1 reply to this topic

[PhilTandy]

I would like to get back into simming, my last foray was FS98! Life, kids, marriage, career took over. I haven't got a very high spec machine (win10, 1.9ghz, 1tb hdd,  8g ram, 64bit.  I was thinking of buying fs2004 but do not know if it will work. Help!

[270901kungas]

Hello,

I have been flight-simming since about 1980 or so and in my dotage have picked up again and run three sims, FS 2002, FS 2004, and FSX Steam Edition.
I use a fairly low spec PC (dulal core Intel 2.41 Ghz, 4Gb RAM, and Intel intergrated graphics). Despite the hardware being low spec I run FS 2002 with everything maxed out. With FS 2004 nearly everything maxed out. With FSX Steam Edition everything up to about 75%. The one trick with all three is to set the frame rates at maximum. Play with Bi-linear or Tri-linear until you have the best balance.

You hardware is better than mine except for the processor.

Now don't get all excited yet. FS 2002 and FS 2004 do not want to work under Windows 10. I found this out over several weeks of trying every trick and tweak I could find on the net. No go. !.

There is one hard way to have FS 2002 and especially FS 2004 run under Windows 10. This way is daunting and not for the uninitiated when it comes to Operating Systems.

If you can, back up everything to USB's and roll your PC back to Windows 8.1 (64 bit) or Windows 7 (64 bit).  Rolling back to a Windows 32 bit OS will not allow Windows 10 to install and keep all your files, programs, and settings. Yes, hard work but the only way I found I could have FS 2002 and FS 2004 run under Windows 10.

After rolling back to the previous version of windows, install FS 2004. Also find and download FS91upd.exe, the update for FS 2004 (FS9) and install the. To solve the "insert CD to run" issue, download FS91_nocd.zip and replace the existing fs9.exe file with the new one.

Then, re-install Windows 10 keeping your files, programs, and settings.

And, yeee haaaa, FS 2002 and FS 2004 work perfectly.

Tip, if you do things this hard way, as soon  as Windows 10 is up and running, copy FS 2004 (the whole multi-gigabyte of it) to a DVD or USB. This saved version will copy back to your hard disk and run under Windows 10 if you have had a disaster and "blown away FS 2004.

FSX and FSX Steam Edition both work perfectly under Windows 10 with no issues except very slow loading and much changing of settings to arrive at the balance/tradeoff that suits.

May I suggest downloading and trying FSX Demo and see how that runs and then perhaps skip all the roll back to Win 8.1 or Win 7 and either find or buy FSX on disc or install Steam, buy FSX Steam Edition (actually a card not unlike a credit card with a serial number on it) and install. Oh, the Steam program installs in about a minute or so. Downloading FSX Steam Edition takes about six or so hours but is worth it.

Regards,

Mark.

Edited by 270901kungas, 23 June 2016 - 08:32 AM.