FSX will not launch. Steam Must Be Running to play this game (Steam Initialization failed).

[colesdav]

This game will not run for me at all.
Just purchased today.
I get the following" Steam Must Be Running to play this game (Steam Initialization failed)."
Steam is definitely running and appears to be working fine.
I can run other titles with no problem.

This is a Windows 8.1 64Bit.
The Windows installation is clean.
Clean install of FSX straight to C: Drive - same drive as Steam installation.
Verified files o.k. after installation.
Steam runs other games fine without problem.
I am also running latest clean install of AMD WHQL Drivers.


Bored before I even start to play it now.
I am about to ask for a refund and buy XPLANE-11 instead unless someone can offer any solution to this

Thanks.

[colesdav]

Right ...

After three installs and much wasted time I find out I have to run Steam as Administrator just to get this game to run.

Really?
Come on. get it fixed. This is 2017.

You shouldn't be running your PC or applications as admin when connected to the the Internet.

That is asking for trouble.

[redpandabros]

how do you get it to run administrator

[Rogen]

I don't run Steam as admin and the sim runs just fine for me.

What I do have configured is a separate SSD drive for Games and Steam which doesn’t have the restrictive ACL (Access Control List) permissions of the default Windows Programs Files directories. You can achieve the same functionality by defining a steam install location outside of Program Files directories using Steam's settings.

And the sim is actually from 2006 making it 11 years old this year.

NOTE: I actually first got into flying sims back when "FSX" was developed by SubLogic and was available on the king computer of the day... The Commodore 64, although FSX first saw the light of the day in 1979 according to the Wiki.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft_Flight_Simulator
http://mujweb.cz/havlikjosef/timelineenglish.htm

Not too many applications have such a rich history and have spawned such a huge following of fans, internet shops, companies producing high quality addons and hardware, magazines, shows, group websites etc.

And all achieved even though Microsoft are no longer supporting the software. Good old Microsoft shooting themselve in the foot (or feet given the 10 Billion they burned on Nokia, and then there is the Windows 8+ abominations).

You could say FSX is one of the original "DLC" games before the term DLC was even common.

Cheers

[redpandabros]

ya for me it says steam has to be running to play this game
and my steam is open

[colesdav]

Originally posted by redpandabros:

ya for me it says steam has to be running to play this game
and my steam is open

First of all shut down Steam.
Then
In Windows 8.1 Desktop with "Classic Shell" Installed in my case ... I do the following.
All Programs -> Steam,
Then Hover Your Mouse over the Steam Icon.
Then Right click and a Menu pops up.
Then Left Click over "Run As Administrator".
Then type in the Administrator Password for your PC.
Then Steam will Launch.
Then Launch FSX. It should work this time.

This should not be needed or if it is, then this issue should have been covered in the recommended "Watch this Video" which ... I watched.

Hope this helps you anyway.

[redpandabros]

what video

[colesdav]

Originally posted by Rogen:

I don't run Steam as admin and the sim runs just fine for me.

What I do have configured is a separate SSD drive for Games and Steam which doesn’t have the restrictive ACL (Access Control List) permissions of the default Windows Programs Files directories. You can achieve the same functionality by defining a steam install location outside of Program Files directories using Steam's settings.

And the sim is actually from 2006 making it 11 years old this year.

Not too many applications have such a rich history and have spawned such a huge following of fans, internet shops, companies producing high quality addons and hardware, magazines, shows, group websites etc.

And all achieved even though Microsoft are not supporting the software. Good old Microsoft shooting themselve in the foot (or feet given the 10 Billion they burned on Nokia and the Windows 8+ abominations).

You could say FSX is one of the original "DLC" games before term DLC was even common.

Cheers

Thanks for the information.

I guess I could go out and buy as separate SSD/HDD, install steam on it instead so I can run this game. Or maybe the developer could take my and other money and fix the issue instead... ? Seriously I wasted time on this.

I didn't say anything about how old the game is / 2006. ... I guess you read my review:
Well end of 2001 I wes running this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCe6Bpu8YlY
And FSX doesn't seem to be that much different from what I see so far.

[Rogen]

Each to there own...buy it don't buy it, get a refund or don't, whatever floats your boat.

And you should understand Microsoft have not licensed Dovetail games with carte blanch control over the source code, basically they have just enough rights to get it running on Steam in which they have succeeded quite well.

I myself don't feel FSX 2002 really compares to FSX-SE but if you are going look to buy another flight sim there is also Prepar3D which is FSX where Lockheed/Martin do have full control over the FSX source code. I think the Wiki covers it all pretty well.

Personally FSX has never given me an issue in running and I also run a quite large number of addins - scenery, aircraft and airports.

In fact here are a few screen shots.

I like a challange myself...

Cheers

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198017900670/screenshots/?appid=314160&sort=newestfirst&browsefilter=myfiles&view=grid

[colesdav]

Originally posted by Rogen:

Each to there own...buy it don't buy it, get a refund or don't, whatever floats your boat.

And you should understand Microsoft have not licensed Dovetail games with carte blanch control over the source code, basically they have just enough rights to get it running on Steam in which they have succeeded quite well.

I myself don't feel FSX 2002 really compares to FSX-SE but if you are going look to buy another flight sim there is also Prepar3D which is FSX where Lockheed/Martin do have full control over the FSX source code. I think the Wiki covers it all pretty well.

Personally FSX has never given me an issue in running and I also run a quite large number of addins - scenery, aircraft and airports.

In fact here are a few screen shots.

I like a challange myself...

Cheers

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198017900670/screenshots/

Hi,

Thanks again.

I have DCS and will possibly buy XPlane-11. I was looking for a modern simulator.
I did not realize the restrictions on development of FSX.

I have pushed the Visual and enviroment settings for everything up to the max and flew around New York. it looks better the 2002 version when I do that but I would expect it to.
However when I push the settings up to this level, I am only seeing around 14FPS
running on a Quad Core 8 thread i7-4770K with a Single R9 Nano (Fury X) running.

In a gaming review that would be down as unplayable.
Even with this things like water in the harbour is static.

Like you say ... each to their own.
Thanks again for your input.

[Rogen]

I have DCS World too, however I find I find myself GA flying in FSX-SE mostly.

Cheers

[rjlfry]

The DTG Flight Simulator Forum

General user-to-user discussion forum. DTG representatives may respond to some question but this product has not been released but is scheduled for release in 2016. Members may post information they have learned about this new product for our membership. Quoting DTG: Dovetail Games has signed a global licensing deal with Microsoft, granting exclusive rights to develop and publish all-new flight simulation products based on Microsoft flight simmulator.
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This from the biggest fllight sim site in the world so all talk about DTG not being able to devlope flight simmulator is bull .

[colesdav]

Originally posted by rjlfry:

The DTG Flight Simulator Forum

General user-to-user discussion forum. DTG representatives may respond to some question but this product has not been released but is scheduled for release in 2016. Members may post information they have learned about this new product for our membership. Quoting DTG: Dovetail Games has signed a global licensing deal with Microsoft, granting exclusive rights to develop and publish all-new flight simulation products based on Microsoft flight simmulator.
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This from the biggest fllight sim site in the world so all talk about DTG not being able to devlope flight simmulator is bull .

Hi,

I have no idea if FSX fail to launch problem is fixable or not due to license / rights restrictions.

I don't want to start a fight with anyone... I want flight, not fight.

I am new to Modern Flight Simulators and not looked at them for many years until recently.
I have just been reporting my experience with FSX to date.
I have no ill will towards FSX at all.
I definitely see value in it for Retro Gaming Experience.

I would like to see this problem of failing to launch fixed.

I wonder how many people buy this game, it fails to launch, they don't spend 2 hours trying
to report the issue and get a workaround themselves.

I am sure many people would simply ask for a refund immediately.

I do think also that the game engine needs an overhall because it looks like it only heavily loads on 3 out of 8 logical CPU cores on i7-4770K with max CPU Total Utilization seen on my overclocked CPU of 55% when running this game. I only get ~ 14-20 FPS at 1080p with all graphics settings maxed out. The GPU (R9 Nano FuryX) is not struggling. I can run Triple FullHD displays into single 6016x1080 display and the Frame rate is the same, 14-20 FPS.

Also I am not sure what Preview DX10 means exacltly ... I am assuming that means Pre full DX10. Games are coming out now with DX12 support, so again the Game Engine is outdated here.

Anyhow I am continuing to test / look at FSX, and it does indeed look like large modding community providing more scenery for free which starts to make this more interesting.
The modders should get paid though... since they seem to be doing lots to develop FSX.

[Rogen]

Originally posted by rjlfry:
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The DTG Flight Simulator Forum

General user-to-user discussion forum. DTG representatives may respond to some question but this product has not been released but is scheduled for release in 2016. Members may post information they have learned about this new product for our membership. Quoting DTG: Dovetail Games has signed a global licensing deal with Microsoft, granting exclusive rights to develop and publish all-new flight simulation products based on Microsoft flight simmulator.
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This from the biggest fllight sim site in the world so all talk about DTG not being able to devlope flight simmulator is bull .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

??? Not quite sure what you are on about....

Yes DTG are developing their own flight sim aka "Dovetail Games Flight Simulator", however for Microsoft Flight Simulator X, what you see is what you get as they are licensed to distribute the sim on Steam and make whatever updates were needed for that to occur.

DTG's goal was never to continualy enhance FSX itself, rather the intention was to make it more compatable with modern systems, replace the defunct GameSpy mutliplayer with Steam's and distribute through Steam, all of which they have achieved.

They have since released their Flight School product and should sometime this year release their new 64bit "Dovetail Games Flight Simulator" and you can read bits and pieces of info and conjecture in these very Steam forums.

Other major developers such as Orbx have hinted at a road map with a number of multi targeted platforms http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/127182-orbx-2017-roadmap/

Orbx mention Projects A,D P, X and O and perhaps the first letter is a clue in which case there may soon be a plethera of amazing flight sims with great enhancements.

Perhaps (and this is just a guess just as others have made)
A = Aerofly FS
D = Dovetail Games Flight Simulator
P = Lockheed/Martin Prepar3D
X = Xplane
O = Orbx Direct


2017 looks to be a quite exciting year for flight simming.

Cheers

[rjlfry]

It`s just that slaging off DTG seam`s to be the done thing hear that may be why DTG Cryss has gone to another furom to post, if you prefer P3D or XP good luck go fly there are forums for that you can post on.

[colesdav]

Originally posted by rjlfry:

It`s just that slaging off DTG seam`s to be the done thing hear that may be why DTG Cryss has gone to another furom to post, if you prefer P3D or XP good luck go fly there are forums for that you can post on.

I opened this thread to report a real problem with this game launching.
No intention of "slagging off DTG" I just request a fix.
I will post a screenshot of the launch failure I see later.