FSX steam immune to 4gb OOM error?

Hi all,

 

Recently with an increase in addons I'm more frequently running into the famous OOM error from exceeding 4gb. I have the boxed version Delux edition of fsx. A friend of mine told me to get FSX-SE as the recent updates a few years back made it immune to OOM errors after 4gb. Is this true, or is FSX-SE still going to run into the same 4 GB OOM error as fsx? I tried googling this vastly but couldn't find answers to tackle this specific question.

 

If this is true, then the migration will be easy with all my addon planes and scenery, but if it's not true, I will probably migrate to P3d to be able to still run everything without OOM issues so your input is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I wouldn't think so since it's largely the same code that was made not to take advantage of more than 4GB of RAM. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't think the Steam version fixed this code wise as it's a major code thing on how things are sent to memory.

 

To remedy an OOM issue you should use Scenery Config Editor and uncheck all areas (or at least the huge stuff) you won't be flying to in that session. The reason why is that no matter if you fly to that area or not, FS will load all scenery into RAM. So you can see why now if you have a lot of add-ons and what have you you'll run out of 4 GB very quickly.

 

https://sourceforge.net/projects/fs-sceditor/

Thanks for the reply!

 

Ok this makes sense I figured this was the case. I just added the "highmemthingy = 1" to my fsx.cfg and so far no crashing. I hope it allocates a lot of the memory loading to the GPU as I have a very powerful GPU.

 

As for what's taking up my memory, interesting point you bring up I never thought of that all these years I've played FSX. So one thing that's definitely fixed is the AI traffic. I have AI traffic loaded for all the airlines into my FSX and that would remain regardless of flight. But for the scenery, does it try to load all sceneries in my addon scenery folder? Or only those activated? And what about those freeware sceneries that don't need activation where you simply paste the bgl into the addon scenery's scenery folder?

 

Thanks again for your help. Jusr trying to find a balance between making all 10 million fsx addons work on my fsx and keeping fsx/fsx steam vs having to move to P3d and gamble on whether each of my addon sceneries, planes, Ai traffic would be compatible with p3d.

Thanks for the reply!

 

Ok this makes sense I figured this was the case. I just added the "highmemthingy = 1" to my fsx.cfg and so far no crashing. I hope it allocates a lot of the memory loading to the GPU as I have a very powerful GPU.

 

As for what's taking up my memory, interesting point you bring up I never thought of that all these years I've played FSX. So one thing that's definitely fixed is the AI traffic. I have AI traffic loaded for all the airlines into my FSX and that would remain regardless of flight. But for the scenery, does it try to load all sceneries in my addon scenery folder? Or only those activated? And what about those freeware sceneries that don't need activation where you simply paste the bgl into the addon scenery's scenery folder?

 

Thanks again for your help. Jusr trying to find a balance between making all 10 million fsx addons work on my fsx and keeping fsx/fsx steam vs having to move to P3d and gamble on whether each of my addon sceneries, planes, Ai traffic would be compatible with p3d.

 

I would not assume P3D will be compatible with any FSX media. Some might be, but there's a lot of trial and error. And only the 64-bit version of P3D (so v4+) will work...

FSX:SE has the same limitations as good, old FSX does, limited to 4 GB of VAS.

 

So does P3D versions 1, 2 and 3, it is only in v. 4 and 5 they have gone to 64-bit code and did away with that 4 GB limit.

 

Jorgen

T...I just added the "highmemthingy = 1" to my fsx.cfg and so far no crashing..

 

The highmemfix=1 entry is one of the reasons why FSX-SE 'appears' to be more stable that a boxed version for some. It is because the Dovetail developers simply added a number of well documented and proven entries into the FSX.cfg file that would normally have to be manually added by the users of the box edition

Thanks for your inputs everyone and indeed I spoke too soon. I started up the planes and I ran into the 4gb error shortly after. Would hate to make waste of the good cpu/gpu I have here so looks like I'll have to switch to p3d now and pray that the majority of my hundreds of scenery and plane addons are compatible with p3d

Pray. But expect NOT. Look at the number of sceries needing updates!

Some will be. Most won't.

Thanks for the reply!

 

Ok this makes sense I figured this was the case. I just added the "highmemthingy = 1" to my fsx.cfg and so far no crashing. I hope it allocates a lot of the memory loading to the GPU as I have a very powerful GPU.

 

As for what's taking up my memory, interesting point you bring up I never thought of that all these years I've played FSX. So one thing that's definitely fixed is the AI traffic. I have AI traffic loaded for all the airlines into my FSX and that would remain regardless of flight. But for the scenery, does it try to load all sceneries in my addon scenery folder? Or only those activated? And what about those freeware sceneries that don't need activation where you simply paste the bgl into the addon scenery's scenery folder?

 

Thanks again for your help. Jusr trying to find a balance between making all 10 million fsx addons work on my fsx and keeping fsx/fsx steam vs having to move to P3d and gamble on whether each of my addon sceneries, planes, Ai traffic would be compatible with p3d.

 

 

Anything that is active in the scenery config file will be cached into memory. So that means the active add-on scenery folder that you just place BGLs into because that folder is active. It can be turned off or on using the Scenery Config Tool I gave a link to. But that folder really shouldn't be turned off. I'd focus more on the big stuff. For me it was a New York scenery I had. Once I entered NY I got an OOM. So I went in and disabled a lot of the big stuff via the Scenery Config Tool and left NY active. I restarted my saved flight and I was then able to get into NY and land without an OOM.

 

So do as I suggest seen as how it sounds like you have lots of add-ons. When you fly somewhere or at least somewhere memory heavy, prior to FS launch disable all the unneeded scenery that you won't fly to. That way you control what is loaded into RAM and what isn't.

 

Like I said. FS loads everything that is active in the scenery.cfg file whether you fly there or not. Thus the instant OOM.

 

I've heard of so-called memory hacks and such, but I've never used them and I can't see how any of those will work unless they hack the crap out of something. The fact is the game developers coded the game for a 32 bit environment and thus only 4 GB of RAM is allotted. You simply can''t bypass that since it's hard coded in the core code. It would take a code redo like with the new P3D to address more than 4 GB of RAM.

 

Now about going P3D. It's your choice. You can either try and see if your add-ons will run in P3D which I suspect many won't, or just control what the Sim digests in terms of installed add-ons using the Scenery Config Tool per flight.

 

If you do go with the latest P3D then you can take advantage of the faster hardware you have now, but it comes with a price in terms of most of your add-ons you have now not working. So in essence you're starting over and having to buy P3D v5 compatible add-ons. In the long run it might be better if you don't want to mess around with activating/deactivating scenery all the time with the Scenery Config Tool. Plus you have to remember to active an add-on if you'll use it before you launch the Sim.

 

If you want to read more about the elusive OOM and why it happens, then read my signature below from the PMDG website. There it will give you the answer and shed light on the situation. I just pretty much put it all in a nutshell for easier consumption. LOL

 

Since I do use FSX right now I know all too well about the OOM thing and that's one reason why I try to limit what add-ons I add to my Sim. As of right now I don't even have an appetite to add anymore payware airports, etc since just over the horizon is the new Sim coming out simply called Flight Simulator. I plan on migrating to that if I like the reviews, etc and if, it's isn't too broken on first inception. Chances are it will and like a lot of Steam games, or Battle.net, or Epic Games, it will more than likely have patch after patch that are in the tens of gigabytes in size. And believe me when I tell you I absolutely loath updates. Everything and its mother has a damn "update." Call of duty, Spotify, my FTP client, Notepad ++, Protonmail bridge (just yesterday), even my damn cable TV box updates once every night at 3 AM. Talk about excessive. What it's updating in a damn cable box I'll never know. Never experienced that before and I'm of the philosophy that with each update comes the inevitable possibility of breakage due to the constant updates. And that has exactly happend with my cable TV box. Not just once but a handful of times. And it happens in Windows 10, too. Can't leave out 7, or 8.1 either. I'm a member of many tech forums and I'm all too familiar with the updates hosed my computer bit. Not saying updates aren't good. You need them to fix issues and add features, etc. But now a days it seems like they are waaaaay too excessive and serve nothing more than to be a hindrance on my computing. Not only does software have updates but so does firmware. It could be my police scanner, router, or the damn Blu-ray player. Even my Blu-ray burner and SSD drive had updates. Man, do we live in a half-baked, just ship it out there with flaws society or what?

 

 

Anyway, read my Sig below on OOMs. It's well worth the read.

 

sudo rant | over :D

Oh, about your GPU. You could literally get by with a GTX 560TI and you'll more than likely not see a difference in FSX at all. One is because FSX only uses about 25% of the GPU and mostly uses the CPU for graphics processing. Two is because I used to use a GTX560TI with FSX and now I have a GTX1050TI (long story, wanted something else but "Bitcoin craze) and I noticed no improvement at all frame wise. Besides, I lock my frames to 25 to give breathing room for the CPU since FSX is a CPU-driven game and your eye won't see any difference between 25 and 60 frames. At least I can't. You might see some smoothness, but it'll come at a price. Especially with a large amount of heavy add-ons and a full fledged, bells and whistles plus working FMC plane.

 

Now the latest version of P3D may be a different story altogether. They probably not only recoded everything to take advantage of more than 4 GB of RAM, but utilize multiple CPU threads and the GPU. So from that perspective P3D has a lot going for it. But then again, that new Sim is upon us. If I get it I may invest in VR this time. And I WILL be building a new machine with one of the best AMD Ryzen CPUs I can afford. No more pissing around. LOL Already started to make a parts list. :pilot: Case will be Asus, MOBO will be Asus and I'm going with a max of 32 GB of RAM. Not that my computer can't handle anything I throw at it now, but with the new Sim I want that sucker to be as smooth as a baby's bottom. LOL And that's besides the point. I paid a massive $60 bones for COD Modern Warfare ( I played the very first circa 2008) only to find out it has issues with my CPU so I often get stutters. Unreal! It can be very unplayable, but I've done a few things to minimize that. Yet with each "update" (remember that word?) nothing is done to mitigate and fix this nonsense. They just keep adding more maps and crap. 40 gigs here, 50 gigs there, my 1 TB HDD is filling up! And that's just one damn game!

Edited May 21, 2020 by CRJ_simpilot

Hi all,

 

Recently with an increase in addons I'm more frequently running into the famous OOM error from exceeding 4gb. I have the boxed version Delux edition of fsx. A friend of mine told me to get FSX-SE as the recent updates a few years back made it immune to OOM errors after 4gb. Is this true, or is FSX-SE still going to run into the same 4 GB OOM error as fsx? I tried googling this vastly but couldn't find answers to tackle this specific question.

 

If this is true, then the migration will be easy with all my addon planes and scenery, but if it's not true, I will probably migrate to P3d to be able to still run everything without OOM issues so your input is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

Hi all,

Instead of starting a new thread, I'll come here. (as being it's recent and...) As I read this post I thought about my issue. "IndianTrollBoss" Started this thread by asking is the steam edition could solve his problems, over the boxed edition.

 

I have recently seen the limited RAM that the SE uses and imho there is not much difference to the boxed edition. OK, the 1Gb is more but, the graphics are larger than we used to use in the good old days. Tried the settings of Boxed, yesteryear and FSX-SE today, this was the last 2min result from FSUIPC4:

19275609 **** Restarting traffic scanning due to non-reception ****

19282500 Memory in use: 4006Mb, Avail=90Mb, MaxFreeBlock=1Mb

19282500 **** WARNING! Free memory is very low!

19332656 **** WARNING! Free memory is very low!

19342703 Memory in use: 4006Mb, Avail=90Mb, MaxFreeBlock=1Mb

19342718 **** WARNING! Free memory is very low!

19382828 **** WARNING! Free memory is very low!

19383390 Deactivated: culprit unknown

19383390 Focus lost: culprit unknown

19392859 **** WARNING! Free memory is very low!

19396640 KEYUP: VK=13, Waiting=0

19402890 Memory in use: 3874Mb, Avail=222Mb, MaxFreeBlock=25Mb

19402890 **** WARNING! Free memory is very low!

19422953 **** WARNING! Free memory is very low!

19432859 Deactivated: culprit unknown

19432859 Lost focus to PID=2700, "Taskmgr.exe"

19432984 **** WARNING! Free memory is very low!

19453046 **** WARNING! Free memory is very low!

19463078 Memory in use: 3874Mb, Avail=222Mb, MaxFreeBlock=25Mb

19463078 **** WARNING! Free memory is very low!

19483140 **** WARNING! Free memory is very low!

19489218 KEYDOWN: VK=18, Waiting=0, Repeat=N, Shifts=4

19489218 .. Key not programmed -- passed on to FS

19489421 KEYUP: VK=18, Waiting=0

**

I wish there was a way to unlimit the FSX memory usage, What's the point in having 64Gb RAM? Just to have 60Gb sit there and do nothing about it!?

 

After reading thead after thread, I'm sort of conviced this wish will not come true for FSX.

Not ready to buy the FS2020 for the moment and its over 80Gb standard, no addons!

 

Sorry for the rambling on.....

Is there anyone who can shed some light on getting more RAM into FSX?

 

Mealone

I wish there was a way to unlimit the FSX memory usage, What's the point in having 64Gb RAM? Just to have 60Gb sit there and do nothing about it!?

 

After reading thead after thread, I'm sort of conviced this wish will not come true for FSX.

Not ready to buy the FS2020 for the moment and its over 80Gb standard, no addons!

 

Sorry for the rambling on.....

Is there anyone who can shed some light on getting more RAM into FSX?

 

Mealone

 

The simple answer, as posted earlier in the thread, is that you can't. FSX is a 32 bit program and, as such, is limited to 4GB of address space. It is a fundamental limit of 32 bit applications, and there is nothing you can do as an end user to change this. Only the developers who have access to the code can update or re-write it to be a 64 bit application. This is what Lockheed has done going from P3D 3 to 4 and X-Plane did with v10.

I have read all about it in the past years, but, as you say yourself "there is a way!" Why aren't we knocking on the door of the developers to "keep FSX interesting" and up to date with the times.

Look at the evaluation of the PC through the years and when Windows95 came out you had the MSFlightsim 96 (still got that CD aswell as the diskettes from Flightsimulator 4.0).

I think what has kept the FlightSimWorld alive and thriving is all down to the "developers" but more so to the users who created and expanded the FSX with addons, to what it is today!

As long as FSX continues to run on 'today's' machines, we should expect the "developers" to upgrade the code or make it editable for the variation of end-users who have superfast machines, not that mine is... but compared to the windows 98 "second edition" standard PC. We could not even imagine the computerworld getting so fast. Fast yes! But not this fast!

 

Dovetail did do a good job, I think we can be greatfull to them for having a hand in keeping FSX going in Windows 7,8 and 10. Shame they didn't tackle the issue of 32bit to 64bit then.

 

So it IS possible to convert the 32bit to 64bit hmmm. Where can I vote? :)

 

Sorry Loki, I know you mean well. It's a shame though, if you look what has been developed for FSX over the years and there will come a day when FSX won't work on the modern PC, what a waste!

The other day I glanced at the FSX Tracker site, it blew my mind to see all the online users around the world active in FSX at any given time. Sooner rather than later they will all rollover to the FS2020. 'The Next Generation'.

 

Well it's worth a try atleast? If it wasn't for my 3D graphics program I could very well not have gone to all the trouble of upgrading.

 

Back to reset the settings to what will work comfortably with (4Gb) FSX! LOL

Mealone

So it IS possible to convert the 32bit to 64bit hmmm. Where can I vote? :)

 

I understand the desire to keep FSX going, but the reality is there is no chance that it will be updated any further. Certainly not a major update like a 64 bit re-write would be. Microsoft is the only developer than can change this and they threw in the towel on FSX long ago, and have since moved onto MSFS. What you're asking for is basically a new sim in the same way MS went from FS2000 -> FS2002 -> FS2004 -> FSX, and now MSFS.

 

Realistically your only options are to play with the FSX settings to keep memory usage down, or look into P3D. However, with the change to 64 bit processing, many add-ons from FSX, especially aircraft, won't work without updates in P3D v4 or later. Some developers provided the updates free, while others charged for them.

In addition to what I posted here in this thread, read what I said here and here.

 

Read, read, read, and learn.

Like I said. FS loads everything that is active in the scenery.cfg file whether you fly there or not. Thus the instant OOM.

I think you may be mistaken. In FS9 at least, scenery is registered with FS as it starts up and only actually loads when the scenery comes within range. As far as I can tell, FSX acts exactly the same.

 

The only benefit of trimming your scenery.cfg file, as recommended by many, is to reduce start-up time.

 

If FS crashes as you load an aircraft, it is usually a problem with the aircraft (frequently the panel) or surrounding scenery that gulps up the memory. It can be incompatibilities with the hardware. It really is rare to need more than 4GB.

 

John

No, I "think" you're wrong.

 

Read the explanation from PMDG in my signature and you'll have a better understanding.

 

Start up time is not due to scenery, it's due to aircraft in your virtual hanger. I know because if I temporally trim the aircraft or remove the whole lot from FSX or FS2004, they both load a lot faster. That despite having Bluesky scenery, Mega Scenery California, and many other add-ons.

 

If the Sim crashed when you load a plane it could be a whole host of issues. Remember that not only is scenery using all the RAM, but so is the complexity of the plane its self.

 

With so many add-ons, a Sim that can utilize more than 4 GB is what is needed, and "FS2020" is what has been introduced to meet today's hardware and software requirements. So I wouldn't say it's rare to need more the 4 GB of RAM when so many people have so many add-ons and complex aircraft.

 

FSX and FS2004 are very old pack mules and they can only carry so much digital weight so to speak.

Well, I did as bidden and read that article but with respect it is concerned with VAS usage during a flight, a subject discussed many times. It says nothing about loading/startup procedures which is apparently the issue here.

 

Yes you are right to say that loading many aircraft increases loading time, this increased dramatically in FSX owing to the "wonderful" idea of thumbnails, for which it will search in every aircraft's directories. But be assured quantities of scenery also add to that time. It was extremely noticable when I added high quality mesh for the whole world, it takes a lot longer to start a flight but the actual memory usage has hardly changed. I can speed up the loading by taking out chunks for other parts of the world but the time taken doing that probably outweights the gain! As you say, it is a very complex subject and there are many factors involved.

 

John

John,

 

You are absolutely right in that VAS usage and loading times are two very different things, and they have nothing to do with each other.

 

For every aircraft (or other Simobject) that you add, whether flyable or AI, FSX or P3D will have to go through every single "title=" line in the aircraft.cfg files, to ensure that no two lines are alike. This takes an enormous amount of time in FSX and in P3D up to v. 4.5, in P3D v. 5 a way was found around this issue.

 

Jorgen

Indeed interesting discussion. And idd why not try, to tweak FSX or more then 4 GB if possible.

My sceneries are looking like Hiroshima 1945.!!!!

Scenery config or not🙄Aplied quite some FSX cfg and Scenery cfg tweaks as recommended. Ferdinand flight simmer since 95.

John,

 

You are absolutely right in that VAS usage and loading times are two very different things, and they have nothing to do with each other.

 

For every aircraft (or other Simobject) that you add, whether flyable or AI, FSX or P3D will have to go through every single "title=" line in the aircraft.cfg files, to ensure that no two lines are alike. This takes an enormous amount of time in FSX and in P3D up to v. 4.5, in P3D v. 5 a way was found around this issue.

 

Jorgen

 

VAS and memory usage are just different ways of saying the same thing!

Loading time and VAS usage are inextricably linked and one implies the other, just not at the same time.

A large proportion of memory is used at startup, the rest is allocated, variably, as Address Space. It`s ALL using the same finite memory, otherwise please explain the difference?

With me, the problems with flat FSX sceneries started when I had to change to W10 and subsequent overnight W10 updates.🙏CPU 3.

2 and 4 GB. Ram plus..

D/P

With me, the problems with flat FSX sceneries started when I had to change to W10 and subsequent overnight W10 updates.������CPU 3.

2 and 4 GB. Ram plus..

 

Well, Win 10 uses considerably more VRAM than your previous O/S.

So there is less left for non-operating functions, like simming.

Did you add RAM? you should...