Hello All,Well, to say the least, I have suffered as many CTD's as anyone, lately. With the addition of scenery, AFCADS, aircraft, FSSE, Active Camera, and on, and on, and on.So, I decided to try eliminating ALL addon scenery, (just click it off at the scenery site and all its addons.)I decided to eliminate Active Camera, not to use added aircraft, not to use AFCADS, and begin to put them back in, one by one.We'll start with I have XP Pro, it works perfectly with every other program. I've updated the file system to NTFS, SAY GOODBYE FAT32!. I have my machine OC'd, but it fires up fine, there is no temp problem, my memory cks out great . . .so let's see what we will have here.P4 3.2 800fsbASUS P4C800-E DeluxHyperram pc3200 KingstonIBM 7200 HD 40 GIGTi4600 128 oc'dthe machine is oc'd to 3.81 which is the 20% mark on the ASUS board,(I had it had 30% which was 4.16 however it proved to be unstable with other games and FS.)my temps while running FS are 45C on the CPU full load and 31C on the MB full load running FS.I began this flight at KORD no additional scenery on, no ac, no fsnav and using the stock Lear with an freeware panel. THUS FAR, PASSING FAYETTEVILLE GA, NO LOCKUPS. I've varried the altitude from 10k, to FL320 on a course due south. I'm now descending to 12K . . .still going. Now, by now, this puppy would have locked up big time. So, changing course for Miami and will land there, watch an instant reply of the landing and see if FS then locks up. If no lock up, I will begin to add items back to find the fault. I might mention also that I started this flight with all sliders other than the Frame rate, all the way to the left. I then at Atlanta returned them all to their original settings which was almost full right. Passing Atlanta, I also started FS Nav, just for kicks.Still going like the Energizer Bunny. Will give an update when I either get to Miami or the damned thing crashs!One way or the other, I'm gonna lick this problem . . . and let me state for the record one last time . . . I HAVE NO PROBLEMS WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAM THAT I RUN!!!!Latest BiosOmega latest Ti4600 drivers, and vid card oc'd also.crossing my fingers,Clay

Try this:Create a flight using current system date/time - any airplane - KMOB airport.Should crash at 51%.KMOB is my home airport :-(My solution - set date to summer.It's okay - winter in Mobile is like summer somewhere up north (U.S).

Hi Clay,Over the weekend we started making headway in finding this gremlin. Chris Willis and runbleflappy have now expereinced these CTD's, so they (among many others) are working on it.I attended a LAN meet this weekend and had an opportunity to test on 4 different systems... 2 Intel and 2 AMD. The guys who assisted me aren't really into MSFS, but they have been around a long time and certainly know gaming systems and flightsim software. We installed my copy of FS9 on all 4 systems (one was mine). 3 systems were running XP Home, the 4th XP Pro. None of the systems were overclocked, and all were running fine (we flew numerous co-op missions in LOMAC). All FS9 installs were stock... no add-ons whatsoever.We had no problem creating CTD's on all 4 systems... Intel and AMD alike. We were testing in the Bay Area on various dates in November, December, and January. I've just sent an e-mail to MS about our testing and results.These seasonal CTD's make the sim pretty much unflyable for me. At the end of the LAN meet yesterday everybody concluded that MS would not fix the problem (these guys have been around quite awhile... two are contributors to a couple of popular flightsim web sites. They're quite familiar with the business of flightsimming). I'd like to think MS will indeed address this issue, but only time will tell. I believe MSFS is the finest civil sim available today, and I applaud the developer's efforts. But for now I've deleted FS9 from my system. Simply isn't worth all the headaches.The saddest part about all this is that two of the guys who assisted with my testing have signed up to do a day at Air Combat USA in a few months. They were interested in purchasing FS9 and RealAir's SF.260 to help them prepare. Alas, they've now decided against buying FS9.Good luck... hope you succeed in resolving these problems.

Hi Ken,I've never really had the seasonal CTD problems that others have reported, so I've been actually attempting to induce them by using instructions that some of the less fortunate have posted. I tried loading a flight using the current date/time this afternoon and starting at KMOB. It loaded up just fine and I flew my RealAir Decathlon all around Mobile before landing and getting back to my real work ;-). Have you had anyone else say this isn't a problem for them? I don't have an addon scenery for your part of the world at all, so it's all just stock. The only global texture changes I've made are to use Chris Willis' fps-friendly clouds and night textures. I'd really like to help solve this problem, and the fact the I can't seem to get my FS9 to crash could actually be helpful. Do you (or anyone else) have crashes that are guaranteed on your system? If so, could you post the flt (and any related wx) files so I can try them out? Maybe we can somehow get to the bottom of this.thanks,

Ken,I just tried your suggestion, I used the DF Archer, FSD Seneca, PMDG 737-600 and default KA...all loaded without any problems, this was with system time and date with FS downloaded weather (heavy rain) default AI at 100%, no other addons.Regards,Bob Joneshttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/devteam.jpgwww.precisionmanuals.com

Hi Clay!I too suffered from the wrath of the CTD monster. My rig is OC'd so I had thought that was the problem. I had some addons and even tried to blame wxRE at one point and also pushed some blame at the various cat drivers. Finally I had enough.I saved the FS9.cfg and did a complete reinstall of FS9. When I went to look at the old FS9.cfg to copy over tweaks I noticed to my amazement and somewhat horror that there were multiple video driver entries!! There were also some repeat tweaks! I had been playing around with different cat drivers trying to find the perfect one and apparently FS9 recorded them all amongst other things!So...I put in the latest cat driver (cat 9c's) and enusred there was only one entry. No prolmes. I then put in the latest Omega Cat 10 drivers, manually deleted the Cat 9 info from the cfg and no problems.I have yet to ever experience another CTD (knock on wood). My conclusion is that the FS9.cfg can and does cause problems. It easily fills up with garbage and should be periodically checked. I've been checking it religiously top make sure all is good and like I said, have never had a crash again.Andy

Bill and Bob:Well I could make it crash every single time yesterday. This was the first time I had ever had a CTD in MSFS 2004. I have no add ons except for:Chris Willis clouds and nightPMDG 737Ultimate TrafficHmmm...I'll try again later today and see if it magically went away.Thanks for trying!P.S. - magic is a technical term for "I don't know what the fudge is going on". I beleive it was Arthur C. Clarke who said that any software advanced enough to fix itself would look like magic to a lesser evolved user ;-)

Hi Clay,Man, I'm really sorry you had so much trouble with FS9. I've been using it since it was released, and once I got a few hardware problems under control I've never had a CTD since. I'd be really interested in mirroring some of the tests you did around the Bay Area. Can you give me an idea as to what steps you took to cause the crashing? I'd like to know things like what airport you took off from, where you flew and (if you can remember) what days and time of day you used. Also, how long did it take to experience the crashes? Were they on loadup or after a bit of flying? I did some preliminary tests around KSFO and the City itself, but didn't have any troubles. I had my date/time set to system time, so it was today (Jan 5, 2004) around 2pm. However, I know just doing a flight doesn't prove anything, so I'd like to recreate a known crash from your rig if you can remember the specifics.thanks,

Hi Ken, I have tried to replicable the crash, but I get no CTD, the only ctd I got it was from Dick flight post so far, seasonal. Also tried the zurich flight no ctd , (loading at 51% ctd from luca).I would be very carefull for not confusing all ctd to fs2004, this can only confusing more the problems and not located the real problems, the only problems I know is the seasonal is a Ms issue. The others with 3rd party addons, afcad, landclass, , aircraft, gauge, scenery will cause ctd if they are not compatible, I have saw many fixed by this, and some few specific system corruption.Try it without, Ultimate Traffic have caused some CTD for some, Afcad files can cause problems.I am not here to protect Ms, only locate the problems from default stuff only, for not confusing and increase the CTD amount related to 3rd party.Ps: A trick is when you install a new video cards driver, delete the fs9.cfg after. ThanksChris Willis[link:fsw.simflight.com/FSWMenuFsSim.html]Clouds And Addons For MsFs

Well I've tried to remain quite on this subject for a while, but it's driving me crazy.I just purchased a new laptop Sony Vaio TR2P3A, 2-weeks ago with 1Ghz Pentium M, 1Gb RAM and 64Mb Video.My first attempt at running FS2004 was horrible. I had installed add-on scenery, aircraft, UT, etc. Every flight had a CTD, with little hope of even getting off the ground.So after uninstalling and going back to FS2002 for a week, I figured I would attempt FS2004 again after reading some of these threads and trying some options.So with a fresh install, I tried running FS2004 with no add-ons, at all. No scenery, no UT and no other aircraft. The sim ran perfectly in summer, so I tried the winter. Still no problems with at least 20fps. I was flying the default Lear and decided to test it a little. I added UT, Editvoicepak, FSUIPC and then I maxed out all the scenery, hardware and aircraft display settings and it still ran fine albeit with frame rate hits below 10 near buildings. It must be fixed I thought.Well then I added the IFDG MD-11 and decided to fly the Lear again. No problems. Then I dediced to reduce the settings to normal on the bars and switch to the IFDG MD-11 in UPS colors in KONT at night. While switching back and forth between cockpit view and spot-plane view, while on the runway, the dreaded CTD! I ran it over and over again, with different settings and different dates, but everytime it crashed. So after several reboots, I did the exact same settings in the default Lear at KONT at night, in winter, switched views inside and out several times, and actually took off. While in flight I managed to switch to the IFDG MD-11 again and no problems. The flight continued on it's way as planned going inside and outside and scrolling all around the plane, no CTD. After landing however in Zurich, as I was taxiing in, I decided to switch to the spot-plane view and wham, it did it again.So I'm not sure what is the cause. I thought it was related to a system problem, but I have a brand new system. I thought it was a seasonal problem, but I've tried it in winter and summer. The only thing I know is that it does it when I use a add-on aircraft on the ground or near other heavy textures. FS2002 works flawlessly with this system and I may have to keep using it for other aircraft.Any other suggestions?MickeyKLAS

Hi Mickey, The only know problems tested with default fs2004 without 0% addons, is the seasonal, Ms issue.Not related to Ms issue:Some 3rd party addons will cause 100% CTD everytime:, Afcad, landclass, aircraft, gauge, scenery will cause ctd, these files are not official and CTD free in fs2004, I have saw many fixed CTD by removing them.Ms issue should be tested only with no Addons in fs2004.ThanksChris Willis[link:fsw.simflight.com/FSWMenuFsSim.html]Clouds And Addons For MsFs

The ability for users to create third party add ons is the best decision MS ever made. If FS crashes they can hide behind the 'must be an add on that is causing it' curtain and simply ignore what is happening.If the system were closed to add ons they would have little choice but fix the problem.Good decision MS!!Andy b

Hello All,If you will look at my initial message you can see I began this flight at KORD no additional scenery, no AFCADS, no active camera, no lago FSSE, NO NOTHING!I took all sliders back to full left except for the frame rate and that was left at unlimited. I used the stock Lear, with a addon panel.I varried the altitude, up down in out whatever. About time I hit Atlanta, (a farther distance than it had ever gone), I took all the sliders back to their original place and turned Ai traffic back,(microsofts with MY traffic) back on to 40%.THE FLIGHT CONTINUED ON. I took an hour or so nap, (hey, us old guys nap in the afternoon, thank you!), and when I awoke, I continued on, landing at Maimi, played the instant replay, (usually guarntees a lockup), and took off back for KORD. At that time I went back outside to do some work with my horses and at 510pm cst, I returned and behold, this thing was still flying!!!!!So, This time I will do an east coast to west coast flight with the same settings . . . with only one difference, I will re add my Afcad files which are in Addon scenery.By the way, my present settings are set to present day, and time and that is winter 2004. So saying all that, I will give a further upate perhaps later tonight . . . stay posted and we'll lick this turkey yet. Before I go and insert the AFCAD files, I intend to make sure I have none which would cross poll, like two KORD or such and I think I intend to change the aircraft and use the CS 727 which is my favorite.If, Lord willing I get past this, then we will start adding scenery, one item at a time. Best and thanks for all the responses,Clay

Maybe this is the FSW95 all over again!MickeyKLAS

Hi Bill,I think this was intended for me..."I'd be really interested in mirroring some of the tests you did around the Bay Area. Can you give me an idea as to what steps you took to cause the crashing? I'd like to know things like what airport you took off from, where you flew and (if you can remember) what days and time of day you used."Our testing regimen as follows:Each tester started from the default flight at KSEA with the stock 172. We then changed to KSFO 10R and took off picking up a heading of roughly 350 degrees toward Candlestick. Once over the bay and abeam of Candlestick we each saved the flight (we didn't exchange FLT and WX files). From this point we set the AP to fly a 005 degree heading at 3500' cruising at 95KIAS. We flew toward Richmond and encountered consistent CTD's within an 8-10 sq. mile area approximately between N38deg 05.13' W122deg 21.99' and N37deg 52.54' W122deg 07.16'.My logs show the following results: 14 flights made on Jan 3-4. 10 CTD's, all during daylight hours (curiously, none of us suffered a CTD while flying at night). All these flights were made in real time using the "Fair Weather" theme. I also attempted to approach the test area from the East, West and North (all in daylight) and encountered CTD's when approaching from the East and West (not the North).We also tested on the following dates: Nov. 17, 19, 20, 22, 25, 29, Dec. 2, 5, 9, 12, 17, 21, 22, 23, 25, 31, Jan. 10, 17, 22, 23, 28. We experienced CTD's on 15 of the above dates (Dec. 21, 22 and 23 were really bad!). Again, we used the above defined flight.Finally, I tried to make a flight using the King Air from KSMF to KLAS and encountered a CTD a few miles NW of Yosemite. This final flight was made late in the afternoon of Jan. 5.My sys specs here: http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...ing_type=searchThe testing FS9.cfg's were different from what is posted in the above thread (all files within FS9 this past weekend were NOT tweaked).