Help! Bizarre failure of controls and sim hardware in FS2004

[JSACKS 0]

This afternoon, I set up a flight in the Level-D 767 with my trusty rig. I have about 20 CH and GoFlight modules which have been in place for years now and generally they work well. Not today however!

 

After experiencing a series of throttle surges in the 767, I closed the sim in order to re-open it and start again. The moment FS9 started to re-load, I got two windowed error messages I've never seen in all the years I've been simming and using Fs2004. First I got an error message pertaining to FSSound.dll and then an identical one pertaining to SOARrec.dll. They were warning messages. I've had both dll's on my system for years with no trouble at all and made no changes, edits, instals, or whatever to the system for a long time. I was unable to launch the sim normally.

 

To cut a nightmare story short, after 2 hours lof troubleshooting, I discovered that for no apparent reason, the following have happened to my system running FS9:

 

1. The resolution of the sim got chopped from 3840x1024x32 (under my Matrox TH2G device running triple LCDs) to 800x600x32 and got written into the fs9.cfg file.

 

2. My CH yoke, CH rudder pedals and CH throttle quadrant no longer work because all settings have vanished within Fs9. It's as if the sim is brand new and all hardware needs to be installed and assigned.

 

3. None of my numerous GoFlight modules work at all. It's as if they have all been disconnected.

 

4. The slew mode is a disaster and spirals wildly out of control when activated.

 

I have absolutely no idea what has happened or what is going on. I appreciate any posts, thanks.

 

JS

[N60JBravo 27]

Hopefully you have a backup of your FS9.cfg as it sounds like FS has rebuilt the file, which returns all values to default.

 

If you don't have a backup then you are going to have to set up all that hardware again.

 

regards,

Joe

[JSACKS 0]

I'm very sorry to report that I don't have a backup of the cfg file. I stopped backing up the cfg file years ago. I used to do it, but just forgot about it over time. My loss!

 

JS

[JSACKS 0]

Hey, Joe:

 

Your post triggered me to search deeper within fs9.cfg and you must be correct. Something in the earlier FS9 session today caused the cfg file to revert from its current status to the default FS9 status and therefore nothing worked properly for me. I could not understand why everything was in super dumbed down 800x600 mode, single screen, flickering LCDs, defective flight surface controls, weird error messages, etc. It was maddening and a little scary too.

 

I then after more work on the rig found that I DID have a backup of the cfg file although it is over 4 years old. However, I dove into it and my heart leapt as I realized it might have been configured for my myriad hardware. Guess what? It bloody works! The yoke, throttle, GoFlight stuff, it all works! I am sooooo relieved now. I tweaked the old file for some sensitivities and am now flight testing with GA and heavies. It's going quite well. Don't have the sensitivities down optimally, but it's coming along. Mainly, I won't have to spend countless hours and days reconfiguring my entire rig into fs9.cfg. Joy!

 

I had forgotten how critical fs9.cfg was over the years. It's probably the most vital file of the system for somebody like me with my set-up. I have copied and backed up the updated cfg file now. I hope I shan't forget to keep a copy of every update if I instal new stuff.

 

Thanks a mill for your helpful post.

 

JS