Backing up fsx-se help

I'm buying a new computer soon. I have downloaded & installed many, I mean MANY Planes, Scenery & Around 75 WOAI Packages.

I would like to know using the Steam Backup as shown (I'm currently running it) will I lose any of the Planes, Scenery & WOAI files I've installed when I move to the new PC?

Does the Steam Backup procedure back up the Sim and it's contents on to Steam or onto my Computer?

Once I get my new computer set up, how do I get the Sim onto it?

Do I have to reinstall the game through Steam?

I'm by far not a computer Wiz as most of you who reply to my questions seem to be........ Meant as a compliment........ So please bare with me. I appreciate the help but sometimes I read too deep into your explanations, advice and instructions and get confused. Or honestly, don't read them well enough.

Thanks for your patience and understanding and especially taking the time to help me. I'm slowly learning more and getting better at the ins and outs of this sim each day. Brian

I don't use Steam, so I have no idea how it does its backups. If it were me, and to be safe rather than sorry, I'd backup my FS install to an external hard drive (HDD).

The process is quite simple. First we need to know how big your FSX install is. Right click the FS install directory and chose properties. It will take an ungodly amount of time, but wait and it will tell you how big it is. Mine right now is about 50 GB.

Now buy a decent external USB HDD that has adequate storage. I'm pretty sure something around 128 GB would be more than enough.

Now all you have to do is a copy/paste maneuver. Go to your FSX install folder and right click it and select copy. Now go into your external USB HDD and paste. This may take a very long time. If you currently have USB 3.0 the time will be shorter.

Once you have your FSX backed up, all you have to do is paste your backup back to the new FSX install overwriting what's there. This is not a perfect solution, but I've done just this with FS2004 and it worked.

You'll also want to backup your dll.xml and exe.dll files. The easiest way to find those is to download everything.exe and search for dll.xml and exe.xml. Copy both of those to your external hard drive. https://www.voidtools.com/downloads/ If you have a 64 bit version of Windows, download the 64 bit version. If you're not sure just download the x86 version.

You may also want to backup your rewards. In everything.exe search for GrantedRewards.BIN, and logbook.bin. Copy those to your external HDD. Make a note on where they were located at so that when you paste them back to your new computer you'll know. You can see the file path in everythying.exe. Like for example, GrantedRewards.bin should be in \AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX. And logbook.bin should be in your FSX folder of your documents folder. Note, you may need to turn on show hidden files and folders. But everything.exe doesn't care. But on your new computer you'll need to open these locations to paste the files back. So to show hidden files go to the search box under the Windows start orb bottom left of the screen and search for "Folder Options" without quotes. In the View tab tick off "show hidden files and folders." After you're done, turn it off again otherwise you'll see a bunch of strange files all over the place.

If you have any payware add-ons, you'll need to reinstall those manually I'm afraid. And you'll need their license keys.

There is of course two other alternatives to all of this. One is to just clone your entire computer and then clone that to your new computer. It will be like nothing ever changed from your old computer. But you have to go to safe mode and uninstall drivers first. Mostly the video card (GPU) driver, the audio card driver, and anything else like network drivers, Bluetooth, etc. I would use Revouninstaller to remove your GPU and audio drivers, etc. https://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html

You can get into safe mode by booting your computer and immediately begin constantly pressing the F8 key. It's actually invoked after BIOS loads and before Windows boots. But you can just keep pressing the F8 key since it will fly by so fast.

A great free clone program is AOMEI Backupper. It's straight forward and easy to use and I've used it many times with great success. You run AOMEI Backupper and select the clone feature. Then select your source. Which of course would be your computer's HDD which would be C drive. Then you select your destination which would be your external USB HDD. If you decide to go the clone route make sure your external HDD is large enough for your current HDD in your computer. To see its size go to the My Computer icon. In AOMEI Backupper you don't need to chose sector by sector and I would chose the align option if your HDD is a SSD.

To clone back to your new computer you'll will want to create the PE boot disk in AOMEI. You can write it to a blank USB stick or a blank CD. Then in your new computer enter BIOS and select boot from USB or CD, what ever you used. You'll boot the PE environment. Plug in the external HDD and clone it to your main drive in your new computer. If you don't know how to get into BIOS, read the motherboard manual. What type of computer are you getting?

Another method is to pull out the HDD from your new computer and install it to your old computer. Now clone to it. Once completed, remove the HDD with the new clone and put it back in your new computer. It should be like nothing ever changed. But you'll need to install drivers from either the computer manufacturer or the motherboard manufacturer.

The other option is a paid for option that will set you back 50 bucks, but I can't vouch for it as I've never used it, but it may work and it may be a lot easier. But I'm not sure if it will in fact backup your rewards and logbook. The program is called Easeus ToDo PCTrans. https://www.easeus.com/free-pc-transfer-software/

The free version only allows you to backup two programs which actually might work out since all you want is FSX. But I see it has a compatibility list and FSX may not be on that list, but then again the program may still be able to backup. This also requires an external USB HDD.

I tried to spell this out as best as I could to someone with hardly any computer know how. If you have any questions ask. Perhaps someone will come along and say that indeed the Steam backup App will void everything I've written here.

Note that you should install Steam to the root of C drive. In case you don't know that. So simply create a folder on C drive called Steam and install FSX there. If you install to the Program Files folder you'll get all kinds of issues. The path would be C:\steam. And right click everything you plan on installing and run it as Admin. It may save you a headache.

I don't use Steam, so I have no idea how it does its backups. If it were me, and to be safe rather than sorry, I'd backup my FS install to an external hard drive (HDD).

 

The process is quite simple. First we need to know how big your FSX install is. Right click the FS install directory and chose properties. It will take an ungodly amount of time, but wait and it will tell you how big it is. Mine right now is about 50 GB.

 

Now buy a decent external USB HDD that has adequate storage. I'm pretty sure something around 128 GB would be more than enough.

 

Now all you have to do is a copy/paste maneuver. Go to your FSX install folder and right click it and select copy. Now go into your external USB HDD and paste. This may take a very long time. If you currently have USB 3.0 the time will be shorter.

 

Once you have your FSX backed up, all you have to do is paste your backup back to the new FSX install overwriting what's there. This is not a perfect solution, but I've done just this with FS2004 and it worked.

 

You'll also want to backup your dll.xml and exe.dll files. The easiest way to find those is to download everything.exe and search for dll.xml and exe.xml. Copy both of those to your external hard drive. https://www.voidtools.com/downloads/ If you have a 64 bit version of Windows, download the 64 bit version. If you're not sure just download the x86 version.

 

You may also want to backup your rewards. In everything.exe search for GrantedRewards.BIN, and logbook.bin. Copy those to your external HDD. Make a note on where they were located at so that when you paste them back to your new computer you'll know. You can see the file path in everythying.exe. Like for example, GrantedRewards.bin should be in \AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX. And logbook.bin should be in your FSX folder of your documents folder. Note, you may need to turn on show hidden files and folders. But everything.exe doesn't care. But on your new computer you'll need to open these locations to paste the files back. So to show hidden files go to the search box under the Windows start orb bottom left of the screen and search for "Folder Options" without quotes. In the View tab tick off "show hidden files and folders." After you're done, turn it off again otherwise you'll see a bunch of strange files all over the place.

 

If you have any payware add-ons, you'll need to reinstall those manually I'm afraid. And you'll need their license keys.

 

There is of course two other alternatives to all of this. One is to just clone your entire computer and then clone that to your new computer. It will be like nothing ever changed from your old computer. But you have to go to safe mode and uninstall drivers first. Mostly the video card (GPU) driver, the audio card driver, and anything else like network drivers, Bluetooth, etc. I would use Revouninstaller to remove your GPU and audio drivers, etc. https://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html

 

You can get into safe mode by booting your computer and immediately begin constantly pressing the F8 key. It's actually invoked after BIOS loads and before Windows boots. But you can just keep pressing the F8 key since it will fly by so fast.

 

A great free clone program is AOMEI Backupper. It's straight forward and easy to use and I've used it many times with great success. You run AOMEI Backupper and select the clone feature. Then select your source. Which of course would be your computer's HDD which would be C drive. Then you select your destination which would be your external USB HDD. If you decide to go the clone route make sure your external HDD is large enough for your current HDD in your computer. To see its size go to the My Computer icon. In AOMEI Backupper you don't need to chose sector by sector and I would chose the align option if your HDD is a SSD.

 

To clone back to your new computer you'll will want to create the PE boot disk in AOMEI. You can write it to a blank USB stick or a blank CD. Then in your new computer enter BIOS and select boot from USB or CD, what ever you used. You'll boot the PE environment. Plug in the external HDD and clone it to your main drive in your new computer. If you don't know how to get into BIOS, read the motherboard manual. What type of computer are you getting?

 

Another method is to pull out the HDD from your new computer and install it to your old computer. Now clone to it. Once completed, remove the HDD with the new clone and put it back in your new computer. It should be like nothing ever changed. But you'll need to install drivers from either the computer manufacturer or the motherboard manufacturer.

 

 

The other option is a paid for option that will set you back 50 bucks, but I can't vouch for it as I've never used it, but it may work and it may be a lot easier. But I'm not sure if it will in fact backup your rewards and logbook. The program is called Easeus ToDo PCTrans. https://www.easeus.com/free-pc-transfer-software/

 

The free version only allows you to backup two programs which actually might work out since all you want is FSX. But I see it has a compatibility list and FSX may not be on that list, but then again the program may still be able to backup. This also requires an external USB HDD.

 

I tried to spell this out as best as I could to someone with hardly any computer know how. If you have any questions ask. Perhaps someone will come along and say that indeed the Steam backup App will void everything I've written here.

 

Note that you should install Steam to the root of C drive. In case you don't know that. So simply create a folder on C drive called Steam and install FSX there. If you install to the Program Files folder you'll get all kinds of issues. The path would be C:\steam. And right click everything you plan on installing and run it as Admin. It may save you a headache.

CRJ_simpilot - Thanks so much for your in-depth & thorough instructions. I do appreciate it. I don't have much time today but didn't want to leave you hanging without a reply. I will read your post over the weekend and let you know if I have any questions or need further clarification. Thank you

This is how to backup steam.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8794-YPHV-2033

In there is a link to: "moving a steam installation".

That is the link you need, as you are moving it to a different pc.

Btw, for moving it I don't think uninstalling is needed. With steam you are allowed to have fsx on more then one pc at the same time.