This was an interesting undertaking. Microsofr Flight Simulator X is a game that I get asked about all the time. I have searched here and there for anyone that has done it and even the avid users don't seem to know if there are people doing it in a collocation facility / data center. The part that I tried to simulate was installing the entire game and launching the server without plugging in a monitor / mouse / keyboard. Since this is a game without a dedicated server executable, it was difficult to find a combination that would allow the game to successfully launch.


Below is a step by step on how to install and configure Microsoft Flight Simulator on a Dedicated Server. The bottom line is that you need a hosting company that will allow you to upgrade the video card on the server; and yes biggameserver.com is one of those companies. Because we own all our own hardware; this is easy for us to do. The nature of a server board is not to perform graphic intensive tasks. The video cards that are built onto the motherboards are just not up to the task of openGL etc. In my early testing I found that when you run the DirectX 9.X install there is jargon that pops up on the screen relating to a windows server edition. This is either a stripped down flavor or missing some of the components to allow the Flight Simulator to successfully launch.

In addition to the above hurdle it was very obvious that Windows Remote Desktop would not work either. There is no real video support, openGL or DirectX support with that software technology. VNC was the only option. I started with " tightvnc " and " ultravnc ". I am a big fan of both but there were odd performance issues with Flight Simulator. For whatever reason I had very high processor usage when running them while the game was running. When I switched to RealVNC life was good. http://www.realvnc.com

The below steps might be able to be streamlined but this is the brutal truth as to how I got it to launch.

Assumptions:
Download and install REALVNC
Install a basic NVIDIA or ATI graphics card. (the $50.00 one)
Disable the Onboard Graphics Card (Critical) do it in the bios
Download and install DirectX
Reboot

Step 1
Take the 2 DVD's in the purchased box and RAR them.

Step 2
Spend the next 6-8 hours uploading the RAR files through FTP to your dedicated server.

Step 3
Unzip the RAR files to the Desktop into two folders (Disc1 and Disk2) or whatever you want.

Step 4
Go into Disc1 and start the install of the game

Step 5
The game will start to install and somewhere in the install you will get an error about not being able to find a file "Retry or Cancel" are your given options. DON'T DO ANYTHING --> GO TO STEP 6

Step 6
Hit that button on the taskbar that minimizes everything

Step 7
Open the Disc1 folder and the Disc2 folder.

Step 8
Copy all the files in the Disc2 folder into the Disc1 folder. If you are asked to overwrite and of the files, answer NO

Step 9
Click back on the Game install and now press " Retry " and the game install will now finish.

Step 10
Try launching the game. On one of my attempts I had success. Later on another machine that I tried I got a graphics card error from the game. If this happens the below fixed it for me:

Right Click on the Desktop --> Select Properties --> Select Settings --> On the Settings Tab click Advanced --> Click the Troubleshoot Tab and change the Hardware Acceleration to Full. This something that my vnc install changed.