Classic British Flight Sim

Some people have two versions of FS9 loaded.

There is a way of doing this...........I don't know what it is, but in can be done.

Garry

Garry Russell wrote:Some people have two versions of FS9 loaded.

There is a way of doing this...........I don't know what it is, but in can be done.

Garry

Just the two! Wimps, I'm up to 4 at the moment; standard, Golden Wings, Retro 1960s and a 1980s install - to be fair the latter are still works in progress (so this particular piece of scenery has been a real boon) but it means I can avoid little problems like finding a Heinkel 51 having to wait for the 737-800 to clear!!

Tom and the guys over at Classic Cal are doing a great job; that, coupled with Golden Wings, inspired me to go for these themed installs!

AndyG

Thanks Andy

I wouldn't have room for two let alone more

......so how do you do it ?


Garry

My FS9 install is currently at 10GB (not bad, considering I've only installed it a week ago), my Il-2 Sturmovik install at 13GB - and I have a 60GB HDD and no capacity to make any further capital investments in this quarter or the next!

In years (and years and years) gone by, I did try to use scenery editors and GMAX but never really got the knack or enthusiasm for it.

Garry Russell wrote:Thanks Andy

I wouldn't have room for two let alone more

......so how do you do it ?


Garry

Well, the first step in this case was to buy an additional hard drive!!

The Golden Wings install was straightforward, they give you all the instructions. Their install will make amendments to things like ground textures and a number of airports, and plenty of people have released files to embellish - you can manage a pretty decent South London (Croydon, Kenley etc) with a bit of searching on Avsim and the Outhouse.

Simplistically though you need a 'clean' FS9.1 install (i.e. no addons, especially not 1 GB of PAI) and quite simply make a copy of it. Then rename the copy to whatever you want to call it (ie FS Retro etc) AND rename FS9.exe (i.e. FS9 Retro.exe etc); make a shortcut to from your new .exe file and launch away! I tend to keep a copy of FS9.exe in each folder as well, as some addons do look for it when installing.

Once thats done, the skies the limit! My standard install has things like various UT packages, UKVFR, UK2000, Mr Anderson's airfields etc. The '60s install is beginning to take shape largely thanks to the aforementioned Mr Gibson and friends, although there is quite a lot of Vietnam scenery on Avsim which I still need to install; and the '80s version is (at the moment) stock Microsoft and just an arena to fly a variety of F-4 Phantoms.

Now if you want to talk about how many CFS3 installs I have ..........

AndyG

Cheers Andy

So basically you keep FS9 on one HD and can have a number of copies on another HD...can it be an external HD?

Thanks for the description..I won't be doing it yet, but some might

Garry

Garry Russell wrote:Cheers Andy

So basically you keep FS9 on one HD and can have a number of copies on another HD...can it be an external HD?

Thanks for the description..I won't be doing it yet, but some might

Garry

The only reason the others are on a different HD is because my main install is quite chunky, with all the added sceneries etc.

Don't see why it wouldn't work on an external drive, but I'm no expert. There could be some performance issues though.

AndyG

Tanks for the pointer anyways Andy...the trick is a copy of the main clean install

I knew it was done but I wasn't sure how the second install could be done when it read there one already there.

Makes sense

The point is, it needs to be a clean install. So if you have an existing, huge install all you need to do it (temporarily) rename your main FS9.exe to something else and do a normal install with your install CDs; when the install starts it will look for an existing installation, decide there isn't one and go ahead as normal - remember to change your original .exe file back afterwards.

It is a fair bit of work, but the end result is very satisfying. Mind you, if you forget to change your start up airport in Golden Wings takeoffs can be very interesting, negotiating your way around all the trees!!

AndyG

Hi all,

Thanks for the kind words - we didn't have much information to go on (FSAviator's notes and some pics off the web and in books), so I'm sure that things may not be in the right place, and other things missing. I'm embarrassed to say that I forgot about asking over here!! Won't make that mistake again.

If people want to help, I guess we could do a "version 2" with more accurate layout, etc. Now don't ask for GMAX terminals, etc. because without someone else to do those that won't happen, but if someone has more information about EGLL in the 11/61 to 3/62 period we'd welcome it.

BTW, you can place extra installs anywhere on your computer - I have two on my main HD. The simplest way to get a clean install was described above - to keep the registry correct, rename your current FS9 folder to something else and install into your original location. Then rename your new install, and rename your original install to its original folder name. Then make as many copies as you need (or have room for).

My installers will put the packages into the install listed in the registry by default, but you can press the ... button during the install to install into any folder you wish. Just point it to the main FS folder of the appropriate install.

Thanks again,