New Installation recommendation

[Bridon Bear]

Hi,

Well after a total PC failure, I had to make the decision to repair/replace the machine. In the end I decided to replace it as it seemed the most sensible option especially with the low prices these days compared to what I had to spend out 4 years ago...

Anyway, the new PC is here and I have installed all the neccesary programs for day to day use on Drive C.

I have two other 160Gig HD spare so one is fitted inside the new PC as Drive D and I have also got another HD in a stand alone enclosure that is linked to the PC via USB cable.

My question is where would be the best place to install FS9.....? Obviously it would be nice to commend the entire installation to it's own dedicated HD as I have 2 spare ones leaving Drive C to do the job of everything else Non-FS related. Is it that simple....can I install FS on one of the non C drives entirely or will it need to be installed on C drive as per usual?

I naturally want the most effective and streamlined way to do this hopefully without 'clogging' up the working 'C' drive with all the zillions of addon parts, scenery etc that FS needs.

Your views and suggestions will be much appreciated.

Regards

Bridon Bear

System Specs

WinXP Home
Pentium Duel Core E2180 1MB Cache 64bit Processor (2 x 1.8Ghz)
2 GB DDR2 667Mhz Ram
250GB Serial ATA II HD
NVidia 8500GT 512MB PCI-E
Intel 946GZ Chipset MicroTX Motherboard

[Garry Russell]

Hi Brian

Sorry to hear about you PC woes :-( ....I thought you'd been a bit quite of late.....welcome back to the action

The few folks I know that have a seperate drives have FS on a different drive to windows.

Garry xsmile

[TSR2]

Hi Brian,

What I would tend to do is where it puts the default location as "c:\program files\Microsoft games\... "etc, just change the delete the "c" and change it to whatever the spare internal drive letter is... eg. D. In this way the folder structure remains the same, which makes it easier to change for any addons you need to instal.

So if your second hard disk is D for arguments sake, the path would be "D:\program files\microsoft games\FS9...."

Just remember to cahnge the path for all of your addons when you install them, although many will read the path from the registry anyway. xwink

[Bridon Bear]

Thanks for the help chaps.....I knew someone on here would offer guidance... :prayer:

I will now be able to instal FS with confidence on the seperate drive....the bonus to that as well is that I can De-Frag the FS drive much quicker and easier (more frequently too!) so that FS should run ultra smooth..

Regards.

Bridon Bear.

[petermcleland]

Just a very important reminder...As soon as you have installed FS9 and BEFORE you go adding anything in, download and install the FS9.1 update. It will then go smoothly in without a problem. If you wait till later when you have Addons installed then you may well have problems getting the 9.1 update in.

[dswanson]

Bridon,

I would recommend you put it straight on the root D: drive, i.e. install to D:FS9. This makes the data more accessible (i.e. faster access) as it's in the root of the drive.

If you've got an imaged backup copy of your original installation, do a basic install as above then simply copy the old installation over the top of it and you're done. As Peter says, install the 9.1 update straight after the primary installation.

I've done as described and it works fine. My D: drive is totally dedicated to FS, so as well as the application, I also keep folders for FS documents, add-on zips etc.

If you've got that zip drive you can use that for full image backups using Norton Ghost or a similar package to keep things safe.

[airboatr]

I have a question or two about the proper layer of scenery and other addons
what would be the best way to install , and in what order.....
terrain mesh
landclass
textures
afcads
ect ect.

[dswanson]

Airboatr,

There are some scenery layers that have to be above others to get the proper effects and I would generally sort addons in the scenery library in terms of:

All addons placed above MS defaults - note that the "addon scenery" folder is MS default and automatically includes anything in its "scenery" and "texture" sub-folders
Mesh - below all other scenery
Landclass - above mesh but below all other scenery
Textures are usually placed either in the Addon -texture folder if instructed, or usually within the "texture" folder in the new scenery folder
Scenery files - as for texture above but in the "scenery" folders
AFCADS can be put in the Addon scenery folder or sometimes within the new scenery folder

The above generally works but some scenery developers tell you to put files in other places, e.g. main FS scenery or texture folders and these instructions are best followed.

As ever, a bit of a black art ...

[Bridon Bear]

Thanks for all the advice lads....all taken on board and will start getting things up and running this week.....never knew how much FS is missed until you are without it... :flying:

Regards and thanks once more for all the tips

Bridon Bear

[airboatr]

thanks for the info Degsy, this is copied and pasted into a notepad fer safe keeping

ATB Bridon on your install

Joe