...from my experiences.
Lately I've seen that a lot of members feel that the best way to solve their problems is a complete uninstall and reinstall. I'm not going to criticize that, actually, I often endorse doing so if the problem is bad enough. In fact, I occasionally will do it anyways just because my FS is getting "full" and loading slowly.
BUT sometimes an uninstall can be a big pain. You have to go back and add all your addons again and fix all your settings and go through all that hassle and its such a pain! So here are a few tips:
1. Found the perfect settings? Tweaked your FS9.cfg so much until it was just right? Don't want to try to figure it out again? Well, go to your CFG (located in C:\Documents and Settings\(your name)\Application Data\Microsoft\FS9) and make a backup of the CFG, by renaming it fs9.cfg.bak or something. That way when FS reinstalls it will make a new one, and then you just rename the new one fs9.cfg.orig and rename your backup to fs9.cfg. You keep the setting and tweaks!
*NOTE: Backing up the CFG does you no good if that is the probably. Normally it isnt, but sometimes there can be issues regarding the CFG. In that case, do not uninstall, simply delete the FS9.cfg and FS will generate a new one when you run it.
2. Make sure it is a COMPLETE uninstall. If you really want to start fresh, you have to manually delete files after the uninstall. MS did a good thing when they designed the uninstall. They made it so that when you uninstall all the files that can be added, such as aircraft, addon scenery, gauges, etc are left behind, probably because they knew we would be adding so much stuff and would hate to lose it all because of a game file error. Well this is good, but its bad if you really want a complete uninstall. To solve this, simply go to your FS folder after uninstall and delete everything.
3. BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP! Have some addons that you can't live without? Here is my tip: make a folder somewhere on your computer and put the zip files in it. Don't bother going back into FS and pulling out these planes or scenery before reinstall, chances are you won't be able to find everything that goes with it and will just end up dissappointed when you fly it again after reinstall. But if you keep the original downloads, you can just install them again. This is especially helpful if these addons use EXEs because sometimes the EXE installs a file that you normally wouldn't think of, such as a sound file in the sound folder.
With regards to traffic, if you use ProjectAI or WorldOfAI I would strongly suggest you make an organized folder for it. Have all the install packs in one place so that when you reinstall you simply click a few buttons and install the traffic. I made that mistake once and struggled to go and download all the packages I had.
4. PATCH!!!! DO NOT FORGET THE PATCH!!!! If you don't remember, MS released a 9.1 patch a while back. Many of us most likely forget we have it because it came out so long ago and it is unnoticable. If you have a newer copy of the sim it is most likely already 9.1, but double check (when in the sim hit ALT and go to About (I think that's it, Doug knows the true way of doing it, hopefully he will come by and correct me if I am wrong). If you don't install the patch you will be kicking yourself. I think the patch leaves the CFG alone if I remember correctly, but just to be safe make another backup of it before installing the patch. Also, even though it should be common sense, install the patch before installing any addons.
5. UNINSTALL IS A LAST RESORT! Do not forget, uninstall really should only be done in extreme cases. It really isn't a big deal, it is your sim and you can do what you want with it. But installs do not always go as planned and sometimes you might forget where you got an addon and then you are up a creek. Oftentimes you will find that with a little persistence you can fix your problem before uninstalling, so make sure that you try whatever you can to fix it.
6. Have fun! That is all I can think of, and the best I can offer. Remember to have fun with the sim, don't take it too seriously and don't fret over small problems. We are always here to help, don't be shy even if you think its a stupid question, we have all been new and have all asked our fair share of stupid questions.
That's it from me, tell me if you liked my tips and any questions/comments are welcome!
/me
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