Any word on CTD issues?

[crash_continental 0]

Hi,I have posted a few times on sudden unexplained CTDs with the aircraft but have never really received any word from the PMDG staff. I didn't see anything about it mentioned in the upcoming SU1, so I thought I just might bring it up again.As I stated before (on the other 'temp' forum) the CTDs are instant, not giving me any kind of error report. I have this about 1 in 4 flights with the PMDG 747, usually after several hours of simming. It is never in the same place, or under the same circumstances. It can be during takeoff, climb, cruise, descent or landing. I have updated all my drivers (that I can think of). Specs: P4 2.8, 2G Ram, ATI Radeon 9800XT(512M), MSFS 9.1.It's obviously a frustrating experience and one that I can find no answers to. (Have gone through all landclass folders to make sure there are no empty Texture folders, and no duplicate AFCADs).I guess my question is; is PMDG aware of these issues (others have commented that they have the same problem) and do you have any ideas as of yet? Are there any KNOWN conflicts with other add-ons, freeware or pay? Thanks for taking the time to reply...- daniel

[chiswick72 145]

Hi Daniel,This is a tough one, I am speaking to a friend who has exactly the same problem as you but he is not flying a PMDG aircraft!Also as you state the crashes are random and occasional, which tells me more info is needed, at the moment your problem sounds too vague for any specific assitance.Until you can narrow down the problem, and also be able to repeat it, it is very difficult for anyone to assist you.When I got the 744 on the first day I had many crashes, but by eliminating possbilities one by one I narrowed it down to a specific issue. The problem wasnt the aircraft itself but how it interacted with another 3rd party software.Since then I have had not one crash in 500 hours of flight.My tip to you is to investigate your problem further, and experiment with disabling other software and seeing if that helps.Best regards,Armenimg] http://online.vatsimindicators.net/911510/523.png[/img]

[crash_continental 0]

Thanks for the reply Armen.I really have been trying to narrow it down, but I really have tried everything I can think of. I was hoping to find out what other people have tried and apply it. To that end, what 3rd party software did you disable to stop your problems?

[chiswick72 145]

Hey Daniel,My problem was related to conflicting dll files in the FS9/modules folder. Many 3rd party software place dll and other files here.After a couple of weeks of experimenting I discovered the cause was a combination of three software that caused the crash.I found that running PMDG744 and F1View (VC viewing tool) and W&F (External viewing tool) together would cause the crash, AND it was repeatable.Removing F1View or W&F will stop the crashes, but all three together is still not possible.It was through thorough personal investigation I fixed my problem, and I reckon I would still have this problem if I didnt deal with it myself!

[crash_continental 0]

Well, I do have F1View... I'll try deleting it and see what happens. Thanks for the info...

[aerdt 0]

Also, remember that CTD issues are most of the time (at least for me) 'bad tile' issues that can be resolved running your *.bgl files through FlightSim Manager.Hope this helps,Pat

[crash_continental 0]

Okay I will try this as well, thanks.Latest update: On very next flight from Gatwick to Singapore the sim crashed during descent, but this time gave me an error message. It had to do with the g3d.dll. I've done some searches and found that more than a few people have had problems with this, but no answers have been forthcoming. Seems like the g3d.dll dates back to fs2002 (at least, maybe even fs95!)Does anyone know what this .dll is for? I wonder if I can just get rid of it?I have the Very Singapore scenery installed and I think it crashed once before with this same error when I first checked it out, but ran it again and had no problem.===>Just remember, I installed one of the early versions of FlightSim Manager and it messed up FS2004 so badly that it wouldn't work at all!! I finally found the solution with the help of the designer (he was very good about it), but it badly spooked me from the program. Fingers crossed it won't happen again.

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

Daniel-A couple of items:First- THANK YOU for keeping this thread going.... We don't have any ideas for you that have not already been mentioned- but being able to read your experience helps us to expand our own thought process on this type of problem.Occasionally users wind up with similar problems- and try as we might- it is sometimes hard to explain that the problem may be coming from someplace else in the sim- and it takes some time and effort to find....Second: One question I often have- are the CTDs occurring in the same geographic region OR are they happening in geographic regions in which you have scenery that is produced by the same developers?(IE: If XYZ company made a bunch of scenery that you have installed- does it happen over scenery that they made, primarily?)Can you tell me at what point in the approach the CTD occurred? Would you suspect that the sim was attempting to load the destination airport scenery at the time?(We are tracking something related to this at the moment...)Keep providing feedback here- as it adds to the general fund of knowledge- and helps us all to help others....

[crash_continental 0]

Hi Robert,No problem at all... I love this bird and I am as eager as anyone to get it into perfect shape. I will try to endeavour to keep this open as long as possible.To your question of specific scenery or developers; no, not at all. This was one of the first things I tried to sort out and I think I have everything sorted out there. The CTDs would happen at any point in the flight, anywhere in the world (whether it was default or added-on scenery). That's what has made this so frustrating for me... I simply couldn't find any commonality with the CTDs.Now, to update: I have removed f1view.dll and had a flight yesterday. I tried a flight from Gatwick to Singapore and got a CTD again, HOWEVER, it was not the same crash. I got an error message and it cited g3d.dll as the culprit. Now, the scenery I had installed there was Samsoft The Very Singapore, so I went to their website. Another user reported the same crash there and there was an update available for the scenery so I installed it. Seems to have cleared this up, though it might be too early to tell. SO this crash seemed to be purely scenery related and not PMDG.I'm going to try another long haul flight today from Singapore to Sydney (default scenery), and I'll get back to you with another update ASAP.Thanks for tracking this thread and the support you've shown.Current suspect: f1view.dllp.s. I'm not sure why but this thread does not show up in forum for me when I click on the main PMDG Support forum... I have to do a search for it. In fact, none of the threads I start on AVSIM seem to show up for me. Anyone now why?

[crash_continental 0]

Update: No CTDs in three long-haul flights so far. Fingers crossed!Current suspect still: f1view.dll

[chiswick72 145]

Wow sounds good! :)

[crash_continental 0]

Ok, ten trips now without a CTD!!! Great stuff. And the only thing I've changed is removing f1view.dll. At this point I might advise PMDG to issue a warning against this free flight1 download and operating the PMDG 747.The only thing I have left now to deal with (that isn't covered in the upcoming update) is some strange behaviour on short finals. I often get a sudden ballooning and then sudden stall, which crashes me into the runway. Weight and V speeds are correct, approach normal. Can happen with or without wind/turbulence. I have turned off Wake turbulence on Active Sky.Maybe this is being addressed already; I'm not sure what the 'low speed buffet' is referring to in the thread on SU1.03. Can anyone explain?

[Chaos81 110]

Can't help you with your short final behavior, but I am happy to see that you figured out the problem. Now if we could only get everyone to try trial and error on their own setups instead of complaining about the plane. ;)

[chiswick72 145]

I am happy you got it sorted... theres nothing like nailing a problem on the head!:)

[Guest]

Hello all:I have no downloaded sceneries and had my first CTD last nite. I was flying from LAX to JFk at FL390. I had the lower ecas screen sized and sitting next to the other ecas. I hit the fuel screen select button and that's when it crashed.RegardsRick