Nothing working now

Hello again

I have real problems now .

I have just tried from scratch to get rs running .

I removed all my installations of fs9 on my new pc .

I have just tried a new reinstall from the original discs, put the nocd in tried to start but it refuses.

Stuck for ever on opening screen.

Any ideas this is driving me nuts .

Thanks Andrew

Hi Andrew, the reinstall is bit tricky since some files are also in the registry and not deleting it could be acting up on you. I put out an instruction few years ago on how to go about the full reinstall. Copying it below, hope you find it helpful. Quite lengthy but each step needs to be followed.

Cheers

Peter

FS9 TOTAL REINSTALL.

Totally reinstall the FS using the four original discs. At the same time, retain add-on scenery, add-on airports, effects, traffic, aircraft etc. from the original FS9. Below is the guide helping how to proceed with the total uninstall and re-build, retaining all the timely efforts spent in improving FS.

1/PREREQUISITE:

1. Have the four original installation discs.

2. Copy the entire FS9 (FS2004) folder to external drive. This folder could be under Program Files or under the root C drive, if FS was installed there initially (C:\FS 2004 or similar).

3. Copy the Flight Simulator Files folder from your Documents folder to external drive.

4. If you want to retain the same settings, write down the info and percentages from the FS Settings: General, Display, Sound, ATC, Traffic, Assignments, Sensitivities, Realism, Weather.

2/ TOTAL UNINSTALL:

1. Delete the entire FS9 (FS 2004) folder. This folder could be located under the Program Files, or under the root C drive if installed there initially. (See Prerequisite above – this folder must be backed-up).

2. Delete the Flight Simulator Files folder from under the Documents folder. (See Prerequisite above – this folder must be backed-up).

Next points are also covered by Microsoft http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888846 but are simplified below:

3. Set your folder options View to see “Hidden Files and Folders”. Find the AppData folder under your PC main directory PC Name /AppData. This is a hidden folder. Click the folder and open Roaming folder and Microsoft folder. Select fs9 folder and delete it.

4. Delete FS folders from PC Registry. Search for regedit and click regedit.exe. It is suggested to back up Registry Keys prior to these tasks. May not be necessary if you are familiar with folder functions and mistakes are not made.

A/ Click HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator\9.0 and open all its sub-folders. Delete the last 9.0 folder and all its sub keys, and then delete the Flight Simulator folder and all its sub keys. Note that Flight Simulator\9.0 folders with the sub keys may not be there, depending on how the FS was installed. If you do not see the Flight Simulator folder, disregard this.

B/ Click HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\ Uninstall\Flight Simulator 9.0 and open all its sub-folders. Delete the last Flight Simulator 9.0 folder and all its sub keys. Note that Flight Simulator 9.0 folder with the sub keys may not be there, depending on how the FS was installed. If you do not see the Flight Simulator folder, disregard this.

C/ Click HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft Games\ Flight Simulator\9.0 and open all its sub-folders. First delete the last 9.0 folder and all its sub keys. Then delete the Flight Simulator folder and all its sub keys.

5. Remove FS9 from the Start menu. Start / All Programs / Microsoft Games / Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004, right-click and delete.

3/ NEW INSTALL:

1. Install the FS9 using the four original discs. My experience shows that it is better to do a Custom install to a folder on a hard drive ‘C’ instead to the Program Files, which is a default install. If agree, commence custom install to a folder on hard drive, could be named FS2004.

2. Run the FS to complete the install using the four discs.

3. Set the settings as per your notes, to match the settings in previously installed FS.

4. Do a basic simple flight to see if all is OK; and as when the new FS9 was purchased.

Close the FS.

5. Upgrade to v9.1, download from Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=9727. The downloaded program is copied to FS root directory and run from there.

6. Hook up you external drive with your copy of the original FS9 (FS2004) folder and open the folder in a window on your PC. Next to it open the newly installed FS2004 folder.

Copy/overwrite entire contents of the following folders to the corresponding folders from the original FS to the newly installed FS, overwrite the files if asked:

• FS2004/Aircraft

• FS2004/Modules

• FS2004/Gauges

• FS2004/Effects

• FS2004/Sound

• FS2004/Texture

• FS2004/Add on Scenery

• FS2004/Scenery/World/Scenery

Also:

• Copy your saved Scenery.cfg file to the newly installed FS- This file is in the root FS folder – this way the individual sceneries transferred from the original Addon Scenery do not have to be activated in the newly installed FS. Not copying this file would mean that you will need to activate desired add-on scenery again.

• If desired Copy the saved Flight Simulator Files to your Documents folder.

• Copy the contents of the FS2004/Scenery folders in the regions where there were modifications or SBuider was used to adjust the terrain. Example: if the new airport was added with flatten area in Eurw region the AP files or VTTP and LWM2 bgl files should be copied to Eurw/scenery. You might have also modified some Scenery /Generic or BASE files and need to replace those. This probably pertains to the advanced users only.

• If desired delete the default flight plans file trafficxxxx.bgl (xxx are the numbers, could be different at each FS) this file is in FS2004/Scenery/World/Scenery folder. Deleting this file will delete FS default AI traffic. This way only your added traffic and aircraft will be showing and not the hypothetical AI supplied with the original FS.

• Finally, and if used in your original FS, copy the fs9.exe ‘NO CD patch’ to the root FS folder overwriting the default fs9.exe. This way you do not need disc 4 to run FS.

• Designate keyboard functions (assignments) as was prior DE install: For example, I got: Tab key for eye point view, X key for auto throttle disengage, SPACE bar for throttle cut, D key for flaps down, R key for flaps up.

Doing above covered the following transfers from the original FS:

All added aircraft and flight plans were copied with Aircraft and Scenery/World/Scenery traffic files.

Add-on airports and scenery is available with copied Add-on Scenery and activated either through FS or by transferring the scenery.cfg file.

If used, any new effects, gauges or sounds were copied with corresponding files.

If used, FSUIPC module was copied with the Modules file.

If used, Traffic View Board was copied with Aircraft, Gauges and Modules files.

If used, any Reverser sounds or smoke effects were copied with Sound, Effects and Aircraft files.

If used the Edit Voice Pack sounds, including acceleration (if used) were copied with the Sound files (USEnglishASOS, USEnglishBig.gvp, Evp_Accelerated)

If used, altitude Call Out was copied with Sound, Gauges and Aircraft\panel cfg files.

If used, the texture enhancements, such as Airport environment and similar were copied with the Texture file.

If AIRED was used for flyable aircraft deletion from FS menu (0-2), the non-flyable aircraft were deleted from the menu with copy of the Aircraft files.

Hi Andrew, the reinstall is bit tricky since some files are also in the registry and not deleting it could be acting up on you. I put out an instruction few years ago on how to go about the full reinstall. Copying it below, hope you find it helpful. Quite lengthy but each step needs to be followed.

Cheers

Peter

FS9 TOTAL REINSTALL.

Totally reinstall the FS using the four original discs. At the same time, retain add-on scenery, add-on airports, effects, traffic, aircraft etc. from the original FS9. Below is the guide helping how to proceed with the total uninstall and re-build, retaining all the timely efforts spent in improving FS.

1/PREREQUISITE:

1. Have the four original installation discs.

2. Copy the entire FS9 (FS2004) folder to external drive. This folder could be under Program Files or under the root C drive, if FS was installed there initially (C:\FS 2004 or similar).

3. Copy the Flight Simulator Files folder from your Documents folder to external drive.

4. If you want to retain the same settings, write down the info and percentages from the FS Settings: General, Display, Sound, ATC, Traffic, Assignments, Sensitivities, Realism, Weather.

2/ TOTAL UNINSTALL:

1. Delete the entire FS9 (FS 2004) folder. This folder could be located under the Program Files, or under the root C drive if installed there initially. (See Prerequisite above – this folder must be backed-up).

2. Delete the Flight Simulator Files folder from under the Documents folder. (See Prerequisite above – this folder must be backed-up).

Next points are also covered by Microsoft http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888846 but are simplified below:

3. Set your folder options View to see “Hidden Files and Folders”. Find the AppData folder under your PC main directory PC Name /AppData. This is a hidden folder. Click the folder and open Roaming folder and Microsoft folder. Select fs9 folder and delete it.

4. Delete FS folders from PC Registry. Search for regedit and click regedit.exe. It is suggested to back up Registry Keys prior to these tasks. May not be necessary if you are familiar with folder functions and mistakes are not made.

A/ Click HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator\9.0 and open all its sub-folders. Delete the last 9.0 folder and all its sub keys, and then delete the Flight Simulator folder and all its sub keys. Note that Flight Simulator\9.0 folders with the sub keys may not be there, depending on how the FS was installed. If you do not see the Flight Simulator folder, disregard this.

B/ Click HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\ Uninstall\Flight Simulator 9.0 and open all its sub-folders. Delete the last Flight Simulator 9.0 folder and all its sub keys. Note that Flight Simulator 9.0 folder with the sub keys may not be there, depending on how the FS was installed. If you do not see the Flight Simulator folder, disregard this.

C/ Click HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft Games\ Flight Simulator\9.0 and open all its sub-folders. First delete the last 9.0 folder and all its sub keys. Then delete the Flight Simulator folder and all its sub keys.

5. Remove FS9 from the Start menu. Start / All Programs / Microsoft Games / Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004, right-click and delete.

3/ NEW INSTALL:

1. Install the FS9 using the four original discs. My experience shows that it is better to do a Custom install to a folder on a hard drive ‘C’ instead to the Program Files, which is a default install. If agree, commence custom install to a folder on hard drive, could be named FS2004.

2. Run the FS to complete the install using the four discs.

3. Set the settings as per your notes, to match the settings in previously installed FS.

4. Do a basic simple flight to see if all is OK; and as when the new FS9 was purchased.

Close the FS.

5. Upgrade to v9.1, download from Microsoft: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=9727. The downloaded program is copied to FS root directory and run from there.

6. Hook up you external drive with your copy of the original FS9 (FS2004) folder and open the folder in a window on your PC. Next to it open the newly installed FS2004 folder.

Copy/overwrite entire contents of the following folders to the corresponding folders from the original FS to the newly installed FS, overwrite the files if asked:

• FS2004/Aircraft

• FS2004/Modules

• FS2004/Gauges

• FS2004/Effects

• FS2004/Sound

• FS2004/Texture

• FS2004/Add on Scenery

• FS2004/Scenery/World/Scenery

Also:

• Copy your saved Scenery.cfg file to the newly installed FS- This file is in the root FS folder – this way the individual sceneries transferred from the original Addon Scenery do not have to be activated in the newly installed FS. Not copying this file would mean that you will need to activate desired add-on scenery again.

• If desired Copy the saved Flight Simulator Files to your Documents folder.

• Copy the contents of the FS2004/Scenery folders in the regions where there were modifications or SBuider was used to adjust the terrain. Example: if the new airport was added with flatten area in Eurw region the AP files or VTTP and LWM2 bgl files should be copied to Eurw/scenery. You might have also modified some Scenery /Generic or BASE files and need to replace those. This probably pertains to the advanced users only.

• If desired delete the default flight plans file trafficxxxx.bgl (xxx are the numbers, could be different at each FS) this file is in FS2004/Scenery/World/Scenery folder. Deleting this file will delete FS default AI traffic. This way only your added traffic and aircraft will be showing and not the hypothetical AI supplied with the original FS.

• Finally, and if used in your original FS, copy the fs9.exe ‘NO CD patch’ to the root FS folder overwriting the default fs9.exe. This way you do not need disc 4 to run FS.

• Designate keyboard functions (assignments) as was prior DE install: For example, I got: Tab key for eye point view, X key for auto throttle disengage, SPACE bar for throttle cut, D key for flaps down, R key for flaps up.

Doing above covered the following transfers from the original FS:

All added aircraft and flight plans were copied with Aircraft and Scenery/World/Scenery traffic files.

Add-on airports and scenery is available with copied Add-on Scenery and activated either through FS or by transferring the scenery.cfg file.

If used, any new effects, gauges or sounds were copied with corresponding files.

If used, FSUIPC module was copied with the Modules file.

If used, Traffic View Board was copied with Aircraft, Gauges and Modules files.

If used, any Reverser sounds or smoke effects were copied with Sound, Effects and Aircraft files.

If used the Edit Voice Pack sounds, including acceleration (if used) were copied with the Sound files (USEnglishASOS, USEnglishBig.gvp, Evp_Accelerated)

If used, altitude Call Out was copied with Sound, Gauges and Aircraft\panel cfg files.

If used, the texture enhancements, such as Airport environment and similar were copied with the Texture file.

If AIRED was used for flyable aircraft deletion from FS menu (0-2), the non-flyable aircraft were deleted from the menu with copy of the Aircraft files.

That was terrifically kind of you to go to all that trouble.

I will certainly try and copy your post and store it away for possible future reference.

As it stands I again have the sim running correctly (I tried a windows recovery )whether that made a difference or not I am not sure but the the sim is again running as are my utilities.

THIS time I wont make the mistake of crowing about(as I have for the last couple of days ) how everything is ticketyboo and shipshape again and how my sim is running great etc)I have done this about three times now only to get the same old problems as I have had again the following day.

As I said at the beginning of this post a big thanks for taking the time to help.

There are some great people in this hobby.

Cheers Andy

Andy,

Your forum posts are very relevant and point out pitfalls that we ALL should know and learn how to handle with proceedures or work arounds. IOW this is GOLD. Don't apologize. I for one have been following your posts and although I feel for you I also admire your tenacity (which is what it takes) in making FS9 work (Win 10 or not). Only way I learn something new everyday is to read posts like this. So thanks for sharing. And -HANG IN THERE- we are rooting for you. Cheers.

Chuck B

Napamule

Edit: I would suggest you format your hard drive(s) and start over with the whole burrito - Windows and FS new installs - but you probably don't want to hear that. But I had to say it. Sometimes that is, after all is said and done, the 'only' way.

Andy,

Your forum posts are very relevant and point out pitfalls that we ALL should know and learn how to handle with proceedures or work arounds. IOW this is GOLD. Don't apologize. I for one have been following your posts and although I feel for you I also admire your tenacity (which is what it takes) in making FS9 work (Win 10 or not). Only way I learn something new everyday is to read posts like this. So thanks for sharing. And -HANG IN THERE- we are rooting for you. Cheers.

Chuck B

Napamule

Edit: I would suggest you format your hard drive(s) and start over with the whole burrito - Windows and FS new installs - but you probably don't want to hear that. But I had to say it. Sometimes that is, after all is said and done, the 'only' way.

Chuck I thank you for kind words.

As it stands it seems the sim is running correctly now.

Iam still anxious that something else is going to go wrong , and In a state of paranoia I have restarted my PC ,checked my sim is starting , still has the ability to save flights ( one of the things it was not doing for some reason)

an then closed it ,shut down the pc ,had a cuppa and then repeated the process again four or five times over the course of the day. So far the result is a positive one. In about an hour or so I will be making my daily flight to see if all is ok.

Yesterday's flight was ok ,it was me that ran out steam ( having spent four days and about eight or nine hours each day trying to get the sim running correctly) my head hurt ,my eyes were sore ,and my back ached) so I missed my landing (muchho hum)

The funny thing about this whole episode is that in the past two weeks I have installed Fs9 on two different PCs the first a refurbished Lenovo think centre ( looked more like an Xbox than your usual tower )this came with windows 10 ,but only intel intergrated graphics which although better than they used to be simply didn't cut the mustard for sim flying (great little pc though started an ran very quickly)

At this point I had a choice either to keep this pc or bite the bullet and buy a new one, I opted for the latter .

Now the funny thing is I had no real problems installing fs9 into the Lenovo which came with windows 10.

But my new machine also with windows 10 has proved to be bugger of a machine for some reason (as you can see from my posts)

Anyway I hope???? It's ok now .

PS I had to buy the new pc as my old one expired completely and was unrepairable.

One final note the installation I seem? to have got running was simply a backed up copy kept on an external drive, i didn't do a new installation of Fs9 and then copy the back up over it ( the usual way I think) I simply copied the backed up version clicked on the exe and it ran, and so far continues to run seemingly correctly.

Anyway I again thank you for your kind words.

It's coming up to takeoff time ,and hope to be airborne shortly.

Cheers to you.

Andy

Hi Gents,

just noted Andy mentioning running FS9 using the back up without install using the four discs? I did this once and the FS later crashed on me. I think that the initial four discs install is important. I got the new W10 PC a year ago and proceeded as below. Again bit lengthy but hopeful comprehensive.

Cheers and keep em flying!!!

To my delight, I got FS 2004 working successfully on my new Windows 10 laptop and would like to help those who are contemplating about going to W 10………. GO FOR IT!

My new HP laptop has good capacities, better than the rigs available 10 years ago, but it is not a powerful horse. It has Windows 10 Home 64 with 16GB DDR4 memory, i7-6500U processor and NVIDIA GeForce 940MX card (2GB DDR3).

(Note that I am using FS 2004 for over 10 years and have collected number of add-on airports and sceneries, also many aircraft (both AI and flyable). Many of my airports were modified using ADE and many AI flight plans created using the amazing T-Tools. Therefore, my original 2.69GB plain FS 2004 now has 36GB capacity. I had this FS running great on Vista Laptop with 2. GB memory, T9400 Intel processor and 512 MG NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT.)

So, having mentioned all this, these are few points relating to the FS 2004 running on W10, also some of my experience leading to the successful install:

Two prerequisites:

• First and most important under the assumption that your FS runs OK on your old PC. Copy your ENTIRE FS2004 folder from your old PC onto a separate hard drive! To copy my 36GB takes close to two hours!

• Second have the four original installation CD discs available!

• Finally, have your new W10 PC Note that I have no experience with installing FS2004 on the old rigs upgraded to W10! (Judging from the chat rooms there might be some issues with these)

Step by step procedure to install FS2004 on the new W10 PC:

• Load the four CD discs using either built in or external CD drive (I got a warning message from Microsoft – unknown origin (strange) – so have O.K.d the install. Install it (custom!) to your own folder on C drive, NOT to the Program Files, which I thing is a default. I named my folder FS2004.

• Answer NO at the end of install to run the FS, instead remove No 4 CD.

• Update the FS to v9.1. The update is available for the download in below link. It is an easy install placing the program file to your new FS folder and running it. https://flyawaysimulation.com/downloads/files/2795/flight-simulator-2004-update-v91/

• Get No CD Patch from below download. Again, an easy install to replace the fs9.exe file by the new downloaded file. https://flyawaysimulation.com/downloads/files/15244/microsoft-flight-simulator-2004-v91-no-cd-patch/

• Run FS (no need for the disc 4 installed, you got the patch!) and you find out that there is no aircraft preview in the opening screen just black field. It does not bother me because I can see and select the aircraft I want to fly in the drop-down. But if you want, hit ALT and ENTER and the aircraft picture appears. Test FS for basic functionality, take a quick flight with Cessna or similar.

• This is a good practice! Copy the entire contents of your newly installed FS folder to a back-up hard drive. (You can call it RAW FS9). It should have 2.69GB, so should not take long to copy. It is good to have the original files available!

Now to bring you newly created FS in W10 to the standard of your FS from former PC. Hook up to your W10 PC your external drive where you backed-up your FS folder. Delete all files from the following folders in your newly installed FS folder in your W10 PC, and copy in the corresponding files from your back-up hard drive into:

1. Addon Scenery folder, if you added or modified the scenery.

2. Aircraft folder, if you added or modified aircraft.

3. Effects folder, if you added or modified effects.

4. Gauges folder, if you added or modified gauges.

5. Modules folder, if you added or modified modules.

6. Scenery sub-folders folders (Afri, Asia, Aust, Eure, Eurw, Namc, Name, Namw, Ocen). This may not be necessary unless you modified some airport files or added flattens in your original FS. If you know where, just replace these files in given folders.

7. Scenery/World/Scenery folder. This is where your traffic files and altitude corrections are.

8. Sound folder, if you modified, added sounds or used Edit Voice pack.

9. Texture folder, if you modified or added textures.

10. Replace Scenery.cfg file in the main FS folder with the original back-up file! (This is important, so that you do not have to activate all your sceneries!) Note that the sceneries listed in this file should match the sceneries in your Addon Scenery folder otherwise you get a message if some sceneries are listed in Scenery.cfg file and are missing in the Addon folder!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Few advices or enhancing your FS2004, making it more realistic and mainly reduce those enjoying stutters (momentary screen freezes, apparently caused due to the old program running on the new higher capacity PC):

Get FS Environment 9 v1.3 from AVSIM Misc files library:

http://library.avsim.net/index.php

In this document are great enhancements available to make your FS more realistic and mainly! The FS9 Optimization section which changes some numbers in your Roaming FS9.cfg file (Located in your Windows 10 C drive/Users/Your Name/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/FS9 folder). This greatly reduced my stutters. (Note that the TextureMaxLoad=10 needs to be added as a separate line! The creators of this great piece of info forgot to mention it,) Also to see your AppData file you need to set your files options to show the Hidden Files and Folders!

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

In general, you do not need to go for high FPS. I run at 25 FPS and the flights are nice and fluid. For info below are the settings I use. These give me great scenery and fluid flying (clearly, you might experiment with those):

Display:

Scenery:

Terrain Mash Complexity 100, Terrain Texture Size High, Terrain Detail Land Only, Water effects Low, Special Effects Detail Medium, Scenery Complexity Very Dense, Add-on Dynamic Scenery Unchecked, Ground Scenery Cast Shadows, Sun Glare and Lens Flare all Unchecked (these do not do too much and save capacity)

Aircraft:

Global Aircraft Quality Low, Virtual Cockpit Gauge Quality High, In the rest only the Landing lights checked, rest unchecked.

Weather:

Sight Distance 70 MI, Cloud Draw Distance 40 MI, 3D Cloud Percentage 50, Detailed Clouds Checked, Cloud Coverage Density High.

Hardware:

Target Frame Rate 25, Render to Texture Checked, Transform and Lightning Checked, Anti-Aliasing Unchecked. MIP Quality 4, Hardware Render Lights 6, Global Max Texture Size High.

Realism and Weather:

Rate at which weather changes over time Medium.

Additional note. Since I fly using the keyboard the F keys on my new laptop are active only when the FN key is pressed. This is enjoying because for example to handle flaps using F keys you need to hold the FN key as well, you can fix this by using the Assignments in Settings to change the Flaps from F keys to a single key on your new PC keyboard. I assigned “D” key to flaps down sequential and “T” key to flaps up sequential.