Huge Breakthrough in Out of Memory CTD (I Hope!!!)

[psolk 3,040]

First, I apologize if you already read this in another forum, alot of us frequent many forums some of us only one or two and I am trying to get as much visibility to this post as possible.Everyone, I really hope this is the final fix. This could get long because it has been almost a year long struggle and I tired everything as you can see below but I think I finally found an issue that might affect a lot of others. If you want the quick fix skip right to the end but trust me it is worth the read. I am sorry that I am going to flood the forums with this post but hopefully I can help someone with my findings.I need some help confirming it so hopefully some others can help. In addition to the list of possible CTD's seen below that I have found through extensive testing (almost a year) I think I may have just found the one final killer I was missing. I literally tried everything in the list below which is basically a compilation of every error message post I have seen throughout the forums. I was down to JUST UTUSA and GE in the US for the past 3 months. No other scenery add-ons. Despite this whenever I would come into the New York area in any of the Heavies, LVL-D, PMDG or PSS I would get the dreaded out of memory error followed by a CTD. I monitored the mem usage and it usually happened with at least 800 megs of PHYSICAL memory available so I knew it was bogus and was being generated by the software. I found ALL of the things below to cause CTD's, NOT the planes You get to read all of these before you get to the breakthrough at the end!!! Any one can be your killer...In no particular order...1. Improper Sid/Star2. Add-on scenery including modified Afcad files3 Modified AI with bad testures as well as bad AI Afcad and Duplicate Afcad due to AI trafiic:3A. AI is a killer. If you use an add-on traffic program, open up the AFCAD to an airport like KJFK. Then open up the surrounding files, KEWR, KLGA. In total you will have something like 1000 AI in a 20 mile span. MT for example lists KEWR with something like 15 runways and gives ILS approaches for helicopters. Now you multiply that by 3 airports in the region and your poor simulator is trying to load 45 runways. All of these files get used even if you are not flying into that particular airport. Remove the Afcad entirely or try even removing surrounding Afcads. You can also manually go in and correct the runway usage. KEWR for example should have 4L/22R closed for landings and 4R/22L closed for departure. Personally I disable 11/29 completely as it is very rarely used in real life. In other words, there is a lot of factors that need to be looked at with AI beyond just texture issues. Duplicate AFCADS or AFCADS with conflicting information will also cause a CTD or OOM message4. Other add-ons while you fly4A Third party programs that when used in conjunction with certain add-ons cause an out of memory. They might be fine alone or with other a/c but there are certain programs that just do not play well with some of the more advanced add-ons. 5. How much physical RAM do you use and what your swap file is set to:5A Also a corrupt swap file can cause this error in which case Microsoft.com has a fix for removing and recreating the swap6. How much free space is available on the drive with a swap fileIf a drive is low on space and can not grow the swap it will produce this message7. In the unlikely event it is a hardware memory error: run memtest8. Modified terrain.cfg9. Improperly removed scenery from a previous install10. Improper Render to Texture setting in FS9.cfg11. Landclass files improperly placed. BIG ONE HERE!!! There are some rumors going around that a LandClass file should NEVER have a texture folder and that ANY LC file with a texture folder will cause a leak. That is not true. If the LC file specifically calls a texture file in the texture folder it is referencing then there is no problem. If the LC file does not call any texture files and there is an empty texture folder it will still search the texture folder but it will not free up the memory it uses to search. It looks some more, memory never gets released and you have an Out of Memory error. This is when the there should be no texture folder. People assume anytime they see a LC file it needs to be moved and that is not necessarily the case.Also, do not assume because it is payware it is correct...12. One thing I have found for certain is that it is very rarely ONE add-on causing a problem. It is usually another add-on that might have been added at a later date that forces the issue to surface. Sometimes an add-on that has worked for years will be exposed for the issue it had all along by another add-on you added later. Never assume it is just the plane you are flying OR the last thing you added. It could go much much deeper...Now despite trying ALL of this and getting down to a fresh install, I still ahd CTD's with an Out of Memory. At my wits end I started looking for new solutions I had not heard anywhere else yet. Mark McG. at LVL-D had always mentioned checking the name of the Airports in every Afcad you were using matched the default. For example, if you were using an Afcad for KEWR and the default Afcad said Newark Intl make sure your add-ons used the same name. I finally when I had no other answers decided to check the name of the Afcad matched the name of the Airac files we all use. Sure enough Bingo, KEWR was listed as Newark Liberty International NOT Newark Intl the airport names did not match. I chaged all of the entries in the Airac and set off on my same 9 hour flight from Rome to Newark I have been trying to complete for over 9 months. Incidentally I can always fly into Rome and leave the sim going for days but can never come home. i have been stuck in Italy for months :) Sure enough I got to my ALTN airport which was KJFK Kennedy Intl in the Afcad and I had the CTD with an Out of Memory error. Here I stopped to cry, take a shot of vodka, cry some more, think about giving up simming forever, throwing the computer out the window and cried some more.Not giving up I went back into the Airac and did a search on KJFK. BINGO AGAIN, this is listed in the AIRAC as John F Kennedy International, not Kennedy Intl. I changed this is every spot in the Airac I found it, there were quite a few entries in different files, loaded up my ASV6 SU3, FsPassengers, FsBuild FlightPlan, Lago Rome scenery, UTUSA, GE 2006, LvL-D 767 the first time, PMDG 744 the second and PSS 77 the final and FINALLY AFTER ALMOST A YEAR I AM HOME :) The sim has been running for hours, no issues at all. I honestly think that the missing link that has been causing so many of us issues since the release of these add-on heavies is Airport name mismatches with Airac files. It is one variable I have not seen mentioned before in any forums and in my case allowed me to complete a flight I have failed at probably 100 times in the past year (ever since the release of LVL-D.) I honestly want to kiss my computer right now. Please others, try this confirm this and give me some feedback. I really hope this is the golden ticket we have all been looking for...Sincerely,-Paul SolkLiquid CooledAMD 4000 San Diego2 Gigs Kingston Corsair XMS CL2Dual 7800 GTX 24 inch widescreen dual 19 inch LCDRaid-0http://home.comcast.net/~psolk/3monitorsa.html

[Guest firehawk44]

You about covered every possible thing that can go wrong with FS9 if you're not careful and install the addon's incorrectly. You may have found the solution for your problem but I doubt this is the "magic bullet" to kill "Out of Memory" errors. Otherwise, everyone who has the software you listed would be getting "Out of Memory" errors and they don't. I surely haven't messed with my AFCAD's and I don't get an "Out of Memory" error. When you did a clean install of FS9 and still received the "Out of Memory" error, that should have been a clue that it wasn't a problem with your FS9 installation but with your computer system - a hardware problem. Out of Memory errors are mainly caused by bad installation of video cards/sound cards; the memory itself not properly installed; or the memory is not "system managed" but managed by the computer operator through system properties. I have never heard of FS9 actually causing the "out of memory" error. FS9 is extremely graphics intensive and you need to have everything working properly or it will crash -- just like any other graphic intensive game. Glad you were able to fix your problem!Jim

[psolk 3,040]

Jim, I never said I found the silver bullet nor did I claim I was going to cure everyones issues. I merely claimed that I HOPED I had found something that could help others. "Now despite trying ALL of this and getting down to a fresh install, I still ahd CTD's with an Out of Memory."Let me clarify that point, with vanilla FS and no add-ons at all, no aircraft, I can never create a problem on my box. When using Vanilla FS AND an add-on aircraft I can recreate the issue at will in a certain area. For example, I flew the PMDG 744 from KEWR to Rome. Let it sit overnight and ended up getting admitted to hospital in the middle of the night. I was hospitalized for a week, got home and FS was still running. Try to do the return flight however and I have never had any luck. Fly from KEWR-KSEA, no issues, do the return and crash. This is with all 3 add on heavies consistently for 9 months or more. Then I make this change and immediately my issue has gone away.Now... please please do not point the finger at my system. My post also has nothing to do with installing add-ons correctly. There are certain add-ons that cause conflicts, period, do you run all of the same add-ons I do for example? There are others that are improperly written. My findings have nothing to do with me installing add-ons incorrectly.Look at what I have gone through for the past year, don't you think I ruled out hardware with days of running HeavyLoad and Memtest? I have tried different motherboards, different sets of Ram, 3 different video cars, Raid, non-Raid etc... Please sir, if you read this entire thread, don't you think I am smart enough to have ruled out h.w. and default issues first. If it is hardware how do you explain being able to fly anywhere else in the world? Where did I blame FS? I play other games for days, I have no issues at all with my system other than certain flights in FS. By the way, your comment of FS being very graphics intensive shows your limited knowledge of the inner workings of FS. It is CPU intensive, not graphics. In fact, it is one of the least graphics intensive games I ever use on my system. 90% of the time your graphics are waiting on your CPU. If you are going to try and teach me something at least be accurate tiwht your statement. Oh and BTW, I am far from the only person to claim crashes with out of memory errors in the NY area with add-on heavies, search the forums...-PaulLiquid CooledAMD 4000 San Diego2 Gigs Kingston Corsair XMS CL2Dual 7800 GTX 24 inch widescreen dual 19 inch LCDRaid-0

[Hollywood 1]

Good news, i had the CTD because of "out of memory" too. i solved it like three days ago. It is reproducible on my system.It happens that my memory would drain. First i thought it was the PSS777. After a while i noticed, that my LVLD does the same.Memory usage climbs, as longer the flight goes. The chance to make the distance from Zurich to Kuala Lumpur were ZERO.I used to have 3.48 FSUIPC installed and one of my silly add-ons, not sure which one, installed a newer one. 3.53 to be exact.Since i reverted back to 3.48 i have no memory leak anymore. If i put 3.53 back, the leack is back too ;)Hope this helpsCheersMartin

[psolk 3,040]

Great find Martin. Glad to know I am not the only person to have an add-on cause an out of memory error ;) I would contact Pete Dowson about your issue though as FSUIPC is usually a rock solid program. Possibly the add-on used a bad build as Pete updates pretty frequently sometimes. Pete is great with support as well. Top notch program and programmer...If everyone contributes their own experiences we should be able to islotate just about every single FS error out there :)Congrats,-PaulLiquid CooledAMD 4000 San Diego2 Gigs Kingston Corsair XMS CL2Dual 7800 GTX 24 inch widescreen dual 19 inch LCDRaid-0

[Guest IFC2]

Hi Paul,can you please detail exactly how you checked the airacs, and afcads for those problems you mentioned please, this sounds very interesting, and I would like to have a look at this myself.thanks,

[psolk 3,040]

Hi Steve,I will detail it both specific to the T7 as well as the "other" add-on heavies just in case. In fact, the T7 was the easiest.Unfortunately I am going from memory as I am doing KEWR-EGCC right now so I don't want to minimize FS.You will need Afcad and a good text editor. I highly reccomend Textpad (you can google it)Open up Afcad.exeSearch on the ICAO for the airport in question. For NYC, look at KEWR and KJFKAfcad will show all your KEWR and KJFK current Afcads. Note the airport namesOpen up you root FS9 directory/PSS/Navdata Open up the file pssapt.datctrl-f to search and look for KEWRNavigate to the beginning of the word Libery and hit delete until you are left with Newark Intlctrl-f again for KJFKThis time from the beginning of the line delete until you are left with just Kennedy IntlNow your Airac files will match your Afcads and original .bgl's for the T7.Thew Queen and LVL-D are more complex and I know the team is not so keen on info on other products so perhaps you can pm me -PaulLiquid CooledAMD 4000 San Diego2 Gigs Kingston Corsair XMS CL2Dual 7800 GTX 24 inch widescreen dual 19 inch LCDRaid-0

[psolk 3,040]

Just a quick update, just got done with EGCC-KEWR in one of the other heavies that had the same issues and that I made the same changes to. Again succesful. This time it was CO021 from EGCC-KEWR, another flight that has not been completed in months. This time, no issue what-so-ever. I am going to do one more really long test, a 12 hour flight that again has always crashed this weeked, probably Sunday and if that is succesful, based on the feedback from the teams I will either do the flights again to be sure, so far I have done KEWR-LIRF, LIRF-KEWR, KEWR-EGCC, EGCC-KEWR and I am going to do KEWR-LLBG and LLBG-KEWR next or I will revert the files and see if I can reproduce the crash. Not saying this is conclusive at all but positive thus far. I have not seen the issue since making the changes...Just a quick fyi...-PaulLiquid CooledAMD 4000 San Diego2 Gigs Kingston Corsair XMS CL2Dual 7800 GTX 24 inch widescreen dual 19 inch LCDRaid-0