Help asked before changing P.C. and O.S.

[Madcop]

Hello dear fellow simmers,

 

I am about to migrate to Windows 10 and brand new P.C. configuration (New MB, GPU, CPU, SSD etc...)

 

I am a little lost on what to do to save my game before to update my P.C.

 

All my DCS with modules (DCS and Third Party) are on my C disk( SSD) where my O.S. (Windows 7) is also installed.

 

Could you please guide me step by step for the crucial ops I have to save a maximum.

 

I still have plenty places on conventional disks.

 

Thank You very much for your help.

Madcop :)

 

P.S. I am 66 and far from being an IT Engineer.

 

Have mercy on me.

[Rudel_chw]

Hi,

 

You need to do the following:

 

1) Prior to changing your hardware, deactivate each of your paid modules, this is done from within DCS, at the Module manager. remember to do this also for terrains and campaigns that you may have purchased. This way, after the upgrade you can install DCS again and then reactivate each module.

 

2) Backup your "saved Games" folder, this is where your DCS preferences are saved, and restore it later on, after you have changed disks.

 

3) Backup your _Mods folder, in case you've been using JSGME to organize your Mods and Liveries.

 

4) While there are ways to backup the DCS program folder and restore it later on; on my case I prefer to just download it anew and install from scratch when I've changed from one Windows version to another.

 

Those are the main points I can think of :)

[Madcop]

Hi Mr.Rudel.

 

Thank-you for your quick answer. You made me at ease since I thought it would be far more touchy than this.

 

So, if I have it right I do not have to worry for my Program Folder.

All I'll have to do after my new P.C. is running is to download again DCS World and install it. Once this done I will just have to go in the Module Manager and reactivate what I deactivated prior to my new installation.

 

-What about my log-in, password etc... are they going to be still valid ?

-Have I got to save all my purchases proofs ( DCS and Third party modules like MiG-21, F-5E etc...)

 

Thanks a lot for your patience.

 

Sorry for my bad English.

 

Madcop

[Rudel_chw]

So, if I have it right I do not have to worry for my Program Folder.

All I'll have to do after my new P.C. is running is to download again DCS World and install it. Once this done I will just have to go in the Module Manager and reactivate what I deactivated prior to my new installation.

 

Yes, thats correct :) ... I know it can be a big download if you have many modules, thats why some people like to "clone" the software from one windows to the other, but this way is cleaner and less prone to mistakes.

 

-What about my log-in, password etc... are they going to be still valid ?

 

Well, you do need to know your user name and password at Eagle Dynamics, its the same that you use to access this Forum. By the way, I'm assuming that you use the ED version of DCS and not Steam's ... I dont use Steam so I'm not really sure if the steps I outlined are valid for a Steam install.

 

-Have I got to save all my purchases proofs ( DCS and Third party modules like MiG-21, F-5E etc...)

 

On my case, I just have a record of all the module keys that I've bought ... you can check yours at this site within ED's website:

 

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/personal/order/

 

click on details of every order you have placed, the key of each purchase will show, then copy it to your record (I keep mine on an Excel sheet) ... normally you dont need to input the Keys on DCS Module Manager, but i feel safer knowing what are my Keys :)

 

Sorry for my bad English.

 

Actually, your english is good enough ... what is your native language? ... on my case, I'm a spanish speaker (actually, I'm from Chile and some would say that our language barely qualifies as spanish, since we are known for inventing words and terms that are used nowhere else :D )

 

Cheers!

[Rangi]

Just one correction to Rudel_chws post, your accounts at the forum and your ED store/game account are separate, so depending on how you set them up they may be different.

Edited January 13, 2017 by Rangi
Punctuation

[Madcop]

Hi Mr. RUDEL., Mr.Rangi

 

Thanks for all these tips. All is now safe. Just waiting next week for my new configuration. Going from MSI Radeon 6970 to MSI GeForce 1080 Gaming X is going to make a big difference I think.

I am still on 1.5, with the new rig I'll go over to 2 and fly my Nevada Map.

 

But from Windows 7 to 10 , I am a little bit afraid... We'll see.....

 

I'll have to reinstall all my Warthog, Track IR and all that stuff.

Hope that all I've done on Windows 7 will still be valid on 10...

 

One thing I still don't know is how to save my Outlook. I already put my Office/ Office12 folder on a safe place as it is where Outlook is.

 

Anyway, I think that with such a config. I'll be safe for several years.

 

My mother tongue is French, well , Belgian French actually, with a little Dutch inside, typical from Brussels !

 

Thanks again for your time.

 

I'll keep you posted with the outcome of this new adventure.

 

Cheers !

 

Madcop

[Rudel_chw]

... One thing I still don't know is how to save my Outlook. I already put my Office/ Office12 folder on a safe place as it is where Outlook is.

 

Office12 means that you are using Office 2007 ... on that version, Outlook stores the PST and OST files (that contain your messages) hidden at the following location:

 

C:\users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

 

So, make sure to backup this folder as well, in order not to lose all the messages that you've sent-received over the years.

 

Also, Outlook keeps a list of contacts for its autocomplete feature ... this list is stored on a .n2K file located at this location:

 

C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook\

 

so, backup that as well :)

 

Keep in mind that if you upgrade to a newer version of Office you will have to import this .n2K file with a Utility, since the newer versions use a different way to keep autocomplete contacts.

 

Cheers

[Madcop]

Hi Mr Rudel

 

Thanks for this last advice. I saved the PST and OST files as you said.

 

I do not use the autocomplete feature but still saved the .n2K file., who knows ?

 

Sorry for this late answer , but I was not at home this week-end.

 

Thanks again for your help.

 

I'll keep you posted as soon as my new install is running ( Should be on Thursday or Friday.

 

Cheers

[Madcop]

Hi Mr RUDEL

 

One more help needed.

 

I can't deactivate my modules through Module Manager.

 

When I open it , all my active modules are listed with their activation key.

 

There are a EN/DESABLE button , also a DRM Button to activate/deactivate the modules and finally a DUSTBIN Button to remove the module.

 

When trying with the DRM button it is not working as the window appearing contains my activation key and when I hit "Next" it says that this module has already a key and is activated. No way for me to access the deactivation window.

 

My question is what have I got to do to deactivate my different modules?

I suppose that the Enable/Disable button is not the good one and so should be the Dustbin one.

 

Please help me once more , cause I have to bring my P.C. to the shop tomorrow for the update.

 

Thank You very much

 

Sorry to be such a pain .

 

Madcop. :cry:

 

 

O.K. Sorry, PROBLEM SOLVED. In the window that opens after clicking RDM I didn't see the magic word on which I had to click " You can deactivate..."

Happy that I didn't have not to disturb you again.

 

Madcop

Edited January 16, 2017 by Madcop
Problem Solved

[Rangi]

Sorry I can't check for you as I am not near my pc, but I thought you should be able to do it via the module manager. If not then you can do it the old fashioned way as detailed in the quick start guide for each module.

[Rudel_chw]

...

O.K. Sorry, PROBLEM SOLVED. In the window that opens after clicking RDM I didn't see the magic word on which I had to click " You can deactivate..."

Happy that I didn't have not to disturb you again.

 

Im glad that you were able to solve this :)

Hope everything else goes smoothly.

Cheers!

[Madcop]

Sorry I can't check for you as I am not near my pc, but I thought you should be able to do it via the module manager. If not then you can do it the old fashioned way as detailed in the quick start guide for each module.

Hello Rangi

 

Thanks for helping, but as I said in my Edited former post, I managed to deactivate all my modules via Module manager.

 

I hadn't spotted the Deactivation option at the first time... I was a little bit stressed !.

 

Now all is O.K.

 

Thanks , I appreciated your help.

 

Cheers

 

Madcop

[Rangi]

Good luck with the new build.