FS9 hanging up when scrolling - multiple installs

I have a question regarding multiple installations of FS9 I have on my computer.

 

One of these multiple installations is located on E drive, an internal drive. There are four FS9 installations on this drive. Each represents a different era of flight. All were installed directly off the disks and their folder names and .exe file names were all changed accordingly, and all worked properly until recently when the largest, which retained the original FS9 - Flight Simulator 2004 identity, began acting up. I've shut that one down and am slowly transferring aircraft from it to other FS9 installs on G drive (see below).

 

The second multiple installation is located on G drive, an external drive. There are 7 FS9 installations on this drive. Again, each represents a different era of flight. All were installed directly off the disks and their names and .exe file names were then changed, same as those described above. They all work properly save one. One of these installations is a stock installation of FS9 kept as a base installation to check the others against. It is not changed in any way. It works properly.

 

Here is the issue: I just installed a new FS9 on G drive, putting it into a folder named "Flight Simulator 2004."

It installed without a hitch. I have changed the .exe file from "fs9.exe" to read "Flight Simulator 2004.exe". It has a shortcut named "Flight Simulator 2004.EXE - shortcut." I have also checked the routing on this shortcut and the "target" and "start in" entries are proper. The "Flight Simulator 2004" installation has its own .cfg file, properly named, in C (main) drive. When I activate the "Flight Simulator 2004.exe" file, it points me to the original FS9 on E drive, that has a Wings of Power logo in its lower right corner (shouldn't show in the new install, right?). The sim acts normally until I hit "fly now," at which point everything loads until the scroll reaches 77% (loading weather), when it hangs up and eventually stops.

 

I can't figure out why I'm activating the old FS9 on E drive when my shortcut - and the in-game .exe file - on G drive both point me to the new "Flight Simulator 2004" on G. The old opening screen with the WOP logo proves I'm being routed in the wrong direction. In an effort to combat this, I have eliminated the .exe file for that original installation on E, and changed the folder name on E from "FS9" to "derelict." Is this issue occurring in the basic .cfg file in C (main) drive on this computer?

Wow!! 12 versions of Fs9 across various drives!!

The only thing you can really do is to check & make sure that each & every main FS9 directory folder, as well as the .exe has a unique name.

Maybe change the derelict folder name to fs9d & the exe to fs9e & see what happens?

Also, check your shortcuts (on the desktop). Make sure they all go to the correct sim.

Take it slowly, as you do have quite a few to check. Another way is to delete all the shortcuts & re-do them... In each sim folder, right click the fs9.exe, (remember that you should have unique manes for each), that is sitting in the sim's root/main directory, & send shortcut to desktop. Just to keep things tidy, once this all works, is to create a folder on the desktop & dump all the shortcuts there.

Also check that there are unique .cfg files for each of the sims. If I remember, these will sit in the 'my Documents' folder, & these are created by the unique named .exe. To be safe, delete the problematic .cfg & a new one will be created once the .exe is run.

 

So, to sum up..

12x sims, 12x unique named FS9 directories, 12x unique named exe's, 12x unique named cfg's, 12x unique named desktop shortcuts to the exe's.

 

Hope this works,

Robin.

Maybe check the registry and fix any issues?

Thanks, guys, for the tips. I've my due diligence on this end. Here are the results:

 

-Changed the name of original FS9 folder on E drive from "derelict" to "FS9D," and execute file to "FS9D.exe." Ran new FS9 installation on G drive. Still showed wrong start-up screen.

 

-Checked all shortcuts currently in shortcuts folder on desktop, all were routed correctly, no double-names, etc.

 

-Noted possible anomaly in that all flight sims on E drive were held in folder called "flightsim," path: E:\Flightsim\sim name, and all flight sims on G drive were held in folder called "flightsim," path: G:\Flightsim\sim name. Changed names of flightsim folders to "flightsim-E" and "flightsim-G", then made new shortcuts for all ten sims. All start normally except, of course, the new copy of FS9, which still shows the "Wings of Power" logo.

 

-Changed name of new installation of FS9 on G drive from "Flight Simulator 2004" to "FS9 Special," changed .exe file and shortcut also. This did not help situation.

 

-Used FS_Registry editor tool to ensure the path for the new FS9 installation in G drive was in fact in the registry properly. App says it is. Still no change.

 

-None of the other FS9 versions I have on this machine show that opening screen with the WOP logo (B-17 engine cowl/prop) when it they are started. No matter what I do, something is consistently routing the startup from the properly-named .exe file in G drive into C drive where all the FS data is located, and somehow identifies it as the old FS9.

 

I have noted the startup-scroll, after my hitting the "fly now" button, scrolls rapidly from l to r until it gets into the 70% range, when it starts to slow at "adjusting scenery objects," and finally stops at 77% "downloading weather." Not sure if that's relevant.

 

I still have that pristine FS9 install on the same drive as this problem sim. I'm thinking of copying every single file from that install, one at a time, into the new FS9 until I get it to work right. Sascha, that means I'm not going to have your FSEVO scenery in my new FS9 install. Yet, it still works well in all the other installs which were just move-overs, not fresh installs of your files.

OK, so, all works except the new one. (so far)

Lastly, try going to the new one's folder The double clicking in the exe there.

I'm not sure of the actual folder, could be UI something, but the one where all the screen backdrops are stored.. Have a look whats in there, especially the start-up background pic.

Sorry I cannot give actual file names, but I'm not at my other laptop.

That's "Uires," in the basic folder. You were right, I went in there and there was the old WOP startup screen, which I deleted; also renamed the original back to what it should have been. Since I installed this last FS9 right off the disks, just like the others, that's telling me when I modified my Uires file after installation, I may have brought something over from the old FS9 installation I'm trying to eliminate. That could be how the computer is routing the .exe command to the old installation.

 

I'm going to try importing a copy of the "Uires" file from that pristine FS9 installation, that's never had anything added to it at all.

OK, changing the "Uires" file has no effect.

 

In a burst of enthusiasm and certainty I had this problem whipped, I had installed the entire Captain Sim C-130 collection in this sim, along with a TON of repaints. I'll now have to copy out the entire texture folder, because I've come to the conclusion there isn't any way around this issue except to dump this version of FS9 and start over from scratch with this installation. I know something's wrong with this basic installation because I installed the 9.1 update and yet I'm getting dialog boxes showing the sim to be at version 9.0. Maybe doing it one more time from scratch is the way to go.

Well, removed and reinstalled FS9 in G drive, seem to have gotten away with it this time, calling it "fs9basic." Installed the basic C-130 from CS (a delightful aircraft, BTW, once you get it working right). and had my first flight in it. Tomorrow I'm going to just move over Sascha's textures from the other installs but nothing else, and see how it goes.