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Getting FS2004 working in Windows 10 64 Bit - The Definitive Guide


Deepshark

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Hello Everyone,

 

I am going to share my experience with you, which is a synthesis of how to make FS2004 work well in Windows 10 64 Bit edition.

 

I'll work through the steps I followed, and I hope it will be useful to everyone.

 

Installation

I began with a clean install of the simulation, into the Program Files (x86) folder, from my install discs.

 

Patches

The package was then patched with :

  1. FS 9.1 Patch
  2. FS 9.1 No-CD Patch (Available easily online these days, good hunting !)
  3. Updated videoc ard drviers compatible with my hardware and Windows 10 64 Bit

 

Compatibility Testing

Now, on starting FS2004 I encountered a real frustration, where the home screen maximised on screen, and went BLACK.

Its literally possible to see nothing at all.

I tested exhaustively with different compatibility modes.

They all seemed to be working, insofar as FS2004 would allow and Esc -> Enter -> Exit routine.

A test with Taskmgr showed that it was in fact working.

Another proof was, using Alt+Tab to swap windows, the program would be parked on the Task Bar, and appear to be operating.

An even better clue was that, if hovering the mouse cursor over the application - there was the main menu screen !

So why couldn't it be accessed ?

 

The Penny Drops

There is one definitive way to make FS2004 work in Windows 10.

Its so stupid that after I made it work I could have kicked myself !

 

Here it is folks :

  1. Start FS2004
  2. See the black screen
  3. Press Alt+Enter
  4. And thats it !

 

At this point, on a high res monitor the FS2004 dialog is fully accessible on screen

 

Final tests

Create a flight of your choice - I broke ground with a default flight with the Cessna 172.

On my slightly newer equipment I went all-out on graphics settings.

the flight window will initially open windowed as well. I maximised this successfully.

When exited to main menu, this remained windowed and accessible.

 

Final test - I closed, and then re-opened FS2004

The application remained windowed on opening - problem solved !

 

Conclusion

Experimentation helps ! Alt+Enter is your friend !

And FS2004 runs like greased lightning in Windows 10 64 Bit - totally worth it.

I'd like to note that O/S makes a difference - the software if anything runs better in Windows 10 than it did in XP and Win 7 on the same hardware !

 

My machine :

Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz

Radeon HD5400 1GB

Windows 10 64 Bit Pro

Martin LG

Flightsim Nut

Auckland , New Zealand

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Initial menu only works in windowed mode using Win 10. When flying it works well in full screen. If you want to set up a new flight, then go back to windowed mode. You could do as the OP did, which is to make the flying window max screen size instead of going into full screen mode.
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It should have asked you to install Direct Play, or something like that, when you first ran it.

 

I think that's the trick for the full screen main menu. Said no on my upgrade install and didn't get the menu screen when first run. Said yes when doing clean install and the menu shows up when full screen.

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