Sim freezes with sound; no crash or error warnings

[kingnorris]

So this started Dec 19, after I purchased PMDG's 737-600. I can take off, fly, and get to cruise altitude, but soon after, the sim freezes with the sound still going. I mean a complete freeze, meaning absolutely nothing works. I tried waiting it out to see if it would resume at some point, but after almost 30 minutes, it did not. I have to Ctrl Alt Delete and close the sim via the task manager. Which of course means, going back in I get the "MSFS did not close properly" and I have to choose "Start in normal mode".

 

No crash to desktop with an error warning, nothing. It's like the sim paused itself. 

 

Thinking it was the newest aircraft, I uninstalled it and flew the same route with the FBW A320, and the same thing happened, nearly the same area as well.

 

I updated my drivers to the newest ones (Dec 12) to no avail. I lowered my graphics, nothing. All this happened after the latest update, which I thought was scenery only.

 

Google was no help. Anybody else have this issue? Again, it's not a freeze on the loading screen, not a freeze on the "fly now", etc. It's during a relatively short flight (Around an hour and a half), shortly after reaching cruise alt.

[tiger1962]

If this freeze is happening in the same area with different aircraft, any add-on scenery you have for that area will be to blame. If I add Gatwick airport to my sim, freeware or payware, I get a sim freeze or CTD if I go anywhere near Gatwick after that.

[sivart2000]

just had the same. Frozen, no ctd, no error log, nothing responds on the screen. 2 1/2 hour flight, 10 minutes from landing. 2 hours of my life I wont get back.

[kingnorris]

No add on scenery. All default.

 

Even with no flight plan filed, if I just take off and fly a bit, it freezes up shortly after reaching cruise or close to it.

 

Last thing I’m gonna try is reverting my drivers. I just don’t know how far back I should go with those.

[tiger1962]

If this is happening with a default aircraft and default scenery, try deleting your rolling cache file in: AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache

Then re-launch the sim, which will create a new local cache file automatically.

[kingnorris]

2 hours ago, tiger1962 said:

If this is happening with a default aircraft and default scenery, try deleting your rolling cache file in: AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache

Then re-launch the sim, which will create a new local cache file automatically.

That’ll be my last resort.

 

thanks. If that fails, guess I’m $crewed.

[JSkorna]

When was the last time you completely cleaned out your computer case?

 

This could be an overheating issue.

[kingnorris]

So here's an update: After clearing my cache (Thanks Tiger!), I managed to do the entire flight with no freeze ups. To JSkorna---overheating didn't seem to be an issue. But I appreciate your input!

[davidc2]

On 12/24/2023 at 3:11 PM, tiger1962 said:

If this is happening with a default aircraft and default scenery, try deleting your rolling cache file in: AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache

Then re-launch the sim, which will create a new local cache file automatically.

Glad the problem was fixed for @kingnorris 

 

Have a similar problem.  If I take a LONG flight, like from KMIA to KJAX, about an hour into the flight, the sim will CTD.  This occurs on another long flight KJAX to KTUS (8 hours).  This occurs if I have a bunch of mods, or no mods.  I am using the default C172 for all of the flights.

 

The problem is (1) I have the sim loaded onto my E drive and (2) On my C drive, I have found the path (AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\) however, there is only the packages folder, a work folder and a text file, which has my login in name and email.

 

In the sim I have the rolling cache turned off.  I deleted the file anyways (just in case it was there ??).  Any other thoughts or suggestions??

[tiger1962]

59 minutes ago, davidc2 said:

In the sim I have the rolling cache turned off.  I deleted the file anyways (just in case it was there ??).  Any other thoughts or suggestions??

 

Have you tried turning the rolling cache back on? It is used for much more than storing scenery files. The default size is 8gb which works fine on my system.

[davidc2]

4 hours ago, tiger1962 said:

 

Have you tried turning the rolling cache back on? It is used for much more than storing scenery files. The default size is 8gb which works fine on my system.

Hmm, that is an option   will give it a try.

[jmp308]

Hi,  davidc2 and kingnorris!

 

I know this has been quiet for a while, but in case anyone searches for "MSFS 2020 freezes with sound; no crash or error warnings" I had this start with PMDG 739 and Pilot2ATC on all westbound routes that included the fix ZIMMZ.  Deleting that waypoint allows a full flight, no freezes.  I have default scenery except some add-on KLGA and KEWR.

 

No clue as to root cause, but just reporting what I found. Will update if it recurs.

Thanks

Joe
    

[bam1220]

There is a topic about this in the PMDG forums if you want to read it. It's several pages long. No fix for it yet.

[kingnorris]

It’s even worse now. Every flight. Every. Single. One! I get the freeze. Deleting cache no longer works. Only solution is restarting the flight after using task manager to shut down MSFS. But if I wait one day, I get the freeze yet again.

 

I just don’t get it. No errors or anything. Internet is strong. Video card drivers up to date. Not ready to ditch the sim yet but then again, if I can’t use it….

[JSkorna]

You might try a Repair install. 

[Leomiglio]

On 3/10/2024 at 6:30 AM, kingnorris said:

It’s even worse now. Every flight. Every. Single. One! I get the freeze. Deleting cache no longer works. Only solution is restarting the flight after using task manager to shut down MSFS. But if I wait one day, I get the freeze yet again.

 

I just don’t get it. No errors or anything. Internet is strong. Video card drivers up to date. Not ready to ditch the sim yet but then again, if I can’t use it….

Hi, I'm experiencing the problem since i installed sim in January... initially was a sporadic thing, i tried all the advices people wrote on this channel one by one, the situation was better but after few days it began doing it more times and in every flight. I tried to reinstall the simulator (it was an hard choice with my 50 mb download speed) and for the first times it was perfect, but after some time it started again with these "crashes". No error, no report, nothing, now it crashes every single flight, graphics freeze and sounds still active, i hope in a Miracle because no one was able to tell what the hell is going on with this simulator.

Edited March 11 by Leomiglio

[GreasedLanding]

Have you considered a hardware or cooling issue? Maybe not enough PSU for the video card? Improperly configured components? Failing drives or memory? Since this is not a common issue, I would go beyond assuming it's a software issue.

[kingnorris]

1 hour ago, GreasedLanding said:

Have you considered a hardware or cooling issue? Maybe not enough PSU for the video card? Improperly configured components? Failing drives or memory? Since this is not a common issue, I would go beyond assuming it's a software issue.

Never was an issue since I bought MSFS and my new gaming PC. (Specs in sig) Only recently has this been happening.

[nsproles]

I am having the same issue, although not on every flight.  I changed from the development version to the FBW A 320 to the stable version to see if that was the issue but it did not make much difference.  Sometimes, but not every time, pressing the Pause  key will get it running again.

[tiger1962]

46 minutes ago, kingnorris said:

Never was an issue since I bought MSFS and my new gaming PC. (Specs in sig) Only recently has this been happening.

 

It could be due to a gradual build-up of memory-hogging add-ons lol! I doubt it with THAT rig though...  Maybe it's a corrupt livery on an AI traffic plane somewhere.

 

4 minutes ago, nsproles said:

I am having the same issue, although not on every flight.  I changed from the development version to the FBW A 320 to the stable version to see if that was the issue but it did not make much difference.  Sometimes, but not every time, pressing the Pause  key will get it running again.

 

I'm surprised that a GTX1660ti can run MSFS on three monitors AND TrackIR3! I suspect there's a bottleneck there...

 

[nsproles]

18 hours ago, tiger1962 said:

 

I'm surprised that a GTX1660ti can run MSFS on three monitors AND TrackIR3! I suspect there's a bottleneck there...

 

Does it like a charm, and has done so since 2020.  I run LittleNavMap on one side of the main screen and Navigraph on the screen on the other side.

There is a port for a fourth screen, but that may be pushing my luck.

This pausing in flight and freezing is recent, albeit infrequent, and I sometimes wonder if it may be the FBW A320, which I have only recently started to fly.

[kingnorris]

4 hours ago, nsproles said:

Does it like a charm, and has done so since 2020.  I run LittleNavMap on one side of the main screen and Navigraph on the screen on the other side.

There is a port for a fourth screen, but that may be pushing my luck.

This pausing in flight and freezing is recent, albeit infrequent, and I sometimes wonder if it may be the FBW A320, which I have only recently started to fly.

It's not just the FBW, at least not in my case. Happens with my PMDG 737 as well.

[kingnorris]

So….

 

using just the default MSFS flight plan, selecting the origin, destination, cruise alt etc and NOT Simbrief AT ALL, I finally completed a flight with zero freeze.

 

Coincidence???

[kingnorris]

On 2/18/2024 at 4:23 PM, jmp308 said:

Hi,  davidc2 and kingnorris!

 

I know this has been quiet for a while, but in case anyone searches for "MSFS 2020 freezes with sound; no crash or error warnings" I had this start with PMDG 739 and Pilot2ATC on all westbound routes that included the fix ZIMMZ.  Deleting that waypoint allows a full flight, no freezes.  I have default scenery except some add-on KLGA and KEWR.

 

No clue as to root cause, but just reporting what I found. Will update if it recurs.

Thanks

Joe
    

Although I don’t have Pilot2atc, I’m beginning to think the waypoint issue is the culprit. I’ve done two flights now using default MSFS flight planning and no freezes.

 

using just simbrief I got freezes at almost the exact same location every time.

[tiger1962]

I've given up with Simbrief. It only works properly if you also have a Navigraph subscription, which I don't have. If you take the time to learn how to flight plan using the default World Map features, it does everything that Simbrief does anyway.