I have "attempted" to install World of AI and several packages to my FS9 which has so many aircraft, flight plans, gauges and panels which should have merited a better consideration. It is all my fault, nothing to do with the files installed. To add to the injury I also "installed" Traffic Tools and the Visibility program which wouldhide AI aircraft from the aircraft listing.Dumb me - now FS9 will not start and the dreaded message of a problem encountered and the need to close is all that is left.Have searched and read that traffic 030528.bgl in World/Scenery might be a problem - have removed it as well as all the WoaI .bgl files which I had installed. No go.Is that a final word, before I think of reinstalling FS9 which will never be the same again to me?Am thinking of saving the very large number of aircraft, the enormous amount of gauges in a separate hard disk before I face up to this very painful reinstallation and wondering if there are any other alternatives before I proceed. The number of programs which were there I will probably have to buy and/or download gradually over the next few months, I guess.I seem to recall once doing a reinstallation and FS9 Disk 1 had the question whether to reinstall or repair. Would hope that such opportunity might arise.I have checked for problems in my registry and both programs which I used have it scanned and cleared ok.In addition to the justified reprimand for trying to do something way beyond my ability (stupidity, yes), any information, suggestion. tips or even a word of condolence will be most welcome.

Looks like I am on the way to recovery. Recalled the old trick of deleting fs9.cfg file and letting FS9 do its own configuration on restart and I am back on the tarmac - missing a few display adjustments.That was a REAL BIG scare I just went through.Apologies for posting on a problem which now does not exist.Best of luck to all.

There may be a fix to the problems you have (such as trying the repair option), but if that fails, you might still want to hold off on reinstalling for perhaps 24 hours, since there is a good chance someone has a solution, and if you keep in mind that Avsim has members all over the world, it'll be worth waiting a little while to see if someone who might be in bed at the moment can come up with a solution to fix your install. If that proves to be impossible though, keep in mind that...Most of the aircraft you have, can be copied to somewhere on your HD, and then slung into a new install of FS if you do have to resort to reinstalling. But don't just copy the aircraft folder, also copy the gauges folder and the effects folder, because there will likely be some custom stuff for the aircraft in those folders too. When FS is reinstalled, drag the contents of those three saved folders to the new versions of the aircraft, gauge and effects folders on your reinstalled new copy of FS and you should have all those aircraft back and in working order. You can do a similar thing with sceneries if you copy the relevant scenery and texture folders too of course. You might need a lot of HD space to do that of course, but it will certainly save you a lot of time and trouble, and of course you would then also have a back up of things if you ever needed to do that again.EDIT: Looks like you got it sorted, so that's nice to hear, although you probably should now consider getting hold of an external HD and backing stuff up given that you have had a graphic illustration of what a pain in the &@($* it would be if you lost all that stuff.Al

Thanks a million for the reply. I am filing it for future reference - I would never have thought that effects should also be part of the back-up.I do really appreciate your assistance.

I havent needed to do a re-install for years fortunatley, but if I remember right, if you just do a re-install of fs9 on top of your existing setup, any addon scenery/aircraft will be left in place, so no need to make another copy. Doesn't always solve all problems of course, but worth a try before spending hours making massive backups.No doubt the purists will say this is the wrong thing to do, but its worked for me in the past. Dave

Thanks, Dave. Have noted your suggestion for future use, as I tinker around so much with panels and aicraft that it wont be long before I willbe resorting to the experienced suggestions from all of you.Best of luck,Clarindo

I havent needed to do a re-install for years fortunatley, but if I remember right, if you just do a re-install of fs9 on top of your existing setup, any addon scenery/aircraft will be left in place, so no need to make another copy. Doesn't always solve all problems of course, but worth a try before spending hours making massive backups.No doubt the purists will say this is the wrong thing to do, but its worked for me in the past. Dave

I would make the backup first.Even if you don't have a backup to fall back to when disaster occurrs, there is no excuse for not making one before possibly making things worth by fiddling. We all can learn from our mistakes. As soon as there is a working setup once again back it up again. And do so regularly to reflect changes you make.Best wishes,John

Backup, still requires considerable time. Although, it's really useful. So you'd better do it, but then gain access to necessary information on your computer :(