Cape Town scenery crash

Hi. It's a long shot that someone might be able to suggest a solution, but here goes. I am trying to fly from Cape Town airport (FACT) to Johannesburg (FAJS). The plane climbs and follows the flight path until it gets to approximately 80 kms from the departure airport and then FS9 crashes. I have tried a different aircraft and I have tried a different route, this time from FACT to George (FAGG), but at around 80kms out from FACT the same thing happens. I have removed all of the addon scenery in the area where the problem occurs but still the crash happens. I have tried taking off further along the route, this time from Stellenbosch airport (FASH) on my way to George, but when I get to the same point in an arc of approx. 80 kms from Cape Town airport, the thing crashes.

 

It seems like there is a 'tear' in the scenery at that point, if that makes any sense at all. The only major addon I have not tried to remove is my FS Global X 2010 for FS2004 because that is a huge addon to mess around with and it has not caused any problem elsewhere.

 

Any ideas, guys? Would appreciate your wisdom.

Since you've already removed the add-on scenery in the area, it might not be a .bgl scenery file causing your problem. Crashes like this are usually due to a missing texture somewhere - here are a couple of experiments you might try:

 

Missing AI textures: If you set your Aircraft Traffic slider to 0 does it still crash? If not, there's a plane in Cape Town with a missing texture. Rather than trying to find the culprit by a tedious process of elimination, just re-download the AI aircraft or packages for Cape Town and re-install them.

 

Missing Scenery textures: Try flying the same route at a different time of day and at a different time of year. Sometimes an airport scenery is missing a light map texture for night lighting, or a seasonal ground texture. If they're in a shared folder they can get overwritten by a file with the same name from another scenery. Again, re-download and re-install the sceneries you think could be sharing textures, in separate folders this time.

Tiger 1962 - I have to say I have never, ever, known FS2004 to worry about missing textures - what happens in such an instance is the aircraft or scenery item appears plain grey.

 

Corrupt textures (or perhaps textures in the wrong format) can cause system crashes, this could be the issue. But it is unlikely to be an AI aircraft as Coudrunner can repeatedly re-create the fault at the same location. AI aircraft are in different places at different times of day so this is more likely to be a sceney issue.

 

Cloudrunner - you say you have removed all add-on scenery but have you considered that quite a few sceneries require extra files to be placed in the standard sceney/texture folders and sometimes even ask you to replace default files. Just disabling add-on scenery is not always enough.

 

One known issue that can cause crashes (always at the same place) is multiple A&FD files with slightly different co-ordinates. This will cause a crash a specific distance from the airport concerned, when it tries to load the aircraft.

 

Finally, it may seem a daft thing to ask, but you do have the FS9.1 update? That fixed crashes in a few parts of the world.

 

Depending on the Windows version FS is running on, there is a little Windows monitor you can run which will tell you the module that caused the fault. Since moving to Windows 7 I have never needed it, and its name has slipped my memory - it is frequently mentioned on forums. If you can identify the DLL concerned hop over to my site and look up what affects it there.

 

John

To make it even simpler, note where you are when it ctd's. Then look at what scenery is in front of you, and look at the textures in their scenery folder, with the setting at "large icons". If you can "see" a texture in miniature instead of an icon then that texture could be the problem as a 32 bit or 24 bit among dxt1 or dxt3 textures. It might also be 8 bit, which is ok, but you can check that. Work your way along the route until you find something, it could be 20 or 30 kilometres away when you ctd.

Thanks Tiger 1962, John and Roger. You guys have loads of experience which we all benefit from.

 

Tiger: I will try flying the route at a different time of the day, like you suggested. I must admit I was trying each variation at exactly the same time on purpose.

 

John: Yes, it could be that I have overwritten common files, but how to fix that now is my problem. Also, please excuse my ignorance, but what are A&FD files? To your query about the patch, I haven't installed the FS9.1 update, probably because I read sometime back that the patch clashed with certain addons, so I steered clear of it. I use Win 7 as my platform. But I could install it, I guess, and see. I am intrigued by the Windows monitor you mentioned, though. Where do I get this? Can you remember?

 

Roger: Hi again. Just to clarify... "ctd" I presume means crash to desktop?? Help me further here: if I see a set of mountains in front whenever FS9 crashes, how do I then find those textures in their scenery folder? Remember I have removed addon scenery (except FS Global X 2010) so I am back with basic landscape. Do I look under 'world/Afr' or...?

 

Thanks guys

Yes, ctd = crash to desktop. If you have FS Global installed I cannot help you further as I have no knowledge of it. Sorry about that.

John: Yes, it could be that I have overwritten common files, but how to fix that now is my problem. Also, please excuse my ignorance, but what are A&FD files? To your query about the patch, I haven't installed the FS9.1 update, probably because I read sometime back that the patch clashed with certain addons, so I steered clear of it. I use Win 7 as my platform. But I could install it, I guess, and see. I am intrigued by the Windows monitor you mentioned, though. Where do I get this? Can you remember?

A&FD files are sometimes called AFCAD files because that was the first software that could create/update them.

 

You really should have the 9.1 patch installed - it doesn't clash with anything. But it does have to be installed on a clean version of FS which I appreciate will be a problem for you. But it is something you should really consider, when you have time on your hands. It was released to fix crashes in certain parts of the world, although I don't recall South Africa being mentioned.

 

I am afraid I am brain-dead on the name of that monitor - a quick search on the web makes me think it may be "Event Viewer"?

https://www.techrepublic.com/blog/windows-and-office/better-troubleshooting-capabilities-with-windows-7-event-viewer/ tells you a bit about using it.

 

John

Hi Roger. No worries. Thanks for your help.

Yes, ctd = crash to desktop. If you have FS Global installed I cannot help you further as I have no knowledge of it. Sorry about that.

Hi John. Thanks. I will search for it. And when I do my next reinstallation (hopefully not too soon), I will remember the patch. When you reminded me that it must be on a clean installation, I recalled that there was some issue that prevented me from doing it now. Thanks for the reminder, because I probably would have forgotten and then I would have tried to load it and knowing my luck I would have REALLY messed things up for myself.

 

A&FD files are sometimes called AFCAD files because that was the first software that could create/update them.

 

You really should have the 9.1 patch installed - it doesn't clash with anything. But it does have to be installed on a clean version of FS which I appreciate will be a problem for you. But it is something you should really consider, when you have time on your hands. It was released to fix crashes in certain parts of the world, although I don't recall South Africa being mentioned.

 

I am afraid I am brain-dead on the name of that monitor - a quick search on the web makes me think it may be "Event Viewer"?

https://www.techrepublic.com/blog/windows-and-office/better-troubleshooting-capabilities-with-windows-7-event-viewer/ tells you a bit about using it.

 

John

Do you have Aeroworx scenery installed?

I have, & I'm also getting a crash or 2.

Do you have Aeroworx scenery installed?

I have, & I'm also getting a crash or 2.

 

Hi. Yes I do. I have limited the number of Aeroworx addons to Johannesburg airport, Cape Town airport, Ysterplaat, Caltex Refinery near Cape Town and Fisantkraal airport. With the current re-installation I did not include any landclass, mesh or other sceneries in Aeroworx's extensive library. Do you think that could be the problem? Did you fix your issues? If so, what did you do?

Hi John.

I checked out the Event Viewer, like you kindly suggested and discovered that the crashes have been associated with DLL files in the Modules folder of FS9: G3D.DLL, ATC.DLL, TERRAIN.DLL. There was also an occasion when a crash was as the result of ntdll.dll which I see is not in the module folder but seems to be in C:\Windows\System32, amongst other places. I've checked back to some of my backups of FS9 from 2 years ago and I see those same files present with the same date and size as the ones in my current installation of FS9. Is any of this info helpful? The latest crash report on Event Viewer gave me the following data (if it makes any sense to you guys):

 

Log Name: Application

Source: Application Error

Date: 27/01/2018 10:47:17 AM

Event ID: 1000

Task Category: (100)

Level: Error

Keywords: Classic

User: N/A

Computer: Computername

Description:

Faulting application name: fs9.exe, version: 9.0.0.30612, time stamp: 0x3ee94003

Faulting module name: G3D.DLL, version: 9.0.0.30612, time stamp: 0x3ee946b8

Exception code: 0xc0000005

Fault offset: 0x0001d9d4

Faulting process id: 0x101c

Faulting application start time: 0x01d39715089e1cab

Faulting application path: C:\FS2004\fs9.exe

Faulting module path: C:\FS2004\MODULES\G3D.DLL

Report Id: 6290cd79-030c-11e8-ada2-382c4aafb1f1

Event Xml:

1000

2

100

0x80000000000000

9009

Application

Computername

fs9.exe

9.0.0.30612

3ee94003

G3D.DLL

9.0.0.30612

3ee946b8

c0000005

0001d9d4

101c

01d39715089e1cab

C:\FS2004\fs9.exe

C:\FS2004\MODULES\G3D.DLL

6290cd79-030c-11e8-ada2-382c4aafb1f1

Hi John.

I checked out the Event Viewer, like you kindly suggested and discovered that the crashes have been associated with DLL files in the Modules folder of FS9: G3D.DLL, ATC.DLL, TERRAIN.DLL. There was also an occasion when a crash was as the result of ntdll.dll which I see is not in the module folder but seems to be in C:\Windows\System32, amongst other places. I've checked back to some of my backups of FS9 from 2 years ago and I see those same files present with the same date and size as the ones in my current installation of FS9. Is any of this info helpful? The latest crash report on Event Viewer gave me the following data (if it makes any sense to you guys):

 

Log Name: Application

Source: Application Error

Date: 27/01/2018 10:47:17 AM

Event ID: 1000

Task Category: (100)

Level: Error

Keywords: Classic

User: N/A

Computer: Computername

Description:

Faulting application name: fs9.exe, version: 9.0.0.30612, time stamp: 0x3ee94003

Faulting module name: G3D.DLL, version: 9.0.0.30612, time stamp: 0x3ee946b8

Exception code: 0xc0000005

Fault offset: 0x0001d9d4

Faulting process id: 0x101c

Faulting application start time: 0x01d39715089e1cab

Faulting application path: C:\FS2004\fs9.exe

Faulting module path: C:\FS2004\MODULES\G3D.DLL

Report Id: 6290cd79-030c-11e8-ada2-382c4aafb1f1

Event Xml:

1000

2

100

0x80000000000000

9009

Application

Computername

fs9.exe

9.0.0.30612

3ee94003

G3D.DLL

9.0.0.30612

3ee946b8

c0000005

0001d9d4

101c

01d39715089e1cab

C:\FS2004\fs9.exe

C:\FS2004\MODULES\G3D.DLL

6290cd79-030c-11e8-ada2-382c4aafb1f1

 

Hello

Iam not sure if you have installed the 9 to 9.1 update yet, but you really should ,it fixes all sorts of issues with fs9 ,everything from missing bridges to seasonal ctds etc.

I used to have exactly the same problem as you on a flight into eddf Frankfurt , at the same point into the flight (in the vicinity of the river Rhine) the sim would crash ,and always at this same point..

At this timeI was using the standard fs9 .

I updated to 9.1 (the patch) and was not troubled again.

You really should install it anyway as it corrects many problems within Fs9.

There is plenty of advice on how to do this ,and of course people here will help you with the process.

PS I have used fsglobal for many years and the update has had no effect on it's running correctly.

 

 

Cheers Andrew

Hi Andrew

 

Did you install the patch (9.1) with a clean installation, or did you do it later with all your addons in place? I understand that one is supposed to install before adding anything else. I'm interested to hear which sequence you followed. Glad to hear that FS Global is not affected.

Hi Andrew

 

Did you install the patch (9.1) with a clean installation, or did you do it later with all your addons in place? I understand that one is supposed to install before adding anything else. I'm interested to hear which sequence you followed. Glad to hear that FS Global is not affected.

 

Its a long time since I added the patch but I am almost certain that you can add it at anytime BUT! Just to be safe wait until someone here more tech savvy than myself can confirm that.

Perhaps if you start a new post you could ask that specific question regarding the installation of the update, as you may get a quicker response.

Try asking for longbreak 754 (Brian)he really knows his stuff and has helped with many matters technical.

Thanks Andrew

Well, there's no harm in trying because it will just refuse to do it if the right files aren't present. One thing I do remember for certain is that it will not work if the original FS9.exe file has been modified. I guess it checks file dates before moving anything about.

 

John

Hi John.

I checked out the Event Viewer, like you kindly suggested and discovered that the crashes have been associated with DLL files in the Modules folder of FS9: G3D.DLL, ATC.DLL, TERRAIN.DLL. There was also an occasion when a crash was as the result of ntdll.dll which I see is not in the module folder but seems to be in C:\Windows\System32, amongst other places. I've checked back to some of my backups of FS9 from 2 years ago and I see those same files present with the same date and size as the ones in my current installation of FS9. Is any of this info helpful? The latest crash report on Event Viewer gave me the following data (if it makes any sense to you guys):

If you look at my web site, as I suggested earlier, it gives suggestions as to what causes each of those DLLs to give problems. It isn't going to be the DLL itself at fault but something that it didn't like.

 

Regrettably, G3D.DLL is probably the one I know least about.

 

John

The "Faulting Module" entries in Event Viewer aren't meant to identify the cause of the crash, they only tell you which Module was active at the time of the crash, along with Faulting Application and Faulting Process etc.

I seriously think you should look at missing textures again, and here are over 5,000 reasons why:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=fs2004+missing+texture+ctd&oq=FS2004+missing+texture&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j69i59j0.10658j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

This one in particular may be of interest:

https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?301882-G2D-dll-and-fe-dll-CTD

Thanks guys

I read your piece on DLLs, John. Very good. I will start the process of elimination. I am flying the suspect route at the moment with the AI traffic switched off (tiger1962, you will be pleased to note). The first time I tried it without AI traffic, I used an addon aircraft and it crashed (event viewer report indicated panels.dll was running at the crash point, which I have not had before). I did the flight again in the default b734 with AI traffic off, in case the addon aircraft was complicating things, and so far it is flying the route. At this very early stage, then, it might have something to do with the AI traffic. Correct? I'll put up my findings as I go along. Thanks for all the help so far.

d3d9.dll could well be because of faulty scenery. And probably not OrbX.

Are you 100% sure all other addon sceneries are disabled? Did you remember to disable the "Addon scenery" area. (folder "Addon scenery\scenery").

Auto-installers often install airports in there.

And other drives? Dit you install sceneries there? Because Addon scenery's can be activated in wherever the folders are placed. Any location in the pc. Any drive.

If so, disable those too.

 

Maybe have a look with "Sceneryconfigeditor".

That gives a clearer view of your scenery library. And has an automatic "check and fix" option.

Be aware. Only use it when FS2004 is NOT running.

Close FS, then check, then close Sceneryconfigeditor.

Only then test in fs2004.

I did the flight again in the default b734 with AI traffic off, in case the addon aircraft was complicating things, and so far it is flying the route. At this very early stage, then, it might have something to do with the AI traffic. Correct?

It is rare, but I have had that on two occasions over many, many years. Identifying the offending aircraft is tedious. You have to knock out groups of airlines to systematically test. One of those I discovered was a Turkish Airlines one, which is unlikely to be affecting you - regret I can't remember the other one.

 

You definitely need to be sure this IS the problem before embarking on that exercise.

 

John

Apart from the odd rare crash in some areas using Aeroworx scenery, I'm also getting the odd ' sandbank' in the sea, just off the coast around the Cape Town area.

 

It's livable, but it would be nice to get rid of.

 

Cheers,

Robin

Cape Town, South Africa

My theory that the problem was the AI traffic seems to have gotten shot to blazes. After flying FAGG to FAJS in the default b734 without any AI and enjoying a great flight, I was hopeful that I had narrowed the problem to the AI traffic (and I have tons). But then I re-flew the offending route (FACT to FAGG) in the default b734 with all AI off, and agh!! It crashed at precisely 80km out from FACT - at the same point as the previous crashes. So I guess it has to be scenery, after all. I'll keep working at it.

Many thanks, much appreciated.