Re: FS9 patch DOWNLOAD and known issues

[hesynergy]

dooood!....I betcha dollars to donuts your help about shows v9.0  NOT 9.1...two separate exes....executing DIFFERENT instructions...the 9.1 proly executes the instructions ....that UPGRADE THE PERFORMANCE...doncha think?...

Chas

[yancovitch]

hi, forgive my ignorance but how does one delete the patch if needed? mine seemed to install but stop part way. when i tried to reinstall, it said it was already installed. seemed to work with no cd. but not sure if its completely installed.........? cheers vic.

[z1010]

Yancovitch, there is an uninstall file delivered with the patch. And it works!
Hagar, thank you for your instructions & help, but like most of you my time is very limited ..... it would be nice if it worked in one time (like by some it seems to do).
May be next weekend (but I know what happens: than I spend my ours flying, not trying to make the patch work). Succes to those who are more lucky!

[Hagar]

Hagar, thank you for your instructions & help, but like most of you my time is very limited ..... it would be nice if it worked in one time (like by some it seems to do).

Hi z1010. I'm not sure I've helped much at all. I haven't installed the update myself so it might be better if I keep out of this. I simply quoted what anyone can read for themselves on the update download page. It seems to me that to install this update successfully you need to revert your FS9 back to it's original default configuration. Now, from what I've read in this thread some of that information seems to be debatable.

As I mentioned before, it should be easy enough to check the date of FS9.exe to confirm that it's actually replaced or modified by the update. From what some people are saying, installing the update over the No-CD patch caused no problems & FS9 runs perfectly well without a CD in the drive afterwards. On the question of 3rd party software it seems to me that you would have to remove all DLL files associated with it to avoid errors while installing the update.

I'm wondering if it's worth all this bother in my case as I doubt any improvements would be noticeable on my old low-end machine. However, when I have time I might download this thing & try it just to check it out myself. Perhaps then I'll be more qualified to comment.

PS. To evaluate this properly I would need to install the update twice. First over the No-CD patch, then run FS9 to check it out for improvements before uninstalling the update. Then revert back to the original fs9.exe, stick the CD in the drive & repeat the procedure. Unless I know exactly what to look for it might be difficult (almost impossible) to confirm anything.

[Eskimo]

I installed it and now I cannot see the panel of any plane and the writing on the screen such as 'Pause', "Parking brake' etc are slightly blurry.

Any ideas?

Edit: I un-installed the patch and it now works fine, however, I would still like the patch.  Does anyone know how to fix it?

[Politically Incorrect]

PS. To evaluate this properly I would need to install the update twice. First over the No-CD patch, then run FS9 to check it out for improvements before uninstalling the update. Then revert back to the original fs9.exe, stick the CD in the drive & repeat the procedure. Unless I know exactly what to look for it might be difficult (almost impossible) to confirm anything.

That is what I was saying on page three in this topic, a lot of work to see what the change might be!
And we must also remember that as with all things FS9 each computer will be different, a change I might notice might not be noticable on someone elses set up.
But from most things I have read so far the only differance that is a sure thing is there are now bridges. Not enough improvement for me to go through the process of starting from scratch!

I'll wait until the unfortanate time of a re-install (which you know will happen someday) by then more info will have been posted and will make the decision a easier one to make.

[Hagar]

[quote]I installed it and now I cannot see the panel of any plane and the writing on the screen such as 'Pause', "Parking brake' etc are slightly blurry.

Any ideas?

Edit: I un-installed the patch and it now works fine, however, I would still like the patch.

[Chris_F]

Reports of the patch not working with the No-CD are greatly exagerated.  The patch worked just fine with my No-CD and I continue to enjoy the bennifits of No-CD.

I also have Abacus's USA Extreme terrain map and everything works just as it did before.  EXCEPT:

Before the patch the terrain map placed hills right in the middle of the Hudson and East rivers around Manhattan.  Now those water-hills are gone!  Unfortunately I lost a little terrain detail in the Manhattan area itself but it's a small price to pay for not having big water-hills in the middle of the river.   I think the patch moved Manhattan so that it lines up with the terrain map better.

Overall I'd say this alone is enough of an improvement to justify the patch.

[afi0yz]

anyone know why the patch won't install on some computers?

[Silver1SWA]

[quote]Reports of the patch not working with the No-CD are greatly exagerated.

[Politically Incorrect]

This is why in my post

The only way to test the effects of the patch would be to have  

1) FS9 as a fresh install w/o no-cd patch,

2) FS9 fresh install with no-cd patch,

3)FS9 fresh install w/ M$ Patch w/o no-cd patch

4)FS9 fresh install w/ M$ Patch & no-cd patch. "

and Hagar also made mention to it,

PS. To evaluate this properly I would need to install the update twice. First over the No-CD patch, then run FS9 to check it out for improvements before uninstalling the update. Then revert back to the original fs9.exe, stick the CD in the drive & repeat the procedure. Unless I know exactly what to look for it might be difficult (almost impossible) to confirm anything.

what would have to be done in order to see what exactly does seem to be fixed.
And again I don't have the time to do it, but might this weekend to see if I can find out what really happens with the patch.
Or if anyone else has nothing to do in the next few days how about giving it a shot and report on the findings!

[rhumbaflappy]

Hi Silver1SWA.

If there is a misconception that has been exaggerated in all this, it is this:

The issue with having the no-cd patch installed does NOT say the FS9 patch will not work.  It only states that SOME of the features or fixes may not appear, or work as they should.  Again...it never states the patch will not work entirely if the no-cd patch is installed.  So in theory, the FS9 patch should appear to work flawlessly at first glance.  But beneath the surface, some of what the patch is supposed to include or fix may not be working as intended.

The only misconception here is caused by Microsoft.

The No CD file causes NO loss of funtionality of the fix. None.

Using the No CD file is fine... just uninstall it before the patch application, and reinstall it after the patch ( renaming it as FS9.exe, after saving the patched exe as FS9.update ).

MS obviously wishes to discourage the No CD, and corporately may be required to state FS9 won't work quite right with it. But, truthfully, there is no loss of function with it... except you now can use your CD player as a CD player, instead of a copy protection device.

Dick

[Chris_F]

I don't think MS cares too much about the NoCD.  Instead I think they're just covering their posteriors.  After all, folks make some crazy mods to files so when their patch installs on a modded game they really can't predict what will happen.  Most mods will probably work just fine but they can't guarantee it.  The list of dire warnings (regarding NoCD and others) probably come straight from MS's legal department and not the development team.

[JBaymore]

Using the No CD file is fine... just uninstall it before the patch application, and reinstall it after the patch ( renaming it as FS9.exe, after saving the patched exe as FS9.update ).

Hi there all potential patch users.......

So let's look at a little basic computer functionality here.  Open your word processor and write "Mary had a little lamb" and save it as "Mary.txt.".  Close the word processor.  Re-open the word processor and then open "Mary.txt".  Yup.... you get "Mary had a little lamb".  No big surprise there.

Now close "Mary.txt." and start a new document.  Write "It's fleece was white as snow".  Now save it as "Mary.txt".  Close the word processor.  Re-open the word processor and open "Mary.txt".  What happened to "Mary had a little lamb"?  

Why, it's gone, of course.  Bye bye.  Out in "bit heaven".  You over wrote it with the "It's fleece was white as snow" file that you called the same thing.  That also should not be a surprise.

That's how simply copying files by name on computers work.  They don't "merge" with each other.... and let you get "Mary had a little lamb.  It's fleece was white as snow".  If they have the smae name and you do a "Copy File".... the new one erases the old one.

SO....... and this is the big question mark here........ IF Microsoft made some changes to functionality in the new fs9.exe file that they supply with the patch, and after you have installed the patch you then copy the no-CD patch (of the same name) and overwrite the "patch" fs9.exe .... then any changes made to the patch file are completely gone.

One simple check to see if the new fs9.exe file possibly changes much in how the sim works is to compare the size of the original fs9.exe file from the fs2004 CD's to the size of the new fs9.exe file from the patch.  If they are significantly different in size.... it is likely that there was some coding change in there......that you lose if you overwrite the file.

You can't compare to the size of the no-CD file... because that has already been altered.

best,

......................john

[rhumbaflappy]

Hi John.

The point is this:

The original No CD file replaces the original FS9.exe without loosing any functionality except the Disk #4 CD access required by MS.

The No CD file also replaces the updated FS9.exe without loosing any functionality except the Disk #4 CD access required by MS.

I don't think this could be stated any clearer. The new FS9.exe provides no additional content to the sim, nor any enhancement. It is nearly identical, with the exception of some new file property information. This new file property data is what requires an update for FSUIPC and Active Camera... but that file data has no relation to the functionality of the sim.

The functional changes in the update are in the updated DLLs and the autogen and texture files, as listed in the new "Backup" folder.

For the sake of completing my assertation, you can recopy the original FS9.exe and use it with the new updated DLLs and files, and it also works perfectly... though requiring the Disk #4 in the CD drive, as was intended by MS.

Dick