In reading all the posts on the mysterious CTD issues I began to see some common elements: landclass and changing seasons. So, I tried to think of anything related to this that's changed from FS8. One thing is the new edge effect that FS adds to roads to give the impression of a shoulder or median. I think that what's happening is that FS is changing the landclass from what's already on the terrain in order to draw these edges.Playing around in the terrain.cfg file I was able to fix a problem with FS crashing with no add-ons or anything installed. Would some of you experiencing repeated CTDs try this and post your results?Just to recap, here's a way to trigger a CTD consistently using a clean install (thanks to Chris Willis, I think):Create a flight:Airport = ENANDate = October 25Time of Day = DayAlso, make sure you have the terrain texture size set to High in the display options dialog. Now, load the flight. It should crash on load.Now, find the terrain.cfg file in the FS9 folder and open it in notepad. Do a search/replace and change this:MaskClassMap=1to this:MaskClassMap=0Save the file, restart FS, and try the flight again. Does yours still crash? What about your other scenarios?All this change does is remove the edges from roads. FS will still do the blending on airport backgrounds. If this really is the cause of the problem then it's a bug if FS (and, yes, I have emailed M$FT ), maybe having to do with using too much memory with all the different landclass data. (Maybe changing seasons just makes this worse.)Anyway, I hope this solves the problem for some of you. It worked for me and I can really live without the little road edges anyway since they're really hard to see unless you're down low.Good luck!

All of my MaskClassMap entries are set to =3 (don't know how or why). I wonder if this also has something to do with it? I do not experience any CTD's but I also use my own generated Hi-Res mesh created from 1 degree SRTM data. This might also be a reason I do not CTD. My terrain sliders are all full right with the Global Max Texture slider set to High. I'm also running with 1 gig of RAM and this could also be a factor.Larry S.

I believe by default all roads should be 1, water should be 3 and airport backgrounds should be 2. how all yours got set to 3, i don't know...

That flight scenario ENAN / day / October 25th does not cause a CtD on my machine. In fact no scenario posted on these forums, including SoarPics, has caused a CtD on my machine. At this stage I don't believe there is a fault in Microsoft's FS9 code that would cause a CtD.

Baffling indeed. Could you please post your FS9 build number?Thanks,

Hi Greg,It's 30612.02The only thing I can think of that might be different with my setup is that, living in Australia I have my international settings set to SouthEastern latitude / longitude. But I've tried changing that to North Western (to emulate what North Americans would use) and also literally maxing out every single slider and checking every checkbox in the entire user interface. It crawled along like a Powerpoint slide show but still no CtD. I also either use downloaded weather or weather themes. My machine isn't connected to the net, so I can't real real time weather. Maybe this also has something to do with it. I'm still running Windows 98SE.As I say, I still have an open mind about it, just not convinced about a problem yet.

Same build as mine. :-roll Being relentlessly stupid (or stupidly relentless) I'll reinstall and get back to testing. Like you, I'm not convinced that this is a programming problem. But I'm really not qualified to make any real conclusions. All I can do is collect data, share it with the experts (both here and at MS) and hope to resolve this issue at some point in time.Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to slip into my guinea pig suit. :-hah

Jon said:"At this stage I don't believe there is a fault in Microsoft's FS9 code that would cause a CTD"You don't have a CTD (ALLEGEDLY) so it must not exist..I say allegedly because you saying there is no fault in Microsoft when this is happening to many, is just plain speculation on your part, not based upon any fact.Ok Jon,. we're happy for you.Congratulations.MSFS9 CODE IS FLAWED.Regards,Joehttp://aboutpolitics.net/images/bannerav.gif.About Politics.net - FORUMShttp://pub162.ezboard.com/baboutpolitics.Contribute to the Richard Harvey Scholarship Fund.http://www.avsim.com/pages/scholarship.shtml

Joe,May I suggest that you temper your replies a little? I find your attitude towards others offensive and childish. It is your style of behaviour that alienates those that are well positioned to assist you. Simply because someone doesn't agree with you is not a reason to call them a liar or apply your impression of sarcastic wit. The fact that Jon has not had a CTD would suggest to him that perhaps the problem is hardware or configuration related; this is a rational assumption. Up until the other night I was in the same boat and yes I bore the brunt of your continuing vitriol. I have now been able to generate a CTD repeatedly, but I am not yet ready to apportion blame to either hardware/configuration or the software as I have not completed sufficient testing.As others have observed in this forum, imagine that you are in front of the person that you are replying to. If that were so in your case then I would suggest that you may well have been flat on your back before now.--qnh

Hi qnh,qnh said:"Simply because someone doesn't agree with you is not a reason to call them a liar"Thanks for your advice, but I did not call him a liar, and your accusation is unfounded in FACT, and you should retract it.Perhaps you need to read what I wrote again.As to the rest of what you wrote. I am not here to please you, so I could really give a rip if you don't like my style.Maybe you found no fault in what someoen else wrote, but that does not diminish my desire to also write my opinion, whether you agree or not.So why can someone blame us for these CTD's, but we cannot blame MS?Hmmmm.....Regards,Joehttp://aboutpolitics.net/images/bannerav.gif.About Politics.net - FORUMShttp://pub162.ezboard.com/baboutpolitics.Contribute to the Richard Harvey Scholarship Fund.http://www.avsim.com/pages/scholarship.shtml

Joe,Your use of "allegedly" implies that Jon is liar.Your attitude throughout these forums clearly demonstrates that you are here for Joe and Joe only and damn anybody else.Why this incessant need for blame? Perhaps you should be proving the fault first before throwing blame around.--qnh

Nope, I disagreeBy me using the word Allegedly, I am using it in the proper form. How do I know for a Fact the he has never had a CTD.Actually my use is in its proper form, and again, I state I never used the word Liar, nor ever called him a liar. Have a nice day.Joe

Ahh I love a good forum brawl! Here Here!This whole argument of where the fault lies seems a bit arbitrary at best. Is it MS's fault if it writes code for a specification, and a slight variation in the 3rd party's hardware or driver causes an erratic error? Is it the hardware/driver developer's fault if it doesn't understand MS's specifcation? Then there's the just plain old unknown elements and ambiguities that lead to unanticipated failure. Pretty tough to draw any hard conclusions. FS' code has its flaws, and so do the drivers, hardware, OS, and so on.I will have to say FS2004 does so much it's just incredible, still, after years of simming pleasure. It's a very odd passion though--the outsiders don't know what to make of us!Cheers,Noel

Jeeze,My P4 2.8 laptop just suffered it's first crash to desktop with this scenario! I've been flying all over the place lately with no CTD's period............until now!L.Adamson

I had hoped all the activity on this thread would mean people had tried the fix I suggested and were reporting results, but it seems like just a continuation of verbal sparring. Yeah, Microsoft doesn't care about us--I feel so neglected. Whatever...Anyway, I would suggest to Jon that he (a) insure he has the default MS scenery installed and (:( has terrain texture size set to High and then retry the scenario I mentioned at ENAN. I can almost *guarantee* this will cause a crash and that the fix I mentioned will prevent the crash. I'm just trying to get confirmation for the test case from others and then have people try running with the fix in other areas where they're getting CTDs. In theory any other CTDs are being caused by other reasons and not the seasonal/landclass issue.I'm also almost certain MS knows about this so why keep whining? Whether they choose to fix it is up to them but if we find a reasonable workaround that keeps our birds in the air then that's fine for me for now!