You can have as many installs of CFS2 as you have disc space for! Simply rename the root directory of your first install to whatever you like and install your new version as normal. You can not remove any stock aircraft. If you try it will give you some error message or crash to desktop when you try to run it.
I have two installs at the moment but as soon as I clean up a bit more space I will be adding a third just for the new Fox Four Korean campaigns.

Hi guys, It is possible to get around the problem of multiple installs and online play.

Unfortunatly, the fix involves changing settings in the registry (not necessarily for the feint hearted!). I gave a detailed explanation in a previous post a couple of months back.  Try searching posts with a subject of 'multiple install'

Basically, the last install will change the registry settings for the Zone to indicate that it is the install to use for multiplayer game starts on the Zone atleast. I don't play anywhere else so I don't know how they work.

Having changed the registry I would expect you to need to reboot the pc for this to take effect.

If there is a suitably techy person out there it should be possible to create a utility that could swap the install used for multiplayer easily enough.

It might however be easier to swap the names of the root folders of the install so that the correct one loaded on multiplayer launch.

I only use 1 install for online play as I always fly either 1% planes or stock if I have to.

If anyone is flying any of FoxFour's  Korean planes online that would be great too.

I hope this helps.

I remember that discussion although not the conclusions we arrived at. I've never played online so this is only theory. I've been using multiple installs of all the M$ sims since I found this was possible by accident back in the days of CFS1. From experience with the CFS2 Mission Builder I discovered that it's recognised by the directory folder name of the latest install, whatever that might be. No registry editing involved, simply renaming folders. I can only assume that it's the same for the Zone.

I've always been in the habit of installing to the default path under the default directory name. C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Combat Flight Simulator 2
In my case this is always the directory the latest install of CFS2 is in. My theory is that providing it's done systematically any folder renamed thus in this location will be recognised on the Zone. Maybe someone can try it & confirm it for me.

PS. The directory folder name is not important providing it's the latest install. For it to work & whatever names you use, all installs should be in the same location.

Thanks for confirming that Kev. On re-reading my reply it's not as clear as it might be.

I think you're a tad off-course on the MB. It's integral with CFS2.exe & there's no separate EXE file in the directory folder. It's launched from the Start menu by default. I find it easier create a desktop shortcut from there.

hi!
I can help you for this problem with this method you can have one folder cfs2 with many differents theatre as you want ,12 if you want.It's more easy that it seems.
I have no time to make the translate french to english but with a dictionnary you can easy do that. 8)
make a copy of this post and stud the process ,it's works with batch files:
Or....learn french
      

La limitation à 200 et quelques du Airbases.dat et le souhait de changer de textures de paysage en fonction du théatre d'opération m'ont conduit à adopter une idée présentée il y a quelque temps sur Netwings.

Voilà :
1-Faites des copies des dossiers que vous voulez rendre spécifiques à chaque théatre d'opération : Pour les missions par exemple, vous créez des répertoires MisEurEF, MisEurWF, Mis Pac, Mis Afr ..., idem pour les campagnes ... etc.
2 - Dans chacun de ces répertoires, (xxxEurEF par exemple), créez un document texte vide et appelez le @EurEF. Faites de même pour les répertoires EurWF, EurAfr, EurPac ... Donc tous vos répertoires xxxEurWF ont un fichier @EurWF, tous vos répertoires xxxPac ont un répertoire @Pac, etc.

3 - Pour les textures, procédez de même, créez des répertoires pour chaque théatre d'opération, dans le répertoire scenedb\world. J'ai AfrTex, EurWFTex, EurEFTex, Pactex. Dans chacun, placez un fichier texte vide nommé @Afr, @EurWF, @EurEF, @Pac.

4 - Pour changer d'airbases.dat, dans votre répertoire CFS2\Info, creez un ficher airbases.dat par théatre d'opération : AirbasesAfr, AirbasesEur, AirbasesPac, en mettant dedans les bases stock plus celles de vos add-ons du théatre considéré. Gardez un back-up du fichier d'origine.

5 - Pour initialiser la manip, renommez l'un de ces fichiers / dossiers dans leurs nom par défaut. Par exemple, choisissez le pacifique et renommez MisPac en Missions, Campac en Campaigns, scenedb\world\Pactex en scenedb\world\texture. Ce faisant, laissez le fichier texte @xxx dans le répertoire. Vous n'aurez plus jamais à faire ça à la main.

6 - Avec Notepad, copiez les lignes suivantes dans un fichier vide, et nommez le CFSEurWF.bat, et placez le dans le répertoire racine de CFS2 :

echo off
if exist missions\@EurEF.txt ren missions MisEurEF
if exist missions\@EurWF.txt ren missions MisEurWF
if exist missions\@Africa.txt ren missions MisAfrica
if exist missions\@Pac.txt ren missions MisPac
ren MisEurWF missions
if exist campaigns\@EurEF.txt ren campaigns CamEurEF
if exist campaigns\@EurWF.txt ren campaigns CamEurWF
if exist campaigns\@Africa.txt ren campaigns CamAfrica
if exist campaigns\@Pac.txt ren campaigns CamPac
ren CamEurWF campaigns
copy Info\airbasesEur.dat Info\airbases.dat
if exist scenedb\world\texture\@Eur.txt ren scenedb\world\texture EurTex
if exist scenedb\world\texture\@Pac.txt ren scenedb\world\texture PacTex
if exist scenedb\world\texture\@Africa.txt ren scenedb\world\texture AfrTex
if exist scenedb\world\texture\@EurEF.txt ren scenedb\world\texture EurEFTex
ren scenedb\world\EurTex texture
exit

7 - Copiez ce fichier, et créez CFSPac. A l'intérieur, ne changez aucne des lignes 'if exist...', mais modifiez les lignes 'ren...' en remplaçant EurEF par Pac. Par exemple la ligne 'ren CamEurEF campaigns' devient 'ren CamPac Campaigns'. Dans la ligne 'copy info\airbasesEur.dat info\airbases.dat, remplacez airbasesEur par airbasesPac.

8 - Creez de même un fichier CFSEurWF, CFSAfr... pour chaque théatre d'opération.

9 - C'est presque fini ! Si vous cliquez sur le fichier CFSEurEF.bat, une fenetre DOS s'ouvre et le répertoire Missions va être renommé en Misxxx en fonction du fichier texte qui se trouve à l'intérieur. Ensuite, il renomme votre MisEurEF en Missions. Et idem pour Campaigns et Textures. Et enfin il copie le AirbasesEur en Airbases.dat.

10 - La fenêtre DOS ne se ferme pas à la fin du process. Fermez la à la main. Pour qu'elle se ferme automatiquement, faites un clic droit sur le fichier.bat et choisissez propriétés. Dans l'onglet 'programme', cochez 'fermez en quittant'.

C'est fini. Placez des raccourcis vers les fichiers .bat sur votre bureau et cliquez dessus pour choisir votre théatre d'opération avant de lancer CFS2.

Cependant, en créant ces fichiers, vérifiez scrupuleusement les noms des fichiers dans vos .dat et vos @xxx.txt.

Et finalement, tout marche très bien, utilise moins d'espace disque que des installations multiples et surtout évite d'avoir à installer les add-ons sur plusieurs installations.

Guy


(Éditez par guyboullenger à 18:38 H le Sept. 23, 2003)

Hi!
I feel your disappointement about this topic in french language. ???
I have two sons and I must take a ticket to use my computer,today I could find one hour to make the traduction .
It's a "home" traduction with my associates Harrap and shorter ,I hope you'll understand...
Well let's go:

The limit of +-200 for the Airbases.dat, +-100 for planes folder and the wish to change aircrafts and texture for the area in different theatres can be do with this process.
See on Netwings and Cfsfrance :

1.make a copy of the folders that you want to be specific for each theatre . exemple for the missions you create folders MisEurEF, MisEurWF, Mis Pac, Mis Afr...,idem for campagnes aircraft etc..

2.in each folder,(xxxEurWF for exemple),create text document empty and name it @EurWF.Do the same thing for each other folders xxxEurEF,xxxAfr,xxxPac...well All your folders xxxEurWF must have a txt document @EurWF.txt,all your folders xxxPac must have inside a txt document @Pac.txt,etc....

3.For the textures,same process,create folder for each theatre,in folder scenedb\world you can have AfrTex (desert)EurWFTex EurEFTex(snow for exemple) PacTex (tropical) inside each these folders place a text document empty and name it @Afr,@EurWF.,@EurEF,@Pac.,@SCW,@Kor...

4.To change airbases.dat in your cfs2\info folder,create a airbase.dat for each theatre : AirbasesAfr,AirbasesEurWF,AirbasesPac etc..,and put in this the stock bases and all these with your add-ons for each theatre.Make a backup with the original..

5.For initialise the process.rename one of these files/ folders in their default names.For exemple choose Pacific and rename MisPac to missions,CamPac to campaigns,scenedb\world\PacTex to scenedb\world\texture etc...when you do that let txt document @Pac in all the xxxPac folders normally you'll never to do that handly.


6.with Notepad.make a copy of this text following and name it CFSEurWF.bat and place it in the main cfs2 folder

for exemple my CFEurWF.bat with for the moment 4 theatre intalled EurWF(europa WF) Pac (pacific) Kor(Korea) and SCW (Spanish civil War)
in project Africa and Europa east front.
You can copy it as start point:

echo off
if exist missions\@EurEF.txt ren missions MisEurEF
if exist missions\@EurWF.txt ren missions MisEurWF
if exist missions\@Africa.txt ren missions MisAfrica
if exist missions\@Pac.txt ren missions MisPac
if exist missions\@SCW.txt ren missions MisSCW
if exist missions\@Kor.txt ren missions MisKor   
ren MisEurWF missions
if exist campaigns\@EurEF.txt ren campaigns CamEurEF
if exist campaigns\@EurWF.txt ren campaigns CamEurWF
if exist campaigns\@Africa.txt ren campaigns CamAfrica
if exist campaigns\@Pac.txt ren campaigns CamPac
if exist campaigns\@SCW.txt ren campaigns CamSCW
if exist campaigns\@Kor.txt ren campaigns CamKor
ren CamEurWF campaigns
if exist aircraft\@EurEF.txt ren aircraft AirEurEF
if exist aircraft\@EurWF.txt ren aircraft AirEurWF
if exist aircraft\@Africa.txt ren aircraft AirAfrica
if exist aircraft\@Pac.txt ren aircraft AirPac
if exist aircraft\@SCW.txt ren aircraft AirSCW
if exist aircraft\@Kor.txt ren aircraft AirKor
ren AirEurWF aircraft
if exist scenedb\world\texture\@EurWF.txt ren scenedb\world\texture EurWFTex
if exist scenedb\world\texture\@Pac.txt ren scenedb\world\texture PacTex
if exist scenedb\world\texture\@Africa.txt ren scenedb\world\texture AfrTex
if exist scenedb\world\texture\@EurEF.txt ren scenedb\world\texture EurEFTex
if exist scenedb\world\texture\@SCW.txt ren scenedb\world\texture SCWTex
if exist scenedb\world\texture\@Kor.txt ren scenedb\world\texture KorTex    
ren scenedb\world\EurWFTex texture
if exist uires\@EurEF.txt ren uires UIREurEF
if exist uires\@EurWF.txt ren uires UIREurWF
if exist uires\@Africa.txt ren uires UIRAfrica
if exist uires\@Pac.txt ren uires UIRPac
if exist uires\@SCW.txt ren uires UIRSCW
if exist uires\@Kor.txt ren uires UIRKor
ren UIREurWF uires
if exist quickcom\@EurEF.txt ren quickcom QCEurEF
if exist quickcom\@EurWF.txt ren quickcom QCEurWF
if exist quickcom\@Africa.txt ren quickcom QCAfrica
if exist quickcom\@Pac.txt ren quickcom QCPac
if exist quickcom\@SCW.txt ren quickcom QCSCW
if exist quickcom\@Kor.txt ren quickcom QCKor   
ren QCEurWF quickcom 
copy Info\airbasesEurWF.dat Info\airbases.dat
exit

7.Make a copy this text file and create CFSPac inside, don't change any "if exist.." lines,but modifie "ren.." lines replacing EurWF for Pac.for exemple " ren CamEurWF campaigns" gonna be " ren CamPac campaigns".
In "copy info\airbasesEurWF.dat Info\airbases.dat" line replace  airbasesEurWF for airbasesPac.

8.create in the same way CFSKor, CFSSCW....for each op.theatre.

9.It's the end soon! If you click in the CFSEurWF.bat,a DOS window will open and all the xxxEurWF folders will be renamed in their defaults names :missions, campaigns,aircraft etc....and will copy AirbasesEurWF.dat for Airbases.dat.

10.sometimes the DOS doesn't close at the end of process ,close it handly.If you want a automatic close do a right click and go to property (propriétés in french) and choose "close leaving" or something like this...I have not this problem...

That's all, do a short cut of each batch.file CFSPac CFSKor CFSSCW CFSEurWF.. in your desktop and choose your Op theatre by clicking before launch Cfs2 game.
However,creating this files,check scrupulously any folders names @xxx.txt and others xxx.dat they must have the right spelling.
Finally this process works very well ,use less space in your HD and especially avoid to install addons in differents CFS2installs.The MB works also with each theatre .

I hope it was not too long and I really recommand this process.
At the begin make a test with two different theatre and when you'll understand the mechanism you'll can create the other OP theatre.
Do the tests with the main cfs2 folder open you'll see the folder changing name and you'll find easely any error and were they came.

Thanks to Guy for this tip and all other in CfsFrance for their help.

GOODBY!

JP

Hi all,

Well I've tried the easier method. I put two separate installs on the same Hard Drive Partition, and gave them different names.

The  name of the last install is the one used to play on the zone.

Whichever install I want to use on the zone, I just change the name of the folder to the last install's name, and I sign onto the zone & fly.

In a week or so, when I get tired of one or both of these installs, I'll use the other, more complicated method. Mainly cause I'm lazy, lol.

BTW, I had to set up a 10 Gb partition to handle all the gauges, weapons, aircraft, & other stuff that had to be doubled up.

My scenery is in another partition, and I only need one install of that. Both cfs2 installs can access the same scenery files.

Hope this has helped others, If not, at least enlightened some.

Chief