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DylanM

Backing up FSX files before OS Upgrade

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So I'm taking the plunge and upgrading to Win 7 64 bit, but this means starting from scratch and reinstalling everything.Anyone have any advice on the proper procdure if I want to save / then copy over my fsx files, aircraft and gauges - I especially need this for the massive set of WOAI and freeware aircraft.Thanks!Dylan

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So I'm taking the plunge and upgrading to Win 7 64 bit, but this means starting from scratch and reinstalling everything.Anyone have any advice on the proper procdure if I want to save / then copy over my fsx files, aircraft and gauges - I especially need this for the massive set of WOAI and freeware aircraft.Thanks!Dylan
Saturday I'm going to Fed-Up to get my new i7 PC (Whoo hoo!)and will be doing pretty much exactly what you are speaking of. I hate moving. It's a sad thing. I have FSX running perfectly and expect to lose it. Here's what I'm doing:1. I am copying my \SimObjects\Airplanes folder and my \gauges folder to a DVD for safe keeping as I will be swapping the HD from this computer into the new one for spare space. I will then copy the folder back to the new install and un-write protect it. Also save your fsx.cfg (C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX) if you have made any tweaks. I have no tweaks so I won't bother. But I will save my various configurations located in the C:\Users\xxx\Documents\Flight Simulator X Files folder.2. I am taking screenshots of various things to remember what I had and to reinstall it the same way. 3. I'm not deleting FSX and I will compare the old install with the new install and can see what files are different/missing to help me remember what to do. I hope.You won't regret going to Windows 7, trust me. I did it a few months ago on my desktop, then had to do the laptop. Whenever I have to use my daughter's laptop with Vista 64, I hate it. It is so unresponsive compared to 7.Good luck to you.

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Pretty much the only thing I would be backing up would be the FSX Logbook file. In my opinion carrying over any other files is just looking for trouble.


Konrad

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So I'm taking the plunge and upgrading to Win 7 64 bit, but this means starting from scratch and reinstalling everything.Anyone have any advice on the proper procdure if I want to save / then copy over my fsx files, aircraft and gauges - I especially need this for the massive set of WOAI and freeware aircraft.Thanks!Dylan
If I were you and reinstalling from scratch I would reinstall everything using the installers. Some things cant be installed as simply as just copying them into the required folders in FSX. Some installers write things to your registry, EXE.xml, dll.xml, and your fsx.cfg. If you just paste things back into your new FSX folders there's probably going to be a good chance things dont work correctly and you will end up having to do it the correct way from the start. The LDS 767 is a good example of an a/c that cant be copied and pasted since it writes entries to your registry.As far as WOAI is concerned you could copy all your WOAI a/c folders and bgl's to a back up and then recopy them into the new install. The only thing is that you would need to see if there is a way you can also preserve the info that is in the WOAI UI. That way if you need to update a package or remove it you can still use the UI to do so. You could check on their forum to see if you can preserve the UI info that maybe you could copy and paste into a new install.Make sure you let FSX build a new cfg and dont use the old one. Keep a copy of the old one for any special tweaks you may need but if I were you I would modify the new cfg rather than just plug the old one it. You never know, with the new OS you may not need the same tweaks you had in the old one.I think the whole thing would be easier if you were going to the same OS again you could just mirror the whole thing, but going to a whole new OS, it's probably best to install piece by piece using the installers.Good luck.

Avsim Board of Directors | Avsim Forums Moderator

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Dylan,Don't forget the custom EFFECTS that many aircraft have.And the custom SOUNDS that are sometimes installed in the generic sounds folder.Do you want the aircraft records that document the engine time for each?Are you leaving behind the Controls file, Standard.xml?Are there any added .dll files in the root folder or any added folders with stuff in them...Is the current terrain.cfg edited in any way; are you keeping the scenery.cfg?Do you have any AWARDS that you want to carry over?Loyd

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Sean has it right:

If I were you and reinstalling from scratch I would reinstall everything using the installers. Some things cant be installed as simply as just copying them into the required folders in FSX. Some installers write things to your registry, EXE.xml, dll.xml, and your fsx.cfg. If you just paste things back into your new FSX folders there's probably going to be a good chance things dont work correctly and you will end up having to do it the correct way from the start.
I've moved from XP-32 to Win7-32 to Win7-64, to XP-64 and finally back to Win7-64 over one week. My issue started with the Win7-64 bit move: the Leonardo Maddog VC and external view became invisible: same with the Do27... FSX is on a separate drive, so I left it there. In doing that I created a nightmare of issues by thinking that I could ever keep the old FSX directory and all it contained. With Win7-32 - it worked - it was ok, a tad faster and smoother; same with Win7-64, but it had the Maddog issue. So "let's try XP-64" - but FSX just gave the opening screen - nothing more... wouldn't run in XP-64, and reinstalling over the top of the old fsx didn't make it run, either. After the last move back to (second time) Win7-64 - my best move was bite the bullet - uninstall first, then delete the whole folder, then registry clean, then reboot - then install from scratch. This worked completely successfully, and following the 800-post BufferPools modifications I now have a sim that - with the same settings as used with XP-32 and Win7-32 - will run with various configs between 30 and 95 fps. FTX-PNW north of KPAE: 58-70fps at zero feet at 280kts down Interstate 5.....tree height. A new video card helped, but re-building the sim and the BP mods here fixed it completely.


i7 4790K@4.8GHz | 32GB RAM | EVGA RTX 3080Ti | Maximus Hero VII | 512GB 860 Pro | 512GB 850 Pro | 256GB 840 Pro | 2TB 860 QVO | 1TB 870 EVO | Seagate 3TB Cloud | EVGA 1000 GQ | Win10 Pro | EK Custom water cooling.

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Thanks very much for the very helpful tips all!I'm currently in the process of backing up as much of my data as I can, but I'll be biting the bullet and doing the fresh install soon. The entire fsx directory (all 104 GB of it!) is backed up, but just as a reference.Cheers,Dylan

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I had to do a complete recover of my Win7, which is no different than starting over on a new machine or reformatting your HD - you loose everything.Here is what I did to avoid reinstalling everything. Also see other comments on the topic.http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtop...mp;hl=reinstallIt actually as easy, and didn't require much effort. Be sure to find you FSX config file and your saved flights etc and you can copy them back afterward.I went into the appropriate folders under FSX and made short cuts to my configure files for purchased scenery like FS Addon and FTX PNW and they worked just fine.Perhaps I got lucky but its working fine.Of course I had to make a few adjustments on my display settings again to ensure that I matched up my display with the FSX display.


Bryan Wallis aka "fltsimguy"

Maple Bay, British Columbia

Near CAM3

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