FSX Reinstall Advice

[Swanoir]

Hello lads, I think I know the answer already but I thought I'd run it past you before I spend hours, if not days on this.
I won't bore you with the full story, but after weeks of fiddling and tinkering, I just can't get to the bottom of my FSX performance issues (blurries, CTDs etc). None of my other programs are mis-behaving in any way, so, I've reached the conclusion that it's a FSX problem, not a wider one. And with a building sense of dread I've reached the conclusion that a full uninstall/reinstall is needed.
Now, even though the PC is less than a year old, I've built up a large number of both scenery and aircraft addons. Here's the question: can I get away with just uninstalling FSX, or do I have to first uninstall each addon separately?
I know I should really do each one separately, but it will literally take me days to do that. Ironically, even though I've been a flight sim pilot for donkeys years, this is the first time I've ever had to do a reinstall on the same computer.
Any help really appreciated, cheers

[Airspeed]

Hi,
You can un- and re- install without wrecking your scenery and sim object files, but you will need to reactivate all of your scenery library.
Why this is so, when the aircraft & ships are automatically recognised, I don't know.
So, DON'T uninstall your add-ons.
I've done this process in the past few months because I was missing various default FSX objects and textures. It didn't take too long.

[DaveG]

You can backup your scenery.cfg so you don't have to reactivate all your addon scenery layers.
Of course if you leave scenery and other addons in place you run the risk that whatever is causing you issues will remain.

[Swanoir]

Thanks for that guys,

"Of course if you leave scenery and other addons in place you run the risk that whatever is causing you issues will remain"

And therein lies the rub. Because I'm not sure what is causing the problems, by not getting rid of absolutely everything, I might just end up back at square one!

Anyway, my inherent laziness is pulling me in the direction of just reinstalling FSX, leaving everything else where it is, keeping my fingers crossed and hoping blindly for the best!

Thanks for the replies, I'll let you know how I get on...

[Swanoir]

Well, I uninstalled FSX, left all addons, replaced it with FSX Steam, and spent ages scratching my head as to why the new installation hadn't 'inherited' the addons.
Then I realised FSX Steam has a completely different folder structure and location from the old FSX!
I made a feeble attempt to just drag a couple of planes across but of course that didn't work. So now I'm in the process of reinstalling each addon from scratch, one at a time.
And I'd forgotten what a faff it is just to get the basic installation of FSX tweaked and fine tuned to perfection in the first place, including changing most of the nonsensical key strokes and assignments
So, if anyone reads this post in the future with a similar dilemma, my advice would be just uninstall everything, including all addons, and give yourself a week off work to reinstall everything! Also, even though my original disks are in full, pristine, working order, I'm very glad I just forked out for FSX Steam, so at least I didn't have the carry on of the service packs and foolishness such as the 'High Mem Fix=1'
Anyway, as always, thanks for the help, much appreciated.

[Airspeed]

I made a feeble attempt to just drag a couple of planes across but of course that didn't work. So now I'm in the process of reinstalling each addon from scratch, one at a time.

I could have sworn that I just copied the Sim Objects folder and pasted it into Steam.
Can't test that memory, because I removed FSX Steam from my system, it just didn't feel right.

[Swanoir]

To be fair, I didn't try very hard, as I said I'm basically a lazy sod! Anyway, I've slowly been reinstalling each addon and so far haven't had a repeat of my original problems, so hopefully that'll be the end of my woes..

[Aharon]

Are you satisfied with FSX Stream and do all freeware/payware addons work in your new FSX Stream?

Regards,

Aharon

[Swanoir]

So far Aharon everything works fine. Like I said before, I still have my original FSX disks which work fine, but they were from before the service packs, Acceleration etc.
My PC is less than a year old and I remember how stressful it was installing everything from scratch when I first got it. When I realised I was facing a complete reinstall, frankly I just thought it would be worth paying for Steam FSX as it incorporates all updates and Acceleration.
Also (and don't tell anyone about this) I quite like the missions, and Steam comes with all the Acceleration ones which I've never played!
It was a very straightforward installation and I've had no problems so far.
Coincidentally, I've just completed a test flight and unfortunately I've got the excessive blurries problem again. By process of elimination, it's either the Alabeo Chieftain or ORBX.
The saga continues...

[Aharon]

Thanks for insight on FSX Stream!!!

Maybe blurries problem is due to wrong scenery settings in your FSX Stream or wrong frame rate setting?

Regards,

Aharon