Hi Pmdg staff,

 

I bought T7 a couple of weeks ago and yesterday bought 737NGX. The very 1st time with the T7 after download I was able to install it on my Win 64 bits pro sp1 with FSX Acceleration. Everything worked as it should.

 

The frustration just rose when I decided to purchase the 737 NGX yesterday. After finshed downloading, no matter what I tried, the 737 won't install with the error of Catastrophic failure with feature content. Ive tried to redownload the package several times, install over and over and over again same problem.

I gave my FSX folder proper admin rights, execute everything as they should be as directed by some others in here but no success.

 

After a sleepless night ( no shjt, I was so dissapointed and anxious that I spent the whole damn night just to send a ticket to pmdg and find a solution to fix the problem), I decided to reinstall my PC and reinstall FSX again.

 

After fully update PC and FSX now I have more problem. Even the T7 won't install and has the same fking problem like the 737NGX with either Catastrophic failure or popup saying I need FSX to be patched with SP2 ( even though I have FSX Accel).

 

I tired to zero wipe my SSD before installing Windows too just to make sure residues weren't be able to make any trouble.

 

So would any of PMDG staff please tell me what the hell is going on here?

I'm quite expert in Mac OSX and Windows so those admin rights and stuff are not a problem. All admin rights were granted with FSX and even C drive. Full admin right was provided.

I'm also flying on X-plane with lots of pay wares, gotta admit T7 and 737ngx are way better with X-plane add on aircrafts but a horrible installation experience for me.

 

My full name of purchase for T7 and 737 NGX: Nguyen Ngo

Purchase IDs:270740 for 737NGX and 269543 for T7.

 

Name : Nguyen Ngo aka Leo

Hi Nguyen,

 

Sounds like a problem with you installation. Did you run FSX before installing Acceleration or did you I stall everything back to back? Also, switch any anti virus software off before installing.

Hi Nguyen,

 

Sounds like a problem with you installation. Did you run FSX before installing Acceleration or did you I stall everything back to back? Also, switch any anti virus software off before installing.

 Thank you for your attention. I install FSX 1st, run for an initiation then reboot, install Accel. My windows defender + firewall + antivirus ( which i did not have) were in OFF mode or deactivated. This is so frustrating. Anyway, I've managed to ghost my SSD  just incase something like this happens so currently I have T7 available to use but the NGX just keep on failing to install with Catastrophic Failure, especially while installing into PMDG/DEM/ blah blah then it just stop then CAtastrophic.....

As I said in my response to your ticket - this is a serious problem in the Windows installer - that message is not being generated by any code PMDG wrote. You're probably going to have to reinstall Windows to fix it. Blame Microsoft, sorry.

Not sure what it is you are doing but:

 

I would install FSX + SPs to the default folder.

 

Then I would select the "Properties" of the FSX program files folder, and with the "Security" tab choose "Edit", and select the "Users (<yourpc>\Users)" group, and add "Write" (and "Modify") permissions - allow to update all folders.

 

(we now have the classic folder security similar to Windows XP)

 

After then I would install addons. Install the PMDGs allowing them to be installed as default.

Than why do every  dev  say to install outside the default location  because this cause this problem of this issue?

The explanation is already clear from my post; with the default install file security problems arise, so the recommendation is to make another folder. Another folder made by the user inherits the permissions of the user. Instead, it is better to fix the security issue by setting very simply the correct permissions on the FSX program files folder. Being the default means that there are no mistakes made when subsequently installing addons to locations alternate to the default.

 

Don’t forget we have an OP that cannot install the aircraft in a working state. I have suggested a method of installing FSX, that at this stage would more likely succeed with the PMDGs, and other addons for that matter. However, I wouldn’t hesitate to suggest the install method I described, as the least problematic way of installing FSX or P3D. If I had an SSD and an older drive, I would put Windows and FSX on the new drive, with FSX in the default location, use the older drive for storage and backup.

Don’t forget we have an OP that cannot install the aircraft in a working state. I have suggested a method of installing FSX, that at this stage would more likely succeed with the PMDGs, and other addons for that matter. However, I wouldn’t hesitate to suggest the install method I described, as the least problematic way of installing FSX or P3D. If I had an SSD and an older drive, I would put Windows and FSX on the new drive, with FSX in the default location, use the older drive for storage and backup.

I tried all of methods , really. I even went out, bought a brand new Windows 8.1 64 bits ( I have Win 7 64 bits ultimate ), set every damn permissions, install FSX to default location and even outside of default location. No succeed. Very very very weird. FSX installed and works just fine on Win 7 , even Win 8.1 ( need to activate DX 10 Preview though) but no luck at all I can install either PMDG T7 or 737NGX on my system. This drove me nuts!

Also I tried to do exactly the same with X-plane ( i'm using both FSX and X-plane) and it works just fine I cant compare FSX to X-plane and vice versa due to differences in file structures but FSX is just so damn weird. Please someone enlighten me as if i'm missing something ?

Don’t forget we have an OP that cannot install the aircraft in a working state. I have suggested a method of installing FSX, that at this stage would more likely succeed with the PMDGs, and other addons for that matter. However, I wouldn’t hesitate to suggest the install method I described, as the least problematic way of installing FSX or P3D. If I had an SSD and an older drive, I would put Windows and FSX on the new drive, with FSX in the default location, use the older drive for storage and backup.

Exactly what i'm having rite now, SSD for programs and HDD for backup and stuff

OK guys, I managed to installed all products from PMDG just fine here. 

 

For some reason Windows just messed up PMDG installation and didnt give it proper permissions to install ( it definitely be Microsoft side ). I would love to share my steps here too for future support to other customers that might have problem like me ( PC with multi HDD and SSD, my system : SSD for Wins and FSX, HDD for storage).

1/ Disable all of the harddrives (physically), THIS STEP IS VERY IMPORTANT, only leave your main drive or SSD connected (for some reason, even I zero and secured wipe my SSD, some residues are still there somewhere on the other HDDs, so during installation of a brandnew OS, it search for those files and registries ( i guess) and applied the old or cached one therefore messed up with the fresh OS.)
2/ Secure-wipe or zero data wipe SSD or HDD using Parted Magic ( you can search internet for the ISO and burn to DVD )
3/ Install new OS
4/ Update OS to the latest with multiple restarts
5/ Gain full ADMIN rights for C: drive
6/ Gain full Admin right for current user
6/ Disable Windows Defender ( for FSX installation and further PMDG installations)
5/ Install FSX RTM using DVDs or CDs
6/ Initiate a 1st run for config files to be built properly
7/ Restart computer
8/ Install Acceleration Expansion or SP1+SP2
9/ Run FSX again
10/ Quit and restart computer
11/ Install PMDG 737 - 777 - 747
12/ Profit

 

 

AND FINALLY THANK YOU PMDG SUPPORT TEAM FOR FAST REPLY TO MY REQUEST AND SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE THAT MIGHT CAUSE TO YOU GUYS, MY DEEP APOLOGY ( I WAS MAD 'COS OF THIS PROBLEM :( )  

Edited May 25, 201412 yr by leoaudio13

Oh I forgot to add a very important step, somehow forum doesnt allow me to edit :

 

I created a SUPER ADMIN account in windows and install everything from there. 

Unfortunately it seems that a general misunderstanding surrounding Windows security and file permissions, is the root of most peoples problems with FSX performance and addon installations. :smile:

Unfortunately it seems that a general misunderstanding surrounding Windows security and file permissions, is the root of most peoples problems with FSX performance and addon installations. :smile:

Microsoft Windows is always way too complicated than Mac OSX IMO ( im a mac guy, recently converted to windows )