Regarding "FSX HELP: Logging or Re-installing SimConnect"

[flying-eddie]

Hi there,

sorry for posting this here, but I cannot post to a fixed thread.

Well, I followed the recommended procedure, but I cannot reinstall the Simconnect folder of SP2/Acceleration.

After deletion of the folder for SP2/Acceleration I've tried to repair the Acceleration Installation using the original DVD. The repair process finished successfully but the deleted folder was not installed anymore. After that I deinstalled the Acceleration Pack and reinstalled it. The installation finished successfully but still no new folder for Simconnect.

So I decided to deinstall the Acceleration Pack again that I can use the SP2.exe for installation. SP2 installed ok, but no folder for simconnect. It seems that this folder is gone forever. I just can't leave it like that since while starting FSX I get the error "This feature requires that {smartassembly} is available on this computer".

You should probably advise the reader of the regarding thread, that this could happen. I think I wouldn't have done it if I would have been aware of this risk. Of course I am responsible for my actions myself... Don't know what to do now

To reinstall FSX would take me about a month or so, since its very complex.

Kind regards

Eddie

[Pete Dowson]

Well, I followed the recommended procedure, but I cannot reinstall the Simconnect folder of SP2/Acceleration.

Hmm. As mentioned there, that could be as problem. In fact I think maybe that procedure only works for the main FSX install / repair. And I cannot make it work at all on Windows 7 64-bit, so I think it best that I delete it altogether now. Sorry -- it was the fastest and easiest method originally and has helped many, but certainly Vista and Win7 present new problems in that area.

To reinstall FSX would take me about a month or so, since its very complex.

It should be easier than that. Rename your current FSX folder to, say, "FSXorig". Then install a fresh copy, including all the updates, and after that rename the new folder to "FSX virgin" or similar, and rename the original one to what it now should be.

I've done this several times. It is also worth keeping the new "virgin" installation so you can check things out or copy over good bits if anything bad happens to the other.

Regards

Pete

[flying-eddie]

Thanks for the quick answer!

You are absolutely right. Vista has brought a bunch of new problems to us. It is already one year ago that I switched to Vista, and after countless driver updates for my GTX 295 it still doesn't work without crashing at least once a day while using FSX. Just to name one of those never ending stories.

Thanks for the very useful hint about the FSX virgin folder thing. I will do it exactly like that. Hopefully I don't need to install the FSGlobal huge load of files anymore. You know, life is short... ;)

Have a good one

Eddie

BTW: I am very graceful for your wonderful Software FSUIPC what I use since many many years.

[flying-eddie]

Now I got the worst case!

I did a complete reinstall of FSX but those 3 Simconnect folder never appeared again.

First I saved my installed FSX folder and deleted the one within the Microsoft Games folder. After that I started an installation from scratch to the original path. Finished with this I continued with the Acceleration installation. Anyway the Simconnect folders within the winsxs folder were never installed again. Of course the virgin installation of FSX is running ok, due to nothing is asking for Simconnect. But if I switch over to my old installation, the error appears instantly and UT2 traffic doesn't show up. I don't know what else won't function propperly anymore yet...

The folder for Acceleration/SP2 is definitly gone, since I cannot find it within my backup. The other two folders I still have in my trash, but I can't recover them nor can I put them back manually to winsxs due to an right issue.

But anyway, maybe my Simconnect files were corrupted since I got error messages even before I started to delete something, in other words, that's why I started to delete... So where can I get a working installation of Simconnect now??? This is essential for many things, right.

Need to get some sleep now, it's almost 4 am CET.

Any help is truly appreciated!

Kind regards

Eddie

[Pete Dowson]

But anyway, maybe my Simconnect files were corrupted since I got error messages even before I started to delete something, in other words, that's why I started to delete... So where can I get a working installation of Simconnect now??? This is essential for many things, right.

I can't imagine what is stopping the installer re-installing them. That is really most peculiar. The damned WinSxS system is so complicated and unforgiving I don't know if anyone understands it.

The only thing I can think of it using the SimConnect.msi -- there will be three in the SP2/Acceleration SDK, one for the SP2 version, and two in other folders for the original and SP1 versions. They should install SimConnect and they are used for that purpose when installing on a Networked PC for communication to the FSX PC.

If that fails then There's something wrong in the Windows installation which is stopping the folders being created -- probably the same thing which originally caused the problem by stopping them being correctly accessed. If you have a Restore Point saved in Windows, I would suggest rolling back to one before the tragedy began.

I did once start digging into how all this stuff worked, with a view to writing a program to check everything and repair it where possible, but I didn't get very far. It becomes far too complicated very quickly. Whoever thought the system up should be hung drawn and quartered, or at least given a severe telling off, in my opinion!

Final ides: I wonder if you can locate anyone from the FS team still around who can help? Tim Gregson sometimes makes an appearance. If he doesn't know, he will probably know someone who will. I saw a message from him over in the FSX Forum here just recently -- yes, "Beatle" in thread viewtopic.php?f=230&t=79293#p481910

Regards

Pete

[flying-eddie]

Thank you very much Pete for still trying to help me out.

In the meantime I've learned a bit more about it. As I could see after doing a search in winsxs, SimConnect consists of 3 files: the dll and an additional cat and manifest file. Only the dll resides in the folder within the winsxs directory, the other two files resides in the winsxs directory itself. But I only deleted the three folders, so I guess since the other files (total of six files, regarding to each folders name) were still there, the installer didn't do anything.

I still got the first two folders in my trashcan, the third one I could recover from a shadow file. Now the challenge was to move those three folders each containing one dll back to winsxs. As long as the user "TrustedInstaller" is the owner of winsxs, there is not really much you can do, because you can not give yourself the necessary rights.

So I changed the owner typing the following in a admin cmd box: takeown /F winsxs

After that I typed: icacls winsxs /grant "Flying Eddie:F" to give full access myself.

I verified that TrustedInstaller has still full access though. I could use the GUI to grant full access myself for the three folders. Now I was able to simple move the three folders back into winsxs.

What can I say, FSX works as before, not better but it works. I think the most important thing about micro stutters is to keep the hd defragemted anyway, especially when using tools like UT2 with heavy loads.

Only one thing is left. I could not change the owner of winsxs back to TrustedInstaller. You cannot select this user when using the GUI to change the owner. I've not yet figured a command to use for this task. Unfortunately there is no "See Also" in the help text of commands like with UNIX.

Maybe I should just leave it like that as long as it works.

Thank you very much for your kind help.

Regards

Eddie

[Pete Dowson]

In the meantime I've learned a bit more about it. As I could see after doing a search in winsxs, SimConnect consists of 3 files: the dll and an additional cat and manifest file. Only the dll resides in the folder within the winsxs directory, the other two files resides in the winsxs directory itself. But I only deleted the three folders, so I guess since the other files (total of six files, regarding to each folders name) were still there, the installer didn't do anything.

Ah! Right. Good logic! I shall try something out hereOn my Development PC I have SP2 Simconnect working okay, but neither the Original nor the SP1 versions are functioning. This is on a Win7 64-bit system, and I've not been able to repair those so far, for some reason. I'll try removing the other files and re-running the appropriate SimConnect.msi files!

What can I say, FSX works as before

Well, that's certainly some achievement. Well done!

Only one thing is left. I could not change the owner of winsxs back to TrustedInstaller

I wonder if that will stop other installers from installing SxS modules?

Regards

Pete