Wrong Kind of Freeze at Cruise Alt

[Jazz 1,045]

Was it ever found out what causes these odd freezes of FSX with the 777? Or better yet was there a fix?

 

I have been away from FS for about 2 years and recently after a system upgrade and a fresh install of all things FSX and and operating system I got the itch.

 

The first few hops around Europe were fine. I then decided to hop over the pond from London to Chicago. Half way over the Atlantic I get that freeze I forgot about. FSX completely freezes but the sound keeps playing. This lasted about 5-6 mins before it carried on like nothing had happened.

 

Can't remember if the same thing happened on the next hop from Chicago to San Francisco

 

The next few hops were fine from San Fran to St Louis. St Louis to New York and then New York to Bermuda. Tonight I decided to do the BA2232 from Bermuda to London Gatwick and sure enough, 2:30 mins into the flight as I am barrelling along in the Jet Stream (winds are very favourable tonight) it happens again. Froze for 5 mins and then continues as if nothing happened.

 

The fact that it is not crashing FSX means it is not the end of the world but it sure is an immersion killer.

 

I have done some searching on the web about this and indeed here but all I read is a lot of hearsay and cobblers frankly. No definitive solutions or explanations on what causes it. It does not seem to happen with the NGX and I am not sure it ever did for me.

 

I downloaded and ran some sound monitoring thing I saw in another thread to see if it was audio driver related. I think it was by Ryan. Anyhow I can't read what is happening because when it happens I can't alt+enter out of FSX to look at it. I can bring up the Task Manager but can't bring up anything on my Task Bar or access my desktop. As soon as the freeze stops though I can see it immediately and see no spikes of any kind.

 

I am running Active Sky Next on a separate laptop but unsure this is the cause. It used to happen when I ran Active Sky 2012 too. Maybe a networked thing but who knows.

 

What I am getting at here is has this ever been tracked down? If so what is it? I will get about to posting a ticket about this maybe tonight but probably tomorrow but just wonder is this still happening to people?

 

Anyhow, I am still thundering along in the jet stream although the tail wind has dropped from 140 to 80 now. Left Bermuda at 23:55z. Its is now 03:48z and miss management says I will arrive at Gatwick at 05:44z. 46 mins early. I have missed this hobby...... It's good to be back :wink:

 

Regards all.

 

P.S. excellent upgrades on the 777 since I was gone by the way. The radar is just fantastic. Looking forward to seeing this on the NGX.

[Boeing or not going 578]

Set affinity mask to 14 regardless of your processor. Try that.

[Jazz 1,045]

Set affinity mask to 14 regardless of your processor. Try that.

 

Yes, I meant to try that before this flight. I will on the next one. Thanks for reminding me.

 

As I type this again it is happening again. This time 4:56 mins into the flight just as I am approaching Cornwall and my TOD.

 

Very annoying this.

[MadDog 353]

You are not alone.  I've tried the affinity mask 14 suggestion and it does not help (for me at least).  It usually happens to me around 5 to 8 hours into the flight (I never use time acceleration)... frozen solid for anywhere from 2 to 9 minutes...then it resumes like nothing was wrong.  I wouldn't mind so much except it completely hoses my ATC programs (both RC4 and PFE crash on my remote client... and WideFS always requires a restart after the freeze).  It doesn't happen on any other airplanes.

[tull 290]

I have this problem too, I just put up with it, my flights are usually no more than 2 or 3 hours in the 777 and I get a freeze usually when in cruise and it will last 5 to 10mins then everything goes back to normal, I've expect it now and I'm used to it but obviously if we could come up with a solution that would be great. I also have the freeze with Aerosoft Airbus A318/19, very frustrating. I'm probably going to give Prepar3D ago in a few weeks, getting tired now of FSX, I fly X-Plane 10 from time to time and it's just awesome, no problems whatsoever.

 

Regards

Paul EGCC

[Guest]

Freezing problems..hmmm..have tried to turn on the anti-ice ? 

 

Sorry, I am a fool.

 

Seriously now, have you tried updating ALL device drivers and excluded ASN on a separate pc ? I would try without ASN on a separate pc, just to evaluate if that's a cause or not.

[downscc 1,327]

I tried to track down the FSX 'freeze' for months.  I noticed that Process Explorer view of core loading would change during a freeze from using all cores to only core 0, and just a few seconds before the freeze was over the 'thaw' could be identified by the other cores starting to wake up.  My problem went away completely when I did a rebuild and transititioned from Vista to Win7.... I am convinced my problem was Vista... but there are verified issues with the appHang (the proper name for the freeze) in all operating systems.  So far the only convincing solution has been to apply the proper affinity for your CPU... and 14 works for only a subset of all CPUs.

[BIGSKY 316]

From the 777 intro, When flying over the ocean, there is a bug in FSX that can cause the displays to freeze in place. It happens as a result of passing through the “Tower” view preset when outside of the range of any suitable actual tower. Flip back between the “Cockpit” and “Virtual Cockpit” views and it should clear. To avoid this, don’t use the A and S keys to cycle through views, use the right click menu to select them directly.

[vc10man 732]

Very good tip, Jim.All kudos to you. Thanks, not that I use FSX-MS or FSX-SE anymore, but generally prefer to stayin VC mode all the way through, except when trying to spot my exit off Rwy at night.

[Boeing or not going 578]

From the 777 intro, When flying over the ocean, there is a bug in FSX that can cause the displays to freeze in place. It happens as a result of passing through the “Tower” view preset when outside of the range of any suitable actual tower. Flip back between the “Cockpit” and “Virtual Cockpit” views and it should clear. To avoid this, don’t use the A and S keys to cycle through views, use the right click menu to select them directly.

No this is an apphang and fsx is unplayable until the freeze goes away or you force quit

[downscc 1,327]

No this is an apphang and fsx is unplayable until the freeze goes away or you force quit

Full names in the PMDG forums please.

[Jazz 1,045]

Freezing problems..hmmm..have tried to turn on the anti-ice ? 

 

Sorry, I am a fool.

 

Seriously now, have you tried updating ALL device drivers and excluded ASN on a separate pc ? I would try without ASN on a separate pc, just to evaluate if that's a cause or not.

 

Yes as I said I have just done a system rebuild. Everything is as new as can be. Also when I think about it the 777 has always done this since day of purchase regardless what configuration I have run it on. AS Evolution/ AS2012/ ASN / no weather at all.

 

 

I tried to track down the FSX 'freeze' for months.  I noticed that Process Explorer view of core loading would change during a freeze from using all cores to only core 0, and just a few seconds before the freeze was over the 'thaw' could be identified by the other cores starting to wake up.  My problem went away completely when I did a rebuild and transititioned from Vista to Win7.... I am convinced my problem was Vista... but there are verified issues with the appHang (the proper name for the freeze) in all operating systems.  So far the only convincing solution has been to apply the proper affinity for your CPU... and 14 works for only a subset of all CPUs.

 

I have only ever used it on Win 7 64. I did finally get around to applying affinity mask at 14 and noticed a dramatic increase in all round performance and my pc was certainly not struggling before I applied it. A nice bonus. This is something I remember happening when I applied it a few years ago and before format/upgrades/reinstall. I have done a couple short 2 hour hops and not seen the freeze yet but I never did on the short ones. I won't know if this has worked until I have time to do a long haul. Perhaps tomorrow.

 

 

From the 777 intro, When flying over the ocean, there is a bug in FSX that can cause the displays to freeze in place. It happens as a result of passing through the “Tower” view preset when outside of the range of any suitable actual tower. Flip back between the “Cockpit” and “Virtual Cockpit” views and it should clear. To avoid this, don’t use the A and S keys to cycle through views, use the right click menu to select them directly.

 

I am very aware of this old pest mate though I have not encountered it for many a year now. I hardly ever change views from the VC. Tis also not the issue I am pursuing. 

 

 

 

As I mentioned I won't know if the affinity mask setting has fixed this until I try another long haul. I may get to do this tomorrow if not on the weekend. Even if it does not work I would like to thank you guys for the reminder to try it because it made everything very smooth indeed an I had forgotten all about it.

 

Now, help me make up my mind. This Wednesday, Should I buy the 300 expansion or the MD-11? I will get both within the next 2 weeks I think but can only stretch to one this week. The MD-11 is far to much of an interesting plane not to have in my hanger and I have been promising to buy myself it for years. However my 777 needs a mate.

 

1st world problem for sure but I keep going back a fore on this one.