Cannot display S63 Charts

[Mac55]

Hi
My particular challenge is getting official S63 charts from the Australian Hydrographic Office (AHO) to work in OpenCPN. By way of background, I obtained a User Permit through O-Charts in 2016 and have held separate AHO licences for my PolarView (PV) and OpenCPN permits since then. However, I found OpenCPN truly daunting to work with (I’m a mariner user, not a computer geek) and have since used PV exclusively during private sailing in the Mediterranean and in Australia. The AHO charts still display perfectly on PV however, now that PV is no longer maintained, I have updated to OpenCPN 5.0.0+9065270 and tried to get to grips with it.
I have been able to load and display the New Zealand Mariner RNC chart pack via the Chart Downloader, but unable to display my Australian ENCs (updated fortnightly through the AHO, which also issues updates to permits). I have checked my setup against the one issued for a state marine rescue service and been unable to spot any errors.
The OpenCPN user and install permit identities have not changed, Certificate Name is ‘IHO.PUB’ and the user permit ID is identical to that on my AHO permit for OpenCPN. The setup includes S63 plugin V1.2, the file location directory is correct in Options-Charts-Chart Files, and I have assigned the RNCs and ENCs into separate groups in the Chart Groups tab.
The warning ‘Group AHO ENC is empty’ appears after completing Options-Charts-Chart Files-Scan Charts and Update Database / Force Full Database rebuild / Prepare All ENC Charts, and also after completing Options-Charts-S63 Charts-Chart Cells-Import Cell Permits / Import Charts/Updates.

Grateful for any advice or a trouble-shooting guide - thanks in advance.

[bcn]

Have gone through the manual available at o-charts?
https://manuals.o-charts.org/s63_en_US.html


Do the UserPermit and the OpenCPN InstallPermit test ok at the S-63 key/permits tab?


Hubert

[Mac55]

Thanks for the reply, bcn/Hubert, and apologies for my delayed response.
The O-Charts guide you pointed to is identical to the marine rescue service guide I used before the original post; I have worked through the O-Charts guide, and both the UserPermit and the OpenCPN InstallPermit test ok at that step. Using the most recent AHO update, 168 cell permits were updated in the Charts tab – Import Cell Permits process. When I select ‘Import Charts/Updates’ three messages appear in the S63_pi Log window:
0: 169 CATALOG.031 file not found in ENC_ROOT
1: 170 Finished Cell Update, ERRORS encountered
2: 171 Total import time 00:00:00
After I ‘Apply’ these changes, I get the same result: the charts do not display and the warning ‘Group AHO ENC is empty’ appears.
Because my PN installation works from the same cell files (different permit, of course), I think it safe to rule out a permit error. OpenCPN still displays the RNCs just fine, so it looks like an S63 configuration error or corruption that I cannot resolve.
Cheers
Richard

[requiem]

Probably a basic thing, but in your preferences, under Charts -> Chart Groups, if you select the "AHO ENC" group is anything listed? (I'm assuming not.). But above that, in the "all available charts" section, do you see the AHO charts? If so, you might just need to add them to the group. (I'm on 5.0.1, so they may have rejiggered things.)

[bcn]

The Catalog.031 file is an integral and mandatory part of the S-63 exchange set.
If it is not present, something went wrong when copying the set onto the machine.


Hubert

[Mac55]

Thanks for your help, Requiem and Hubert. The CATALOG.031 file is now being found in the ENC_ROOT folder, but the charts still do not display and the warning ‘Group AHO ENC is empty’ still appears.
I deleted all the chart files and loaded afresh the current base charts, the cumulative chart update to 29 May and current PERMIT.TXT. I copied the 29 May CATALOG.031 and SERIAL.ENC files into the ENC_ROOT folder with the chart files:
· In Options-Charts-Chart Groups, ‘All Available Charts’ points to the correct folders (i.e. the RNC folder and the ENC_ROOT folder). In ‘Chart Groups’ the two folders are shown in the ‘All Charts’ tab, and only the correct folder is shown in the RNC and ENC tab respectively (i.e. folder name only, no chart names).
· In Options-Charts-Chart Files, I checked ‘Scan Charts and Update Database’ and ‘Force Full Database Rebuild.’ On completion of ‘Prepare all ENC Charts’ the warning ‘Group AHO ENC is empty’ appears.
· In Options-Charts-S63 charts, after importing the new cell permit and importing charts/updates, ‘Group AHO ENC is empty’ appears.
Any suggestions would be most welcome!
Cheers,
Richard

[bcn]

Do the chart outlines of the S-63 cells show up with "All active charts" (short cut "0" zero) selected?


If a chart group did loose its charts (deleted chart directory or similar) you will need to delete the group, create and populate it again with the chart directories you want to see in the group.

[Mac55]

Hi,
No, chart outlines didn’t show with “All active charts” (would they display over RNCs?), and again after the group was deleted, recreated and populated with the directory for them.
I really have no idea what is going on.

[bcn]

Outlines for all charts are shown in case those are present. See the two examples below: one with raster active and the other with vector.
Remember that raster and vector will be presented alternatively.


Your S-63 charts:
- the OpenCPN InstallPermit tests ok?

- are the cell permits installed (charts--> S-63 Tab --> keys and permits)?
- And afterwards you did install the cells in the correct order - first base then updates?



If all positive and no charts visible (rebuild chart data base?) then please attach your OpenCPN log file.


Hubert

[Mac55]

Hi, and thanks again.
After your last post, I deleted and reinstalled the base and updates – no change.
I waited until the next base (no updates) was released on 10 July and today copied all permits and data over the previous six months files – no change.
I rebuilt the database on each occasion – no change. The User and Install Permits have always tested ok since first installation in 2016 (remembering that the S63 files are obtained directly from the AHO website rather than from a third party, and copied/pasted directly into the computer folders).
The log indicates that cell permits were updated from 4:51:11 to 4:52:05; the problems begin at the attempted import of charts/updates from 05:11:29, although the program is looking in the correct locations.

[Mac55]

Sorry, it looks like the log is too big to attach. Do you wanr it cut down in to 3 sections? Is that allowed?

[bcn]

You can send us the log and please as well the OpenCPN config file to
info at o-charts.org

Hubert