I'm here, new system, HELP?

[Lars Peter 0]

Hello.All FU2 and FU3 will install with all addons within the win.95-98-98SE win.XP without problems. including all the addons produced from 1997/2007.Lars Peter.:-wave About WIN.VISTA, new platform, no good for me...

[Guest Stearman]

Hi Tom, as I told you in the previous thread, I'm very happy to hear you're doing well (I don't think I could get up at 2:00 AM to work at 4:00 AM even when I've been fittest) :-) Congrats on your new PC system, I'm afraid I'm not that determined to upgrade mine for the moment.Best wishes to you & family for the new year.

[Guest twsimfan]

Daniel,Good to hear from you. My health has it's ups & downs. Right at the moment my alarm should be going off in about 10 minutes but I've been up a good share of the night. You might be more determined to get a new computer if your old one was acting like mine has for the past 7 or 8 months. It started with an occasional lock up but they got more frequent and it also began to do a lot of blue screen crashes. It didn't seem to matter what I was running... many times nothing at all. Then for about the last 3 months it became a contest to see if I'd be able to boot it up on a given day. Then it got so that when it was up it was running so slow that even playing solitaire was syrupy slow.I think the initial problem was with memory. But that 5 year old system used propriatary Dell memory that could have cost me thousands to replace. Toward the end I couldn't do much more than check e-mail and track the build status on this system. I was even afraid to update my iPod for fear it would mess it up.I decided that it was to the point that I had to replace that old system and I'd better get a good one because there is no way Rhonda will let me get another for at least 5 more years... 20 if she has her way. :-lolThis one is quick! :)How does FSX in the Baron over the Seattle waterfront & downtown with all the sliders to the right and a steady 20 fps sound? Or since you are a racer... how about GTL with all the video options cranked up and doing a challenge race with 25 oponents without a hint of a stutter?How about an e-mail updating us on how you and your family are getting along there in Barcelona? I'd love to hear from you. :)Well I need to go take my shower and get ready for work...

[Guest Stearman]

>You might be more>determined to get a new computer if your old one was acting>like mine has for the past 7 or 8 months.I understand :-) but what keeps me is that I'm not prepared to deal with the "joys" of Windows Vista yet. From what I know about it so far, it would give more problems than satisfactions comparatively.Only reason to get it now would be the ability of running FSX properly... but I'm not sure it's a reason enough in itself. In fact I'm still far from having enjoyed all the add-ons I collected for FS9 over the years, and I know I'd miss much of it in FSX... like the Georender/FSAddon/Lago stuff, to mention some.>I think the initial problem was with memory. But that 5 year>old system used propriatary Dell memory that could have cost>me thousands to replace.Yep, that's why I do always try to stay in the realm of the generic stuff. Never regretted so far.>How does FSX in the Baron over the Seattle waterfront &>downtown with all the sliders to the right and a steady 20 fps>sound?Sounds nice indeed :-) ...who knows? Maybe in a year or so.>How about an e-mail updating us on how you and your family are>getting along there in Barcelona? I'd love to hear from you.Will try to find the time for it.Cheers,

[Hans_Petter 1]

Sorry for butting in but you certainly won't have to "be prepared to deal with the "joys" of Windows Vista" to get a more powerful PC. My next one will get Win XP unless I keep on using Win 2000. Sure, if you buy a new PC in some department store or "Computer World" it's likely to come with the latest MS OS. Even so you can always format the disk and reinstall your OS of choice. Better yet, get one built by a local geek store and you get exactly what you specify in the first place, OS included.Hans Petter

[Guest twsimfan]

Daniel,"I understand :-) but what keeps me is that I'm not prepared to deal with the "joys" of Windows Vista yet. From what I know about it so far, it would give more problems than satisfactions comparatively.Only reason to get it now would be the ability of running FSX properly... but I'm not sure it's a reason enough in itself. In fact I'm still far from having enjoyed all the add-ons I collected for FS9 over the years, and I know I'd miss much of it in FSX... like the Georender/FSAddon/Lago stuff, to mention some."My new system is again a Dell. I ordered from another company and it got here with a disfunctional video system in late November. I think it could have been saved but their support was really bad. So it went back. My wife insisted that I get something with an ironclad warranty... meaning a Dell. But the major parts in this one are all brand names... brans that can be had at dozens of stores in this immediate area. Corsair Dominator memory... 2 nVidia GeForce 8800 GT video cards... Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer sound card... and so on.AS for the operating system I worried about that for a long time. I strongly considered ordering this system with XP. In the end I decided that since this system is going to have to last a while so I needed to go with Vista. And adjusting to it is an ongoing process for me. There is a lot of good stuff but some bad as well. I've bought 2 books that basically amount to "Vista For Dummies". I need to do more reading. On the good side when I installed GTL Vista told me that the CD protection system (can't think of the name (Starforce maybe?)) drivers were incompatible but it immediately asked me if it should go find new ones for me. I was skeptical but said OK... 30 seconds later it informed me that those drivers were installed and that I needed to reboot for them to take effect. It was right... worked great! Many of my older games I have been able to just copy them in off of my external drive and they work fine without doing an install. FU3 fits in that category... sort of. I still haven't got the control issues worked out... I think I may have to delete the main config file and let it creat a new one. One of our old favorites works great that way... MTM2. The graphics even look descent so long as you play it "Windowed". RT runs and looks good but there is a problem with the utility that you use to assign controler buttons. It flat wont run. Stag tells me that it wouldn't work in XP with SP2 either. That wasn't a problem for me because when I loaded SP2 all my buttons were assigned. In Vista they aren't. The button I use to down shift now changes the view and I can't see tht the others do anythng at all. On the bright side RT runs extremely well in auto trans mode in Vista... that was not usable INO under XP. I'd rather do my own shifting but believe it or not I'm getting faster times this way. Under XP with the AT you would spin just by giving it too much gas (any at all in the Stratos) and you could count on hitting every third tree and nearly every rock. My biggest loss with Vista is MCM2 (MotoCross Madness 2). I had thought that on this system it would really flower. It has always been a resource hog and I now have the resources for it to really come to life. But it will not run. I have tried both copying the files in and also doing an install. The install itself ran fine but not the game. I have also tried setting the executable to "XP Compatibility Mode" with no joy. I haven't given up on it yet but it looks grim.Another problem in Vista is the UAC (User Account Control). It is a big plus for Internet security but it is also a major pain in the behind many times too. When you run a new program it makes you give that program permission to run... small but annoying. But if you are moving large numbers of files around or doing any sort of reorg it makes it impossible. So I have leared to turn UAC off when it gets in my way then turn it back on when I get on the net.So I'm not going to try to sell you on Vista. Like Hans said... it realy isn't going to work well on a several year old system that was built for XP. (Hi Hans! :-wave) But for every thing I have problems with I find 3 new feature that make my life more pleasant.And the biggie is FSX. At the time the ACC pack came out my old system was still running fairly well. I just had to take a break while it was rebooting once or twice an hour. I didn't do a scientific evaluation but my guess was that FSX got about a 10% performance gain with the ACC pack. That and 3 new planes of course. The performance gain in FSX under Vista from the ACC is massive. I ran just 4 or 5 FSX flights on this system before I installed ACC. Performance issues cease to exist at least on this system. Load times for both loading the game and loading flights is way down. But more important that even that is what it does to the world. This planet gets remodeled. I don't know if they put in new textures or if DX10 just interprits them differently but WOW! Also road and especially mesh are much improved. All textures are vastly improved. You look at the Seattle water front and instead of a gray line indicating there might be a road there you see a very good representation of Seattle's souble deck viaduct. And assume that like me youo woud set ships & boats to max once you get bored with the city you can go buzz all the boats and ships in Elliot Bay. :-lolI still have a lot of learning to do yet in vista but at this point I have no desire to go back XPI'm tired so I probably mangled this badly. Yell at me or the goof and I'll try to fix ir.I hope all is well fo both of you... :)

[Guest Stearman]

>So I'm not going to try to sell you on Vista. Like Hans>said... it realy isn't going to work well on a several year>old system that was built for XP. (Hi Hans! :-wave)Well, I think Hans didn't mention installing Vista on an older machine, but rather the other way around: XP on a newer system, as a possible way to avoid the many alleged problems of Vista.Not a bad idea (thanks Hans!!) :-) but I tend to couple both things together in my mind: getting a new system and installing Vista. And as previously stated, I'm not prepared for that yet.Another important factor is, old as it may look, I'm extremely happy with my current system (P4 3GHz, 1Gb RAM, Geforce 7800GS, XP SP2). It has never given me a single problem, and FS9 really "flies" on it (solid 30/40s over central Chicago with everything maxed out). Let alone older games such as FU3 and GPL.Aside from those, I only use rFactor and F1C, and that's only because of the historic mods existing and still upcoming for them. Others such as the MTM or Midtown Madness series I had been that fond of in the past, are completely forgotten now. Same with all the Bugbear stuff (Rally Trophy, Tough Trucks and the Flat Out series). I had really loved those all, but there's a real life beside computer gaming, and I've had to limit myself :-lol OK, I know Vista will be the only usable system in some time like XP has been for a few years, and I'll be getting it eventually. But I simply think I can wait yet a little :-)On the other hand, there's a common theory you may have heard of, that MSFS only sets new standards AND gets free of all the involved bugs every 2 versions, in the odd-numbered versions to be precise. Who knows, maybe I'll end skipping FSX and getting a dream system with all the bells & whistles next year for FS11...BTW... do you know of anyone interested in an used copy of FSX? :-hah Cheers,

[Guest twsimfan]

Hi Daniel,"Well, I think Hans didn't mention installing Vista on an older machine, but rather the other way around: XP on a newer system, as a possible way to avoid the many alleged problems of Vista."Reading back over Hans' post I have to agree with you regarding what he was saying. If you look at the vast number of typos in my post you might get a feel for how tired I was."Another important factor is, old as it may look, I'm extremely happy with my current system (P4 3GHz, 1Gb RAM, Geforce 7800GS, XP SP2). It has never given me a single problem, and FS9 really "flies" on it (solid 30/40s over central Chicago with everything maxed out). Let alone older games such as FU3 and GPL."Your system specs are almost the same as my old system. Your P4 is 0.2GHz faster than mine and mine has 2GB of memory... otherwise the same. Although mine has only thought it has 1GB of RAM (some times 512MB) for months now."Aside from those, I only use rFactor and F1C, and that's only because of the historic mods existing and still upcoming for them. Others such as the MTM or Midtown Madness series I had been that fond of in the past, are completely forgotten now. Same with all the Bugbear stuff (Rally Trophy, Tough Trucks and the Flat Out series). I had really loved those all, but there's a real life beside computer gaming, and I've had to limit myself :-lol"I haven't tried to put F1C on the new system yet. MTM2 is not something I am likely to use a lot. I will miss MCM2 though. I haven't used the Midtown ones in several years myself. And I've always enjoyed RT. Stag, Bob, & I used to race it online. Using it solo I drive more than race... a fun tool when I need a mindless diversion.Do you use GT Legends (GTL)? I really enjoy it."OK, I know Vista will be the only usable system in some time like XP has been for a few years, and I'll be getting it eventually. But I simply think I can wait yet a little :-)On the other hand, there's a common theory you may have heard of, that MSFS only sets new standards AND gets free of all the involved bugs every 2 versions, in the odd-numbered versions to be precise. Who knows, maybe I'll end skipping FSX and getting a dream system with all the bells & whistles next year for FS11..."I felt the same way about Vista as you do. I probably still would if my system hadn't messed up so much. But now I have Vista and I'm learning to like it... mostly. ;)"BTW... do you know of anyone interested in an used copy of FSX? :-hah"No... not that I can think of. One copy is enough for me. :)

[Hans_Petter 1]

Yes, what I meant was indeed upgrading the hardware and keeping the well-tested, functional OS. We could put it this way: Every time we get a new system we tend to cripple its potensial performance by adding a more resource-hungry OS to the deal. Since we really want to run applications and games/sims in particular rather than a fancy desktop why waste a lot of the newly acquired resources on running a prettier OS? The "every two versions" is a golden rule for most things. It applies to operating systems as well as applications / sims. Win98 SE was good. WinME was considered to be a lemon. Win 2000 was the first real step up from the old Win 95 core, adding NT technology to the OS. Win XP was a refined version of this approach. Then comes Vista. Win2000/XP drivers are obsolete. The kernel has been changed again and for no apparent reason. I'm inclined to wait for the next "Vista" -- the second generation. Hopefully, the safety aspects that prevent experienced users from running programs and moving / editing files will be an option rather than the rule. I understand there are ways to get around this but I've read too many reports of installers that won't install anything and file edits that won't "take". Sure, the internet is a hostile world and malicious code a very real threat. Still, it ought to be easy to switch between "safe mode" and "expert mode" and prevent the OS from blocking developers / tweakers from doing the things they do best.

[Guest Stearman]

>Every time we get a new system we tend to cripple its>potensial performance by adding a more resource-hungry OS to>the deal. Since we really want to run applications and games/>sims in particular rather than a fancy desktop why waste a>lot of the newly acquired resources on running a prettier OS? Yes, that reminds me of my latest system upgrading. I had been using a Geforce4 Ti4800SE for a couple years with my current system, and was pretty happy with it. However, when FSX was announced, I realized it wasn't going to be capable of handling it properly, basically because that card was only DirectX 8 compliant, not 9, as required for FSX (and included with FS9, BTW).Mine being an AGP motherboard, I went for the fastest AGP videocard ever to exist, the Geforce 7800GS, which in turn forced me to upgrade my power supply unit. All in all I ended forking out almost

[Guest curious982]

So you guys are saying I can't just put the FU3 CD in my Windows Vista computer and load it On to the computer because FU3 won't fully load on Windows Vista?:( :-hmmm

[Hans_Petter 1]

Exactly! The installation process clashes with Vista in some way. I don't know why but maybe someone else can explain. The way to get around this is to install it on a PC running under a previous MS operating system, copy everything to a data DVD and transfer it.

[Guest fu3]

It CAN be done from scratch. As said before, it can be copied from another PC, which is useless if they also have Vista on them (we've gone from 4 XP PCs to 2 XP and 2 Vista this week and it's taking getting used-to). But, as FU3 runs happily with no registry entries, it's really just a matter of copying everything across.The only trick is to get the folder structure right, or it either won't run, or it behaves really weirdly. I am about to do this, so I will let you know how it goes after the weekend!:-waveRegards,Jon Point

[Guest curious982]

Is there any alternative way to install it than copying everything?

[Hans_Petter 1]

I believe not. Does anybody know why Vista messes up the installation?As others wrote you'll need access to another PC which runs Win XP or lower. Jon has 4 PCs while most of us have one or two :-hmmm In any event, all you need is access to another PC which does not run Vista. Then you install FU3 and burn everything on a data DVD. After that the installation can be deleted. Can your mother / pal / workplace let you use a PC to obtain what you need?Hans Petter