Installing FS2004 on new 64 bit Win7 system

[Scott Miller 12]

I'm about to install FS2004 on a new 64 bit Win7 system.  I backed up all my FS2004 files/folders to an external hard drive from my XP Pro sysem with the idea of, after installing FS2004 on the new system, copying the FS2004 files/folders from the external drive to the new system (turns out my backup software doesn't run on my 64 bit Win7 system).  I've got the partitions setup on the hard drives on the new system exactly the same as on the old system.  The question is will this work?  I've got a ton of aircraft and scenery installed in FS2004 and don't relish the idea of having to reinstall it all from scratch!  Would it be a good idea (or a requirment) to re-install any aircraft or scenery that appeared in the add/remove software list on the XP system then, in the case of aircraft, copy the texture and aircraft.cfg files for those aircraft listed in the add/remove software list onto the new hard drive a second time?  I'm assuming this idea would at least work with any aircraft, scenery or utility not listed in the add/remove (if my assumption that only those whose installation involved making entries to the registery appear in the add/remove list is correct).

 

Am I making any sense here or is it just wishful thinking on my part!?

[scianoir 610]

I'm about to install FS2004 on a new 64 bit Win7 system.  I backed up all my FS2004 files/folders to an external hard drive from my XP Pro sysem with the idea of, after installing FS2004 on the new system, copying the FS2004 files/folders from the external drive to the new system (turns out my backup software doesn't run on my 64 bit Win7 system).  I've got the partitions setup on the hard drives on the new system exactly the same as on the old system.  The question is will this work?  I've got a ton of aircraft and scenery installed in FS2004 and don't relish the idea of having to reinstall it all from scratch!  Would it be a good idea (or a requirment) to re-install any aircraft or scenery that appeared in the add/remove software list on the XP system then, in the case of aircraft, copy the texture and aircraft.cfg files for those aircraft listed in the add/remove software list onto the new hard drive a second time?  I'm assuming this idea would at least work with any aircraft, scenery or utility not listed in the add/remove (if my assumption that only those whose installation involved making entries to the registery appear in the add/remove list is correct).

 

Am I making any sense here or is it just wishful thinking on my part!?

 

I was in your situation with a new 64-bit Win 7 system and a huge amount of add on payware and freeware aircraft and scenery from my old XP system (my current FS9 set up totals 351GB). I ended up reinstalling all of my payware aircraft and much of my payware scenery from scratch, checking each one as I installed it. In the case of my previous set up, I had some of my payware scenery and most of my freeware scenery  organised into different folders by region and  I just copied these across to the new hard drive and that seemed to work for me. I do however feel that one of the keys to a successful re-installation is to recheck FS9 after each item is installed and ensure that everything is functioning correctly as it can be very difficult to identify the source of a problem which you subsequently find after installing a whole bunch of software. I think that this particularly applies to scenery addons where there can be compatibility issues of one sort or another between different sceneries. This is time consuming (in my case it took around 3 months to reinstall everything) but I think it was well worth it in the end as FS9 is now amazing and functions seemlessly, rarely ever throwing up any glitches. Even though it all took a long time you can of course still enjoy FS9 during the various check flights after each new installation!

 

By the way there is a lot of advice on this forum regarding installing FS9 on a 64-bit Win 7 system and, if you haven't already done it, I would suggest searching the forum and reading it before starting your reinstallation. Enjoy!

 

Bill

[FLEX1978 373]

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/340076-migrating-fs9-from-xp-32bit-to-windows-7-64bit/

[Goldenrocket 9]

The easiest way would be to backup the entire FS9 folder. For that purpose you don't need any special software. A backup should be done in any case, and I'm really astonished that Bill needed 3 months to reinstall his FS9 (with a backup it takes at most some days).  After that you run a default and  express Installation of FS9 on your new system (Directory C:\Flight Simulator 9 - nothing else), update it with FS9.1  and check how it works. Then rename it as f.i. FS9 and copy your backup on your HD (still directory C:/Flight Simulator 9). If you have enough space on your HD you might remain the standard FS9 folder. That's all.

 

Bernard

[FLEX1978 373]

Yep, al explained in Dillons post in the link above, works flawlessly and doesn't take long at all

[scianoir 610]

The easiest way would be to backup the entire FS9 folder. For that purpose you don't need any special software. A backup should be done in any case, and I'm really astonished that Bill needed 3 months to reinstall his FS9 (with a backup it takes at most some days).  After that you run a default and  express Installation of FS9 on your new system (Directory C:\Flight Simulator 9 - nothing else), update it with FS9.1  and check how it works. Then rename it as f.i. FS9 and copy your backup on your HD (still directory C:/Flight Simulator 9). If you have enough space on your HD you might remain the standard FS9 folder. That's all.

 

Bernard

 

I appreciate your point Bernard but unfortunately my full FS9 backup was not available to me because of a problem with the external HD on which it was stored, but I managed to salvage many of the folders some of which I used in the reinstallation. As I mentioned, I therefore reinstalled FS9 from scratch which was why it took so long (not helped by some prolonged 'check' flights during this process when I got bored of installing!). The end result, however, has been a much less 'glitchy' FS9 (although I accept that some of that may be down the the 64-bit system).

 

Bill

[Goldenrocket 9]

Ok Bill, that's really a bad situation! 

 

Dillon explains the steps very well and more detailed as I did. I just want add that after installing a default FS9, it should be possible to run FS9 from the backup and check if it's working properly, before moving the whole folder to the HD. 

 

Bernard

[Scott Miller 12]

Hey, everyone, thanks for all the tips and advice!  As it turns out, Bill's suggestion was pretty much what I had in mind (more or less).  It'll be a lot less stressful knowing this as I begin the process!  It may take a while going Bill's route, but better safe than sorry taking it one step at a time.  In fact, This was pretty much what I did when I upgraded to XP and then had to do it a second time when my boot HD went south on me two or three years later.  In both cases I did re-install all payware aircraft, scenery, and uilities (like ActiveSky).  Took me about 2 months the second time as I recall.  It'll almost certainly take longer this time as I have a lot more aircraft and scenery than I did a couple of years ago!  It's sort of like moving.  You don't realize how much junk you've accumulated over the years till you have to move it!  Its amazing how much aircraft and scenery addons you can acquire in just a couple of years!

 

At any rate, it was nice to know my plan was the right one, more or less, before taking the plunge!  Thanks, too, for the suggestion to read the "migrating FS9 to Win7 64-bit" thread before proceeding.  Sounds like good advice!  Thanks again everyone!

[wilax 0]

I'm just about finished doing the exact same thing. I had about 300 gigs of FS9 on my XP system when I got a new system with W7.

I started by doing a fresh install of FS9 on the new system. Next, I networked the two towers and began transferring the addon scenery and aircraft directly. After that I began to reinstall payware aircraft like QualityWings 757 and FSDT sceneries mainly because they don't work unless they are installed with the addon manager that comes with them.

I tried out the new FS9 and found a host of issues that mainly related to various fixes and mods that were done over time outside of the addon scenery folder. I had to manually copy folders like scenery/world/scenery (ai traffic files), scenery/world/texture (FlyTampa KSEA 3rd runway addon)[i couldn't get Seattle to load without it.. it took 3 days to chase that one down!!], effects, and gauges.

 

I also had to go through all the controls assignments that I had changed and gotten used to. It has been about 3 weeks since I started the switch, and tonight I just finished my first perfect flight with no issues to fix.

 

Make sure you keep the serial keys to all your payware stuff in a safe place. It is no fun trying to reactivate scenery without it.

 

Im sure I will be chasing down small issues for some time and copying forgotten files from my old system as needed, but I am loving my new system and doubled frame rates...

[AeroMechAZ 0]

I'm about to install FS2004 on a new 64 bit Win7 system.  I backed up all my FS2004 files/folders to an external hard drive from my XP Pro sysem with the idea of, after installing FS2004 on the new system, copying the FS2004 files/folders from the external drive to the new system (turns out my backup software doesn't run on my 64 bit Win7 system).  I've got the partitions setup on the hard drives on the new system exactly the same as on the old system.  The question is will this work?  I've got a ton of aircraft and scenery installed in FS2004 and don't relish the idea of having to reinstall it all from scratch!  Would it be a good idea (or a requirment) to re-install any aircraft or scenery that appeared in the add/remove software list on the XP system then, in the case of aircraft, copy the texture and aircraft.cfg files for those aircraft listed in the add/remove software list onto the new hard drive a second time?  I'm assuming this idea would at least work with any aircraft, scenery or utility not listed in the add/remove (if my assumption that only those whose installation involved making entries to the registery appear in the add/remove list is correct).

 

Am I making any sense here or is it just wishful thinking on my part!?

I was able to get my FS9 installed & running on my 64 bit Win 8.0 system; about the only "problem" (and I'll admit, it's rather minor, albeit annoying), is that the 'interactive' screen that shows whatever aircraft you want to fly doesn't work - just shows a black blank; all the other controls, buttons, etc. seem to work OK, though, and it flies with no problems that I can tell.

[Wobbie 938]

So, for a 'new'/backup install, I just copy the whole FS9 directory across to a new drive or computer - (I use 'teracopy' because it's faster than Microsofts copy).

 

Then download and run the FS9 registry repair tool found here:

http://www.flight1.c...sp?page=library

Follow the onscreen directions to manually point to your FS9.exe and the tool will automatically correct the registry value.

 

Viola!! complete new install!!