I currently have FSX DeLuxe edition running on a HDD ( separate drive to OS = Win 7). I am thinking of buying FSX Gold and installing onto a solid state drive ( I have yet to buy either).

 

Is it possible to install 2 instances of FSX (my existing on the HDD and the new one) into the one OS.? Both would be on separate drives? This would allow me to continue to fly FSX while I set up the new one.

 

Thanks, Bruce.

you could have addon conflicts on where to install and the new installer on fsx will detect the old install and want to repair or remove it.

 

I would make a backup and do the new install personally.

With respect to FSX itself, you'll have a conflict with data stored in your profile directory, i.e. %ROAMINGAPPDATA%\Microsoft\FSX. You could have a dozen different copies of the app sitting in different directories, but they'll all be wanting to use the same information, (i.e. FSX.CFG, Cameras.CFG, DLL.XML, etc.). There is also stuff stored in ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX that would be a problem. And then there's the additional issue of the information stored in the registry that may be used by add-ons.

I've got two instances of FSX on two separate drives, and can fly either...

 

Yes, you can get "Scenery area missing" or such, if the two are not identical,

but for just having a backup copy - it does work.

Bruce,

 

There is another option.

I myself find it very difficult to maintain a clean, working fsx..

With some 400 Gb of scenery and aircraft, there is always somthing that goes wrong.

 

To solve my problem, I have turned to multiple os's on removable harddisks.

At the moment I have 6 harddrives (500Gb are cheap to come by and if you pick them right - 7200 rpm and 32 Mb cache - they are quite fast) with Win 7 and six times FSX installed.

So I have I copy for flying low and slow in the regions where ORBX has scenery, one for military aircraft and little or no extra scenery.

Such a setup can only work with fast HDD's and some means to make swapping disks easy.

I use a diskbay from sharkoon to accomplish that and so far it works great.

Biggest drawback... it takes a bite extra cash (extra copy or two for win 7 and FSX) and a LOT of time.

 

Luc Brusselmans

Belgium

As noted, paths and registry will be problems.

 

Your present FSX install, does it have Acceleration? SP1? SP2? If you have Acceleration, it includes SP1 and SP2; and is the same as Gold. If it is RTM (No SP), just install Acceleration (Gold 2nd disk). If SP2, un-install SP2 and then install Acceleration

 

A clean install of FSX is always the most trouble-free way to go, but lengthly.

 

Dave

Just for information:

 

Renaming fsx.exe to fsx_anyname.exe will create, and use, a file

called fsx_anyname.cfg.

 

I have a dual-boot setup with my original FSX on my Xp Pro x32 side and

a new FSX install under Win7 x64.

 

I 'share' my addon scenery 'folder' between the two installs by using

my J: drive with all the addon scenery folders in the root directory.

That drive is then aliased to an EMPTY 'addon scenery' folder in each

of the FSX installs.

 

I can 'see' the Xp version , on my I: drive when in Win7 but have not

tried to run it from that boot system. My Win7 FSX is on my X: drive

and is where I do most all my flying now.

 

I suspect that I could run the I: drive instance OK by creating a copy

of the fsx.exe and naming it fsx_xp.exe and let it build a new fsx_xp.cfg

in the Win7 environment. The Xp system is hidden on the "W:" drive

while in Win7 while the Win7 system becomes "W:", and hidden when

I boot to Xp. As long as those 2 OS's never 'meet' things should be

just fine :)

 

Also, I believe Fr. Bill has multiple FSX installs he uses for development

and testing. Perhaps he will chime in here.

 

Paul

Thanks for the replies. Based on what I read, I might start with a fresh install of FSX. @Dave, I have the "pre-Acceleration" version of FSX and have thought about just un-installing SP2 and installing Acceleration, but figured this might mean a re-install of most complex add-ons anyway, so maybe I am better starting from scratch?

 

@Luc, interesting cocept you have there with multiple hard drives.

@Paul, interesting concept, but from what I see requires mulitiple OS instances.

 

Thanks again for the help, much appreciated.

 

Bruce.

I guess one follow-up question on Acceleration. I am aware that it adds aircraft carriers and makes them landable. (This might be fun for my VRS F/18 bird). But other than that, are there other tangible benefits when compared with the standard FSX and SP2? (I'm talking about the DeLuxe version of the "standard" FSX).

 

Thanks- my current FSX is working perfectly, so I'm just re-thinking my intentions....

 

Bruce.

Acceleration has a few improvements over SP2 and most add-ons require it for proper operation.

 

I would un-install SP2 and install Acceleration. It should not caise any problems. It wouldn't hurt to try since it will be easier and re-install of FSX is still an option. A lot of us would like to hear what the poblems were.

 

Dave