Help with Windows 7/FSX

[N8015X 0]

Hello all and thanks for looking at this post to help me. I've been running Windows XP Pro (32 bit) for years now and finally made the choice to upgrade my OS to Windows 7 Ultimate (64 bit) due to many people on forums saying it was the best OS for FSX. I also wanted to take advantage of Direct X 10 and more memory without having to do the USERVA trick to get XP to see more than the 2 gig I had installed. Now before I explain the situation, I think it would be best to give you some details about my rig/setup. I am running the Intel Core2Duo E6850 (3.0 GHz) on an ASUS mobo and have 4 gig DDR2 ram along with an Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT Superclocked (512MB onboard) and Windows 7 Ultimate (64 bit). I have FSX+Acceleration installed.Okay, I guess I should also tell you how I installed the software as well. I installed FSX (Deluxe Edition) into C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\FSX and after the install, I ran the default flight and then rebooted the machine. Then I installed Acceleration, ran the default flight and rebooted the machine. Then I installed FSUIPC 4 (registered) and ran the default flight but didn't reboot. Finally I installed the Level D 767 and ran the default flight, changed airports and finally changed aircraft to the Level D. I have many other complex add-on aircraft such as PMDG, FSLabs Concorde X, Maddog, F1 Mustang etc, but I haven't installed those yet. I also want to install Ultimate Traffic II, F1 Ground Enviornment X, and REX.Okay, so thanks for sticking with me and now we finally come to my problem. Since installing FSX + what I mentioned above, I've been getting errors that range from blue screens that says Windows encountered an error and must shut down to FSX crashing due to a video card issue. Also, when I start FSX, I get a message that the color scheme has been changed to Windows 7 Basic due to FSX. I have read that most don't have any issues with FSX on Win7. Did I do something wrong or was there something I needed to do that I didn't? Does anyone have any ideas of what I can do to solve my issues and have FSX running smoothly? Thanks again for all your help and I look forward to everyones suggestions.Regards,Chad

[peppy197 165]

Get a real gamming computer...Yours is OK for spreadsheets and internet

[vgbaron 3,704]

Your system is ok.Uninstall FSX and reinstall it - either to it's own drive, it's own partition or it's own folder.Do NOT let it install to programfiles(x86) - this can cause the problems you describe.If you only have one drive, create a partition - and create a FSX folder - install there.Good luck,Vic

[N8015X 0]

Get a real gamming computer...Yours is OK for spreadsheets and internet

Thanks so much for extreamly helpful answer. I just bet you're the one everyone looks up to on these boards...

If you only have one drive, create a partition - and create a FSX folder - install there.

Thanks for your reply Vic.As of right now, I only have one drive with is a 750GB. I'm a bit of a Win7 newb, so please forgive me if this question seems basic. Where in Windows 7 can I creae a partition and do I have to format the drive and reinstall windows all over again to acheive this? Thanks again for your help.Chad

[Cuddly1956 1]

To be fair Chad you'd be better off running FSX on a seperate hard drive - easilly installed and very cheap now.My old system is very similar to yours and gets excellent results running FSX but you will need a few things for W7 64bit to operate properly.The DX9 runtine and C++ libraries and a UIautomationcore.dll to put in the FSX folder. Have a look on simforums.com for Nick Nairn's install guide - full of excellent info.John

[vgbaron 3,704]

Thanks so much for extreamly helpful answer. I just bet you're the one everyone looks up to on these boards...Thanks for your reply Vic.As of right now, I only have one drive with is a 750GB. I'm a bit of a Win7 newb, so please forgive me if this question seems basic. Where in Windows 7 can I creae a partition and do I have to format the drive and reinstall windows all over again to acheive this? Thanks again for your help.Chad

Chad - as Cuddly says - your best bet is to pick up a second drive - they are very inexpensive now.However, if you just want to parttition your C: drive - I use commercial software but I believe that the W7 Install DVD has a partition program on the CD.Just watch the prompts - you should not have to reformat or reinstall w& or anything else on the original partition.The program(s) that I use let you resize the original partition ( make it smaller but leave enough room for expansion. Then you create a partition on the newly freed space. You MAY have to format the new parttition but I doubt it.Then if your original is C:, make the new partition D: and create a folder called FSX - install FSX there.Be aware that if you do that, your CD/DVD drive letter will change to E:HTH,Vic

[N8015X 0]

okay, I will pick up an 80 gig HD tomorrow and will make it my D: drive. All I should have to do is install it and format it right? Thanks again for the info guys.Chad

[Cuddly1956 1]

If it's an IDE drive don't forget to put it to slave... obviously doesn't apply to a SATA drive.John

[N8015X 0]

Yeah, I picked up a 80 gig SATA 7200RPM Seagate drive. I installed it in my system and booted windows. It saw the drive right away and then I formated it. I uninstalled FSX and installed it onto my second D: drive. I told the setup to put an icon on the desktop and it didn't. I then went into the FSX folder and tried to copy the FSX icon to the desktop and it didn't allow me to. I also still got the message that the color scheme has been changed to Windows 7 Basic everytime I started FSX. I'm thinking something isn't installed right. I donno if it's windows 7, the seperate hard drive or an issue with FSX and win7 64 bit. Any ideas?Chad

[N8015X 0]

I'm going to back up even more just to be sure I didn't screw anything up with my Windows 7 install. Again, I was coming from Windows XP Pro (32 bit). I had bought an OEM Seagate 750 gig 7200RPM SATA hard drive. I had two 80 gig SATA hard drives before. One for C: and one for D:. The one stopped working, so I was down to one hard drive. I took out the one 80 gig HD (after formating it) and installed the 750 gig HD. I booted my PC with the new 750 gig drive in for the first time and went into the BIOS to set the boot priority to the DVD drive. I saved and exited after I put in the Windows 7 Ulitmate (64 bit) disc into the DVD drive. The PC booted from the disc and I installed Win 7 using the custom method which I understand will format the drive/s that are installed before setup starts with the Win 7 install. Was this the proper way to install Win 7?Chad

[Ted Striker 338]

I'm going to back up even more just to be sure I didn't screw anything up with my Windows 7 install. Again, I was coming from Windows XP Pro (32 bit). I had bought an OEM Seagate 750 gig 7200RPM SATA hard drive. I had two 80 gig SATA hard drives before. One for C: and one for D:. The one stopped working, so I was down to one hard drive. I took out the one 80 gig HD (after formating it) and installed the 750 gig HD. I booted my PC with the new 750 gig drive in for the first time and went into the BIOS to set the boot priority to the DVD drive. I saved and exited after I put in the Windows 7 Ulitmate (64 bit) disc into the DVD drive. The PC booted from the disc and I installed Win 7 using the custom method which I understand will format the drive/s that are installed before setup starts with the Win 7 install. Was this the proper way to install Win 7?Chad

Chad, I have a Q6600 overclocked to 3.6 ghz, 4 gb of DDR2 and a 285gtx video card. When I built my computer Win7 had just came out and the driver disk that came with the motherboard did not have any drivers for Win7, nor did the manufacturer's site. I had no choice but to get all my drivers from windows update. After Win7 and all the windows updates were installed, I installed FSX as you described, always selecting the option to trust any software it asked about in the install process. Much to my amazement FSX ran just fine using just drivers downloaded from windows update. As the manufacturers of my hardware released specific drivers I downloaded and installed them. One other thing, I didn't install an antivirus software until after FSX was completely installed as the only site I was going to was windows update. I did use the windows firewall and I do have a router serving as a hardware firewall. The main difference between your setup and mine is the only add-ons I have installed so far is ASX, ASG, and the Captain Sim 727. I have had one or two lockups flying the 727, which I have not pinned down to hardware, my overclock, the 727 install, the OS, or FSX. It hasn't happened that much so I haven't bothered to try and fix it. I'm not saying that this is the way you should setup your computer, just giving you some feedback. In fact the proper way to set it up is probably found in this link.http://www.simforums.com/forums/ground-environment-x-series_forum38.htmlClick on the topic, "How to setup FSX and tune it". You will then see another link on how to setup Windows 7. I haven't used these methods yet, but intend to before I install any more add-ons. Nick, who wrote the guide is very repected in the FS community. If my 727 locks up again I will probably try Nick's suggestions as a first step to fix.I have read that the LevelD 767 has problems with Win7 and perhaps some of your other add-ons do also. I am no expert by any means, but my suggestion would be to start over and make sure FSX is running well before adding any add-ons. After that add them one at a time and test each one for awhile.One other option: www.fs-gs.comThis site hasn't been updated in awhile but if you contact Michael at the ramsa e-mail address shown on the contact tab he will get back to you. I used his services a couple years ago to set up my FS9 computer and was very pleased. He charges a flat rate and talks you through setting up your computer and FSX installation. It took a whole day but I learned a lot and talking to some one was more enjoyable for me than spending weeks searching forums. Good Luck,Ted

[vgbaron 3,704]

I'm going to back up even more just to be sure I didn't screw anything up with my Windows 7 install. Again, I was coming from Windows XP Pro (32 bit). I had bought an OEM Seagate 750 gig 7200RPM SATA hard drive. I had two 80 gig SATA hard drives before. One for C: and one for D:. The one stopped working, so I was down to one hard drive. I took out the one 80 gig HD (after formating it) and installed the 750 gig HD. I booted my PC with the new 750 gig drive in for the first time and went into the BIOS to set the boot priority to the DVD drive. I saved and exited after I put in the Windows 7 Ulitmate (64 bit) disc into the DVD drive. The PC booted from the disc and I installed Win 7 using the custom method which I understand will format the drive/s that are installed before setup starts with the Win 7 install. Was this the proper way to install Win 7?Chad

Chad - you are doing fine. The w7 install was done correctly. The message you see about changing w7 to basis is normal. If you use the Aero themes, thyey are not compatible with FSX so W7 will switch to basic for the time the program runs. If you don't want to see the message, you can disabnle AERO in the w7 setup.To create the icon on the desktop - open the FSX folder - find the FSX.EXE file -right click and drag it to the desktop - drop it - you will get a context menu with the option to create a shortcut. that's it.Also, follow the link posted earlier to Nick's guide for FSX and W7 setup. Follow it top the letter (important to not skip steps) and you'll be set.Vic

[Glynn 405]

Get a real gamming computer...Yours is OK for spreadsheets and internet

HelloWhat is a Gamming computer?, is it one without a spellchecker