Atomic Systems

Just for info, not sure if relevant, MSFS-X will only allow you two goes at validating the product before you have to ring MS to obtain a further unlock code. Not sure how many times they allow you to do that before saying you have to buy it again.

Already run foul of that as installed it on my old PC. Installed it on the new PC from Arbico which was faulty and went back for refund. So of course when I came to install it on the replacement new PC fell foul of this "two strikes and out".

Now I don't know about anyone else but having bought the licence to use the software (as they keep telling us we don't actually "own" the game), I should be free to install or uninstall it as many times as I wish. MSTS was on and off my PC quite a few times not to mention changing the PC and on the laptop. This to me is actually even more insidious than EA's IGA and before MS and Aces start trying to dazzle us with marketing hype need to rethink this policy for MSTS-X. Computers and hard drives crash, often needing a reformat. Games go out of favour and are removed from the HD temporarily to make way for something else, any number of reasons why more than two install/validation attempts may be needed.

You can uninstall and reinstall FSX on the *SAME* hardware as many times as you like. It supports two different hardware configurations in this way. Try a third different hardware configuration and they need you to further verify things.

But if your hardware signature doesn't change particularly then it won't give you any trouble. I've reinstalled my desktop PC Windows XP countless times without any problems.

Matt.

I’ve had the same experience with the FSX activation as Matt has.

The machine I run FSX on has probably been reformatted five different times since last fall, with five new FSX installs. I have even changed video cards and still have not had any problems reactivating FSX.

Final report on trying to install MSFS-X.

B.t.w. as I showed in a previous post, the video card in this computer is a RADEON X300, 128 Mb PCI-Express card, some seem to have missed reading !

Downloaded the lasted DirectX-9.0c - Jan.2007 and had no problems with validation.

Downloaded the Catalyst 7.1 after removing all traces of the previous version and installing it am being told that it needs NET FRAMEWORK 2.

Downloaded that as well and installed MSTS-X again.

Got as far as asking for it's disk #2 and seconds into using it the computer re-booted like it did before.

This time it's DVDs will go into the rubbish bin and stay there !

I think that Microsoft should mention that in order to install any of their new releases you need a degree in Computers !

All this was not a complete waste of time because now I can use this WIN-XP SP-2 computer as a third testbed for MSTS, checking out new ATI drivers many MSTS users are having problems with, the Ts.com forum has many posts about, also involving new drivers from nVIDIA. Reverting to an older one is the standard recommendation from many, which has worked for me with cards from nVIDIA and ATI in my computers !

If there are some who have no problems with the latest ATI drivers, perhaps they could be so kind and show us their Catalyst Control Centre settings, specifying the ATI card used !

Matt, how do you know what MICROSOFT does while you are installing anything of theirs, being online at the same time ? There were constant bytes sent and received activities during the installation. Whatever they are up to they would not tell anybody about, now would they ?

O t t o

“I showed in a previous post, the video card in this computer is a RADEON X300, 128 Mb PCI-Express card, some seem to have missed reading !”

This changes things how?


(note: edited by NeutronIC/Moderator to remove cuss)

“I think that Microsoft should mention that in order to install any of their new releases you need a degree in computers!”

Don’t know what to tell you, a quick look over at the flight sim forums will prove that there are not too many (if any) mentioning problems with installation of FSX.

Even with the beta versions that I tested last spring I never had any problems installing it.



“All this was not a complete waste of time because now I can use this WIN-XP SP-2 computer as a third testbed for MSTS, checking out new ATI drivers many MSTS users are having problems with, the Ts.com forum has many posts about, also involving new drivers from nVIDIA. Reverting to an older one is the standard recommendation from many, which has worked for me with cards from nVIDIA and ATI in my computers !”

“If there are some who have no problems with the latest ATI drivers, perhaps they could be so kind and show us their Catalyst Control Centre settings, specifying the ATI card used !”


Like I said earlier I’ve run MSTS with my two ATI 1900’s and the 7.1 Catalyst drivers. I have also tried the latest Nvidia 97.91 drivers with my 8800GTX’s, no problem.
Keep in mind that this is on a fresh OS, so traces of the old drivers are not an issue. It all goes back to how the drivers are installed.


“There were constant bytes sent and received activities during the installation. Whatever they are up to they would not tell anybody about, now would they ?”

I’m not connected to the internet during a FSX install. I only connect to the internet temporarily to validate and reactivate the product.

djt01 wrote:“I showed in a previous post, the video card in this computer is a RADEON X300, 128 Mb PCI-Express card, some seem to have missed reading !”

This changes things how?

It points out that your reply was referring to an "On-board" ATI graphics chip which the Radeon X300 is not. Might as well get your facts straight before making suggestions !

Don’t know what to tell you, a quick look over at the flight sim forums will prove that there are not too many (if any) mentioning problems with installation of FSX.

No need to do that, there are Matt Peddlesden and John Dibden here who had problems installing MSFS-X.

Even with the beta versions that I tested last spring I never had any problems installing it.

Neither had I.

Keep in mind that this is on a fresh OS, so traces of the old drivers are not an issue. It all goes back to how the drivers are installed.

Which "fresh OS" ? There is only one method to install new drivers, un-install the old ones first !

I’m not connected to the Internet during a FSX install. I only connect to the Internet temporarily to validate and reactivate the product.

When I did that the first time I tried to install MSFS-X the install would not proceed at all !

Anyway, all this is now irrelevant because I am not going to touch MSFS-X again until after VISTA and DirectX-10 have settled down and another updated and fixed version of MSFS-X has been released.

O t t o

Yikes, Otto. Tis a shame you're having problems getting FSX working.

Just to balance the story a bit, I had no problems installing FSX ..loaded up first time. Must be because I'm fully up-to-date with all XP/DX9 updates or have a GEFORCE 7950 graphics card.

But my success is obviously no consolation to you.... You'll have to have another try sometime when you're feeling less frustrated.


Doug

“It points out that your reply was referring to an "On-board" ATI graphics chip which the Radeon X300 is not. Might as well get your facts straight before making suggestions !”

I was referring to one of your comments a while back at Train-sim.com where you mentioned that your video card had over heated and that you where now using on-board graphics.
A look at ATI’s site also shows that ATI has the 7.1’s as the latest for both the Radeon and on-board graphics.


“No need to do that, there are Matt Peddlesden and John Dibden here who had problems installing MSFS-X.”

So do you just stop at that and end researching the problem? What about all of the many FSX users that have not mentioned this problem?



“Neither had I.”

I wasn’t referring to the demo; I was talking about the releases leading up to the demo for beta testers.


“Which "fresh OS" ? There is only one method to install new drivers, un-install the old ones first !”

I usually install new drivers on a fresh OS, not un-installing the old ones. Not every one has the luxury of doing this when ever they want, but this machine is set up for just testing. After using many driver un-installers for me it’s the only way to get consistent results. It is also the way hardware (video card) reviewers usually conduct their testing.


“When I did that the first time I tried to install MSFS-X the install would not proceed at all !”

I’ve never been connected to the internet during the initial install of FSX. The only thing I can think of is that FSX is checking your network connection configuration because the connection eventually needs to be established to activate the product. Do you have an unusual way of connecting to the internet?


“Anyway, all this is now irrelevant because I am not going to touch MSFS-X again until after VISTA and DirectX-10 have settled down and another updated and fixed version of MSFS-X has been released.”

Yes, I suspected you’d probably blame the software, time to put the blinders back on.

Gents,

Can we please keep this discussion sensible, there's no need for rude or insulting remarks from anyone involved.

Matt.

Not known to tolerate being defeated by computer or software problems after having been a computing consultant and programmer since 1978, I had one more go and tried another install of MSFS-X without a live connection to the Internet and this time it installed without a hitch.

It is also installing DirectX-9.0c, so installing the latest version of it is a waste of time !

Most software installers advice that all other programs are being shut down before starting an install. Why do MICROSOFT not do the same ?

Trying it for the first time I am dismayed by the time it takes MSFS-X to load what it needs to start a chosen session. I hope that this is going to improve with the next releases ! I am a real pilot who likes to fly planes without having to wait ages for one to be ready to fly !

O t t o

“I had one more go and tried another install of MSFS-X without a live connection to the Internet and this time it installed without a hitch.”

Did we not mention that you did not need to be connected to the internet to install it?


“It is also installing DirectX-9.0c, so installing the latest version of it is a waste of time !”

It installed it because you did not have the version of DirectX that it requires. Many games will carry the latest DirectX version that the game requires, probably a version from last summer. If you did have it updated like I had mentioned it would not have updated for you.

djt01 wrote:Did we not mention that you did not need to be connected to the internet to install it?

Microsoft not saying anything on that subject made me think that it would not hurt trying it, so I did !

It installed it because you did not have the version of DirectX that it requires. Many games will carry the latest DirectX version that the game requires, probably a version from last summer. If you did have it updated like I had mentioned it would not have updated for you.

I did install the January 2007 version before installing MSFS-X again, as you suggested and reported it in one of my earlier posts !

In any case, the MSFS-X installation DVDs having been created in September 2006 would not know about later versions of DirectX by the time it gets installed !

Looking at the DirectX-9.0c 4.09.0000.0904 files which are now on this computer, having been installed with MSFS-X, most of it's dll files are dated August 2004, with the exception of a few which have yesterday's installation date.

So I tried downloading the January 2007 DirectX-9.0c again and was told that I already have a newer or equivalent version installed, the installer probably noticing the 25. January 2007 dll files dates which were created/updated by the MSFS-X install.

O t t o

Otto,

Here is the latest DirectX –

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en

This exe only unpacks the files in a temporary folder, it does not install DirectX. In this temporary folder you’ll find the installer.

The January DirectX you refer to is the “websetup” program which came out on 9th of this month. Like many I do not like updating DirectX from the web and use the redistributable off line.

djt01 wrote:Here is the latest DirectX

Thanks for that link !

I do not like updating anything from the web either and prefer to have installable updates stored in my DOWNLOADS folder, should I have to install anything again !

But this is now academic anyway ! Having installed my CH-Yoke Pro, created a Cessna flight from Salt Lake City International and am in the air for a short time, the computer re-boots. Screens go blank in between loading scenery or choosing another in Alt-World and the airport and downtown does not compare at all with the one in MSFS-2004, judging from the little I could see before MSFS crashed !

Will have to wait for VISTA and a computer which can handle it and MSFS-X.

Thanks for your advice !

O t t o

Otto,

“the airport and downtown does not compare at all with the one in MSFS-2004, judging from the little I could see before MSFS crashed !”

You will have to play around with the scenery settings. With the default settings Salt Lake might not look any different than it does in FS9. I’ll take a look and post a screen shot of Salt Lake City.

The one thing that should stand out right away is how good the scenery/ground textures look compared to FS9 because of the higher resolution. The change is dramatic enough with the machine I’m running FSX on that I have a hard time going back to FS9.


“Screens go blank in between loading scenery or choosing another in Alt-World”

I’m not sure what’s going on; I have not experienced any thing similar to the problem you describe.

You’ve been able to at least get it running so that’s a step in the right direction.