You may see this error in the Intel® Quartus® Prime software version 19.1 when program .jic file that is generated user defined flash device using Quartus® Programmer.
To work around this problem, you can use either one of the options:
Option 1: Store the defined flash XML at quartus/common/devinfo/programmer/xml directory which is the default option.
Option 2: Store the XML and JIC files in the same directory.
This problem is scheduled to be fixed in a future version of Intel® Quartus® Prime software.