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~Craig~

A couple of tips for FSX:SE users

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This advice applies to FSX / FSX:SE parallel installs only!

 

Firstly, one of the things FSX:SE users may have noticed is that add-on scenery that is installed using the proper installer, never gets automatically added to your Scenery Library and always needs to be added manually within the sim.

 

This is because all scenery installers for FSX, add the scenery by updating the Scenery.cfg file, and in the boxed version of FSX, this file is located at :-

 

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX\Scenery.cfg

 

So an installer that was intended for the boxed version of FSX, will always update the Scenery.cfg at the above location.  But the location for the Scenery.cfg in FSX:SE changed.

 

The Scenery.cfg for FSX:SE is located at the subtley different :-

 

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX-SE\Scenery.cfg

 

So this is why scenery installed into FSX:SE is never automatically added to your scenery library (even if the installer path correctly points to the FSX:SE installation location  (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\FSX).

 

There are two solutions to this problem:-

 

1). Simply add scenery manually using the Scenery Library within FSX:SE,

 

or,

 

2). You can temporarily change the names of the scenery.cfg paths, so that scenery is installed directly into FSX:SE...... but you must remember to then change it back!

 

So, if you also have boxed FSX installed too, this involves firstly, temporarily renaming the 'FSX' folder within the above file path (the part marked in green), to something like 'FSXbackup'.

 

Then simply change the 'FSX-SE' folder within the above file path (again, the bit in green), to 'FSX'.

 

Now when you run any scenery installer for FSX, the scenery will be properly added to FSX:SE's scenery library as it should be.

 

It is essential that you change the names of both of these folder back to their original 'FSX' and 'FSX:SE' names, once you've finished installing scenery, and before launching either FSX or FSX:SE  !

 

===========================

 

Secondly, it appears from reports so far, that users who already have boxed FSX installed, and then install FSX:SE tend to have a more successful time with installers that were made for boxed FSX, and in them locating FSX:SE's updated location, via Registry.

 

However some users, may want to delete boxed FSX, and start solely using FSX:SE, for ease of management, hard disk capacity etc.

 

In this case, it is advised not to uninstall boxed FSX using it's standard uninstaller.  The reason for this is that whereas FSX and FSX:SE do share some registry elements (which is why when you install FSX:SE after boxed FSX, most installers automatically know and point to the FSX:SE location), but other Registry elements are not shared.

 

If you do currently have both boxed FSX and FSX:SE installed, and wish to remove boxed FSX, I'd suggest at this time that the best way of doing this is simply to manually delete your Microsoft Games/Microsoft Flight Simulator X folder.   This contains all core files and for most users will be many Gigabytes in size.   Expect deletion to take around 20 minutes+.

 

This will restore all of the HD space that FSX was taking up, but without messing up the registry elements.  If you use FSX's uninstall process, it will unistall at least some of FSX:SE's Registry elements!

 

Manually deleting your FSX folder is also good because it will retain directories like your FSX.CFG (which you may want to keep to refer to), and the Scenery.cfg as noted above  - both of which are in different locations from the main FSX folder that you're deleting here.

 

Of course going forward, both of these steps should eventually become redundant;  once native FSX:SE addons are released via Steam (or even 3rd parties) they will have native abilities to point to the correct Scenery.cfg files, and similarly, eventually it's hoped that DTG / Steam will update FSX:SE to remove all Registry confusions between the sims.    What we really need until that time is a 'switch' that automatically changes all file paths (sim installation, fsx.cfg, scenery.cfg) according to which sim we want to install an add-on in to.

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Great post, Craig. Very useful, your efforts are really much appreciated.

I will strictly follow your recommendations as soon as the Steam support will bother replying to my ticket and helping me complete the transaction, which I can't do since day 24... :(

Pretty surprised to be honest.

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Hey Craig,

I havent noticed any problems yet with scenery addons not being added to the scenery.cfg automaticly, but I do like to know how to add scenery manually, so I can add scenery that is already on my system, on other drives. I cant seem to figure out how to do this and from your post I get the impression you found how to do that.

Would you mind explaining how you get this done?


Cheers!

Maarten

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Hey Craig,

I havent noticed any problems yet with scenery addons not being added to the scenery.cfg automaticly, but I do like to know how to add scenery manually, so I can add scenery that is already on my system, on other drives. I cant seem to figure out how to do this and from your post I get the impression you found how to do that.

Would you mind explaining how you get this done?

 

Hi Maarten,

 

Did you install just FSX:SE on it's own (without an existing FSX installation in place) ? ... In that situation, it is possible that FSX:SE will use the same folder name for the Scenery.cfg (as it does for the FSX_SE.cfg in the same scenario).    

 

In which case, my advice in the OP, would only apply to those who have a parallel installation of FSX and FSX:SE.     Unfortunately, I can no longer edit the OP to clarify this.   Apologies for any inconvenience.

 

In the OP, when I referred to "adding scenery manually", I really just meant by using FSX / FSX:SE's Scenery Library.   (under 'Settings' within the sim options, or 'World' once you're in a flight).

 

If you take a look at the scenery.cfg file though (at the path(s) shown in the OP), you can see how scenery can indeed be added manually, outside of FSX.

 

The format for each piece of scenery looks like this ;-

 

[Area.199]
Title=UK2000 Manchester Xtreme
Local=UK2000 scenery\UK2000 Manchester Xtreme
Active=TRUE
Required=FALSE
Layer=201
 
So to add scenery completely manually, you would simply store it somewhere (I'd suggest FSX or FSX:SE's "Addon Scenery" folder), and then add an entry such as the above, to the scenery.cfg.
 
In the above example, I've added UK2000 Manchester Xtreme (in this example, the scenery is stored in the main FSX root folder, not in the "Addon Scenery folder), and the most important part of that entry is the location of the scenery (within the FSX root directory):-  
 
UK2000 scenery\UK2000 Manchester Xtreme
 
Hope this helps!

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Did you install just FSX:SE on it's own (without an existing FSX installation in place) ? ... In that situation, it is possible that FSX:SE will use the same folder name for the Scenery.cfg (as it does for the FSX_SE.cfg in the same scenario).

 

That is the case with me also, Stand Alone Install. So the type of install should be pointed out with any "how to's". Your not the only one, some developers are finding this out also.

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Ah, of course. I hadnt even thought about adding them to the .cfg manually. I've been trying to do it through the library, but FSX:SE didnt pick up the selected folders.

Thanks, Craig! :)


Cheers!

Maarten

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Thanks Craig, these are excellent tips!

 

I did install FSX-SE on a clean system, and can confirm that it did emulate an original FSX installation, with all of the config files placed in the standard folders in users/(user name)/appdata/microsoft/FSX, and programdata/Microsoft/FSX, and with the standard names "FSX.CFG" and "SCENERY.CFG". This allows most installers to work just as they would in original FSX.

 

One very important thing that needs to be done on a clean (FSX-SE ONLY) installation is to install all three versions of simconnect that were associated with original FSX. The new FSX installs its own version of simconnect, which works well if you just run the program with no add-ons, but that version will not work with simconnect-enabled add-ons that were designed for original FSX.

 

There is a folder in the Steam FSX directory named "SDK". If you drill down into that folder, beginning with the subfolder "Core Utilities Kit", you will come to a "Legacy Interfaces" folder, containing simconnect.msi installers for all three original FSX versions: FSX-RTM, FSX-SP1, and FSX-XPACK (which is the simconnect for SP2/Acceleration).

 

All three legacy installers should be run in turn, which will insure that any add-on looking for any older version of simconnect.dll will find the right one when running under FSX-SE.


Jim Barrett

Licensed Airframe & Powerplant Mechanic, Avionics, Electrical & Air Data Systems Specialist. Qualified on: Falcon 900, CRJ-200, Dornier 328-100, Hawker 850XP and 1000, Lear 35, 45, 55 and 60, Gulfstream IV and 550, Embraer 135, Beech Premiere and 400A, MD-80.

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/\ /\ /\  ... That's great advice as well Jim, about the Legacy Simconnect dependencies. 

 

 

====================

 

I'll contact a moderator and see if they can add the text;

 

"For FSX / FSX:SE Parallel installs only"  to the OP.   

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For the 'side-by-side' case as addressed by Craig in the original post here, an option that SHOULD work is to create a symbolic "junction" from the location of the FSX-SE Scenery.cfg file to the FSX Scenery.cfg file location. Then any scenery added in the FSX install will automatically be seen in the FSX-SE install. Junctions ( mklink /j) works on directories/folders that can be on different volumes.

 

For FILES, use:

 

mklink /H d:\Linked_TO c:\Linked_From

 

"Linked_From" is the 'real' file, "Linked_TO" is the location where the 'hard link' to the 'real' file will reside.

 

to create a Hard Link for files. They MUST reside on the same Drive but can be in different locations on that drive.

 

mklink /H C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX-SE\Scenery.cfg C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX\Scenery.cfg

 

Changing the contents of the Scenery.cfg file in either location changes the actuall file contents as seen by both locations.

 

This would be entered in a Command Line after first renaming the FSX-SE Scenery.cfg to any name of your chosing since the file can not exist in the FSX-SE location for the "junction" to work.

 

More info here:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/278262-mklink-create-use-links-windows.html

 

Paul


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Hey Paul, great info, but not sure what you mean by  "first renaming the FSX-SE Scenery.cfg to any name of your chosing since the file can not exist in the FSX-SE location for the "junction" yo work"  In this example you gave  mklink /H C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX-SE\Scenery.cfg C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX\Scenery.cfg,     I would need to change the FSX-SE  Scenery.cfg in that folder to something else  IE:  myscenery.cfg

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After a lot of continued experimenting and investigation, I've come to the personal conclusion that the easiest way to proceed with FSX:SE, is to have it installed on it's own (without a parallel FSX installation), with a few notes :-

 

If you have never had 'boxed FSX' installed on the machine

 

  • Simply install FSX:SE from STEAM.
  • Browse to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\FSX\SDK\Core Utilities Kit\SimConnect SDK\LegacyInterfaces, and install the 3 legacy Simconnect versions.
  • You're good to go - almost all installers for FSX should revert to FSX:SE's location, and all addon scenery should install into the (correct) scenery.cfg location.  FSX addons that use both the new Steam Simconnect, and the older Simconnect versions should work ok.

 

If you have previously had FSX installed on the machine, or presently still have it installed

 

  • If you still have boxed FSX installed, uninstall it, using the MS FSX uninstaller (not a program like CCleaner's uninstall page).

Now, in all cases;

  • Download (free) TweakFS Registry Utility, and use the 'Search Reg' button to locate both your "LOCAL MACHINE" and "CURRENT USER" registry entries for FSX.

Link to Download Registry Utility:-

 

http://tweakfs.com/download/fsx_reg_utility.zip

 

  • When your registry appears and locates FSX registry entries, right click on the highlighted "10.0" folder (on the left panel) and select 'delete'.     (Do this for the LOCAL MACHINE and CURRENT USER registry entries.
  • Re-boot your PC.
  • Install FSX:SE from Steam.
  • Browse to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\FSX\SDK\Core Utilities Kit\SimConnect SDK\LegacyInterfaces, and install the 3 legacy Simconnect versions.
  • You're good to go - almost all installers for FSX should revert to FSX:SE's location, and all addon scenery should install into the (correct) scenery.cfg location.  FSX addons that use both the new Steam Simconnect, and the older Simconnect versions should work ok.

 

In summary, even after uninstalling boxed FSX, it will often leave a registry entry.  This registry registry will change how FSX:SE is installed (renaming files like the fsx.cfg and scenery.cfg).   So if you have had boxed FSX installed on the PC before, it's a very good idea to use a FSX registry tool such as TweakFS Registry Utility to search and find the 'boxed FSX entry' (which is called "10.0", within the "Flight Simulator" registry folder of the "Microsoft" directory), and delete it before installing FSX:SE.

 

In any scenario, after installing FSX:SE, it will be necessary to browse to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\FSX\SDK\Core Utilities Kit\SimConnect SDK\LegacyInterfaces, to install the 3 legacy Simconnect interfaces.

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Hey Paul, great info, but not sure what you mean by  "first renaming the FSX-SE Scenery.cfg to any name of your chosing since the file can not exist in the FSX-SE location for the "junction" yo work"  In this example you gave  mklink /H C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX-SE\Scenery.cfg C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX\Scenery.cfg,     I would need to change the FSX-SE  Scenery.cfg in that folder to something else  IE:  myscenery.cfg

For the link to function there can be no file named "Scenery.cfg" in the FSX-SE location, thus you

must rename the existing Sencery.cfg there or remove it. I recommend you just ar .bak or ,save to the extention.

 

In the mklink statement you must still use the name "Scenery.cfg" as that is what the link will be called, as it were. In the location C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX-SE\   before the mklink, you should no longer see a file named "Scenery.cfg" but  you will see a file called "Scenery.cfg" again after you execute a successful mkink /H

 

Note that you can change the contents of that file from either the destination location or the original location.

 

  Paul


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Hey Craig, i have both installed right now, should i uninstall both and then reinstall FSX-SE, or can i leave my FSX-SE still installed?

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Hey Craig, i have both installed right now, should i uninstall both and then reinstall FSX-SE, or can i leave my FSX-SE still installed?

 

It's entirely up to you Dutch.  If all is well, you may want to keep things as they are.  My advice above is more to do with people who want to remove 'boxed FSX' and revert to just having one sim to maintain! :smile:

 

If you do want to move to using FSX:SE only, personally I'd advise uninstalling both, and then using the TweakFS Registry Utility to remove all registry entries for both 'boxed FSX' (which is references as Microsoft / Flight Simulator / 10.0 in the registry, and also FSX:SE's entries too (which should be right below it).

 

For info, this is what you are looking for in the registry, when looking to delete the old boxed FSX registry entry, that can mess things up :-   (Right click and 'delete' the folder shown below)

 

NOTE:  Only delete the registry entries shown here, when uninstalling boxed FSX, or FSX:SE.   Once FSX:SE is then installed clean, both of these entries will be present again - so don't delete them then! ... just before you do the clean install :wink:

reg10.jpg

 

 

....and if you are looking to unistall FSX:SE, this is what you're looking for:- 

(Right click and 'delete' the folder shown below)

 

NOTE:  Only delete the registry entries shown here, when uninstalling boxed FSX, or FSX:SE.   Once FSX:SE is then installed clean, both of these entries will be present again - so don't delete them then! ... just before you do the clean install :wink:

reg_fs10.jpg

 

 

This will give you a completely fresh, clean install of FSX:SE.

 

NB. TweakFS Registry Utility has a small bug where the first time you use it and select the 'Search Reg' button, it will launch the Windows Registry Editor, but will not search for the FSX entry.   If this happens, simply close the Windows Reg Editor window (that has popped up) and go back to TweakFS Reg Utility and press the 'Search Reg' button again - it will work the second time, and will launch the registry and find your FSX entry.

 

If you just remove boxed FSX and leave FSX:SE as it currently is - addons etc will still be installed into FSX:SE as though you still have boxed FSX installed.   (So scenery etc, may be added to the wrong scenery.cfg, etc).

 

So for those serious enough about FSX:SE to want to move to it solely at this time, my advice would be ;-

 

- uninstall boxed FSX

- uninstall FSX:SE

- Use TweakFS Registry Utility to remove all registry entries for both sims

- Install FSX:SE freshly, from Steam

- Browse to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\FSX\SDK\Core Utilities Kit\SimConnect SDK\LegacyInterfaces, and install the 3 legacy simconnect versions.

 

It's a bit of a 'chew' but really worth it in the end.

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Beware. I was informed, by a very reputable developer to NOT delete that from the registry. I have had a clean standalone installation of FSX-SE and it has both The Steam and FSX 10 registry entries. I have yet to have a FSX addon not find SE and install properly and work as far as that goes. Just asking ?

 

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