Hi Everyone,

 

This has probably been posted already but I cant find it.

 

I was bought a boxed PMDG 737 NGX for Fathers day but I am having alot of problems getting it to work. I have read lots of topics and been through the PMDG Pdf info etc but need some help please.

 

My system Specs are: Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q9400 @ 2.66Ghz - 4Gb Ram - Nvidia Geforce GTS 240

 

I downloaded Sp1 from PMDG website but it said I already had the most up to date version installed. I have also been on the "*******" website and used their suggested file.

 

My FSX settings are roughly "medium" and I don't normally run out of memory when playing online at HHG. I fly all day and never have a problem.

 

Senario: I select freeflight > PMDG 737NGX House > Try to do the first tutorial flight EGKK to EHAM > Fair weather no wind > Time: 09:00 - Aircraft loads onto runway and "settings" load > After a few moments I see long spikey verticals in the scenery and then I get an error message "Your system is out of memory - reload Fsx" or words to that effect > Fsx crashes to desktop.

 

Hope someone can help.

 

Many thanks

 

Ian

 

 

You don't have enough RAM for FSX+NGX, 6GB would be ok, but 8GB is recommended. CPU and GPU are weak too, but i think you could run it at low settings. But out of memory is becouse of RAM. FSX can use up to 4GB, but you don't have some more for OS and processes

 

 

and then I get an error message "Your system is out of memory - reload Fsx" or words to that effect > Fsx crashes to desktop.

 

Looks like you're using a 32 bit version of Windows. Windows 7 64 bit will cure this problem.

 

The message does not mean you are short of physical memory as B247NG seems to think. I am using 4GB of memory on FSX with the 737NGX and a whole load of scenery add-ons (GEX, UT, UK2000 airports, FTX England) and have been for years and I have never had an out of memory message.

 

What the message actually means is that at the moment of the crash FSX was in need of a memory address space and there wasn't one available. This is because 32 bit operating systems have significantly less memory address space than 64 bit systems.

 

So although it means a total re-install of everything, which I know is an absolute pain, you won't regret moving to Win 7 64 bit.

 

Of course, if my guess is wrong and you're on a 64 bit version already then I have a red face and am stumped!

 

Iain Smith

I thought this was from a lack of space on the hard drive. Like as files are uncompressed the hard drive runs out of space to use them?

Thanks for the advice guys.

 

Just checked the O/S and it is indeed the 32 bit version so I guess I'm stuffed unless I fork out for Windows 7 64 bit!

 

Anyone know where I can obtain a free non trial version ?

 

PS - It really annoys me that when you read through the instruction manual that comes with the boxed version there is no mention of internet based Pdf files or a detailed trouble shooting section. It seems that companies like PMDG assume your a computer nerd and that you can solve any issues yourself! At £47.00 I'd expected a bit more......

It's depends what you want from fsx. If you purchased PMDG, you probaly want realistic flight sim. This can be achieved, but you need some time to study and set FSX. I can give you some advices about this, i have no games installed  

 

 If you want a simulator:

 

 - You need beeter PC and windows 7 / 64bit

 

 - You need to set and tweak windows 7 http://www.tweakhound.com/tweaking-windows-7/

 

 - install FSX and simconnect in correct way: http://www.simforums.com/forums/topic29041.html  (scroll down to "fsx installation")

 

 - google for "Word Not Allowed's Flight Simulation World". This is the best guide for FSX performance, and hardware guide too.

 

If you do this, PM me for more stability tweaks, at anytime

In reply to justinpilotatc's comment above about disk space, my Dell hard drive is 1TB with around 40 - 50% free space.

In reply to justinpilotatc's comment above about disk space, my Dell hard drive is 1TB with around 40 - 50% free space.

 

This is still ok for you to avoid OOM's with W7/32 bit http://www.ntcore.com/4gb_patch.php

 

If you don't have to high settings

Thanks B247NG

 

I have flown online with HHG (user Ian65) for around 5 years now and this is my number 1 passion. Logging 1000's of hours flying VL and job flights over the years in every different type of jet. The time to move on to more advanced and realistic flight simulator aircraft will ultimatley mean spending some money on a new high spec PC. So to answer your question, What I want from FSX is great realism without comprimise (sorry my spelling sucks). 

There is a lot of wrong stuff being posted in this thread.

 

The OOM error happens when FSX runs out of what's called "virtual address space" - not RAM, not hard disk.  VAS is essentially the sum of all the addressable memory everywhere in the system that FSX is using. This includes RAM, but also things like the GPU's memory in use, sound memory in use etc - anything the sim's exe process is using and referencing.

 

FSX is a 32-bit application and as such it is limited to never being able to access more than 4GB of virtual address space. This comes mathematically out of what "32-bit" means. You have two possible bits, 1 or 0, and these two possibilities get raised to the 32nd power, which equals 4GB. If FSX tries to go over this limit weird things start happening, it crashes, or both. There is no way to ever "fix" this issue short of someone getting the FSX source code and compiling a 64-bit version of the exe.

 

Now - there are some things that you can do to minimize the chance that you're going to get an OOM:

 

- Run Windows 7 64-bit. The benefit here is that the entire OS is not limited to 4GB of total usage the way that 32-bit Windows is. When you run FSX on 32-bit Windows, you're never getting that maximum 4GB of contiguous  VAS because the OS and other running programs necessarily have to also fit within that same 4GB. With the 64-bit versions, the overall limit is much higher and FSX can get the maximum 4GB all to itself because the OS and other processes aren't taking up that space.

 

- Don't run massive texture sizes for things like clouds, ground textures etc just because you can. Use the lowest resolution that still looks good to you. If you set absolutely everything in the sim to 4096 or whatever high value then you're increasing the memory load on your GPU, which increases VAS usage. The same goes for things like antialiasing settings - a lot of people like to run extremely high modes involving SGSS and all of that, but again - doing that causes the GPU memory usage to skyrocket and in turn so does the VAS usage.

 

- Don't use tweaks like increasing FSX's LOD radius setting - this massively increases the VAS footprint because the sim starts rendering things in high detail much further out into the distance.

 

- Ultimately, you may have to make tradeoffs. Flying a complex airliner addon like the NGX while also having tons of AI traffic, hugely detailed scenery below that's more suited to VFR flying in a less complicated GA aircraft, hugely detailed airport sceneries, realistic weather addons etc all going on at once may not be possible within the 4GB limit. You have to choose the most important things to you and emphasize those rather than trying to max out absolutely everything.

Talking of making tradeoffs:

 

You can define separate graphics settings within FSX called 'profiles'. So why not define

 

- an 'airliner profile'

- plus a 'VFR profile'

- plus, maybe, one or two more (I use four different profiles myself)?

 

These profiles can even be changed 'on the fly' which allows to fly out of light, default scenery into heavy, addon scenery (or the other way around) with the optimum settings (profile) for every portion of your flights.

Thanks for the lengthy advice TABS I really appreciate your explanation and am very surprised and pleased that someone from PMDG has actually spent the time to advise on this thread.

 

That said, it seems that there is an endless combination of variables to getting the most from FSX in conjunction with PMDG 737 NGX if you have a mid to low end PC.

 

I forgot to mention in my initial "PC Spec" that my O/S is actually Windows VISTA 32 Bit, not Windows 7.

 

I don't have much in the way of addons: FS Global 2008 and UK VFR Scenery. Maybe 6 addon aircraft downloads and that's about it. 

 

I would define my FSX settings as Medium and never had a problem with those settings before. These days I spend all of my flying time online at Hippy Happy Germany (HHG) via their dedicated ip server. This has its own FSX settings within HHG's server which I have never had a problem with in 5 years.

 

So, what do you recommend ? Should I just invest in a fresh Windows 7 64Bit O/S using my current PC and see if this resolves my issues ? Obviously I would love to just go out and spend £1,000 plus on a new PC but feel that this would be a very expensive way to fly one particular addon.

 

Best regards,

 

Ian

I find that weird. I use the PMDG 737NGX commonly and if you want to check out my system specs it is right under my profile...

 

I only have 2GB ram and processor of 2.33GHz and a GPU with 256MB memory, and have yet to experience an OOM in flight with the aircraft.

I find that weird. I use the PMDG 737NGX commonly and if you want to check out my system specs it is right under my profile...

 

I only have 2GB ram and processor of 2.33GHz and a GPU with 256MB memory, and have yet to experience an OOM in flight with the aircraft.

Seems barely adequite, but I guess it could work with no addon scenery, weather, and the texture/lod/autogen sliders turned down a fair way.

 

People just need to learn to not 'max out' all the stuff and play to their computer's or FSX's limitations.