Reinstalling on New Computer - Best Advice to Ease the Pain?

[fluffyflops 1,858]

7 hours ago, Reader said:

 

Odd that, it's exactly what the OP finally said he was going to do. I'm not sure who you would place into your "they" stereotype.

the majority of people,  in life people always want a short cut.  

[Ray Proudfoot 8,958]

On 12/29/2020 at 3:43 AM, Bob Scott said:

I install the add-on as if new, then overwrite it with the modded folder from the previous installation.  To keep it as hassle-free as possible, I try to keep the drive letters and folder names the same as in the old setup.

I keep those backups for a year or more...seems that I end up going back to them fairly regularly.

Having mulled over the options available to me with a new computer being ordered in the next few weeks this is the procedure I'll be going with. Having backups that can be mounted and selected files / folders copied to a new install will save countless hours. Think of all those Cartayna GSX configurations for one. But each airport will be installed from the exe and then the files from the original on backup copied over.

Another reason why you should always buy the fastest CPU and GPU you can't afford. This process is unavoidable and time consuming. Hopefully it will be many years before I'll need to do it again assuming I'm still metally capable.

Hence why the next PC will have a i9-13900K and a 4090 GPU. I've used Aomei Backupper (free) for many years and highly recommend it.

[psolk 3,040]

HDD's are so cheap and new systems come with one anyway so I usually just take the old drive out of my old PC and install it in the new PC.  In most cases now you can actually use EasyBCD and make the old drive bootable again with Win10/11 without having to reinstall everything, it will even automagically install all the new drivers.  I like being able to boot to my "old pc" and actually have things accessible but the alternative is to just use it as a data drive so you have all your old files right there in Windows Explorer accessible via the new build.    Myself I have 4 boot options.  P3D, MSFS, Steam Games including XP12 and FS9 🙂  This allows for more dedicated tweaking of the system for each sim platform and different dedicated driver settings rather than profiles.  I'm old school LOL.  

It's as simple as taking the HDD out of the old PC and plugging it into the new one.  I'm ashamed to admit I still have my old 256GB FS9 drive accessible in my brand new system LOL... Just in case because you never know...  

My other piece of advice is consolidate your registration codes LOL.  I have a text file with all my activation/registration codes because even if you do re-install then copy over with modded files you will still need to activate them so having all your codes handy in one spot is very helpful... But by keeping the old drive and same drive paths I was able to simply install P3D and "restore" all my AIG traffic, Global Mesh etc without having to reinstall everything.  

Despite some calling it shortcuts or looking for the easy way there is something to be said for working smarter not harder 🙂 

 

[Bob Scott 7,721]

6 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Having mulled over the options available to me with a new computer being ordered in the next few weeks this is the procedure I'll be going with.

I'm in the middle of a rebuild on my main PC with the same config (13900KS + RTX4090) now.  Even with the ability to carry over much of a prior P3D configuration, it's still sloooooooow going.  I'm already on day 3 of the software rebuild.

This is one thing X-Plane does so much better...just move the folder with all the add-ons in it to the new PC, and it just goes (well, after a short flurry of re-authorizations from X-Plane.org and X-Aviation).

[Ray Proudfoot 8,958]

@Bob Scott, ah, that’s interesting. You’ve chosen the KS. How does that differ from the K?

I suspect some airports could just be dropped in from a backup whereas others like Flightbeam require proper installation as they have a controlling interface.

I’ll split mine into regions or maybe by developer. Still chewing things over. Agreed a simpler way to get an existing build onto a new computer would be great.

If Microsoft and LR can manage it then it’s something for LM to consider.

[pgde 571]

Ray -- the KS variant is the binned version that has a max turbo speed of 6.0Ghz, is more expensive than the K version and draws more power. For more details see https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i9-13900ks-cpu-review

Have a good weekend!

[Ray Proudfoot 8,958]

@pgde, thanks for clarifying. Chillblast who is my preferred builder doesn’t list the KS. And with it pushing so much heat out I’m on the fence as to whether it’s worth it. Remember the 4090 is quite a heat generator too. Perhaps only suitable for full tower cases with extra cooling.

[Bob Scott 7,721]

27 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

@Bob Scott, ah, that’s interesting. You’ve chosen the KS. How does that differ from the K?

I suspect some airports could just be dropped in from a backup whereas others like Flightbeam require proper installation as they have a controlling interface.

I’ll split mine into regions or maybe by developer. Still chewing things over. Agreed a simpler way to get an existing build onto a new computer would be great.

If Microsoft and LR can manage it then it’s something for LM to consider.

The i9-13900KS is to the i9-13900K as the i7-8086K was to the i7-8700K.  Same chip, but top-binned, sort of a guaranteed winner of the silicon lottery.  I had really good luck with the 8086K...it was worth the extra $$ this build to make sure I could get close to the magic 6 GHz.  I've got this one running the three primary P3D threads at 6.0 GHz without much trouble (the rest of the P-cores are at 5.6 GHz, and the E-Cores I'm using are clocked up a bit to 4.5).

But...I doubt one could make that happen without a really robust cooling system.  I run two 360mm radiators in series external to the case plumbed with 1/2" ID tubing, and I see core temps hitting the mid-80s running a RealBench stress test, and in the 60s running P3D.  No way you put a Noctua NH-D15 air cooler onto a 13900K and hit it with Prime95...it'll be thermal throttling in literally seconds.

A lot of the add-ons require you to run the installer to register the software and put an encrypted key into the registry, so it's never as simple as just swapping a drive to the new PC.  I end up installing most of the payware stuff with the installer, then deleting the folder and replacing it with what I had before to keep my mods and config settings.  Works most of the time.  But quite time consuming to set up.  I'm about 120 airports into a 365 airport configuration at the moment.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,958]

Bob, I guess you had a much better mobo than me because I could only get the i7-8086K to run at 4.9 on 3 cores and 4.8 on the other 3 using AI Suite. This time I’m going for the Asus ROG STRX mobo and will discuss cooling options with Chillblast.

According to this article the 13900K can be well overclocked. As the KS may not be an option this seems my best choice.

I have around 70 airports. Good luck with your install. 👍 Do you ever fly into the same airport twice? 😄

[Bob Scott 7,721]

10 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Bob, I guess you had a much better mobo than me because I could only get the i7-8086K to run at 4.9 on 3 cores and 4.8 on the other 3 using AI Suite. This time I’m going for the Asus ROG STRX mobo and will discuss cooling options with Chillblast.

According to this article the 13900K can be well overclocked. As the KS may not be an option this seems my best choice.

I have around 70 airports. Good luck with your install. 👍 Do you ever fly into the same airport twice? 😄

My trusty 8086K is now my daily use and FPS shooter PC (the one I'm typing this on now).  It's paired with a Maximus XI Hero mobo...going on five years old and still running at 5.1 GHz on a Noctua NH-D15S air cooler now.

My real-world flying was as all over the map as my simming.  I flew C-141B heavy transports all over the globe, then three tours flying government VIPs in Gulfstreams hitting all sorts of mainstream and off-the-beaten-path destinations--twice based out of Europe and once out of Andrews AFB in Washington DC.  So something like Charleroi to Chisinau or Christchurch to Alice Springs seems as natural to me as Heathrow to Amsterdam probably seems to you.  😉

[Ray Proudfoot 8,958]

Bob, I’ve got a buyer for mine so that money is going towards my next system. I have an i5 8th gen for Radar Contact, Aivlasoft EFB and LNM. 7 years old and still fine.

As I’ll be using VSync on a 30Hz monitor that will relieve workload on the hardware except at the very large airports with lots of Ai. Seeing most disappear to Improve fps and still not hit 30 shows the CPU is not powerful enough. The GPU will ensure nighttime flights will have enough power. The 1080Ti is showing its age.

Do you fly those routes in real time? Some look really long. That’s why I like Concorde. Four hours was its time limit but in that time you could get from Heathrow to Barbados. I did manage Honolulu to Auckland but fuel was below legal minimum.

What a shame for you Gulfstream have never allowed their aircraft to be modelled for flight sim. 🙁