Could you briefly fire up your FS9 for me?

[Men In Black]

I've just noticed an odd CTD-causing thing in FS9, the cause of which may or may not be an inherent bug of FS9. In case it is caused by something wrong on my system, then I'm gonna have to launch an investigation :confused: but if it is (maybe unlikely, but still possible) a bug associated with FS9 itself, there's not much that I can do to find out if that's the case, except for asking you guys to check this out for me with your FS9 installations, if you care to.

 

So this is what happens: I start FS, go to the "create a flight" section, select the default Cessna C172, select the KSEA airport (Seattle-Tacoma), then click on fly now. The other settings (weather & time/date) are irrelevant. The flight starts as expected (and as it should) with the default C172 in 2D cockpit view, at the default KSEA airport. Now if I simply move the aircraft (via World - Go to Airport) at the LRTM airport (Vidrasau, Targu Mures, Romania) on the active runway, while remaining in 2D cockpit view, the sim will display the loading bar as normal, and when that's done, the FS crashes to desktop.

 

This only seems to be happening when moving the aircraft from certain airports (including KSEA) to LRTM, after starting the flight at one of those airports, it doesn't happen if I start the flight directly at LRTM. Also, it doesn't happen if I move the aircraft to LRTM while in spot plane view, it only happens in 2D panel view. Additionally, it only happens if I move the aircraft to the active runway at LRTM (it won't happen if I move it to one of the parking spots). So in order for me to find out if this is (unlikely, I'd say) an inherent bug of FS9, I bow my head in front of you, brothers and sisters in yokes, and kindly ask you if you could check this one out for me (if you're in the mood and have enough spare time) by doing the following on your FS9 installations, it's just an easy, routine FS run, no biggie:

 

Start your FS9, go to "create a flight" section (if your sim hasn't started at that section by default), make sure the default C172SP Skyhawk is selected, make sure the KSEA airport is selected (again, weather and time/date is irrelevant), then hit "fly now!". After the flight has loaded, make sure you're in the 2D cockpit view, and stay there. Now via the "World - Go to Airport" menu, input LRTM in the "Airport ID" field (should give you Vidrasau, Targu Mures, Romania), make sure it says "Active Runway" under "Runway/Starting position", and click OK. Let me know if your sim crashes to desktop or successfully takes you to LRTM as it should.

 

Thank you so much in advance!

MIB

[napamule2]

I just tried this as per your instructions and nothing bad happened. I went from daytime to nightime, of course. That required scenery files to be loaded prior to been transported to LRTM, of course. Of course is a horse, off course... (sorry, couldn't resist). But it is an interesting problem. No clue where to start looking. My guess it's not FS9... it's YOU (hehe).

Chuck B

Napamule

[BobSeaman]

Have you tried loading a different flight/adventure in a different location?

I don't run FS9 (FS2002 junkie but they're close enough for this problem) so I can't tell you which ones to try. Just try it and see if FS crashes.

 

If it does, you may have some broken files in your install.

 

If not, try loading the sim like you described and just make smaller jumps to other airports.

Eventually, you'll want to wind up (at least) near your home airport. Try flying to it and see what happens. If you can land there, save that flight at that point. If you wind up flying into a "bermuda triangle" area where things just don't look or act right (ground textures look like they're sliding around, compass goes wonky, etc.) , you may need to re-install FS.

 

To create a start-up flight is easy. Just save the flight the way you want it to start. Make sure you give this flight a name you'll be able to remember. Also, be sure to tick the "save as default (or start up) flight" box. You may also want to enable the "use system time and date" option, but you'll need to update your weather for each session.

[Men In Black]

Awesome! Now I can be sure it ain't Microsoft. Thank you so much. I shall uninstall my CalClassic sceneries and MyTraffic 2006...gotta start somewhere. Thanks again, it really helps!

 

MIB

[Men In Black]

Bob - Thank you for your reply! No such issues encountered so far. It only happens if I move my aircraft from certain airports to LRTM's active runway while in 2D cockpit view. Gonna investigate...

[napamule2]

Bob,

You said: 'If you wind up flying into a "bermuda triangle" area where things just don't look or act right (ground textures look like they're sliding around, compass goes wonky, etc.) , you may need to re-install FS.'.

 

Re-Install is not indicated for this 'crash'. FS9 and FSX will put you at the South Pole, in the water, with 0 fuel, with 'wonky compass', if you try to load an airplane with the wrong ('sim=xxx') air file. So it's due to something YOU did wrong and not due to any 'Flt Sim problem', per se (ie: Flt Sim can't fix YOUR mistake but it makes you 'pay').

Chuck B

Napamule

[BobSeaman]

Honestly, it depends. :)

 

If MiB is running a new install of FS there might have been install errors (scratches on the CDs, the CPU burped, a sector of the drive got a bad write, the HD is fragmented). I'm guessing its a newer install because he's starting with the default situation.

 

How you set up scenery and how it loads can also cause problems like this. Doing a "mass install" of scenery can result in some errors to the scenery.cfg file.

 

Sometimes it just comes down to the machine and the RAM. FS hogs a lot of resources and if you're running close to maxed out before FS even starts things can get weird.

[Men In Black]

Yeppyyyyy, SOLVED it!

Contrary to all expectations, I've managed to track down the beast causing this in record time. This is far from being the first time FS9 gives me headaches (I mean c'mon, this is an integral part of flight simming :D ), and just like with previous troubles, I quickly admitted defeat and was ready to re-install the sim, make sure the problem is gone (as this would have been a clean, fresh FS9 installation) and then after each and every addon that I was to re-install, I was to check and see if and when the problem reappears, so as to try and hunt down the addon or configuration that's causing this. But then I said to myself, "self, pull your pants up, take the bull by the horns and fight it before resorting to a re-install, which most of the time solves nothing, cuz only after that, do you finally realize that the problem was of a totally different nature, which would not have been highlighted by a fresh re-install". And this would have been just one such case, where I would have spent a white night re-installing the sim and all of my zillions of addons, only to yank my hair outta my scalp upon realizing (maybe) that a re-install (as Chuck correctly pointed out) woulda' been completely unnecessary. So without further ado, the culprit:

 

UFOs, which I later definitively identified as being (you won't guess) alien space ships, were hovering above my street. And there were occupants inside, who were poking fun at me, messing with my primitive flight simulator. (I couldn't resist either :p )

 

SERIOUSLY NOW - I had a revelation, I started thinking of how to approach the problem and what else I could check out before resorting to the highly unpromising re-install, what files/configs I could look into. Then I remembered that a few years back, I had a problem in that the sim would not start up, the start-up splash screen would never give way to the FS interface. And that problem turned out to be the FS9.cfg file, which somehow got corrupted. I replaced my messed up FS9.cfg file with a backup I made, that contained my preferred settings, and the sim was back in business. Did the same now, I replaced the existent FS9 cfg file with a backup I keep (containing all my preferred settings), but the problem persisted. Then I simply deleted the FS9 config file and started the sim without that file, so as to allow the sim to build itself a default FS9 cfg file, which it did, and sure enough, the problem was no more. Which meant - one of my preferred settings in the FS9.cfg file must be causing the CTD, but which one? After a few minutes experimenting with various FS9.cfg settings, it hit me - what if I bring back the FS menu bar from auto-hide? And sure enough, the problem was gone, culprit found.

 

You see, a few years back, I had another FS issue that involved...well..after a few minutes into the FS session, the image would mess up, perspectives would get superimposed on one another, and then the sim would freeze. I asked Mr. Googleson about the issue, and someone on some forum recommended hiding the (upper) menu bar in FS9, and when you need it, you can just press Alt to temporarily call it into "existence", just like in Windows. After doing what you gotta do by using one of the menu bar's options, the menu bar would automatically go back into hiding. This solved that particular problem, and I've been using FS with its menu bar hidden by default ever since (a setting that's contained in the FS9.cfg file). And now I have definitively identified this to be what's causing my CTD when moving the aircraft to LRTM. I've set the menu bar to always stay visible, and the sim no longer crashes. As soon as I hide the menu bar and and move the plane to LRTM (as per my described scenario), the sim dies again. I for one, will continue to use FS with its menu bar hidden, it frees slightly more screen for the FS world itself, and who knows, maybe that freezing problem would come back if I were to keep it visible at all times. Phew, that was fast, but intense.

 

If you want, you can try this experiment, as a matter of curiosity - perform the scenario I've described in my first post once again, but this time, before moving the aircraft to LRTM, as you stand in 2D cockpit view, right-click on what would be your windshield and click on the last option - "Hide menu bar". The menu bar should now disappear (remember, you can always access the menu bar by pressing Alt). Now move your plane to LRTM and see if the sim goes CTD. In case it does, when you start it again, the menu bar should still be visible at all times, not hidden, as the auto-hide setting didn't have a chance to get saved/stored, as a result of the crash.

 

Thanks again to both of you for your willingness to assist, greatly appreciated!

MIB

 

LATER EDIT: Bob - I always use the default situation, I never change the default flight whatsoever.

[napamule2]

Well good news. Glad to hear you found the problem. As far as hidden or not hidden menu bar or full or windowed I would not get a crash. Why? Because as far as video I opt for AA to be 'determined by application'. That takes care of FS9. And for FSX I use 'uiautomationcore' dll file. No menu related crash for either. This is a summary as you can find the details at Mr Google's home if you want to read up. Glad you were wise enough not to re-install. Cheers.

Chuck B

Napamule

Edit: If I don't get abducted by them there aliens I will try the 'Hide Menu' change before going to LRTM and report back. And if you can't understand what I text then they got to me brain and am talking 'x' (ie: apoiuqaen;iuvanfqaernwosdofiatiuo - hehe).