FSX Multiple Install

[Bridon Bear]

Just a thought...I have recently installed FSX and after putting in SP1 and now SP2 the results are very pleasing and I am finding the new features compared to FS9 a real joy except for the VC shadows which are DX10 and I don't think my graphics card supports that unfortunately.

I have my OS on the internal Drive C as per usual but as I have an external HD, I elected to install FSX to that one and all runs sweetly. However, as we all experiment with various aircraft or scenery addons from various designers, some are superb, others you may think are not so good so they get removed of course. One scenery addon I placed into FSX was not as good as I expected but no problems so I went to remove it only to find that it had overwritten some of the original textures in the default FSX.......my fault for not backing up the originals.. :brick:

The textures were FSX/Scenery/World/Textures the folder of which is over 4 gig.....to rectify means either a re-install or put up with the now unwanted alteration....a steep learning curve indeed...!!!

My question therefore is, as I have a third unused external 250g HD, could I install a 2nd fresh FSX install to that as well and keep the original one mentioned above as a 'hack' for trial addon installations and Beta testing or is this pushing the boundaries a tad too far?

I did it once with FS9 for Golden Wings some years ago but not heard of anyone doing the same for FSX ...if you think this is possible then a brief rundown on the recommended method would be much appreciated

Regards.

Bridon Bear


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

[nigelb]

First I don't have FSX, but I did have a similar experience to yours in FS9, before I learned to back up my texture files. My solution to the problem was to extract the texture files from the install CD's. I just copied the contents of the appropriate .cab file to a temporary directory and then moved them to my Scenery/World/Textures folder. There is a listing of all the files on the FS9 install disks, don't know if similar exists for FSX. If not it will be quite a chore to find the correct .cab file.

I will leave it to someone else with more expertise than me to answer about a second install - my gut feeling is it can be done, but might cause problems with installing addons, conflicting registry entriess, etc. You could just extract all the .cab files on the install disk and then you would have a complete backup of all the default files on your additional drive in case you expereince the same scenario again. Of course that would be a non working copy since you did not use the install routine, but that might be a good thing because your registry settings should remain unchanged.

[Garry Russell]

Would you have to activate the second one as well.......and would you be able to have the same copy simultaneously activated in more than one place :think: ?

Garry

[SkippyBing]

Going purely from some experience with other software (Command and Conquer, Wings over Europe etc.) I've made second installs by copying the original fresh install to another directory/drive. Obviously all the required dll etc. are already on the computer, and it's been registered as far as I can tell all that happens is when add ons use the registry information to determine where they should be going it'll be to the first install as that's the one that's in there. Similarly the un-install routine will only work on the original install.

Reference your altered textures folder have you tried using the FSX disc to repair the install?

[Bridon Bear]

Thanks for all the inputs chaps....I think on reflection I will leave well alone at the moment but may well experiment at a later stage when I do a fresh install and will try your idea Skippybing by moving the files to duplicate the install to another HD......meanwhile I am thoroughly enjoying the newly discovered delights of FSX.....like Rick Piper I am now a convert... :flying:

Regards.

Bridon Bear

[Lewis - a2a]

Hey chaps,

I'm running an FSX SP1 for humberside VA ive started to fly with who use SP1 and an SP2 full blown acceleration FSX install for personal flying, devlopment testing etc etc etc.

I installed FSX and upped to SP1 then activated.

Then copyed this to a new area, I actually left it inside the MS folder and just renamed the folder to FSX Multi-play

Then installed SP2 into the first original install

The pro's is you end up with two different versions of FSX on one PC.

The con's is ive experienced, the odd installer which seems to read the install as corupt so you may have to manual install (copy/paste) add-ons in but I'm not 100% on this as Its some development stuff that Ive been testing.

The second point which isnt really a pro or con is that both installs use the same my documents folder which contains the fsx.cfg so both installs must use the same settings for graphics and what not.

[Bridon Bear]

Thanks for that Lewis....I have allready upgraded to SP2 now as I had decided to give up on the Multiple Install idea as FSX is now sorted to my liking but should I have to reinstall from afresh then I may well give it a go.

Regards.

Bridon Bear