FS9 Reinstall

[Guest flightsimmernick]

Back from my hols and ready to get myself deeper into FS (he he)! I fear that since I last used FS9 everything has become very dated (scenery, AI flight plans, AI texture

[Guest ThrottleUp]

Do you *have* to reinstall? Ask yourself that first :)If you are not having major problems like regular CTDs and all that sort of thing why go through all the headache?AI planes and plans are easily updated. Scenery is easily added/removed (FS9 will generate a new scenery.cfg)and just delete the old fs9.cfg to have the sim spit out a brand new one all ready to tweak.Likewise your aircraft folder is easy to tidy up. Create a folder called "My Hanger" or something like that and dump all the planes you hardly ever fly in there. Move them in and out of FS9/Aircraft when you want to use them. Its good that you have backed everything up in case you want to go ahead with a reinstall. Best to have a disk-image of your FS9 installation then u can just restore it in a snap. Something to chew on :)

[Guest flightsimmernick]

I have been asking myself that question and caim to the conclusion that it will just be easier to start with a clean sweep. As it has been along time (18 or so months) since I last used the sim and am finding it harder to find everything where I left off. There are some annoying little things I could do with clearing when I reinstall as well. IS it not even worth it to help with performance of my PC?

[lliaudais 2]

Hi,Maybe you've already done it and some of my thoughts may be too late but I'll throw them out for what it's worth.0. Never, never, never change things when you are tired or in a hurry! You will regret it later. How else did I lock in my VOZ textures and couldn't restore the defaults?1. Do a complete clean install with updates, tweaks, settings, and maybe your 2 or 3 MOST favorite AC. Add the SDK, FSUIPC, and any other "merged" utilities. Keep it just under 4.7G that will fit on a DVD and after testing thoroughly, burn it to DVD. This is your backup and consolation while you rebuild the perfect and complete version.2. FS9 doesn't care a flip about where it is run from or whether it is "registered". I accidently flew FS9 (installed in 98) under XP (dual-boot) and it never even blinked. The registry entries are needed for add-ons. There are utilities to 'fix' the registry entries and I've used them effectively when necessary.3. All new/changed files have an Archive bit set when this happens (such as during an installation). Once you have things set, you can turn off all archive bits in the FS9 folder (view as attribute 'A' in Explorer window - detail view) and thereafter any changed file will be marked and you will always know what is original and what has be added or overwritten.4. Personal preference: gauges go in the individual panel folders so there is never a version conflict; some duplication, but you always know what came with what.5. If space is limited, you don't need to have 47 different texture sets for the default 737. The more AC that are installed, the longer the load time - strip out the ones you don't really want. Remove infrequently used AC folder from the sim (intact). There is no problem dropping an infrequently-used AC folder into the live sim from a 'hanger' folder; there may be some issue with removing it...6. Little text files in various folders can help you record changes or sources of addons; why you added this and when you added that.7. Lots of small utilities can be in an added folder within FS9 so that they get moved or saved intact along with the main FS9 Folder. 8. Backup. Document. Backup. Document. Backup. Document...The other 27 I can't remember right now...Loyd

[Guest flightsimmernick]

Thanks for that! :)I am still trying to work out whether it is best to start from scratch (if i do will start at the weekend) or just modify and do some srious cleaning of what I have installed at the moment. Could anyone offer any advice if I just want to a cleanup. Removing aircraft etc is OK but is their anything I can run to improve performance or clean up disk space with uninstalling FS9?

[ailchim 206]

One thing I would advise you NOT to do is attempt to re-install any payware from back-up - always reinstall it from the original download website or disk.I can't prove that badly re-installed payware was the cause, but I tried to re-install that way once and ended up with a constant stream of CTD's. I know from using Filemon and Regmon that there were a whole load of searches going on which weren't finding whatever keys or files they were looking for.And this was all perfectly legal software btw - bought & paid for - before anyone accuses me of piracy!