I've been reading through the threads and trying this and that to stop my own random crashes...the one thing I have noticed when I read system specs is Windows XP... could the OS be the culprit and not the game? Are the two interferring with one another trying to grab a resource the other has a handle on and causing the crash. I have 98SE and XP in front of me right now and considering giving 98SE a shot..afterall it was the best gaming OS around (In my opinion still is, but get with the times or get left in the dark unfortuneatly) All this change your device driver to this and that and alter your BIOS to this is not the fix. Alot more than COF would be blowing up if those were the problems. We shouldn't have to be digging into the bios to play a game. Could you imagine if every piece of software you bought required you to hold del on startup, goto advanced, change this to that, if that doesn't work, change your mem timing to this, revert to driver 3.XX if you want this feature...So I'm just curious if anyone is running 98SE and how yout CTD status is.Chris

I'm running 98SE (still have it for a few older apps and an ancient scanner). Only CTD's I've ever had in COF I've traced to specific gauges. I've been flying for the past several hours around Germany with winter textures, and no issues....-John

Hi chris.Finally someone is coming up with words that make sense:"All this change your device driver to this and that and alter your BIOS to this is not the fix. Alot more than COF would be blowing up if those were the problems. We shouldn't have to be digging into the bios to play a game. Could you imagine if every piece of software you bought required you to hold del on startup, goto advanced, change this to that, if that doesn't work, change your mem timing to this, revert to driver 3.XX if you want this feature..."You are right, it's all getting pretty ridiculous.To the point where a poorly tested piece of software is not functioning properly and all of a sudden everyone has faulty RAM. It really gets on my nerves when I hear such things in the forums.Thanks for insisting on that. I've tried to make a point of this matter in many of the topics regarding CTD's, since I'm one of those being affected.I also think using XP is most likeky among the causes for CTd's.But I tell you what: I just upgraded to XP before summer, and would never be going back to Win98SE.If Microsoft doesn't get this bug sorted out (and I doubt they will), its Fs9 going off my hard-disk, not Windows XP: sad but true.Totally with you on all the rest.Luca

Well I'm gonna wipe my fsim computer clean for the umpteenth time in the last few months and give 98SE and COF a shot.. I see JohnCi has been using 98SE and from what I read of his posts has a stable setup... my fsim computer is just that fsim.. if its gonna take 98SE to fix what MS won't then I'm gonna give it a shot!Chris

Hello, Fs 2004 run fine with Windows XP, I never had a single CTD, the Os have nothing to do with it. Reformat and update your system to date, your problem will disappears.Testing a sim with 3rd party addons installed, aircraft, gauge, scenery it's a waist of time. Nothing should reside in the folder, uninstall completly and add absolutly nothing, delete the fs2004 folder or renamed. Many had CTD because of 3rd party addons! aircraft, scenery, gauge etc.There is *huge* difference between getting random CTD all the time in fs2004 and CTD at a specific area/place and time. Random CTD all the time in fs2004 it's your system!"Could you imagine if every piece of software you bought required you to hold del on startup, goto advanced, change this to that, if that doesn't work, change your mem timing to this, revert to driver 3.XX if you want this feature..."Welcome to PC games:All motherboard type are differents and have different setting from default, differents agp aperture, Voltage, PCI setting etc. All combinaison of 3d card setting are differents from default, all video drivers are differents. Intensive ressource games are more complicated to run well.LOMAC sim do have CTD for some users and some others dont' have it, why? tons of post about agp aperture, bios and everything we talk here in their lomac forum!!I have yet to see 95 % Msfs community post one by one about CTD, there is few.BestEric

Running Windows ME here. Read hundreds of post of how terrible Windows ME is. Also, have SE and XP. Think the real problem is how much stuff we add without checking it -- if it works and then we add another and then another until the whole thing chokes.Advise:Old programmer here. -->> Add one thing at a time and then check it. ---> Period.Yep, that is a real pain in the ----.It will save you hours and hours of grief. Download and adding to the sim in this manner will be a bit tedious. Take each one and wring it out. Say thank you if it is "keeper". Say nothing if it is free and buggered up your system -- then maybe just a note to the author is all that is required to fix it on your system. One at a time.Simple advise, really.Frenchy -- out.

I have Win98SE, and FS2004 at first ran fine. The first time I ever had a CTD was flying in Alaska in fall. Once Winter calender was on though, crash followed crash. It got so ridiculous that I ended up reverting to FS2002.Oh, and my BIOs has the latest flash, and every driver I have is the latest version.Richard

I have repeatable CTDs when going from Grenoble, FR to Interlaken SW. And also I have one between Yakima, WA and Spokane I think it was. Outside of these to locales, I never every have a lockup or CTD. I have many addons installed, including FSGenesis mesh all over, Flight1 Piper Meridian, Eaglesoft, AS2004, Flight Deck Companion, US Landclass scenery, etc.Using Win2K pro with all critical updates. DX9.0b I think.Noel

Eric:>>Hello,Fs 2004 run fine with Windows XP, I never had a single CTD, the Os have nothing to do with it. Reformat and update your system to date, your problem will disappears.Rubbish. If that was all it was, the people who've done reformats and clean installs wouldn't still be posting their repeated CTD's. The software is buggy. MS releases design requirements for CPU's, BIOS' etc to run their products - OS', games, Office, everything. FS2004 does NOT run consistantly on complant hardware. Yes, *most* people run it fine and with few crashes. Enough can't, though, even people with well above box-spec setups, to indicate that the problem is NOT with the systems, but with the program.Richard

Like Eric says - I believe the vast majority of CTDs are to do with addons of one kind or another.I don't think the OS has anything to do with it.I've had FS9 since the day it came out.I've had it installed on WinME and also on WinXP on this dual boot machine(AMD XP2000/526mbDDRAM/Ti4200).The WinME copy has not been used for some time now as everything runs slightly faster in XP.The only CTDs on this machine ( 3 in all) were down to the famous " improved railroad " textures.The XP copy has lots of addons - both aircraft and scenery .There has been no problem with the "seasonal" changes.Normal use is for online flying (VATSIM, 10 to 12 hours per week) - and most settings are at 75% or greater. There were no CTDs in the WinME version but to be fair there were very few addons.In addition FS9 has been installed(with no extras) ,and run very successfully on an old PC with Win98SE/700Mhz AMD/ATI 9700 GPU/256 mb SDRAM.Purely out of curiosity I ran the sim for several hours on that PC with no problems and good( 18-20)fps.Lastly - the week before Xmas we put together a new PC for my son using an XP2600 256mb DDRAM and FX5600 GPU.FS9 runs perfectly with fps up in the high 20s virtually all the time.As yet there are no addons on this copy and no online flying has been attempted.I keep a log of addons since the "railroad" incident detailing what I put in and exactly what was changed(EG texture files etc) so if a problem of any kind does arise I can look back and see where or when the problem started.One other point to make- there are many mentions of reinstalling FS9 and getting the same errors showing up again and again.I know there are some who won't agree with me but IMHO when reinstalling FS9 you should first be careful to eliminate any files left behind after the uninstall,clean the registry of any remaining entries,then defrag the PC ,restart and reinstall.For the small amount of time it takes to clean up first - it's worthwhile doing.Happy New Year to all and have lot's of fun flying.Dave

Been reading through the posts.. seems everyone is blaming the addon stuff..if so then why are people getting them with a clean fresh install. a previous post said "Welcome to PC Gaming" I programmed for 5 years before changing my career to fly, I have NEVER once seen a software application crash out so much over nothing... my memory is fine, my CPU is fine, and my BIOS is fine, like I said earlier I shouldn't have to change anything to play this game compared to that game... besides if there is some particular setting we need "they" know about, spit it out already, i'm mre than willing to try it.My Janes series of fighter games runs flawlessly, NHL 2004 runs flawlessly, Falcon 4.0 flawless, and FS2002 was flawless. Windows XP has just been a patch on top of a patch as well... Maybe it is something in my architecture and XP that don't get along.. I'll find out over the next couple of days I guess.Chris

edited due to wrong spelling>The software is buggy. MS releases design requirements for>CPU's, BIOS' etc to run their products - OS', games, Office,>everything. FS2004 does NOT run consistantly on complant>hardware. If some people have CTDs and other people, who run exactly the same software (FS2004) have no CTDs at all, then the software cannot be the reason for those CTDs. The CTDs then only can be caused by systems and/or add ons and/or a deadly combination of both. That's how simple and logical it is!BTW I run Win XP Pro and the few CTDs I had so far were all related to add on gauges.Wolfgang

I reinstalled xp on a formatted partition a few days ago and FS9 on another formated partiton. Having done some experiments I can guarantee CTD everytime by going to any of 3 (I only tried 3) different UK add on airports in default aircraft, sitting on the ground and calling the map dialogue. 100% repeatable. Does not happen at default airports. Time of year - summer!Immediately afterwards my firewall show that the direct X diagnostic tool is demanding internet access.Running xp pro with sp1 + updates, dx9b, 9700pro 3.9 drivers (I will try 3.10 s),Intel 3.06 chip + Ultimate traffic, Active camera, FS Nav, latest FSUIPC.Regards

I run COF with WinXP with not a problem. Problems in the past are the result of add-on stuff (guages especially).....FS2004 is not the problem....equipment and settings are. FS2004 IS graphically intense, no doubt about it. This is why everything has to be set up to it's optimum "best".Harry