I am using Windows XP Home, but are having a ton CTDs as many are. I am thinking seriously about reinstalling my whole OS system and wonder that I should isolate FS9 by itself for the obvious good reasons of enhanced performance and reduced outside software interference. Because I have other softwares that demand XP as thier OS, I am thinking about reverting FS9 all by itself to a separate Windows ME volume as it is the only full copy of an OS different from XP that i possess. I used to run FS2002 on ME and don't recall major problems but it has been a long while. MY QUESTION IS: How is FS9 running on Windows ME nowadays? Love to hear from any using Windows ME + FS9 !!!Cheers!!Randy Jura, KPDX

I still use it. It's okay I guess, don't get any CTD's but it does lag and pause occasionally as its slow to load sceneries etc. You will notice a degradation in the fluidity of the sim and I'd say you'll lose a couple of frames as well. That said it's been reasonably reliable for me, although it won't run the PMDG 800/900. Am planning on upgrading to XP myself funny enough! ;) Best RegardsBoone,[email protected]"Flying a plane is no different from riding a bicycle. It's just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes."

I'm running Fs9 on Windows ME. The only CTD experience has been with some addon airplanes or scenery. Removing the addon stops the CTD. It is best to add only one item at a time and test it. Will only switch to XP when it comes factory installed on my next computer.Frenchy -- out.

I recommend finding out what is causing the CTDs under WinXP. FS2004 is working properly without CTDs on many computers with WinXP.Some items to consider. Did you install WinXP on your computer that originally had WinME? If so, did you install the WinXP version of the MOBO Controller Chip drivers, i.e., Intel, VIA, SiS, AMD, ALi, NForce? Do you have WinXP SP1 and pre-SP2 updates installed? Do you have DirectX ver 9.0b installed?What are the specifications of your computer, RAM, HD size and available freespace, CPU speed, Video Card, Sound, etc.W. Sieffert

Oh no! WinXP is miles ahead of WinME. If you have the correct drivers installed and all the updates, XP is simply the best, and most stable OS out there.

My personal opinion is no, do not go back to ME, I had a friend do this and he regrets it. I work on PC's for a living and I find that XP is the most stable OS yet by Microsoft for running FS. Yes there can be problems but they can be worked out. As someone else asked above, please provide some information about your PC and maybe we can figure out what is causing your problems. Don't give up yet!Philip Olsonhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/supporter.jpg

NO! Run! Save yourself from ME! Not me, but Windows ME. I had a horrible time with it under FS2002 and I'll never go back. The advantages of XP over and above all the other OS's far outweigh the problems with CTDs. Most of them have been explored and solved up to this point. But please, please, don't torture yourself with ME!

>XP is simply>the best, and most stable OS out there. The best part can be debated, but I garuntee that the most stable part of your statement simply is not true. If you take a look at any UNIX/Linux based OS out there, you will find out that XP has nothing on them in terms of stability.If you qualify your statement with 'most stable windows OS out there', then I would have to agree.Anyway, to answer the original question: Stay away from ME.

Well alright, you all convinced me not to revert to WinME! So.... I have Windows XP Home, P4/3.06 chip on an Intel Board (chipset drivers are Intel's and up to date), GEForceTi4600 running 50.XX series drivers and 1 gGZ of memory. The memory is a bit worrisome in that it is generic, but my XP installation is now 13 mos. old and never been a problem for all this time. FS9 is installed on a separate disc by itself, other than what must be installed on the boot drive of course. My CTDs now occur once every 5 hours of flight now and have involved mostly: sim1.dll, weather.dll and rarely and not recently g2d but more recently just fs9.exe by itself. They have occurred randomly with regards to geographical location and until yesterday never at night or over water. 100% of my flights are over US Mainland. And yes I run a plethora of addons: Ultimate Traffic and their AFCADs, FSUIPC 3.22, Georenders 1 and 3 from Lago (but have never CTD'd near their scenery), Eaglesoft's FBO addon scenery (just simple hanger/FBO office at a dozen or so airfields). I use PMDG, Eaglesoft, Posky, PSS, and WilcoPub addon aircraft primarily. What I have tried so far for weeks: The famous German based texture and terrain.cfg fix, the masklandclass fix as well. These seemed to work for awhile from January 2004 for a month or two, then seemed to fail. I have changed the fs9.cfg in texture handling but don't remember which exactly which items. That's all I can recall for now. I am willing to do a complete reinstall of FS9 if needed and would prefer not to, but could reinstall Windows XP as well if that's what it takes. Thanks to all of you for helping. This is indeed an irksome problem, but part of the hobby I guess!Randy Jura, KPDX

For about three months ( August - October 2003)I had FS9 running on both ME and XP . The PC was set up for dual boot with a copy of FS9 on each OS.In addition I still had FS2002 in the ME OS.In general FS9 ran well on both ME and XP.However, tho the actual frame rates didn't vary much between the 2 OS , the general performance of FS9 was definately better overall on XP. As updated Nvidia drivers became available I noticed the XP performance gradually increased whilst ME did not.I guess I'm lucky in that I haven't suffered from CTDs at all except for an incident a few months ago with the rogue replacement Railroad textures( easily remedied - just uninstalled them) so can't comment about stability of the system with specific reference to FS9- but I will say that ,as far as general use is concerned XP is far far more stable than ME/98/98SE/95.I'd stay with XP and find out what is causing your problems - be it software or possibly hardware( Voltages? Temperatures? etc).Dave

Well - you do have a lot of addons-maybe somewhere there is the cause.A suggestion- Change the name of your FS9 Folder to ****( Whatever you like) Do the same with the FS9 folder in Docs and Setting. Then make a fresh install of FS9 and see how a basic copy runs.(You can easily go back to your original copy by just renaming both FS9 Folders.)If a basic copy runs OK - and I'll bet it dfoes- then gradually install the addons - one at a time .Keep an Install log.See just how far you get before the problems start.Dave

Does the PC also crash when running other games?It could be hardware-related, such as a memory problem, a power supply related problem, or heat related or such. Sometimes those problems only manifest themselves after hours of heavy computer use. It could also be a driver or FS related issue.Go to http://www.futuremark.com/download/?3dmark2001.shtml and download the free version of 3DMark 2001 (not 3DMark '03 since it mostly stresses the videocard, not the entire system). Configure it to run games 1-3, infinite number of loops and then leave the program to run the benchmark loops overnight. See if it's still running when you return in the morning or if it has crashed/rebooted. Also try the "Stress Test" included in Prime 95 and run it for about 6 hours and see if it crashes or reports any errors. You can find the program on many hardware-related sites. Here for example: http://www.tech-mods.net/download.php?op=v...ttitle=Prime_95 If there is a problem with the CPU or RAM, Prime95 usually catches it within a minute but if it can crunch along for 6 hours straight you know that your system is 100% stable hardware-wise.I use these two programs to test new systems and overclocks for stability.If your system passes the stress-tests, we can assume it's a software/driver-related issue or a problem with FS itself. In that case you will either have to dentify and fix the problem or in the worst case, do a complete reformat and reinstall of the OS and FS. In that case, I recommend you stick with XP. It's inherently more stable than WinME which is basically Win98 with a bunch of extra features.

What JimmieG said.I'd rule out the problem being hardware related first, then start hunting down software issues as being the source of the crashes.Greg

ba747heavy-Totally disagree with you- A clean install of XP with the proper drivers is easily as stable, if not more than most hacked together linux builds. An NT based system will sit there and run SQL Server just as well as a linux box running MySQL. I've seen NT and 2000 servers run for years without being rebooted. I've seen HP UNIX systems that crashed constantly. Totally depends on what you do with the box. XP itself is excellent.As far as best, yes that is debatable, but it would be a long uphill battle to prove something is "better". Better is an arbitrary term- personally I think the best OS is the easiest to setup, comes with most useful stuff, and runs all the games and programs I want to play with. Aside from Apache Web server, Linux just doesn't have very much to offer. The MAC OS's are cool but there just isn't enough stuff for me (Sorry, but I can't justify spending $3000 for a jukebox).Before you go accusing me of being and MS a really excited user, I'll fully admit they stole Novell NDS and made it active directory. I will not concede they stole anything from Apple (who stole from Xerox in the first place :). I don't love everything MS, but they make my favorite game, and it runs best on their latest OS.

I don't think its your OS. I recently purchased a new, used computer, and completely re-installed the OS, MSFS etc. and am getting as many crashes as I had on my old system. One thing I have found is that occassionaly I get an FSUIPC error message that it has found two instances of the module. I did a search last night for all FSUIPC files on my computer and delted all but the one in the FS modules folder. I did one flight without problems. Can't say beyond that though if this fixes the problems. I hated ME when it was on my old machine. It is not stable, its registries get corrupted easilly and requires a lot of maintenance (re-installs etc.). I really don't think this is your problem and I'm not sure it's worth the pain. Also, many commercial add-on airplanes have real problems with the 98 OS. Hope this helps. Colin