FS2004 Windows XP install problem

[Guest]

I installed FS2004 without any error messages but when I run it the scenery indexes are updated but I never get past the splash screen.System:Soyo K7VA mother board Athlon XP2100 with latest VIA update and Cmedia driver update1g ramATI 8500DV with latest driversI have tried running in the safe mode, selective startup with everything disabled. Help please!Norm

[Guest firehawk44]

Check your Scenery.cfg file in your FS9 folder. Look for any corruption, such as Areas and Layers not in numerical sequence. Fix any errors using Notepad. In FS2K2 you could delete Index_file in the main FS2K2 folder and restart the sim and the file would rebuild itself. This may be true for FS2K4 too. Do NOT delete the scenery.cfg file though. That will require a reinstallation. This is not a Windows XP problem so running in Safe Mode will not fix your problem. Either the Scenery.cfg is corrupt or the Index_file is corrupt. Make sure you installed FS2K4 w/o an Anti-virus program running in the background. This action may corrupt your registry settings for FS2K4 as your Anti-virus program thinks a virus is being installed.Jim

[Magic Man 2]

I'm getting the exact same problem...

[Guest]

Thanks for the quick response, Jim.I actually installed the first time with Norton on and had since uninstalled it and reinstalled with NAV turned off.Because of your reply I uninstalled it again and made sure Norton was off and that no other programs were running.Still hangs on the splash screen.Norm

[Magic Man 2]

Same here. Has anyone got any idea what this is...?Norm, are you getting an error like this, check in your events list.Description:The description for Event ID ( 0 ) in Source ( ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details. The following information is part of the event: 3.... where the final number is either 3, 6 or 7

[Guest firehawk44]

Okay Norm, nice to see you turned your anti-virus program off. When you uninstalled FS2K4, did you also make sure the FS2K4 directory was also deleted before reinstalling? Sometimes an uninstall will not remove everything and will leave a config file that will continue to mess up a new install. Did you check the Scenery.cfg file in the main FS9 folder and check for any corruption? Since new scenery is being indexed when you start up the sim and that doesn't complete, it indicates to me that your scenery.cfg or index_file is somehow corrupt. I heard FS2K4 has the same scenery.cfg system as in FS2K2. Check this config file and insure the Area numbers are in numerical sequence. Layers within Areas should also have the same number as the Area. If any are out of sequence you need to edit the config and renumber the Areas/Layers as required.Another suggestion is to go and delete your FS9.cfg file. This is a hidden file in C:Document and SettingsApplicationsMicrosoftFS9. You'll need to go into your folder settings and make sure hidden files can be viewed to accomplish this task (if you haven't done so already). Delete FS9.cfg. Restart your sim and this file will be rebuilt. Hope this helps.Jim

[Guest]

I cannot find any error messages in the event viewer that correspond with the program freezing.The program stops responding just about the time it should be switching from the splash screen to the next screen.Norm

[Guest Pardue802]

Same problem here. See my post at:http://forums.avsim.com/dcboard.php?az=sho...id=127643&page=I've reinstalled 3 times now. As you can see from my other post, the second time I had some fruity problem with WinXP thinking I wasn't the administrator and thinking that my hard drive is full. First time Norton AV was running, second time was a bust, third time Norton was turned off and installation 'appeared' to go fine, but the same problem afterward with it dying after the splash screen. I'm about ready to format and reinstall Windows XP.This comes days after I installed DirectX 9.0b, does anyone think that may be the culprit?Kenneth

[Guest]

I did check that the FS9 folder was deleted. The scenery.cfg looks fine.I deleted the fs9.cfg file and it didn't help.I'm open for all your suggestions.I called MS support and quickly exhausted their ideas. They do not even have a copy of the program yet......Thanks,Norm

[Guest Pardue802]

Oh boy, glad to know that MS is on the ball :(Looks like we're in trouble on this one. I'm installing on another system in my home (lower performance, certainly won't be on there longer than it takes to test it). I'm going to see if it works on there with DirectX 9.0a. Then I'll try 9.0b. That'll tell me absolutely nothing and I'll throw the format smack on my hard drive in bitter frustration.Kenneth

[Guest PaulL01]

You may want to try some of these in order as they are suggested from the MS support site (FS2004 is listed among the games):http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...kb;en-us;303032Note: you will have to paste the whole url above to get there.

[qnh 70]

I had this problem initially. Install went fine, started the sim, built the scenery got a quick glimpse of the first screen and then back to the desktop - no error in the event log.I uninstalled, defragmented my drive, installed direct x 9.0b and then reinstalled FS2K4. Then I used Tweak XP to free up as much RAM as possible and started FS2K4 - voila!Now I have added another 512MB of RAM and I'm having black screen problems but it may be a suspect dimm - more testing tonight.--qnh

[Guest Pardue802]

Just an update for everyone... even after formatting and reinstalling windows XP it's still giving me fits. Gets as far as it did before and dies. However, the process of building scenery indexes, database files for new scenery, etc. went much faster this time. Also, the sim worked fine on my lesser-system, and in fact the building scenery indexes, etc. was much quicker on it (a 1.3GHz, I'm now using a 2.6GHz).For what it's worth, at the moment FS died, Windows re-detected my CHProducts Flight Yoke (the old 1 lever standard gameport) and Pro Pedals, plugged into my SoundBlaster Audigy.Any chance one or all of you guys have one or the other installed?Thanks,KennethP.S. Thanks for the list of suggestions to try, I'm about to see if I can run down that list now.

[Guest Pardue802]

Bump. Have any of you guys had any luck with this? I'm still dropping to desktop without a clue why. Tried everything suggested in the article.Kenneth

[Guest]

Thanks to all that responded:I Love Computers.......I checked out the MS KB article #303032I had tried 9 of 10 of the suggestions individually in this article previously. No help.Then I tried #3 Graphics acceleration, #5 lower sound acceleration and #7 Disable AGP texturing all at the same time.Problem fixed.Then I changed these settings back to max one at a time and then all of them back to the original settings and FS9 seems to boot up and run fine at this point.Any ideas why this worked?Thanks,Norm