18 months on, should I reinstall?

[mole_man 0]

I'm sure some would say absolutely.My installation is 18 months old, and all seems OK, but there is the odd sticky moment, particularly coming into land. It doesn't worry me too much, but I am wondering if maybe I'm missing out on the full potential of my system.I've also learnt alot since first installing, and maybe there is some alteration/addition lurking in the depths that I forgot I did and slows things down now.So, is a fresh installed FS9 always an improved beast?RegardsGraeme

[rhodges 6]

Hello Graeme:If things begin to look strange anywhere, first option in my book is to always give rebuilding the fs9.cfg file a shot.This is only my personal opinion, and is by no means meant to be a statement by an authority on this subject, or any other. It works for me.I believe my installation is several years old now, but with the exception of a more lengthy initial startup with all the addons, FS9 seems to run about as well as it ever did.I have had problems arise however, but a backup procedure is my approach to dealing with surprises.Immediately after initial installation of FS9, I make backups of all critical folders and files (and probably a bunch that would not be considered by many as critical). If you choose for a complete reinstallation of FS9, I would highly recommend this backup procedure before you add or edit anything. When trouble arises, I have always been able to backtrack by disabling my current selections, and going back to the defaults by a process of elimination until I could find and eliminate the culprit.Good luck:RTH

[W2DR 1,860]

My experience had been that reinstalling FS9 does little for performance. It's a reinstall of the OS that usually gives the biggest gains.Doug

[yellow5 0]

I did a reinstall of FS9 a while back and glad I did it. As time has gone on, I have learned a lot about FS and how the files are built, plus little tricks here and there. Reinstalling, although time consuming, gave me the opportunity to clean up a lot of files that I really did not need. Plus, I was able slim down FS to what I really use most. I found the load time of FS was faster and seemed to run smoother. I have a lot of AI traffic and sceneries so of course when I get close to the airports my frame rates go down a bit, but it doesn't seem to be as bad as before.It never hurts to do some spring or fall cleaning. You just have to be ready to spend the time. :DKevin

[mole_man 0]

yes, I'm spring cleaning with Flight Sim Manager. Just do a bit at a time as it takes a while.Our PC is basically 3 hard drives old now and is really a win98 pc upgraded to Winxp and then later converted to NTFS. It's never had a clean install of XP.Graeme

[Emile 28]

Hello,I "fly" FS9 since the beginning of FS9 availability and I did NOT reinstall it!I never had the feeling I needed to do it.

[mole_man 0]

Hi EmileYes, I think I'll leave it alone. Just can't be bothered re-installing all the VFR scenery and finding my reg codes for downloads.Spend the time flying instead.Graeme

[Guest SuperFortress]

> My experience had been that reinstalling FS9 does little>for performance. It's a reinstall of the OS that usually gives>the biggest gains.>>DougAbsolutely. I reformat my HD and reinstall the OS about every 6-8 months. It cleans out the OS of any old software, old registry crap, old drivers, and any other possible glitches that may not be easily visible. I then reinstall everything with the latest drivers. Yes it'a lot of work but well worth the benefits.

[Guest kevin2003]

Wise move MoleMan.Short of a catastrophic failure I cannot think of a single instance that would justify the hastle of a FS9 rebuild,As for a reinstall of the O/S......:-roll Todays top spec systems are capable of running FS9 with everything maxed...but if your system is not as powerful you might find you need to throtle back on the sliders a bit.Mr Ken Salter,Forums manager of Avsim created a piece of genius a couple of years ago.Its called FS Autostart.If you have'nt already got it I can strongly recommend it.It will shut down all unwanted programs and uneccessary processes.It will defrag your FS9 folder.In short it will allow your PC to get the best out of the program.A must have for all Simmers!Finally,update your for virus and spyware definitions daily and scan at least once a week.Keep your system clean.Even a small ammount of spyware will erode your FS9 performance.I find that if I start to notice something small about how my FS9 runs such as a non-recurring stutter and it starts to irritate me,I take it as my que to go out,to the pub or kick a ball or just take a break from the PC for the rest of the day.Works for me!regardskevin

[WAD3 0]

This is something I dont understand. I have had FS9 since a few months after it was released and I have no problems (on 2 computers). I dont doubt that a reinstall could have some advantages but am I the only one who has no problems with FS9.

[oldbear 33]

There's a lot to be said for that all adage, 'if it ain't broke...'.BUT, I think every simmer should do a reinstall of FS9 at least once, just so that they can experience that 'Wow how smooth I can't believe my FPS it's like a new sim' feeling.I did it when I decided to get rid of tons of freeware and change to a slimmed-down FS with only a handful of choice addons. The results were as above.Ian

[kerosene31 349]

I just finished my 2nd fs2004 reinstall a few weeks ago (first one was when the 9.1 patch came out). Why reinstall:My reason for reinstalling was that I had all this "stuff" installed, most of which I never used. I have all this freeware and payware stuff accumulated over the years, but ultimately I spend most of my time in my few favorite addons. I'm sure I'm not alone in having more fs addons than time to use them...The full fs2004 reinstall will take up a big chunk of time. Don't kid yourself. Depending on how much you have to reinstall, you can at least write off a good part of the weekend. My results: As others have said, there were no miracle framerate jumps. The nice thing is I know what is and what is not installed. Headaches:The #1 heacache is obviously time. The big thing I found is all the little tweaks and fixes that I forgot about over time that I had to search the forums again and find. For example, what sensitivity and null zone settings did I have for my controllers? What were my FSUIPC settings? What about when an fs2002 plane has a yaw dampner not working? Had to look up that setting (searching the forums here is the best way). Ultimately the process always ends up taking more time than you expect. My tips:-Make a complete list of all your addons, including any license codes, in the order you think they should be installed. This will save you lots of headaches. Have them all handy in one document so you can cut and paste. -Download as many addon files ahead of time. Of course you can download others while you start the process. -You can reinstall addons in stages. For example start with vital things, then aircraft, then scenery packages as you fly to them. No need to install an airport until you actually need to fly there.-Defrag, defrag, defrag. After you uninstall fs2004, defrag your hard drive *before* you reinstall. Then defrag again before installing any large addons. It helps a lot if you have a 3rd party defrag utility that works much faster than the default.

[mole_man 0]

If you have a big enough hard drive, can you have a second installition of FS9? That way you could determine if any probs are your system or your original installation.My only real problem is a [up to] 5 second pause approaching most runways. Doesn't matter if traffic is high or low and happens on many different sceneries. The rela irritation is you don't resart exactly where you paused.Does give you time to look around at the scenery though.Graeme

[kerosene31 349]

>If you have a big enough hard drive, can you have a second>installition of FS9? That way you could determine if any probs>are your system or your original installation.You cannot install fs2004 more than once, because of the registry settings. You might be able to do some manual changes to the registry, but that is never a good idea. You can make backup copies of your fs2004 directory if you have enough space. I used to do this for awhile, but after a short time it gets to be difficult to manage. The best thing to do is to be careful when you install things into fs2004. Know where files are going, and more importantly know how to uninstall them when things go wrong. I find it easier to just backup parts individually. For example if I was installing some new texture files, I would backup my fs2004 texture folder, just in case. I use an external hard drive which really comes in handy for things like that.

[mole_man 0]

Thanks for advice, and I have duly downloaded your dreamfleet fuel planner.Graeme