Hey there, it's me calling from CTD ####...

[Slick9 24]

OK - I really need some ideas here, I have been trying to solve a CTD on the KSEA - KORD route with no luck so far. The initial CTD (a drop to the desktop with no error message) would occur on downwind just as i passed abeam of KORD on approach to runway 27R. I finally figured that I had two installations of a bgl file for the ferris wheel at Navy Pier. So I deleted on of the bgl files. Now I am getting an Out of Memory error around the same area. I am flying the PMDG 747. the other addons I have are:Active SkyRadarContact 4.0Ultimate Traffic3rd Party Scenery FilesSystem Specs:3.6Ghz2MB Ram8MB VM Nvidia 6800GTAudigy 2 Sound Blaster-What I have done so far in an attempt to fix this issue:-Updated sound and video drivers. -Used SCAN AFCAD to check for problems in the Greater Chicago Area, -Used Flight Sim Manager to check for scenery, and texture problems ie. landclass problems etc., -Used Filemon to see what is going on with the sim at the time of the crash. (I am missing a few textures from ActiveSky)-RegCleaner to fix my registry-O&O Defrag to Defrag My DrivesFor consitency purposes I have flown all the flights so I arrive at O'Hare at the same time.Some of my observations so far, I can take off and fly a pattern around O'Hare and land with no problems. I can also takeoff from KMSP and fly to KORD with no problems. When I start at KSEA my pagefile usage is about 1Gig - and at O'Hare it is about 1.14Gigs, so it doesn't look like the typical memory leak where the pagefile gets swollen and the memory doesn't get released until the sim is shut down.Some of my observations so far, I can take off and fly a pattern around O'Hare and land with no problems. I can also takeoff from KMSP and fly to KORD with no problems. Does this mean that if i have a bad BGL it is in the the Seattle area? What is the easiest way to identify the bad bgl? Whatelse should I be looking at as a potential culprit? Thanks for the help and thanks to all the authors of the threads that i've been researching that have helped me get this far.

[Bob Scott 7,704]

Don't try this if you're not comfortable with managing Windows system files and settings...if done wrong, you can seriously dork your WinXP installation.You might try enabling expanded program addressing by placing /3GB /userva=2900 into your boot.ini file. You'll need to make a backup copy of your boot.ini, and get familiar with Windows Recovery Console in case you need to use it to swap back to the original boot.ini for some reason.Do a Google search on /3GB and you'll find the details on where this goes in the boot.ini file.And yes, I know you only have 2GB of RAM. The /3GB /userva=2900 boot.ini params will give your programs 2.9GB of virtual address space, so an attempt to allocate over 2 GB (which may very well be happening when approaching a complex airport) will not generate a request for more memory than exists in the 2GB standard virtual address space.It doesn't matter that the memory commit rates are down at 1.1-1.2 GB...when a program requests a large block of memory, WinXP reserves the full block of requested address space in virtual memory, and then pages it in/out of RAM based on actual usage. So if you're at 1.2GB committed, and FS asks for 900MB more for a bunch of airport textures to be preloaded, it'll OOM because you've asked for more than the standard 2GB of available space even though the OS would have never ended up loading all that up at once or gotten near 2GB actually in use.With the /3GB option, you're managing the size of the virtual address bubble available to each program. The /userva=2900 param reduces the upgraded 3GB available program address space by 172MB and allocates it to the WinXP kernel, because with modern graphics cards at 512MB or more, the kernel may need slightly more than 1GB of address space due to the mapping of the video and other hardware to addresses it takes from the 4GB physical address space available to WinXP. Kernel address space can't be virtualized...it has to come straight out of the 4GB available to WinXP.Again, if this doesn't make sense, you need to do some research. This option really smooths things out on my FS PCs...but there are some circumstances, like folks with 1GB or multiple 512MB video cards, that can require the userva be set down as low as 2300-2500, which really reduces its effectiveness.RegardsBob ScottATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VSantiago de Chile

[B777ER 2,475]

Bob, this is some of the most informative data I have read in here in a long time. Thank you for posting. I have a question. I would like to try the above. I have 2GB of physical RAM and the PF set to system managed. I have a ATI X850 card (256MB). Will the above settings work for me being only a 256mb card or should I change the /userva number around? Also can you do the /3GB in XP Home? I thought it was for server OS's or XP Pro?Can you show how the line is supposed to go into the boot.ini file? If not comfortable posting that here, can u pvt msg me with it?

[GHarrall 494]

Hi Eric,XP Pro only as far as I know. I may be wrong so don't quote me.Glenn

[Bob Scott 7,704]

>Bob, this is some of the most informative data I have read in>here in a long time. Thank you for posting. I have a question.>I would like to try the above. I have 2GB of physical RAM and>the PF set to system managed. I have a ATI X850 card (256MB).>Will the above settings work for me being only a 256mb card or>should I change the /userva number around? Also can you do the>/3GB in XP Home? I thought it was for server OS's or XP Pro?>Can you show how the line is supposed to go into the boot.ini>file? If not comfortable posting that here, can u pvt msg me>with it?With a 256MB vid card, you might be able to get away without the userva option...in this case the kernel gets 1GB only and 3GB of the address area is mapped out for programs in virtual memory. If you don't reserve enough for the kernel, your drivers will go nuts (maybe not right away)...spastic video or sound etc. If that happens, drop the userva down another 100 or so and try again. I use a 8800GTX with 768MB RAM and userva=2800 works here.As I understand it, the /3GB flag is only enabled in Win XP Pro (or Server 2003, but who uses that for FS?)CheersBob ScottATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VSantiago de Chile

[B777ER 2,475]

I have XP Home so a no go from me. Oh well. Still a great post on tweaking.