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Anyone Seen This Before?


scott_295

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There are two things, actually, I've never seen before.

 

The first is that I went into Airport Design Editor (ADE) to make a few slight modifications to an airport. As it turned out, FS9 really didn't like that (I know, now, never to do that again. haha). It crashed during the opening screen. I was 99% certain what caused it so I went back into ADE to fix the airport. FS9 then loaded with no problem, so I was right.

 

Now, here's what I've never seen before: when FS9 loaded, it created a new fs9.cfg file without any of my settings or keyboard assignments. Everything in the config file was default. Fortunately, I had a back up so I was able to delete the new one and revert back to my settings.

 

So, one of two things happened and I'm not sure which:

• Could ADE have tossed my fs9.cfg file, forcing FS to create a new one?

• Or is it possible that because my change to the airport caused FS to crash, FS deleted my fs9.cfg file and substituted it with the default?

 

I find both very unlikely. I doubt ADE would delete the fs9.cfg file since all it ever does is add BGL files to the Addon Scenery folder. But I also doubt the latter since I've had problems before where I futzed with something and FS wouldn't load. I'll fix it and go on, no problem.

 

I really don't know, tho.

 

 

The second thing I've never seen before is really weird and is related to something that has happened in the past, albeit rarely; maybe once or twice a year: when pressing the Num Lock button on my keyboard there's no tone (Micro$oft calls it Toggle Keys and you also hear it when pressing the Caps Lock and Scroll Lock keys). I'm not sure how it happens but I'll find System Sounds has been muted. I'm pretty certain it only ever happens when I'm running FS, too.

 

But here are the differences I've never seen before: it happened repeatedly (once again, the only app I had running was FS9) and Systems Sounds wasn't muted. Instead, the Toggle Keys option was unchecked. For some reason, it appears FS kept changing that setting, which is only accessible through the Control Panel > Ease of Access Center > Make the keyboard easier to use.

 

 

Anyone have any ideas?

If the pilot's good, see, I mean, if he's really sharp, he can barrel that baby in so low... hee hee. Oh, you ought to see it sometime, it's a sight. A big plane like a 52 - vrooom! Ha! Its jet exhaust frying chickens in the barnyard! Ha ha! - Gen Buck Turgidson
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FS9 reads the fs9.cfg file upon startup and then writes it upon shutdown. Perhaps it was doing one of those when the crash occurred and that trashed the file? I've never heard of ADE doing that.

That makes sense, since FS crashed as it was trying to load. One thing I neglected to mention is that it actually crashed twice. By that I mean, when the error window that reads "Flight Simulator has stopped working" (or something to that effect) popped up, another error window reading the same thing popped up less than a second later. I've never seen that before, either. Usually, the next window that pops up says FS is restarting, but that didn't happen.

 

So here's what seems to have caused the problem: I created a couple of parking spots and labelled them "E Parking". After FS crashed while loading, I deleted one of those spots and it was fine again. But later, I realized I've labelled a group of parking spots with one designation before... or at least I'm pretty certain I have. I don't understand why this time it caused FS to crash. Although, this particular airport (ZMUB) acts kind of weird anyway. It has two runways: one paved, the other grass. It lets jets land on the paved runway but directs small planes to the grass runway.

 

It also doesn't change which runway to land on based on wind direction or even speed. Larger airports don't seem to care about wind direction, like LaGuardia and JFK. But for other airports I can change the wind direction in the weather settings and the default runway will change also. So, for example, if I'm departing to the south, I set the wind direction to 190° and ATC will direct me to R19 for takeoff. On my return trip to the same airport, I'll change the wind direction to 10° and ATC will direct me to land on R01. But at ZMUB, whose runways are R14/R32 and R15/R33, I set the wind to 142° at 80 kts and ATC still directs me to R33.

 

But I discovered this airport has other issues. It has only one ILS, for R14, which is the primary. But ATC only ever directs jets to takeoff and land on the secondary, R32. I checked the runways of the stock airport in ADE and both enable takeoff and landing, and yet it never uses R14. I even tried to change the Pattern settings, enabling landing at R14 but not takeoff, takeoff at R32 but not landing, and no takeoffs nor landings on R15/R33. It still only uses R32. WTH?

 

-----

 

As for the Toggle Keys option being repeatedly turned off, I have no explanation. I actually began to wonder if I didn't have a virus or something. Since I fixed the airport, FS has operated perfectly normal and I've had no issues with the Toggle Keys option.

 

Another thing I neglected to mention is that FS had been open and paused for a really long time. On most days, at a certain point in the day, I will pause FS, save my flight, minimize it to the taskbar, and leave it that way until I'm ready to continue, usually the next morning. So it might be sitting paused for 18 hours. I don't think I've ever had a problem before. Have you heard of FS going psycho after being paused for so long?

If the pilot's good, see, I mean, if he's really sharp, he can barrel that baby in so low... hee hee. Oh, you ought to see it sometime, it's a sight. A big plane like a 52 - vrooom! Ha! Its jet exhaust frying chickens in the barnyard! Ha ha! - Gen Buck Turgidson
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On your first issue.

 

Have you checked the airport for errors with ADE?

 

Is ADE current?

 

Is this an add-on airport you got somewhere that you're now editing?

 

Does it use certain BGL dependencies for sound files and what have you?

 

I know you can add sound to certain parts of an airport with effect files being called by a BGL.

 

As to the second part. Are you using a yoke or other controller hardware? A long press of 5 seconds on the Num Lock key will enable the Toggle Keys feature. That may get invoked via a yoke/peddles switch via its software or maybe in FSUIPC.

 

Another thought here is that a module is doing some shenanigans.

 

I never let the Sim stay on. I land, I park, I shut down engines and systems, I save the flight and exit the Sim. When I want to takeoff from that point again I load my saved spot and go from there. When you leave the Sim open for hours on end you leave yourself open to possible corruption I reckon. Plsu, you're putting a lot of strain on the PC and consuming a lot of wattage. When I'm done with the computer I power it off. And you never EVER want to use a low power setting like hibernation or sleep. It can and will cause issues. Not for everyone, but I've read my fare share of help threads on tech forums all across the Internet about sleep or hibernation mode mucking their computer up.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On your first issue.

 

1. Have you checked the airport for errors with ADE?

 

2. Is ADE current?

 

3. Is this an add-on airport you got somewhere that you're now editing?

 

4. Does it use certain BGL dependencies for sound files and what have you?

I know you can add sound to certain parts of an airport with effect files being called by a BGL.

1. No. Forgot. But, as I said, once I deleted one of the parking spots, all my troubles went away. Besides, it's a bare bones kind of airport, anyway.

 

2. Yes, ADE's current.

 

3. Nope. Stock airport.

 

4. Nope. No BGL dependent sounds.

 

As to the second part. Are you using a yoke or other controller hardware? A long press of 5 seconds on the Num Lock key will enable the Toggle Keys feature. That may get invoked via a yoke/peddles switch via its software or maybe in FSUIPC.

No yoke. Just keyboard. I have a yoke that I used to use for FS2000 but when I moved couldn't set up the ergonomics just right because of a different PC desk.

 

Another thought here is that a module is doing some shenanigans.

I have very few modules and I've never had an issue before.

 

I never let the Sim stay on. I land, I park, I shut down engines and systems, I save the flight and exit the Sim. When I want to takeoff from that point again I load my saved spot and go from there. When you leave the Sim open for hours on end you leave yourself open to possible corruption I reckon. Plsu, you're putting a lot of strain on the PC and consuming a lot of wattage. When I'm done with the computer I power it off. And you never EVER want to use a low power setting like hibernation or sleep. It can and will cause issues. Not for everyone, but I've read my fare share of help threads on tech forums all across the Internet about sleep or hibernation mode mucking their computer up.

That's interesting. Normally, when I'm finished flying I pause, save, minimize the window, and put the PC to sleep (I didn't mean to imply I let FS continue to run for hours on end). I've been using sleep mode for years. My cousin is an IT spec in the Nat'l Guard and, like you, he never uses sleep mode either. The reason I use sleep mode, aside from being able to have nearly immediate access, is that I read somewhere long ago that turning off the PC everyday can be hard on the HDD.* I have noticed, sometimes, that when I restart my PC, it does perform better somehow. I will shut it down or restart it, periodically, but most of the time I don't because I'm on it a lot, anyway.

 

*I Googled "powering down a PC every day is bad for the hard drive" and found that it isn't the case. You and my cousin are right. Also from that article, however:

The smart compromise between shutdown and active use is to use sleep mode or hibernate. When a PC enters sleep mode, the only active component is the short-term RAM memory. The only difference between a sleeping computer and a shutdown computer is the minimal amount of energy consumed -- between one and five watts in sleep mode compared with zero for a powered-down, unplugged machine. A sleeping machine generates no heat, doesn't activate the hard drive or fan, and pops into action in seconds.

 

Experts agree, though, if you don't expect to use your computer for several hours -- overnight is the clearest example -- then you might as well shut it down completely.

 

https://computer.howstuffworks.com/powering-down-computer.htm

 

Incidentally, my PC is 12 years old. It was a really good one when I bought it and I've had no issues with it except for a hard drive I had to replace and a RAM module that shit the bed a couple years ago, which I still need to replace. Otherwise, it's been nearly perfect. Altho, I was never really satisfied with the video card.

 

As for electric usage, I'm not worried about that because (a) a PC uses hardly any electricity in sleep mode (I read in the documentation that came with my PC that it uses between 1 and 2 watts in sleep mode) and (b) I'm Mr Frugal. Indeed, after I put myself on a budget, I nearly always end up paying more than what my bill is. In fact, my last bill was $0.00... and I have a credit.

 

Still, I think I'll start shutting it down every night. That seems prudent.

 

Thanks for replying and thanks for the info. Sorry it took me so long to notice. After a couple days of no responses, I forgot to check.

If the pilot's good, see, I mean, if he's really sharp, he can barrel that baby in so low... hee hee. Oh, you ought to see it sometime, it's a sight. A big plane like a 52 - vrooom! Ha! Its jet exhaust frying chickens in the barnyard! Ha ha! - Gen Buck Turgidson
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