FS2kpro upgrade kills scenery
Harvey Tetmeyer
scenery. Removal and reinstallation of FS2000 restored the scenery and the
upgraded wiped it out again. Anybody know why it did that and how to fix it?
Dr. Anthony J. Lomenzo
Harvey Tetmeyer wrote:
Harvey---I use WIN Me and 'other' than the FS2K-Pro 2B upgrade, I'm not sure
what you mean when you say MS's upgrade "to WinMe/FS2000pro" other than the
specific patch 'for the sim itself' [FS2K--Standard or Pro] as the patch for
'standard' and the separate patch for FS2K 'Pro' are different. On the other
hand, with the 'Pro' 2B patch alone and my using Me, I've had good results!
That said, very often 'some' patches [or a possible combination of things within
one's system of who knows from what origin(s)] will totally undo your
'original' settings [especially the display settings] and do a sort of out of
the box retro set-up and by that phrase I mean when any of us first run the FS
series stuff, the sim 'itself' attempts to set what 'IT' thinks are the best
settings and you'll note that it also reads [or attempts to] what kind of video
card you have under the hood and then 'it' acts 'accordingly' [!] and sets its
parameters which very often is set so that those panels look great but, alas,
beyond the nose once in the air is, well, abstract art city!
Could be that 'any' upgrades and/or patches tinkered with your original
settings...even switching a decent vanilla but NON 3D card 'to' 3D [or vice
versa] with the result of distortion on all fronts.
Bottom line---always write down your settings on ANY sim 'before' applying any
changes. Tell you this though, one VERY big plus of WinMe is the simple to use
'restore' function to an earlier [read: machine working!] time and it copies,
behind the scenes so to speak, your system set-up files for the machine each
time you turn it on so that if the new freebie file from 'wherever' turns out
to be a buggy bummer and the system goes south forthwith, simply go to the Me
'help' screen [through Safe-mode if the thing is really knocked for a loop] and
click 'restore' and the date you wish to restore the system. And voila, done.
After restart, your former system files are restored within minutes and MUCH
grief 'saved' in the process. It's saved my day at least twice since I got it
[Me...a gift, actually] because NOTHING is worse then the blue screen crash or
the words "Windows can not read the start-up files...please
retry....retry...retry....retry....well, you probably know the drill. I do!
Doc Tony
Dr. Anthony J. Lomenzo
I've had some emails on this business of 'changed settings' and one person [I was
glad to note] mentioned the creative efforts of the sim community [and it decidedly
was and is!] reviving and thereby preserving our old '98 friend, Falcon 4, after
Microprose/Hasbro unceremoniously dumped it and the resulting sim community spawned
Falcon updates --and-- of course, 'E-Falcon'.
E-Falcon can often 'look' different to you when it's first run because E-Falcon
does NOT carry over your Falcon 4 display settings from the 'normal' Falcon 4! It's
a whole new separate and distinct start-up ballgame and so if you go the E-Falcon
route, you must reset the display parameters that you wish! So too, even Falcon 4
[from the box] is 'not' very forgiving 'if' you click on that you have a 3D card
[just to see, you know, what happens....] and in fact you don't have a 3D card
whereupon Falcon likes to go the freeze and crash route and it can be a drag to
tinker with its program innards to get it straight again. Sometimes a simple
re-start can cure the thing or system re-start but sometimes not!
Ditto BTW our old and alas now defunct [unfortunately] friend FU-III [*I get a kick
out of the upcoming FS2002 hoopla and folks marveling about 'wow....interactive
ATC!' and yet FU-III has that built in and hey, Falcon 4, on the combat side of
things, will guide you in with ATC announced position turns!] anyway---FU-III has a
nasty habit of retaining its 'own' re-set settings as to display, weather, etc. when
running the FU-III CD tutorials! Check 'your' settings after prolonged use of those
FU-III tutorials!
Doc Tony