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alcanallen

Windows 7 64bit advice needed

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Good day! Now that iv`e decided to leave my trusty XP Pro and install win 7 i have some questions.

1 What is the best way to install FS9.

2 Will the 64bit set up see the 32bit system.

3 Can i format both Hard Drives with the same key as with XP Pro.

All advice gratefully accepted.

Alcan.

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What is the best way to install FS9

 

OUTSIDE the Program Files, Program Files (x86) folders ie. C:/FS9

 

Points 2 and 3 I frankly can't understand.  Getting on you know.  :unsure:

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1 What is the best way to install FS9.

 

Worth repeating: outside Program Files. I also like to have Windows on one drive, and games on their own separate drive, but the main thing is don't place games in the Program Files folder.

 

It's also widely recommended to install complex addons as Administrator (right click the file and select "run as Administrator").

 

And of course don't forget to d'load and install the FS2004 v9.1 update.

 

2 Will the 64bit set up see the 32bit system.

 

 

Yes, no problem.

 

3 Can i format both Hard Drives with the same key as with XP Pro.

 

Sure, your Windows 7 disk will format multiple drives. I'm running three drives, each with multiple partitions, all created during Windows 7 installation.

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Hi,

 

in my opinion Win7 is a very stable platform to run FS9. Here are some quick thoughts; I'm quite sure there are better and more comprehensive manuals in the internet and even in these fora as I'm no computer expert. But as I changed over not long ago, I have some fresh impressions:

 

0. Some advice before I answer your questions

- Make a backup of your FS9 setup, all related applications and of the folder that contains your FS9.cfg (I don't remember the place in a WinXP system, it's somewhere in the user folders under C:\, you may do a search). Although most applications have to be installed fresh, you may want to preserve the pure data such as Editvoicepack Database etc.

The value of a good backup proves at this opportunity.

 

- If you trust your setup regarding Antivirus software, firewall etc., turn off UAC. Even if you follow No. 1, turning UAC off will save you from permanent notifications and questions for instance when editing or replacing the fs9.cfg.

You'll find the UAC settings unter Start - system settings - System and Security - User Account Control settings. I translated the menues from a German version, in an English version the menue names may be slightly different.

 

1. Don't install FS9 into the suggested directory, but either direct under C:\, or - like I do - into a separate partition on your harddisk dedicated exclusively to FS9 and it's related software. Don't forget to install FS9 and all related applications as administrator (click right mouse button on file name - in the context menu choose "run as administrator")

 

2. I have no problems with FS9 - made large address aware - under Win7 64; it runs rather better than under WinXP.

 

(Theoretically, under a 64bit OS FS9 can use 4 instead of 2GByte of virtual address space if FS9.exe was made "large address aware" (the so called 4GB patch, you'll find enough info about this in the fora). In my case, I never ever had any OOM - Out of memory - crash with a non-altered FS9.exe under WinXP until the last days of my WinXP setup, when suddenly I had one at every second flight. I found out that if I reduced active scenery layers, OOMs didn't occure anymore. As I neither wanted to change active sceneries every flight nor to stop adding new sceneries, I changed to Win7 in late 2013 and OOM never occured again, although soon my scenery.cfg growed and is now beyond the critical point again.)

 

Some add-ons may struggle to work under Win7. In my case, these are

- SFHotSFX (the only application that doesn't work anymore)

- Dreamfleet 727 (virtual kneeboard doesn't work anymore - obviously depends on Internet Explorer 8 which can't be installed at all Win7 systems. Some users whose Win7 obviously came with IE8 originally went back to it despite possible lack of security. Mine came already with IE11)

 

There is a problem with adding new sceneries to the scenery library, it needs one click more, but I can't remember exactly. You'll find informations in the fora.

 

3. Frankly, I don't understand the question.

When I changed my OS, I only formatted my C:\ partition which contains the OS itself and all applications not related with FS9. My FS9 setup at F:\ stayed untouched and proved to be the backup for building the new FS9 setup. I renamed it "FS2004backup" or similar.

 

After setting up the new OS, I made in fresh install of FS9 under F:\FS2004 and updated it to FS9.1. As soon as this was done, I renamed the fresh install to "FS2004.fresh" and preserved it at a second hard disk for backup reasons.

Then I renamed the old "FS2004backup" to "FS2004", started the simulator - and voilà! I had 75% of my old FS2004 back. This method may be not undisputed; it's only recommended if you have a very trusted, stable and "valuable" FS9 setup. Maybe you will use the opportunity to build a new FS9 setup from scratch add-on after add-on instead...

 

After this I searched for the new built FS9.cfg, made a backup copy and replaced it by my preserved one. As I found out, I was able to use it almost unchanged, with exception of some entries regarding hardware:

- in the [DISPLAY.Device.xxx] section, the "PanelAsTexture=0" entry didn't work, all panels went black with this entry enabled. So my way to prevent panel flickering while wheather updates failed with Win7 until now.

- I didn't use the [Joystick...] and [Keyboard...] sections from my old FS9.cfg, as I assumed that these hardware had new IDs under the new OS

 

Of course I had to replace some add-ons (particularly planes, especially these by Dreamfleet) by a fresh install - these were the other 25 %.

Same for FS9-related applications, some worked without installing them new, some only after a fresh install, but then I was able to use old data, for instance my old Editvoicepack database .

Strange enough, there's another thing which absolutely will not work after this process - it's the logbook. You have to create a new one and to insert your old entries.

It's a matter of testing, depending on the add-ons you use inside and outside FS9.

 

Don't hesitate to ask more and more specific questions!

And again: backup, backup, backup.

Wish you good luck!

 

Harald


   Harald Geyer
   Gründer der Messerschmitt Freunde Dresden v. V.

lYI9iQV.jpg

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Hi,

 

Good overall assessment.  My procedure was almost identical.

 

One other program I couldn't get to work in System 7 was FSDS v2 - it won't install (16 bit installer or some such).  I assume FSDS v3.5 works fine (I don't have it).

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Thanks to all for the input,i will follow the advice and place FS9 in its own folder outside program files,i have a copy of all my files in another hard drive and downloads on discs.

Alcan

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Well all iv`e done the deed and now have a new rig i5 cpu and 8gig of ram in win 7.

Now the fun starts iv`e put the file into c drive and loaded FS9.

For some reason i can`t get WOA Installer to work,that`s in my documents,whats up, anyone?

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Congratulations!

 

I've found WOAI installer exe works from the desktop satisfactorily.

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Sorry, I didn't install a WOAI package since I run Win7...

Harald


   Harald Geyer
   Gründer der Messerschmitt Freunde Dresden v. V.

lYI9iQV.jpg

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Well my installer cant seem to see FS9 and  editvoicepack for some reason updated loads imports but won` update and save! very frustrating.

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I installed mine to a folder called FS9 on my D: Drive; I also have UAC turned off. I installed everything I have (including WOAI) without any hitches.

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