So I Got Tired of CTD's

[FSMuseum 39]

Since about mid may I have been having numerous CTD's with FS9, and I always thought, because of the nature of the problem, it might have been AI traffic related, but I was left with no way of knowing how to fix it if it WAS an AI texture issue or something. So I went into the Windows Error Log and, with a little bit of knowledge of the assoicated DLLs and Exception Codes, went on a search for the issue. I found more than what I bargained for.

A list of what I found (Faulting DLL and its corresponding exception code)

DLL: InstantSceneryFS9.dll
EC : 0xc0000005

 

This is a module I installed for my scenery building, but it appears, based on the exception code (0xc0000005 I believe means the program can't find a file it is looking for and crashes) I must be missing a file for it somewhere.

DLL: MFC70.dll
EC : 0xc0000005

 

I'm not sure what this DLL is, but it must also be missing a file it was looking for.

DLL: TERRAIN.dll
EC : 0xc0000005

 

IIRC, this crash is likely because of a missing file, a faulty scenery install, or my sliders being too high.

DLL: G2D.dll
EC: 0xc0000005

 

This module I believe controls 2D graphis (i.e. panels) but it too appears to be missing files or information.

DLL: Weather.dll
EC : 0xc0000005

 

I'm not entirely sure what this DLL does but I believe it helps to integrate programmed weather into the sim. It too is missing a needed file.

DLL: FE.dll
EC : 0xc0000005

 

I'm almost positive this file controls, with means that there could be a missing texture or something with an aircraft.

 

DLL: ATC.dll
EC : 0xc0000005

I honestly have no clue what this one could be missing other than maybe a voicepack or sound .wavs because it controls main game dialogue calls.

 

DLL: bglman.dll
EC : 0xc0000005
 

I know this DLL is part of FlightBeam and FSDT, controlling the Addon Manager. Must be missing something.

DLL: KERNALBASE.dll
EC : 0xe06d7363

This DLL isn't part of FS2004 at all, but it is listed as the faulting file for fs9.exe, and I also have no idea what the exception code means.

DLL: unknown
EC : 0xc0000096

Like you, I have no idea either, but could someone possibly know what the Exception code means?

DLL: ntdll.dll
EC : 0xc0000005

 

I don't have much to say here that I haven't said before, I just don't know the DLL and the EC points to missing information.

DLL: fs9.exe
EC : 0xc0000005

I was surprised to see this, as it most likely means the executable itself is missig information.

DLL: VISUALFX.dll
EC : 0xc0000005

Self-explanatory.

DLL: vasfmcgau.gau
EC : 0xc0000005

I once tried Project Airbus' A380 with VASFMC 2.1 and it worked fine months ago. Recently, I tried it again and the module crashed when I tried fuel calculation, freezing the module entirely and eventually causing FS9 to crash.

That's really it. I don't have a lot of knowledge on this subject so I was wondering if there was anyone out there who did and who could help me. My worst fear right now is a complete re-install of FS9 because I have HUGE amounts of effort put into my AI traffic and sceneries and such.

Thanks much for any help,
Chris

[pschlute 37]

First things to rule out are AI aircraft and scenery/AFCADS.

 

The first thing you need to do is to establish a flight where at a specific location, on a specific day, at a specific time, the sim will crash.

 

Once you are able to repeat the crash you can start troubleshooting.

 

First by turning AI off with the traffic slider, and trying to repeat the crash.

 

then by disabling scenery in the scenery library.

 

So start by establishing when the crash occurs and report back.

 

Peter

[FSMuseum 39]

Thanks much for this Peter, will do. I'm very determined to get to the bottom of all this mess.

[WingZ 547]

I see bglman.dll in your list.

That...*thing* has tempted me to weep in my hands in frustration in the past.

I had a legacy Cloud9 Phantom installation, and subsequently tried the FSDT KLAX demo.

When I uninstalled it, the Phantom was gone, too.

There followed a long and arduous tiptoe involving forums, threats and despair.

 

I stopped short of reformatting my HDD, but that's about all.

 

Turned out to be all about bglman.dll

[ronzie 21]

EC : 0xc0000005 means something was accessing a protected part of system RAM. This is a quite common type of error.

 

Does it happen with a default aircraft, ai turned down, no other apps running?

 

Do you recall what you changed in May to cause this? Since multiple modules are showing this error, something is corrupting the RAM allocated to FS and its modules.

 

You RAM capacity is plenty however FS9 is a 32 bit application and only 2GB gets allocated for FS9 and its modules, models, scenery rendering, etc. Is this happening with FSX as well? Do you have the FS9.1 patch installed?

 

When you get the crash do you get an error dialog box that you can click details on?

 

Is your fsuipc up to date? http://forum.simflight.com/topic/66139-updated-modules/ .

 

There is an error in FS9 that supposed to be corrected with the 9.1 patch involving a repeated frequency on a frequency change with com 1.

 

Another error is if you have duplicate afcads (afd type files of AFX, AF2, ADE, or custom designed) where the airport center reference is not equal among them.

 

Folders containing afd type files and LC files alone should have a scenery folder but no empty texture folder.

 

Now, FS loads all of it .dlls in the module folder where you are running an add-on that uses it or not. When you are not running Instant Scenery rename its .dll to .dlh to disable it. Same with any other in the modules folder that is not being used during basic flying.

 

Did you add a traffic app that installs its own afcads?

[mebull 27]

 

 

A list of what I found (Faulting DLL and its corresponding exception code)

 

Not all of those .dlls are actually 'faulting' at the same time. They are simply listed because they were part of the thread or chain of processes that were running at the time of the CTD. The actual faulting module is listed before you see this list if memory serves me correctly.

 

http://www.adventure-unlimited.org/faultfinding.php#fe

 

Will provide you with some insight and perhaps help point you in the correct direction.

 

Regards,

Mel

[FSMuseum 39]

EC : 0xc0000005 means something was accessing a protected part of system RAM. This is a quite common type of error.

 

Does it happen with a default aircraft, ai turned down, no other apps running?

 

Do you recall what you changed in May to cause this? Since multiple modules are showing this error, something is corrupting the RAM allocated to FS and its modules.

 

You RAM capacity is plenty however FS9 is a 32 bit application and only 2GB gets allocated for FS9 and its modules, models, scenery rendering, etc. Is this happening with FSX as well? Do you have the FS9.1 patch installed?

 

When you get the crash do you get an error dialog box that you can click details on?

 

Is your fsuipc up to date? http://forum.simflight.com/topic/66139-updated-modules/ .

 

There is an error in FS9 that supposed to be corrected with the 9.1 patch involving a repeated frequency on a frequency change with com 1.

 

Another error is if you have duplicate afcads (afd type files of AFX, AF2, ADE, or custom designed) where the airport center reference is not equal among them.

 

Folders containing afd type files and LC files alone should have a scenery folder but no empty texture folder.

 

Now, FS loads all of it .dlls in the module folder where you are running an add-on that uses it or not. When you are not running Instant Scenery rename its .dll to .dlh to disable it. Same with any other in the modules folder that is not being used during basic flying.

 

Did you add a traffic app that installs its own afcads?

 

Impressive list there, some interesting things to say.

 

No, I do not recall doing anything in may at all save for my own scenery (KBOS 1959) Being added to the library.

 

I have used a certain program to allocate more RAM to FS9 (4GB now usable), and have since not had any errors, but I haven't done a huge lot of testing yet, and yes I have FS9.1 installed.

 

No, I do not get a dialog box, and FSUIPC is up to date.

 

I have check numerous times for duplicate AFCADs and found nothing so far.

 

And finally, no, I have no traffic app installing AFCADs.

 

I will try the InstantScenery.dll thing there.

 

 

 

Not all of those .dlls are actually 'faulting' at the same time. They are simply listed because they were part of the thread or chain of processes that were running at the time of the CTD. The actual faulting module is listed before you see this list if memory serves me correctly.

 

http://www.adventure-unlimited.org/faultfinding.php#fe

 

Will provide you with some insight and perhaps help point you in the correct direction.

 

Regards,

Mel

Thanks, I will look into this.

 

 

 

I see bglman.dll in your list.

That...*thing* has tempted me to weep in my hands in frustration in the past.

I had a legacy Cloud9 Phantom installation, and subsequently tried the FSDT KLAX demo.

When I uninstalled it, the Phantom was gone, too.

There followed a long and arduous tiptoe involving forums, threats and despair.

 

I stopped short of reformatting my HDD, but that's about all.

 

Turned out to be all about bglman.dll

I haven't had any known issues with it, not until I spotted that name in the error logs.

[ronzie 21]

The only patch I am aware of regarding FS9 memory allocation is a utility that modifies the FS9.exe file header section to make the app aware of large RAM access capability, and that was 3 GB. I had a problem so I turned it off. I am sure it was my older desktop BIOS causing that problem. (Since I am on Win XP I also had to modify its boot.ini file.) That, however, should not be a problem with your Win 7 setup.

[martinlest2 58]

Hi Chris. You really need to do what Peter suggested in the first reply above. It is quite possible that the dll list is a red herring. When I get a CTD the fault is almost always a problem bgl file (like 99% of the time). Next time you get a CTD go back to the same spot and see if you get it again (save the flight just before the CTD and keep reloading it, replacing the plane for the default Cessna when you save the flight, if you are in a PMDG 747 or whatever! I have AutoSave running all the time, so it is easy to go back to a flight that crashed to desktop just before it happened). If you keep getting the CTD at about the same spot, then I would say it's almost definitely due to a bgl file. In order to find the culprit I normally edit the scenery.cfg file in a text editor (backing it up first, needless to say) and then cut out all the sceneries in the geographical area of the CTD - my scenery library entries are ordered geographically, more or less, so that's easy - save it, and reload my saved flight. At some stage you will remove the folder that contains the problem bgl and the CTD will no longer occur. When you find which it is, then, having restored your full scenery.cfg file, you start moving batches of bgl files out of the scenery folder into a temp folder until you can pinpoint the one that is the problem. It sometimes happens that the bgl file is, oddly, part of a scenery half-way around the world, but usually it's something local.

 

I guess you know all that already.. It is obviously a bit time-consuming, but I can honestly say that I fix 99% of all my CTDs like this (and with some 1300 entries in my scenery.cfg, I do get them every now and again, the setup being so complicated and 'clashes' occurring from time to time). I don't think that any of my CTDs in 12 years of FS2002/2004/FSX have ever been hardware or even dll related. My Error log has sometimes shown dll files as at fault, but as I say, I think that that is mostly misleading.

 

Well, your setup may be so different from mine that the above is not true for you, but I doubt it somehow. Good luck anyway!

 

Martin