Running CFS2 in Windows 7

E

Eoraptor1

SOH-CM-2022
Okay, I'm back.

My old rig, that I'd been running and upgrading for five years, has finally givien up the ghost. Even my repair person couldn't get it to boot, so I got myself an entirely new machine with a quad-core CPU and Windows 7 OS.

I'd backed up all my CFS2 installs to an external drive and had no problem transferring them to the new system. I've had no problem running CFS2.exe in Windows 7. Some of the lettering in the menu screens looks a bit strange, but that is a quibble. The only real problem I've had is with the DCC P-38 models. Those who remember me know I'm a dedicated David Copley fan, so this upsets me. When I'm in 2D cockpit mode of the CFS2 P-38L and use the hat switch on my joystick to "check six" the entire screen goes black, and I have to abort whatever mission I'm flying to get back to the menu screen. I've not checked the other DCC models yet, but the one I use most is the "L" variant, so this poses something of a problem, which leads to my question: Has this happened to anyone else when moving up to Windows 7 OS, and if so, what did you do to solve the issue? Many thanks in advance.

JAMES
 
Back again. Upon examination, the problem doesn't seem to be in the model, but with the panel config. Specifically, something in the new system doesn't like the YAS mirrors, which means I'm going to have to check out all my Spitfires as well. With the vanilla panel that came with the original a/c, I don't have the problem with the screen going to black when I check six in 2D. Also, the OS doesn't want me editing things in Notepad. It keeps telling me to get Administrator permission to alter files even though I'm operating under the Administrator's account. I have not yet gotten the hang of Windows 7.

JAMES
 
Yes. It's definitely something about the mirror settings that Windows 7 doesn't seem to like. I get a black screen of death every time I try to use them. Note, these same settings worked perfectly well under XP, so I don't know what it is 7 finds unacceptable. Any aid in this area would be appreciated.

JAMES
 
I can't comment on the mirror problem, but as for the editing, most people will tell you to avoid these issues by installing your flightsims outside of the default "Program Files" folder.

Doing so will allow you to avoid the security system that requires admin rights to edit or modify files.

You can create a new folder called whatever you want, put the game root folder in there, then create a new shortcut. Or create the new folder then reinstall the game there.

I'm sure someone will be able to explain this better if I'm not making sense.
 
I'm moving this to the CFS2 forum...where it is likely to get a ton more help on solving these problems....there are a lot of CFS2 simmers having a jolly good time flying CFS2 under Win 7.

OBIO
 
pfflyers said:
I can't comment on the mirror problem, but as for the editing, most people will tell you to avoid these issues by installing your flightsims outside of the default "Program Files" folder.

Doing so will allow you to avoid the security system that requires admin rights to edit or modify files.

You can create a new folder called whatever you want, put the game root folder in there, then create a new shortcut. Or create the new folder then reinstall the game there.

I'm sure someone will be able to explain this better if I'm not making sense.
Click to expand...

You're making perfect sense. I'd already stumbled on this solution, but thank you for confirming it for me. The major problem seems to be something with the mirror windows.

JAMES
 
Windows 7 can be frustrating, but at least it's not as bad as Vista was.

You'll need to disable the relevent mirror window in the panel.cfg file. 7 just doesn't want to work with 'em.

To wrest control from MS over your CFS 2, right click your CFS 2 folder, select Properties and then Security. Then click on the Edit and check the "Full Control" box. 7 then may or may not allow you to modify your files within the root folder.

You can also place the file onto your desktop and make your modifications.

You can also place your CFS 2 outside of your Programs (x89) folder to get control over your folders and files.
 
Jagdflieger said:
Windows 7 can be frustrating, but at least it's not as bad as Vista was.

You'll need to disable the relevent mirror window in the panel.cfg file. 7 just doesn't want to work with 'em.

To wrest control from MS over your CFS 2, right click your CFS 2 folder, select Properties and then Security. Then click on the Edit and check the "Full Control" box. 7 then may or may not allow you to modify your files within the root folder.

You can also place the file onto your desktop and make your modifications.

You can also place your CFS 2 outside of your Programs (x89) folder to get control over your folders and files.
Click to expand...

Thank you for answering, Jadg. No hope for my mirrors then?

JAMES
 
Eoraptor1 said:
Are you using any rear view mirrors in your aircraft?

JAMES
Click to expand...

I not use a P-39L of David Copley, because is not a breaking parts!,at the moment all problems with cfs2 were independent of win 7, some people have problems with dxt textures.In my experience This invisibles problems are by a videocard

The only problem with my win 7 x86 is that I can not run FSDS 2
 
Maxstuka said:
I not use a P-39L of David Copley, because is not a breaking parts!,at the moment all problems with cfs2 were independent of win 7, some people have problems with dxt textures.In my experience This invisibles problems are by a videocard

The only problem with my win 7 x86 is that I can not run FSDS 2
Click to expand...

Thank you for writing. I now believe the problem has nothing to do with Dave Copley's model but something in the mirrors. It may very well be a texture thing. I haven't been able to look at it as thoroughly as I'd like. Whem I try to use the mirror view I get a totally black screen. Sometimes I can escape it, but I usually I to leave CFS2 altogether. I've been removing the mirror views from my panel configs until I figure out what's going on.

JAMES
 
I run a dual boot with XP on Hard drive, and Windows 7 on the other.

Now CFS2 runs at it's best on XP. I dunno what Windows 7 is lacking, but there you go. I got tired of dealing with having to cut things out of CFS2 to get it to run, so now its on a dedicated HD with XP. In fact that were all of my games are. But CFS2 seems to be the only one that does not play all that well with Windows 7.

Windows 7 does not like mirrors at all. I haven't been able to understand why, but every time I tried using a mirror or turret view (Like on Tango's A-20s) The sim would hang itself. I also found that with Windows 7, panning through the cockpit was slightly erratic when you went from the front view to panning through the rest of the cockpit. The visual depiction slowed down if you panned from left to right and through the forward view. XP does not have this issue.

Now the good news about Windows 7 is that it does run CFS2. Support for XP will start phasing out this year with any XP installs that are running just support pack 2, and XP is projected to be fully unsupported by 2014. But from what I experience in getting my dual boot working, support for XP is already being dropped by computer equipment manufactures. (It took some digging to get the right chipset drivers for my MoBo as the ones on the disk did not work for XP!) So At least it does run on 7, and if you install it out side the main directory as has been suggested, you can have complete control over what you add to it and how you manipulate it. I found that the best performance was found in window mode, but full screen still ran well, just not as good as it does on XP.

I have also noticed that support for older games, like CFS2 is starting to become an issue with current Nvidia and ATI cards and drivers. With a 5850 card I had you could not turn off Vsync in windows 7. (I never tried the card on XP). Also the card did not like CFS2's 2D panels in general. (I had to removed the panel complete from the panel.cfg to get the sim to fly).

I am now running a Nvidia GTX460 1GB, and so far the only drivers that 'work' for CFS2 are the 258.96. Anything newer and performance for CFS2 running from both XP or Windows 7 is halved, and if I were to press 'Q" to turn off the sound performance would crumple to just 7FPS, and this is on an Intl i7 930 systems with 6 GB of RAM, plenty of HD space, and a 1GB video card with a 256bit memory bus. I think the issue resides with the NVidia HDMI sound driver that they have packed with the video driver. Newer driver versions allow the user to unselect installing it, but the performance hit is still there.

I hate to be the pessimist about it, but the days of CFS2 are numbered. Not from a replay-ability or flexibility aspect, but from a support aspect.
 
Eoraptor1 said:
Thank you for writing. I now believe the problem has nothing to do with Dave Copley's model but something in the mirrors. It may very well be a texture thing. I haven't been able to look at it as thoroughly as I'd like. Whem I try to use the mirror view I get a totally black screen. Sometimes I can escape it, but I usually I to leave CFS2 altogether. I've been removing the mirror views from my panel configs until I figure out what's going on.

JAMES
Click to expand...

Sorry for my limitated and bad inglish

But you need has cautious if you change the panel file, because there are a VC texture, and if you change the file panel with other panel, some models can not run this texture and the view of VC can be black.

I do not remember how is this spesific parameter but is in the panel file, I change some panel and gauges but without delete this line of the original panel file.
if I have understood badly this thread follow of length!
By goodlook
 
I have the XP emulator. In fact, I had it installed specifically because I wanted to be sure I could run CFS2. As it turns out, CFS2 runs better on Windows 7, 64 bit than it did on XP and won't run at all on the emulator (for me anyway).

I thought I'd be using the emulator for lots of my favorite programs, instead I am a dedicated convert to Win 7 and no longer use virtual XP.
 
Cody Coyote said:
I have the XP emulator. In fact, I had it installed specifically because I wanted to be sure I could run CFS2. As it turns out, CFS2 runs better on Windows 7, 64 bit than it did on XP and won't run at all on the emulator (for me anyway).

I thought I'd be using the emulator for lots of my favorite programs, instead I am a dedicated convert to Win 7 and no longer use virtual XP.
Click to expand...

I've been VERY time stressed settling my mother's final affairs, but now that I'm learning more about what it does and does not do, so far at least, I really like Windows 7. Except for the one problem with the mirrors, CFS2 runs very well, and I looking forward to downloading some of the great new add-ons and especially getting some of Rami's new campaigns. What I'd be using the emulator for are my old "Nostalgia" programs like the Jane's flight sims and Sid Mier's Gettysburg.

JAMES
 
Eoraptor1 said:
I've been VERY time stressed settling my mother's final affairs, but now that I'm learning more about what it does and does not do, so far at least, I really like Windows 7. Except for the one problem with the mirrors, CFS2 runs very well, and I looking forward to downloading some of the great new add-ons and especially getting some of Rami's new campaigns. What I'd be using the emulator for are my old "Nostalgia" programs like the Jane's flight sims and Sid Mier's Gettysburg.

JAMES
Click to expand...

I just came across this thread whilst researching a CFS2 install in W7 64bit, I wonder did you get any of these old games running under the emulator? I would be keen to dust off my Mig Alley and Falcon.
Sorry to cause a bump folks.
 
Hi there, an interesting question. The Windows XP mode in Win7 is a virtual machine.
It will not have access to hardware acceleration and will have to share RAM with the host system, so performance of Janes, Mig Alley etc. is likely to be just like it was on your old 486! very nostalgic! There are some ancillery flight sim programs that I understand will not run on Win7 64,( I don't have the 64 bit OS so I don't know for sure) but the XP virtual machine will certainly be useful for running those .
 
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