Tale of FSX woe

I have flown sims since FS98, trough different editions and MS combat sims. I have flown FSX since last September.

I rarely have problems with either my computer or install of FSX. However.............................

I had to reinstall Win 7 home premium 64 bit. No problem . then came the reinstall of FSX Gold and numerous addons. All well, I enjoyed hours of flying new planes.

Yesterday I installed 3 scenery packages: 2 freeware RAF bases from just Flight and another one ukmil_waddington_fsx.exe All three had auto installers! I know I know! I then started to get fatal errors at the splash screen and FSX would restart and on through fatal error cycle until I cancel the program.

I uninstalled all three sceneries via Control panel - programs. Uninstalls were unremarkable but kept getting fatal error afterwards.

visualfx.dll happened to be the faulting module. Read posts on said error and did the following:

1. copied visualfx.dll from vanilla FSX install. Still fatal error. Switched out the effects folder from vanilla into working copy FSX. Fatal error. Switched effects folder from Working copy effects in to Vanilla FSX. Vanilla FSX worked fine. So working effects folder wasn't corrupted.

2.Tried several restores. NO GO.

3. I did a repair. That worked YAY!!!!?

I then went to reinstalling planes into the FSX. Had a problem with the A2A B-17! I added new textures from unzipped folders in my users\public folder. The added textures were not displayed correctly in the game. Couldn't see through windshield etc. (They had been installed previously and worked fine. Tried the same textures again several times, same thing, The only way I could get textures to work was to unzip the original zips and copy those to the B17 folder. How did the files in the user\public folder get corrupted from the repair????? Go figure.

The FSX then started to give me a scenery config error. What happened was the repair took out the Addon Scenery folder! Once I added that the error went away! YAY!!!!!!

But then the FSX was missing all the water: rivers, lakes and bays in the USA! Europe is fine and I didn't check anywhere else.

To get the water back I tried System restore 4 times, different restore points, but I got errors system restore didn't complete successfully. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I am looking at uninstall and full reinstall. Should have done it in the first place considering all the hours put in since yesterday.

That is my sad tale. Any advice or comments appreciated. I hope to be in the air again soon.

Joe

Win7- was that a format and fresh install? Or a repair install? Or a rollback from win10?

Fsx - did you install (installer, dvd), or copy back an old folder?

Fsx repair- did you remember to uninstall acc first?

Before reinstalling fsx, use the uninstallers/control panel to remove payware first, then uninstall fsx, then reinstall.

Before reinstalling fsx get windows working correctly (restore points, volume shadow copy service), also use "sfc /scannow" from admin command prompt.

Some other things to try for fixing:

rename the logbook, then start fsx.

Rename the fsx.cfg then start fsx.

Restore the default flight the start fsx. https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?291283-Engine-starts-switches-not-working-in-default-AC

il88pp,

I will address both posts in this reply,

Win 7 fresh install no format

FSX install from disks

FSX repair uninstalled ACC then repair reinstall ACC

Always check Control panel to uninstall payware

renamed log book

renamed config

never changed default flight but did have to change FSX cfg to "default situation="

Not sure what "sfc /scannow" is

Thanks for the reply,

Joe

At this point I think a complete uninstall and reinstall is the best option. It sounds like things are too far gone to continue trying to patch on the problem(s). I know it's a pain but in the long run it may well be the fastest solution.

Doug

You covered what you did fairly throughly. But I am curious. How many times did you re-boot your PC and at what point(s)? The re-boots are VITAL.

Also, you should not pile scenery files into 'AddOn Scenery\Scenery' folder. You should create a folder, with a relevant name and then create a scenery folder under that (to put your scenery bgl's into). Goes without saying that you run an installer into a TEMP folder. Then you copy over the AC's folders to 'SimObjects' folder (ie: never let an installer extract blindly to 'somewhere' - you'll be sorry!!!).

And when you install FSX Gold, you start FSX and fly for a minute. REBOOT your PC. Then install Acceleration and fly for a minute. Then REBOOT your PC. Now all is right.

Chuck B

Doug,

Yes I anticipated that.

Thanks, Joe

Chuck,

I forgot to mention that the reinstall of OS and FSX was done a month ago and I have flown many times afterward no problem. The problem requiring the repair happened Sunday Oct 11th.

it is really strange ALL the things that were messed up after the repair. The B-17 textures in a completely different folder outside of FSX and the disappearing ADDON SCENERY that had no scenery in it!

I did the fly-reboot when I reinstalled FSX. Should it also have been done after the repair?

Oh well, any way I will do the reinstall FSX later. Real life takes precedence.

Thanks,

Joe.

Hi Joe,

System Restore not completing properly indicates an operating system or hardware problem.

Jim F.

Jim, That is good to know but it leaves me no way to try and restore my FSX and get water back, so a reinstall of FSX is in order I think

Should I try to repair my WIN 7?

Thanks,

Joe

Joe -

Maybe the info here will help you figure out what's going on: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/system-restore-not-working-windows . For sure something's amiss. (Good catch Jim...)

Doug

Hi Doug,

Thanks for the link. Looks interesting. Must read and delve later. I will keep you posted.

Joe

Doug,

I read the info from the link and I did the following:

1. Tried to create a restore point manually. That was SUCCESSFUL!

2. Tried to restore to the newly manually created restore point. That was SUCCESSFUL!

3. Tried to restore to an OLD restore point from three days ago. That was UNSUCCESSFUL!

4. I then ran sfc /scannow After it was complete: did not find any integrity problems.

Does this mean that my windows system is OK and all my OLD restore points are fouled?

Thanks,

Joe

Hey Joe -

Good on ya. Based on that I wouldn't worry too much about the Windows install (at least not yet). System restores have been known to be problematic occasionally. For now, I'd assume the Windows install is OK and go ahead with the reinstall of FSX. I'm pulling for you...I've been there more than once and know how frustrating these kind of problems can be.

Doug

Hi Doug,

It is nice to have my logic confirmed.

I did one other thing this morning. I check system restore to see if a restore point was automatically made overnight and one was. Also all the old restore points didn't show even when show more box was checked.

The next 2 days will be busy around here so it will be maybe Friday before I get to uninstall/reinstall.

Will keep you posted.

Thanks,

Joe

Thanks to all who posted and offered assistance and advice. I appreciate it.

Joe

I happened to be browsing the FSX forum at one of the other sites and happened to read a post by someone that lost his Gulf of Mexico. He had GEX and UTX installed. He was told to reinstall UTX. I also have those installed and reinstalled UTX. I now have water back in the places I noticed it was missing: RI, CA, PA and Friday Harbor. All seems well for now. More flying will tell. Am grateful I didn't have to uninstall/re-install.

Joe