Changing PCs

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

Hopefully within the next few weeks I will be getting a new PC as the mice that run this one are slowly giving out and threatening to strike for more pay. I can't blame them as I've asked an awful lot of them. However I understand that my new one will be running Windows 7 as opposed to Windows XP that I currently use. Now as many of you know, I have an awful lot of aircraft and sceneries in my sim...but will they all still work on the new system? I would hate to get a shiney new PC but then find my hangar is dead. (it's even got the head mouse worried!) Can anyone enlighten me please?

[britfrog 180]

Alan have no fear windows 7 is totally magic , (the same cant be said for windows 8.1 which is horrible),  the graphics are much better than good old XP but as your graphics card will presumably be miles better as well your simming experience will be much better and smoother----- time to move up to FSX perhaps????

[mutley 4,495]

I agree with Nigel, happy days ahead Alan and you will probably be able to make the jump to FSX or P3D!

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

i have little different point of view; I’m a heavy user

i love XP; i kept using it till recently i was forced to upgrade my laptop

windows 7 is extremely annoying for advance users and take hours to reverse the added security and gain some freedom

im on win 8.1 now and cannot get used to the Win7 interface since; which now feels clunky compared to 8.1

same thing with 8.1 (win 8 was terrible) hours to unlock the system

but im very happy with it now

i won’t go back to 7 or 8

will gladly go back to XP though, well... not from 8.1 I’m hooked

 

with that said win7 has some benefits over xp

and no compatibility issues with aircraft or scenery

if you have the sim installed on another drive; you won’t even need to reinstall

save your config and setting files; and restore after you upgrade

 

[hifly 925]

A big step up Al and worrying too, BUT in the long run, worth it. Now my hangers are/were nowhere as large as yours but when I upgraded recently I didn't bother to reinstall ac that I rarely flew thus leaving space for airports and WX add ons. I'm glad I upgraded despite the initial reinstalling.

 

Good luck with it.

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

Thanks guys, I'll see how they work out. Re FSX I do have that but it's no longer installed. I just couldn't get on with it. Odd distorted camera angles and completely different controls to FS9 put me off it. If I were to re-install it then I'd need help in setting it up. A lot of my a/c are FS9 specific so would not work, and I'm loathe to dump lots of them as they are such unusual subjects. I'll have to see what my PC Techie can build for me. None of my PCs are off the shelf items. This current one started life inside the NHS by all accounts but has been upgraded so often that it's no longer recognisable.

[SEATAC 400]

Welcome to the 21st century Alan!

[allardjd 1,853]

Windows seems to get it right every other time. XP and Win7 are great. Windows ME, Vista and Win8, not so much. Win9 will probably be fantastic.

I think Win7 will not run anything that uses 8-bit code. Helping a friend, he has a very old payware AC for FS9 that included some RealityXP gauges. Try as we might, those gauges will simply not load in Win7 and I'm pretty sure it's because there is some 8-bit code lurking within them. As far as I know, that's the only specific problem we can put our fingers on.

Scenery shouldn't be an issue.

John

[SEATAC 400]

Windows seems to get it right every other time. XP and Win7 are great. Windows ME, Vista and Win8, not so much. Win9 will probably be fantastic.

John

Good observation John. Much like Star Trek movies, 1, 3 and 5 were very weak. 2, 4 and 6 were much better!

[brett 2,310]

One of the things I liked about getting FSX was all the new things I have learned about the PC. I only knew or learned enough about computers to help my kids with them as they were growing up through school. After dealing with FSX for 10 years, I almost know about half a percent about computers now.

 

Good luck with the new rig Alan. Have you thought about putting both FSX and fs9 on the new PC, that way you can get the best of both worlds. You can keep the older stuff and also get into some of the newer and much better stuff available today. Or even bypass FSX if you do not want to deal with it and jump right into P3D.   

[hlminx 301]

Think youll like W7 Alan. I used XP for years and was apprehensive about going to W7 but its great.

If memory serves the one most important thing to remember is that it best to keep it out of x86 as thats where most of the permission issues related to W7 pop up. If you have 2 HDs, put W7 on C:\ and Fs2004 on the other drive in a new folder. It works a treat for FSX so im guessing the same W7 security will affect 2004 in the same way.

You'll also need to make sure that all files and folders are set to visible (uncheck the hidden files/folders tick box in Windows settings), particularly if you want to tweak config files in the User folders on C:\

Ive installed FS many times, albeit FSX for most of them and the location of the install was really important to ensure the added W7 security didnt give me any agro.

The other 'installation prerequisite' is a nice cuppa (whole teapot full if you're like me) and some choccy biccies. Installs and setting up thigs can take hours! Prep is everything

Minx

[Quickmarch 488]

I'm, almost, going through the same process, Alan.

 

The ship's computer, a venerable world-traveled XP machine finally threw up it's little electronic hands and expired. I made a mistake by buying a new, much higher performance, machine with win7 pro. Little did I realise that the windoze permission files have permanently and fully put the kibosh on the ship's network. The electronic charting system originates on an SD card that plugs into the cockpit display. The network allowed (under XP) this information, along with the radar display, to be duplicated and manipulated down below in the Navigation Station on a computer display. Not anymore! The software supplier, Maxsea - a French company, has ceased supporting XP and provides no ongoing support for Win7.

 

I have (I think) explored every possible avenue to get the software to work and the network to recognise the cockpit display. Furuno, the manufacturer of the hardware supplies their solution: No problems, mate. Simply buy our new Time Zero software. Oops! sorry, we forgot; the new software is not compatible with your old ( 2006) hardware, so you just need to buy a new $6000 cockpit display and $2500 worth of software and all will be sweetness and light. AAArrrrgh!

 

I'm not sure what they smoke at Furuno, but I'd like some. This whole thing is sort of like Ford telling you that your 2006 Ford might as well be parked because Ford no longer supports the model. Are you kidding me?! I have a 1968 Triumph T100S motorcycle that I can still buy parts for. 

 

Enough on that. I bought the new computer, so it might as well be used for something entertaining. I loaded it up with FSX and all my ORBX software. The O/S is on the SSD C: drive and FSX on a separate SATA HDD. I reloaded FSX from the original disks, added back all the mods I'd made to various aircraft, struggled through the myriad updates to the scenery files (another downloaded today - for PFJ, thanks Andrew), and went flying. 

 

I was even able to continue with my AH company on the new machine. I loaded the three (necessary) files from the old laptop into Dropbox along with the FSX Log file and now I can switch back and forth between the two machines with Dropbox keeping them synced. Best of both worlds.

 

My big advantage is that the original install of FSX was done on a Win7 Laptop, so I'm already up to speed on the vagaries and frustrations of that O/S. There's some really good advice in this thread to help you along with running parallel systems. I highly recommend trying that. Keep the old stuff that runs in FS 2009 and 2004 and run it under the Win7 XP emulation (x86 Program Files) and try out the newer FSX titles. ALWAYS disable Win7's UAC (lots on that on the forums) and make sure to do your installs by right-clicking on the installer and choosing "Run as Administrator" from the drop-down.

 

Good luck

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

Heads up guys, Tomorrow my PC will be going to the breakers yard but first has to have a complete port-over to the new PC. (The mice are naturally nervous but I've told them that there will be no compulsive redundantcies ! Some have chosen to take early retirement however!) I shall therefore be offline for a few days whilst my system is changed over. (Don't all cheer at once!). Hopefully will be up and running again soon. 

[hifly 925]

Good luck Al, see you on the other side.

[allardjd 1,853]

No worries, Al. What's the worst that could happen?

John

[brett 2,310]

Best wishes on a trouble free changeover Alan.

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

Well the good news is, I have a nice new computer.

The bad news is I have got to completely re-install flight sim as it's no longer on there. All the system was backed on to the external drive but the baseplate and the operational files have all vanished. This is going to take some doing as I had a massive system. At least once its done it should work better though. I've got 8GB of Ram and 1TB of Rom to play with plus the external drive. This is gonna take a lot of patience and copius amounts of tea!

[ddavid 149]

 

Cheers- Dai.

 

 

 

[hifly 925]

Congrats Al, know how you feel after my recent upgrade  However I didn't bother reinstalling a lot of ac that I didn't fly much got airports instead.

Still it must be painful when your hangers have shrunk to nothing.

[brett 2,310]

That's the best way to do it, install it as you need it, except for the basics. It's amazing the amount of stuff that adds up and is never used often, it's like my garage.  Have fun.

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

Still cannot get the sim to work. If I load the basic system(default) its fine, but as soon as I try and add other scenery its telling me I dont have permission to do it! WTF, I am on the PC as an administrator, But it still doesnt want to know, Keeps telling me to abort. I'm beginning to get thoroughly peed off!

[ddavid 149]

Alan, try the W7 trick...

Instead of just double-clicking an exec file to install, try Double-Clicking and select "... As Administrator" from the drop down list.

Hope that helps. W7 can be a b*tch, Mate! Persevere!

Cheers - Dai.

[britfrog 180]

Al. I hope that you have windows 7 not 8 however the cure is the same, go into contol panel /user accounts/ change user account control settings/

there you will find a slider slide it to the bottom (never notify) hit OK and the rest should be history. you may need to reboot though.

[allardjd 1,853]

Always, always always run EVERYTHING "As Administrator" in Win7.

 

John

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

Thanks Guys, These are the screens I'm getting, and as you can see I am an admin for my own PC. I've had other aircraft running but it seems that something in the stuff I loaded onto it today it does not like. All I've loaded are addons speceifically designed for the sim from JF.  Its getting very frustrating.