FSX-MS Problems reloading FSX

[bcroston 0]

My PC recently failed and I had to take it for repair. During the repair I had Windows 10 installed ( I was previously using 7) and just about everything was wiped off my hard drive, including FSX. I thought there would be no problems in reloading the simulation from the discs, but I was wrong. The first time I tried reloading I received confirmation that it had installed correctly and my Product Key had been accepted. I started to play FS and it worked perfectly but after about 45 minutes it stopped completely and I got the message that my free trial had expired. I never asked for a free trial, I had bought the simulation years ago and have been playing it for years. I uninstalled it and reinstalled it and the same thing happened. Again I uninstalled and reinstalled it and this time just left it with an aircraft parked on the ground to see if it stopped working after 45 minutes. After an hour it was still working so I thought the problem had been overcome. I exited the simulation as I had to do something else and the following evening went to the PC to play it and it had disappeared, I could not find it anywhere. Usually when any game is installed an icon is placed on the desktop and you simply click on it to start the game.This happened with no problems when I installed FS years ago but now things seem to have changed. 

Any ideas as to what is going wrong? Does FS not work properly with Windows 10?

[Jim Young 2,356]

The AVSIM FSX Configuration Guide (see link in my signature) provides some information for you.  You need to have a version of the uiautomationcore.dll in your main FSX folder in order for FSX to work properly with Windows 10 (that's what I found out anyway!!).  I have FSX (boxed version) with Acceleration installed on my system and it installed and works very well in Windows 10.  It appears you installed FSX properly as you state you had to activate it and the activation product key was accepted.  You then need to install Acceleration OR FSX SP1 and SP2.  SP2 is the freeware version of Acceleration and does not include the aircraft and scenery that comes with Acceleration. 

The default location of FSX is in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Flight Simulation.  If it is there, scroll down to FSX.exe, right click it, select Send to and then select Desktop (create shortcut) and a new icon with FSX will be there on your desktop.

You can get SP1 and SP2 at the following link - https://www.microsoft.com/Products/Games/FSInsider/downloads/Pages/FlightSimulatorXServicePack2.aspx

Best regards,

Jim

[Jethro 65]

Hi bcroston,

After installing FSX boxed version you should first run the sim and make slider and setting adjustments, (an absolute must, for the creation of FSX.cfg and other core configs) you should also at that time Activate FSX using the 25 character Product key for FSX, (Exit the sim) after that, continue to install Acceleration Pack using the AccPack 25 character product key, if activation fails at this point or you receive a Demo/trial warning after 30min's flying, there should be an error code dialog when the sim exits.  You mention the sim exits with free trial has expired, when this happens do you see an error message dialog. If so does it have an error code:(1-80004005), could you take a picture and upload the url of that picture please. (Alt+PrtScn > open MSpaint > Paste (clipboard content - pic) > Save As Jpeg > Upload to host site > copy URL of picture from host > Paste URL to next post) 

Since you have updated your OS from Win7 to Win10 the error could be the time limited FSX Demo mode for Acceleration Pack, Win10 sometimes fumbles the activation for AccPack because of a RegKey consequently the AccPack Activation does not appear . Can you confirm you are running FSX Acceleration Pack and that your AccPack has confirmed Activation, (Acceleration Pack has its own 25 character Product key) (your FSX FreeFlight panel should show FSX Acceleration in gold lettering if successful) If you are having trouble Activating FSX AccPack  there may be an amendment needed to the System Registry for FSX/Win10 users. Let me know what the situation is or if it sounds familiar we can make a small correction to your system registry.

[bcroston 0]

Many thanks for your replies. I have had two more tries at loading FSX Gold Edition, the first with the Acceleration pack and the second without. 

The game has informed me that that the installation has been successful and my product key has been accepted. However Windows 10 does not recognise the game in its recently added list when you left click on the Start button, which suggests that something is not quite right.  This time I do have a Microsoft FS icon and when I click on this it just comes up with a list of parts of the game eg Sound, Texture Scenery, it does not launch into the game as it used to. One of the many items in this very long list is FSX and when I click on this the game appears to launch. However a message comes up in a box which says as follows:-

"An error occurred while attempting to activate the product. The problem may be due to an incomplete installation of the application. Reinstalling this application may resolve the problem. Otherwise please contact product support for assistance."

I have tried reinstalling several times and to the best of my knowledge product support no longer exists unless you have bought the latest Steam Edition. After clicking on OK the game then launches but after about 45 minutes freezes and the following message comes up in a box:-

"Thank you for trying Microsoft Flight Simulator X. The trial time has expired. Please activate Flight Simulator to continue playing"

There is only one item to click on and that is OK and when you do this nothing happens but the game remains frozen and you have to exit which I do via the Windows key.

It is a complete mystery to me, the game tells me that it has been installed and activated correctly and then tells me that it hasn't. I shall just mention the 25 figure Product Key, there are two in the box and the instructions do not tell you which one to use. Number one says Flight Sim X Pro. Number two says Flight Simulator X XP. I would have assumed that one Product Key was there to activate the base game and the other to activate the Acceleration disc. However during the installation process there is no prompt at any point to enter a separate key for the Acceleration Pack. As I said at the start I have tried installing the game with and without the Acceleration Pack. 

I am beginning to think that a solution might be to buy the simulation again through Steam, it is not too expensive. However I am concerned that all my discs for add on Scenery and Planes will not work with the Steam Edition and it would be very expensive to replace them with new downloads from Steam. I would appreciate any comments on this from anyone who has been in a similar situation. 

 

[Zatoichi 45]

I migrated to the Steam edition over the holidays without issue regarding add-ons.

 

I have:
AS 2016
ASCA
Five of the A2A aircraft
GEX
UTX
EZDOK
GTN Complete
REX Airports

[Jethro 65]

Hello bcroston,

16 hours ago, bcroston said:

Number one says Flight Sim X Pro. Number two says Flight Simulator X XP

Confusing description of the supplied disks.
I am at a loss to explain the Pro or the XP descriptions regarding your installation disks, other than you may have Flight Simulator X Professional edition (ESP), not a mainstream product that many would have installed. I'm sorry I don't have the same version it seems.
The Pro Edition does not come with Acceleration Disk as far as I know.

In my FSX Deluxe Gold edition there are DVD 3 disks:
& 2 x 25 character Product Keys - (florescent  Orange) - One for FSX and One for AccPack
1) Flight Sim X. Deluxe - product key for Disk 1 & 2 FSX install and activation
2) Flight Sim X. Acceleration Expansion  - Product key for install and activation of the 3rd disk (AccPack)

DVD - Flight Simulator X Deluxe Edition - Labelled Disk 1

DVD - Flight Simulator X Deluxe Edition - Labelled Disk 2

DVD - Acceleration Expansion Pack -  This disk is not labelled as Disk 3

Product Keys are easily distinguished / differentiated, and will be found on the inside back cover, above and below the Acceleration DVD disk.

There should also be 3 booklets under the tabs on the inside front cover of the double-depth jewel case.

Some pics of mine - is this what your FSX: Boxed Product looks like?

Click to enlarge images:

    

[bcroston 0]

Many thanks for your help. In reply to Jethro my boxed product is the same as your photos except on the front lower left hand side where you have a G in a triangle I have 3+ in a square. I shall try reloading once more and if that does not work will consider buying the new Steam Edition, especially as it looks from the comments I am getting that my boxed add- ons are likely to work. 

[Angels40 17]

As a matter of interest bcroston, you mentioned:  "I have had two more tries at loading FSX Gold Edition, the first with the Acceleration pack and the second without." 

Can we assume that you did do the second option fully, i.e. installing FSX Gold, without installing the Acceleration pack, and activated it.  Did you then take a flight and what was the result?   If the activation went through okay, then you should have been able to fly for more that thirty minutes without any problems.   It then could be that the Activation error message you see in other scenarios refers to the failed activation attempt of the Acceleration pack when that is also installed.

Chris

 

 

[Jim Young 2,356]

The FSX Gold Edition has everything including Acceleration.  So, any attempt to install Acceleration with the FSX Gold Edition will corrupt the installation. 

[bcroston 0]

Once again many thanks for your replies and help. Just to clarify for Angels40, I previously tried installing the Gold Edition both with and without Acceleration. In other words on one occasion I used discs 1 and then 2 followed by the Acceleration disc. On the other occasion I installed just discs 1 and 2. The results were the same. I cannot fully understand what Jim Young is telling me, if the Acceleration disc corrupts the installation then why is it supplied in the box?

As I said I had one more go at installing FSX and I used a very old boxed edition called de luxe. The end result was just the same. I was told that installation and activation with the product key had been successful. However when I tried to enter the game I got the same first message starting ( "An error____etc") as I have previously detailed. However on deleting this message the game started and worked perfectly but after about 45 minutes it once again stopped with the second message detailed above ("Thank you____etc). 

Why during installation does the game tell me that it has installed correctly then when trying to play it I am told that it may be incomplete? Why does it tell me that activation has been successful then say an error occurred during activation? Why does it tell me that my free trial has expired when I have bought the game? Why after about 45 minutes does it tell me to activate FS to continue but does not give you the option or method at that point to do the activation, the game just freezes? Anyway as I have already said I activated it during the installation process and it told me this had been done successfully. I am totally baffled by all this and have no answers to these questions. .

I have therefore bought the Steam Edition. the main surprise I got with this was the time taken to download, install and configure. The discs did it it about 30 minutes. The Steam Edition took over 3 hours to download and about 12 hours to install and configure ( I had to leave it running overnight). I have tried taking off and landing successfully and am going to try a longer flight later today. Everything seemed to work well except the throttle on my joystick which will only allow operation between 75% and 100% of power. I have tried to calibrate it going the route OPTIONS, SETTINGS, CONTROLS, CALIBRATION,but so far without success, I shall try again later. I can take the throttle power down to idle by pressing F1 where it stays for about 15 seconds, then goes up to 75% again. Another challenge to sort out!