New and pressing problem

[homebrewer]

This is yet another problem to add to my ever-expanding burden. I was using FS the other night and it functioned fine, save for not being able to use Esc to escape, and not being able to install the F-18AE Superhornet from avsim (or maybe it was Alpha) with the same basic procedure as I have installed maybe a dozen or more add-ins in the past. Anyway, I pushed FS back into the hangar and went to bed. Last night I was again fooling around and FS would not start. I would click on the icon on my Desktop, there would be the requisite long, long wait before the drive engaged, then several more seconds as it spun up, then at long last I get the splash screen of the DC-3. Then all went down the tubes. The Create a Flight screen came up and vanished in less than a second, returning to Desktop. This is something I have never seen before in the hundreds of times I have launched FS. I know something is wrong. I fear a re-install of FS is the only cure. My worry is I do not want to have to also re-install all the add-on scenery and downloaded airplanes. I thought I could avoid having to re-install all the planes by copying the Aircraft folder onto my Storage drive. I created a new folder, called it Installed FS9 aircraft, kept a copy on my Desktop and copied it onto the drive I use for storing stuff I do not want to expose to any risks of deletion as a result of my ignorance or incompetence. So I have it in two places, now. I feel pretty safe.

So here's the question: Can I re-install FS and once it's on, can I drag and drop the folder full of add-on planes (the previously-functioning Aircraft folder) straight out of Storage and right back onto the Aircraft folder in the newly-installed FS? I guess I'll have to re-install all the scenery, but that's just a bunch of disk-switching in and out of the CD drive. That's automatic. It's the installng of the airplanes I don't like...

[microlight]

Hi homebrewer.

You shouldn't have any issues with copying aircraft direct from a storage folder, I've installed FS9 on two new computers in the last couple of months (desktop and laptop) and it's worked fine. Here's what I did:

- full install of FS9
- overwrite the files in the FS9 root directory with backups
- overwrite the following folders with my backup folders (addon scenery, aircraft, autogen, effects, flights, gauges, modules, scenery, my own scenery directory, sound, texture, uires)

The sim then rebuilds its scenery etc files and the sim boots exactly like it did on my previous, now defunct PC. The only thing I had to re-install from scratch was the PMDG 737-800/-900. Don't forget that you'll need the panels, gauges, effects etc. for your installed planes.

Hope this helps.

[homebrewer]

Thank you for giving me a place to start. Let me read your post over and over until I begin to understand it. I think you mean to say I have to copy and commit to Storage anything that came as a result of a downloaded file, correct?

[homebrewer]

I just looked under the Start button in the lower left corner of my screen. I see the little DC-3 airplane icon has the words "Safe Mode" by it. I have never seen this before. When I click and FS starts, it disappears from the screen so fast it's almost as if it was never there. It's there less than a blink. Looks like a full re-install is the only way to cure the problem. Maybe I should use one of my three still-in-the-wrap back-up copies and put the original copy out to pasture?

[microlight]

The folders I copied onto a backup hard drive for re-installation if necessary are the working folders that FS9 uses. For example, I have all my addon scenery assembled in a folder called 'microlight_scenery'. Copying this folder to the backup drive, plus a copy of the scenery.cfg file in the FS9 root directory means that all I have to do is copy this folder back into a fresh FS9 installation and replace the default scenery.cfg with my backup. On FS9 boot, the scenery database is reconfigured by FS9 and all my scenery is back.

It's the same for my ground, sky etc. textures which I have backed up as scenery/world/scenery: overwriting the default means that all my preferred textures are back. Planes go this way too - but make sure the gauges and effects folders contain what they need to. You can assure this by making backups of the complete gauges and effects folders.

So to answer your question - you don't have to re-install from the original downloads. Using my backup folders, reinstating the whole FS9 installation to my custom configuration from a fresh FS9 reinstall (on a new PC) took me less than half an hour. The only thing I had to re-install from the original discs was the payware PMDG 737.

Hope this helps. Please ask further if you need any more input.

Sorry, can't help you with 'safe mode', I've never seen it. Can anyone else help?

[homebrewer]

I was just about to ask if all my downloaded airplanes and add-on scenery would be lost when I do a full re-install. So it looks like I need to copy and store away several folders from FS, then slide them back onto the newly-installed folders once the re-install is complete. Is that what you are saying, micro?

[microlight]

Exactly. Make copies of all of the folders that you've added to, e.g. aircraft, gauges, effects, addon scenery, modules, your own scenery folder, autogen, plus the contents of your root fs9 folder (and indeed the fs9.cfg file), then you can restore them en masse with a new installation.

I've never had to uninstall FS9 so I can't comment on the ins and outs of uninstallation.  

[Hagar]

Quickest & easiest method of backing up would be to rename the FS9 root directory folder. Then do a fresh install in the usual way. Always worked for previous versions of FS/CFS.

PS. Be careful reinstalling those backed up addons. It's most likely that one or more of them caused the problem in the first place.

[homebrewer]

Got it seemingly fixed just a few minutes ago. I in All Programs under the Start button, clicked on Microsoft games, clicked on FS2004, clicked on Troubleshooting and came upon a button to click that allowed me to reset to defaults. Thinking my installed airplanes would be lost and I'd have to install them all over again, I hesitated a bit. Then I said "Well, I have no sim now, so why not blow 'em away and start all over? How many hours could it take, really?" So I held my breath and clicked. Saints be praised!! My FS came back in all its 800x 600 glory. Even the Esc key worked, which is the first thing that went bad several weeks ago. It was just a matter of resetting all the values back to where I had them before The Troubles began. It's great to be back to normal...

[microlight]

Well done! What is FS life without a little challenge, say I! I have a minor AFCAD apron glitch at Gatwick at the moment, whichI will fix before the day's out.

[homebrewer]

Well, maybe I spoke too soon. I was just now fooling around with it and it seems to me to not be as sharp as it was before the problems began. I took multiple screenshots before the problems began and when comparing them against what I see on my screen now, I am not pleased. I have checked Settings in FS (pumped up to near-max or max on all of them) and also checked where I have my screen resolution and colors set on my monitor (which could not have changed, to my way of thinking). But still, I am not getting the razor-sharp edges I was getting before.

Add to that, under the Start button, FS still shows itself to be in Safe Mode. It works from Desktop to about 99% of my satisfaction, so why am I griping, you ask? Well, I had it at 100% before and it should be there now because it can be set to such levels.

One more question: How do I get rid of the blue bar and the one that allows you to change the views and things at the top of the screen? I want the whole screen to be showing me FS, and nothing else. I had this question a while back, but don't remember what I was told to get rid of it. And why would it come back? Thank you, gentlemen...

[Hagar]

One more question: How do I get rid of the blue bar and the one that allows you to change the views and things at the top of the screen? I want the whole screen to be showing me FS, and nothing else. I had this question a while back, but don't remember what I was told to get rid of it. And why would it come back? Thank you, gentlemen...

Press Alt + Enter to change to Full Screen mode. I suspect that could be the cause of your problem.

[homebrewer]

Thanks, Hagar. It worked-- like you knew it would.