Screen resolution issues

[Rusty Gunz]

A couple of days ago, while FSX-SE was loading, I received a notification that a Couatl update was available.  I responded Yes when asked if I wanted to apply the update.  I was instructed to exit FSX-SE and start the update using the FsDT Live Update application.  I did so.  After a few minutes, I got a message that the update had completed successfully.

I re-started FSX-SE and immediately noted that the first "splash screen", showing FSX Steam Edition and the version number, was twice the size it had been pre-update.  All of the loading notification windows that followed were also twice the pre-update size as were the Home Screen, the Free Flight screen, the Select Aircraft screen, etc.

FSX-SE started in windowed mode as usual, but none of the scenery, textures, panels, etc. were as sharp in resolution as they had been before the update.  I switched to Full Window mode and all was the same as pre-update.  Back to windowed mode and the sharpness is still markedly decreased - all text is much larger, the bar at the top of the screen is larger, the Menu bar is larger as well as menu text.

No changes had been made to my system for some time prior to the update.  I was using FSX-SE earlier on the day of the update and everything was normal.  The sequence of events leading to this issue was simply this:

1.  Load FSX-SE
2.  Receive notification of update
3.  Exit FSX-SE
4.  Apply update
5.  Re-start FSX

My Windows 7 screen resolution is 1920x1080.  The FSX-SE .cfg file shows the same display resolution as does the Settings-Display-Grapics tab within FSX-SE - 1920x1080x32.

Would you please help me to understand what has changed after the update and how to correct it?

Thank you.

[virtuali]

Nothing in the FSDT Live Update changes your FSX.CFG file.

However, it removes a wrong Compatibility set (like running in XP mode under Windows 10, which is wrong) you might have set to the sim, and this might result in the sim reading a *new* FSX.CFG, because the wrong Compatibility setting you had before forced the sim to read it from a different (wrong) location, now it's finally on the right one but, it's all default, because it was never used before.

So, just set all your settings correctly, from the sim interface.

Also, if you are looking at the FSX-SE.CFG file, this is used ONLY if you still have the regular FSX installed alongside FSX:SE. If you HAD the regular FSX installed, but not anymore, if you uninstalled FSX correctly AND reinstalled FSX:SE afterwards, which is the only proper way to switch from FSX+FSX:SE to FSX:SE only, the location and the filename has changed, so perhaps you are looking at the wrong file because, when FSX:SE is properly configured to run stand-alone, the proper location is

%APPDATA%\Microsoft\FSX\FSX.CFG

the %APPDATA%\Microsoft\FSX-SE\FSX_SE.CFG is only used if you have both FSX and FSX:SE installed together.

[Rusty Gunz]

Additional information to help you (I hope):

1. I have both FSX and FSX-SE currently installed (although on different disk drives) and have not uninstalled or reinstalled either.

2. The compatibility mode tab for each of the .exe files has never had any option checked other than "Run as administrator" - verified by inspecting drive backups from a date prior to the Live Update.

3. I am looking at both FSX-SE.cfg and FSX.cfg because of #1 above.

Your instructions say "just set all your settings correctly, from the sim interface."  I'm not sure I completely understand that.  Are you wanting me to set/verify that the screen resolution is correct using the in-game Options-Settings-etc. tabs?  If so, I have done that and the resolution shows as 1920x1080x32 which matches the Windows settings.

My .cfg files are in these locations - %AppData%\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX\fsx.CFG and %AppData%\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX-SE\fsx_se.CFG (which is what I believe you meant).

Is there something else I'm missing or should be looking at/for?

Thanks for the response and help.

[virtuali]

From your report, it seems your FSX.CFG files are fine.

As I've said, nothing in the FSDT Live touches that file, the only thing it does that *might* have caused this, is that it resets some wrong compatibility flags Windows itself might have mistakenly set to the FSX.EXE, sometimes just because FSX once crashed for any reason, so Windows tried to "fix it" that way. And no, you can't see such compatibility setting in the normal Compatibility tab of the file Properties: it's hidden in the registry.

That's the only thing I can possibly think of that MIGHT (although it's very unlikely, and nobody reported it before) have caused a difference in quality after running the FSDT Live Update, which is what you said you did.

But I'm more willing to accept the simpler solution, which is instead this change was caused by something else entirely, you *happened* to notice it only after running the updater, but it was just coincidental.

[Rusty Gunz]

OK, thank you for the input.  If this is/was caused by compatibility flags being incorrect, what files/changes might GSX have made that I can view to help me understand what I may need to correct elsewhere (in another application, for instance)?

If there is something in the system registry that is/was causing the problem, where or what might I search there to get additional information?  I am familiar with editing the system registry and have done so in the past when necessary to correct other issues.

Thanks again for the help.

[virtuali]

OK, thank you for the input.  If this is/was caused by compatibility flags being incorrect, what files/changes might GSX have made that I can view to help me understand what I may need to correct elsewhere (in another application, for instance)?

You said you ran the FSDT Live Updater, and it changed the resolution. As I've said, the FSDT Live Update DOES NOT make ANY changes to the FSX.CFG.

It's *possible* that changing a compatibility setting in the registry, might have instead forced the sim to look for the FSX.CFG in another folder and, if this wasn't present before, it created a new one, with all default settings, so you might not look at the file the sim is actually using.

Or, it might have been the opposite: your old configuration was in the "wrong" (because of the wrong compatibility settings) folder, now it's finally in the right one, because the updater fixed the registry, but it doesn't contain your old settings.

That's the only possible reason I could think of, according to your report, of having the resolution changed "just" by running the updater.

If, instead, you ran the GSX INSTALLER, that's an entirely different thing (but it's not what you said), because the installer DOES change the FSX.CFG.

Nothing to do with the resolution, of course. It only set the paths for its own Simobjects, and it ensure you have the "Advanced Animations" flag enabled, otherwise no jetways and humans will work.

So, normally, even if the GSX installer changes the FSX.CFG, you wouldn't see any difference in graphic quality, since it doesn't touch any of those settings. HOWEVER, if your existing FSX.CFG was already corrupted BEFORE running the installer, usually because of having edited it by hand, it's possible that running the GSX installer might have caused further issues, up to a point that FSX decided to reset it to default, because it became unreadable, so it started from scratch with all default settings.

But that would only happen (again, theoretically, and ONLY if your FSX.CFG was already corrupted) if you ran the GSX Installer, not the Live Updater, which doesn't touch the FSX.CFG.

[Rusty Gunz]

Sorry, a mistake on my part ... I meant to refer to FSDT Live, not GSX.  All of the issues I mentioned started after running FSDT Live Update.  Please note that I am not indicating Live Update as the problem, only that the issue arose after running it.  I'm not interested in "finger-pointing" or "establishing blame", I only want to understand what may have happened and how to adjust for it.

You mention - "It's *possible* that changing a compatibility setting in the registry, might have instead forced the sim to look for the FSX.CFG in another folder and, if this wasn't present before, it created a new one, with all default settings, so you might not look at the file the sim is actually using.

Or, it might have been the opposite: your old configuration was in the "wrong" (because of the wrong compatibility settings) folder, now it's finally in the right one, because the updater fixed the registry, but it doesn't contain your old settings."

I would like to pursue the registry/file options.  As I mentioned earlier, I am experienced in working with the system registry.

If this is a registry issue, where might I look in the registry to find the entry you mention in your post?

If, on the other hand, this is a file/folder issue, what file/folder name might I look for to find the fsx-se.CFG for review/editing purposes?  (And perhaps this information is available in the registry entries?)

Thanks for your continued help and patience as we work through this.

[virtuali]

If this is a registry issue, where might I look in the registry to find the entry you mention in your post?

It's probably useless *now*. To be meaningful, you should have checked the registry as it were before, to understand if this was indeed the problem. They key we reset back to default it's here:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers

SOME of its possible values are those you can change in the normal file properties, but some are not. We just clear all settings *except* the eventual "Run as administrator", since some user might have some good reason to set it, so we leave it as it is.

If, on the other hand, this is a file/folder issue, what file/folder name might I look for to find the fsx-se.CFG for review/editing purposes?  (And perhaps this information is available in the registry entries?)

The easiest solution to be sure which file the sim is actually reading from, is changing a setting from the sim own UI, and see if the changes in the FSX.CFG as well. That's why I told you to try this in one of my earlier posts.