answered I'm still getting problems updating FSX Steam

[Pontiusthepilot]

I'm using ORBX Scenery with both FSX Steam (DX10) and FSX Acceleration (DX9).

 

Originally I only had one ORBX installation on my PC which was in the FSX Acceleration folder tree and used symlinks to access the scenery from FSX:SE.

 

All went well until the FTX Central v2.1 migration, when the migration software removed the symlinks created two separate copies of the scenery in both FSX Acceleration and FSX Steam. As this still appeared to work, I decided not to bother using symlinks and left things as they were.

 

But all is not well. Whenever I add any updates, the installers will only install into C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\. So I'm stuck. There seems to be no way to perform updates on both installations.

 

I've tried using symlinks again but that didn't work.

 

I've also tried copying the updated folders from FSC Acceleration to FSX Steam, but according to Windows 10, the copy would take more than a day, so I had to cancel the copy. This has damaged the FSX Steam installation.  FSX Steam now starts to generate it's scenery indexes, gets to 52% and hangs.

 

The only thing I can think of to repair the FSX Steam scenery is to run the FTX Central v2.1 migration again in the hope that it will re install the scenery just as it did when it first ran a few months ago.

 

Bit I'm geting scared of doing more damage.

 

So can someone tell me how I can safely get FTX Installers to update both FSX Acceleration and FSX Steam? I posted on a similar topic on Saturday, but the post seems to have gone unnoticed for some reason.

 

Regards.

Pontius.

[Nick Cooper]

Hello,

 

I have deleted your other topic to avoid duplication.

 

The only way to achieve what you want is to have two separate installations, each with an ORBX folder.

They must each have the requisite registry entries and then the installers will offer you a choice to

install to either FSX or FSX Steam Edition with FSX installed.

 

Once you have done this, when you open FTX Central, it will offer you an opening screen giving a choice between

FSX and FSX Steam Edition.

 

While both will work using your previous method, updates cannot be installed into each FSX root folder, as the

installers are not aware of the existence of the Steam edition.

[Pontiusthepilot]

Hi.

 

I've checked the redistry and there are two keys present:

 

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\FSX\

 

FTX Central works fine and does give me a choice between FSX and FSX Steam Edition, but id I download an installer (i.e for Open Landclass Nort America) I get no choice of simulator and the path shown in the installer is read only so I can't edit it.

 

I don't know where this path is held so that I can edit it to point to FSX:SE.

 

Regards.

Pontius.

[Pontiusthepilot]

I've just tried changing the FSX Acceleration registry entry to point to FSX Steam to see if that will change the install directory. Unfortunately it doesn't.

 

Regards.

Pontius.

[Pontiusthepilot]

Hi.

 

I have the following two separate FSX  installations, each containing an ORBX folder. at The paths to the ORBX Folders are as follows:

 

    FSX Acceleration - C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\ORBX

    FSX Steam Edition - C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\FSX\ORBX

 

These are my registry entries with the relevant AppPaths:

 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
   SOFTWARE
      Microsoft
         Mocrosoft Games
            Flight Simulator
               10.0           AppPath   C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\
               9.0
            Flight Simulator - Steam Edition
               10.0           AppPath   C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\FSX\

 

Which appears to me to match the setup you described in Your last reply.

 

But if I attempt to run any ORBX installer (i.e. OrbxFTXopenLC_NA110.exe) it still only allows me to install into C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\. and offers me no alternative installation path.

 

So can you tell me if there is anything wrong with my registry, or whether I need to add any other registry entries?

 

Thanks.

Pontius.

[Pontiusthepilot]

Hi Nick.

 

I've been to the FSX Steam Edition support forum and found this old nutshell:

 

I've started regedit and had a poke around under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\microsoft games\ to find that it only contains the following entry:

 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
   SOFTWARE

      Wow6432Node
         Microsoft
            Mocrosoft Games
                flight simulator
                  10.0           SetupPath   C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\

                   9.0

 

but no entry for FSX:SE.

 

If I edit the SetupPath to point to the C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\FSX, the installer offers me this as the installation path. 

 

I've added the following under Mocrosoft Games:

 

                flight simulator - steam edition

                  10.0

                       SetupPath   C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\FSX

 

But I still get no choice of installation path.

 

Could you tell me whether flight simulator - steam edition is the correct key name?

 

Regards

Pontius.

[Nick Cooper]

Try using the FTX Registry Fix tool from the freeware page, it's easy to use and should solve the problem.

[Pontiusthepilot]

Thanks Nick.

 

When i first ran the fixer, it seemed to indicate that both FSX Acceleration and FSX Steam locations were correct. But I gave it a go just to see what it did. Unfortunately, I'm still not getting any choice of installation path.

 

I've noticed 'Remove simulator' a link against each entry. I'm wondering whether it would be a good idea to remove FSX Steam and add it again? Obviously, I don't want to just do that when I don't know exactly what it does.

 

If the worst came to the worst now and we can't figure out the cause of the problem, I could always install into FSX Steam by editing the registry. It would be inconvenient, but that's all. So I'd judge it rather unwise to blindly click the remove link without knowing what it will do.

 

Regards.

Pontius.

[Nick Cooper]

As a demonstration, I have created a folder named FSX Steam Edition.

I placed a copy of fsx.exe from my FSX installation into it.

I then ran the Registry Fix Tool:

 

 

Then I started FTX Central and this is what I see:

 

 

The error message that I see if I select FSX Steam Edition shows that

FTX Central is working only on my spurious FSX Steam Edition folder.

If I select FSX, FTX Central continues to work as it should.

 

Removing the entry for the FSX Steam Edition also removes the menu and

FTX Central runs only for FSX disk edition.

[Pontiusthepilot]

Hi Nick.

 

I'm getting terrible ground morphing problems in FSX Steam, even though I've coaxed the installers to install into both FSX Acceleration and FSX Steam.

 

I've had a look at my setup and there's only one aircraft add in FSX Acceleration that won't work in either FSX under DX10 or in FS9 and that's a freeware aircraft that's cheaply replaceable.

 

I've decided to discontinue using FSX Acelleration. It doesn't make sense to carry on laboring like  this for just on plane.

 

So please let me apologize if I've wasted your time on this.  I may well be posting again for help, but it will only happen if I get problems cleaning up after I switch over to steam. You can mark this topic resolved if you wish.

 

As for anyone else who wants to have two versions of FSX installed, I would advise them to think carefully about what they hope to get out of it. I've tried. I've tried hard. And I can testify to how difficult it can get.

 

As of now, my advice is don't.

 

Regards.

Pontius.

[Nick Cooper]

Yes, that's my advice as well.

[RinoStoof]

Hi there!

 

I'm new here but have enjoyed my NZ scenery for quite some time.

I to bought the steam fsx version but saw no real differences so did not pursue it.

Now I have bought a new graphics card and I'm seeing 100 fps in steam and no improvement in the original.

I'm not sure what they have done but the difference is remarkable! Same in Dovetail flight school..

Needless to say I want to migrate all my addon goodies to steam now and drop the old one.

I tried running the registry fixer but it says there in no simulator found, try using FTX v2.

I only have version 1. Where can I get v2 so I can sort this out?

 

Thanks very much in advance!

[Nick Cooper]

Hello and welcome to the forums.

The latest library version includes FTX Central v2

or you can download just FTX central here

[RinoStoof]

All sorted thanks! Am now waiting for the new FTX central to set up my scenery in PD3 v4.

Love the work you guys do!!

 

Kind regards

Rino

[Richard Lincoln]

Hi Rino,