I abandoned FSX late last year. I had bought a brand new computer specifically to use for FSX. It's powerful and can easily get it running at a high level of detail and info, the only thing not perfect being that I opted for an ATI graphics card rather than the recommend for FSX NVidia. I followed Nick's bible on set up and looked through Word Not Allowed's tweaks but kept things simple not wanting to create problems. I loaded up my PMDG's (I had all that had been released at that time) and set off to fly around my Orbx and FlyTampa scenery. About a month later following crash after fatal error after reinstall I decided to give up. I was spending more time fixing problems (75% tweaking vs 25% flying according to Pete Dowson sounds about right) than flying.

 

You all know that soul destroying moment when you have spent 30 mins setting up a flight, 15 mins taxiing, getting clearance and then taking off only for FSX to decide to throw a fit and crash. You want to scream.

 

So I gave up. I followed PMDG's FSX uninstall guide, lost my favourite aircraft but ultimately I'd been fighting with FSX for years now, I couldn't stand it any more.

 

So what next? Someone pointed me to X Plane but it just didn't feel quite right - I can't put my finger on why. Someone then suggested I try Prepa3D so I bought an academic license. Booting things up (minus my beloved PMDG's) I found a rejigged FSX. Admittedly I couldn't load from a start screen (which is still an a£&e) and the graphics had been tweaked for the worst I thought - performance seemed better but honestly I don't think it's a beautiful as FSX for some reason. I installed my compatible scenery and some compatible aircraft and started flying again. Actually flying! What was this miracle? How had Lockheed Martin found this stability with the FSX code? It was brilliant and performed really well on my system and I was happy. It didn't crash, not once! Well once but that was during a power cut.

 

Scenery and aircraft have since come out that work with P3D and my system was set up well. But I was missing my PMDG's. The only aircraft (in my opinion) comparable in complexity (which is the type I prefer) has been Majestic's Dash 8. But it won't get me on a long haul flight like PMDG's 747 or MD-11. I have sat quietly pretending it doesn't matter but then the 777 came out. I tried to ignore it and the clamour and videos but it's been impossible.

 

So I took the painful decision last week to buy a new hard drive for a fresh, separate, clean FSX installation specifically for the 777. I bought the 777 too. I vowed to do things right this time. A bare bones set up that couldn't possibly cause me problems. I would add FTX Global and a couple of their regions plus one or two Flight Beam and FlyTampa sceneries. But that would be it. Maybe I'd add the Airbus X (as I had struggled with this in P3D) but that would definitely be it. I followed Nicks guide to the letter. I didn't tweak any of the fsx.cfg other than what he said to do. I didn't bloat it with traffic or other add-ons other than FSUIPC. I wanted the 777 and if all was well there I would slowly add the other PMDG's in time.

 

With graphics set I loaded up FSX. The menu music played, my girlfriend rolled her eyes and I fired up the 777 at New Chitose Airport (not taxing scenery). Amazing! It looked amazing! I went in to set up the controls making sure all worked ok and took off. It worked! And then it didn't. Something went wrong, the controls disconnected (Windows 8 grrr) and I fell from the sky. Except I didn't as before I crashed FSX crashed. Here we go again I thought. My next flight was more successful and I did a hop over Japan. I really loved the 777 and FSX was behaving itself it seemed. The next couple seemed ok too, maybe all would be well.

 

Then something went awry with control settings. Auto throttles didn't work so I followed the forums solutions to make sure FSUiPC didn't calibrate them. That worked. For a while. Then I loaded up FSX without having changed anything since the last shutdown and now the text around the dials in the VC was blurry, Why?! How can FSX do this? Solutions were forthcoming (see my last posts on the support forums) and tweaking the graphics settings with RadeonPro (instead of NVidia Inspector) fixed things. But then FSX suddenly took a dislike to RadeonPro so I searched for a solution which suggested......and so it goes on. I was tweaking again but worse still, FSX was not playing ball again.

 

Finally I gave up tweaking and set up my 777 for a hop across Australia. I left the blurry dials, I just wanted to fly. I programmed the FMC, started her up and taxied out. I lined up, advance throttles and took to the skies. Oops I caused a tail strike but we would ignore that. I was on track and settled back for a 3 hour flight. After reaching cruise I popped downstairs to get a drink (of water!) and that's when I heard the most awful noise. What the hell was that? I rushed back upstairs to find the OOM bing noise on repeated loop (it wasn't an OOM, just the noise) and FSX frozen. Nooooooo! As I reached to salvage something FSX laughed at me (I heard her) and restarted my computer, flight over. I couldn't believe it.

 

So here I am writing on this forum my tale of woe. I love you PMDG but I hate you FSX. Why can't you work for me? Granted I may be doing something basic wrong but I haven't got any more time in my life to try and figure out what it may be. It could be anything! So I'm abandoning a new hard drive, a new 777 and other PMDG's and loading up my P3D. Right now I'm cruising at 25,000ft in my Dash 8 and will be landing soon. I know I will land too. And takeoff the next time and land the next time. Because P3D works. I don't have the FSX crash fear anymore.

 

And that my friends is why I would pay anything to have my PMDG's working in P3D. I understand the EULA stance you've taken and respect your decision not to support P3D. I'm also sure there are some who have FSX flying (pun intended) beautifully with the 777 and to them I say good for you....as I cry into my water glass. None of this is PMDG's fault, it's FSX. It's old and needs updating and we all know that to get it working requires an investment of time and money. But I'm not doing it any more. My PMDG's will remain in storage in my hard disk hangar and that makes me sad. I will even try X Plane when PMDG move there but that is a long way off. So I repeat, that is why I would pay anything to have PMDG in P3D. It probably will never happen but if you do decide to give it a bash, let me know will you? I'll be waiting.

 

Rant over :-)

 

James

I feel your pain, I'm currently so tired of FSX as well, I can't stand it anymore. I'm about to give up as well. I have to study 5 days a week, have another hobby as well (simracing - which I never have any problems with), and I don't have time anymore to spend time to this piece of crap that never works.

FSX has been working great for me - for a while. But just when you think it's perfect, then it stops working properly for you, out of absolutely nowhere. Yesterday for example, I magically lost 15% of my performance everywhere. I have a saved flight as a test scenario, where I'd always get 42 FPS, I now only get 37. Nothing has changed in my system configuration or FSX settings, I've checked litterally everything. BIOS settings, FSX settings, new fsx.CFG, uninstalling certain add-ons, registry scan and clean, virus scan... I just don't know it anymore now. As usual everything else works great. But FSX, nope. The only thing left for me to do is doing a defrag, but that shouldn't increase my performance. 

Anyway, I know I'm going to spend all weekend - once again - trying to solve my problem. If I can't get back to where my performance used to be, I will give up on FSX this time, simple. Horrible thought actually, I have spent (or wasted) like 300 euros worth of add-ons in the past two years, and now I have to give that all up. But if I can't fix this and give up, then as least I don't have to worry about this bullcrap anymore.

If I give up, I will come back later, but not to FSX. I will come back when PMDG and everybody else has moved over to XPlane or P3D, because I know that is going to work great unlike FSX.

I really feel for you - there must be some factor that causes this because (sorry to rub this in), my experience with FSX is that I just install stuff and fly.......  I never get any crashes or performance issues.

 

And I use a ATI card too.  

 

I take it you've got the basic tweaks in place like [HIGHMEMFIX] etc? ..... what about a Buffer Pools tweak? .... that actually added a lot of stabiltiy for me.

 

The other big area that can define whether you have a wonderful or a miserable FSX experience is your AA / AF / Vsync settings;  eg.. what you are letting the graphics card take care of at driver level, and what you are setting up in FSX.

 

I override all AA / AF settings in FSX and take care of them at driver level.  My vsync is taken care of via Bojote's tweaks. I use PoolSize=0 for Buffer pools and it makes a massive difference to performance for me, but only since I got a 2GB graphics card (I use a ATI 7850 2GB).... when I had a 1GB graphics card, Poolsize=0 caused crashed for me.

 

The only 'unknown' in your setting from my point of view, is that you're using Win 8........ I do wonder what you're experience would be like if you were on Win 7 64 bit.... such an established, mature platform that FSX seems to quite like hanging out with.   Win 8,...... mmmmm, Ive head good and bad things about it, regarding FSX.   You certainly wouldn't tear me away from Win 7 64 bit to go to it though.

 

Some problems can be caused with FSX installations by having missing or wrong versions of Simconnect (been there is the past with that one), or by having the SP updated not properly installed.

 

I initially used to use FSX on it's own, with the SP1 and SP2 updates applied, and I did get some mysterious CTDs in those days.     About 3 years ago I bought FSX Gold  (FSX+Acceleration) and as you probably know, Acceleration takes care of the SPs, and sine using that install pathway, I've neer had any problems. 

 

I really hope you find peace with your FSX!

Another P3D/OOM topic on the PMDG forums?   :unsure:

 

Here's my only OOM for months - and yes, it's in FSX!!!

 

 

@ Olli - you devil you! :lol:

 

It took me a while to spot that! ...... I've flown past OOM recently too in the 777!

 

 

Another P3D/OOM topic on the PMDG forums?  

 

I'm not bashing PMDG about their P3D policy and hope people can see the wry humour in my post - if I don't laugh I will probably just cry - my post is just a bit of fun from a jaded FS ex-user (see what I did there?) - glad to see your only OOM is one you can pass by without it crashing your system! Not at all envious to see the screenshot of my grounded 777. I'm pretending it's a battery fire like the 787 rather than FSX keeping it grounded...(I've lost the plot at this point)

 

 

 

I override all AA / AF settings in FSX and take care of them at driver level.  My vsync is taken care of via Bojote's tweaks. I use PoolSize=0 for Buffer pools and it makes a massive difference to performance for me, but only since I got a 2GB graphics card (I use a ATI 7850 2GB).... when I had a 1GB graphics card, Poolsize=0 caused crashed for me.

 

I have 2 2GB (crossfire off) 7870 so even better than yours haha! It sounds like you're advising me to tweak again which I think would send me over the edge...kidding. In all seriousness though, I've tried those tweaks and a multitude of others over the years. I end up forgetting which ones have an effect and messing things up hence my current install is as clean as it can be with the basic tweaks. Still isn't enough.

 

 

 

The only 'unknown' in your setting from my point of view, is that you're using Win 8

 

Tell me about it - good chance this could be the issue. And I looked into downgrading to windows 7 last week - that's how crazy FSX can make you. You will contemplate losing your ENTIRE SYSTEM, spend hours re-installing another OS, spend hours re-installing FSX (no doubt a downgrade of Win 8 would make this essential?), apply your tweaks, pray, open FSX, open 777 (or any aircraft) and then take bets on how long you've got before it all goes wrong. I don't think the crushing disappoint that is in my mind about 99% guaranteed is going to be worth it. 

 

If PMDG fancy sending me one of their old FSX systems that they don't need now for coding as the 777 is finished, I'm happy to provide my address. Please also send over one of your best programmers when you deliver though (I only live in Hong Kong) as I will probably need a bit of help setting up my controllers. 

Just to rub salt in the wounds - check out my pics. As I didn't care any more I set my eyefinity up with 3 monitors (only ever use 1 plus other apps outside in P3D) - the smoothest, prettiest FSX PMDG 777 approach into Keflavik Airport you could ever want - 28FPS and no stutters, no crashes. FSX you are one cruel mistress ;-)

 

 

 

 

 

Tell me about it - good chance this could be the issue. And I looked into downgrading to windows 7 last week - that's how crazy FSX can make you. You will contemplate losing your ENTIRE SYSTEM, spend hours re-installing another OS, spend hours re-installing FSX (no doubt a downgrade of Win 8 would make this essential?), apply your tweaks, pray, open FSX, open 777 (or any aircraft) and then take bets on how long you've got before it all goes wrong. I don't think the crushing disappoint that is in my mind about 99% guaranteed is going to be worth it. 

Hi James,

I am sure your story is very familiar to many flight sim guys here. I agree we seem to spend more time tweaking than flying....

My story was similar to you. In the end, well, presently....I got a new Win 8 machine for emails, downloads and house keeping etc that is super reliable. My Win 7 64 bit machine, which is a grunty water cooled girl is only for FSX. The best thing I did when I loaded Win 7 on my last re install was to carry out no WIN updates what so ever. This machine still thinks it is the same date and code when Win 7 was released. Other than verifying a/c purchases with suppliers, the machine rarely downloads(usually REX weather). I use my other machine for downloads and mem stick them across....Touch wood, my FSX system has been very stable for the last several months.

 

But, knowing FSX, one day some of the very innovative code from third party suppliers will trip it up the old timers platform and despite my best efforts, it will throw the towel in again.

 

I'm retired now and hopeful live long enough for a "reliable" platform to be developed. Will never forgive Bill for walking away.   

FSX works nice for me, but I do not chase for better frame rate and graphic every day. I just install addon and fly, I'm not a tweaking addict. Never experienced OOM.

Hi James,

I am sure your story is very familiar to many flight sim guys here. I agree we seem to spend more time tweaking than flying....

My story was similar to you. In the end, well, presently....I got a new Win 8 machine for emails, downloads and house keeping etc that is super reliable. My Win 7 64 bit machine, which is a grunty water cooled girl is only for FSX. The best thing I did when I loaded Win 7 on my last re install was to carry out no WIN updates what so ever. This machine still thinks it is the same date and code when Win 7 was released. Other than verifying a/c purchases with suppliers, the machine rarely downloads(usually REX weather). I use my other machine for downloads and mem stick them across....Touch wood, my FSX system has been very stable for the last several months.

 

But, knowing FSX, one day some of the very innovative code from third party suppliers will trip it up the old timers platform and despite my best efforts, it will throw the towel in again.

 

I'm retired now and hopeful live long enough for a "reliable" platform to be developed. Will never forgive Bill for walking away.   

It was steve Ballmer!! He ruined our hobby!

  Yesterday for example, I magically lost 15% of my performance everywhere. I have a saved flight as a test scenario, where I'd always get 42 FPS, I now only get 37. Nothing has changed in my system configuration or FSX settings, I've checked litterally everything. BIOS settings, FSX settings, new fsx.CFG, uninstalling certain add-ons, registry scan and clean, virus scan... I just don't know it anymore now. As usual everything else works great. But FSX, nope. The only thing left for me to do is doing a defrag, but that shouldn't increase my performance. 

 

You see, there is a problem: Instead to fly, you spent hours trying to fix nonexistent problem. 37fps instead of 42? So what? You cannot fly with 37fps? 

I feel your pain, I'm currently so tired of FSX as well, I can't stand it anymore. I'm about to give up as well. I have to study 5 days a week, have another hobby as well (simracing - which I never have any problems with), and I don't have time anymore to spend time to this piece of crap that never works.

 

FSX has been working great for me - for a while. But just when you think it's perfect, then it stops working properly for you, out of absolutely nowhere. Yesterday for example, I magically lost 15% of my performance everywhere. I have a saved flight as a test scenario, where I'd always get 42 FPS, I now only get 37. Nothing has changed in my system configuration or FSX settings, I've checked litterally everything. BIOS settings, FSX settings, new fsx.CFG, uninstalling certain add-ons, registry scan and clean, virus scan... I just don't know it anymore now. As usual everything else works great. But FSX, nope. The only thing left for me to do is doing a defrag, but that shouldn't increase my performance. 

 

Anyway, I know I'm going to spend all weekend - once again - trying to solve my problem. If I can't get back to where my performance used to be, I will give up on FSX this time, simple. Horrible thought actually, I have spent (or wasted) like 300 euros worth of add-ons in the past two years, and now I have to give that all up. But if I can't fix this and give up, then as least I don't have to worry about this bullcrap anymore.

 

If I give up, I will come back later, but not to FSX. I will come back when PMDG and everybody else has moved over to XPlane or P3D, because I know that is going to work great unlike FSX.

I fixed my problem, and guess how. Yep, user error.

 

A few days ago, I had installed a new Aerosoft scenery, turns out, for some reason, it re-enabled all the traffic for all my installed Aerosoft sceneries. I have no clue why it did that, but that's what it did because I'm a 100% I disabled them for all my airports. So I disabled them all, got back to my FPS test flight at EHAM 18C, and yup, I got my 42 FPS back. 

 

Despite I'm still having the opinion that FSX is an unstable piece of bullcrap that often doesn't do what you want, I also think user error can be a big part of the problems people experience with FSX. We are using tons of add-ons, with every add-on having it's own settings. Together this adds up to tens of tweaks, while having one set wrong can take it's toll on performance. 

 

Yesterday a new Windows update came out.. I installed it.. Then I flew a flight and the performance was horrible.. I then decided to do a system restore back to the point before I installed the windows update.. I flew another flight and it was smooth as silk.. There is not doubt in my mind that the windows update caused the problem..

People's experience with FSX is so interesting in this regard. You have some people with powerful computers, and then there's someone like me. I run FSX on an iMac, which is not super powerful hardware wise, the only fix I've had to do is the HIGHMEM fix. Other than that, I run the 777X and the 737NGX with AS2012, and a ton of high quality airport scenery, and I use traffic. I get great frame rates, and a great experience overall. Are my graphics as detailed, and as pretty as some of the screenshots I see? Nope, but my graphics are also not set at the bottom for everything. Someday I'll build a dedicated FSX computer anyways to try to push the graphics up, but I'm having so much fun flying these two birds, into great airports, crash free, and that's more than some people can say in regard to this sim.

FSX works nice for me, but I do not chase for better frame rate and graphic every day. I just install addon and fly, I'm not a tweaking addict. Never experienced OOM.

 

Same. I have my LOD Radius set at 6.5, and I've never had an issue. No crashes or OOM. FSX seems pretty stable to me. Maybe a little texture loading lag when switching views (switching from spot view to VC), but even P3D has that issue.