Is there a way to save my fsx?

[annber]

Bad news after coming back home from Germany. I have had random computer problems for over a month, got the new p3d, setup failed every time. Anyway, I took the computer to the people who build the custom system and after looking and trying things they told me the OS (Windows 7) needed to be reinstalled.

Has anyone that has gone thru this been able to save your working fsx or do I have to start everything from scratch again installing every single one of my many addons, re tweaking fsx, addons, etc.

[il88pp]

I did similar 1.5 years ago.

I had fsx on E:\

I wanted to move fsx to C:\

 

I had no payware addons. Only things with installers that put files in fsx were fsuipc and the 747-IFly freeware.

I uninstalled those.

 

Then I made a backup copy of the complete fsx folder, and also backed up the other fsx locations. (Like fsx.cfg file. I will list those locations below).

I also saved my saved flights, Logbook, and FSX Pictures. (locations given below.)

 

I put the backup copy of the fsx folder on E:\ also, as "E:\FSX_Backup\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\etc etc".

The original FFSX folder I left in place.

Then I uninstalled FSX.

I also used the registry cleanup tool. (kb928080)

 

So, I cleaned fsx of the pc.

I didn't reinstall Windows, but I guess I could have. It would not have made a difference.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------

Then I created a folder for the new install on C:\.

Folder was: C:\FSMain\

I installed fsx in there, using the DVD's.

On E:\ I had FSX accel, so I installed that now on C:\FSMain

So not just DeLuxe, but I activated, and Installed Accel, and activated that as well. After each activation I ran fsx for a short time, rebooted and defragged. As per usual.

 

Then I from C:\FSMain

I took the folder: "\Microsoft Flight Simulator X"

And renamed it to: "FSX-new-off"

 

I then went to my E:drive, and copied the old folder "\Microsoft Flight Simulator X", and pasted it in C:\FSMain\

 

After that there was a folder: "C:\FSMain\Microsoft Flight Simulator X"

and the computer was none the wiser.

So when I clicked FSX frome the start menu, it fired right up.

 

At that point the other files, like fsx.cfg, and scenery.cfg, had of course been replaced by default ones by the new install.

That meant: no activated addon scenery's yet. (scenery.cfg)

I decided to not risk it by replacing the scenery.cfg file with an old copy. Instead I just went to the scenery library, and activated the addon airports again. (they were of course still in the "Addon Scenery" folder. I only had 30 or so, so it was pretty quick.)

 

I also did not replace my fsx.cfg with the one from the old install. I had only 5, well documented changes in there anyway, so I just did that by hand.

 

All that was left was to reinstall fsuipc, and reinstall the IFly-747.

 

Other files of importance are the file dll.xml

It holds the paths to the programs that show in the fsx "Addons" menu. (In the menu-bar.)

For example, the path to the SDK tools, like trafficexplorer.

 

As I was reinstalling the SDK, (also from E:\ to C:\) as well, I had to restore the xml.dll by hand anyway. Not simply copy back the dll.xml file.

 

Another file, exe.xml works very similar to dll.xml

 

---------------------------------------------------------------

This all worked out great.

 

----------------------

Just thinking.

As you will be reinstalling Windows, restoring files like dll.xml and exe.xml has no need really.

Those files reference programs that start together with fsx. (such as SDK things, or for example the program "Autothumbnail.exe"

 

As your PC will not have those programs after the reinstall, you shouldn't put old exe.xml or dll.xml files back. (Or it would be calling non-existant programs.)

 

----------------------------------

What you do need to do is uninstall the programs that have files installed in your fsx. (payware planes, scenery, etc)

then make a copy of the fsx folder.

Install fsx (the same version) on the new Windows.

And then activate your freeware addon scenery (airports, mesh perhaps) -in the Scenery Library.

Then reinstall your payware.

 

----------------------------------------------Other FIle Locations:----------------

Along with the main FSX folder, these are my monthly back up targets:

 

----fsx.cfg and GrantedRewards.BIN, {C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX}

 

----Your control settings = Standard.xml {C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX\Controls}

 

----Logbook.BIN and saved flight plan files {C:\Users\User Name\Documents\Flight Simulator X Files}

 

----scenery.cfg {C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX}

 

----shaders en shaders10 { C:\Users\owner\AppData\Local\Microsoft\FSX }

 

----airlines.cfg location: { ..\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X }

 

----Screenshots {C:\Users\owner\Pictures\Flight Simulator X Files}

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

(I am lazy, and just make a backup of these whole folders:)

- C:\Users\User Name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX

--- C:\Users\User Name\Documents\Flight Simulator X Files

- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX

--- C:\Users\owner\AppData\Local\Microsoft\FSX

-- ..\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X

 

That saves me from hunting down each file when backing up. I can jus tgrab the ones needed from the backed up folder.

[longbreak754]

What exactly are these random problems? If you can give details forum members might be able to give a solution that does not include re-installing W7. For example, the failure of P3D to install could be related to, and an indication of, some missing and/or corrupted pre-requisite files such as a specific runtime library version.

 

However, based on what you have said so far here are some suggestions of a possible way forward - from the limited info you have given I am assuming that the rig still boots into the OS. Try them in the order given.

 

1. Try running the System File Check (SFC) utility. SFC can be used to scan the integrity of all protected operating system files and replaces incorrect, corrupted, changed, or damaged versions with the correct versions where possible.

 

WARNING If you have modified your system files (including Windows DLL files) running sfc may, if errors are found, revert the some of the system files back to the default state and thus may impact on any other apps/programmes you have installed. In my experience most of the time the affected programme takes longer to open as it has to re-write information to the appropriate .dll file. In rare cases it may result in having to re-install the affected software (although I have never had to do this myself). I strongly recommend you backup any important data before hand and run the verify only option first to see what problems, if any, you have.

 

To run SFC go to start > run, type CMD and click OK.

The resulting window should show an entry similar to this - C:\Users\youracctname>

Type cd\ and hit enter - this will take you back to the C:\ prompt

To start SFC type one of the command lines listed below and hit enter

 

If you just want to verify only type sfc /verifyonly (note the space between sfc and "/") - using this option no changes will be made if errors are found and when it has finished it will display a list of any errors found.

 

If you want to find and repair errors type sfc /scannow (note the space between sfc and "/") - using this option the program will automatically attempt to repair any errors found. At the end of the process one of the following messages will be displayed:

 

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and repaired them.

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some (or all) of them.

 

Note: The process can take a long while to run and may seem to have stalled - it hasn't just wait until you get the message stated above. If is also worth noteing that you may have to run the utiltiy several times to fix all the problems. If the first run found multiple problems and states that it was unable to fix some of them, rerun SFC again. This is because one of the un-repaired problem file probably relies on one of the now fixed files to run correctly.

 

If SFC still fails to repair all issues you can try the following utility which can be downloaded from here:

 

http://thetechcookbook.com/automatic...ir-sfcfix-exe/

 

2. Use the restore function to return your rig back to a last known good config before you encountered the problem. Google will be your best friend here to find out how to do this.

 

3. Use the W7 repair function to do a repair of the current OS. this site (https://www.winhelp.us/non-destructive-reinstall-of-windows-7.html) offers a guide on how to do it but again, Google is your best friend here - using a phrase like how to repair an installation of windows 7 will bring up lots of sites.

 

Options 1 and 2 should not affect your FSX install but option 3 may affect some of the registry keys so download the FSX/FS9 Registry repair tool from http://www.flight1.com/view.asp?page=library - it the 4th item in the list. It is also worth noting that, in the case of option 3, some payware products may need to be re-activated.

[annber]

Thanks il88pp and Brian for the help.

You are right, I was not specific enough.i did start noticing my rig being sluggish about 3 months ago, then about a month ago my wifi started to have problems connecting, and when I tried the troubleshooter I got an error, could not connect to it. I did google the problem and tried some advice offered online but nothing helped, uninstalling some .dll's and reinstalling them in the cmd command, resetting cryptographic services, etc. it still did not help, could not get the troubleshooter to work.

I the ran Windows update, and while it did ran successfully, it could not install 4 updates no matter what I tried related to Microsoft framework. Btw, everything done was with admin rights. I then googled that problem and one suggestion was to use a different user account, so I switched to Bernardo user account, which I never use, and was able to successfully update those 4 files.

I then got the 3.3 version of P3d, tried installing it on "D", my 1tb hard drive, I have fsx on "C", my 500gb ssd. Every time I tried it said the install failed, and it always failed when getting to the Directx part of the install. I then googled that problem and found a number of posts related to the issue, but to my knowledge not an official p3d post with a solution. I did try just about everything offered, among them was some of what you suggested, I did Ryan the system file check, it did not return an error or problem.

I also ran the command scannow, nothing found there either.

Tried reinstalling or updating Directx, an error resulted every time I tried.

The computer is sitting at their shop right now, waiting for me to give them the OK to reinstall the OS tomorrow morning. I hope this expanded information is more helpful, if not let me know and will try to answer as best I can. Thanks again.

Bernardo.

PS. I am also including to screenshots of some errors encountered, first one is the DirectX error, second is when trying to uninstall and reinstall some dll's associated with cryptographic services.

[mallcott]

Simple answer: No

 

You should use the opportunity to start with a clean slate wisely. After installing the OS, run the updates to get you up to date. DO NOT try to install FSX at this point - several important updates need to be installed and they are NOT all offered at the same time.

 

Check the system is operating correctly for at least a couple of days - special emphasis on these unspecified problems that led to the OS being reinstalled in the first place. Are they now fixed? Have you installed all the updates?

 

Then, and only then, set about installing FSX. Start with a vanilla installation, patched to SP2 or Acceleration. How to do this has been around the forum for years. Search and read first. It's important...

 

Once you have a stable vanilla FSX installation AND BEFORE YOU ADD OR CHANGE ANYTHING, save a complete copy of the FSX folder to a spare drive.

 

Now draw up a list of the addons you cannot be without - pay particular attention to those you have actually used in the past 3-6 months. If ANYTHING doesn't fit the profile do not install it - you won't miss it.

 

Use the following sequence to prioritise your addons - it will pay dividends later

1: Mesh

2: Textures (ground, air, cloud, fx, etc) (FTX Global fits into this section, as does GEX, UTX or other scenery texture, vector and feature accessories)

3: Regional, local or national addons (FTX Regions, local photoscenery, airfields, city and airport)

4: Aircraft and sundry addons - be particularly vicious with these: Only install what you are flying NOW. Then in future use the `one-in, one-out rule to keep your folders uncluttered.

 

What will happen is what you think is going to be a long process actually only takes a day or two when you realise all those whizzbang, must-have addons so important to your life, health and wellbeing at the time can stay in storage when you haven't accessed them since 2012.

 

You still have them, you just haven't cluttered your sim drive with gig after gig of drivel.

 

 

If you do anything other than this, then you are going to mess your installation and it will take hundreds of hours to recover, and you will only have to reinstall anyway.

 

Take it from those who've been there, bought the t-shirt, and spilled dinner on it the same day... you do NOT want to be the next one sitting there wishing you'd just installed everything from scratch as you were advised in the first place, as you install everything afresh in the last place...