Do I have another memory leak caused by FMC?

[PhilH 15]

Hi,

 

I remember reading and writing in the "777 OOM depleted VAS" topic several months ago about a 777 memory caused by a very specific set of circumstances, but this memory leak was diagnosed and fixed by PMDG in April, I believe. 

 

 

I few nights ago, I flew a flight from Auckland, NZAA to San Francisco, KSFO, as I had just purchased the FlightBeam KSFO HD Scenery and wanted to give it a try. I have been using FSX Steam since my upgrade to Windows 10, and I haven't had any problems with it so far. I often fly overnight in real time, and when I got up, I had had an OOM over the Pacific, several hours ago. I was surprised, as I don't have any NZAA scenery and when I had gone to bed, I had 2GB of VAS remaining (according the FSUIPC).

 

My first reaction was to think of a memory leak, as I use to get them a lot before the PMDG fix. Flying over the Pacific isn't really demanding for the VAS I think, and considering I had flown from CYYZ to OMDB (all with scenery) the night before, without any OOM, I was surprised.

 

I always save my flight before going to bed, so just for fun, I loaded up my save and I finished my route with a direct-to SFO. I usually load the approach/STAR into the FMC before going to bed, even though this isn't realistic, but I like having a precise T.O.D. calculation.

 

The VAS remained at approximately 1.8 to 2GB remaining during the entire flight to SFO, when I didn't load the approach in! I then thought maybe my OOM was just a one-off glitch, so I reloaded the save again on the next day, and loaded the ILS 28R approach into SFO just like I did when I had the OOM. I was able to check on my PC every few hours, and surprisingly, after about 3 hours, I only had 900MB of VAS remaining.

 

 

I appears like the exact same glitch I was having before the PMDG fix. Is this possible? Even on the ground without moving, loading the FMC with KSFO to KSFO, and loading in the ILS28R makes my PC use VAS for no reason, I tried this morning.

 

 

I am using a freshly installed 777 (I clean installed to Windows 10 about a month ago), however I purchased the -300ER expansion about 5 days ago. This was only my second flight with the -300.

 

 

Do you think it's possible that I was the same VAS issue that was fixed in April? I suppose this has nothing to do with it, but was the -300 also patched for the glitch?

 

 

All of this was done on 1509 data, I have yet to try with 1510 (Navigraph).

 

Thank you for your time!

 

 

Philippe Hewett

[downscc 1,327]

Not likely for a couple reasons, KSFOHD is very popular and 28R is the preferred runway so a similar bug would be appearing in dozens of posts here. If you stronglys suspect as such then it will take a repeatable trial run without traffic or weather and sufficient data collection to support such an assertion.

 

I've seen VAS slowly dissappear over the Pacific on long flights on a variety of flights, and I have no idea what's going on there. I've just finished a several day task of installing P3Dv3 and all my airports so it's time to take the YSSY-KLAX Delta flight again. Hopefully LM has mitigated most of the long standing problems we've endured with poor memory management in FSX.

[StewCal 12]

I've had some similar issues lately.  I was always able to do long haul flights with no OOMs.  Lately however, I've hardly been able to complete a long haul without one.  I use a scenery manager and just load the origin and destination airports.  Wondering if something I recently installed adjusted my config file in some negative way.  Been using Prepar3d 2.5.  I purchased 3.0  but haven't gotten around to installing it yet.  Hopefully that will be the solution.  Lots of head scratching over the years with flight sims.....

[PhilH 15]

I've had some similar issues lately.  I was always able to do long haul flights with no OOMs.  Lately however, I've hardly been able to complete a long haul without one.  I use a scenery manager and just load the origin and destination airports.  Wondering if something I recently installed adjusted my config file in some negative way.  Been using Prepar3d 2.5.  I purchased 3.0  but haven't gotten around to installing it yet.  Hopefully that will be the solution.  Lots of head scratching over the years with flight sims.....

 

 

Not likely for a couple reasons, KSFOHD is very popular and 28R is the preferred runway so a similar bug would be appearing in dozens of posts here. If you stronglys suspect as such then it will take a repeatable trial run without traffic or weather and sufficient data collection to support such an assertion.

 

I've seen VAS slowly dissappear over the Pacific on long flights on a variety of flights, and I have no idea what's going on there. I've just finished a several day task of installing P3Dv3 and all my airports so it's time to take the YSSY-KLAX Delta flight again. Hopefully LM has mitigated most of the long standing problems we've endured with poor memory management in FSX.

 

Thanks for your advice. I never use traffic, but I will continue flying and see if this ever happens again. I also use scenery manager and only load my departure and destination airport into the sim.

 

I'm still on FSX but I might switch to P3D v3 eventually if it really is *that much better*. Anyway, for now, I'll keep trying to see what's causing the issue

[Steve Dra 7,573]

Hey Philippe,

I'm using FSX:SE in Windows 10, DX10 with Steve's fixer.

I flew a similar route yesterday (YSSY>KLAX) with a Virgin 77W and no hints of an OOM.  I had the arrival in the FMC prior to stepping away from the flightdeck after I reached initial cruise and the auto time accelerator bumped to 4x with nothing but blue water below and blue skies above (just a few clouds).

I did various other things with the laptop conducting this flight during the enroute, also putting it to sleep on several occasions while I stepped away.

 

When I stepped back on the flightdeck, we were paused at TOD, and there were several unwelcoming clouds surrounding me, but all was good on the OOM front.

We took the BUFIE3 25L route into KLAX with nary a hiccup.  

I have FSDT KLAX, most sliders to max on a Lenovo i7-4710Hq with a GTX840 GPU.  My Airline traffic is set to 65%, all others set to 0.

While most of this info is not unusual, what is out of the ordinary is that I've been running a sotra' stress test on this laptop to see if I could break it by purposely ignoring all the red flags that can lead to issues in FS.

In addition to running many other apps in the background while flying, I've also had FS up and running for several days, not closing it between flights and/or rebooting the machine.

So far with this very extended FS session, I've taken a Cathay 77W from LAX to Fiji, then an A919 sporting Air NZ colors from Fiji to NZAA, then another plane change to a Jet Star A320, taking me over to YSSY, then finally the trip back to KLAX as mentioned above.  This is all without restarting FSX or rebooting the PC, and using it to do many other things.

The only rule I did adhere to was to load the default Cessna between the change from the PMDG product to the AS Bus and then vise versa on the trip back to LAX.

 

Other than that, no issues whatsoever over the last 5 days these trips spanned over.

 

I wonder if somehow not using the auto time accelerator on long over-water flights may somehow cause memory issues?  I know this is a stretch, but maybe (not knowing the inner workings of how textures load along a route) textures that that maybe woulda' been skipped flying 4x are progressively loaded and not completely unloaded along the way, causing an unseen usage in memory?  Just throwing ideas out so maybe someone will have an "Ah Ha" moment, hehe.

 

I'll try a few long hauls with that feature off and see if I notice a difference.

[pcubine 143]

I'll try a few long hauls with that feature off and see if I notice a difference.

I have done quite a few VHHH-KLAX in both directions using boxed FSX with DX9. Westbound completely during the day and eastbound day/night/day. These flights were conducted without any time acceleration. I have not noticed any change in VAS usage once at cruise.

[Steve Dra 7,573]

I have done quite a few VHHH-KLAX in both directions using boxed FSX with DX9. Westbound completely during the day and eastbound day/night/day. These flights were conducted without any time acceleration. I have not noticed any change in VAS usage once at cruise.

Good to know Michael.

I'm hoping that P3d V3 is the magic VAS bullet we've been waiting for, Rob seems to be very optimistic about it.  I'm just having so much luck with SE and DX10 (I have those famous cockpit shadows that increase the immersion 10-fold when making long, lazy turns at sunrise and sunset, hehe), that I am in no hurry to jump on to V3.

 

Its a good place to be at, as I've seen the struggles some are having with V3 (that every new upgrade brings).  I'll just wait 'till its all ironed out then see what all the hoopla is about.  :smile:

[PhilH 15]

Thanks for all the input.

 

I'm so tempted to switch to P3D, I think v3 is what I have been waiting for. I just bought the -300ER expansion for FSX last week, but the PMDG addons are really my favourite so I don't mind rebuying it for P3D... And it seems like P3D v3 means less OOM errors. I also hope it'll be able to use my GPU more.

 

 

 

EDIT: I finally bit the bullet and bought a licence for Prepar3d. I've never used any version of it before, only FSX & FSX-SE. I'll start with the default aircraft and eventually I'll get the 777 and attempt my flight again.

 

I know it would have been possible to avoid my OOM without changing sim, as most people seem fine with this Pacific flight, but anyway, I decided to try P3D out.

Edited October 8, 2015 by PhilH

[pcubine 143]

 

EDIT: I finally bit the bullet and bought a licence for Prepar3d. I've never used any version of it before, only FSX & FSX-SE. I'll start with the default aircraft and eventually I'll get the 777 and attempt my flight again.

 

 

If you have the time in a couple of weeks, let us know how it works out for you. Good luck.

[downscc 1,327]

I finally had opportunity to do a flight in P3Dv3 with the B77L PHNL-KLAX.... which has always been a headache usually requiring a save/load cycle before TOD. This time v3 kept the VAS remaining as reported by FSUIPC above 1.2 Gb the entire session. Using FSDT both locations. No Orbx loaded yet but agressive sliders and ASN beta running with large area of TS enroute. Very satisfactory.

[UA991 1]

I've been struggling with a similar issue for the last few weeks and was about to submit a support request (which I might still do). I too have not had any issues for a long time, especially since switching to FSX-SE which immediately solved the last of any VAS issues. However upon the release of the new KSFOHD, I planned YSSY-KSFO noting that I hadn't done that sector since parking the 747-400X (using the older Flightbeam KSFO) but had done YSSY-KLAX a number of times in the 777. Left the flight going overnight only to find an out of memory error message near the equator. I conducted a number of repeats, recording VAS as I went and noticed how it was being eaten up as time went on. I conducted 4-5 flights, changing different settings each time, and for each of them, after 6-7 hours, it was obvious I wasn't going to make it across the Pacific.

 

So I bit the bullet and rolled over to Windows 10 and did a fresh install of FSX-SE, then the 777 and nothing else. Flew YSSY-KSFO and watched 1.8GB of VAS dissolve away. No traffic. No weather. 1024 for the textures. etc.

 

Noting my flight took me over Fiji, I loaded FlyTampa YSSY and flew YSSY-NFFN in the NGX no problems. Tried the 777 and all OK too. No loss of VAS. Stayed around 1.5GB remaining all the time once clear of YSSY.

 

Tried a different route for YSSY-KSFO. VAS slowly dissolved again.

 

Last night I tried YSSY-KLAX and VAS held constant at 1.2-1.3GB remaining the whole flight and only dropped getting close to the airport (as expected for the Dreamteam KLAX).

 

So there is something going on for KSFO, whether default or not. I did pre-load the approach on all occasions, so perhaps I'll try not entering the approach until later in the flight, which is more realistic anyway.

 

But I am in some ways happy to see that I'm not the only one having issues........

 

 

Darryl Taylor

 

 

 

 

 

[pcubine 143]

 

So there is something going on for KSFO, whether default or not. I did pre-load the approach on all occasions, so perhaps I'll try not entering the approach until later in the flight, which is more realistic anyway.

 

I think it is obvious it is KSFO and how it interacts with FSX that is causing the VAS issue. Have you tried any other developers planes into KSFO on long flights? This sounds like an issue that Flightbeam started and should solve.

[UA991 1]

The issue also occurred on a fresh install with default everything so I don't think Flightbeam is involved. There's just something strange going on. Could even be something in the Navigraph Database (Cycle 1510) who knows? I haven't tried any other aircraft yet. I only have the default aircraft and the PMDG 747 to try anyway.

 

Regards,

 

Darryl Taylor 

[pcubine 143]

so perhaps I'll try not entering the approach until later in the flight, which is more realistic anyway.

 

That might be the way to go. I have Taxi2Gate VHHH which will come close to an OOM or will be an OOM if I enter the STAR and runway approach during climb out from EDDF, KLAX and PANC. If no STAR or runway is entered VAS usage will remain about 2.5GB for the whole flight. When I am about an hour from VHHH I enter the STAR and runway and the VAS used begins to climb by about 150MB an hour. By then it makes no difference.

[downscc 1,327]

I have always had to save/exit/start/load a long 777 flight with nice scenery and hi quality airports. I consider it a plus if I only have to do it once, which I try to do before TOD especially if VAS remaining is less than 1Gb.  The solution is P3Dv3, if this is a serious issue for you. Otherwise, the save/load cycle takes less than a minute and the only harm is done to the logbook which now has two enteries for the one flight and you can fix that with my LogEdit logbook editor in the AVSIM library (plug intended).