what does "fs9.exe set-to large address aware and the boot.ini 3Gb patch in place" mean?

 

Setting the FS9.exe to be large address aware is done with a free utility called "Explorer Suite" (for one). Basically, it expands the amount of memory FS9 is allowed to use. The boot.ini patch involves a text edit of the OS boot.ini file that instructs or informs a 32 bit system that there is more than 2Gb of ram to use. Please pay special attention to what follows. If you do not have more than 2Gb of RAM these changes are useless or possibly harmful. For Windows 7 32 bit, I am not familiar with how to go about changing the boot.ini. You can search here on AVSIM on those topics and find all you will need. I would strongly urge you to postpone doing any of those changes until the current problem(s) is resolved. What I am saying is that if you went ahead with those changes, at this point, and there were any problems, then you would be adding those to the one you already have and make things more difficult to fix.

 

Please, for my sake, describe again exactly what happens when the CPU goes to 100%. Does FS9 just freeze up the entire system to the point where nothing works? For example; Your mouse won't work, you can't minimize FS9 and you have to reboot to regain control of your PC or you still have control of you PC except FS9 or that you still have control of your PC and FS9 but it is suffering from such low frame rate that it is unusable. The reason I'm asking again is to make sure we determine that this is a FS9 problem and not something outside of FS9 - system related - combined with FS9.

 

There is a free ware utility called "Procmon" which works with Windows XP  and it appears that it will work in W7. If you would care to download and install that, it is capable of telling you exactly what is going on within you system and FS9 in real time and may point to what the problem is. ( It is a very small program, 2.76Mb and only runs when you execute it. )

 

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

 

 

Regards,

Mel

The crash at UZ2 near FABL reminds me of some issues I had with two sceneries (Virtualcol SKCM - part of Colombia Virtual - and Anthony Miller's SEQU). In the former, I found that there were orphan parking spots, i.e., not connected to any taxiway. Easily fixed using AFCAD/ADE.

 

With the latter, the fix was a little bit more complicated: I had to decompile the BGLs and I noticed there was one that, apart from adding scenery objects, had some AFCAD information. The problem is that there was already an AFCAD file. I had to remove the airfield description lines and recompile.

 

Well, those were my $0.02, hope this helps.

 

 

The crash at UZ2 near FABL reminds me of some issues I had with two sceneries

 

Hi Luis,

Did the issues with the airport files as you described cause a spike in CPU usage? What kind of crash did you experience? Knowing these things might help make a definite connection to Steve's problem or at least serve for future reference. Thanks.

 

Best regards,

Mel

Hi Mel,

I will do what both you and Harald have suggested. please forgive my ignorance, but what does "fs9.exe set-to large address aware and the boot.ini 3Gb patch in place" mean? as for FABL....yes it is part of the add-on scenery. I have the whole of South Africa add-on via Aeroworx scenery plus mesh, however this has always worked with no problem. I would gladly use a pay ware scenery add-on for SA if one could get one for fs9. I know NMG trading has a fair one for FSX. the problem is that they have stopped production of the fs9 scenery to which they now make some of the airports available for free download, but what is the use when it wont work with the Aeroworx mesh, and lets face it the generic mesh with fs9 sucks. pity that other well known commercial scenery developers have not bothered to do a SA package. I'm sure it would sell well here as the SA flight Sim community is quite large.

 

Best, Steve

 

Danke! yes when you work with Germans (no disrespect) you have to develop a good one ;-)

 

Best,

Steve

 

Hi again Steve,

 

Have you ever considered upgrade to Windows 7 64bit? In some cases you don't need to pay for upgrade, depending on your purchasing metod.

 

That would fix memory problems with 32bit limits.

Here you can find some info, if you are interested: 

 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778(v=vs.85).aspx#memory_limits

 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778(v=vs.85).aspx

 

On Windows 7 64bit you don't need to tweak memory, to change paging etc, it's not recommended in fact. W7 64bit knows how to take care of memory usage

The only thing you need to change is fs9.exe - to become "large address aware", and you need 5min for this.

 

About high CPU usage, have you checked windows media player network sharing services? It's known issue. Click on start, type "services" and open the program. You will see a list of services. Search for "windows media player network sharing service",  right click on service and select "properties" - stop it and in "startup type" select "disabled".  

Here is the list of services that should be disabled, too: http://www.simforums.com/forums/topic34141_post201316.html#201316

 

I suggest you to folow configuration guides in links i provided in my first post in this thread(where applies, one is for 64bit windows). This link with services is from there too. And guides are wroted to prevent all known issues with flightsims(fs9 and fsx).

 

Regards

 

Zeljko

mebull, on 11 Apr 2013 - 01:07 AM, said:

Setting the FS9.exe to be large address aware is done with a free utility called "Explorer Suite" (for one). Basically, it expands the amount of memory FS9 is allowed to use. The boot.ini patch involves a text edit of the OS boot.ini file that instructs or informs a 32 bit system that there is more than 2Gb of ram to use. Please pay special attention to what follows. If you do not have more than 2Gb of RAM these changes are useless or possibly harmful. For Windows 7 32 bit, I am not familiar with how to go about changing the boot.ini. You can search here on AVSIM on those topics and find all you will need. I would strongly urge you to postpone doing any of those changes until the current problem(s) is resolved. What I am saying is that if you went ahead with those changes, at this point, and there were any problems, then you would be adding those to the one you already have and make things more difficult to fix.

 

Please, for my sake, describe again exactly what happens when the CPU goes to 100%. Does FS9 just freeze up the entire system to the point where nothing works? For example; Your mouse won't work, you can't minimize FS9 and you have to reboot to regain control of your PC or you still have control of you PC except FS9 or that you still have control of your PC and FS9 but it is suffering from such low frame rate that it is unusable. The reason I'm asking again is to make sure we determine that this is a FS9 problem and not something outside of FS9 - system related - combined with FS9.

 

There is a free ware utility called "Procmon" which works with Windows XP and it appears that it will work in W7. If you would care to download and install that, it is capable of telling you exactly what is going on within you system and FS9 in real time and may point to what the problem is. ( It is a very small program, 2.76Mb and only runs when you execute it. )

 

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

 

 

Regards,

Mel

Hi Mel

 

what happens is that once the cpu hits 100% (I have also noted that my memory usage is not high at this point) the flight Sim freezes, I do have sound but I think that is just a loop of the last sound of the engines prior to freezing. I have left is like that for maybe 30 minutes or so but it wont unfreeze and the cpu will not go below 100%. you are correct in saying that everything freezes. my mouse once moved will only see reaction on the cursor maybe 30 seconds or so later. I have tried to close the applications this way but cant. once I have fs minimized to desktop my cpu usage goes down to about 98% but then goes up again. Sort of fluctuates. inevitably I have to push the dreaded restart button so as to reboot. I hope this info helps you somewhat. I will download Procom as suggested and I will also try the other suggestions like disabling AI, fly with the default aircraft on the same route etc.....

 

Cheers

Steve

Hi Steve,

Keep us posted on what you observe.

 

Mel

mebull, on 14 Apr 2013 - 05:15 AM, said:

Hi Steve,

Keep us posted on what you observe.

 

Mel

Hi there all.

 

ok, during the week-end I did a lot of testing and this is what I have:

I disabled the media player sharing. disabled the AI traffic. Disables my AV. took the default fs9 B737-400 used the same flight plan from FACT to FAJS via the UZ2 jet way (the same one that freezes my PC) same scenery. same radio frequency's. no Akars.I did not run in full screen mode as I usually do, so I had the Sim 2/3rds the size of my monitor (20'Samsung LED)with task manager running to monitor my CPU and memory usage. All went ok. the CPU usage fluctuated between 52% and 64%. when on final to RNW 03R the CPU increased to 74%but not for long and went back to 62% when landed.

 

the next test was pretty much the same only with the PMDG 737-800 on the active RNW at PAFA as suggested with all systems running (no AI, AV, Akars etc.)I left it there for about 30 minutes or so. no problems. I then took of and headed out at 120 Degrees at FL 350. I got 54% to 61% pretty much all the way. I flew until my fuel (which was full at start up) was almost at reserves. no problem. then I enabled my AI to 100% and I only got an increase to 71% fluctuating from 61%. I flew this for a while until I decided to try the next test.

 

next test was PMDG 737-800 no AV, AI Akars etc. loaded the flight plan from FACT to FAJS. (this time in full screen mode) I was taxing to the take of runway and the system froze. a mere 20 minutes into the Sim.

 

The next test was exactly the same only this time not in full screen mode and with task manager running. this time I had a successful flight all the way. again CPU fluctuated between 52% and 67%. almost to the end of my decent, not too far from the approach I enabled the AI to 50% with only a small increase of CPU usage to around 74%.

 

Next I flew a filed plan with My Akars on, not in full screen with task manager running and no AI and AV. I had a successful flight.

 

I will try again not in full screen, AI on, Akars on, AV off, task manager on. and see what happens.

 

I ran out of valuable week-end time to do the whole test.

from what I can see it seems as though the full screen mode is the issue, however surely running in non-full screen with desktop and task manager in background will demand more CPU processing?

 

Best Steve

 

 

I ran out of valuable week-end time to do the whole test.

 

Hi Steve, a quick question, . . . . what graphics card and driver are you running? Good report by the way. I'm going away for a few hours and when I return I will reread your post more closely and see what I can come up with.

 

 

 

however surely running in non-full screen with desktop and task manager in background will demand more CPU processing?

 

Not necessarily.

 

Best regards,

Mel

Hi Steve, a quick question, . . . . what graphics card and driver are you running? Good report by the way. I'm going away for a few hours and when I return I will reread your post more closely and see what I can come up with.

 

 

 

 

Not necessarily.

 

Best regards,

Mel

Hi Mel

 

I am using the NVidia GeForce GT520 PCI Express, 2GB DDR3.according to PC Wizard my driver is: nvd3dum.dll Ver 9.18.13.1106, description: NVidia WDDM D3D Driver Ver 311.06.

 

I hope this helps.

 

I would install the 64bit but I have already loaded all the 32bit drivers / software etc. and maybe a bit of a hassle reinstalling.

 

Cheers

Steve

I am using the NVidia GeForce GT520 PCI Express, 2GB DDR3.according to PC Wizard my driver is: nvd3dum.dll Ver 9.18.13.1106, description: NVidia WDDM D3D Driver Ver 311.06.

 

Hi Steve, sorry it took so long to get back to you. Thanks for the info. So far it seems that the possible causes are being narrowed some. We can probably remove the PMDG 738 as the cause, although there may still be a contributing factor there. If it were AI related it would be area specific to what flies in the vicinity of the two airports involved and wouldn't manifest itself in the PAFA test anyway. In the one test you mentioned the AI set to 50%, if in fact the problem is AI related, setting the AI to 50% may have caused the problem AI to not be used. What is interesting is that you seem to be able to make your flight successfully in the windowed mode but not full screen. Have you tried the entire FACT to FAJS flight with everything enabled and in the windowed mode and was that successful? So far the most apparent connections I see are; the scenery in that area, graphics card and driver plus your FS9 graphics setting (internal) and tweaked settings (external). The fact that you can get the flight done in windowed mode but seemingly not in full screen tells me that for some reason the slight extra load of full screen is not handled well. That may be caused by the scenery causing a excessive load because of a faulty file or driver and settings that are not properly processing the additional load of the scenery. I'm lazy so instead of rereading everything I'll just ask what your frame rate numbers are under normal conditions and what happens to the frame rates as the CPU usage climbs? I expect the frame rate to drop to near 1 or near that as the CPU starts to struggle, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

 

Have you checked all the scenery in this area for missing alphas and mip maps in the textures? Either of these can cause a increased load on CPU and or GPU?

 

The complete computer freezing and requiring a reboot would also point to CPU / GPU problems (obviously), but should be regarded as a symptom not the actual problem.

 

Let us know what you observe and we will continue from there.

 

Regards,

Mel

 

PS I know you were hoping for a fast answer and a quick fix. I wish it were so.

Hi Steve, hi Mel,

 

I wish I could help you a little bit investigating the culprit for your freezes, but when it comes to hardware and/or driver related issues, this goes far above my knowledges. I never heard about one of these "common" FS2004-immanent faults manifesting only in full screen mode.

 

Good luck!

Harald

That is the interesting piece of the puzzle isn't it. The only difference in windowed and full screen as far as performance is concerned -- that I am currently aware of -- is that I have read somewhere that anti aliasing does not work the same (or not at all?) in the windowed mode. That would mean a smaller workload if that is correct. That is what led to my thoughts on the graphics card, driver and settings and a possible relationship to the scenery textures being in the proper format.

 

 

 

never heard about one of these "common" FS2004-immanent faults manifesting only in full screen mode.

 

I agree, this is a new thing to me also.

 

Best regards,

Mel