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Un-wrapping installer - vastly improved speed...


Blitzer

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Before I start, I should point out I have been away from the forum for sometime and not spent much time with FSX either; I apologise now if I go back to an old topic or if I have missed something, but this post is intended to help, not open up a debate... :P

 

Have just built a new PC and so the machine is all squeaky clean and free from a previous install of FSX. With a lot of Orbx scenery to install, I came back to the forum for support when I found the installers were taking an age to un-wrap. When I found there appeared to be no answer I decided I may as well try and find if I could improve the situation - thankfully I have.

 

THE "FIX"...

 

My OS (Win 10 home) is installed on a Samsung 950 Pro SSD.

I was decompressing the installer and using the default temporary location for the installer files I.e. C:\users\username\AppData\Local\Temp

I found if I moved the installer file to a "normal" hard drive and created a folder on the root of that drive for the installer files (e:\TEMP-FTX), the un-wrapping process completes MUCH faster. :D

 

I am not exactly sure why this works, a few theories though...

 

1. There's some kind of issue with the default location for the installer files.

2. For or whatever reason the installer does not like SSD's.

3. The process works faster when the installer is un-wrapped, on the same drive where the temporary folder is, and is also the drive where FSX is installed.

 

Anyway, I hope this helps someone! :)

 

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8 hours ago, Nick Cooper said:

You may be right and

4. Windows Defender is probably checking everything that goes into the default Windows temp folders.

Hi Nick,

 

A. Used a temporary folder on the OS drive. C:\FTX-temp - Result: lengthy un-wrap duration. FAIL

B. Used the same temporary folder, but this time with Defender options all turned off - Result lengthy un-wrap duration. FAIL

C. Used a temporary folder on FSX drive E:\Temp-FTX, defender still disabled - Result: improved un-wrap duration. Pass

D. Used the same FSX temp folder, defender re-enabled - Result: improved un-wrap duration. Pass

 

Bearing in mind the installer size also has a bearing on un-wrap duration, my finding should be regarded as giving a completely true account times taken, the differences are perceived not timed. It was clear though an improvement was gained by moving the installer off of the OS drive onto a second hard drive and completing the un-wrap and installation from there.

 

Observations...

 

The OS drive is an SSD.

The other HD is an old school drive.

The other drive is also the same drive where FSX is also installed, I think this may be a complete red-herring though as it would seem the un-wrap happens completely separate prior to install.

Disabling Defender appeared to reap no benefit.

Creating an exclusion in the antivirus software for the temp folder on the FSX drive did not appear to provide any benefit.

The un-wrap process pauses at approx. 50%, then stalls at approx. 75% curious perhaps if there is a particular item that is being un-wrapped at these points? Note in both instances the point of pausing or stalling appears to vary slightly, I would suspect this is related to the installer size.

 

For reference I am running...

Windows 10 home (not yet activated)

Avira (free) antivirus

Intel Skylake i7 6700k

32GB RAM DDR4 3000Mhz

Asus Maximus VIII Hero motherboard

OS drive Samsung 256GB 950 Pro

FSX-SE drive 1TB Samsung/seagate 7200rpm

Asus Strix GTX 1070 OC

 

Anyway, as I started out - un-wrapping is quicker if moved off the OS drive so clearly worth trying if you experience this issue and you have a second drive. I hope the above is of some use. I'm off to finish installing the last 10 or so of 56 airfields... Going sloooow. 

 

Paul

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