FSX, PMDG & Windows 8

[mcbellette 145]

Hi all, I am currently only considering my options at this stage in that I may end up doing nothing at all for now. But can I just ask, with respect to Windows 8, how does FSX and in particular PMDG products work with that operating system? Is it better, worse or not work at all?

[77west 139]

mcbellette, on 01 Jun 2014 - 10:28 AM, said:

Hi all, I am currently only considering my options at this stage in that I may end up doing nothing at all for now. But can I just ask, with respect to Windows 8, how does FSX and in particular PMDG products work with that operating system? Is it better, worse or not work at all?

I am running it on 8.1, as long as you set it up and install it all correctly you should be fine. Don't install to program files, make a folder such as C:\FSX and to be safe make it have full read and write permissions for everyone. And turn of user account control. The only issue with 8 or 8.1 that I have seen is that if you go from full screen to windowed mode your hardware (joke, joystick etc) can become non-responsive. I solved this by having a second PC that runs my vatsim pilot client, flight bag, etc etc so I don't have to go out of full screen mode. 

[Tabs 2,790]

We do not recommend Windows 8/8.1 and you will not receive support for issues encountered in it. It may work, it may not. We have no intention of offering full support for it given the number of strange issues we've seen since its release. Windows 7 64-bit is the best OS for an FSX computer.

 

If you do choose to run it, you should do the following though:

 

1. Completely disable UAC - this requires a registry hack, Google it.

 

2. Install FSX to its own folder, not to the default C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\etc - you will very likely have issues without doing this. Win8 "enforces" the idea that writable files should never be in the Program Files or Program Files (x86) folders much moreso than Win7 did - this hurts older applications like FSX that were designed before MS started this paradigm.

 

3. Always run FSX with the Run as administrator command.

 

4. Make sure all hardware drivers are absolutely up to date.

 

The people who've had the best success have done the above things. The joystick disconnect/disappearance bug is still there though and isn't going to be easily solved because it's part of how Win8 does power management.

[Fadamor 6]

I initially had issues with the 737NGX and Win 8.1 Professional x64 until I updated my nVidia drivers.  I haven't had any strange issues with flying since then. I'm even using the DirectX 10 Preview and nothing "wonky" is happening.  But like they said, the O/S is not officially supported by PMDG.

[Cristi_Neagu 134]

It's like it's always been with Windows. Every other version is kinda stupid. 98, XP, 7 all great. 2000, Vista, 8 not so much.

[jc_150 3]

Hi all

Although Tabs has given a definitive answer on behalf of PMDG, I would like to add my experience from the UK. When I bought my new computer it had Win 8 pre installed, and I now have it updated it to 8.1. I was told by the salesman at the computer shop that it would invalidate my guarantee if I decided to remove Win 8 and replace it with my licenced copy of Win 7. (and would probable loose the recovery partition if I partitioned before installing) They offered to do it for a fee which I did not want to pay. So I reluctantly put fsx and my PMDG add ons onto win 8 and now 8.1. The only issue as indicated above was the joystick disconnecting at odd times, and when flying online this is totally unacceptable. I tried a few fixes from forums but to no avail, until I re mapped my axis via FSUIPC by following the FSUIPC manual (won't Kyle be proud that I followed the manual and succeeded) So now all well and no issues. Hope I never need specific full support for Win 8.1 support from PMDG as they have made it clear there would be none

Hope this helps a little

Kind Regards

John Calleja

[77west 139]

I forgot to mention what Ryan said in his post that it is not officially supported so its a "at your own risk" scenario. I took the risk because I am in IT and can easily switch back to 7 x64  if I need to, but if you are getting a brand new PC and your not up to reinstallation and so on, and the PC builder offers 7 as an option, then you should probably go for that. One trick to get 7 legally that the average salesperson does not know is that if you buy 8 and\or 8.1 Professional, you have the right to downgrade to 7 Pro. This is how HP and Toshiba as an example can still offer 7 Pro on their OEM computers. I also would recommend doing a "clean" installation from media with no OEM "crapware" as many of the issues with 8 have often stemmed from these. But that goes for 7 or 8.

[codechris 9]

I built my new computer with 8.1 forgetting that FSX may have issues, but since I paid for it I had no real choice (other then buying W7 as well). The most issues I had where with EXDOK. In fact, I don't even have FSX in it's own folder because I forgot to do that. I do get odd crashes, and they will be fixed with a reinstall in it's own folder I feel. The EZDOK issues where solved by running FSX as administrator though and now non-existant

 

I will admit, mine is a complete new build that I did myself. Everything is new apart from keyboard, mouse, monitor and joystick. I will order a second SSD just for FSX, mostly because it's filling this 250GB SSD pretty quick along with the rest of the games, and hopefully that will fix my odd crash. I will add that the longest flight I've ever done is probably Heathrow to Seville in the 737NGX so any long haul could very well prove impossible with my current setup.

 

Your mileage may vary however. I work in IT, large networks and Unix, so windows issues are easy for me compared to anything at work, so don't take my experience as gospel or that you will get the same. There was some annoying issues to work through

[Tabs 2,790]

It's like it's always been with Windows. Every other version is kinda stupid. 98, XP, 7 all great. 2000, Vista, 8 not so much.

 

It wasn't 2000 that was terrible in that slot, it was Windows Me.

[simmercr 0]

Mine works fine with 8.1, no crashes at all, latest drivers, even FSX on the Program Files x86 folder. Also it runs on a SSD. I think the trick with the majority of software, especially Windows, is to keep the house in order like registry clean, get rid of old data, stuff like that, never had a problem doing those things.

[Cristi_Neagu 134]

It wasn't 2000 that was terrible in that slot, it was Windows Me.

I stand corrected. I only used 95,XP and 7 personally, but I did get some hands on time with 98 and Vista.