Discovered Serious Patching Bug

[Bruce Hamilton]

Bugs are just that, bugs. Fan boys need not worry themselves that bugs exist, the real measure is what a software company does about it.

It isn't a bug, that's just how windows (un)installers work. They make a list of what they've installed and where, and they only remove what is on that list. If a file was added or changed, it doesn't match what is on that list and won't be removed.

[Lewis - A2A]

Hey guys,

this sounds like not removing all files correctly after an uninstall. Telling an uninstaller to delete files that didn't exist until years after its creation is something that not even Accu-sim can do.

What we can do is continue to update our products 7+ post release via our updater program. The offset to this is indeed that some files are updated/created well post release and so are missed during an uninstall. The updater itself will not remove the update lists, this can be done manually as and when needed, though as noted, so long as manuals are read and things installed in the correct order this should be a rare event.

thanks,
Lewis

[nullack]

Hey guys,

this sounds like not removing all files correctly after an uninstall. Telling an uninstaller to delete files that didn't exist until years after its creation is something that not even Accu-sim can do.

What we can do is continue to update our products 7+ post release via our updater program. The offset to this is indeed that some files are updated/created well post release and so are missed during an uninstall. The updater itself will not remove the update lists, this can be done manually as and when needed, though as noted, so long as manuals are read and things installed in the correct order this should be a rare event.

thanks,
Lewis

Thanks for the response Lewis.

Telling an uninstaller to delete files that didn't exist until years after its creation is something that not even Accu-sim can do.

The solution is easy and obvious I would have thought. Just add some simple if logic to the packager to say if these updater files exist, delete them, else, move on. Then recompile your packages and distribute it out. I suspect what your actually saying is something like "we dont think its worth our time to fix" which is a business decision that I dont agree with, but I accept its A2A's right to do so.

The updater itself will not remove the update lists, this can be done manually as and when needed, though as noted, so long as manuals are read and things installed in the correct order this should be a rare event.

Where, in what A2A manuals, does it say that the uninstaller has a known flaw that requires manually deleting files in cases where the update patcher has been run? I cant recall seeing this anywhere.

Also, how is it a rare event. It occurs everytime a user uninstalls A2A aircraft, and doesnt manually delete the patcher files as well, and reinstalls it. Especially since documentation on this matter seems to be absent.

Thanks

[Lewis - A2A]

Hello,

please re-read my reply the files are often created years post release so theres no logic to be added, the installers are stock and the updater methods may change making many of these changes as we have found out in the past, totally null and void.

I am going to assume you are somewhat new to MSFS as most installers including the MSFS ones themselves do not remove every single file from a computer post uninstall.

And as noted a reinstall should be a rare event, ive never had to reinstall a single FS product on my sim system, I'm not why i ever would unless in the rare occasion through user error I utterly mess up my FS installation

thanks,
Lewis

[aeronauta]

" I'm not why i ever would unless in the rare occasion through user error I utterly mess up my FS installation "

precisely, and then is when this updater fails...

Jorge

[Nick - A2A]

Hey guys,

this sounds like not removing all files correctly after an uninstall.

Hi Lewis - one little suggestion would be to add a brief description of the reinstall procedure to the FAQ thread - i.e. the location of those files which should be manually removed. The inability of the updater to install any updates if the aircraft has been reinstalled for some reason does seem to catch a lot of people out. (Myself included a while back after I used my original installer to reinstall my Cherokee after I'd accidentally overwritten some of the original textures when getting to grips with repainting! )

Cheers,
Nick

P.S. Yeah - I know most people don't read FAQ threads, so doubt it would help much anyway!

[Tug002]

Just to add a little bit, when I do an uninstall I also do a search of the whole computer after manually uninstalling the files as to make sure none were left out. It can be quite time consuming but if you want something to work properly it is worth the effort. This is not an A2A thing, nearly all programs leave info and folders left behind when uninstalling.
Keep smiling
Tug

[Oracle427]

Yes, nearly every program in windows suffers from this problem. If the program writes any files those are almost always left behind along with the folders they are located in.