FS9 needs second startup

Yeah I had the rundll32 thingy running only last few days causing low FPS. Always had to end the process.

I just renamed the model in the thingy folder and it worked.

 

Weird thing is I have updates turned off and that happened. Kinda suspicious of where it came from but hey, that’s life on the World Wide Web. Or as I like to call it, the www. :p

Ok I guess I need help too please.

Recently I did not run FS9 for more than 1 month, I booted the pc everyday to work on some traffic files and that was it only thing I did, I never ran FS9 or anything else until today I clicked the icon and it took 2 clicks to get it started but then the loading is way too long, even on menu clicking to change aircraft, the plane on menu is rotating 360 degrees as we know it but it's stuttering a little so as in flight, fps are down too. Now exact same thing happening with another sim but it's racing called GTR2, takes 2 clicks, takes lots of time to load, lots of stuttering in gameplay and fps down.

Please how can this be fixed as I am not sure if we all users could have the same issue. It seems to be coming from FS9 because I just did a test by restarting the pc and running the racing sim and everything seems to be normal but when I run FS9 first, everything slows down and stutters.

 

Win7

I7-3770

16GB RAM

Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 2GB

FS9 is installed in a separate drive than windows.

 

First thing I would do is, after a restart when things are running normally, bring up Task Manager and check what processes are running, minimize Task Manager and start FS, check Task Manager again for any new processes, especially any consuming inordinate amounts of cpu or ram.

I tried the registry edit suggested by tiger1962, no particular problems, but no success either. Same problem as before; fs9 starts on the second click and causes rundll32.exe to go nuts and overwhelm CPU and memory. I'll keep looking for solution...

 

Nadlzfw

I tried the registry edit suggested by tiger1962, no particular problems, but no success either. Same problem as before; fs9 starts on the second click and causes rundll32.exe to go nuts and overwhelm CPU and memory. I'll keep looking for solution...

 

Nadlzfw

 

Did you rename the gameux.dll as suggested?

I said Game Ranger in my first post back on page 1, I did mean Game Explorer.

All of these issues are related to it. Renaming the gameux.dll will fix it. FS9 and many other games will also launch a lot faster.

Ok I took the risk to try tiger's solution and it worked for me. I did save (export) the key just in case. Then I clicked fs9 and it worked as it should, everything seems to be back to normal.

 

However, if it happens again, I'm so confused about this gameux file, which one exactly to rename because there's 2 of them. And all it needs is a rename with .dll?

 

Thank you all for inputs, I appreciate.

For the "double start" issue, this may help - http://ubeogesh-things.blogspot.com/2012/08/resolve-it-finally-game-explorer-aka.html

 

I had the issue with CFS3 - the first start would have CFS3.exe and rundll32.exe each consuming about 40% of cpu but the game never loading, kill both processes, start CFS again and all was well. The fix at that link cleared the problem, and also seems to have improved load times of some other games; it is a simple bat file that changes ownership and permissions of one file in the system folder then renames it, running it a second time will revert the changes.

 

(Giving due credit, I got the link from http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/4478905/re-rundll32-exe-tip )

 

I wasn't comfortable running a batch file on my computer from somebody I didn't know on the internet (and any consequences of renaming the gameux.dll for other games). However I did find his other options interesting...

 

1) Rename game's executable file (doesn't always work, i.e. didn't work with Jedi Outcast)

 

2) Use No-cd or No-dvd launcher with different name (not always suitable, i.e. I may want to play Diablo II @ battle.net so using 3rd-party software is not acceptable unless you want your CD-key banned)

 

Went with option 2, renaming the file and creating a desktop shortcut. You could also probably make a copy of the original fs9.exe, rename it, and make a shortcut for it.

 

Now when running the original fs9.exe, have to start twice as before or option B, click the shortcut for the above renamed .exe and Flight Simulator 2004 starts with no issues.

 

THANK YOU jgf for the link as this solved my problem.

I tried the solution from jgf, to rename the gameux. Could not do it manually, but the script worked exactly as suggested. That solved the double start issue. Thanks, jgf!!!! It does not solve the rundll32.exe problem; running fs9 still causes rundll32 to go berserk and consume all CPU and memory. So, I'm still looking for a solution to that.

 

Thanks to everyone for your help! This forum is a lifesaver! Again!!!!!!

 

nadlzfw

Renaming the Gamedll thingy should’ve fixed the rundll32 thingy.

Have you run any virus/ maleware / bad other thingy checkers?

Reboot Win7 and press the "F8" key to enter safe mode.

Navigate to "C:\Windows\SysWOW64" and rename the "gameux.dll" file to "gameux.dll.bak" and reboot Win7.

 

Issue solved, just like the batch program solved it.

 

RJ

 

I originally tried EXACTLY that. However even in Safe Mode Win 7 wouldn't let me rename the gameux.dll

 

It was far easier to rename the fs9.exe and didn't require any special permissions. I preferred not to mess with system files, and since I all ready had the special fs9.exe were not suppose to talk about, I renamed that and created a shortcut to it.

 

But, some games may need "gameux.dll" to run.

 

RJ

 

I whole heartily 100% agree with this statement.

The dll is required to run OS games. The solution to all these problems is what i have already stated.

Problem again with me, this time on another pc with less power specs. I deleted (exported it first just in case) the key from tiger's post but doesn't seem to work on this second pc. Still it requires twice to open fs9 and rundll is taking over 100% cpu. Which gameux should be renamed? Because there's 2 of them. Anyway I tried to rename the one in syswow64 but it wouldn't let me.

Problem again with me, this time on another pc with less power specs. I deleted (exported it first just in case) the key from tiger's post but doesn't seem to work on this second pc. Still it requires twice to open fs9 and rundll is taking over 100% cpu. Which gameux should be renamed? Because there's 2 of them. Anyway I tried to rename the one in syswow64 but it wouldn't let me.

 

Both need to be renamed. You will have to take ownership and set permissions to rename them. If you are not sure how to do this, the batch file does it all for you. I haven't had a good look at the batch file to be honest but that's what it says it does. I sorted this problem out years ago when I first started using Win 7. It's something every FS9 user or gamer should do.

Ok I've used jgf's provided file from the link and it worked, launch was so fast. I don't know if it will occur again on my main pc but anyway for those who want to try the batch file make sure you backup the default gameux.dll just in case then when applying the batch run it as administrator, read the window that will open and proceed, that's it, did it for me. Thanks again gentlemen.

Ok I've used jgf's provided file from the link and it worked, launch was so fast. I don't know if it will occur again on my main pc but anyway for those who want to try the batch file make sure you backup the default gameux.dll just in case then when applying the batch run it as administrator, read the window that will open and proceed, that's it, did it for me. Thanks again gentlemen.

 

You will find if you run other games, there will be many that will now launch incredibly quickly with Explorer disabled. Like I said, everyone should be doing this. You are sitting there wasting life away waiting for games to launch that should be launching incredibly quickly. FS9 is certainly one of those games even if you play no others. The only consequence is the Windows games won't work.

...

But, some games may need "gameux.dll" to run.

..

 

gameux is a typical MS kludge; some sort of indexing system for games, it works fine with default windows games (Hearts, Minesweeper, etc.) but insists on getting involved with other games also, often with undesirable results. Disabling this system has no major disadvantages, the default windows games may no longer start (track down the exe files and create new shortcuts if you want to play them). There is a registry tweak that allegedly disables gameux but it doesn't seem persistent (windows maybe resetting it?).

 

I've used that bat file on three Win7 systems with no issues, though I admit opened it first and scrolled through to see what it was going to do.

Yeah as we noticed, FS9 launches incredibly fast now but maybe when because it's empty of features haha (addons) usually mine takes more than 2 minutes because of them, haven't tried yet fully as I'm working on traffic files daily to make sure they are correct so that I don't get CTDs during flights (1,000+ bgl files). As for other games, it depends if they need gameux, so when I launch GTR2 (not a Microsoft game), task manager doesn't show rundll and launch time is not affected. If not mistaking, any game not from Microsoft should be fine regardless of gameux.

If not mistaking, any game not from Microsoft should be fine regardless of gameux.

No, it affects many games, not just MS games.

.... If not mistaking, any game not from Microsoft should be fine regardless of gameux.

 

"Should be" is the issue. I've had non-MS games work fine for months then, for some ungodly reason, gameux decides to interfere. From what I've read gameux works as sort of a specialized pre-fetch, but the game must be written to work with it - MS games from Win7 on and maybe 1% of other games (apparently most developers deemed it just more MS bloatware). When it tries to index an incompatible game you get the problems noted here; it is supposed to abort after a few seconds if it doesn't get the correct response but instead continues to query the game ... killing the game exe and rundll32.exe registers as the abort so the game loads unimpeded the next time (at least this is how a local SA explained it to me).

Ok, so the gameux rename fixed the double start issue. It did not affect windows games. Setting compatibility from the fs9 icon to my OS (Windows 7) seems to have solved the performance issues associated with rundll32. Hooray! I may be all well now. Thanks to everyone on this forum.

 

My question now, just a matter of curiosity since I think all my problems are solved, is; what happened? I did not change anything I know of. Microsoft's stupid updates are turned off. So what changed???

 

Nadlzfw

Ok, so the gameux rename fixed the double start issue. It did not affect windows games. Setting compatibility from the fs9 icon to my OS (Windows 7) seems to have solved the performance issues associated with rundll32. Hooray! I may be all well now. Thanks to everyone on this forum.

 

My question now, just a matter of curiosity since I think all my problems are solved, is; what happened? I did not change anything I know of. Microsoft's stupid updates are turned off. So what changed???

 

Nadlzfw

 

 

Same with me. I don’t have update and all of a sudden I got it. Weird stuff.

I have no idea, I killed it so long ago I never looked into what may have caused it, irrelevant. It's a good possibility something else that was opened on the PC triggered Explorer into action.

 

From what I remember finding, Explorer element of the OS holds a game catalogue of sorts and any game within it's catalog will be affected. I know I had many games affected, certainly way more than 1%. This was first introduced in Vista, the OS itself recognized the affected games and isn't reliant on the game developer although as mentioned, the game developer can also incorporate it to their own game.

 

Like I said, very specific details on all this I can't remember because of how long ago it was that I got rid of it all.

Should clarify too, everyone will be affected by slow game and FS9 launches regardless if you have no other problems described in this thread. Killing off GE is something everyone should do. The length of launch time difference if GE is removed is considerable.

Lots of valuable comments in the last posts after my last one above. Seems I had it for a long time on this pc but on my main where I fly with I only got it the other day and yeah no idea how, all I did was booted the pc and ran FS9. I used to second start FS9 on my second pc then when I quit it exits normally but then quickly I get a message not responding and is restarting, I couldn't find any fix for it but since this thread and the fix, today I got none. Also I don't know if anyone realized but frames were affected terribly as well when starting a second time, probably rundll showing in task manager with high usage cpu.

 

So glad everything is working well again, hope the same for others.

 

jgf, many thanks for the link once again and nice to see you here every now and then since the great NoGripRacing site. Cool that you're into FS too haha.

 

Thank you everyone else too, Mark, Tiger and company.

jgf, many thanks for the link once again and nice to see you here every now and then since the great NoGripRacing site. Cool that you're into FS too haha.

 

Hey, I'm one of them too! Even released a NHL skinned 30 car grid for the Lambo's for GTR2. lol