Solved an annoying CTD problem

[Apollo13 8]

Dear fellow simmers,Although I have not been a very active forum contributor, I am infected by the FlightSim virus like many of you. For years I have tried to pull off an FSX installation that is stable, smooth, visual appealing and challenging from a pilot’s perspective. Finally I have seem to have it all working with my new computer (I7 2600 overclocked 4,4 GHz), FSX acceleration and many additional software packages including NVIDEA inspector, FSUIPC, FPS limiter, Bojote shade 3.0, Shade, ENB series, AutoStarX, TrackIR, EZCA, 3D Lights Redux, Active Sky Evolution 2012, Contrails, FSGlobal, GEX Europe, UTX Europe, MYtraffic 5.4, TSS Audio Environment, PMDG 737NG and multiple scenery packages (mainly from Aerosoft). Believe it or not it is all working together beautifully and the immersion factor is top (on a 3 screen setup), but it took a long time to get there! For many years I was plagued by CTDs no matter what advice I took (Bojote, UIautomationcore.dll issues etc.) I spend countless hours searching the web, installing and re-installing software and complete FSX installations. Nothing seemed to solve my problems with the fatal exception errors. Honestly, I was getting so desperate that despite considerable financial investments I was ready to give it all up…. Luckily I had a bright moment by contemplating whether something as simple as my joystick driver could be the issue. I have an old combi set of Saitek X45 (joystick and throttle) which I believe is still quite popular amongst simmers for which I had installed the driver provided by Saitek (dated 2007). Bad decision as it turned out! Amazingly, the fatal exception errors which always occurred when I ended a flight by pressing the Escape button and many times when trying to access or click items from the FSX menu bar, have completely disappeared after I rolled back to the generic Saitek driver that comes standard with Windows 7. I searched the web and indeed there are some other reports on this, but not on AVSIM. Therefore, I thought it no more than an obligation to report this to the AVSIM community hoping that some of you may benefit from this observation. After all, I have already been helped and inspired so many times by reading the many posts of you guys on the AVSIM forum. With respect and appreciation, Marco BrunoGorinchemThe Netherlands

[SpiritFlyer 987]

Thank you Marco, that is very kind of you. Perhaps you should also post this in the CTD forum just above this one. Good find!Kind regards,

[Illegitimi non carborundum 4]

MarcoGood find! The latest Saitek driver I have is dated June 2011 and that works fine, so perhaps the 2007 driver had issues with win 7 or one of its components?Thanks for the tip.PeterH

[Apollo13 8]

Thanks for the advice. I will give it a try!best wishes,Marco Bruno

[simmerhead 885]

Thanks for the heads up. The key to a successful FSX setup is patience it seems. Install peripherals and addons one at a time and stress test the system each time something new is added.