Checked Registry as you suggested and all are empty
I'm sorry but, it's not possible that, if the registry keys are empty, you would see that message. So, the only possible explanation is that you haven't checked the registry correctly.
Here's the two affected keys that GSX checks for:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\12bPilot\SimObject Display Engine\Version
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\12bPilot\SimObject Display Engine\Version
And yes, before posting, I tried it again, just to be sure, by manually emptying both keys and, sure enough, GSX proceeds.
Note that, the registry editing will work only to fool GSX into proceeding with the installation but if SODE is not *really* uninstalled and these are not just leftovers, the SODE installer launched by GSX WILL fail just the same, irregardless how what you did to the registry.
I cannot find any mention of SODE on my computer. Why the new GSX installer can not just overwrite and update the registry and save me this headache is beyond me. Bob
That would be totally useless. If GSX didn't care of the registry, the SODE installer would have told you exactly the same, because it is the SODE installer *itself* that doesn't allow to be installed, if it finds an outdated version.
The obvious reason why the GSX installer check first, is that the SODE installation step is done towards the end of the GSX installation, so it wouldn't have much sense to install 90% of GSX, then having you stuck at the SODE step. So, of course, GSX correctly check this as the first thing it does, so you won't have to lose your time waiting for the GSX installation to almost end, only to discover you cannot install SODE, so GSX won't work with jetways anyway, so you'll be back to square one.
You must uninstall SODE, there are no shortcuts around this.