Strange problem with FS9

[FLEX1978 373]

Hi, I have a feeling I'm going to have to reinstall but with 40gigs worth of addons i thought i would try you guys first. I have a fairly powerfull PC with 3gigs of ram 512mb ATI card and i get great frames in fs9 (locked at 25) even flying into Schipol heathrow and Lax (I dont use AI due to flying on vatsim everytime) but over the last few months the sim has developed a strange 2 second pause at least once every 20 seconds. I have used filemon tried the default aircraft and removed UT europe etc and nothing's fixed it.. I even bought new ram which now resides on my second active sky, squawkbox pc because it made no diffrence. It's frustrating :( the sim is as smooth as silk then it pauses and then back to smooth again. Has this happened to anyone else?Robert Prest

[scoob 18]

robert:confirm your anti-virus software isn't conflicting. (i run FS with anti-virus shut off).before a reinstall ALWAYS try removing the FS9.cfg to your desktop, start FS and let the program build it 'new.' run the sim to see if things work OK. if so then start, one by one, adding your hacks/mods to the FS9.cfg that was built.my FS9 install is the original done on FS9 release day (USA). i've actually needed to do a re-install of only one FS (FS98 because of a hard-drive crash).--

[FLEX1978 373]

Yeah I use fsautostart and only keep the essential stuff running. I have a huge amount off respect for the freeware scenery developers out there but some packages can realy mess with fs9. I think this time around I'm going to keep things in fs9 basic, just fsgenesis gepro activesky and my favourite Heavy... leave all the frustration for when I switch to FSX mid next year. It's a shame, I had built up a nice sim environment in fs9.ThanksRob

[Guest RonB49]

Hi Rob,I doubt that reinstalling FS9 will fix your problem because I doubt that it is an FS9 problem. Something is running in background and your antivirus software is most likely (as stated above) but it can be other stuff too.You say, "I use fsautostart and only keep the essential stuff running." How old is your FSAutostart profile for FS9? Software that has been added since you created the profile may be launching at boot time now and it won't be stopped by your outdated profile. Likewise, a simple update to an existing program may have found some services disabled that it needs and turned that service back on.I'd check my FSAutostart profile(s) before reinstalling. I've been simming with MSFS on a PC since version 5.0a and I have NEVER had to reinstall FS!R-EDIT to add: Check the Microsoft Flight Sim Web Site for a routine to run FS after (what I think they refer to as) a "Clean Boot." Windows will come up running just the bare minimum config required to run FS9. Then you can start FS9 without running FSAutostart first, because there will be nothing running that you need to stop. R-

[FLEX1978 373]

I will give it another few day's try updating autostart and see if I can hunt down the problem, but I also use GTR2 and BF2142 and they both run flawless. I've been simming for so many years like many others, you kinda get to know how fs performs in various situations and this seems more like fs is searching for something that is not there (like a bad afcad or corrupt texture file) so i dont think its a problem outside fs9. The last major product i installed was UT Europe USA and Canada but removed them due to never fixing the major blurrys, the only thing i left was the UT europe 3D street lights. I did think Ultimate Terrain could be the cause but I flew Long haul to Singapore and Sydney last weekend and still had problems.Also my full time job is in IT. The firewall and antivirus is 100% off and i have checked all background proceses and run scans for trojans etc. Thanks Rob

[Kimchoc 1]

Something is running in the background. Do a search here for pauses. Same answer every time. Re-install as a last resort.Did you look at your hard drive activity? What does that reveal?Also, change or update your video drivers. Thats quite a bit easier than Fs re-install. Lucy

[planenut 19]

I used Auto Start for a long time, then it started causing me problems such as pauses, jerkiness, etc. I finally just stopped using it and have had no problems since. Jim

[FLEX1978 373]

When I use the default 737 or PMDG 747 I get the same problem. This weekend I will back up my cfg rename the fs9 folder and install fs9 again, take it for a spin and if it's still pausing go back to my original fs9 installation. I have tried diffrent drivers but no change... my frames are very high.I went on a download spree on Avsim last month so I just have strong feeling that I installed a freeware addon that's messed things up (due to not following instructions properly)Robert Prest

[FLEX1978 373]

Just a quick update, it was the UT Europe 3d street lights causing the problem. I removed them and am currently on the return leg of a ELLX-EHAM-ELLX flight on vatsim... No pauses. It's a shame those lights are so cool :(Rob