New FS9 install in 2023

Hi guys!

I thought I'd drop here some notes about my current FS9 install "from scratch" (although not really "from zero")

Intro:

Early in 2022 (and after a "gargantuan" 10-year absence from the flight sim world), I bought a "refurbished" 2014 PC for work purposes.

It was(is) an HP Compaq Elite 8300 CMT: it's a low-end PC by 2022 standars - but I started wondering how it would run my old FS9 simulator..

This computer has a 3rd generation Intel Core i7-3770 3.40GHz CPU, some 8 GB RAM, and an onboard Intel HD Graphics 4000 card - not even a decent dedicated graphics card..!

I loaded FS9, and .. wow! .. for the first time in my life, I wasn't fighting frame rates How liberating could that be? With everything maxed out I could fly and perform decent approaches to busy airports! Frame rates were always from 25 pfs up... 25 at very very busy places but 30+ on most places and 50 to 70+ on wide spaces and nice weather.

Mind you, this was 19 years later after FS9 was released!

By the way: FS2004 official release date is: July 29, 2003 - so it will be 20 years soon!

That PC cost me, I believe, less than 200 Eur. It was an emergency during the pandemics: one of my PCs crashed, and I needed to be online on the very next day for online classes; I went online and found this 2nd hand from someone close to my home.

It must have been late in 2021 or early 2022 .. it was before the 2022 Iditarod Sled Dog Race, wich happens late February/early March

In that process I did a couple of false starts untill I was finally installing FS9 carefully:

I decided to write down every step and - what's more! - I tried to install everything twice!

First to a ghost FS9 folder, so I could clearly identify all files involved (and this was particularly important in packages that required an executable installer);

Then I would backup each individual "results" folder to an external HD

And then I would uninstall it to clear the registry entries,

And would install it again, this time for the proper FS9 folder.

At some point it became too much to note down everything, but at least I had properly documented the early stages (sadly, during a HD crash some months later I lost the most updated version of this file)

So, problems arised again in May 2022 when this old PC suffered that major HD failure... Being a Linux guy I found myself again without a Windows OS copy... I removed the HD, stayed with the (also) enclosed SSD, added back Linux and returned to work - but once again I had no flight sim!

But now it was(is) January 2023, and we are close to sled dog race season again; and with it all those memories of my past blush flying flights came down on me, big time. I need to fly again!

So.... here Season 2 begins

Short story: I went online, bough a Windows 10 Home copy, reformatted the PC and added in my two OSs again in dual boot.

On the next day I started re-installing FS9 - and also came to this wonderful place of yours, to read and share the news

Once again I had a false start - but yesterday I officially started reinstalling FS9 in 2023. Now for the details.

The PC is still my old 2014 machine (details above). I may look for an used graphics card to improve it a bit. But, as in 2022, FS9 runs quickly with everything close to max .. after all my PC is some 10 years younger than FS9

Here's some notes I gathered from various online sources - and that proved right for me.

1) Before start, turn of UAC (user account control). This may not be 100% necessary but, just in case, I did it anyway.

2) Install FS9 outside the suggested "Program Files (x86)" structure .. this was my first error in 2023 and I could verify that I was being asked passwords for everything .. and that some batch files would't work inside that structure (and they wouldn't even ask for the admin password). Once I placed FS in "C:\Flight Simulator 9" all went well.

3) Installing the FS9 CDs and following patches was 100% easy. I did...

FS9 original CDs

FS9.1 update

The no-cd patch

The 4GB patch (which may or may not be required)

At this point it would be a great time to do a first major backup, calling in something like "clean system".. backing up its 3 main folders :

C:\Flight Simulator 9 (the FS folder itself)

C:\Users\<your username here>\Documents\Flight Simulator Files

and, most importantly..

C:\Users\<you username here>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FS9 (where you have the FS9.cfg file plus the state.CFG file for every installed aircraft)

Next, I did a first couple of quick edits in FS9.cfg, changing..

1) PAN_RATE=400 to PAN_RATE=1000 - This is the speed you move around in the VC; you may try other speeds but 1000 works for me.

2) I added this:

[OldModules]

fssound.dll=1

This module is required for proper functioning of some old gauges and, already knowing that, I added it in advance! You will also need to have this file:

C:\Flight Simulator 9\Modules\FSSound.dll

My guess is that most of you will have this already on your systems, so why not backup it up now?

Anyway, my FSSound.dll copy came from a file called erjpnlfx.zip (September 21, 2004, ERJ 135/145 – Full Package – USA Fleet freeware upload (09/20/04))

FSUIPC came next - you can still get it from http://www.fsuipc.com/

First tweaks were:

Winds Tab - turned automated control on the ground

Winds Tab - smoothing to 1 degree per second

(to be continued!

Zitat von Dedl

Tosi hyvää, kiitos paljon!

Wirklich gut und intereassant zu lesen, Joao.

Dedl

Herzlichen Dank, Dedl! Dein deutscher Satz war in meiner Reichweite - ich war sehr glücklich

Kiitos paljon myös teille! Rakastan tätä kieltä yhä enemmän!

Zitat von DLH1702

Joao, please keep us posted on your progress, I think I still can learn a lot from it.

One question I have is about User Account Control. How and where can I switch it off?

Kali

Hi Kali, thank you!

UAC is an important Windows10 security feature so my advice would be yo probably turn it off and on when you're specifically flying or working in your simulator. It is a slider with several levels. Here:

One other thing I didn't mention above but may help pervent some malfunctioning during the setup od addons that come with an exe installer would be to right click on their name and select "run as administrator". This may allow the installers to copy some files into folders inside the windows strucutre, or maybe even properly update the registry.

Now, guys..

I'm sure that this is pretty much "old news" to you all But as it is so fresh in my mind right now I thought I'd right it here... at least if all my disks breake tomorrow I'll have somewhere to go to

(continuing)

At this point I set up a few tools that I always end up using:

FSScreen - Matthias Holzer's small screenshot utility: you just hit print screen (even in fluuscreen mode) and it will save a bitmap straight to a predefined folder, which is great for later editing (which I enjoy doing)

download: http://www.flightsimhq.com/downloads/viewfile/1058.html

Gimp - a GNU image manipulation program - this one is not as easy as other freeware paint programs line Paint.NET but is always being updated; it's a powerful program AND allows to image batch conversion/manipulation! which is an essential thing if you're working on many images at the same time, performing repetitive operations .. like I was doing when working with my ground textures.

GIMP

GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program: The Free and Open Source Image Editor

www.gimp.org

DXTBmp - Martin Wright's extended bitmap manipulation program

download: http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/

Imagetool - part of the FS2004 SDK, specifically the terrain_sdk_setup.exe file. This program is used by REX FS2004 (and probably other environmental addons which provide alterative texture packs) ... this one came very handy (as I'll tell you later). I'm not sure if this come within the FS9 CDs but I got it from...

download : https://flyawaysimulation.com/downloads/file…-pack-all-kits/

(to be continued)

Herzlichen Dank, Dedl!

Ja, ich verstehe, was Sie über die abwesenden Leser meinen - aber Sie haben bereits eine wunderbare und immer sehr respektvolle Gruppe von Mitgliedern, was selten und wunderbar ist!

Danke, auch, dass du meinen Beitrag gepinnt hast!

(continuing)

Next step - the flight planner

I've been using FSNavigator 4.7 for ages - and the reason I like it is because it works in fullscreen mode, seamlessly with FS9. You just hit the F9 key and you will switch easilly between both programs. Its screen/map/page is super simple, a white page with the flightplan's waypoints, fixes, and you're moving aircraft.

It has also a GREAT feature called "Move your aircraft to here". I use it a lot, specially to check the scenery on remote locations.. you just start slew mode in FS9, go up a few thousand feet, bring the FSNavigator, and right-click over your aircraft.

One also super cool feature is the way you can move around, quickly zooming in on any point of the globe by just dragging on the map with your mouse - you just drag to form a small square and "voilá" you zoomed into that section! Then you may right-click anywhere on the map and "zoom out" or "zoom 1:1".

One other thing you may do is use it like an undocked window over your fullscreen image, just like the default GPS, liek a panel window.

download: FSNavigator is no longer available to buy since long; there are still places where you may download the program, though, that will alow you to use it 20 times.. after which period you may get lucky and the program will register freely for you - but I never about knew someone who had this luck

There is still the WayBack Machine, of course:

. . . . . https://web.archive.org/web/2008011303…vigator.com:80/

Then there are also websites which claim to have the program for free although my guess is that those may have some sort of crack or key inside..

There has been a huge debate about wether the program is now free or not. If your're interested check this link, for instance:

FS Navigator?

Hey guys, I just dusted off an reinstalled my FS9, (which I have preferred to FSX over the years). Im looking for a program I used to use call FSNavigator.…

www.avsim.com

Installing FSNavigator was easy, as always: you run the installer, and it will create a folder at

. . . . . C:\Flight Simulator 9\Modules\FSNavigator

The saved flightplans will be at

. . . . . C:\Flight Simulator 9\Modules\FSNavigator\Plan

It will also install a program called FSNavDBC - the database creator. You will find this under the regular windows menu system.

Load FS9, hit the F9 key and you're good to go!

Perhaps there are better programs out there and I'll be curious to knwo what you use.

Today, reading about other options, I came across this other freeware program:

. . . . . https://www.plan-g.app/app.php/home

I did a quick install (but not really a flight) and it looked really nice! It is compatible with all sorts of simulators including FS9.

I was able to easilly connect it to the simulator - the PDF Manual is very clear about it (and I'd say about all).

This one may be used with two PCs over network or on the same PC - but as it does not have the fullscreen option they suggest you use it on a second monitor display.

Do you guys have any good suggestions on this chapter?

(to be continued)