. I've made sure no filter is applied to any columns. Not only the AI is not showing up in my new VGHS airport, but also this is going on in the TG.

[Capt Quirk]

This post is deleted!

[Capt Quirk]

@ymnoor21
I've been trying to see if I can help by duplicating the problem using a freeware scenery.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but are VGZR and VGHS physically the same airport? In other words, has the airport just had a change of ICAO code?

[ymnoor21]

@Capt-Quirk said in "XXXX" is not a recognized airport identifier:

t are VGZR and VGHS physically the same airport? In other words, has the airport just had a change of

Correct. They are essentially the same airport. ICAO change happened couple of years ago. But P3D never updated it. Anyway, the payware that I bought offered to change the ICAO to VGHS (from old VGZR) and I did it. So P3D now shows VGHS. Unfortunately, I cannot get TG to work with it and now I am also left with only one Global flight plan even though the home screen shows 33K+ flights available.

[Capt Quirk]

@ymnoor21 The TG compiler often seems to cause issues of one sort or another.
It would be no surprise if, because of the change to the ICAO in the flightplans, it has thrown out the vast majority during the compilation process.

Since you've changed the reference in the flightplans to VGSH, one possible way might be to just edit the ICAO code from VGZR to VGHS in airportLookup.xlsx in C:\Users\your username\Documents\TrafficGlobal\LookUps [back it up first, just in case!] and recompile using the TG compiler.

Or...
VGHS (freeware) TG recompiled using AIFP3

I have tested another possible solution by recompiling Traffic_Global_Airlines.bgl using AI Flight Planner (AIFP3) instead.
All I have done is to decompile the Traffic_Global_Airlines.bgl , change VGZR to VGHS in the resulting Airports_Global_Airlines.txt and Flightplans_Global_Airlines.txt (since it's essentially the same airport) and recompiled.
[You might have to recompile first using the TG compiler with the flightplans set to VGZR, just to get more flightplans through the compiler before you use AIFP3]
Might be worth a try..... (you can always backup your Traffic_Global_Airlines.bgl so you can reinstate it if this doesn't work for you)

[ymnoor21]

@Capt-Quirk said in "XXXX" is not a recognized airport identifier:

Traffic_Global_Airlines

I've tried the first method without success i.e replacing VGZR to VGHS in the airportLookup.xlsx file.

Can you please write down the steps for the second method. I'm a little confused about what you meant.

[Ray Fry]

This is longwinded but works in the main flight plan screen select the departure tab at the top then scroll down to the ICAO code you want to edit, change them then compile it works.
LTFM with LTBA plans edited.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/154944674@N05/48759356562/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/154944674@N05/48759348167/in/dateposted-public/
In fact you can reassign flight plans for unknown airports to a nearby airport provided you have the Req,d parking and increase your traffic.

Also you appear to be missing some flight plans in TG.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/154944674@N05/49280879751/in/dateposted-public/

[Capt Quirk]

@ymnoor21
Hi Yamin.

Pity that didn't work, I honestly thought it would, since it's the same airport. As it's only the identification code that has changed, it should be a fairly straightforward fix.
So long as that identifier is the same in both the flightplans and the airport code lookup (ie: VGHS instead of VGZR), then I wouldn't have thought there'd be a problem compiling, whether you used TG or AIFP3.
I'm obviously not sure if you are familiar with AIFP3, so please forgive me if I cover stuff you already know. (If you haven't used AIFP3 before, then this method might prove to be a more slightly complicated approach to a simple problem).
[I have not got P3Dv4, so these instructions relate to FSX]
Save a copy of your current Traffic_Global_Airlines.bgl as a backup.

AIFP3 is available from:
http://stuff4fs.com/newpage.asp?folder=AIFP

Once installed, fire it up and, from the menu, choose Files > Open Traffic File (bgl) and select your Traffic_Global_Airlines.bgl.

The program decompiles the TG traffic (just hit OK to ignore all the warning messages).

From the menu, select Files > Save File Set As..
AIFP3 will save 3 text files:

Aircraft_Global_Airlines.txt
Airports_Global_Airlines.txt
Flightplans_Global_Airlines.txt

Close AIFP3.

Open Airports_Global_Airlines.txt, find VGZR and replace it with VGHS. Save the file.
Open Flightplans_Global_Airlines.txt, find VGZR and 'replace all' with VGHS. Save the file.

Open AIFP3, from the menu choose Files > Open TTools-Style Flight Plan file and select your previously saved Flightplans_Global_Airlines.txt. (again, ignore any popups)

Once all the data is loaded, select 'FSX' at the left side and hit the button at middle bottom: 'Compile' (the program will save the compiled .bgl to any location if you Select Compile Parameters, so you can either point to the default P3Dv4 location or anywhere convenient)

[A manual is included in the AIFP3 installation directory, if you run into any trouble].
AIFP3 will also reduce the number of flightplans compiled, but by an almost imperceptible amount.(My 10.7MB TG traffic file lost just 0.3Mb)

Since this is just another method of doing the same thing as the TG program, one or the other should work for you.

If you're still getting no ai at VGHS then there might be an FS9 traffic file lurking somewhere (an FS9 format file doesn't necessarily kill off all the ai in FSX as I discovered recently when I lost all traffic just around EGNX. The problem turned out to be caused by just one flightplan to a nearby airport)

Luckily, AIFP3 is a handy 'Swiss Army knife' and has an option to weed out any old FS9 files. (As has the TG program, of course).

Might be worth a try if you cannot resolve your problem as FS9 format files often lurk in the most unexpected places.

Apologies for this lengthy reply to what is a very straightforward problem, but I hope it helps and you can get traffic back at VGHS.

EDIT: I guess one other simple option would be to change the ICAO code of the payware scenery back to VGZR (if that's possible) and keep everything in TG using VGZR.

[ymnoor21]

@Capt-Quirk I cannot thank you enough for the details. It absolutely amazes me how far people would go to help others. I truly appreciate your effort. Thanks to you, I was finally able to bring traffic to VGHS. So here's what I did:

1. Took backup of C:\Users\ymnoo\Documents\TrafficGlobal\lookUps\airportLookup.xlsx

2. Replace all the 'VGZR' to 'VGHS'.

3. Took backup of C:\Users\ymnoo\Documents\TrafficGlobal\Schedules\TrafficGlobalDatabase.xlsx

4. Replace all the 'VGZR' to 'VGHS'.

5. Open Traffic Global.

6. Go to "Traffic Global Flight Plans" tab.

7. Made sure all the departure and arrival airports are using VGHS.

8. Now "Compile Traffic Database".

For some reason, when I do the steps 3-8 in Traffic Global, it messes up my flight plans. So I did it by manipulating the .xlsx files manually.

[ymnoor21]

Look at what I found: https://support.justflight.com/support/solutions/articles/17000073320-possibility-of-adding-editing-airport-icao-s

[Capt Quirk]

@ymnoor21
That link was quite a find!
I'm sure it could be very enlightening to the many TG users who are encountering similar problems because of the now hugely outdated defaults.
Very pleased to hear that you managed to solve your particular issue and can enjoy traffic again!