Bluescaster

Hello again Wobbie (& All:-) Your are quite right - FS9/2004 DOES indeed run very well on Modern/Updated Computer, thanks for the Info (I will send you a personal message with details) For info of All - I was working on Duff information previously BUT from a Professional Flight Sim building Company otherwise I wouldn't have acted upon their advice. Just goes to show - Check on AVSIM first!! Thanks again. Regards, Blue

Hello again Wobbie 😉 It's a while since we communicated here - Glad you're still out there. Also, thanks for the information in your Post as to getting FS9 to run on modern hardware - it is of great interest. However, I did have a number of iterations of our Famous Flight Sim on my Upgraded Computer and I'm certain all were up dated to v9.1. I also have the 'No Disc' Software that I've used for many years. That said, I (think) I left at least one Copy of FS9 on the 'Modern gear' machine and so I shall be checking out everything to see if I did indeed make a mistake! It would still be far more convenient to have all the Flight Sims on my Flight Sim Computer obviously. If I manage to sort the Problem I will Post here for the benefit of anyone else with the same issue. My thanks again. Regards, Blue

Hi, It's also worth asking you: Which Operating System are you using? Windows 11 (at the time of my 'Upgrading') did a number of things that caused confusion. Even today I found yet another Program I use had mysteriously disappeared - Nothing to do with Flight Simulator but worth a mention as if you have updated any Hardware that may have caused a problem. Something also worthy of note as I'm Posting - I am something of a Computer Numpty being of a certain age but, when I quite recently updated my Flight Sim Computer - upon which are a number of Flight Sims including MSFS2020 and FS9 - I found that FS9 (a much prized Flight Sim and still regularly used & a really excellent 'Game' of it's time ) - just wouldn't function at all - it refused to load!! When I enquired into this I found that FS9 is no longer catered for by the more modern Graphic Cards! I had no idea as my FS2004/FS9 had been through a number of updates/upgrades to my systems over the years. There was no 'Fix' and that 'Upgrade' necessitated my moving my whole FS9 setup to another Computer - using incidentely, the card previously used in the 'Upgraded/Updated Computer!!?? The positive of this is that the other Flight Sims benefitted from the new gubbins including the new Nvidia RTX 5070 card - but I was not at all impressed. Regards, Blue

Hello All, I hope I'm not Hi-Jacking this Thread (I'm something of a Computer Numpty) so apologise if that is the case. However, I came across this Thread whilst looking for information on Plan-G Map/Planning Software. I saw some of the earlier Posts here. I just wanted to say what a BRILLIANT piece of Software that Plan-G has been for me. I came late to Mapping in my Flight Simming (albeit I've been Simming since Sub-logic days - and Flying decades before that 🙂 ) and it opened lots of new opportunities! Also, this is Freeware (and I've not even been able to find anywhere I can 'Donate' to the producers) - is great Software with a very good Manual - I probably couldn't have got it running without that 🙂 I don't know if Tim Arnot is still operating - I did find an email address and sent him a 'Thank You' note - but thought the very least I could do was thank him and his Team Publicly for a great job and all their efforts and generosity. If anyone has further information of T.A. Software or the team etc. I'd be grateful. Kind Regards, Blue

Hi Marco, Many thanks for your help.I have sent an e-mail to Nils - I'm afraid I didn't know where to contact him, I could find no contact details with the model - so I'm grateful for your link.Regards, Blue.

Hi All, I've recently bought the ND Arts & Tech. Payware Hurricane for Xplane - excellent though it is I have a couple of queries.Firstly the Flaps - there seems to be only two selections possible - up or down. The guages shows as it should the various settings as per the real Hurricane, but they are not selectable. Also - if the a/craft is flown by the AI (as selectable in the sim.) - it will take off with a low flap setting as one would expect. Try as I might I'm unable to replicate this from the cockpit.Also: The instruments are hard to read - not bright enough - depending upon where the "sun" is coming from I suspect. I cannot find an instrument light switch on the sim. Nor am I able to set the instr. lights via the keyboard keys as shown in the sim.Whilst I'm about this post can anyone advise of any support forum for this model? I don't seem to be able to find much feedback on it at all - even though it would appear to represent quite a step forward as far as Xplane models go. On a linked issue - I find, when using the mouse and trying to 'select' various controls within the 3D cockpit of the Hurricane (and other models)- that the 'view' moves around as I position the mouse pointer over the control. It is probably me not setting things up properly but it is most annoying and I would like to know what I'm doing wrong - or not doing right perhaps.I'm using Xplane 9.21 (DVD Disc set) - I've yet to update it. My apologies for the many faceted query - but I will greatly appreciate any help or observations anyone is able to contribute.Regards, Blue.

Hey Charlie, Thanks for taking the trouble to append your experiences.I have to say it takes a lot of courage to expose your system as you do. I am also past student status and have been flying since I was 18 so have some experience of risk taking. My take on this is that, 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating', and clearly your pudding is untouched by the dreaded scourge we call "virus".Now, how do you remove all the "other stuff" - not necessarily a virus per se; but "Malware"/"Trackers"/"cookies" that frankly, my system seems to attract when visiting even the everyday sites we use to check the weather or our bank balance - buy insurance or order college photo's etc. etc. etc? I regularly clear these things out; and should I ignore them they sap the strength of my system preventing my Flight Sims doing what I bought them for. I'd appreciate your observations on that if you have a moment. I must say "No anti virus software" seems like a great idea if it works;-)Regards, Blue.PS. Does anyone else run their system thus....... without anti virus protection? I'm really curious!

Happy New Year to All.Thanks for the interesting replies and observations. I've now removed Norton/Symantec protections from my system and replaced it with AVAST for the time being and as a trail. I like the fact already that it is less intrusive. Also - a couple of glitches on my system have disapeared which I do not think is coincidental. (i.e. often whilst shutting the system down it would lock up and I'd have to turn off manually. Also on start up the system would not proceed to the 'memory test' in the boot up process. Touch wood - niether of these minor inconveniences have occured since the change.;-) _Thanks all.Blue

Thanks for your advice Oliver. Most interesting.Happy New Year. Regards Blue

Hi All, I posted this query in another Forum back in October with little response (In last few days Greg has offered some advice - Thanks) I wondered if it might be useful to run it again here as this seems a suitable subject under this forum. Thanks..................."I wonder if anyone could give me some advice. For several years I've used a separate Hard Drive for my Flight Sim programs - using the other drive for the operating system and everything else. (A tip I read about here a long time ago) My system is a few years old now and no doubt the HDD is slow by comparison to the newer ones. I have recently seen adverts for these new fangled "External" hard drives that are just plug-in. I wondered; If they would be suitable to transfer my Flight Sim programs onto. If they would work; If they might be an improvement etc. My Hard drives are both connected via the old "Tape" type leads and therefore I believe, not 'SATA' or 'RAID' drives/connected. (I confess to not really knowing what these terms mean, but want to explain what type of drives I have.) Thanks for reading this far - any help will be appreciated. "Regards, Blue System Details: Asus A7N8X-E Motherboard. AMD Athlon 3200+ CPU. 2X HDD. (Both 80Gbt) Maxtor 6Y080L0 & SanDisk Cruzer Micro USB ST380011A - NOT SATA (1 for FS, 1 for O.S etc.) Windows XP Home + SP3. Nvidia 7800GS+ (AGP) Card. 512MBCRT Monitor "LG Flatron ez T910BU" - 1280X1024.@75HzRAM OCZ PC3200 3GB - (3X 1GB)DDR Platinum. mXTC CAS2.Current VGA Drivers: 169.21570W Pro Dual fan PSU

Hi Greg, Merry Christmas! - and many thanks for taking the trouble to reply to my post.I do defrag regularly and use Ultimate Defrag which I find straightforward and easy to use. In light of your observations I will probably stick with my present set up then ;-)I thought that a new, more modern hard drive might allow my scenery to load quicker - sometimes it remains blurred for a few seconds before giving a clear picture - I assumed that was the scenery not loading quickly enough; and that it might be improved by a new modern drive. You suggest not - oh well! Not to worry - my system, although old is well tuned and I'm happy with it.Indeed just recently I've loaded FSX - and it even runs that!! Much to my surprise.Thanks again for your help and advice - Happy New Year to you.Regards, Blue.My system BTW = System Details:Asus A7N8X-E Motherboard. AMD Athlon 3200+ CPU. 2X HDD. Maxtor 6Y080L0 & SanDisk Cruzer Micro USB ST380011A - NOT SATA (1 for FS, 1 for O.S etc.) Windows XP Home + SP3. Nvidia 7800GS+ (AGP) Card. 512MBCRT Monitor "LG Flatron ez T910BU" - 1280X1024.@75HzRAM OCZ PC3200 3GB - (3X 1GB)DDR Platinum. mXTC CAS2.Current VGA Drivers: 169.21570W Pro Dual fan PSU

Hi There, Merry Christmas!This is only a guess but I thought I'd at least try to offer some help;-)You say you re-installed FS9...... was it a completely clean re-install? I understand that one needs to be careful not to leave "bits" of a previous install on the computer. This is particularly true for "Drivers" if you re-loaded those also!! Also did you also install the FS9 update at the same time? I'm not sure if it's the same as FSX but with that, one needs to be careful exactly how it is re-installed. Something about running it once before putting the updates on.Without more information as said this is all only an educated guess however, it looks to me as though something is actually missing from the install. Did the install go as expected whilst loading the program from the Discs?Have you tried the "Defaults" setting etc?Regards Blue

Thanks to you all! As usual with the AVSIM forum site - some excellent information and advice. Very much appreciated. FURTHER: to my original post: Looks like a vote of confidence for the AVAST program - am I to take it that I could be correct in my assumption that Symantec/Norton is more of a drain on my system resources than I if fact need? Observations would be appreciated on this point as I am looking for something to give me an improvement - rather than just a 'change'.Merry Christmas.Regards, Blue.

Hi All, I do hope I've picked the correct Forum.I have used Symantec's Norton Anti virus software for many years and over the last 2 years have suspected that it's not really compatible with my Flt. Sim hobby needs. I believe it is taking far more of my resources than it warrants for a sensible level of protection for my system.I've read somewhere (and specifically relating to Flight Sim programs) that 'AVAST' anti-virus has far less impact on said resources whilst giving a sensible level of protection. This software I understand is made by a Czech company.Does anyone have any observations regarding this particular anti-virus software? Indeed observations on anything contained in this posting would be appreciated as I think that system protection and how it impacts upon our hobby software needs some research. If I've missed some huge bulk of similar discussion material on this site I'd appreciate someone pointing me in the right direction;-)Merry Christmas all!Regards,Blue

Hi Andre & All..... I'm with Alex here (he and I have discussed our respective set-ups in the past- Hi Alex!) I'm not saying that other advice you have here is wrong; just that a lot of what is read about FS9 (and FSX for that matter) is only part of the story. In the past I have bought various components with the hope of promised improvements but then found I've been very disappointed. In every case I have found that the problem has been in my lack of understanding of the way it all works TOGETHER to give a reasonable flying result - which is, at the end of the day, what we are all looking for. Knowledge is power in the flight sim world I believe. There is a great deal of improvement to be had by setting up the system properly. I can't give you all the 'ins' & 'outs' in one post, but the way I did it was first; Read as much as possible about the program itself (FS9) and the way my computer interacts with it - just having some idea as to how the config parts of it worked was useful. I Looked at how others had setup their systems. Read these and other forums - along with info. on the component parts of my Computer system and what each bit did in the collective, to deliver me my FS program on the monitor. My setup I'm sure is not perfect but it works well and I get a lot of enjoyment from it. That all sounds daunting maybe but it isn't - is greatly rewarding and most of it is FREE. These forums in particular are v.v. helpful. Try doing some searches as to setup etc. For example, I learned about my BIOS setup - it takes some reading but does improve the performance of FS. by getting those setting right your computer functions better. I learned about my video card sttings - very important you get these right. It really isn't difficult after a little reading. I learned about properly arranging my hard drive so that FS works to best effect. Read about your monitor and resolution and how that affects performance etc. Read about defragging your hard drive - a CLEAN system helps a great deal, far more than I ever realised, even 2 or 3 years back - when by then I thought I knew a little about FS programs:-)Andre, the list goes on - it is a gradual process of learning but is very rewarding AND as I've said not only does it WORK - it is FREE.I've just looked up a few records I made when I had my previous set up for FS9 - That was a similar system to yours, XP2700+ CPU with, I think, a K7 motherboard although I think I had 1.5 Gig of RAM. And a 6800LE graphics card. My results for FS9 were far better then than you are reporting now. (Something in the region of 25-40 FPS - at Seattle - I have a few screen shots I took when comparing stuff for myself)My CURRENT System Details: Asus A7N8X-E Motherboard. AMD Athlon 3200+ CPU. 2X HDD. Maxtor 6Y080L0 & SanDisk Cruzer Micro USB ST380011A - NOT SATA (1 for FS, 1 for O.S etc.) Windows XP Home + SP3. Nvidia 7800GS+ (AGP) Card. 512MBCRT Monitor "LG Flatron ez T910BU" - 1280X1024.@75HzRAM DCZ PC3200 2GB - (2X 1GB)DDR Platinum. mXTC CAS2.Current VGA Drivers: 169.21****It runs my Flight Sim ONLY adequately it is true, with often less than 25 FPS and I only use pretty slow flying aircraft, but it is running FSX - Yes!! FSX. Which even surprised me when I loaded it - not expecting it to fly at all, particularly after all I'd read about FSX etc. etc. Clearly it runs FS9 VERY well indeed. AS you see it is not hugely better in equipment than your setup, many would say it is outdated and they'd be right:-) but it works!! - so to conclude!! IF YOU want to keep your out goings down and still want reasonable performance - don't just throw money at it - first sort your system (and increase your knowledge :-) IT IS easy once you get started.BTW I'm no spring chicken (although I've been running flight Sims on home computers since Sublogic days!!) and am not really computer literate by modern standards - I just became disillusioned with buying equipment that didn't perform. Good luck by the way..... if I can answer any questions I will.Regards,Blue