Hi Jim,Have been talking to Damian Clark regarding my on going problems with CTD. I've spent some time doing exhaustive testing and "think" I've come to the conclusion that ASV is the source of the problem.What I've done:1. I've completely uninstalled all my Add-ons and uninstall FS9. Physically deleted the left over directories (including the stuff contained in Application Data and my User dir) and cleaned out my registry with any FS9 entries.2. I defragged my hard drive and started with a fresh FS9 install and then applied FS9.1 patch.3. I ran a several flights including a long 4 hr flight using 777, Baron, King Air, 747 with MS online weather update system active. All flights and AC went without a problem.4. I backed up FS9 (and associated directories) to a separate hard drive.5. I install FSUPIC 3.48 (registered).6. Ran a 5hr flight with dynamic weather (MS online updates), no problems.7. I installed ASV (on the same PC that has FS9.1) and the only option I changed was "Online Updates" (checked).8. Loaded the same flight plan as in step 6, loaded up ASV went to New Route and loaded the flight plan. Went back to my flight in FS2004, and about 30 minutes into the flight I got a CTD -- something about g2d.dll in the error report.9. So, to confirm this was a problem specific to ASV, I uninstalled ASV and restored my known good backup of FS9.1 and all the associated directories. Ran the same flight plan only this time using MS online weather updates -- no problems.I've been very thorough trying to diagnose this problem and it has taken me several days to pin point it. Can you offer any suggestions on how I can make ASV work for me or is there something more I can do to try and diagnose the problem?Any suggestions are most welcome.Thanks, Rob.

Hi,Microsoft dll g2d.dllYou can try this..http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...kb;en-us;257401-This behavior can occur if video caching or shadowing is enabled in the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) settings for your computer. -RESOLUTIONTo resolve this issue, disable video caching or shadowing in the BIOS settings for your computer. Can Help:Search in the avsim general forum for g2d.dll and yahoo for g2d.dllAvsim General forumhttp://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...ing_type=searchhttp://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...ing_type=searchhttp://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...ing_type=searchhttp://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...ing_type=searchThanksChris WillisHiFi Simulation Software Team Developerhttp://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_dev_team.jpg http://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_proud_supporter.jpg

Chris,Thanks for your response and links. I've went thru them all. Let me address each:1. video caching/Shadowing is not a feature in my BIOS, palette snooping is disabled2. I have the lastest BIOS, video drivers (ATI Cat 5.7), motherboard drivers, and DX9.0c3. In some of those threads/links you listed I noticed others removed ASV and it solved the problem.4. AFCAD does not reside on my PC at all5. Already defragged my hard drive (and verified fragmentation %)I'm not having any problems with my PC in other heavy hitter programs/games (Adobe Premiere, DOOM3, Half Live, Cakewalk Sonar 4, etc.).But per I see other's resolution (in the threads you listed) was to remove ASV which seemed to solve the problem -- I'm doing another long haul flight as I type this on my laptop without ASV using MS online weather -- no issues so far. ####, I'll let it run all night and see if I run into a problem when I wake up in the morning.I would hate to stop using ASV, cause when it is working (even if for only 20 minutes) it does do an excellent job with weather/clouds, etc.Just an FYI, prior to me wiping out FS9 and restarting from scratch, I had ASV running via WideFS on a laptop (which I didn't do this time around) and on one of my CTD's (pre starting from scratch) I noticed that ASV had downloaded the weather and just started writing station data and in FS2004 I saw the weather start to change and then suddenly I'm at the Desktop with the "report error" message.I'm guessing of course, but I really feel their is either some combination of cloud textures (weather) that is tripping up FS9.1 when it loads them -- or maybe even a file sharing conflict as ASV writes the data and FS9.1 reads it -- perhaps timing conflict or ASV has a file open in the wrong mode while FS9.1 tries to read the same file?My graphics card is an ATI X800XT PE 256MB (AGP) running Cat 5.7.Any other suggestions? Maybe disabling or enabling options in ASV might help? Thanks, Rob.

Rob,I can confirm, that since I use ASV I have sometimes a CTD, which didn't happen before. I always try to have a quite clean system. Of course I have done some other modifications (latest Omega drivers for my ATI XT800, etc.) almost at the same time so it is not that easy to track it like you did it with your total reinstall. Fact is, that I now have sometimes CTDs, which didn't happen before. As far as I have seen it now, most of these CTDs happen, when I fly online with Squawkbox or with FSInn. It's the same with both clients. I have disabled the weather update in these pilot clients and let ASV do the work. I have used AS2004.5 for quite a long time but never had these effects. virus, spyware detection and system health checks show, that the system is clean and working properly.So I can't say it that exactly as you have found it out, but at least my troubles started the same time, when I began to use ASV, which by the way is a fantastic product with a world class support team. I am sure, if there are any flaws in the product, these guys will fix it.RegardsReinhard

Rob,Is Fast Writes enabled on your video card?Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Sales and Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_dev_team.jpg http://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_proud_supporter.jpg

Hi Jim,Yes Fast writes is enabled -- this has not been a problem in the past and certainly no problem with any other titles other than FS9.Well, I left my PC running a flight overnight without ASV installed (and restored to a MS default backup of FS9), it took a long time but it did finally CTD. So that is good news in that ASV is definitely NOT the cause and points me towards graphics/driver issues.Now question is what to do -- I'm going to "underclock" -- yes you heard correctly, "UNDERCLOCK" my ATI X800XT PE (Cat 5.7) and see if that resolves the problem. If that doesn't work, then I'll disable Fast Writes and see what happens.I'll keep plugging away, obviously NOT an ASV problem.Rob.

Hi,OK, progress! Do not underclock, but turn off Fast writes. If you Google search you will see that Fast Writes are causing MANY game crashes not only with FS but other graphical games as well.Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Sales and Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_dev_team.jpg http://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_proud_supporter.jpg

But that is why I'm hesitant to turn off Fast Writes, as FS9 is the ONLY game in town that Crashes to Desktop. Like I've said, other programs (DOOM3, half life, Adobe Premiere, etc.) run flawlessly for hours and hours and hours -- this problem is VERY SPECIFIC to just FS9. Combined with the fact that FS9 doesn't work with SLI video cards, then I'm beginning to suspect the developers perhaps used some "undocumented" features or ATI developers have broken FS9 compatibility. The lastest Cat 5.7 drivers do mention "fixing" AF problem with FS9.If that doesn't work, then I may try going back to earlier version of ATI drivers (maybe Cat 5.4).Rob.

Jim/Others,I believe I've resolved the g2d.dll crash to desktop problem. My ATI X800XT PE has an "overdrive" setting which basically increases the GPU clock frequency from a standard 520Mhz to 527Mhz (memory frequency is not changed and remains at 560Mhz). I turned "Overdrive" off and ran at 520Mhz GPU. Loaded up FS9.1 and have successfully done two 5 hr flights.I wouldn't have thought 7Mhz would make a difference, but I guess FS9.1 must really push the GPU so much so that even the slightest variance over a long enough time period will cause it to have problems. The strange thing is that my X800XT PE is water cooled (Koolance GPU & memory) and never sees temps above 100 degrees F.I've successfully run my X800XT PE at 570Mhz GPU in all other games/programs without a hickup, but I guess there is something in FS9 that no other developer has utilized which can cause a GPU to be unstable.I'm going to run another flight today 747, and basically let it go til the 747 runs out of fuel. If this is a flawless flight, then I will assume I've discovered the solution to my g2d.dll CTD.Thanks for everyone's help and a good learning experience for me.Rob.

HI Rob,Thanks for testing, Did you tried to disable fast write? I have read article for some games, ATI users should disable fast write to have stable result and the performance is not really lower. ThanksChris WillisHiFi Simulation Software Team Developerhttp://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_dev_team.jpg http://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_proud_supporter.jpg

Thanks Rob!See, and I run OverDrive with no problems!! I have Fast Writes Off and have never had a CTD. This is what makes some of these things so hard.Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Sales and Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_dev_team.jpg http://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_proud_supporter.jpg

Yes, I did disable Fast Writes just to see what type of performance hit I would get -- unfortunately it was VERY noticeable, significantly slow than if I just dropped the GPU clock back to default 520Mhz.As you may or may not know the X800XT PE retail is a rare find these days as the memory chips they used on this board were hard to produce in quantity and hence the quick change to X850XT PE with completely different memory chips & timings. But I suspect the X800XT PE was already "on the edge" in terms of clock speeds and timings and perhaps why it is very sensitive to variances in clock speeds.Combine that with the fact the ATI are claiming significant performance increases with the Cat5.7 drivers -- perhaps at the cost of stability.If this flight is a success, I'll report back as this being my final solution to the dreaded g2d.dll CTD.Rob.

I've done over 20 hrs now and not a single CTD, so I'm going to make the connection that my ATI X800XT PE just does NOT like the have Overdrive "ON" with FS2004. However all other games/applications I run my ATI GPU at 540-570 Mhz with no issues, but for FS2004 it goes back 520Mhz -- fortunately this can happen automatically by setting the link up in ATI Cat 5.7.I'd give an arm and a leg to discover what technique FS9 dev team used. I'd love todiscover why nVidia can't make their SLI work with FS9 and why my X800XT PE can't go even 7Mhz above default 520Mhz GPU frequency. Secrets I suspect I'll never find out but they will magically work in the next version of FS :)Thanks again for your support, I'm very pleased I can continue using ASV.Cheers, Rob.