AFCAD2 Causes CTD. Desperate

[Guest 727Fan]

Thanks Folks!!Some GREAT advice from people who have also battled problems like I've got.I will re-start slowly, keeping track of all additional files added.Right now FS9.1 sits in a virgin state on my hard drive. After the "clean boot" reinstall, I took the Mooney out for a quick circuit at Palm Springs. This was where the latest CTD seemed to be caused by an AFCAD, and the problems cascaded from there.The flight went off OK.So far so good. The real trick here will be to lay-off the AI Traffic. I'm afraid I'm an AI junkie, and want to put "realistic" AI at every airport I visit.Thanks for all the help. It's very much appreciated. Everyone come on over for a beer!!Rick

[Guest pjanastacio]

>Desperation is creeping in, folks. Ongoing saga of my>misadventures with AFCAD 2 causing Crash To Desktop, or more.>Doesn't matter if it's my own AFCAD design of just adding a>few extra gatesspots, or a full 3rd party file of an>airport.>Just the other day I was adding gates to KONT and KCNO. All's>well. But then I placed a few spots at KPSP nearby, and WHAM,>CTD!>So I tried to start a flight at KPSP. Program goes to load>flight, but crashes before the flight begins. So clearly AFCAD>2 is somehow giving FS9 a bad taste.>If I delete the add on scenery file AFCAD 2 created, it's a>50-50 chance the airport will load, or not load the default.>I'm really trying to figure this out, but it's been a baffling>phenomenon so far.>I use "fault finder," check for duplicate gate or parking>designators, make sure all nodes are connected, and use the>proper link button when connecting nodes to the new spots I>create.>I haven't use any 3rd party scenery files yet, so embedded>AFCAD files aren't an issue.>I have updated FS9 with the patch.>I use XP Home with SP1 installed.>Other than that, it seems my problem with CTDs and AFCAD 2>seem to be rather isolated, because I don't see many posts>from other AFCAD 2 users.>I must be doing something wrong here, and it's messing with my>head. I don't want to back to FS2K2, which ran flawlessly on>my system.>AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...........>Thanks>Rick>>Do you by chance use FSAutoStart? Since I stopped using it, my CTDs and in some cases a complete system reboot while using FS2004 have stopped. I too was a wit's end with CTDs...I am sure that the program works well for some, but for me it didn't.Peter

[Guest bobsk8]

>In the library, there is a great freeware utility called>ScanAFD. This scans all your scenery folders and identifies>any duplicate afcad files.>>Duplicate afcads might not be the problem, but it is an easy>place to start looking. I just dowloaded Scan AFD and it says I am some duplicate files, from Ultimate Traffic and a new Norway Scenery I downloaded this week. Are you supposed to remove the duplicates , or is it OK to leave them if the scenery priority is different? For instance the UT files are level 3 and the Norway Afcads are level 1.

[Guest Kingair315]

Scenery for older versions will work in FS9, BUT, if it includes an AFCAD or you copied that AFCAD into your ADDON SCENERYscenery folder, it can cause a CTD. All AFCAD's in FS9 should begin with the letters AF2_ Bob

[Guest JoeW]

My 2 cents........ Never delete anything in FS9. BGL's can be renamed to *.bak's. You should never have 2 AF2 files in active folders. You will get a CTD everytime. If you have 2 AF2's..... Rename one to a bak and go look.... then try the other...... keep the one you like best. If you want both...... then you'll have to combine the two with the AFCAD program.Joe W

[Guest Kingair315]

Many problems with W98 or XP and XP with SP1,2 happen because the registry is corrupted or has a lot of invalid links.Reccomendations for better operation or to stop CTD of your system:If using W98, ME, et.al. Upgrade to XP it will virtually eliminate "Errors". Your entire system will operate much better, and faster.IF you are using XP, without SP2, installing it will give you a _framerate_ boost, and other improvements.The FS was created with XP, and the FS patch was undoubtedly created, with SP2 installed. If not using SP2, by all means upgrade, there are too many reasons to do so, to repeat here.You might search for: RegCleaner 4.2 by Jouni Vuorio or RegScrub, are free, I use both. the latter is simpler... After installing...RegCleaner Set the "Options, Registry Cleanup, Method" to Automatic. Then, click on "Tools, Registry Cleanup, Do them all." It will safely clean your registry, even if you know nothing about it.This will delete all _invalid_ registry keys, etc. First time it ran on my system, it deleted 287! One person I told about cleaning the registry, said it deleted 1643 invalid registry keys, and his system ran like it did brand new.Even if you have Norton One button cleanup, it does not get them all. Ive run it after running Norton, and found as many as 17 invalid links. Each time you add or delete something from your HD, it can leave an invalid link. Even something as simple as deleting a picture you no longer want. Over time, invalid registry entries can slow your system to a crawl. I run it each day after deleting anything. And Find if even if deleted from Control, Remove Software, the majority of the time it leaves links to what was deleted. Many software demo's or paywares which gives you a free trial, leave links in the registry, to prevent you from using it over, and over. They also may leave folders with junk in them. You can get RegCleaner free, I've used it with W98, ME, XP, and I'd not do without it after using it.If now using Adaware, and Spybot, its a good idea to begin. They can get rid of a LOT of programs which tell companies where you are surfing, and more. Each time they do, is slows down your system as they use bandwidth. If there are hundreds of them on your system, the time they use is significant. Removing spyware, can also leave invalid links in the Registry, so run RegCleaner after doing so, I'd run it at least once a week. Sometimes I run it daily.... Some Spywre attempts to control your system, and can cause conflicts.Cleaning your Registry and getting rid of Spyware, makes your operating system work the way it should. There are so many causes of problems, in FS which are caused from invalid links in the Registry, its not possible to list all of them. Every time I have a problem with the FS, _first_ thing I do is run the RegCleaner. Bob

[Guest 727Fan]

Joe. I'm not sure I understand. I should never delete an AFCAD2 file in the addon scenery folder, but just rename it "bak" and it will then be ignored by FS9?You said; "You should never have 2 AF2 files in active folders. You will get a CTD evertime."Do you mean 2 AFCAD2 files of the same airport in the Addon Scenery folder?I never had that. I also never had any scenery packages installed in the folder, so embedded, and therefore duplicated AFCAD files, were never a question.But please do clarify. I need all the advice and tips I can get!!Rick

[Bruce 0]

3.552 AFCAD2 airports, 58 are duplicated at different levels where Microsoft had given them the wrong name (only done the UK, a few airports have the wrong city and all RAF stations should be prefixed RAF instead of the default AB suffix, also the Navy suffix should be pefixed either RNAS or HMS), and some others have duplicates to fix/add aditional airport feature all with no apparent problems, on the rare ocasion i do get a CTD the problem is elseware.

[Guest JoeW]

Delete only if your sure.I meant 2 AF2's of the same airport in any active folder. Example: one AF2 of KSEA in the addon sceneryscenery folder and another in the scenery folder for KSEA. I would rename the one in the addon sceneryscenery folder then move the other AF2 to the Addon sceneryscenery folder, then rename the AF2 in the KSEA scenery folder. That way you only have one af2 active.Beware of the program ScanAFD, it doesnt look in the sceneryworldscenery folder. There can be one here working and it will not find it. It's a good program but doesn't find them all.Renaming to a *.bak will make FS9 ignore it but it can be re-named back to a *.bgl and it will work again.Joe W.

[Guest Kingair315]

Many problems with W98 or XP and XP with SP1,2 because the Registry is filled with Invalid links.Recommendations for better operation or to stop CTD of your system:If using W98, ME, et.al.Upgrade to XP it will eliminate many "Errors". Your entire system will operate much better, and faster.IF you are using XP, without SP1 and SP2, installing it will boost _framerate_ and make other improvements.The FS was created with XP, and the FS patch was undoubtedly created, with SP2 installed. If not using SP2, by all means upgrade, there are too many reasons to do so, to repeat here.Each time you _delete_ something from your HD, it can leave an invalid links. Even something as simple as deleting a picture you no longer want. Over time, invalid registry entries can slow your system to a crawl, if FS pauses too long, it errors. Software demo's or payware which give you a free trial, leave links in the registry, to prevent you from using it over, and over. They also may leave folders with junk in them, which you need to remove manually. You can get RegCleaner free, I've used it with W98, ME, XP.You might search for: RegCleaner 4.2 by Jouni Vuorio.After installing...RegCleaner Set the "Options, Registry Cleanup, Method" to Automatic. Then, click on "Tools, Registry Cleanup, Do them all." It will safely clean your registry, even if you know nothing about it.This will delete all _invalid_ registry keys, etc. First time it ran on my system, it deleted 287! One person I told about cleaning the registry, said it deleted 1643 invalid registry keys, and his system ran like it did brand new.HOWEVER... both my wife's and my computer have been slowing down drastically over the past year, and even have had a few "blue screen errors." Pages which used to load in 4-5 seconds, have been taking 16-20 on DSL!A friend told me to check this link for a better program http://www.registryfix.com/ Decided to try it. It found 275 errors which the above programs have _never_ found. It Fixed 37 which helped, to fix the rest you need a registered copy, which costs $29.95 . . . .. Decided to buy it, ran it to delete the others, and rebooted. Now all webpages which Ive tried, load in _one_second_ or less! Unlike the other programs, it searches the entire drive for orphaned files or links and missing shortcuts, et. al.I'd removed norton and some other programs _months_ ago, it found six links still existing to norton. If not using Ad-aware, and Spybot, (freeware) its a good idea to begin. They can get rid of a LOT of programs which tell companies where you are surfing, and more. Each time they do, it uses bandwidth. If there are hundreds of them on your system, the time they use is significant. Cleaning your Registry and getting rid of Spyware, makes your operating system work the way it should.There are so many causes of problems, in FS which are caused from invalid links in the Registry, its not possible to list all of them. Every time I have a problem with the FS, _first_ thing I do is clean the system.I highly recommend you at least check out the demo at: http://www.registryfix.com/ Bob

[Guest quink99]

BobThanks so much for your very helpful hint regarding Registry Fix. I downloaded it, registered it, and ran it. The results were nothing short of miraculous! It found some 309 registry and other assorted "cooties" that Norton had not detected and the improvement in general computer performance was a joy to behold.Frederick D. Coleman

[Guest Kingair315]

Happy to Help... Bob