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found this roaming the net

I think pretty handy lil tut here

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How To...Have Multiple FS2004 Installations

By Noel Sivertson (11 July 2005)

I think I have found the easiest way yet to have and access multiple FS2004 installations on your system.

I was looking for a way to have two installations of FS2004 on my system and be able to select one or the other by clicking an icon on the desktop. I found a pretty easy way using a DOS batch file.

1. Copy all the files in the Flight Simulator 9 folder to a new folder called FS9a or something like that...your choice.

2. Opened Notepad.

Type the following:

"c:\program files\microsoft games\flight simulator 9\fs9.exe"

3. Save the file as FS1.bat into your Documents and Settings\(your name)\Application Data\Microsoft\FS9 folder.

4. Copy FS1.bat and paste it to your desktop as a shortcut. Name it FS1 or whatever you like.

5. Open Notepad again.

6. Type the following:

"c:\program files\microsoft games\(whatever you named the new folder)\fs9.exe"

7. Save the file as FS2.bat into your Documents and Settings\(your name)\Application Data\Microsoft\FS9 folder.

8. Copy FS2.bat and paste it to your desktop as a shortcut. Name it whatever you like.

Now, you just have to click on the appropriate icon for whichever installation of FS2004 you want to run.

The DOS window will appear momentarily on your screen when you start the sim and then the version of the sim you chose to run will startup.

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I think this can come in pretty handy for some ventures we are doing


fled

That sounds extremely handy

I was considering getting two usb flash drives and having an install of FS9 on each, one for props, basic install, and the other for normal FS9 with the eye candy...

Good find Fled.

Well Kit I installed the whole shabang on a fresh reformatted E drive

Did me spring clean out as the whole thing was so full at the end that I really needed a fresh fs9 install (it had grown to over 50Gig ), and as I was at it I decided to make a double fs9 install as I was reinstalling it anyways

I created 1 main fs9 folder called Flight Simulator 9 and another one called Air Racing

Installed the whole Props Air Race files fresh in the main Air Racing version AND installed the Environment pack in the "Flight Simulator 9" version.

So now I hit the shortcut FS2.bat on my desktop (wich I renamed Air Racing) and made also a shortcut to the fs9.exe in the Air Racing folder

So at the end before starting up fs9 or AR I hit the respective bat file first and then the fs9 or AR ...................

And behold ... wonder OH wonder I have now a virgin FS with all the props racing goodies in it and !! I have a fs9 with all the other worldly goodies in it

now off to get my FS reinstated with all the eye candy and the Air Racing version stays as it is

Also there is the other option, wich is the great and very handy tool that Stoopy has concieved !
When you're short on discspace then that's the way to go IMHO

Well that's about it for this

have fun !


fled

Gentlemen,

There's an even easier way to do this without having to write little scripts and saving batch files.

Step One: Install Flight Simulator. Make sure you put it in a folder you name, like Props Racing, or whatever.

Step Two: After that installation run any updates like the FS9.1 update and any patches like a NO CD patch.

Step Three: Rename that folder to something like Props Racing REMOVE I put the word remove in all caps so I now to remove it after I've completed my second installation.

Step Four: Run the installer again, this time putting it into a new diferently named folder, preferably on a seperate drive or drive partition. Do any updates and patching on this new installation.

Step Five: go back to the first folder and rename it back to its original name, taking off the REMOVE.

You now have two seperate installions of Flight Simulator, with two working short cuts on your desktop and no saving batch files to your My Documents\Flight Simulator folder.

Of course you'll only have the one fs9.cfg and shared saved flights and stuff, but you knew that already I'm sure.

I didn't come up with this myself, Maple One and Freebird showed me how to do it. I gotta give them credit. I just wanted to pass it along.

Enjoy

Wombat

Thanks Wombat for the info.

When we tried props racing on the west coast server, I in particular had problems with verification. Two reasons I believe was the problem, firstly verification expects the default path to be the normal one
i.e. C:\progr.....\fs9 etc
the other problem I believe for those of us in the UK was the use of port 80, we here are normally behind a proxy server which was blocking the verification process.

TBH, not enough time was spent to pin down the problem due to the time difference and not wanting to spoil peoples race nights.

With the introduction of FSX the two separate installs of FS9 is now not a problem. I have a minimal install of FS9 ready for the day, if ever, we get props racing off the ground here in Europe.