Traffic CTD issue

I've just discovered a couple of airfield sceneries that cause a "crash-to-desktop" if I try to create a flight there, but only with GA ai traffic enabled.

OK, so I've removed all the traffic files (that I can find, ie. those with "traffic" in the title) from both the main Scenery folder and throughout the Add-On Scenery folders and the problem still occurs. Create a flight at the specific airport with GA Traffic disabled, no problem … enable GA traffic at that point, immediate crash!

So, the question is … is there any way of discovering which files are "traffic" files if they're not named as such?

As you might have guessed, these aren't airfields that I use very often, so can probably live with the fault and hardly ever notice … unless I stray too close to the area to cause FS9 to try to activate whatever is causing the crash.

Thanks for any insights :)

I think that AI Flight Planner might be able to do that, although not as a separate action. I think many of the Bulk Actions menu items cause AIFP to scan the scenery files for traffic files, then list them in a tree diagram. You could use this to find them?

Thanks for the suggestion. I managed to find two versions of AIFP, an older on FlightSim and a newer one on Stuff4FS … both appear to have the required functionality but unfortunately both hang without giving me any result under W10 64-bit :(

I'll fiddle about with compatibility settings etc. and see if I can get one to perform … maybe even copy everything onto an XP box and try it there ;)

Shouldn't be any need to make compatibility adjustments ... just now ran a bulk traffic .bgl file search (180+ separate traffic files) with AIFP v3.4.1.6 under Win10 64bit and experienced no problems whatsoever.

Just sayin'.

Regards,

Dorian

Shouldn't be any need to make compatibility adjustments ... just now ran a bulk traffic .bgl file search (180+ separate traffic files) with AIFP v3.4.1.6 under Win10 64bit and experienced no problems whatsoever.

 

Just sayin'.

 

Regards,

Dorian

Thanks for that … I'd been trying it with the program folder on my Desktop … would seem Windows wasn't happy with that concept. I've moved the folder to my D drive and it's now working :)

Managed to find all my Traffic files, (including a couple of potential duplicates), moved them all into a dedicated Traffic\Scenery folder which I've added to my Scenery Library and I can enable and disable to suit. I've not yet established exactly which traffic file is causing the problem, but by disabling the Traffic folder within the Scenery Library, FS9 will behave with GA Traffic enabled, so I know the problem file is in there somewhere ;)

When I feel like spending some time re-starting FS9 multiple times I'll work through those files, establish the cause(s) and hopefully fix it :)

Thanks caphavoc and tgibson_new for your time and suggestions, I was unaware of that program so would have struggled without it :)

Based on how you described the problem, on its face it sounds like perhaps one or more of the AI planes may have texture issues. What might be happening is that when you go to this airport or near it and that AI renders so does its texture. If that specific AI plane/s has a bad graphic it'll crash your Sim.

That's my assumption thus far. The other probability is a bad traffic file. But to me, if the code for the traffic file was bad from the get go, it shouldn't have been able to be compiled without error or able to be compiled at all.

I often times read about half baked add-ons and I wonder why the Dev would release it to the public with known errors. Either that, or it's your configuration in some way. Either Sim or computer. But I have my doubts.

If it's feasible. Go on into the AI plane folders themselves that get rendered at this airfield and cut/paste ten or so of those AI plane folders to the desktop ten or so at a time. Each time restart the Sim and go back to this airfield. When the CTD is not produced anymore you then know the little bugger is withen the ten folders you temp copied to the desktop and out of the Sim directory. Doing it this way not only helps you to deduce down what plane/s might be the issue, but it'll be a lot quicker on your part. Once the CTD is found again from a specific set of ten AI planes, then you have to test one AI plane folder at a time from the group of ten. And since there could be more than one problematic plane, all ten plane folders need to be tested one at a time for flaws as well.

It's just like testing RAM in a way. Well, at least for me anyway. I first boot up Memtest86 and scan the whole lot of RAM in one go. If any issue is found I then test one stick of RAM at a time to find the culprit. I do this ALL the time with RAM purchases on eBay (or anywhere, really). Last time I bought laptop RAM on eBay I found bad RAM so had to send it back.

About the Windows 10 thing not behaving with AIFP on the desktop. This is more than likely due to how Windows (Especially 10) protects certain directories. It sounds like Windows 10 not only protects the program files folders, but also the desktop path as well. Since AIFP is acting in a way Windows doesn't like, Windows' built in protections block the execution of AIFP from happening thus rendering AIFP inoperable.

So having said that, you never want to install the Sim (in this case FS2004) into the default directory of the programs folder. Doing so will eventually lead to potential issues further down the line. It will become apparent with a certain add-on or module. Especially if that add-on or module behaves in a way Windows doesn't like.

Non-GMO food for thought tip #302

I'm not exactly sure if this is "kosher" or not, but how I install AI is in the following way:

The traffic files themselves are placed in the path of: Flight Simulator 2004\Scenery\World\scenery and the AI planes themselves are placed in the aircraft folder. I always, ALWAYS separate out any aircraft and add-on scenery in this fashion. Even for FSX. The \Scenery\World\scenery folder will render the traffic file/s like any scenery in the add-on folder. Just more on a universal basis. If there are issues, that one traffic file can be renamed to something like MyTraffic321.bgl_old The addition of the "old" renders the .bgl file extension null and void so that the Sim won't render that traffic file anymore. Rename it back to a .bgl and it'll render once again.

Of course you first need to go into the Windows Control Panel | Folder Options and make sure show extensions is turned on. This should be common practice after installing Windows for the first time anyway. And there are MANY reasons why, too. The very obvious is masquerading malware looking like a jpg or PDF, et cetera. So a file named mycatphoto.jpg.bat might look like a seemingly innocent mycatphoto.jpg or something in Windows WITHOUT show file extensions turned on. You double click the "mycatphoto.jpg" file, the batch file executes and you're computer just got pwned and tea bagged to no end. Of course jpgs, PDFs and other files can harbor a malware payload withen themselves... And I could write seven paragraphs on this mitigation.

Non-GMO food for thought tip #303

There's a really great free program at SourceForge for scenery management for both FS9 and FSX called, SceneryConfigEditor. This program is to add-on management as AIFP is to flight plans. It is written in Java however. So, if you install Java I'd make sure it's disabled in the plug-ins facility of your browser/s. This is for security reasons. You never want a browser plug-in to render code without your approval. I could probably type seven paragraphs on all this stuff as well, believe me. LOL

In conclusion. To me this issue sounds texture related and not so much a flight plan issue. I don't think it lies in the model MDL its self though. That too would probably spit out errors while trying to compile from the get go by the Dev.

P.S.

What is the name of this add-on? That might help. LOL

P.P.S

Yes, I'm in the typing mood. I used to write for the Antarctic version of Playboy magazine at one time in the '70s. :D LOL

Juliet/Kilo

You can have your traffic outside the World/Scenery if you want like this:

Just enable it like adding new scenery, then every new traffic file save it to that folder, its a lot quicker to find as well.

Col

Based on how you described the problem, on its face it sounds like perhaps one or more of the AI planes may have texture issues. What might be happening is that when you go to this airport or near it and that AI renders so does its texture. If that specific AI plane/s has a bad graphic it'll crash your Sim.

 

Juliet/Kilo

That's my assumption … I just needed to be able to find any "rogue" Traffic files that weren't in the "usual place" or had an "unusual" name so I could isolate them and analyse them as necessary. One file had even installed itself in the Libraries folder!

I've now completed that task so I'll press on with the isolation and eventual analysis as time permits :)

The final re-editing and/or deletion of the problem will be the quick bit ;)

You can have your traffic outside the World/Scenery if you want like this:

Just enable it like adding new scenery, then every new traffic file save it to that folder, its a lot quicker to find as well.

 

Col

That's exactly what I've now done … see above

Managed to find all my Traffic files, (including a couple of potential duplicates), moved them all into a dedicated Traffic\Scenery folder which I've added to my Scenery Library and I can enable and disable to suit.

Now I've got everything in one place I can proceed "as normal" … restart … restart … restart ;)

Ah yes sorry misread your post, I never knew you could do this but a fellow member told and shown me how, I find it far better and quicker.

col.

Thanks to all for your help :)

Having isolated all my traffic files with 'AI Flight Planner' I finally sat down this evening and isolated the problem, one traffic file with the same aircraft entered twice in the flightplan. REM out one entry and all is well :)

I can't remember exactly now as it was a while ago but I once had a CTD but in my case it only just happened when I copied and pasted a flight plan from somewhere, once I deleted it no CTD.

So out of curiosity I put the plan back and sure enough I got a CTD, I double checked everything in it and it looked OK but there must have been something about it FS didn't like.

Anyway pleased you got your problem sorted, sometimes these things are a good learning curve and may also help others, some people sort the problem and don't report back so we don't know what the problem was or the fix.

Col.

I can't remember exactly now as it was a while ago but I once had a CTD but in my case it only just happened when I copied and pasted a flight plan from somewhere, once I deleted it no CTD.

So out of curiosity I put the plan back and sure enough I got a CTD, I double checked everything in it and it looked OK but there must have been something about it FS didn't like.

 

Anyway pleased you got your problem sorted, sometimes these things are a good learning curve and may also help others, some people sort the problem and don't report back so we don't know what the problem was or the fix.

 

Col.

iirc, i once had an issue that sounds very similar. it was a long time ago. but i believe it was a model.cfg file for an ai aircraft. when you open it with a text editor it should say normal=a333rrnosatNOVC with the a333rrnosatNOVC corresponding to the .mdl file (a333rrnosatNOVC.mdl). some developers put normal=a333rrnosatNOVC.mdl in the cfg and that .mdl extension in the model.cfg file will crash fs9. there is a program, flusifix that will scan all your model.cfg files for errors and print out a text file showing the errors. it's not a very easy program to use, it is in german but does have an english help manual. you can find it with a google search. it will find many errors for you besides the model.cfg. for instance it will check all the title= entries in all your aircraft.cfg files for duplicates. i think if 2 different ai aircraft have the same title= entry it will cause issues.

Thank you I will look for that program and take a look, I know how to remove a VC from an aircraft model, I use a Hex editor for that.

I wish I knew how to remove those big balloon lights as I call them on aircraft, they look ridiculous and they annoy me, shame because the rest of the models are good it's just those lights that spoil them.

Col.

I wish I knew how to remove those big balloon lights as I call them on aircraft, they look ridiculous and they annoy me, shame because the rest of the models are good it's just those lights that spoil them.

Col.

I use "Nick's LightFix". I've just checked, it's available here on FlightSim as a v.2 so I'll be updating that later :)

... flusifix ... it is in german but does have an english help manual.

Flusifix (English version v43) can be downloaded here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/bdf69ms4o5g1hja/ff04_v43_eng.zip/file

Regards,

Dorian

Hello All

Re.Flusifix.

I have a genuine English version .No need to keeping translating from the German.

Unfortunately I haven't seen it available for many years now.

If I thought it was kosher to do so and would not be breaking any legal rules AND I knew how to do it. I would consider uploading it.

Flusifix is probably the best tweaker available for FS9 in the shere amount of tweaks it offers, and the ease with which they are applied, and removed if your not happy with the results.

If of course you are a German speaker then your fine with either version.

Got a feeling there was an Fsx version too (can't be certain though)

Cheers

Andy

I assume the "English manual" is the text displayed when you click each item?

Good question, Tom. Never used FluziFix in German, so unable to answer ... however, all three panels are in English (for example: in the left hand panel, under FS9.cfg, item 02 is: "Reverse Thrust Reaction", the middle panel explains, in English, how to change the described value and the right hand panel gives a fairly comprehensive description of how the values work, also in English.

Trust that answers your query?

Regards,

Dorian

Ah! Gotcha.

Nope, no manual (English or otherwise) included.

Regards,

Dorian

this is the most current version i know of for flusifix for fs9, english manual included. scroll just 1/4 way down the page and select the light blue "download now" button under "Download version 6.5 from Software Informer"...

https://flusifix-2006.software.informer.com/download/#downloading

Thanks. German version with an English manual.

yes, the older english program did not have nearly the functionality that this version has. Even with the english manual it's a bit difficult to figure out everything it can do. to do the check that i alluded to earlier in this thread, select "aircraft.cfg" from the left panel. then select "19. liverie check". then you can select whatever checkboxes you desire to have checked from the middle. the text file that is outputted is in german, but there are enough words that are close to the english translation that you'll be able to figure out what the errors are. this program really is so useful, i thought i had my a/c files pretty much squared away and i came up with a long list of errors.

I know how to remove a VC from an aircraft model, I use a Hex editor for that.

That's very interesting. Are you hex editing the MDL file? Are you using HxD? What line is this VC code? I don't wish to remove the VC since that's actually my preferred way to fly, but I'm intrigued by editing the code of the plane this way though.