What do I buy....

[Flying Trucker]

Good afternoon

Computer has been down or at store I should say since New Years

Got it back with Error on FSX Startup

They lost all my documents etc....not a happy camper

Should have waited for family

Well now I get errors installing FSX Deluxe
1628 Failed to complete
Error Code 1-80004005

Fed up totally

Should I toss FSX Deluxe and purchase
P3D or P4D or whatever it is....will my Orbx and payware aircraft work with that

Or
Another FSX product that includes Acceleration

Would like to make the purchase tomorrow as it takes 10 days to get anything here from the courrier companies

They added/replaced my C drive with a Solid State Drive 1TB
My D drive is larger but is not Solid State

Opinions and advice most welcome...

[slimcooper2002]

I just went through the same thing except they were able to copy everything from my old hard drive to a new one. But my registry was all screwed up so I was going to have to reinstall fsx anyway. I decided to try fsx steam. What everyone says is true, it starts up much faster and seems to run better too. I'm in the process of slowly moving my add-ons into the game and so far everything I've added works fine. Its just like the boxed version but better.

[FelixFFDS2]

I just went through the same thing except they were able to copy everything from my old hard drive to a new one. But my registry was all screwed up so I was going to have to reinstall fsx anyway. I decided to try fsx steam. What everyone says is true, it starts up much faster and seems to run better too. I'm in the process of slowly moving my add-ons into the game and so far everything I've added works fine. Its just like the boxed version but better.

Q: I assume that the Steam version does NOT include the SDKs?

[Shadowcaster]

Q: I assume that the Steam version does NOT include the SDKs?

It does come with the SDK so no worries there.

Cheers
Rich

[papituwall]

FSX-SE, is the solution.

[FelixFFDS2]

Q: I assume that the Steam version does NOT include the SDKs?

It does come with the SDK so no worries there.

Cheers
Rich

Thanks! I broke down, bought an external DVD drive and installed FS-X/Acceleration. I'm a happy camper.

[Daube]

I'm a bit late to the party :/
I hope I can nevertheless provide some advice.

Doug: please forget forever about FSX.
Either you switch to FSX Steam, or you switch to P3Dv4.
FSX Steam might be the easiest transition for you. It does not require these ridiculous spinning things from the previous century, these shiny vinyl disks that some call DVD in an attempt to make them sound more modern FSX Steam simply required an internet connection and you will be good to go. Steam will handle the download, no matter how long it takes and how many times it hangs.

If you switch to P3D, you have two choices:
- P3Dv3
- P3Dv4.

Let's start with P3Dv3.
That simulator is, just like FSX, a 32 bits application. This implies two things:
- it will be compatible with most of the freeware and payware addons you downloaded or bought in the past
- it will suffer from the same memory limitations than FSX (OOM: Out Of Memory errors).
If you don't get any memory problems with FSX, then you will most likely not face any memory problems with P3Dv3.

That sim will bring some nice little things you might appreciate a lot, compared to FSX:
- The FS9 planes are displayed correctly, no more windows/props/rotors dissappearing behind clouds or autogen. You might still get some transparency problems, exactly like in FSX, but the fixes for FSX will also work in P3Dv3.
- The FS9 planes will benefit from the new graphic engine: unlike in FSX, the FS9 planes will get shadows on the external body and inside the virtual cockpit as well.
- The only limitation for FS9 planes is that any 2D switch won't work anymore. Only the switches / levers modelled in 3D will still be clickable.
- The shadows in general, both for planes or scenery objects, are far better in P3D than in FSX.
- You also get cloud shadows
- The water surface have 3D waves, making your floatplanes much more challenging
- The autogen will appear smoothly, and benefit from the new shadows. The overall rendering is superior to FSX.

Now about P3Dv4:
- That sim is a 64 bits application. It means that it will not accept the gauges in .GAU or .DLL format that were made for FSX or FS9.
- The FS9 planes won't work anymore, that format is not compatible anymore.
- Fortunately, a lot of recent freewares are in native FSX format, with gauges in XML, so they work perfectly in P3Dv4
- Sceneries are not a big problem. OrbX has already adapted their products to P3Dv4.
- The autogen can be displayed at a much, MUCH greater distance
- The shadows are just as good as in P3Dv3.
- The sim can finally use all of your computer/video card memory, which means it's less prone to crashes.
- Some other points got out of my head...

Anyways, before you ask, the Academic licence of Prepar3D is like FSX+Acceleration (same features included). Download only, no retro hipster spinning things.

[Jetranger]

Very Good Information Daube !!!!

I must have a very Special Limited edition Rare set of FSX Gold / Acceleration set of Disks ????

I've never had any OOM's / out of memory issues or Lock Ups / Freeze ups due to Memory issues or the like.

Yet I built my "DESK TOP" computer to handle just FSX Flight Simulator specifically , which I have 2 Desk Top computers almost identical, just the other Desk Top tower doen't have the Large amount of RAM or the High End expensive Video Graphics Card installed in it,, which is what I mainly use for day to day activities and Surfing the internet hi-way and down loading.

HOWEVER ,,,,, I have experienced ,,,, Freeze Ups & Lock Ups & Crashes due to someone elses badd decision to attempt to "EDIT" Gau. files and or XML files, and or putting the wrong type of Gau. file into an Aircraft,, usually one of those "PORT - OVER" Aircraft from 2002/2004, which was listed as ""FSX Compatible download"", when it was in NO-WAY shape or form FSX Ready compatible !!!!

usually some newbie, who thinks everything just fits with everything and never double checks or triple checks their work creations, just in a hurry to upload their whatever's with false misleading title names, and just "Assumes" everything is, okie-dokie,,,,,,,,,,,, !!

Remember we were going thru that for quite a while on here and other sites, and fortunately those know it all newbies left the flight sim circuit and must have moved on to other venues

That has been my biggest problem with flight simming and flight simulator,, is getting a hold of,,,, Badd / Corrupt , poorly edited GAU. Files and or XML. Files even DLL. Files that somebody tried to EDIT for whatever reasons or possibly even installed a GAU. , XML. , DLL. File from outer space into their "UPLOAD", for the rest of us to get our hands , unknowningly until its too late !!!

I've never had too many other issues, no cooling issues or temp issues as I built my Tower with large fans 4 of them to keep everything Cool !!

I run a Quad Core Processor and have 18 GB of Ram to help with all the other "FSX Hardware" attached to the Sim and everything else attached to the Simulator , TRACK IR5, FRAPS, Moving Maps, and my Country Location Gauge, and all that other stuff while flying,,,

which tend to use up lots of resources RAM while flying.

I think too many people assume FSX Flight Simulator is like everything other kind of "GAME",, and "ASSUME" they can run it Fully Maxed out on some "Generic Store purchased Computer", and their good to go, Wrong, unless they like flying with ALL the sliders to set to LOW ,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Then theres the "DOWNLOAD" issue problems

they think they just hit the download button and download whatever its going to "automatically" just go where it needs to go and "PRESTO'" it should work /

WRONG - NOT Happinin' !!!!

Problem is, a user never knows , until they get their hands hold of it and analyze where it is they've got ,,, then they find out.

Some downloads do install, automatically, and everything goes where its supposed to go flawlessly,,,,

others however, REQUIRE the user to manually place each and every FOLDER / FILE exactly where it belongs,,,,,,, and the user had best take the time to READ the READ ME file that comes with the down load as to proper installation,,, of PROPERLY placing XYZ Folders & Files exactly where they need to go - - - and "NOT ASSUME" !!!!

I've had this particular FSX Gold / Acceleration edition since 2009 I purchased NEW in the Orig Box back in 2009,, of all places from a local WAL-MART for a whopping $ 9.00, Brand New in the box sealed in plastic and didn't even use it until like 2010,, because the computer I had at the time couldn't handle the Graphics at all, unless ALL the sliders were turned all the way DOWN,,,,,,,

Made flying FSX absolutely totally - WORTHLESS !!!!!

Anyway,,, YOU Posted some very GOOD / Helpful information in your post , good job !!! very informative !!

others should copy what he's posted for reference !!

Now about that FSX Disks I purchased at WAL-MART several years ago,,,, I Put those 3 Disks in my Automobile's CD Stereo system and they won't PLAY ??

What could possibly be WRONG ??????

Any ideas ?

I wanted to make my Automobile ,,,,,,,,,,, FLY !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Hagar]

I must have a very Special Limited edition Rare set of FSX Gold / Acceleration set of Disks ????

I've never had any OOM's / out of memory issues or Lock Ups / Freeze ups due to Memory issues or the like.

Same here. FSX-SE doesn't run any better on my system than FSX Gold + Acceleration. Never had a problem with it on Windows 10 either.

[Daube]

I had several crahes on FSX, due to mainly two kind of events:
- the famous OOM errors, when using complex addons
- the general instability of the sim. For example, it hates being minimised to show the desktop; or sometimes it just doesn't want to get back to front screen... Things like that...
Of course I also had some crashed linked to addons, mainly due to some gauges I could never get to work, etc...

That being said, FSX-SE was kind of the same, with the same problems.
The big advantage of FSX-SE however, was how easy it was to install it, without dreaded activation issues or whatsoever. It was also slightly less problematic to switch between it and the deskptop.

Prepar3D made a much better job when it comes to stability, but would still crash in case the memory was full, and that happened as fast as in FSX. Use a complex aircraft, use a nice scenery for a region, a nice scenery for an airport, and some complex weather, fly a long distance, and you're in for the crash. P3D drove serious liner pilots crazy just as much as FSX did, in fact. Only low&slow flyers were happy with the graphical improvements.

Now P3Dv4 seems to solve most problems, provided your computer is up to the task (you can still get an OOM if your video card doesn't have enough onboard memory).

[Flying Trucker]

Thanks for ALL the Replies and Information Folks

Very much appreciated

It has been close to 6 weeks + or - a day or so that they redid this computer

I just got around to getting the Flight Simulator back and running again.

We were quite busy prior to Christmas and up to last week at the Old Homestead and the Bugsmasher Field

Things have got back to normal almost so have some time to get this flight simulator up and running again.

During the 6 weeks I had to take this back 3 X as it would not work with the flight simulator properly and they lost ALL my Documents and a few things like the Add on Fix to the DHC-3 Otter and Tongass Fjords

Will be posting a couple of shots shortly to see how things look to you folks.

Again much appreciated for your comments...

[wlrjr]

Good luck re-installing FSX Gold Edition/Acceleration box edition. Microsoft obviously no longer supports it and I never was successful reinstalling it. This was a few years back and I moved on to P3D 3.4 academic and have never looked back. A previous poster touched on P3Dv4 CPU/GPU sharing the load which is correct but failed to mention that v3 started doing that years ago. As far as P3D v4 goes, there is simply not enough 64 bit addons out there yet for me to switch over.

[Flying Trucker]

Thanks for your comments wirjr...much appreciated...

[Anthindelahunt]

I tried the steam version.Loaded all my orbx,rex
and some aircraft. Result..Scenery looked like a
rotten silage pit. It ran like a paraplegic cow. Trashed it.
Still with ftx gold. Smooth as a babies a*s.

Anthin....If it ain't broke etc.

[Flying Trucker]

Thanks Anthin...your comments are always most appreciated...

I do have a problem though:

Just when I have this dam electronic gizmo tweaked...and FSX Deluxe + Acceleration is the only game on it I manage to get a week or two of good simulated flying.

Then for no reason it screws up...AND...without my help...

This was a brand new computer last year and I use Best Buy Geek Squad to work on it. Small monthly fee but worth it too me as I am still in the stone age when it comes to cell phones and electronic gizmos.

When it screws up it is a sure way to lose interest in flight simulation....