Originally Posted by: PlainCityMan

When I install an Add-On, it's Indicators, Explorations and/or Expert Advisors are not showing up in MetaStock 18.  It is possible to use the back door approach (Indicator Builder->Organizer->Formula Organizer Wizzard) to get them installed into MetaStock but they will not install with the Add-On installation.  A MetaStock software expert chalked it up to vague notions about my OS security profile but had no real answers other than uninstalling and reinstalling various things (a guessing game).  Even Fire 2.0 indicators and explorations didn't install into MetaStock.  So, I'm wondering if it might have something to do with the fact that MetaStock is installed on my D: drive and these Add-Ons assume that everthing is on the C drive like they did in the 1980s.  One other thing with Fire 2.0 is that my stock lists are not showing up in the Fire Lists tab at the bottom of the dialog yet they show up just fine in the MetaStock Power Console.  Maybe this is a clue to the other problem?  Anyone have any insight what might be wrong?

Hello,

Generally speaking our add-on installation packages simply run their associated FOSETUP.EXE files. The FOSETUP.EXE is basically an archive format (like a ZIP file) that also calls FORMORG.EXE (Formula Organizer), looking in the Windows Registry to locate this.

It's possible that something could prevent the FOSETUP.EXE from querying the registry (i.e. a security program or a rights issue) or the Registry entry used to locate FORMORG.EXE is not pointing to the right drive/folder.

Typically MetaStock is designed to install on the local C: drive, but as long as the FOSETUP.EXE file is calling the correct FORMORG.EXE file (wherever it might be) it should not care which drive that is. If you contact our support team again, we can make sure that everything is pointing to the correct drive location. It's possible there was some confusion here if MetaStock is in fact installed on your D: drive, so we should probably confirm the registry keys are correctly looking on the D: drive if that is the case.

You can also try doing this on your own if you prefer. FOSETUP.EXE should potentially use a couple registry keys that you will want to ensure are looking in the correct location for your MetaStock installation. You will want to exercise caution whenever modifying the Windows Registry as this can cause Windows problems if you modify/remove the incorrect registry entries. Our relevant registry keys are as follows.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Innovative Market Analysis\Common\18\File Paths

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Equis\Common\18.0\File Paths

If MetaStock is in fact installed on your D: drive, then the "ProgramPath" string value in both of the above locations should be pointing to your D: drive and not your C: drive. You can double-click on the "ProgramPath" string value to modify the drive letter as appropriate.

The issue with FIRE 2 and MetaStock lists is a known issue with version 18 and would be unrelated to the issue above. We will be releasing an update to FIRE 2 in the near future which will correct this. As a temporary measure you can copy your 18 custom lists (typically C:\Users\(Windows.User)\AppData\Local\Innovative Market Analysis\MetaStock\18.0\CustomLists although this might be the D: drive in your case) into a 17.0 folder (C:\Users\(Windows.User)\AppData\Local\Innovative Market Analysis\MetaStock\17.0\CustomLists).

Basically FIRE 2 was set up to read from this 17 location. The update will correct this so that it does not matter what version of MetaStock you have, it will use the correct version folder to look for your custom list files.

Edited by user Monday, July 18, 2022 4:37:41 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Originally Posted by: PlainCityMan

Thanks for your response. I was wrong about MetaStock being on the D drive. It is on the C drive.

Thank you again for your message. I apologize for the negative experience installing the add-ons. Usually this installation process is pretty seamless and it can sometimes be a bit challenging to identify what is preventing this process from proceeding as designed.

If you do decide to contact our support again, I would just make sure to let them know you have done extensive troubleshooting on the issue on a previous call so that we don't start the process over from the beginning.

It can be a bit of a process of elimination / trial and error to try and determine why the Formula Organizer is not working from the typical installation process. This can involve things like testing the installation from a new Windows user account, disabling 3rd party applications that could potentially interfere with the installation (i.e. security applications), etc. This can take extra time to figure out unfortunately, but isolating the root cause of the problem is preferable.