Lock Ups -surely the culprit is ATC

[Guest]

Hi all,Since tweaking my system and installing only the more reliable Nvidia drivers, lock ups are rarer than they were, but I'm pretty sure that the majority of my lock ups are entirely linked to ATC.It doesn't matter whether I use the default ATC or project AI or any other addon ATC tweaks like the many shufflers available. The fact is that the greater the percentage of ATC I set the more likelyhood of a lock up or crash.The classic case is when I set ATC to more than 50%. This is what happens every time: I fly around for say 12 minutes, and suddenly the hard disk light will go permanently on, the HD will thrash around for about 20 seconds and then I get the inevitable Ms window "Flight Simulator will have to close down" with the usual tick box asking me if I want to restart.Once the hard disk light goes on I know that this process will happen and it's inevitable.I wonder if many other Fs2002 users get exactly this happening?Rob Young

[Guest]

Yes. I had recently added project ai stuff but also some other add-ons. FlightMax, new FSUIPC. So I didnt know who the culprit was. So I started backing out stuff but still to no avail. I reinstalled FS and the problem went away. Hope yours is a not as difficult.Im running 100% ATC and flew for 2 hours this afternoon.BobG

[wsieffert 0]

Rob,What are the specs on your computer system? When was the last time you did some overall maintenance, scandisk, defragment? How much free hardrive space do you have? How much RAM do you have?I would try doing some maintenance and see if it eliminates your problems.

[Guest Joshieca]

I don't use the project AI installers but I have used some of their aircraft...I have my ATC set to 100%, I use AI Mover to shuffle more then 275 aircraft, and no problems at all...The only time I had a lockup or crash is when I used my joystick's (Thrustmaster) drivers for the forcefeedback. Their drivers are NOT windows XP certified, and they do lockup and crash FS2002....If your joystick is not your problem, perhaps your running your system beyond what it is supposed to do? Check your other stettings for texture size, detail, effects, etc. The auto gen plays a big role on your frame rate. So does some third party aircraft. I have noticed that NON GMAX or non default repaints suck up a ton of memory and frame rates. [div align=center]http://members.cox.net/joshieca/fstimeslink.gif]CHINESE PROVERB"Man who walk through airport turnstile sideways going to bangkok."[/div][/font://http://members.cox.net/joshieca/fst.../i][/div][/font

[Guest]

Thanks gentlemen,I emphasise that the ATC-linked lock up is NOT due to addons like Project AI because it also happens with the default ATC on a fresh install.My system is AMD 1.4 gig CPU (latest Via drivers) and Geforce GTS 2 with many different drivers (currently the most stable I could find).I regularly Re-install Fs2002 on a dedicated drive (being a developer) which is clean as a whistle. My settings are conservative (no fast writes - UNDER-clocked video if anything, NO FSAA and running FS2002 with cautious settings). It is much more important from a developer's point of view that the damn thing runs flawlessly rather than fast. I had a useful private e-mail suggesting the CAS latency rate in the BIOS (default) of 3 should be reduced to 1. Maybe this will help. But I'm pretty convinced it's the "strain" of ATC that is causing this.If I set ATC to zero I can run happily all night without a single lock up. As soon as ATC is on, lock up is bound to occur within half an hour.Thanks for your input,Rob Young