Enough is Enough (for now)

[UAE77L 153]

You aint the only one mate. I've had to uninstall FSX 17 times within a month. FSX suddenly crashes when I make a right click and during final approach to any airport in the world. It's

Damn annoying!!! :mad:

 

Honestly I'd pay upto a £1000 for a new sim platform which is stable, takes advantage of every core available, 64bit, etc....

[Simmer2050 28]

Dont install FSX anymore, for your next iteration, install P3D its more stable.

 

Also try to avoid addons that have local effect as opposed to global effect, example airports complicate matters etc, but global scenery ok.

 

 

P3D is the answer, its not as stable as MsWord, but does not crash as much as fsx.

 

Addons are definatly the big issue though PFE taxi gauge still crashes my P3D, but only when i am exirting.

 

And if word on P3D 2.0 is true, then we look forward to a much improved sim solution.

 

P3d and less addons

All move to P3D already, last to leave FSx, PS turn the lights out in the forum.

[Guest]

I have a competent PC, but when adding a top notch addon aircraft, to areas like KLAX by FSDT, and Aerosoft US Cities, then it just doesn't hack it.

 

You're going to have to manage your FSX.CFG and your DLL.XML. I keep many backups (before/afters) these files.

 

I also find SysTracer as a MUST HAVE tool see here: http://www.blueproject.ro/systracer

 

This tool will tell you exactly what has changed after you install any software. You can specify what drive/folders to monitor and even what sections of the registry to monitor.

 

I also have another tool called UltraCompare ... which will show me differences within files.

 

FSX is actually amazingly mod friendly ... far more so than ANY other game/sim I have in my collection. I'm amazed it works as well as it does considering it's 32bit limitations. But there is a real limit on how many add-ons one can have running in FSX, the best approach is to determine what you currently want to do and use only those add-ons specific to that.

 

You may also want to try this tool for managing FSX add-ons: http://www.byteforge.com/products/ap_fsx/index.htm I haven't used it myself, but I know some that think very highly of the tool.

 

Don't give up just yet.

[SpiritFlyer 987]

I've just uninstalled every addon and FSX from my hard drive!

 

Phil,

 

Most of us have done that very thing a number of times. I run in the opposite direction but the farther away from FS I go, the stronger the pull back becomes.

 

I figure I have a huge invisible elastic band around my waist, and at some point the pull back exceeds the power forward, and I am snapped back into line.

 

So the question is "When will you reinstall FSX, sooner or later"? Anyway, I'm pretty certain it's not time to say "Goodbye", but "See you soon".

 

Kind regards,

[Dougal 165]

Indeed Stephen - you know me well sir;-)

 

I do need a break from it though - its driving me nuts;-)

[Dougal 165]

Just as Stephen predicted, I couldn't leave it alone, and so started reinstalling FSX and my payware addons, but in a way more closely resembling that as suggested above by most people;-)

 

It's taken days (and nights!) of more or less non stop work and testing. As i've been ill anyway, and not getting much sleep, I just ploughed on for more than 48hrs, stopping only for short periods here and there!

 

Finally, for those interested and those who helped, I have some enlightening information.

 

It seems I've found at least one main culprit of my woes. That is, the addon causing my errors and CTDs. For now though, here's how I reinstalled, and tested everything....

 

Clean Win7 x64 installation and all Windows updates and relevant drivers onto drive C:

 

Clean FSX Acelleration onto a separate drive, followed by a few flights, just to make sure all was well at stock settings. I made NO cfg tweaks at this time.

 

Then came the odd essential utility, like FSUIPC. All my other utility addons, like flight planners etc, are installed on a separate hard drive, or even networked on a client.

 

Next came all my aircraft (payware only) and their relevant updates. All just one at a time, and with flights and PC reboots between each one. Man.... was THAT boring;-)

 

Then I gradually installed my 'global' type addons, such as UTX, GEX, REX and AI Traffic etc. Again, all their updates were also installed, and again with flights and reboots between each one. At this point I ran a defrag using O&O software. I cannot tell a lie - I did get a little sleep at that point;-)

 

FSX ran like a dream in this config. No CTDs, no dll errors, no OOMs. It really was very nice indeed, if perhaps just a little bland. There was no FPS drop whatsoever, until after installing REX Essiantials, than from running stock FSX. So it seems that UTX and GEX have zero impact. At least on my PC. I could run FSX with AI traffic set at 60% and everything else almost maxed, without issues of any kind. Even with addons like the PMDG 737NGX.

Next came the REALLY tedious bit... Installing the individual addon sceneries (payware only). Again, all one at a time, and with all relevant updates installed. Each addon was also followed by a system reboot and a couple of short flights. These were installed in batches of developer, so if a problem appeared and I couldn't isolate it, I'd at least have a vague idea who's scenery it was.

 

FSX was still running well after almost all sceneries installed, and with ZERO issues. The ONLY thing I can say was noticeably different, was the length of time it took to start a flight, compared to the stock installation. Only to be expected though. Even at major hubs, with heavy AI and demanding addon aircraft (NGX and AXE), all I got was the usual 'slide show' with FSX occasionally droping to 9fps. Even so, no CDTs or OOMs etc. All in all - good stuff.

The only addons still not installed thus far, were those of Orbx, which I left until last due to their size.

 

Bingo! After installing Orbx FTX PNW, I got instant problems. Disable it, and the problems go away! Removed and reinstalled it, just to be sure, but 2 issues persist when installed and activated... FSX will *sometimes* crash (CTD) or hang while running, and not necessarily while still inside the PNW area. It does however, always crash on exit with the 'ai_player.dll' error. This is more serious than some might think, as it means that config files are not saved and no FSX 'tidying up' is done. This can cause file corruption, leading to more serious problems.

 

I haven't seen the same issues with any other Orbx scenery I subsequently installed.

 

What a long winded way to say I found my main glitch. I just thought it might help others with ai_player and CTD issues.

[Guest]

Bingo! After installing Orbx FTX PNW, I got instant problems. Disable it, and the problems go away!

 

Wow, you came back quick!

 

This is why I've stayed away from Orbx ... they don't work well with some of my other add-ons ... which is a shame because Orbx have some REALLY good stuff that I'd like to use but would have to give up other products in order to use them. But I recall reading a long thread about conflicts between Orbx and other 3rd party and it got a little ugly at times (lots of finger pointing, access revoking, etc. etc.).

 

That's why I suggested SysTracer, it'll tell you who does what, why, when, and where (including anything stuffed away in the registry)

 

Glad to see you back and I'm sure your experience will help others.

[Dirk98 354]

Dougal, I use Acronis True Image 2013 and extra 2TB HDD space for Incremental backups extensively. You can roll back clean after every major package install. I can not imagine reinstalling my 100GB+ FSX without using incremental backups.

 

Thanks for sharing your findings, I'm in the process of installing everything on my new system and of ORBX I've installed EU England and Lancair only. That's enough now based on what I see in this thread.

 

OOMs are more intimidating though as with the latest add-on planes and airports we are really balancing on the edge of FSX's 4GB VAS limit.

 

Cheers,

Dirk.

[1st fltsimguy 466]

 

Bingo! After installing Orbx FTX PNW, I got instant problems. Disable it, and the problems go away! Removed and reinstalled it, just to be sure, but 2 issues persist when installed and activated... FSX will *sometimes* crash (CTD) or hang while running, and not necessarily while still inside the PNW area. It does however, always crash on exit with the 'ai_player.dll' error. This is more serious than some might think, as it means that config files are not saved and no FSX 'tidying up' is done. This can cause file corruption, leading to more serious problems.

 

 

Sorry don't want to hijack this tread but you make an interesting observation. As you may know there was a huge outpouring over at Orbxland forums about CTDs in the PNW and folks trying to isolate the issue. I personally haven't had any and can't find the problem that many folks were having.

 

However, you have me wondering about "ai_player.dll" , what does this module do? Is it the one that controls is responsible for acting on flightplans for AI planes, boats etc.

[doorstep 46]

A freind of mine bought one of the Solid state hard drives just to use for flightsim. He has his operating system on another drive.

 

He downloaded just the NGX 8-900 and thats all he fly's.

 

His opinion is, you cannot enjoy all aircraft to the full so, enjoy and get used to the one aircraft and then you can fly it professionally because you know everything about it.

The AoA NGX course helps to keep his enjoyment interesting.

 

I think most of us suffer from the pain that, because we bought it we need to use it and have it on our hard drive but, of course, the more you install within flightsim the slower the performance.

 

Food for thought, maybe?

[tf51d 284]

Bingo! After installing Orbx FTX PNW, I got instant problems. Disable it, and the problems go away!

 

I had the same experience with PNW which is why I don't use it anymore! It would also occur in circumstances that would make it appear unrelated, but as you say, disable it and the problems went away, and was consistently repeatable. For instance I would plan a flight from KJFK to KSEA, with the PNW scenery active (Since that was where I was flying too) and FSX would consistently CTD while taxiing at JFK, obviously nowhere near the pnw region. Disable the PNW scenery and I could fly the whole flight without any issues. The ORBX scenery looked great, but the UTUSA/GEX combo isn't that bad either.

[Guest]

 

He downloaded just the NGX 8-900 and thats all he fly's.

 

His opinion is, you cannot enjoy all aircraft to the full so, enjoy and get used to the one aircraft and then you can fly it professionally because you know everything about it.

 

+1

[Dougal 165]

One of the main reasons people with a great amount of addons have problems, isn't because there is a problem with an addon, (although that is possible) but how many and how much address space ones which dlls are loaded via the dll.xml file. These get loaded on FSX start up whether you use them or not. Which is a complete waste of VAS, which of coarse is at a premium, when you are using addon aircraft such as the PMDG NGX. To avoid this add or modify the following line in each optional section of the dll.xml file. Leave the dlls you know are used on every flight alone.

 

ManualLoad>True</ManualLoad>

 

Then when you start FSX it will ask if you want to load each dll. Say no to all but the ones you are using for that particular flight. The only time I have gotten CTDs or OOMs were with PMDG aircraft. Since doing this, I haven't gotten one, and I'm still using Vista 32bit, which limits me even more!!!

 

I found this idea interesting, so had a go. I changed all the entries to: <ManualLoad>True</ManualLoad> appart from what I was using. This meant I answered 'no' to 14 options of whether to load additional DLLs.

 

However, when looking at the difference in 'Process Explorer', with everything equal in both flights, the difference shown for VAS is negligable. Am I missing something here? Just curious really.

 

 

[Benjamin J 751]

I have given up on the idea that I can install all my addons without penalty already months ago. So, I simply do what others already suggested: just install the things you know you are going to use often. For me this means I have only installed the PMDG 737NGX, Aerosoft Airbus X, Level-D 767, Simcheck A300, Leonardo Maddog and PMDG MD-11 in the tubeliner department, and even that is actually too much. For the rest I have various GA aircraft that I fly regularly. This way I have a set of planes that I can use everywhere, at any time, for every type of flight. Additionally, I categorize my planes into regsions where I will use them, as so:

 

PMDG MD-11: USA, doing various cargo flights, or intercontinental KLM/Martinair flights.

Level-D 767: Europe, doing DHL flights, or medium/long-hauls in the USA

PMDG 737NGX: USA and KLM flights around Europe.

Aerosoft Airbus Extended: Basically everywhere except Scandinavia.

Leonardo Maddog: Scandinavia only.

Simcheck A300: DHL flights in and out of the UK and Germany (Leipzig, expecially)

GA aircraft: OrbX-covered terrain only. I spend most of times doing this.

 

As for scenery, I keep out regions that are barely covered (such as Asia), or regions I know just don't interest me that much (such as Australia). The result is I have lots of addon scenery for north and central America and Europe, extending down to the middle east. And of course there is stuff like GEX, UTX and REX.

 

I have found that being really fussy about what gets installed will provide you with the maximum enjoyment and the minimum FSX problems. I haven't had any errors since my last FSX reinstall, which was somewhere in August 2012. I can recommend it to you. And of course, sometimes you get the urge to install that one other plane - why difference would it make? I ask myself one question: how often will I fly it? Will I fly it less than the planes I already have installed? If yes, then I don't install it, however big the urge may be.

[bakayoyo 6]

I have created a series of bat files that I use to replace FSX system files depending on the regions I play and add-ons I want to use (much like OrbX does when swapping regions).

 

This ensure that files like DLL.XML, EXE.XML and Autogen files don't become too bloated and start overloading the memory. Especially the Autogen file Default.XML can easily be inflated and cause clashes by installing multiple add-ons that modify autogen.

 

I track the following files with custom Bat files.

in the windows user directory:

dll.xml

exe.xml

prepar3d.cfg or fsx.cfg

 

in the all user directory:

Scenery.cfg

 

In the autogen directory:

AutogenDescriptions.spd

Roofdescriptions.spd

default.xml

 

In the flightsim root:

terrain.cfg

 

I find that keeping track of these files, backing them up and restoring them for specific situations I can avoid having to reinstall completely.