Scott Miller

Oops. Make that a GTX 640 card (not 655)! Incidentally, the nVidia Inspector utility didn't fix the problem. I don't think re-installing the TinMouse will fix it either, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try it (just in case)!

Steve In migrating my XP FS2004 install to my Win7 system I basically followed the directions outline in the "Migrating FS9 from XP 32-bit to Windows 7 64-bit" thread from this forum. As part of this, after doing a fresh install of FS2004 and all of non scenery and aircraft addons like ActiveSky, EFB2004, ISG, Reality XP WX500, EZ-VFR and shockwavelights. The only aircraft and scenery I reinstalled were payware that I had on CD/DVDROM that were listed on the add/remove software list on my XP system. I then renamed the fresh install folder (FS2004) to "WIN7FS9" and copied my entire XP FS2004 (including all addon scenery and aircraft, gauges, effects, module, FS2004 scenery and texture folders) from an external drive backup into a new FS2004 folder. I've done this twice in the past (once when upgrading from XP Home Ed. to XP Pro, and the second when I had to replace my boot HD). Both times FS2004 run just fine without ANY problems. Just the same, today, to confirm whether or not what you belief that doing this is the cause of the issues I encountered this time around, I renamed my FS2004 folder back to WINXPFS9 and did a fresh completely install of FS2004 (no addons of any kind installed). I then ran FS2004, and as I suspected, found that it had the exact same Alt key/menu bar with splashscreen/black screen problem (as per the screen captures I posted yesterday). This clearly proves that the way I migrated my XP FS2004 install to my new system is NOT the cause of this problem. At this point, I'm convinced, even though nVidia Inspector didn't resolve the problem (at least not with the settings I tried), that my GTX 650 graphics card is almost certainly the culprit. That or Windows 7 might be. Are you using the 32 bit or 64 bit version of Windows 7? I have the 64 bit version (I didn't know Win 7 was available in a 32 bit version. I would have asked for it if I had! Well, I'll try tinkering bit longer with FS2004. But if I, or anyone else can't think of something else to try soon (like a week or two at the most), I'm going to have to live with the problem (which doesn't seem to affect FS2004's stability or functions) or simply through in the towel and go back to my XP system and it's single digit frame rate on FS2004 (at least FS2004, along with FS98, 2002, FSX all run like they should on my XP system (haven't actually installed FSX on the new system yet. If I can't get FS2004 working like it should, I'm not going to waste the time installing FSX)! I might try switching to the 32 bit version of Windows 7 or check with the folks I got my Windows 7 system from (PC Workshop) to see if I can run XP Pro on my new system (which has an ASRock Z87 Extreme mb, an Intel i5-4670K cpu, and 8gb ram along with the GTX 650 card) The documentation on the mb only lists Win 7 & 8. As to the USA entry problem I'm going to have to make all my US addon scenery inactive then activate them one at a time to track down the one that created the USA entry. At this point, unless its a major addon, I'll probably just delete it rather than go to the trouble of trying to edit it. That or just live with it too (as I have for some time). Thanks for the effort you have put in to trying to help me! I've really appreciate all the help everyone has tried to give me!

Just tried nVidia Inspector. Unfortunately, it didn't resolve the Alt key/menu bar screen problem. I tried both the default MS Flight Simulator 2004 profile and another I came across via Google. Neither had any effect. I'm back to square one at this point. Just to double check I went back and renamed my FS2004 folder to "WINXPFS9" and renamed my windows 7 FS2004 install from "WIN7FS9' back to FS2004. I then ran FS2004 to confirm that the Alt key problem is NOT unique to my WinXP FS2004 install. It isn't the Win7 FS2004 has the same problem. I could just live with this problem since it doesn't appear to affect FS2004, but it would be a constant reminder that FS is doing something that it isn't suppose to be doing. Unless someone can come up with a way to resolve this problem I'll be going back to my XP system and retiring the Win7 system to the closet (or selling it)...

Yeah, I've never had any problems migrating FS2004 to a new system (or new hard drive as I had to do a few years ago when my boot HD went south on me)! What is happening this time around is simply bazaar! I was going to paste some screen shots here so you could better see the Problems I'm haing but for some reason I can't (I've done it before so I don't know why I can this time). I'll have to attach them instead: The first and second screen shots (or similar screen shots such as #4) appear when I press the A key to access the menu bar. A second press of the A key and this goes away. A third press of the A key and the bogus screen appears for a split second and then the normal view with the menu bar appears. This one is the screen I see after trying to switch to the TinMouse II panel view. Pressing the esc key and the subpanels start appearing and disappearing as normal. A second press of the esc key is required to get the panel and cockpit view keys working again. This only happens when a TinMouse 737 is first loaded. The last three here show the old problem showing both a "United States" entry and a "USA" entry which only shows one state when opened. One shows Indiana selected but Illinois airports. I need to get rid of the "USA" entry!

I might just have to give that a try if all else fails. As I said in my previous post, I think this problem is being caused by my GTX 655 video card. If adjusting its 3D setting with Nvidia Inspector doesn't work a complete reinstall will be the next thnig to try!

Could use some suggestions as to the best 3D settings to use with my GTX 650 card while running Fs2004 on a Win7 64-bit system...Is the saved pofile for FS2004 on nVidia Inspector the best or does it need to be modified further? Also, I've been told I should re-intall the runtimes for Directx9. Do I have to remove Directx 11 first then replace it with Directx 9 or just run a Directx9 install to re-install the runtimes? I'm looking to resolve some issues with FS2004 since migrating my XP FS2004 backup to my new Win7 64 bit system (detailed in a post on the FS9 forum)...

Still, wondering how to re-install Directx 9 runtimes in Windows 7...

As I understand it v1.40 is for use with wide screen monitors. I'm still using a 19" standard monitor. I doubt this is the problem as I was able to get the TinMouse panel to work a couple of days ago by hitting the esc key twice after switching to the panel view (see my Problems after migrating FS2004 to Win7 64 bit system" post...I might take a look at the 1.40 version just to be sure (if I can find it), but I'm pretty sure at this point the problem with the TinMouse II 2D panel is related to the settings for my nVidia GTX 650 video card and/or Directx 11...

Ah, as I suspected. Just wanted to be sure. Thanks!

You mean re-install Directx9? That can be done with Directx11 installed? Forgive my ignornace, but how is that done?

Yup, you're right. FS2004 and FSX are listed under "MS Flight Simulator". Didn't catch that when I did a quick glance at the list...Thanks for alerting this to me! I'm guessing it still won't be an easy fix, the way my luck generally runs! Oh, well, as long as its successful it'll be worth it (though I doubt if I ever become a fan of Windows 7)! BTW, to back up a bit, aren't one automatically setup as "Adminstrator" when installing Windows (unless you add additional users on the system)? Its that way under Windows XP (and earlier versions), wasn't it? Also, what is "au"? Too late unfortunately, the horse has already left the barn...

Thanks, Steve! Just downloaded nVidia Inspector. Strange the profile list includes FS2000 and FS2002 but not FS2004 or FSX which I need it for most. Guess that would have been too easy!

Mine is 9.18.13.3165 (331.65, not 311.56!) Normally, in spite of software manufacturers insisting that you always get the latest drivers for your video card, I don't change drivers unless absolutely necessary, If I hadn't had the problem with fhe DF 737 panel in FS2002, I wouldn't have upgraded from the original driver...upgrading drivers can sometimes cause more problems than they solve!

Will do, Steve! BTW, installing the fonts fixed the JF 757/777 problem! Strange though, I'm sure I didn't have this problem when I intalled them on my XP system originally. Maybe a previously installed program I'm no longer using had installed the missing fonts? Anyway, making progress! I was on the verge of chucking my Win7 system into the deep end of my swimming pool (I still might)!

Thanks for the response, Hans! I was beginning get the impression I was being subbed for some reason! Actually, I did install FS2004 into a different HD partition from the default. In fact, I installed it onto a separate HD entierly reserved for Fltims (FS98, FS2002, FS2004, and eventually, FSX if I can get my FS2004 woes taken care of). I had far fewer problems getting FS2002 to run on my new system than FS2004! In fact, the ONLY problem I encountered with FS2002 (so far!) was restricted to the Dreamfleet 737-400 2D panel (doesn't have a VC). Intinally, FS2002 would crash if I loaded a DF 737 and then tried to switch to the instrument panel. Then I downloaded and installed the latest driver (311.56) for my EVGA GeForce GTX 650 video card and the problem went away (other than a slight "jiggle" switching to one direction to to another which doesn't happen for that particular view again unless I exit the panel view then reenter it). Some good news about the TinMouse panel issue. I discovered last night that after loading a TinMouse plane and trying to switch to the panel, hitting the esc key twice (once gets me to the black screen/prior selected screen/FS2004 splashscreen thing I described) the panel starts working normally! I can change views as well (where I'd initially get a pinging sound). A gentleman on Flightsim.com suggested the problem might be related to my video card/driver, what he called "FSAA", something I'd never hear of before. The nVidia control panel for my GTX 650 card "manage 3d settings" window has a "FXAA" setting which I assume is the same thing. While changing the FXAA setting from off to on didn't fix anything, it occurred to me that maybe one of the other 3D settings is causing the problem. There are several more 3D settings options on the GTX 650 card than I remember the GeForce 7000 series video card on my XP system having. I'm hoping changing one or more of the 3D settings unique to the GTX card will make all my FS2004 issues go away. I don't suppose you have a nVidia card and can tell me what I need to have all my 3D settings set for, do you? Otherwise, its going to take a considerable period of time of trial and error to track down the offending setting! Thanks for the JF 757/777 tip, Steve! I'll do that asap! As I mentioned to Hans, most, fi not all, the other issues might be related to the 3D settings for my GTX 650 video card. Any thoughts on that?

Update: Got the problem resolved by installing the latest driver(311.56) for my GForce 650. I get a brief "jiggle" when switching from to a view from straight on but it only happens once in each direction unless I switch to an external view and then back to the panel again. Not a big deal. One I can live with to be sure. Turns out, getting FS2002 to run on Windows 7 64-bit was easier than getting Fs2004 to run on Windows 7!

Following the advice in the Win 7 forum thread "Migrating FS9 WinXP 32-bit to Win7 64-bit" I got FS2004 up and running over the weekend on the new system. However,I've encountered a few problems. One appeared to resolve itself when I copied my WinXP FS2004 install backup from an external drive. Two are minor and can be ignored. Two involving A/C can be delt with by going with same the planes by other manufacturers (but I'd rather not if there is a way to fix the problems with them). Two other problems came with the WinXP install when I copied it to the Win7 system. Finally two I consider major enough I'll dump the Win7 system and go back to the WinXP system if they can't be resolved somehow...Here they are (I'm saving the major ones till the very end): 1) When I first installed FS9 on the new system I did reinstall all addons such as Ultimate Traffic and AcktiveSky wxRE and some scenery addons like my MegaScenery or FS Global 2005 (haven't got around to upgrading to a new system yet) and only the aircraft addons I have on CD-ROM so they would be properly enterd in the add/delete software list. The only freeware aircraft I re-installed was the Porject Fokker F28. When I tried to load one and switched to the panel view FS9 crashed. This problem went away on its own after I renamed the FS9 folder "WIN7FS9" and copied my XP F2004 install from the external drive. Icopied the FS9.cfg from the XP system, too, and ran the 4gb_patch last. 2) On both the Just Flight 757 Professional and 777 Professional all the flight/engine display panels, FMC and the electronic check Flight window (not the FS checkflight window) are either completely blank or devoid of any numbers or letters even though the engines are running (unless I'm forgetting to do something here. Its possible, I haven't flown anything for a couple of years!). The engines PFD display have the power scale outline but thats all. I also have the QualityWings 757 which doesn't not suffer from this problem (which didn't go away when I copied the XP install from the external drive) as well as the Wilco 777. I hate to give up the JF planes however mainly because I have dozens of liveries for them I hate to lose (and it'd be money down the drain)! 3) At least on one occasion the cursor arrow turned black (later it turned back to white). This is one of the issues that can be ignored. 4) The other issue that can be ignored is a flikering I get on the Kuhn Garmin 530 installed on a JCA 717 with ValueJet livery that happens ONLY on this particular plane and livery ONLY at KSAN (US Airports 1 scenery). No problem with the 530 with any other plane including the JCA 717 at this airport or at any other airport (so far). Flickering is minmal when the 530 is turned on so I can live with it. Worst comes to worst I can just not use the 530 with the ValueJet JCA 717 (the 717 isn't equipped with the 530 anyway)! Old Problems that came with the WinXP install: 5) When looking for an airport in the Airport list I have both a "United States" and "USA" listed in the country list. 6 or 8 states no longer show up in the United States list. To find an airport in one of these states I have to select "ANY". 6) When FS2004 starts up a shrunken splashscreen appears (roughly only 2/3 normal size) in the upper left hand corner of the screen (standard screen monitor). The normal sized splashscreen appears when a saved flight is loading. Major Problems 7) When ever I press a keyboard command such as the S or A or select somethng, say a saved flight, aircraft, or view option the last selected menu screen (or the splashscreen the 1st time something is selected after FS9 is started and a flight loaded. A black rectangle is visible where the scenery loading, terrain loading box appears when a saved or created flight is loading. A second press of the S, A, or whatever key makes this go away. A third press and the normal view (of the menu bar in the case of the A key) or menu bar appears. While this doesn't appear to cause any problems with FS9 I still consider it major since it isn't NORMAL FS9 behavior! 8) Last and THE most major problem has to do with the TinMouse II 737-200. Since I posted a detailed description on the TinMouse forum, I'll only describe it briefly here. The plane loads okay in sport plane view, but when I try to switch to the panel view I get a black screen (or the prior screen/splashscreen view) and FS9 locks up. I have to hit the esc key, select end flight and exit FS to get out of the problem. If I just retart FS2004 and try to load a different saved flight, or just a different plane, it won't load. I have to restart my system completely clear the problem. I'd rather go back using FS9, even with its single digit FPS rate than give up my TinMouse II or have to deal with item 7! I'm REALLY hoping others have encountered these problems (particularly the last two) and can offer some help on resolving them! The frame rates I'm getting on the new system are MASSIVE even with the most detailed addon scenery with pretty much everything set to maximum but won't mean much if these last two problems can't be fixed...

Just spend the last couple of weeks migrating FS9 from a old WinXP Pro 32-bit system to a new Win 7 64-bit following the advice in the thread "Migrating fs9 from WinXP 32-bit to Windows 7 64-bit....". The process went resonably well with only about a half dozen mostly minor problems. Two of those problems, however, are major ones that will cause me to go back to the XP Pro system, where FS9 runs in single digit FPS rates if they can't be resolved. One of the two is that one of my all time favorite FS9 aircraft, the TinMouse II 737-200 locks FS9 up when I try to switch tot he 2D panel view! I can load a saved flight using the TinMouse but if I try to switch to the panel view I get a blank screen or the last accessd menu item with a black rectangle where the loading scenery, training, etc. appears after a flight selection (the other major issue which occurs if I hit a keyboard command k such as S or A). A couple of times the panel did appear and go through the sub panel sequence only to have FS9 lock up thereafter. Hitting the ESC key allows me to end the flight and go back to the flight selection window but FS9 still won't function correctly if I try to load any other saved flight (even those using other a/c). Has anyone else encountered this problem migrating FS9 to a Windows 7 64-bit system? I could really use some help here! One thing I haven't tried yet is reinstalling the TinMouse II v1.32 and its v1.26 panel. Should that be my next move or is something else causing this problem? Like I said, I'm going to dump this Win7 system for whatever I can get for it and go back to the WinXP system (never wanted to switch to Win7, or 8, anyway. I love the MASSIVE increase in frame rates but I refuse to give up my TinMouse!

Hey, everyone, thanks for all the tips and advice! As it turns out, Bill's suggestion was pretty much what I had in mind (more or less). It'll be a lot less stressful knowing this as I begin the process! It may take a while going Bill's route, but better safe than sorry taking it one step at a time. In fact, This was pretty much what I did when I upgraded to XP and then had to do it a second time when my boot HD went south on me two or three years later. In both cases I did re-install all payware aircraft, scenery, and uilities (like ActiveSky). Took me about 2 months the second time as I recall. It'll almost certainly take longer this time as I have a lot more aircraft and scenery than I did a couple of years ago! It's sort of like moving. You don't realize how much junk you've accumulated over the years till you have to move it! Its amazing how much aircraft and scenery addons you can acquire in just a couple of years! At any rate, it was nice to know my plan was the right one, more or less, before taking the plunge! Thanks, too, for the suggestion to read the "migrating FS9 to Win7 64-bit" thread before proceeding. Sounds like good advice! Thanks again everyone!

I'm about to install FS2004 on a new 64 bit Win7 system. I backed up all my FS2004 files/folders to an external hard drive from my XP Pro sysem with the idea of, after installing FS2004 on the new system, copying the FS2004 files/folders from the external drive to the new system (turns out my backup software doesn't run on my 64 bit Win7 system). I've got the partitions setup on the hard drives on the new system exactly the same as on the old system. The question is will this work? I've got a ton of aircraft and scenery installed in FS2004 and don't relish the idea of having to reinstall it all from scratch! Would it be a good idea (or a requirment) to re-install any aircraft or scenery that appeared in the add/remove software list on the XP system then, in the case of aircraft, copy the texture and aircraft.cfg files for those aircraft listed in the add/remove software list onto the new hard drive a second time? I'm assuming this idea would at least work with any aircraft, scenery or utility not listed in the add/remove (if my assumption that only those whose installation involved making entries to the registery appear in the add/remove list is correct). Am I making any sense here or is it just wishful thinking on my part!?

Having a problem with Dreamfleet's 737400 and FS2002 on my new 64 bit Windows 7 system. The DF737 loads ok but as soon as I switch to the 2D instrument panel, FS2002 freezes briefly, then crashes. Well NEARLY everytime. Once out of a hundred trys (more or less) the panel loads. If I then switch to spot mode and try to switch back to the 2D panel again, though, FS2002 crashes. I've tested pretty much every other aircraft I have installed in FS2002 and none I've tested (including PMDG's 737-600\700) have this problem. Any ideas would be appreciated. I'd hate to have to dump the DF737 and FS2002 along with it (or switch back to my XP Pro system just to run it)! On the otherhand, if the merged DF737 would run ok in FS2004 on a 64 bit Win7 system I'd be willing to give attempting the merge a try....has anyone been able to do this?

You could very well be right, Bob! I didn't know there was a 32-bit version of Windows 7. Just assumed that it was strictly 64-bit. FS98 runs fine on my 32-bit XP Pro system. I'll have to give some serious thought about scrapping my 64-bit Windows 7 and going with the 32-bit version as I'm having also a bit of trouble getting FS2002 to run on the 64-bit Windows 7. Actually, the only problem I seem to be having running FS2002 on the 64-bit verison of Win7 involves Dreamfleet's 737-400. Everytime I try to switch to the 2D panel FS2002 crashes. Unless I can figure out (either on my own or with help) how to resolve this problem my options are to either switch to a 32-bit copy of Win7, switch back to my XP system to run FS2002 (and FS98), or see if the merged version of the DF737 will run in FS2004 on the 64-bit Win7 system. The only reason I still had FS2002 on my XP system was to fly the DF737 as most of the rest of the aircraft I have installed on FS2002 either run on FS2004 or there are FS2004 versions available. If DF had ported the 737 over to FS2004 I'd have dumped FS2002 a long time ago (the merge for the DF737 always looked too complicated to bother with as long as FS2002 ran on whatever new version of Windows that came out and/or new system I got). I'd *really* rather not switch to the 32 bit version of Windows 7 since that would mean having to start all over reinstalling everything a second time, something I'd rather not have to do!! However, if I have any problems with FS2004 running on my 64-bit Windows 7 system that would be the last straw and I'll have no choice but to either switch to the 32 bit version of Windows 7 (with no garrantee that this would fix the problem with either FS98 or FS2002) or simply keep my XP system around to run FS98 and FS2002 on....The latter, at least, wouldn't cost me more money and I'd also be able to run several combat sims like Falcon SP/AF, IL-2, the Op Barbarossa addon for IL-2, and the ACE expansion pack for IL-2 FB which either won't run or install correctly on my 64-bit Win7 system...it'd be a pain to swap systems to run FS98/2002 and the combat sims that won't run under Win7 but it would be the simpliest and cheapest option!

Hi, Jude. Sorry for the delayed replay. Was gone on vacation... No, I hadn't thought of reinstalling Dx9. Might be worth a try. Might also solve a problem I'm having getting FS2002's Dreamfleet's 737-400's 2D panel to work in Windows 7 (FS2002 crashes everytime I switch to the 2D panel on the Dreamfleet 737-400). I read somewhere about having to run FS98 in 16 colors. Tried it but didn't work. Just as well. Your right, it wouldn't be nice!!!

I'm having problems getting FS98 to run on a new Windows 7 (64 bit) system. It installed without any major problems and when I tried to run it after installing it on the new system, it seemed to start up without any problems (the default Meigs flight screen appeared just as it should. When I switched to one of my saved flights though, the scenery outside the cockpit went black. Using the S key to switch to external views only produced totally black screens. Switching back to the Meigs default flight didn't fix the problem. I tried using the compatibility mode to run it under both Windows XP and Windows 98 modes. At first it seemed like this was going to work as I could load other flights ok but, again, as soon as I switched views the screen went black on me again. A forum post I came across while trying to google information on getting FS98 to work on Windows 7 claimed that a program called "3D Analyzer" would fix the problem. Have you heard of it and does it work? If so, where I can find a clean copy, one that doesn't come in a file that won't load a bunch of other junk on my system. I looked at several sites offering a free copy of it but in every case it came in a downloader that did just that. I made the mistake of downloading one and it took me a while to uninstall all the unwanted junk it put on my system (I was lucky I was able to do so and not get stuck with a virus for my troubles)! A related problem I'm also experiencing with the order Windows 7 lists my game controllers (CH USB Yoke, 568 Combatstick USB and CH Pro Pedals USB. Windows 7 always lists the Pro Pedals first. This isn't a problem with CF2/3, FS2004 or FSX. Older sims like FS98, Falcon 4.0 SP, IL-2 1946, IL-2 FB, and Pacific Fighters, even if they support ruddler pedals, need to have the flight controller first. With my CH Pro Pedals being listed first in the Devices and Printers>Game Controllers Settings>Game Controllers window, older sims like these think the Pro Pedals are the flight controller, even if they support ruddler pedals. There was a way in 98 and XP to change the order game controllers were listed. Its been so long snce I've had to deal with this problem I can't remember how to do it. Any help with getting FS98 to run on Windows 7 (if this isn't simply a case of FS98 being too old to run on Windows 7) or with changing the order Windows lists game controllers would be appreciated! Scott Miller Windows 7 64-bit Asrock X87 Extreme 4 M/B Intel I5-4670 3.4GHz 8 GB DDR3-1600 EVGA GTX 650 1GB Super Clock GDDR DVI 2 WD 1TB Hard Drives (one dedicated to Fltsims only)

Well, I find the instruments on most VCs awkward or too difficult to access. I'd rather invest in upgrading my system (which is in bad need of an upgrade) that ought to cost only slightly more than the TrackIR would cost me...