HELP! Weird loss of airspace access

I can’t believe this! All of a sudden, as of Tuesday, August 6, I can’t access airports or airspace in the western US, including Alaska and Hawaii. Can’t seem to load anything west of Denver.

Before that, everything was as close to perfect as I have experienced in 30 years of Flight Simming. After my PC crashed one year ago, I replaced my entire rig, was forced into Win 10, upgraded from FSX to P3D and reinstalled Rex SkyForce 3D and most Orbx scenery. As I say, all was humming along perfectly.

Last Tuesday night, I paused P3D, minimized it and put my PC in sleep mode (as I usually do). On Wednesday morning, P3D had closed itself. I did not think much of this, as it could be explained by something like a Windows update. But since then, I have been unable to access airspace in western US. I have no problems (that I’ve discovered, anyway) in Europe, South America or Australia.

When I say I can’t access, I mean: loading an airport: CTD! Loading a scenario: CTD! Loading a playback: CTD? I even tried flying from KDEN to KLAS in real time, but when I slewed westward -- CTD! The only other info of any possible relevance, is that Alaska airports won't even load -- they hang the sim. Other airports or scenarios load 100%, then the screen goes black, and -- CTD!

Intuition suggests this is a scenery problem, but I am at a loss.

My specs are below, although I don’t think this new problem has much to do with PC power.

Thanks all,

Mac 6737

Core i7-8700K, 3.7 GHz

GeForce GTX 1070 Ti

AORUS Z370 5LGA motherboard

16 GB 2 x 8GB DDR4-2400

Monitor: MSI 27” LED gaming

You may or may not like what I'm going to tell you, but I'm going to say it anyway. Those Windows power saving modes of sleep and hibernation have been a source of many issues for many people. I know because I'm a member of many computer forums and over 10 years of being on computer tech forums I have seen my fair share of threads of people with computer issues due to the fact they used a power saving mode like sleep of hibernation.

You're far, far better off just powering off the computer and not using a power saving mode. Right now you are suffering from some sort of data corruption most likely due to the power saving mode. Especially since the Sim was paused and in essence still running so to speak. Now I don't run P3D, but if it's anything like FSX, it may have a repair install feature. That may be your only course of action at this point short of a complete reinstall. Now note that a repair install for FSX is carried out by first uninstalling SP1 and SP2 first. If P3D is like that and if P3D has service packs then I can only imagine the same procedure would have to be used.

Besides the Sim, you may in fact have other data corruption on your computer you may not know about. If you find out that to be true you can first try

sfc /scannow

in an Admin elevated command prompt or just do a Windows repair install. To get help with that endeavor go to tenforums.com and ask about it. You will need a Win 10 disk and it can't be an OEM reinstall disk. Again, this only applies if you find other corruption on your computer.

Something I would do is check the data integrity on the HDD. To do that run command prompt as Admin and enter the following command:

chkdsk C: /f /r /x

Something else I should mention is that I've also seen my fair share of threads where people's computer's got hosed due to a power outage. Your best solution for that is a good quality and reputable UPS. I own a Cyberpower model and it's meant for active PSUs. Many people may not even be aware that you can't just use any old UPS with their computer. It all depends on the PSU its self. Also, depending on the type of UPS, if they are plugged into a surge protector it can cause a fire due to the unclean sine wave if I can remember right. The specific version of UPS I have is not only meant for active PSUs which I own, but is pure sine wave. This is what I own here: https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16842102131

I use the 850VA model and it gives me about 19 minutes to safely save and close applications and power the computer off normally. With this particular UPS I can also run a 10 watt LED bulb for close to three hours. See my post on my forum about that here: https://cyberpcforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=1677#p1677

Anyway, a little off track, but seen as how this is about power saving mode and I've seen that issue raised numerous times along with the power outage issue, I figured I should mention it. Good luck. :pilot:

Off topic, but if you really want to control Win 10 telemetry, deploy a nettop with 4GB of RAM and install PFsense. Then block all outbound Microsoft ASNs in the firewall and also monitor SNMP for anything that shouldn't go between YOUR computer. You can get ASN lists here: https://bgp.he.net/ To get to a Microsoft IP you would then temp run a good, reputable, non-five eyes jurisdiction VPN such as Protonvpn or vpn.ac and punch through the firewall for temp Microsoft IP access. If you want to go that far, chime in on my website. LOL Anyway, Win 10 is an absolute abomination IMO. Gone are the days of actually owing your own damn computer. Redmond has turned the user into their own little cash cow in much the same way a smartphone turns the human drone into their cash cow.

In folder p3d/scenery

should be a large number of folders that contain a large area of the world. It sounds like your install is missing a couple of those folders.

If there are indeed folders missing they may be in the recycle bin and you could restore then from there.

If they are not in recycle bin, and If you have a backup of the p3d files you could probably restore the missing folders from the backup. That should make it possible to fly from those area's. You may have to reinstall some orbX scenery for those regions. (as that orbX stuff was not in the backed up files.)

Thank you both for your hopeful suggestions.

CRJ: I fear that many of your suggestions are far, far above my pay grade to implement. I was a liberal arts major and am a retired international lawyer.

As it happens, I also experienced a power outage on August 6, after which I rebooted and P3D behaved normally . . . BUT I did not fly in areas that now seem inaccessible. So we don’t know exactly when or how some of my files may have been corrupted.

P3D is much like FSX, since it is supported by Lockheed-Martin under a license from MS. The keystrokes are all the same.

I couldn’t agree with you more about Windows 10. Adding insult to injury, it eliminated FreeCell and Minesweeper!

Top Gun: Sure, there are many scenery files where you say, but I have no way of knowing whether any files are missing or corrupted. I do know that all items in my recycle bin since 8/6/19 are recognizable, and are not scenery files.

That said, both of you confirm my instinct that I have a scenery file problem. I am hoping the problem is in Orbx scenery files, because I’ve bought them and believe I can always reinstall from Orbx central. Please don’t be offended if I repeat my request on another forum.

Mac6737

CRJ: I fear that many of your suggestions are far, far above my pay grade to implement. I was a liberal arts major and am a retired international lawyer.

I only went to Job Corp and studied welding and got a GED then high school diploma. No college once so ever. HAHA Computers and what not are a hobby of mine. I guess when you have an interest in something you learn about it. I'm also a well-rounded sponge so to speak and remember quite a bit about what I read about.

As to those folders, are they empty?

il88pp, can one pull those folders from a P3D install disk or something and do a hash check comparing the install folders with the installation its self? Although, if ORBX is added to the mix that complicates things.

Thank you both for your hopeful suggestions.

 

CRJ: I fear that many of your suggestions are far, far above my pay grade to implement. I was a liberal arts major and am a retired international lawyer.

 

As it happens, I also experienced a power outage on August 6, after which I rebooted and P3D behaved normally . . . BUT I did not fly in areas that now seem inaccessible. So we don’t know exactly when or how some of my files may have been corrupted.

 

P3D is much like FSX, since it is supported by Lockheed-Martin under a license from MS. The keystrokes are all the same.

 

I couldn’t agree with you more about Windows 10. Adding insult to injury, it eliminated FreeCell and Minesweeper!

 

Top Gun: Sure, there are many scenery files where you say, but I have no way of knowing whether any files are missing or corrupted. I do know that all items in my recycle bin since 8/6/19 are recognizable, and are not scenery files.

 

That said, both of you confirm my instinct that I have a scenery file problem. I am hoping the problem is in Orbx scenery files, because I’ve bought them and believe I can always reinstall from Orbx central. Please don’t be offended if I repeat my request on another forum.

 

Mac6737

1: Repair your P3D installation.

2: Run ORBX Central and verify the files.

1: Repair your P3D installation.

2: Run ORBX Central and verify the files.

Mallcott,

I was smart enough to have done your #2 already. There was a lot of downloading, updating and replacing, so I'm hopeful. We shall see.

I am not smart enough for your #1. How does one "repair" an installation?

Mac6737

Mallcott,

 

I was smart enough to have done your #2 already. There was a lot of downloading, updating and replacing, so I'm hopeful. We shall see.

 

I am not smart enough for your #1. How does one "repair" an installation?

 

Mac6737

https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/531372-repair-p3d/

or

http://www.prepar3d.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=122478

The order of my advice is important. Only repair ORBX after carrying out the base sim repair.

A full repair would probably mean having to reinstall addons after.

It could be that the problem is not missing files. It could be as simple as not having all default areas active in the scenery library. (or maybe you removed some entries.).

Use the scenery library menu to add those areas back in or to activate them.

How to use the scenery library menu is explained here:

http://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv2/LearningCenter/getting_started/the_world/scenery_library.html

A full repair would probably mean having to reinstall addons after.

 

It could be that the problem is not missing files. It could be as simple as not having all default areas active in the scenery library. (or maybe you removed some entries.).

Use the scenery library menu to add those areas back in or to activate them.

How to use the scenery library menu is explained here:

http://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv2/LearningCenter/getting_started/the_world/scenery_library.html

ORBX Central now does NOT require the re-installation of most of its ORBX addons. Just re-run ORBX Central.

A full repair would probably mean having to reinstall addons after.

 

It could be that the problem is not missing files. It could be as simple as not having all default areas active in the scenery library. (or maybe you removed some entries.).

Use the scenery library menu to add those areas back in or to activate them.

How to use the scenery library menu is explained here:

http://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv2/LearningCenter/getting_started/the_world/scenery_library.html

If the sceneries were removed from the library or deleted he wouldn;t get a CTD. His system is corrupt. The simplest way to start is do a repair install as mentioned. You will probably have to reinstall some addons. Bite the bullet - follow Malcott's advice.

Also, CRJ_Simpilot is correct - stay away from sleep mode or hibernation if at all possible. It works quite well most of the time but when it doesn't - it's not worth the trouble.

Good luck,

Vic

https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/531372-repair-p3d/

or

http://www.prepar3d.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=122478

 

The order of my advice is important. Only repair ORBX after carrying out the base sim repair.

OK, but neither link tells someone HOW to do a base repair. It says you do it "through the Control Panel." OK, but what control panel, and how do I access it? (It can't possibly be the Windows 10 CP, right?)

The second link is easier to understand, especially the advice from Ms. Dixon of P3D, but she seems to require that I delete all P3D files from the 4 locations, and says that these will be "regenerated" when I "run P3D." Maybe I'm sort over my head here, but it seems to me that if you delete all the P3D files, you can't very well "run" it.

I appreciate your patience.

Mac6737

.....these will be "regenerated" when I "run P3D." ….

What is meant by this statement is that the files can be deleted because when you run the sim again they will be automatically recreated.

A number of files in FS products act this way. They are often files that are not created during the initial installation process of the main program. They are only created when you first run the sim.

Examples of such files vary according to the sim being used but common ones are the main sim .cfg file (i.e FSX.cfg, P3D,cfg etc), Scenery.cfg, Pilots Logbook, Controller assignment etc.

If you are worried about deleting them you could make copies of them and store them somewhere outside of the main sim folder.....

What is meant by this statement is that the files can be deleted because when you run the sim again they will be automatically recreated.

Brian,

Thank you. So you are saying that after these files are deleted or stashed somewhere else, there will still be a P3D icon on which I can double-click, right?

But my first question was of greater importance. The links from Mallcott don't tell you HOW to do a repair, and the first one deals with problems I don't have . . . yet. Since my post, I discovered that there is a "repair" option when you right-click on the P3D app in Windows Control Panel. But I fear using it, because I don't know what it is supposed to do, or what it will do. At the moment, P3D is performing flawlessly beyond the affected areas of the planet.

Why, oh why, Does Lockheed not publish a User's Manual? As it happens, I live within walking distance of their corporate HQ here in Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Maybe I should handcuff myself to the reception desk until they help me.

Mac6737

Brian,

 

Thank you. So you are saying that after these files are deleted or stashed somewhere else, there will still be a P3D icon on which I can double-click, right?

 

But my first question was of greater importance. The links from Mallcott don't tell you HOW to do a repair, and the first one deals with problems I don't have . . . yet. Since my post, I discovered that there is a "repair" option when you right-click on the P3D app in Windows Control Panel. But I fear using it, because I don't know what it is supposed to do, or what it will do. At the moment, P3D is performing flawlessly beyond the affected areas of the planet.

 

Why, oh why, Does Lockheed not publish a User's Manual? As it happens, I live within walking distance of their corporate HQ here in Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Maybe I should handcuff myself to the reception desk until they help me.

 

Mac6737

There IS a user manual. Actually two, one is the Learning Center and the other is the SDK.

If you follow the instructions and delete ONLY the files and folders specified, the core of P3D is still there. You may have to reinstall some addons and restore any changed settings.

Using the repair option will restore P3D to it's initial state when you first installed it.

Vic

.....still be a P3D icon on which I can double-click, right?.....

Yes. The icon will still be there and will still function because it is aligned to a file created during the initial install - usually a file that has a .exe (short for executable) or, sometimes, a .bat (short for batch) extension.

As Vic has stated in post #15 - follow the instructions and only delete those files/folders specified and you will have no issues.....