The Win10 FS2002 Odyssey continues..

[ET2SN]

..and in this chapter I may have met the un####able pooch.



So, I'm running Win10 (64 bit) and installed Flightsim 2002. The game is old but it runs like a champ on this desktop. Only one thing is missing at this point, some descent scenery for Lakenheath AB (EGUL) in the UK.

No luck at all finding ANY freeware versions of EGUL. Zip, nada, it doesn't exist. I start digging for possible payware and hit paydirt.

Just Flight did a series for FS2002 and FS2004 called British Airports. I do some more digging and find boxed copies available on Amazon UK.

These are old but still sealed. They are also cheap at around 4 dollars plus shipping. I order the first copy for less than 12 dollars total and sit back and wait.

And wait, and wait some more. OK, this thing has to ship from somewhere in the UK. It has to encounter the Royal Mail, the Atlantic, and the USPS before I get it. My package may have also encountered a Tardis along the way and is now a member of a pan-dimensional band of resistance fighters in some parallel universe, but it ain't here..


After a while it becomes clear something went nipples up. I contact the vendor via Amazon and they credit back my money with no hassles.

Now what?
I could abandon this project (but what fun would that be?) or press on.
I order another copy from a different AMZ vendor in the UK and cross my fingers.
Recall, this is cheap, old software and mailing costs reflect this.

So, two weeks go by and my new package shows up.

Now, keep in mind I only really want EGUL so I can fly Eagles and F-111's out of it. Sometimes. If I feel like it.

I read the the nice instruction booklet and, yep, its Just Flight. I've dealt with them before. Very basic files but very snooty and complicated installs. If I have to install the complete package, so be it..

I drop the DVD in my drive and things start to happen. Then they stop-really fast. Aw crap, now what?

Fast forward a couple of hours. My issue has to do with Win10 and a file called SECDRV.SYS. Win10 doesn't like it, at all. SECDRV.SYS was supposed to be used for anti- tasks but ,oops, as it turned out it could allow a remote take-over and now M$ wants nothing to do with it.

Just Flight did, however, and SECDRV.SYS is integral to installing their old software.

So, now what?

Some more research ensues and I find out that all I have to do is register at Just Flight (in 2008) and create a work ticket. Where they would happily send me a digital version of the software to install- FOR FS2004 ONLY.

Yeah, pass on that. What else? I actually dig out the old wizard hat and try to get Win10 to Play Ball using "Enable Test Mode" but all I get from Win10 is a dirty look and , really, I'm now too old and mellow to be wearing the wizard hat.

That leaves two more options. I can dig out the old Vista desktop and fire it back up then install the files to that machine and then them back to the new desktop as copies. Or, I can put the DVD and box in my "old and useless" software collection and load up a campaign in DW.



Edit- I wound up digging out my old Vista machine and setting it back up. I dropped in the DVD and was even able to install the scenery files to an "outside" folder which I was able to transfer to the new machine. From there it was no big deal to install the Lakenheath scenery and texture files.
As I had kinda figured, the scenery is very basic by FS2002 standards but its usable. All that's left to do is tweak the taxiways and parking a bit in AFCAD.

[Catfish]

And the next hurdle is coming up.

I updated my Win7 system back then to Win 10, against my will of course, all know how MS works.
A lot of things plain do not work in Win 10, and i do not even mean the old stuff.
Now there is the 1803 to 1903 internal build, and it seems updating is neither automatic nor is it easy.

I still have the 1803 version at home, i have no idea how to update, or when.
Looking for those perpetrated updates that are impossible to stop (unless you buy the "Enterprise" version lmao) it tells me that the system is up to date, no action needed. Huh?

Below the text tells that the life cycle is running out, and that i have to update latest at november, 12th. 2019. You don't say. What?

So there is an old Win 10 and a new Win 10? Some say the step from 1803 to 1903 will take place automatically. Some others say you have to install the new "build" from scratch, meaning a fresh install destroying all your old configurations and stuff.

Back then you would have Win 11, now you still have Win 10 but internal build 2356crap27452764 and no one really knows how it works, if, or when. Obviously not even MS itself. It tries to fix bugs, and the "mandatory rollout that has to be done now" may happen in 2021. Or later. Or not at all. And "Cortana"? What about sending all my stuff home to MS ? Geh scheißen, MS !

I prefer Win7, or Linux. The second they have PC games for Linux i will gladly drop Win 10 or whateveritwillbecalled then.

[Sailor Steve]

I'm not spending any more money on any flight sims until I get a look at the new version of Flight Simulator. It's looking so good at this point that I'm wondering if there's any connectivity with the older versions. I may have to keep using FSX just so I can play with the older planes people put into those sims.

[ET2SN]

Well, the irony for me is that FS2002 runs like a champ on my Win10 desktop and I have no real reason to replace it.

There are folks out there who swear by FS2004 (FS9) and the various versions of FSX, but I'm not one of them. I skipped them when they came out and stuck with FS2002 so I guess I've never had a reason to get spoiled by the newer scenery although I have back-converted a ton of FS9 aircraft.

With the new (MS) flight sim, I'm keeping an open mind but I won't be one of the early adopters. Let's see what the realistic hardware specs really are and I'm also doubting there will be any freeware support.