COMPLETE FSX INSTALL AND TUNING GUIDE

[Guest Nick_N]

I do not intend to go back and forth about anything in this thread I know for a fact is beating a dead horse ..I have provided the link to the specifications on the 8400 video card which cleary show why the 8400 can not by technical design deliver the amount of autogen and scenery 100% sliders would request and maintain performance especially in large cities. I understand some people may not be able to follow the specs and transfer that to the title however I do not have time to outline everything about those specs and why. Windows7 is no different than Windows Vista for FSX performace... none A 8400 video card is not rendering high performance with 100% sliders in FSX. That is flat out nonsense I have also explained the settings for mesh and texture resolution... You guys do what ever you wish to do The settings I posted are fine for anyone to use and there are reasons for using them they way I outlined.. Can that be altered? of course! Have fun! :(

[Guest Nick_N]

I edited the threadWhat I have posted in FSX tuning is to get people in the RIGHT ballpark so they can tune their system in with a good methodology in starting off. There can be differences and there can be some variations but for the most part what I posted should get most systems tuned correctly. under the Mesh and Tex ResolutionThe minimums on this for all systems are 76m and 38m Mesh Res and 1m Texture Res based on the FSX installed meshs (note: Acceleration mesh for Mt. St. Helens is 3m) and majority of the textures and you can run any resolution you like however I have always found the settings 10M / 7cm to help with clarity in the high LOD radius when flying over textures @ airspeed. Your Milage May Vary - !FSGenesis USA mesh is 10m.. other products can varyMine is set to 10m/7cm and remains there for any area/sceneI hope that makes everyone happy now .. it covers all the details :(

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Having the app on another drive on its own partition not only removes it from UAC issues but more important it not subjected to a expanding and contracting OS volume, is safe in the event of a OS crash or drive loss. The FSX on another drive remains much cleaner and can be installed to a 64K cluster format which significantly reduces fragmentation and maintenanceIts own volume places the application on the disk for optimal geometric disk performance with respect to file calls

Hi NickFirst off, thank you very much for all of the advice you have penned on optimizing our OS's and FSX. I've made marked gains by employing your easy to follow advice. You've put a lot of work into not only working all of the technical details out, but then taking the trouble to craft the detailed steps for us...well..."thanks" feels a bit shallow, in light of this. I hope you know there are a lot of readers that appreciate what you've done.OK, that aside, I'm curious about installing FSX on a second drive. I had done it in the past, 'a system ago', but just took the easy way out when I loaded FSX on the new system a while back. I've not reloaded FSX since originally loaded, and have the usual menagerie of addons and tweaks. All of this makes reloading ominous.In anticipation of changing operating systems, if I load FSX on say 'Drive E:', with the WinXP OS on 'Drive C:', can I get away with replacing 'Drive C' with a different OS and run the existing FSX installation on 'Drive E:'?It seems like most Windows apps have to be installed by the OS itself to work, so I wouldn't think my suggestion would be successful. But, could I get away with: (This would take using several/extra HDD's)1. C: WinXP OS; Install and tweak FSX with addons on E:2. Replace C:, install (for example), Vista64; install basic FSX on *replacement* E: (Both HDD's have been replaced)3. Remove *replacement* E:, *re*install E: with customized FSX.My logic was that the OS would think it dutifully installed FSX on "E:", and the paths for the FSX installation shouldn't change...dunno, I'm just not that sharp on this stuff. Maybe I don't even need to try to trick the OS and FSX. (??)Is there a way to 'transport' an FSX installation to a new OS?I have both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Win7 that I'm experimenting with, but I know they will evaporate in August, provoking another reload. In short, I want to be able to swap OS's without reloading FSX each time, and all of the attendant addons, controller settings and so on. It sounded like this was how you had your system set up. If you've explained this in another post, my apologies, I did nose around but must have missed it.Incidentally, I'm currently running FSX on WinXP *Home*...I didn't know about the /3Gb switch at the time or I would have gotten 'Pro'. So I can't get the use of my 4 Gb of ram currently. And with a couple of addons, I think overall memory is becoming and issue.I think I want to be on a 64 bit system, but I'm not sure if all of 'my stuff' will work. My FSX system is a little quirky, in that I'm using an E6850 @ 3.8, with two graphics adapters (8800 GTX & 7900 GS...and occasionally add a PCI 5500), with TH2go running five monitors, soon to be adding a sixth touch screen. Plus, I've just gotten started using TouchBuddy over a network with another computer. I have CH Controllers. I'm concerned I'll run into not having working drivers for some of this stuff. I've just loaded Win7 64, so I'll find that out, though of course it's a beta, and driver issue should be expected. (I tried loading a Vista64 driver for my MB audio and it rudely pointed out that what I was trying to load was for another OS.)I am curious about XP64 and Vista64, since they have been finalized...are the driver issues worked out for those OS's?Are there known shortcomings in this regard? (Devices that are widely known not to work.)And advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.Best Regards,Noel WBrisbane

[Guest Nick_N]

Hi NickFirst off, thank you very much for all of the advice you have penned on optimizing our OS's and FSX. I've made marked gains by employing your easy to follow advice. You've put a lot of work into not only working all of the technical details out, but then taking the trouble to craft the detailed steps for us...well..."thanks" feels a bit shallow, in light of this. I hope you know there are a lot of readers that appreciate what you've done.OK, that aside, I'm curious about installing FSX on a second drive. I had done it in the past, 'a system ago', but just took the easy way out when I loaded FSX on the new system a while back. I've not reloaded FSX since originally loaded, and have the usual menagerie of addons and tweaks. All of this makes reloading ominous.In anticipation of changing operating systems, if I load FSX on say 'Drive E:', with the WinXP OS on 'Drive C:', can I get away with replacing 'Drive C' with a different OS and run the existing FSX installation on 'Drive E:'?It seems like most Windows apps have to be installed by the OS itself to work, so I wouldn't think my suggestion would be successful. But, could I get away with: (This would take using several/extra HDD's)1. C: WinXP OS; Install and tweak FSX with addons on E:2. Replace C:, install (for example), Vista64; install basic FSX on *replacement* E: (Both HDD's have been replaced)3. Remove *replacement* E:, *re*install E: with customized FSX.My logic was that the OS would think it dutifully installed FSX on "E:", and the paths for the FSX installation shouldn't change...dunno, I'm just not that sharp on this stuff. Maybe I don't even need to try to trick the OS and FSX. (??)Is there a way to 'transport' an FSX installation to a new OS?I have both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Win7 that I'm experimenting with, but I know they will evaporate in August, provoking another reload. In short, I want to be able to swap OS's without reloading FSX each time, and all of the attendant addons, controller settings and so on. It sounded like this was how you had your system set up. If you've explained this in another post, my apologies, I did nose around but must have missed it.Incidentally, I'm currently running FSX on WinXP *Home*...I didn't know about the /3Gb switch at the time or I would have gotten 'Pro'. So I can't get the use of my 4 Gb of ram currently. And with a couple of addons, I think overall memory is becoming and issue.I think I want to be on a 64 bit system, but I'm not sure if all of 'my stuff' will work. My FSX system is a little quirky, in that I'm using an E6850 @ 3.8, with two graphics adapters (8800 GTX & 7900 GS...and occasionally add a PCI 5500), with TH2go running five monitors, soon to be adding a sixth touch screen. Plus, I've just gotten started using TouchBuddy over a network with another computer. I have CH Controllers. I'm concerned I'll run into not having working drivers for some of this stuff. I've just loaded Win7 64, so I'll find that out, though of course it's a beta, and driver issue should be expected. (I tried loading a Vista64 driver for my MB audio and it rudely pointed out that what I was trying to load was for another OS.)I am curious about XP64 and Vista64, since they have been finalized...are the driver issues worked out for those OS's?Are there known shortcomings in this regard? (Devices that are widely known not to work.)And advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.Best Regards,Noel WBrisbane

Hi NoelTo give you the short and sweet answer... the issue about using or moving FSX is more about the addons than FSX itself but none the less you must still physically install FSX into the new system on the 2nd drive to ensure the files associated with the OS are there and registered. After that you can simply overwrite with a backup of the original FSX install... howeverIf the addons have any dependencies on the OS/registry then your addons won

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NickThank you for taking the time to respond. My sense after reading your input, is that I might end up with a mess...and end up doing a complete install anyway.One thing I wanted to clarify, as I guess I wasn't clear:"Next problem is your original is on the OS drive now meaning any references to the original install on C in addons may cause problems. I don

[Guest Nick_N]

NickThank you for taking the time to respond. My sense after reading your input, is that I might end up with a mess...and end up doing a complete install anyway.One thing I wanted to clarify, as I guess I wasn't clear:"Next problem is your original is on the OS drive now meaning any references to the original install on C in addons may cause problems. I don

[Vuong 0]

Hi Nick,I have FSX Sp2 in Vista. What files or folders from FSX should I copy to another drive for reference and safe backup?c:\programfiles\Microsoft games\Microsoft flight Simulator Xadministrator\appdata\roaming\microsoft\fsxdocument\flight simulator X filesc:\programdata\microsoft\fsxIs anything else that I missed?jimmy

[Guest Nick_N]

Hi Nick,I have FSX Sp2 in Vista. What files or folders from FSX should I copy to another drive for reference and safe backup?c:\programfiles\Microsoft games\Microsoft flight Simulator Xadministrator\appdata\roaming\microsoft\fsxdocument\flight simulator X filesc:\programdata\microsoft\fsxIs anything else that I missed?jimmy

looks like you have it coveredAll you really need is the FSX files in My Documents, the logbook - granted rewards (if you want those 2 times) and a copy of the FSX.cfg file for reference. Never overwrite an new FSX.cfg.. always edit your additions into it manually after you have installed FSX with the new OS and patched it correctlyI keep a copy of dll.xml to make sure my edits in that file for the SDK and a few addons are restored. Its in the same location as FSX.cfgFSX creates and writes everything else when it is installed. Unless there is an addon that may address one of the other file/folders when it installs I do not se a reason to keep everything but it is always best to be safe

[mjrhealth 820]

My original FSX install was on drive C:. I completely copied the FSX folder to a new partition E:, and deleted the old folder. I then had to run the reg repair to correct its path, some things simply needed a path fix to there shortcuts, i think i had to do some corrections to the FSX cfg as well, and reinstalled a few things but that went reasonably well. I just lately put fsx on its own drive, the new drive was named to the last whatever that was, the fsx install was copied to it, the old partition was renamed to the last drive and the new fsx drive became drive E as per orginal change so didnt need to update anything, only problem is its on the slowes drive on my system which i didnt realise till afterwards, but such is life.

[Vuong 0]

looks like you have it coveredAll you really need is the FSX files in My Documents, the logbook - granted rewards (if you want those 2 times) and a copy of the FSX.cfg file for reference. Never overwrite an new FSX.cfg.. always edit your additions into it manually after you have installed FSX with the new OS and patched it correctlyI keep a copy of dll.xml to make sure my edits in that file for the SDK and a few addons are restored. Its in the same location as FSX.cfgFSX creates and writes everything else when it is installed. Unless there is an addon that may address one of the other file/folders when it installs I do not se a reason to keep everything but it is always best to be safe

Hi Nick,ThanksJimmy

[Guest]

Just to be sure: I know I shouldn't install FSX into the Program Files folder... on the default system disk (I use Vista btw). But does that mean I can install FSX in a handmade folder called Program Files on my D: disk...? Or are folders called Program Files ALWAYS (turned into) special folders? And should I install it in a folder called Games or whatever, but NEVER Program Files?In short: is the (automatically created) folder C:/Program Files the same as the (manually created) D:/Program Files folder or not?

[dhwang 0]

Just to be sure: I know I shouldn't install FSX into the Program Files folder... on the default system disk (I use Vista btw). But does that mean I can install FSX in a handmade folder called Program Files on my D: disk...? Or are folders called Program Files ALWAYS (turned into) special folders? And should I install it in a folder called Games or whatever, but NEVER Program Files?In short: is the (automatically created) folder C:/Program Files the same as the (manually created) D:/Program Files folder or not?

You can install FSX to another drive and folder. I install FSX to F:\FSX.

[Guest Nick_N]

My original FSX install was on drive C:. I completely copied the FSX folder to a new partition E:, and deleted the old folder. I then had to run the reg repair to correct its path, some things simply needed a path fix to there shortcuts, i think i had to do some corrections to the FSX cfg as well, and reinstalled a few things but that went reasonably well. I just lately put fsx on its own drive, the new drive was named to the last whatever that was, the fsx install was copied to it, the old partition was renamed to the last drive and the new fsx drive became drive E as per orginal change so didnt need to update anything, only problem is its on the slowes drive on my system which i didnt realise till afterwards, but such is life.

Moving it is possible with reg repair if you are not reinstalling the OS since all the files are there but its still a PITAIts easier to just do it right the first time and place it on its own drive to avoid the headaches and problems that may occur

[Guest]

You can install FSX to another drive and folder. I install FSX to F:\FSX.

I know. You didn't answer the question. :( The thing is: I am rather lazy. So when I install programs to my D; drive I simply change the proposed C to a D and that's it. So all my games and so on end up on D:/Program Files. I just wonder if Vista treats that folder the same way as the C:/Program Files folder.But well, maybe I should avoid problems and install everything into D:/Games or something like that. :(

[Guest Nick_N]

I know. You didn't answer the question. :( The thing is: I am rather lazy. So when I install programs to my D; drive I simply change the proposed C to a D and that's it. So all my games and so on end up on D:/Program Files. I just wonder if Vista treats that folder the same way as the C:/Program Files folder.But well, maybe I should avoid problems and install everything into D:/Games or something like that. :(

Ill answer the questionMake a folder on D in the rootCall it Flight Simulator XWhen you run the DVD use the MANUAL install method to BROWSE to the folder createdthen everything FSX related will install there... patches ad addons that look for the FSX install directory will use that directory automaticallyAnd Be aware.. use of another partition on the same drive as the OS is a NO NO!FSX to its own drive!If you absolutely must partition your OS or FSX drive make SURE the OS and FSX are on the FIRST PHYSICAL PARTITION of those drives, AND, make sure that after everything is installed there is AT LEAST 50% freespace left so leave room to add. More freespace is better than less! Once you hit 40-30%% its all downhill from there on storage performanceI suggest NO partitions if possible however I know that can be difficult for some so make sure the OS and FSX are located on the first physical partition of each drive and have enough free space left in those partitions.I only partition backup and storage drives.. I do from time to time install test OS's on another partition behind my primary OS but its only there for testing, not high end performace checking