Some Ways to Clear CTDs in FS9 (redux)...

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

Captains-I am restarting this thread to add a bit of information that we have gleaned the past few weeks, as the other thread was so full of "stuff" that it was hard to make heads-or-tails of it.The following post might help a few of you with discoveries that we made during the course of our efforts. This information may not help all of you- but it's worth sharing none-the-less....First:======We do not feel that we are looking for a problem with the 747-400 any longer. (Yeah- I know I said that before- but I'll say it again!) After using Remote Assistance and some other tools to examine user machines, we are relatively certain that we are looking for issues triggered by items external to the -400, but internal to the FS9 sphere. (By sphere- i mean FS9 and all the installed addons.)We do NOT feel that we are seeing any hardware specific failings.Second:=======Lets be clear on one thing before I continue: There is no value to pointing any fingers at any specific product or author. If we mention a product or author at any time during this process- it is because we have found reproducable circumstances. Please do not assume that the mentioned products are defective or otherwise badly programmed. There may be a simple and logical explanation for conflicts between addons- and to be candid- it's amazing we don't see it more often....Our Finds:==========We have found the following circumstances that will trigger a CTD:CTD: RENDER TO TEXTURE:=======================If the following appears in your FS9.CFG:rendertotexture=0You may very likely experience a CTD with almost any freeware/commercial aircraft/scenery addon that has ANY non 32bit textures located anywhere in the product. This seems to be most common with custom cloud packages and weather programs that update the cloud formations to make them look more realistic, but also may be triggered by some scenery packages, aircraft liveries, etc.There is a lengthy explanation for what this setting does- but i'll boil the explanation down to this: If you are going to install ANY ADDON for FS9- you are better served by leaving this box CHECKED in your OPTIONS/SETTINGS/HARDWARE menu. (Note- you must follow the isntructions below to solve the problem....checking/unchecking the box in the menu does not gaurantee the fix will take.)RESOLUTION FOR RENDER TO TEXTURE CTD:->Open your FS9.CFG file (You must have "show kidden folders" selected in CONTROL PANEL, FOLDER OPTIONS. Then look for c:documents and settingsApplication dataMicrosoftFS9FS9.cfg)-> Search for the word: render-> If you find an instance of: rendertotexture=0, delete the entire line.-> Conduct the search again- as if your fs9.cfg is old- it may have more than one instance of this.-> Save FS9.cfg-> Restart FS9.CTD: MISSING TCAS DLLs:========================We have had reported to us and been able to verify that there are a number of commercial and freeware addons also using I. Lee Hetherington's magnificent TCAS addon.Unfortunately, it appears that some of the freeware and commercial vendors have not established their installer properties carefully- and if you uninstall their airplane, they also delete the TCAS dlls.This renders any other aircraft using the TCAS dll inoperative- and results in a CTD.RESOLUTION FOR MISSING TCAS DLL CTD:-> Go to your root FS9 directory.-> Look for the file: TCAS2V7.dll-> If the file is missing, skip to the last last line.-> If the file is present, right click on it, select PROPERTIES/VERSION. The version should be 1.1.6.0-> If you have the file present AND it is the correct version- this is not affecting you. If it is not present, OR the version is older than 1.1.6.0, then:-> The simplest way to replace the dll is to open your original 747-400 installer (not the updater) and run the installer. Select "repair" from the menu that appears - and it should find and replace that missing dll. Once the installer has completed it's task- repeat the steps in this sequence to ensure you have the correct dll present.CTD: MISSING MSFS TRAFFIC DLLS:================================We have found that a few users machines were missing dlls that are required by FS9 in order to run. We are *assuming* that these dlls awere accidentally removed by a freeware/commercial installer- although we have not been able to identify the guilty installer:RESOLUTION FOR MISSING MSFS TRAFFIC DLLS:-> Go to FS9/MODULES-> Look for the following two files: Traffic.dll and TrafficInfo.dll-> If these files are missing- you will experience a CTD. -> We do not have a resolution for you, as we cannot distribute these files to you... you need to get them off of your FS9 CDs.CTD: Airplane loads but CTDs immediately after some "clicks" or Airplane loads in Cold/Dark but CTDs when power is turned on:==================================================================This was identified as a problem with the installer that transported the V1.10 update and full version. Both installers have been replaced on our server.If you experience this problem you can solve it most simply downloading the UNIVERSAL UPDATE from the PMDG Downloads page. (You must download it on 30DEC05 or later...) Run the Universal Updater, over your existing installation. If your version is pre V1.10 it will update you to V1.10 correctly. If you are already using V1.10- it will warn you that you already have V1.10 installed. Just select "Yes I want to install this update again" and it will fix the problem for you.CTD: CTD is experienced upon landing.======================================We have tracked this CTD to an addon program that is somewhat common to users. We are contacting the author of this software to advise him that we suspect a problem with the arrival runway reporting procedure- and this causes a CTD when using most high end addons.(i'm not mentioning the name so as not to create a support problem for the author... please understand we are about results here- and not blame...)On final note: We've seen a few of you completely wipe out FS9- then reinstall all of your addons.... then install the 744- and report back that "it still doesn't work." We'd ask that you reverse the order please- and install the 744 FIRST- then test it after each addon installation. Eventually you will find the one that caused the 744 to stop working- and if you report that back to us we can try to duplicate and possibly determine why.....That's all for now. ;-)

[Guest FlyMD11.nl]

I experienced:CTD: Airplane loads but CTDs immediately after some "clicks"The update worked for me! Thank you!

[Guest dgeddes]

>CTD: CTD is experienced upon landing.>======================================>We have tracked this CTD to an addon program that is somewhat>common to users. We are contacting the author of this>software to advise him that we suspect a problem with the>arrival runway reporting procedure- and this causes a CTD when>using most high end addons.>>(i'm not mentioning the name so as not to create a support>problem for the author... please understand we are about>results here- and not blame...)Can you say anything more specific about this? I understand you not wanting to create a support problem for the author but it's frustrating that you appear to know what program is causing the problem but won't tell anyone but the author. Most companies that have a problem with their product that is actually being caused by someone else's product will tell you who the culprit is. I get a CTD using the PMDG 737, it references pmdgoptions.dll and the error message from FS is that it thinks it has run out of memory and shuts down. This only started happening after installing ASv6 so I'm going to try a flight tonight without it and see what happens.

[Guest]

This CTD upon landing is what I experience... now that I got the out of memory error problem away, this will not disappear.I am looking forward to more info, and an update from an unknown developer

[MSW 0]

Come On!. To not inform your customers what addon is causing crash to desk upon landing is meaningless. With all the addons I have that are common to many simmers it is like searching for a needle in a haystack. The only crash to desk problem I'm having now is upon landing. It should be more your concern to satisfy your loyal customers (I have PMDG 737s, 747 and B1900C) and help them than to worry about another addon developer. I don't think that revealing a problem with another developer's product which adversely affects your B747 is a big deal. So please do so. Thanks!Mike

[Guest Mark McG]

Without 100% conclusive and irefutible proof of what is/was causing the issue then PMDG are being wise not to disclose the identity of what product may or may not be to blame for the issue. This is just good common sense business practice.

[MSW 0]

I disagree. If some of us who are having the problem, have the addon in question then we can most certainly test it to see if it is in fact the problem and then help the other addon developer identify and fix it. The more people who are aware of it, the more likely it can be resolved.In addition, I don't enjoy flying the 747 when upon landing it crashes to desktop. I don't think it is good business practice to maybe have the solution and then not reveal it. This tends to #### customers off. At least if I knew what it was I could test to see if is in fact the culprit.Once again I ask that this information be revealed.Mike

[psolk 3,040]

Mike,The developer of the add-on in question is already aware of the "potential" problem. Having a lot of people sending what they view as relevant information would only slow the process when the developer is already working with people on debug level logging and collection of the information they need to troubleshoot the problem. Like Mark said and as PMDG have stated, without definitive proof and evidence there is NO need to disclose the info. It is irresponsible and causes a witch hunt against a particular developer who may or may not be to blame. -Paul

[Guest dgeddes]

As a follow-up to my original post, I believe I've narrowed down my problems to scenery. For others getting "out of memory" errors you might want to check out this thread, I found it on Flight1's boards as I was suspecting UT. It's not UT or any PMDG products that is the problem but apparently empty texture folders can cause this problem:http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=12708Also, it helps if you understand the difference between a CTD and the "out of memory" errors. The out of memory is one where you receive a popup window stating that FS has run out of memory and is shutting down. This usually means that FS has allocated more virtual memory than it is allowed to use on 32-bit Windows OS (2GB). You won't see the memory usage in working set memory or private bytes, you have to look at virtual bytes. This is essentially a "memory leak" where memory is allocated but never released properly, and the end result is that the process (in this case FS9.exe) shuts down because it is not allowed to allocate any more memory.A CTD is normally what happens when FS either terminates unexpectedly, with or without either a "general protection fault" or "instruction at x referenced memory at x" error (otherwise known as an access violation). These are usually not memory leaks but instead some component loaded within FS doing something that it shouldn't be doing and so the process is shutdown by the OS.I hope this helps others find out what is causing their problems.-Don Geddes

[MSW 0]

My crash has no error message at all. It just goes black for about a second and then to desktop. It doesn't try to start again nor does it post a send error to Microsoft message.So if the other developer fixes the problem, which forum of many do I go to, which website do I go to? Is PMDG going to annouce the name of the other addon at that time so that I can go to that site and get the fix or do I have to continue to monitor all the sites and forums trying to figure out which one it is. This assumes the other developer even announces it. He may just put out a patch without the problem discribed. It still leaves me looking for a needle in the hay stack.Can PMDG at least say if it is a scenery addon, texture addon, airport addon,weather addon or some other type to narrow it down?Mike

[psolk 3,040]

Mike,This specific error relates to the Out of Memory error referenced above so it does not relate to you. I apologize if this has been answered above I can not see the entire thread while replying but have you completely uininstalled/re-installed FS entirely?-PaulLiquid CooledAMD 4000 San Diego2 Gigs Kingston Corsair XMS CL2Dual 7800 GTX 24 inch widescreen dual 19 inch LCDRaid-0

[Guest]

I have run the landclass check using flight sim manager and find no problems yet still have .dll error crashes after long flights with this airplane and others.

[stepmart 0]

Where to get TCAS2V7.dll version 1.1.6.0 ?

[Guest B1900 Mech]

Hi all. I don't know what I did, but after a reformat,I have no CTD's, even after an 18.7 hr. flight from KPAE,with stop's at KSFO,RJFK,and landing at VHHH.:-)

[Guest monsoon]

I just reformatted yesterday. I only installed BEV, LDS 767, PMDG 747, and PSS 777. I was landing in Vancouver in the LDS 767 and just in the flare i get a CTD. So i go to control panel/administrative tools/ and event viewer and see the error mentioned something about pmdgoptions.dll. that is kind of weird if i was using the lds isnt it?