CFS2 Scorched Earth Re-Install

[yeppers]

Question for all the far-higher level CFS2 pilots out there -

About 2 weeks ago I got the dreaded "Failed to initialize the databases..." message after installing a new plane. Having rec'd this message before, I went about deleting and replacing the original files that the new aircraft overwrote as part of its install. However, no luck. Even after getting CFS2 to run again w/o the failure notice, few of the my imported aircraft and ships (from various sites) worked, and those that did were plagued with issues like parts missing and weapons not displaying. In the end totally removing and re-installing was the only option.

Problem is though, despite uninstalling and reinstalling and selecting to not 'save games/imported files' and installing without including any saved files, the ships, aircraft, gauges, cdp and scenery files previously used in the 'old' version of my CFS2 still appear. None work of course (that would be too easy), but I cant seem to get rid of them. I've tried deleting all the files I added on after installing, but even after importing new and 'simple' files like a F-86 from the foxfour site nothing seems to be able to display.

Anybody have a clue what I can do? It would probably be worth it to mention that I'm using a 2nd-market CFS2 disk from XPlosiv, after my original CFS2 disks were stolen with my old comp.

Any advice would be great.

Yeppers

 

[Dirtman]

Yo yep;

Your problem seems straightforward ... but you've missed something that may have come back to bite you in the a$$.

Simply uninstalling CFS2 is not enough because it will only remove the stock CFS2 files ...

ANYTHING you have added to CFS2 will remain in a folder titled: Combat Flight Simulator 2 in PROGRAM files, under Microsoft Games. When you reinstall CFS2 it is going back into the original folder & causing this problem to reoccur.

Just go to the original install & rename the existing Combat Flight Simulator 2 folder. (call it CFS2a ?) or delete / erase it.

Now reinstall CFS2 & all should be fine.

Let us know how you make out.

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[yeppers]

Wow...duh. Talk about the answer staring ya in the face, I never even thought about CFS2 not deleting 3rd party files. Thanks a bunch for pointing that out, the whole operation is back up and running. :salute:

Now comes the laborious tracking down of 76 aircraft...

 

[Jagdflieger]

Yeppers,

Once you get your CFS 2 back up, modified and working to your liking, make a copy of it and zip it up for storage. Then, if you run into this problem again, you can delete the offending installation, unzip the copy that is working and you'll be back where you were.

I have zip files of each theater and war so it is easy to reinstall in just a few minutes. This way I can manage my multiple installations too.

 

[Dirtman]

A spot of good advise:

Now comes the laborious tracking down of 76 aircraft

It would be to your advantage to keep a copy of EVERYTHING you download. This will save the time it takes to find everything once again ... IF it is still available!!

I keep these files on an external h/d (for quick access) plus burn them to DVD for posterity. (because you can't rely on a h/d 100%)

The SOH database has been restored mainly because many of us have saved our d/l's.

I would also recommend using a filing system to keep track of everything. Mine looks like this:

... View attachment 22460

There are also sub-folders for: era, country, theatre, biplane, mono wing, jet, chopper etc.

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