Ver 2.0 Alpha 8.5 won't run on Windows XP

[Stuckintree]

I have downloaded and installed Version 2.0 Alpha 8.5 for Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP. I am running XP home edition.
The install went fine, but the simulator will not run.

When starting the simulator it goes directly to an error message "FMS.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

I appreciate any help that will be offered.

[ggunners]

There are many stickys and posts that describe fixes for FMS 2 alpha 8.5 on XP and Vista. Please read them.

Known serial port COMx problem with machines that do not have a serial port. More common these days.

Known issues with Vista that needs a DirectX .dll from XP to run FMS.

There are some known graphics issues with FMS and some graphics cards.

-- ggunners

[Stuckintree]

Ok, as you said, I have searched and found a solution.

Apparently, newer XP computers do not have serial ports, and FMS requires a serial or COM port to run.

I am sure that this creates a large number of potential FMS users that are dis-satisfied with an otherwise great simulator, and a large number of forum members who are tired of answering the same question.

So, for newbie FMS users, please be aware that free software requires more work to figure out how to run it, but it is a great simulator once you get it running (far better that the original RealFlight Deluxe I was using). Additionally, keep in mind that the current RealFlight is two hundred bucks.

As for the tired forum members, telling a newbie to search the forum is little help, please go just one step further, save a link to this post (or another more helpful post) in a text file that you can easily cut and paste into your posts.

Ok, now that the lecture is done here's how I made FMS 2 alpha 8.5 run on XP.

Go to the control panel, click "Sysyem" and the system properties dialog box will appear. Look in Device Manager, under ‘Ports (COM & LPT)’ to see if any COM ports are defined. If none are found, you MUST define some sort of serial port for FMS 2.0 Alpha 8.5 to run on either XP or Vista.

If no com ports are found, you will need to download a freeware program that creates a virtual port. The program I downloaded is called HW Virtual Serial Port and can be found here: http://www.roxysoft.com/download-hw_vir ... alPort.zip. Just download the program, install it, and then run it. It will put an "HW Virtual Serial Port" icon on your desktop, double-click that icon to start the program. When it opens click 'Create COM'. Several messages will pop up, including Virtual Serial Port COM5 created or some such, and perhaps a Winsock error 10061 or such. Ignore the error, it doesn't matter. Click the Hide button and FMS should now run.

Please note that If you reboot your computer or stop the HW program, you'll need to run it again, and again click the "Create COM" icon to re-create the virtual com port before starting FMS. If you close the HW program instead of hiding it FMS will not run.

Credit for the above information should be given to forum members John Galt, and 2Singers, I am no expert on this matter.

This worked for me, I hope it helps you.

[Decky]

Many thanks, the error was a mystery to me and this solution cracked it. Before it would work I just needed to uncheck "Don't create VSP Port if Ping to remote device failed" under the Settings tab.