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Flight Simulator X Service Pack 1 ships

The project that has kept me busy since moving to the ACES Studio at the beginning of the year is finally out the door! Flight Simulator X Service Pack 1 is now available from fsinsider.com. Also available is Flight Simulator X Software Development Kit SP1A.

I’ll be discussing both projects in more detail in future posts, but for now, here’s a quick summary:

  • FSX SP1 is delivered in multiple per-language self-extractors, each of which contains two patches, one for each of the two editions Flight Simulator X is available in (Standard and Deluxe). Of the approximately 42,000 files(!) in RTM, only a couple of hundred were patched or added in SP1.Because of how the FSX RTM setup was built, it wasn’t feasible to ship one patch for all the editions and languages. I built the patch-creation packages (.pcp files) in WiX v3 and built the patches using MsiMsp and PatchWiz 3.1. However, it wasn’t otherwise a “typical” patch build; the RTM setup auto-generated most of its 42,000 files so file IDs and component GUIDs and IDs weren’t stable. That’s why I needed to build 13 distinct patches (two each for English, French, German, Italian, Polish, and Spanish and one for Japanese). It also meant that I couldn’t follow the typical approach of rebuilding the upgrade MSI packages — the GUIDs and IDs kept changing. The story of building custom upgrade packages deserves its own series of posts.
  • FSX SDK SP1A is delivered in one self-extractor. It’s available only in English and only for users of the Deluxe editions, so we needed to deliver only one package. Unlike the game itself, the SDK update is delivered as a new product, not a patch. I investigated delivering a patch for the SDK too, but ran into the same issues with changing IDs as with the game. Another complication was the release of SDK SP1 (without the “A” suffix); it also shipped as a product but with custom code that manually updated and deleted files in the RTM SDK. Both issues combined, a patch wasn’t something I could pull off in a reasonable timeframe. So I created a new SDK product using WiX v3. The self-extractor is the WiX v3 setup.exe chainer. By dropping the auto-generation, I had more work to keep the setup current but we’ll be in a great position for future patches.

The entire ACES Studio can be justifiably proud of the tremendous effort that went into FSX SP1 and SDK SP1A. Naturally, I just wrote above about the work that went into patching and setup, because that’s what I worked on. But a huge amount of work went into performance enhancements and content improvements. I hope every FSX user enjoys it!

Now on to the expansion pack and DirectX 10 update…

Comments 9

  1. Owen Hewitt wrote:

    Hi Bob,

    Congrat’s to you and the rest of ACES for a superb job of getting SP1 out the door with great results.

    Best,

    Owen

    ******
    Owen Hewitt
    MS FS MVP
    http://polypoke.spaces.live.com

    Posted 17 May 2007 at 15:53
  2. Bob Arnson wrote:

    Thanks! I’m pretty pleased with how things have turned out.

    Posted 17 May 2007 at 23:50
  3. nick wrote:

    i just downloaded service pack 1, i cant wait to try it out

    Posted 14 Nov 2007 at 23:20
  4. Mario wrote:

    Dear Bob,
    I have problem with reinstallation (uninstallation) FSX.
    As you know after 1st installation when you start running FSX for the 1st time, Completing Setup window appears.
    When I reinstall FSX and start it running this window never appears again.
    In this case SP1, which I install subsequently, causes FSX crash when view is switched to VC.
    I unistall FSX via Add/Remove programs, then delete all FSX files, use CCleaner to clean Windows registry, restart PC and install FSX. I start it running and there is no Completing Setup window.
    It looks like FSX is never uninstalled properly. I try to solve this problem 6 months, visited many forums but nothing has helped.
    Please can you give me any help or tip how to uninstall FSX porperly. I am really desperate.
    Mario

    Posted 11 Jan 2008 at 03:12
  5. Bob Arnson wrote:

    Try deleting the FSX directory in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\. That’s where FSX stores its scenery cache (which is what it’s doing when it says “completing setup”).

    Posted 12 Jan 2008 at 11:39
  6. Mario wrote:

    Thank you Bob for reply. This directory is deleted as well as FSX directory in C:\Documents and Settings\User_Name\Application Data\Microsoft\. Nothing remains to delelete actually after FSX uninstallation. I just check that this FSX directory is really deleted.
    I tried also clean boot (as in manual) before reinstalation.
    I tried also to delete some registry (I searched for “FSX”) which remain even after using CCleaner (registry cleaner tool) but the situation is worse with every other reinstallation.
    I will really appreciate any other tip. I tried so many things and I don´t know what to try next.

    Posted 13 Jan 2008 at 10:09
  7. Bob Arnson wrote:

    Mario,

    Unfortunately, I don’t know of any other “hidden” data that FSX uses to detect scenery changes. See http://www.fsinsider.com/tips/Pages/default.aspx for support links.

    Posted 16 Jan 2008 at 23:24
  8. Mario wrote:

    Thanks Bob. Will try that link. Pls just tell me: that FSX directory is supposed to be there after uninstalltion FSX?
    Thank you for your help.

    Posted 17 Jan 2008 at 01:02
  9. Bob Arnson wrote:

    Mario,

    There’s an option during uninstall to remove saved flights but otherwise I think the uninstall cleans up. (I didn’t do the FSX installer so I’m not 100% sure.)

    Posted 18 Jan 2008 at 14:45

Trackbacks & Pingbacks 2

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