Installing aircraft - just checking....

V

vmx12

Charter Member
Hello again,

A couple of my payware aircraft (Alphasim B-1B and Alphasim T-6) instruct me to simply extract into the root folder but I'd like to by-pass this step and manually install them.

For the Alphasim B-1B, I have opened it with the unzip program called Stuffit. When I open it, I see all of those tiny files, and the 'Extract' button is at the top of the page. I then created a folder called B-1B and extracted the contents that were unpacked/unzipped by Stuffit into this B1B folder. I now see four folders - Aircraft, Effects, Flights and Gauges. (The Flights folder is just extra stuff I know, so I'll set it aside.)

So, here's where I get hazy. The publisher said to simply 'extract' the contents into FS9, where all sub-folders would be automatically created.

My question is, does it hurt to manually install this B-1B instead? Can I simply open the Aircraft folder and copy the subfolder - Alpha B-1B - to the aircraft folder of FS9, copy the Effects folder to the Effects folder in FS9 and copy the Gauges folder to the Gauges folder in FS9?

-OR-

Do I open the Alpha B-1B fsubolder and copy its contents (model, texture, panel, sound, aircraft cfg file, etc.) into the aircraft folder in FS9; open the Effects folder and copy its contents (texture, fx_Alpha_B1B_AB._FX, etc.) into the Effects folder in FS9; and open the Gauges folder and copy its contents into the Gauges folder in FS9?

If I remember correctly, the Effects folder in FS9 contains environmental effects - not necessarily aircraft effects.

Sorry for the robust question....

Thanks,

Darrin

I'm just not sure which folder or sub-folders and the contents therein that I should copy over to FS9's folders.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated! Thanks!
 
If you follow the instructions the folder structure will take care of itself. :icon_lol:

By installing to the fs9 root folder the folder structure in the zip file will place all the files in the right places.

Alternatively, if you want to learn a bit about how file are stored in the sim, you could put the B1B folder and its contents in the aircraft folder. The sub-folders must stay inside the B1B folder.

The other folders then need to be opened and the contents put into the existing fs9 folders with the same names. If you copy the gauges folder into the existing folder you will end up with a nest of folders and the new files will not be seen - which will show up as an empty panel in the sim.

When in doubt take a look round the existing folders to see where files are kept now. Being creative with file locations will not impress flightsim, it's pretty dumb.

Once you get the hang of installing whole aircraft the next step is adding new textures........
 
Hi Darrin. What I do is unzip to a temp folder. Then move or copy the folders to the FS9 folders. The aircraft folder itself (model, panel, sound, texture, CFG, AIR folders or files) into aircraft in FS9. The gauges, I move to the specific aircraft panel folder, each gauge not the whole folder, or you can move them to the gauge folder. Some aircraft have xml files, for gauges, which must be in an folder to work. This folder goes into the aircraft panel or the FS9 gauges folder. The effects, each one, not the folder, must go to the FS9 effects folder, or they do not work. The effects can be for the aircraft and/or scenery.
The read me usually tells what goes where.
A lot to swallow, hope this clears up some things.
 
My experience with the few paywares I have is to let the installer do its thing. Trying to steer it another way usually messes up something. I then make a copy of the finished installed AC and put it outside the HD, although sometimes aliasing or other dependency will sabotage this as well. Otherwise I recommend unzipping new things to a holding folder of some sort. I then sift through what unzipped, including any readme instructions, and put items where they belong, gauge files into the Gauges folder (I never overwrite any gauges), effects files into the Effects folder (I don't overwrite these either), and so on. Good luck.
 
Your second approach is closer to the process you need to follow.
It's a bit hard to explain in detail without writing a whole book. In the end if you read the two preceding posts and mine and then look at what you have on your HD it will hopefully make sense.

Some installers are nothing more than an unpacking executable that asks the user for the main FS directory and then places the folders in the correct sub folders of FS as it unpacks them.
If you want a bit more control you can simply direct this type of installer to any TEMP folder. Because these installers are relatively simply coded they don't search or compare they just create the folder structure they would normally find in FS.

Inside of each of those folders you then find what would be placed directly into FS and possibly overwrite files you already have there. That is the main reason why I almost never install directly into FS.

Let's say you specified a C:\TEMP folder as the target for that installer.
After the little program finishes you find something like this:

C:\ TEMP\aircraft
C:\ TEMP\effects
C:\ TEMP\gauges
C:\ TEMP\sound
C:\ TEMP\flights

This structure is the same as you would find in you FS folder...for example C:\FS2004

What ever you find in each of those folders simply needs to go AS IS into the equally named folder of C:\FS2004. The first folder you find in each of the main folders, for example aircraft will in some cases have sub folders. Those will need to stay with their main folder.

So in the example above the B1B folder you find in C:\TEMP\aircraft will have the usual panel,sound,model and texture sub folders plus a few individual files.
DO NOT break this up....simply copy the entire B1B folder as is from C:\TEMP\aircraft to C:\FS2004\aircraft.

This part hardly ever creates problems unless you already have a folder with exactly the same name in there from an earlier version of the file for example. But the beauty of doing this manually is that you will be asked if you want to merge/overwrite.

The main reason why I do this whole process is usually the gauges folder. Because I want to know what is being copied into my FS and what is being overwritten.

This is however also the point where folks make the most most mistakes. What ever is in that C:\TEMP\gauges folder needs to go unmodified into the C:\FS2004\gauges folder.
You might find folders, individual files or files with a .cab extension in there. Generally speaking don't mess with them.

UNLESS you want to do what Robert suggested and copy the contents of the gauges folder into the panel folder of the Aircraft you just installed.

This has one major benefit. The files are easy to locate if you want to get rid of the airplane for any reason. And FS finds them just a hair quicker...but you need a really good stopwatch to check that.

The major drawback is that you may end up with the exact same gauge 30 times in as many different locations taking up HD space.

Finally I copy the files from the temp location to the FS folders and don't move them. Then I try the newly installed aircraft or scenery in FS.
IF there are any problems with it it is easy to remove the files by comparing or searching for the files found in the temp folder.

Some installers are not quite as dumb and will fail unless they can find the fs9.exe ...well you simply give them what they want. Copy the fs9.exe from it's normal location into your temp folder before starting this type of installer and they are usually appeased and run diligently.
Files that can't be tricked this way into letting me manually check what goes where have to come from a truly trusted developer or source or they do not make it into my FS.

As Papa Tom at CC always puts it...I hope this helps.

Cheers
Stefan
 
Some installers are not quite as dumb and will fail unless they can find the fs9.exe ...well you simply give them what they want. Copy the fs9.exe from it's normal location into your temp folder before starting this type of installer and they are usually appeased and run diligently.
Files that can't be tricked this way into letting me manually check what goes where have to come from a truly trusted developer or source or they do not make it into my FS.
Click to expand...

Some installers (mainly paywares addon's installers) want to install in FS9 and even if you copy the FS9.exe in your temp folder they will refuse to install .. because they check the Windows registry base for locate the FS9 install
It's easy to fool this kind of intrusive installer by using this small freeware registry repair tool:

FS2004 (ACOF) - Misc. FS2004 TweakFS Path Utility
[SIZE=-1] [ Download | View ] [/SIZE]
Name: fs9pathu.zip Size: 593,179 Date: 08-10-2005 Downloads: 1,979
[SIZE=-1]
fs9pathu.gif
FS2004 TweakFS Path Utility, v1.1. Features Repairs the FS2004 path in the Windows Registry; Checks the registry path for the FS9.exe file; Warns if the registry path is missing; Sets the registry path for the FS9.exe file; Warns if the FS9.exe is not in folder on clicking the "Set" button; Avoids the need to reinstall FS2004 in the event of registry corruption; Searches for the FS9 Reg key in the Windows RegEdit program.[/SIZE]
Click to expand...


So you can change temporary the FS9 path (point to your temp folder) and after the installer run .. reinstate the correct FS9 path :jump:
 
Navtech that utility looks pretty good, and maybe will allow some stuff to be installed on my machine, that I would not previously have allowed.
I NEVER let an installer do its thing on my flightsim!
Many will create things in places you will never find again, and even change things already on your machine without telling you.

NEVER? Well certainly after a recent lapse: there is a demo scenery for KLAX that doesn't offer the choice to extract to a temp folder.
I went hmm hah, and let it go into my flightsim.
The beggar ate my Cloud9 Phantom, and then the sim refused to start.
I got good support luckily; the installer alters a file called bglman.dll but had gotten itself confused.
I didn't even know there was such a file, really.

By removing the corrupted file, my sim now runs... but there are things that use bglman that now are kaput.
Never again... TweakFS will hopefully take care of these pesky fully automatic installers.
I loathe, detest, and hate installers, all of them no matter what, because you don't know it's bad, until it shows it's bad - sometimes very bad - then it's too late!
 
Flight1 has a similar tool available for free to set the FS path....and I have used it for that purpose as well.
I actually have a dummy FS install with just the basics installed for the very few installers that are hard to trick or seemingly impossible to trick.

And most importantly as I have mentioned on other occasions....I have SNAPSHOT. My favorite backup program.

IF I somehow manage to mess up my modern or classic FS installs it's a matter of a few mouse clicks and a bit of a wait (washing the car, motorcycle or airplane kind of time frames depending on what needs to be restored) and everything is back to the latest saved state. No sweat.

Cheers
Stefan
 
Wow! Thank you all for the detailed feedback! And I am glad to hear that I'm not the only one who prefers the manual installs.

You guys Rock!

I'm going to install them this week.

(I also bought Aerosoft's A-10. I hope it plays nice when I go to install it.) :icon_lol:
 
There's nothing wrong with manually installing aircraft by pointing the installer to a temp directory. I've even done it with flight1 aircraft but sometimes I've aborted them when Spybot resident detects an installer messing with my registry. Few aircraft need to have registry values written to enable certain features, but if they do then you must use the installer to make them work properly.

There's noting worse than letting an installer overwrite a newer file of fixed gauge file with an old version. Not only does it waste time trying to fine the install log for the new plane, but the file will need to be re-repaired to work on the already installed aircraft the installer just over-wrote.

...just my 2 cents.
 
Wing_Z said:
The beggar ate my Cloud9 Phantom, and then the sim refused to start.
I got good support luckily; the installer alters a file called bglman.dll but had gotten itself confused.
Click to expand...

Installers are a real pita when it comes to overwriting modules (i.e. .dll files); more than once I have had my nice updated registered version of FSUIPC overwritten by a file that is about 2 years out of date - grrrrr! Cloud9 installers though, they are a true work of the devil's art; managed to get my Phantom reinstalled eventually, but the Starfighter kept fighting back, so gave up in the end.

Wherever possible I try to install outside the game; all of my FS instals are on my E: drive so, as many packages automatically got for the C: drive I let them do their thang and move the files over myself, making sure I get no overwrites or conflicts. Much neater. :)
 
Now you mention it, on first restarting the sim after running the .exe, it tossed its toys, and bellowed:
You cannot have more than one copy of FSUIPC

...and the next restart just died.
I also have another sim, maybe the Phantom will go in there rather, and this one will be given over to utter recklessness ;)
 
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