Every so often, I will be flying along (it always seems to happen on climb out from the departure airport) and all of a sudden Everything is gone and I am back to the desktop. I don't even remember getting the box asking if I want to send a report to Microsoft.What can/should I do to try to trace the problem?again it is sporadic and has happened before and after the latest driver installation for the video card and I have not changed the display or video settings. I understand you cannot supply an answer to the problem, I am just looking for where to start and/or what I can trace or look for.Thanks.John

Bonanzapilot,Ahh, the dreaded CTD. From what I've read most CTDs stem from a memory leak. It is important to let us know what you are using; FS version, operating system, any add ons, FS variables or sliders, etc.Even if the crash asks if you want to send info to MS don't, MS has suspended the division that created and supports MSFS, don't even bother.It is seriously frustrating when a CTD happens, especially if you spent an hour setting up and preflight. Most of us are just going to have to live with it.I feel for you as it happens to me sometimes, I also have a machine that has a power unit problem and my entire computer just shuts off with no warning. The manufacturer denied me during their recall. So I have to wait until I can afford a good gaming machine. That's how the wind blows.

Hey John...take a look at your Windows Event Viewer Application Log. Listed in there, (most likely), is a .DLL file which faulted. You should be able to find it pretty quickly because it will have an icon with a red dot and a white "X" through it. You'll need to double click on the icon, (you may have more then one), and see if it says something like..."Faulting application fs9.exe, version 9.1.0.40901, faulting module terrain.dll, version 9.1.0.40901, fault address 0x00043890."If you find one then post it here along with your computer specs. I'm sure one of the many gurus that alight in this arena will assist you :)Mark

Hey John...take a look at your Windows Event Viewer Application Log. Listed in there, (most likely), is a .DLL file which faulted. You should be able to find it pretty quickly because it will have an icon with a red dot and a white "X" through it. You'll need to double click on the icon, (you may have more then one), and see if it says something like..."Faulting application fs9.exe, version 9.1.0.40901, faulting module terrain.dll, version 9.1.0.40901, fault address 0x00043890."If you find one then post it here along with your computer specs. I'm sure one of the many gurus that alight in this arena will assist you :)Mark

Thanks to everyone. I must have a mess as I checked my application logs and found crashes due to panel.dll, 2d.dll, and 3d.dlls :(I am running FS9 with the PMDG 737NG-700, Radar Contact v4.3, Ultimate Terrain, Ultimate Traffic, Ground Environment Pro, and occasionally Active Sky 6.5. I recently added Real Environment FS2004 free download but most crashes were prior to that.My rig (I built it myself) is:Intel Duo Core E8400 @ 3 GHz2 Gig RAM2 GeForce 9800 GTX+ Video cards each at 512MbASUS Motherboard4 monitors1100 Watt Power SupplySaitek Radio PanelCH Products Flight Sim YokeSATA HDMy Scenery settings sliders are all full right except I don't have scenery casting shadows and my water effects are low. I only use 2D cockpits so the VC cockpit quality is set to low but I do have aircraft casts shadows and landing lights checked. Weather settings are Sight Distance 80, draw distance and 3-D percetnage full right. Detailed clouds are used with high density. Hardware has my two cards running at 1680 x 1050 x 32 with frame rate unlimited. I routinely get in the 30s and 40s fps. Hardware rendering is render to texture and transform and lighting. NO anti-aliasing. the filtering is bilinear with MIP mapping 4 and rendered lights 6. Global texture size is massive (full right).When it all works (which is most of the time) it is really sweet.I am not sure what else would be helpful? Thanks.John

What scenery are you experiencing this with...is there more then one? Read through this and see if it helps until someone who uses the PMDG jet chimes in...http://www.adventure-unlimited.org/faultfi...php#IdentifyingMark

This is a useful site when trying to determine the root cause of a CTD:http://www.adventure-unlimited.org/faultfi...php#IdentifyingHope it is helpful to you.