No OOM but...

[onetoavi8 1]

I've been trying to follow the thread about OOM problems, well lucky for me this has not happened, but there was a post of a similar problem to mine in the thread whereby at various times the cockpit or aircraft textures would disappear until eventually all I had was a black screen but with the sim still functioning in the back ground.No amount of changing between full screen and windowed mode makes any difference but it appears to happen most frequently when I try to save a flight. Restarting the sim reverts back to normal untill I go to save the flight again.This is happening with the 747 and MD11 and if I'm not mistaken begun after installing UTX USA and/or Europe...has anyone been able to confirm if this is the case and if so come up with a solution that doesn't involve un-installing these programs.Both aircraft seem to be functioning normally otherwise!Looking forward to any comments or advice!!!Regards Russ

[Sharrow 0]

Hi RussA beta UTX Europe patch could be the culprit here. Did you install any updates to UTX Europe in the last 2 or so weeks? If so, I recommend uninstalling the whole of UTX Europe (leave USA as is). Then try the route which would normally cause problems and let us know how it goes. If succesful you can then re-install UTX Europe (without any patches for now!).How high are your FSX settings? Perhaps one or two could come down a notch or two?Some notes about UTX (both USA and EU):1. UTX Night lighting has a BIG impact on FPS - disable it in both USA and EU (or do not fly at night)2. Dawn and sunset can be particularly hectic on FPS as the night/day textures swap out. Try to avoid takeoff or finals during this time.3. UTX has its own 3D Traffic (you will see it as the last entry under Road Surfaces), again this should be disabled (you can still use the FSX vehicles and stuff, if you must).4. Please note that patches and updates for UTX often revert some settings to default so after patching always go back and disable the night lighting and traffic.Hope this gets us somewhere...Konrad

[tfm 169]

KonradThanks for this tip about UTX. My problems seem to be the same as the OP describes: aircraft textures drop out one by one leading to further on screen corruption (not always immediately) and eventually a black screen or CTD. In my case the problem almost always begins during the approach phase; quite a lot of my testing was done during dusk; and I use the UTX night lighting - all of which I see are possible danger zones with UTX.However, in my case, the problems started BEFORE the UTX patch. In fact, I only installed the UTX patch in the hope that it might solve the problems I was having.Tim

[onetoavi8 1]

Hi KonradThanks for the info, I will try diabling night lights and 3d traffic as you suggest. My problem seems to occur at any time, anywhere... at the moment I am flying out of NZAA in the day with the MD11 so does what your suggesting still apply.I have UTX Europe 1.1c and USA 1.3.0a which don't appear to be the most upto date so can you confirm whether these versions are okay. On occassion, which seems to be happening with more regularity, the whole sim is freezing up (no anti V running etc) could there be a conflict going on somewhere? My system is a reasonably new and fast and I have just updated the Video Driver on the GeForce 9800GTX to V178.13.Regards Russ

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Hi GuysI understand that the UTX Europe 1.2 patch is now official (available at http://www.scenerysolutions.com/ut_downloads_FSX.html) so I would advise that you guys install it first.Then,Do a system defrag,Disable/Deactivate BOTH night lighting and 3d traffic using the UTX setup tools (both US & EU) and see where that gets you. Also disable all road traffic in FSX.Depending on your system specs you might need to re-visit your FSX settings. Keep the autogen and scenery complexity at normal or below and try setting the global texture resolution a notch lower than you have it now. The idea with this is to find a point where the errors stop or at least decrease in frequency.Furthermore, I would also suggest a look at the UTX forums, specifically this post http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=21457 about diagnosing UTX performance issues.Are either of you perhaps using FEX with the SHD clouds addon? This will have your texture_max_load=4096 entry in the graphics section of the config file as opposed to the default 1024. For more info please check out the FEX forums: http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_topics.asp?FID=34 There's also the whole 4GB RAM, 32-bit OS and /3G switch issue which could be lurking beneath all this... plenty of posts about that on this forum. Let us know how it goes...Konrad

[tfm 169]

Culpe mea. I've relaxed the "Performance" level of my RAM from 7 to 10. Hey presto, I've run my test trip 3 times on the trot without a hitch. Fingers crossed - but I may now have found the problem.The MD-11 is obviously reaching parts that other add-ons do not reach. I've lost a tiny bit of smoothness - but it's barely perceptible and if that is what it takes to use this excellent model, then it's OK by me.Thanks to everyone for the help - and I'm very glad it's not a software glitch because I'd never have got round to reinstalling the thing.Tim

[onetoavi8 1]

Hi Konrad,Again thanks for the info...I am running Vista x64 + 4GB, I have checked that fsx.exe is capable of using greater than 2 GB and so when the sim freezes and I check the processes in Task Manager it is only about 1.6 GB of memory...I have recently installed SHD clouds for FEX but my problem was happening before that!'tfm' mentions- quote 'I've relaxed the "Performance" level of my RAM from 7 to 10.'- what does this mean and if you read this tmf please tell me how to go about this...I'll try anything!!!I don't fly the stock fsx aircraft but don't expect that would be an issue, I'm still working with it being an UTX problem...will keep trying...cheers Russ.

[tfm 169]

RussIt's one of the settings for the RAM in your PC. You might be able to access it from your BIOS - where it might go under the name of "Transaction booster" or "AI Transaction booster". If not, you might be able to change it using a tool called Memset (running in Administrator mode or it won't work) which you will find if you Google. For Performance level, higher numbers = lower performance; so in this context, "relaxing" the setting means raising the number to reduce the performance and impose less strain on the components.Incidentally, changing the performance level on its own turned out not to be enough: I've had to relax other RAM settings too - but the problem in my case really does appear to be RAM-related.Tim

[Sharrow 0]

Hi RussTim's RAM performance level adjustment has to do with the RAM speed in MHz, relaxing the memory timings (latency etc) and perhaps the command rate (from 1T to 2T). DDR2 and DDR3 RAM have different memory timings and each BIOS will also handle these settings differently. Generally speaking the faster the RAM (in Mhz) the more relaxed timings and higher voltages are required to have it run stable. Memory settings should really only be adjusted from the BIOS, some software allows you to do it from within Windows but I do not recommend this option.The how and why of memory timings (and lets not forget RAM voltages which are also important to have set right) is pretty complicated and way beyond the scope of this post.How familiar are you with your BIOS options, ever done anything in there? Do you perhaps have any tech support you could call to have them walk you through your specific RAM settings and voltages?Konrad

[onetoavi8 1]

Hi Tim,Thanks for that but it all sounds a bit technical for me!Some other strange behaviour I have noticed, and I vaguely remember reading of it somewhere else, is that while flying the 747, at any phase of flight, ATC will call me but no dialogue comes up that I can answer them with, until they cancel the flight plan and then it seems to start working normally again...though having to re-activate the flight plan again. Have you heard of this happening and if so do you know if it was ever resolved. A similar thing has happened with the MD11 whereby I couldn't get any window when pressing the ~ key.Like I said in my first thread I have not had any OOM problems just the disappearing textures, anyway I'll keep at it...my settings are reasonably high I guess but I don't mind a little slow down for a bit of eye candy when doing a circling approach...if you make any further progress in sorting your problem I would be keen to learn how!cheers Russ.

[onetoavi8 1]

Hi Konrad,Yeah like I said to Tim, all the BIOS stuff is way to technical for me, can you read that post and I ask you the same question about the problem I have occasionally with ATC in the sim when flying the 747.For some reason my flight from NZAA to YSSY is not going to happen...when I start the flight from my last save, within minutes it freezes up the Sim. But if I load the default flight but start with the MD11, day time with building thunderstorms (with the high res clouds from FEX looks amazing), it works perfectly, maybe somehow there is a corruption of the saved flight???Any ideas!!!cheers Russ.

[Sharrow 0]

Russ, I doubt this is a RAM issue in your case anyway. Yes, the MD-11 does seem to work out the memory system more so than the 744 so if there are any gremlins hiding in there they would show up more readily with the MD-11, as in Tims case.Lowering your FSX settings and disabling night lighting and 3d vehicles in UTX is a very good place to start.Did you install the lastest UTX Europe 1.2 patch? Any improvements? If not then uninstalling just UTX Europe is not a big exercise so perhaps you should just do it and see what a difference this makes with your problems.Konrad