my pc finally died so i need to reinstall BIAB. I bought the ultrapack in 2018 so i'm tempted to install BIAB 2018, activate it and leave the download manager to do the work of installing the vast number of RealTracks. Then add all my bonuses, xtra styles and upgrades to 2021 manually.

i'll delete the installers and downloads once i'm up to date. am i right in thinking that i don't need to activate or even open the various upgrades as i go along until i finally get to 2021 and then if i install the latest BIAB and RB patches they are cumulative and will include all the RealTrack fixes since 2018?

Did the hard drive crash or can you still access that ?
If so you can just copy the bb folder over and just run the font installer, DXi Plugins installer and Sforzando installer, then activate BB.

no the pc died as the hard disc gave up

Yes, the patches are cumulative, but I believe they are only applicable to a specific year's release, i.e. the final patch for 2018 will be OK for BIAB2018 but 2019-2021 patches will not.

Vintage

That is correct. The latest patch for Windows 2018 is build 520 HERE.

Bob, if you would like, you could contact us and we can confirm the best way to re-install for you. Also, if you plan to upgrade to the 2021 version, if you purchase the UltraPAK or higher then you would not need to re-install your 2018 version. We would be happy to discuss your options with you.

i have 2021, updating with the plus packs every year since 2018. what i wanted to confirm is that i don't need to update 2018,19 and 20 as i go along - jsut install them. i'm assuming that RealTrack updates contained in the latest 2021 patch will bring me up to date - as if i bought 2021 as a new purchase.

maybe i wasn't quite clear but i remember updates that affected RealTracks en masse. i simply wanted to use the Download Manager to do the heavy lifting of downloading the huge number of RealTracks in my original 2018 ultrapack. I'll do the rest as i go along manually.

I'm also assuming that as i load the pluspacks, i don't need to activate each yearly instance of BIAB

I think What Chantelle was saying is that if you install 2021 there is no need to install any of the older stuff (assuming you have the ultrapak). It is all in there. Any extras you may have purchased would still need to be installed and you can do that in any way that is available to you including download manager.

If you purchase the UltraPAK 2021 then that is correct. Also if you had purchased any Xtra Styles PAKs, Loops-with-Styles, or the XPro Styles then these must be re-downloaded and installed manually. These particular add-ons are not in the Download Manager because they are sold separately from the main Band-in-a-Box PAKs.

If you have the UltraPAK 2018 and then a PlusPAK for each consecutive year then the 2018 must be installed first, 2019, 2020, and then 2021 and all of the add-ons for each version. You do not have to activate each of these, just activate the 2021 once you are finished installing it, unless if you want to use the Download Manager for each version.

Without being able to look up what you currently have to confirm in our records, it's hard to give exact advice, however, if you had a 2018 UltraPAK or higher, and then a 2019 PlusPAK and a 2020 PlusPAK, then yes, you'd need to install the 2018, 2019, 2020, and new 2021 content together. Unless you get the UltraPAK 2021 or higher. If you do, the 2021 UltraPAK and higher contains all the previous RealTracks and regular styles (not including any of the optional Style PAKS you may have purchased such as XtraStyles PAKs or XPro, for example) which would need to be installed as well with the new version, unless you were install 2021 directly overtop of your previous content - which you don't need to do if you have an UltraPAK or higher.

So it really depends on how you want to install and what exact content you had before. If you want us to go over your exact steps with you, you can e-mail sales@pgmusic.com and they can easily look up your account info with you and discuss your process with you.

ok, just to confirm what i will be doing. install 2018 ultrapack manually plus the bonus files that the download manager doesn't pick up. then open and activate BIAB 2018 and use the download manager to install all the realtracks i got then.

then............manually install every pluspak update and RealTracks that went with it, bonuses, xtra styles discs etc, but not opening or activating BIAB in its various versions.

when i install 2021 pluspak and every bonus, xtra styles disc etc, i will activate BIAB and then download and install the latest patch for BIAB and RB

i will then download Cakewalk by Bandlab to get the 64 bit TTS1 and reinstall all my purchased vst plugins

a long process but fairly straightforward

I think that we all could benefit from a flowchart of all possible scenarios.
This could help visualize the process and save the user contacting the support team.

Maybe PG Music could do one for us and add it as a sticky on this forum.

Just a thought.

it's fairly intuitive but as i haven't reinstalled BIAB for nearly 15 years I was just checking. the only possible improvement would be if the download manager worked for all my incarnations of BIAB by being linked to my account rather than the activation code of individual BIAB purchases.

it would be marvelous if i could install BIAB 2021 and everything listed on my account then installed automatically!

Remember to back up all your download purchases somewhere safe and don't rely on th PG Music website as with time go by older downloads might don't show up on your account.

I had problems with it, with my EverythingPAK and some free bonus software that came with various purchases throughout the years.

It got quite frustrating to explain to the support team what I had purchased and what bonus software came with it. Eventually they found they info and I was able to restore the files, in particular the Chords Dictionary program, which I like to use.

thanks for the advice, everything i have bought since my original purchase in 2018 is still there

I didn't read all this thread, but in case it helps, this is what I do: I keep the EXE files for each add-on (Xtra styles, bonus paks etc.) so I can always rebuild easily, even without logging on to my account at PG Music where they have a record of all my purchases. I periodically delete older year builds and updates and the older annual installs. This is done once a year, as part of housekeeping.

Once you get it all set up again make a copy of the bb folder onto a thumb drive. Then all you need to do is run the installers for fonts, directx plugins and sforzando.