A clean start

[Highwayman-Ed]

I've been poking around my lockon install for years now, installing this, tweaking that and generally buggering things up from time to time.

 

Today I'd had enough though, and wiped the slate clean.. I backed up my lockon directory, then uninstalled, deleted the left overs defragged and re-installed from scratch.

 

The two things that I've learnt from this experience that's worth posting about?

 

1, You forget what lockon used to look like out of the box

 

Sure it's a good looking sim, but you really forget or at least get used to things like TekaTekas trees and Deadmans skins and more recently Rocky's Ground Pounder textures, and take them for granted.

 

2, How much damn crap gets accumulated in your lockon directories

 

I swear that just by cleaning out and re-installing only adding just the few mods that I can't live without (see my sig) i'm getting about 5-10% better fps!

 

My advice, backup, clean out and start fresh from time to time, it works with Windows, and it damn sure works for Lockon :thumbup:

[159th_Viper]

I've been pondering the same thing - you might just have sold me to the idea :)

[Yeniceri]

Your signature made me grin like a donkey :) :) :)

[thesystem]

Hehe now i am also working on a clean start to ensure that everything is smooth for all the new addons that are comming! the A10, the new ground texture addons, birdy's scenery and ofcourse....everything is nice, smooth clean and fast!

[3Sqn_Fudd]

Its good to just make a duplicate "Eagle Dynamics" Folder before you put on patches or anything... Rename it "Eagle Dynamics_Clean" or something

[Vekkinho]

You say you've been messing with your LO install for years now and you use Windows.

 

Funny, but I reinstall my LO every 3-4 months because of Windows OS that usually fall apart after same period of time.

 

But reinstalling LO and all essential mods thru MoDman is PITA.

[Highwayman-Ed]

You say you've been messing with your LO install for years now and you use Windows.

 

Funny, but I reinstall my LO every 3-4 months because of Windows OS that usually fall apart after same period of time.

 

But reinstalling LO and all essential mods thru MoDman is PITA.

 

I agree, but even using Modman (which I do all the time) some stuff still manages to leak through...

[eleazar]

2, How much damn crap gets accumulated in your lockon directories

 

I swear that just by cleaning out and re-installing only adding just the few mods that I can't live without (see my sig) i'm getting about 5-10% better fps!

 

My advice, backup, clean out and start fresh from time to time, it works with Windows, and it damn sure works for Lockon :thumbup:

 

 

100% agree

200% support!!!!!:thumbup:

 

p.s: i just reinstall it 2 days ago together with windows!!

[G3]

Highwayman-Ed, great to hear you found a performance increase for your efforts, as it is not something to jump into blindly.

 

as 3Sqn_Fudd suggests a backup of your lockon game folder is good thinking.

 

also great for retrieving controller configs etc, checking old aspect ratio settings etc, trackir edits in the configs or whatever you like changing.

 

something worth serious consideration is making an image of your entire system when it is freshly setup to your liking.

 

with out novelling on too much,

heres an example simplified somewhat:

 

backup loved data elsewhere.

partition hdd as desired

install fresh OS and configure as desired

install imaging software (ghost/acronis/etc)

continue customising with must have apps, firewall, AV

 

### now make an image and call it "fresh" or similar. ###

 

install games, lockon, and rfactor :) including all mods

configure controllers, tir, video settings etc.

(basically get the computer set up as you do now, but fresh as a daisy)

 

### now make another image and call it "gaming" or similar. ###

 

done.......

 

so lately you pc has issues or is running poorly for whatever reason:

so what's causing it, that new game demo, a beta driver, virus, spyware etc

 

to restore: this is the good part, once you have created an image or two, you need spend only a few minutes getting your pc back,

fully setup ready to use just as you like it.

simply run you imaging software, select the image you made earlier and choose restore,

next thing you know it reboots a few times and its all brand new:D

 

extras: aftera few simple steps like update virus definitions and your done, finished.

the other guy is still looking for his windows cd, hours away from flying or racing etc.

 

if you haven't already, i hope this inspires some of you to give backup imaging a try,

Highwayman-Ed its the perfect time for you :)

 

i personally use an old version of nortons ghost 2003,

it still gets the job done nicely.

 

create yourself a readme and document the procedure so if and when the time comes,

you can restore the image that suits your needs eg: "fresh" or "gaming".

 

not necessary but you can also rename the c:\ to the same name as the image file you're about to create, this allows you to see what image you have restored.

 

the entire procedure is no harder than setting up your computer like you did last format,

if you also include installing and using the imaging software it will be the last time you have do it from scratch.

this is when you will see the fruits of you labour, well worth the effort.

 

this ends part 1 of my mini series on how to make your computing life easier :)

 

ps:

i must confess to not having flown much lately, but its only temporary.

i must also admit i have missed out on some of these great sounding mods.

 

unfortunately not as much online access as i used to have so hence the reason for my lack of input, sure this makes up for it :D

happy to discuss imaging further in a seperate thread if need be, but for now back to original topic:

 

always glad to hear of any performance gain in lockon, its still a hungry beast and a clean install of the game can't hurt, enjoy, ggg