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FSX CTD when "Fly Now" selected


SSI01

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My FSX installation is crashing to my desktop, no matter what aircraft is selected for flight (add-on or default), after all parameters have been reviewed and selected, the viewing window for the aircraft depicts the aircraft to be flown, and the "Fly Now" button is illuminated. When pressed I get the instrument panel and the aircraft engine operating, but the view immediately freezes at that point.

I am unsure of what is causing this.

 

Here is a system profile:

AMD phenom II xm 940 Processor 3.00 GHz

Installed Memory (RAM) 12.0GB

64-bit OS

Windows 7 Home Premium with Service Pack 1

 

Unsure of where to start with diagnostics, but need assistance.

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Hello, Mr. Zippy.

 

I'm using the "gold" edition of FSX from the disc, not steam edition. The sim is up to date on its MS-published updates as well.

 

I also forgot to include that when this happens, all is not lost, apparently. When the CTD occurs I check "C" drive and the FSX.cfg for this sim always creates a text file of the .cfg file as well. FSX always creates a new .cfg file once it crashes and, using that new .cfg file, it is restarted. That's the case with my problem, however, what's interesting is that once that happens, and we go through the setup process and reset all the keystroke combinations where they should be and reconfigure everything else, and then select the same aircraft, same time and weather, and airport, and start as usual - the sim restarts without a hitch and everything's fine.

Edited by SSI01
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Boy, that's odd! Something is corrupting the FSX.cfg?? Might be easier to make a copy of a good .cfg and keep it handy rather than having to go through all of the setup procedures. I'll do some searching to see if anything like this has been reported.

 

Are you starting from a previously "saved" fight or creating a whole new flight? I was thinking maybe a corrupted saved flight causing the problem.

Edited by mrzippy

Still thinking about a new flightsim only computer!  ✈️

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No sir, I start with a different flight every time, don't start from a saved flight.

 

I was wondering if there was difficulty occurring with whatever FSX has that reads gauges for the sim. I say this because the general cockpit windscreen of whatever aircraft or helicopter was selected always shows up, without flaws. It's just that the view freezes at that point with the little circling "I'm reading" icon turning around with nothing happening. You can move that icon anywhere on the windscreen you like but it never goes beyond that stage. I can't change the view to external or tower view using the "s" key,l nor will the gauges ever show, ergo, my thoughts on the sim refusing to read the gauges.

 

After that happens, the screen finally goes black, then we get the two dialog boxes re: problem encountered/FSX is restarting right afterward. After that, the sim will run OK.

 

I will try changing the .exe file and see if that has any bearing on things.

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Mr. Zippy, I've found one other interesting thing I can't figure out. I have copies of my FSX.cfg files in C:Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX, and also in C:\Users\Owner\My Documents\Flight Simulator X Files\FSX.exe files. When I discovered this I checked the one .cfg file folder against the other and found the second string I listed did NOT have all the .cfg files I have in my shortcut folder on my desktop. The ".cfg" files for three of the FSX iterations were missing. I filled them in immediately with copies of the .cfg files that were included in the first string I show above, and which always have worked perfectly. I did NOT set these duplications up this way and am still trying to figure out how this happened. Is it your opinion this duplication of .cfg files in two places in the same drive could be causing problems in gameplay with the sim? Edited by SSI01
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I'm going to try rounding up everything in that "FSX.exe files" folder, putting them in separate files by category within that folder, and then try activating the sim with just one set of .cfg and .exe files, and see what happens.
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The files under My Documents shouldn't have any effect on the working of FSX. The one under Appdata is what FSX will refer to. You could pop them all into one zip file if you wanted to test without them present. It is normal for FSX to re-write the FSX.cfg file each session, by the way, no cause for concern there.

 

Going back to your first post, you describe your issue as a "Crash to Desktop" but say the aircraft cockpit freezes after loading? Those are completely different things. Which is it?

 

A true CTD is the software completely vanishing from screen without warning or information - a very rare occurrence on modern versions of Windows. If you are getting that, you have serious issues! A typical software crash generates an error message which will indicate the faulting module, a very useful piece of information. If you get that, look for the offending DLL file in the message and advise back here.

 

For the latter, you might like to try re-setting the default flight. Although you say you don't "use" the default flight, you will be using settings from it.

 

The most extreme way of resetting things is to delete the FSX.cfg file (keep a copy!) and let FSX generate a fresh, clean one. This will delete all your customisations but in the process will set everything to vanilla "as installed" and eliminate setiings that may be causing problems.

 

John

http://www.adventure-unlimited.org

 

My co-pilot's name is Sid and he's a star!

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Hello Johnhinson

 

I did what you suggested and let the .cfg file rewrite itself after I deleted the bad one. That's given me only one bad start since then but I think I have the answer for that - I was doing other stuff on the machine at the same time FSX was starting up (but not yet displaying) and that may have interfered with the process since I was on the internet.

 

What was happening was after selection of the aircraft, the selected aircraft VC (I try to fly from that position as much as possible) showed up; the engine was running (normal starting mode), but the cursor was a small blue revolving arrow on the screen; there was no way to use the hat switch on the top of the joystick to look down onto the panel - the view was frozen. That would last perhaps 10-15 seconds until the screen went black, the sound ended, and the two messages showed up as described.

 

I've done a couple of things that seem to help. First, I replaced the ".exe" file in the sim's base folder, using an .exe file from another iteration of FSX I knew to be working well. So far I haven't had any problems with the sim hanging up at the instrument panel. I also now always start at the default flight, which is a nuisance, but it takes maybe two or three minutes (I have a LOT of aircraft in this sim) to get where I can substitute another airfield. The other thing that seems to help is I have gone into the ".cfg" file for this version of FSX and entered a "0" value in the USERINTERFACE section, after the config entry "ShowAllACPaintSchemes=" This allows the sim to fan rapidly through all the base aircraft installed in this sim (again, I have a LOT of them in the "airplanes" and "rotorcraft" folders). Each aircraft folder has in turn from two or three to over 140 textures installed, depending on the aircraft. The fewer of those the sim has to plow through to just open up to start a flight, the faster it seems to load and the "CTD" (as described) problem now does not exist, knock on wood. So far, from what i have seen, if you open just the base aircraft screen, highlight the base aircraft you are interested in flying, and check "show variations," what happens is all paint variations for that base aircraft will appear, which causes a further slight delay but does not appear to interfere w/the loading of the variation you want to fly.

 

Funny you should mention the "My Documents" .exe/.cfg files; I put them in two separate files just for safekeeping, when I checked on them the next time the OS or the sim - whichever - had moved both of them to just one folder. I didn't do it. Just an example of the screwy things that sometimes happen w/this rig. I'm going to delete them based on what I've seen here, plus what you report.

 

I used to be w/a govt agency and when we received our first computers we were told over and over by IT how terribly fragile the crazy things were, and how very little improper input it took from an operator to totally mess things up. Consequently I've approached them w/a great deal of caution since then. I've been dealing w/FS since 1995. It's becoming easier yet I find things challenging at times as well.

 

So far this seems to have been tamed but I'm going to run a few more sessions before I can report back and state the problem is totally solved. If this works I should be able to report success maybe around 8-8 or 8-9. I have cataract surgery scheduled shortly after that and want to see the results of my labors with clear vision, and not through a fog. I'll let you know.

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