Crash to Desktop

**bill2759** · 03-26-2004, 12:49 PM

For the past month I have been going down in flames. Granted I have installed Ultimate Traffic, Megascenery New York, But I'm not always in the New York Area. I get the usual respones "Windows XP has detected a problem with MS Flight simulator and will be shut down. It also says I am short on virtual memory and this will be increased. I always thought virtual memory was using disk space as memory r/w when you ran out of real memory. I have one Gig of High speed ddr 3200 ram. More than enough for this program to run, isn't it? I decided to run in windowed mode and monitor the task manager. Every thing seems to be okay. CPU usage around 50%. BUT! Ram usage continues to climb as the program runs. I'm not flying, just sitting at the end of the active runway watching the Heavies land and depart. The main culprit seems to be Page file usage. These total continue to rise, even when the simulation is paused and I'm just watching the task manager. There are three levels to this indicator.They are Total, Limit and Peak. The Total and peak seem to move in lock step. When they reach the peak number, which varies very little, BAM! FS9 crashes. This number for page file usage starts at the begining of the sim and continues to increase as time passes. It will always crash, given enough time. I'm not adverse to purchasing anothe 512K of memory, but it seems all this will do is buy me more time before FS9 takes a nose dive into the desk top. Rather a long post, but I'm counting on a Guru on this site to let me know if I have a problem or is the problem with FS9. thankyou

**MadMaster** · 03-26-2004, 09:01 PM

It isn't a hardware problem (obviously) so it has to be some kind of software problem. The best place to start would be to reinstall FS9, than add the add-ons one at a time untill you have them all on. If one causes the problem than you have found the culprit. If not than you have fixed the problem.

I hope this helps!

**bill2759** · 03-29-2004, 12:36 PM

OK! I took your advice and found the problem to be Ultimate Traffic. I uninstalled and reinstalled the program. Problem remains. Now What? What is causing the memory usage to keep rising, even when the sim is paused. I've done some research and all I can find on page memory is that its a faster way of addressing memory addresses. I've gone ahead and ordered another 512k of memory. maybe there's a cap or limit on how much memory can be assigned to paging. Has anybody else monitered Ultimate traffic to see if the same thing is happening to you?

**Andrew_L** · 03-29-2004, 03:32 PM

Have you installed Landclass files? if you have do a search in the archives of the 2004 forum...there have been lots of cases of 'memory issues' causing CTD's because of landclass files (think it was something to do with them needing to be in a Scenery folder but NO texture folder...but not certain...search and you'll find it i'm sure)

Good luck

Andrew

**MadMaster** · 03-30-2004, 12:10 AM

bah....your using generic ram....

With your next computer do not use generic ram. The reason is cheap ram sometimes has a problem of being unstable.

Keep this in mind when getting your next computer, I doubt that it is causing your current problem. Even though it is possible.

For your current problem I suspect that it is a runtime error somewhere in Ultimate Traffic that is causing this problem. My advice now is to try running Ultimate Traffic on a clean install of FS9. See if that fixes it. Also, don't run any programs in the background. Do this by doing ctrl-alt-del and going to processes and ending the task of everything except System, Local Service, Network Service, and explorer.exe.

This is all I can think up. I hope this helps!

**Emile** · 03-30-2004, 01:24 AM

Hello,
I had the same problems, all came from a LANDCLASS .bgl mixed with scenery .bgl .
A landclass .bgl MUST be in a scenery folder and NOT associated with a Texture folder
see http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/DCForumID21/13157.html

hope it helps

**bill2759** · 03-30-2004, 09:10 AM

Alright already! I have uninstalled and deleted FS9 and its associated files. Deleted Ultimate Traffic, Megascenery and started clean with a defragmented harddrive. So far, so good, with just FS9 and Ultimate Traffic. I shall add my other scenery and land class files slowly, and monitor results as I add them. I think you are being much too harsh on generic memory. I find it works fine, lasts a long time. I also run FS9 after "End It All" Thank you for your responses.

**MadMaster** · 03-30-2004, 10:07 PM

I have had problems with generic memory. Also many people have problems with generic ram. I have to agree sometimes you get really good generic ram. I had PC2100 in my last computer for about 1 1/2 years without a problem. Afterall it is worth the extra $10 for the good memory because if you go with the cheap stuff you might end up screwing yourself over and end up getting the more expensive ram in the end. Thus causing yourself an extra $50-100 because you wanted to save $10.

The reason you get quality memory is because memory varies in quality a lot. With good brand memory you are very likely to get a good stick because of better quality control. With generic ram there might not be as good quality control and you are not sure what you are getting. Sure you could come out with a good stick of generic ram but every time you buy it you are running a higher risk of getting trash than with good memory.

It was just a tip for your future computer.

Glad to help!