SBuilder can't find FS2004

[MaskRider]

Greetings, fellow basement dwellers!

Got an off-the-wall one here.

I just installed FS2004/9 on my Laptop. Well, actually , "installed" isn't quite the word for it. I just copied my old installation from by back-up drive over to my laptop. I don't have it located in its normal location: c->Program Files-> Microsoft Games. I have it located at C -> Simming Related -> Microsoft Games.

Its working fine and dandy.

However, the main reason I installed FS2004/9 to the LT is because I wanted to see if I could get SBuilder to work. Every time I start SBUilder I get the message "FS2004 does not exist on this computer". And that's it. SBuilder never boots-up.

Now, even though FS2004/9 is installed, SBuilder still gives me the same message.

I am thinking that maybe SBuilder automatically looks for the default stock install path for FS2004/9 and if it isn't found- SBuilder punts?

I was wondering, if anyone knows, whether there is maybe a line I can add to the SBuilder.ini file that specifies the correct path?

Or some other such fix?

I don't see a line in the .ini file specifying a path to FS2004/9 which makes me think that the default install path may somehow be hard-wired into the works.

Thanks in advance!

MR

[MaskRider]

Okay!

Got it solved.

Decided to google "SBuilder can't find FS004" and see what shook out.

Happily for me the first item in the list was a link to a October 2006 thread named "SBuilder can't find FS2004" on the SBuilder for Flight Simulator FS2004 forum at PTSim.

It included such luminaries as Richard "rhumbaflappy" Ludowise, Luis Sa and thread-starter Jon "Scruffyduck" Masterson.

For me, fixing the problem was a two step process.

First I downloaded and installed an updated version of Sbuilder.exe that fixed the problem of SBuilder not booting all the way up after determining that FS2004, or the path it expected to find for it, wasn't present. Still got the message about FS2004 not being present on the computer but Sbuilder now booted-up all the way and was usable. Still, it would need a path to FSUIPC.

So, how to get SBuilder to find FS9?

At some point Scruffyduck discovered a utility called FS9Path_Utility. With this utility your can re-specify the path to FS9.exe in the registry. The reason why I was getting the message is because SBuilder checks the Windows registry for the path to FS9.exe.

Scruffyduck got FS9Path_Utility from a site called TweakFS. TweakFS is still very much a going concern but I couldn't find download link to FS9Path_Utility anywhere on the current site.

I was able to locate and download a copy from AvSim

As it turned out, FS9Path_Utility does not allow you to insert a valid path into an "empty" registry line. It only allows you to over-write an old invalidly-specified path already written to the registry. Since I had not actually installed FS9, only copied it, there was no proper/improper path in the registry for me to over-write.

So, since I didn't have an older improperly specified path in the registry to overwrite, I need to create one. The only way I could think of to do it was to do a proper install of FS9, and then use FS9Path_Utility to over-write the path specified in the registry from the new install with the path I am actually using. This I did.

I then deleted the newly installed FS9 folder.

I guess I could have used RegEdit to write a proper path line into the registry but I am no expert in such things and didn't feel like horsing around with it.

Kind of Rube Goldberg sorta way of going about it but hey, it was the best I could come up with!

It works.

Cheers,
MR

PS I am very pleasantly surprised at how nicely FS9 runs on my little Windows8.1 HP Pavlion g7 laptop. It actually runs much nicer than it did on my old WindowXP desktop. The reason I didn't just go with a simple install is because my old install of FS9 has all kinds of add on custom mesh, tons of add on planes, as well as having FSNavigator installed. I just didn't feel like rebuilding the entire setup from scratch. Cheers.