blank ATC window and FS status window after pause/task ...

[Guest flymike]

I've been having this problem for a while, and I figured I'd wait until the service release to see if this problem was fixed. The problem is when I use the PMDG 747 AC. The problem occurs almost every time I pause and task switch (via the windows key) to my desktop (say, when I get an e-mail or need to check nav info on the Internet). When I return to my FS 2004 window, the ATC window is blank (brought up by pressing ~) and the FS status label (the white text on red background in the lower left corner; often displays parking brake message) is blank also. Attached is a screen shot.Has anybody experienced this problem? I'm using an ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon X800XL video card. I have 1GB system memory and 3gh processor.I'd appreciate any help.Thanks.

[jordanal 70]

Yes, I fought this extensivly for the past several months. After extensive analysis and reading forums, I finally concluded that if I loaded a PMDG 737 or 747 in a high density AI traffic area (I load 100% PAI traffic) the ATC windows and red-box message bar at the bottom would not contain text. I did everything you could think of. First I noted that if I turn off "Render to Texture" in the FS9 display properties, that would solve it but it looks like crap. Then I realized that if I reduce my AI traffic somewhere around 30% that would also solve it. Once it occurs, there's no way to get the text back until you completely exit the current flight back to the desktop. It all has to do with how you start and load the sim. My fix was:Load a default FS9 aircraft first! I have not had the problem since, including heavly loaded areas like LAX and JFK with 100% AI. Here's how I do it. I have a saved Baron58 default flight which comes up in the FS9 "create a flight window"I leave the baron58 selected.Change my departure airport and gateChange my flight-plan (previously created using FSBuild2) - When asked to "reposition aircraft yes/no" box, choose no; you already selected your airport and gate.Set weather to clear skies (I use ASV for weather feed)Start the SimWhen FS9 stabilizes (and in my case ASV finishes upload) choose your pmdg aircraft.If 747, choose a panel-state (I run cold & dark to start)set your fuel with PMDG optionsFinish configs and contact ATIS.The point here is, don't select the PMDG aircraft from the "create flight" or "select a flight" FS9 interface. It doesn't load properly and steps on something in memory as near as I can figure. Any more questions, ask away... Hope this helps... Like I said, I fought this since the 747 arrived and I haven't had one blank ATC-window yet (almost 100 hours flight time, around the world) since changing my startup habbits.PS, I thought the same thing about task-switching but inevitably, it would re-occur when I wasn't switched to another window. This all has to do with the load on a computer (good-code, bad-code, dont' know) but it only does it with the PMDG's, ever since the pmdg-options.dll was upgraded on my system with the installation of the 747. I.e, the 737 never did this in all its days before the 747 was isntalled. And it absolutly has nothing to do with my current overclock settings, tweaks, & configs, tested all that...Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe | AMD3500+ (OC'd 2370/432) | Nvidia 6800 Ultra (1100/450) | Nvidia SATA Raid-0 230GB | 1GB XMS Corsair 3500C2Al

[Guest flymike]

Thanks for taking the time to give an in-depth explanation on a work around. I'll give that a shot next time around. If anybody else knows of a fix, I'd be interested to know.Mike

[Guest pellelil]

I can't comment on the default ATC Window (as I don't use it) however Al I have one comment to your "startup procedure" that I would like to point out.ASV can "upload" new (weather) textures for MSFS to use, however they suggest you do the upload of these while MSFS isn't running. I therefore do the following:- Start ASV (and let it download the latest weather data)- Load and Process the FlightPlan in ASV (now ASM will upload the texture)- Then start MSFS- (since I run ASV on another PC) Start WideFS on that PC and let it establish contact with MSFS- Then change posistion/date/time, load your plane/pannel and so onhttp://jdtllc.com/images/rcv4bannerbeta.jpgPelle F. S. Liljendal

[jordanal 70]

Point taken but not neccessarily true. Jim or Damien answered that question in thier forums shortly after ASV was released. The ICS textures install but they only take affect when the sim enters a flyable state for the first time. They have no affect while you're initially in the FS9 user-interface (UI). You can initialize ASV and FS9 (to the UI) at the same time. Just don't start the sim until ASV finishes its update and texture load, preferably with a flight-plan loaded in to ASV, as you mentioned above. BTW, I run WideFS as well, along with about 5 other apps on the Wide-client and I've never had a problem.Al