Hello,

 

I recently heard that when installing SP1 and SP2 you want to open up FSX after each install and perform maybe a five second flight. So, optimally, you install FSX, open it and perform a five second flight, then close it. Then you install SP1 and SP2 and repeat these steps for each of those installs. Apparently doing this will make sure your system registries are up to date. Well, I found this all out after installing everything at once and now with all my addons it would be a pain to have to wipe everything out and do it all over again.  Has anyone else heard of this as well and what problems can occur if you don't do this? Any way I can check if my system registries are up to date?

 

Thanks,

Joel

Your FSX is evidently running well even though you did not follow the suggestions on installing FSX.  It has been running so well that you even installed a lot of addons.  System registries are up-to-date and properly configured.  It's not so much of a problem with system registries but with other files, like the terrain.cfg it updates with SP1 and SP2.  But I don't think anything went wrong with the terrain.cfg.  Two other files that might be configured improperly would be the Facilities and the Scenery Indexes folders.  These are changed every time you install something new.  So deleting these two files, restarting FSX, and letting these files rebuild might be a solution to a "wrong" installation procedure.  At least these are a couple of suggestions that 'might' save you from reinstalling FSX.  Do not delete the terrain.cfg though.  The Facilities and Scenery Indexes are in hidden folders in C:\Program Data\Microsoft\FSX (same folder as your working scenery.cfg).  As I tell many in the CTD Forum, you install FSX, SP1 and SP2 or Acceleration and FSX runs great.  No problems whatsoever.  Huge FPS.  Then you start adding aircraft, scenery and other addons and things start going downhill, sometimes really fast.  So anytime you think you have a problem with FSX, you may want to disable all the scenery addons to see if any of them are the ones causing you a problem.  The dll.xml also can get corrupted so you might want to disable the modules and see if one of them is an issue. 

 

Flight One has a registry repair tool if you think there's something wrong with your registry - http://www.flight1.com/view.asp?page=library. 

 

It is also possible to uninstall SP2 (just click the exe and select remove) and then reinstall it but I would try the above suggestions first. Check out the AVSIM CTD Guide (see pinned topic in the CTD Forum) for more suggestions.

 

Best regards,

Thanks for the advice Jim! I actually already did that uninstall and reinstall of SP2 but I might look at those scenery and indexes files. Exactly what kind of issues would I be seeing with improperly configured terrain.cfg, facilities, and scenery indexes files?

 

Everything is working great...the only thing that is an issue would be my PMDG 777 freezing for around 5 minutes or so during cruise....but this is also being reported by quite a bit of other people. Could that be related to anything being improperly configured?

 

I've heard about the dll.xml file but how exactly do you disable the modules and then enable them through trial and error? Sorry, I'm alright with computers but I am definitely no whiz.

 

Thanks a bunch!

 

 

Exactly what kind of issues would I be seeing with improperly configured terrain.cfg, facilities, and scenery indexes files?

 

You should never mess with the terrain.cfg.  It makes changes as you install new scenery.  The facilities and scenery index files are temporary folders and it's an easy fix to simply delete these folders, restart FSX, and let FSX rebuild these folders.  Some have stated that rebuilding these folders has fixed CTD's.  Hard to prove that but, if it works, great!

 

Another temporary folder that you might remove and let FSX rebuild is the Shaders folder.  There's a Shaders folder for people running in DX9 mode and a Shaders10 for those running FSX in DX10.  You can delete the appropriate folder and it will be rebuilt.  They are located in C:\Users\Your User Name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\FSX\.  Removing temporary folders will not harm your installation of FSX and may just give it newer life!

 

 

 

the only thing that is an issue would be my PMDG 777 freezing for around 5 minutes or so during cruise

 

This type of freeze is common.  There are some solutions to freezes in the AVSIM CTD Guide (it was written so I wouldn't have to constantly write out the details.  There is no magic bullet).  A bad tweak in your Fsx.cfg could be the culprit.  This is why I do not recommend tweaks for high powered computer systems.  Back in the olden days we had to come up with tweaks to squeeze out as many resources as possible to get the best FPS.  I don't think they are needed anymore in i7 Sandy Bridge systems and later and, in fact, fsx runs better without them.  If they do work, then it is a very tiny increase in resources.  Not worth the effort.  This is why deleting/renaming your Fsx.cfg and letting it rebuild solves all kinds of crashes/freezes/lockups.

 

 

 

I've heard about the dll.xml file but how exactly do you disable the modules and then enable them through trial and error?

 

I apologize for mentioning the AVSIM CTD Guide but Page 4 of the guide explains how this is done.  Just right click the dll.xml and select open in Notepad and make the edits.  I like to use NotePad++ which you can download from the Internet.  It makes editing the file a little easier.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Best regards,

Sounds good. I've not actually tweaked my .cfg file at all with the exception of adding a couple of necessary lines (highmemfix for instance). So, I guess my freezes aren't related to that. If I was going to add any kind of tweak to experiment with would you recommend adding affinitymask=14? That and buffer pools are the two things that I seem to keep reading about for tweaking. But, I do see how too much of it can be bad. Hopefully I can figure out what causes those freezes...it only happens in cruise with the PMDG 777. Might have to wait and see what PMDG finds out and in the meantime experiment.

 

Thanks for all the advice...I appreciate it

 

 

would you recommend adding affinitymask=14? That and buffer pools are the two things that I seem to keep reading about for tweaking.

 

See?  You're looking for that "holy grail".  :Just Kidding: .  I do not recommend the AffinityMask tweak (and we do not recommend it in the AVSIM FSX Configuration Guide that has a list of tweaks you can employ.  A link to the AVSIM FSX Configuration Guide is in my signature or in Hot Spots to the right of this forum).  It does not hurt to try it though so you can see if it makes a difference.  Same goes with the BufferPool tweak.  AVSIM does not recommend it but, again, it does not hurt to try it out.  I have seen too many CTD's caused by this tweak (well, when members remove it, CTD's stop.  Can't say for sure it was because of this tweak).  If you are going to try it, there's a good guide at the following link - http://www.simforums.com/forums/drivers-nv-inspector-fsxcfg-complete-guide_topic36586.html.

 

Best regards,