Hi

 

Things are good on the whole, running FSX Acceleration Pack (10.0.61637.0) on Windows 8.1 Pro.  In case my profile is not visible, the system specs are as follows:

 

Computer Type: PC/Desktop 

System: Scan 3XS Custom 

OS Windows: 8.1 Pro x64 

CPU: Intel Core i7 5820K 

Motherboard: ASUS X99-A 

Memory: Corsair DDR4 16GB 

Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 

Sound Card: Realtek on-board 

 

PSU: Corsair RM750 

Case: Corsair Carbide 330R 

Cooling: Noctua NH-U14S 

Hard Drives: Samsung SSD 850 Pro 256GB Seagate ST2000DM001 SATA 2TB Western Digital WD20EZRX-22D8PB0 SATA 2TB 

Internet Speed: Fibre 

Browser: Chrome 

Antivirus: Kaspersky KIS 2015 

 

I use a Thrustmaster Warthog throttle and joystick, plus Saitek Combat Flight rudder pedals.

 

Having got everything working, I've recently had problems when closing FSX.  Specifically, a dialog box pops up saying 'Microsoft Flight Simulator has stopped working' and offers options for closing or debugging the program - I choose Close.  I've read through the excellent CTD document and followed the advice there.  Sadly (or fortunately?) this problem does not result in a WER report so the AppCrashViewer has nothing to show.  But the event log shows 2 error entries at the time of closing, both with the same details:

 

Log Name:      Application

Source:        Application Error

Date:          13/07/2015 15:31:52

Event ID:      1000

Task Category: (100)

Level:         Error

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:      SC-MAIN

Description:

Faulting application name: fsx.exe, version: 10.0.61637.0, time stamp: 0x46fadb14

Faulting module name: mfc90.dll, version: 9.0.30729.6161, time stamp: 0x4dad06e0

Exception code: 0xc0000005

Fault offset: 0x0020cab2

Faulting process ID: 0x12f8

Faulting application start time: 0x01d0bd705bb3a8d5

Faulting application path: D:\FSX\fsx.exe

Faulting module path: C:\Windows\WinSxS\x86_microsoft.vc90.mfc_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729.6161_none_4bf7e3e2bf9ada4c\mfc90.dll

Report ID: e6bbde6b-296b-11e5-82c5-ac9e17b55317

Faulting package full name: 

Faulting package-relative application ID: 

 

I accept that I am luckier than many in as much as the error only comes when closing FSX; the sim itself seems to run fine.  But with Windows 10 around the corner, I'm keen to clean it up if possible.  

 

I've followed the advice in the CTD guide and done:

 

   Run sfc \scannow - I've done this a few times in connection with a boot problem; it claims to fix things but I see no difference.  Booting is intermittently successful but once running, all is well.

   Deleted the scenery indexes and shaders folders

   Run DXDiag - no problems

   Run Process Monitor while closing FSX - nothing stands out to me

   Used CCleaner to check the registry - nothing untoward; I used it to remove a few outdated references to .NET v1

   Reinstalled the latest VC++ 2008 Redistributable - x86 9.0.30729.6161

   Run the Microsoft .NET repair tool - nothing found

   Installed and run the Scenery Configuration Editor - nothing found

   Made sure all drivers are up to date

 

Something has changed since I was last using FSX a month or so ago.  This is a development machine, so I have installed stuff.  But nothing that I know of that would use the VC++ 2008 library.  And anyway, I've reinstalled the version that was referenced in the error message since the FSX problem occurred.

 

I do see in Add/Remove Programs that I have several versions of the VC++ 2008 Redistributable.  For x64 I have versions 9.0.30729.4148 and 9.0.30729.6161 for x64, while x86 is well catered for with 9.0.21022, 9.0.30729.4148, 9.0.30729.4974 and 9.0.30729.6161.  The redistributables for VC++ 2005 are present for both architectures; ditto for 2010 and 2012.  For 2013, there is only the x86 version.

 

My understanding is that only the x86 versions of VC++ 2008 are relevant to FSX.  I'd love to delete all but the latest for each architecture but have resisted in case my add-ons are version specific.

 

Would the advice here to be just to live with the error on closing?  Or is there anything else I can try to get to a clean running (and shutdown) state?

 

Many thanks and regards

 

Sebastian Crewe

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The cause of your crash was Microsoft Visual C++2008.  You must have the 32 bit version installed and never ever have the 64 bit versions installed.  Uninstall all 64 bit versions.  FSX and all FSX addons are 32 bit applications.  Therefore they use the 32 bit versions of Microsoft Visuals and Microsoft.net's.  See the AVSIM CTD Guide for further information regarding Microsoft Visuals and dotnet's.  You must also have Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 w/SP1.  That is the most important one of all.

 

Best regards,

Many thanks indeed for the very quick response - and apologies for posting initially in the wrong forum.

 

I'll try removing the x64 versions of VC++ 2008 and also make sure my VC++ 2005 (x86 only) is SP1.  Will post back with the results.

 

Thank you again

 

Sebastian

Getting the various Visual C++ redistributables correct for FSX is confusing, more so on 64-bit systems.  

 

Jim, you said that one should never have the 64-bit versions installed.  Yet the wonderful AVSIM CTD guide has a screenshot (p7) showing both x86 and x64 versions installed for VC++ 2008.  My understanding (supported by the text in the guide) was that FSX wouldn't use the x64 versions even if installed.  Indeed, the error message I included in my first post includes the path C:\Windows\WinSxS\x86_microsoft.vc90.mfc_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.30729.6161_none_4bf7e3e2bf9ada4c\mfc90.dll, which suggests to me that it is the x86 version that is causing the problem.  

 

Anyway, I've removed the x64 versions, leaving me with four VC++ 2008 x86 redistributables: 9.0.21022, 9.0.30729.4148, 9.0.30729.4974 and 9.0.30729.6161.  I fired up FSX, waited a bit, then closed it.  Same error in the Application event log that was mentioned at the outset.

 

Meanwhile, the VC++ 2005 entries in Add/Remove Programs don't show the architecture as part of the name.  Like the screenshot mentioned above, my system has two, 8.0.61001 and 8.0.56336.  Following the various links at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2977003 shows that Microsoft use the same version number for both the x86 and x64 packages.  So I don't know how to confirm that I have only the x86 package for VC++ 2005 SP1.  Or if it matters.

 

Can anyone offer guidance on whether all those VC++ 2008 versions are required?  Would it perhaps be sufficient just to keep the latest of the v9.0.30729 instances?

 

With thanks and regards

 

Sebastian

So I don't know how to confirm that I have only the x86 package for VC++ 2005 SP1. Or if it matters.

 

If you downloaded the SP1 version at this link - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26347 then you have the latest 2005 w/SP1. If your Add/Remove Program shows the same versions as in the ones in the image in the AVSIM CTD Guide, then you have the correct versions. FSX installs the Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 when you install FSX. When Acceleration and SP2 was released, Microsoft forgot to upgrade the 2005 to SP1 so this is why you need SP1.

 

FSX does not use Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 w/SP1. Addons that were developed for FSX installs the 2008 version but most addons have move up to the 2010 version. For instance, when FTX/Orbx products were first released for FSX, they needed the 2008 version but now, several years later they have upgraded their installer to 2010 and later versions. Since FSX is a very old program, it is smart to make sure you still have the 2008 w/SP1 version installed. Microsoft Visuals are not backward compatible and the same for Microsoft.net (you need version 2.0 installed). Microsoft install version Microsoft.net 1.1 when FSX was first released. Version 1.1 was upgraded to 2.0 and you can safely use 2.0. But 4.0 and higher is not backward compatible to old programs installed on your computer. You can as Google (are Microsoft.net backward compatible or are Microsoft Visuals backward compatible and the response will be from Microsoft techs that they are not backward compatible). Some people here have removed Microsoft Visual 2005 and 2008 from their computer system and FSX will not even start up when they do that.

 

So I was completely wrong in my initial response to your crash. But the faulting module belongs only to Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 w/SP1. Microsoft Visuals are used by developers to make sure their product is installed properly in the way they intended. So, perhaps something was not installed properly and Microsoft Visual C++ 2008. When you installed the products that use Microsoft Visual C++2008, did you install with Admin Privileges? Was UAC disabled? Was any anti-virus program scanning in the background (it should be disabled when running FSX). Did you go to the FSX main directory and locate FSX.exe and right click it and select properties and then under the Compatibility tab make sure Run as Administrator was enabled?

 

Best regards,

Thank you for the clarification and explanations.  At one point (as recently as June this year) FSX was operating on this machine without errors.  The Application log error referencing mfc90.dll started a couple of weeks ago.  From what Jim says, FSX doesn't use Visual C++ 2008 (of which mfc90.dll is a part).  Yet I get the error if I start FSX, wait a few moments and simply close it, without doing a flight.  From which I deduce that it must be one of the add-ons that gets loaded when FSX starts that has got corrupted.  So perhaps I can try disabling all the third-party add-ons in dll.xml and exe.xml, then add them back in until the problem recurs.  Then try reinstalling the offending add-on.

 

Or I can just live with the error on shutting down FSX.  Flights do seem to be working which is the main thing.

 

I do have .NET v2 installed by virtue of having selected .NET Framework 3.5 (which includes .NET 2 and .NET 3) via Windows Features.  Yes, I did install all software, including the MS Visuals, with Admin privileges.  No, I haven't disabled UAC at any time.  I feel this is unlikely to be the cause of the current problem in as much as things worked well for a few weeks.  Yes, I try to remember to pause my anti-virus protection while running FSX.  I would note though that I haven't experienced any problems when I forget to do this, and the closing error still occurs even if the anti-virus is paused.  And yes, I did try setting the FSX executable to run as Administrator.  It didn't help with the closing problem, in fact other errors popped up so I un-ticked that box.

 

Unless there are other suggestions, I think I'll try the route of disabling add-ons in an effort to pinpoint the culprit.  Should I do do this for the entries in both dll.xml and exe.xml, or just one of them?

 

Many thanks for your continued assistance

 

Sebastian

 

 

So perhaps I can try disabling all the third-party add-ons in dll.xml and exe.xml, then add them back in until the problem recurs. Then try reinstalling the offending add-on.

 

Hi Sebastian,

 

You are on the right track and understand it all well as I laid it out for you.  One more suggestion would be to move the scenery.cfg to a temporary folder and restart FSX.  Your scenery.cfg will be rebuilt with the default scenery.  You can then see if FSX shuts down properly without a crash.  If it does, then you can be 90% sure it is one of the sceneries you added to FSX.  You can move the scenery.cfg you put in a temporary folder and move it back to replace the default scenery.cfg and restart FSX.  Once loaded, you can go in and disable all of the addon scenery and then begin enabling them one or two at a time until the error appears again.  Unfortunately you have to do this type of investigation.  I have never seen this error message with mfc90.dll as the faulting module before and can't find anyone on Google who has seen it too.  So you are a first.

 

 

 

Should I do do this for the entries in both dll.xml and exe.xml, or just one of them?

 

I would not unless the error continues even with a new default scenery.cfg as suggested above.  FSX does not need the dll.xml or exe.xml to startup.  In fact these dll's are not even installed with FSX.  Developer's use them to load their products.  It is very rare when I see someone fixing a problem with the dll.xml or exe.xml as the problem.  Mostly the errors/crashes/freezes are caused by the scenery.cfg or your fsx.cfg.  The dll.xml and exe.xml are part of the investigation though and you may have to move these files over to a temporary folder or renamed so they will not load if the mfc90.dll error continues. 

 

Again, the mfc90.dll belongs to only one program on your computer.... Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 w/SP1.  I would also go in and remove Microsoft.net 3.5 from the Windows Features.  If 3.5 is required by an addon developer for FSX, it will be installed automatically by that FSX addon product if they do not find it on your computer system.  I remember manually installing Microsoft.net 3.5 in the Windows Features once and had problems afterwards until I removed it.

 

Best regards,

Thanks so much for the quick response.  I'll give your suggestion a try and report back.  I'll also take a look at my fsx.cfg file, perhaps trying an earlier version to see if the problem stems from there.

 

It helps so much to be given the confidence to try these things, rather than flailing around in ignorance and hope.  Your assistance is much appreciated.

 

Best wishes

We have all been there so understand your pain.  Good luck!

 

Best regards,

The news is good.  I have managed to identify the offending add-on.

 

I started by trying to remove scenery.cfg, as suggested above.  It turns out that there were three versions of this file on my system.  I started with the one in the main FSX folder, being the first place that I looked.  FSX didn't like that at all (said it would have to be reinstalled), so I copied the original back in.  I thought then that it might be the one in my AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX folder, where fsx.cfg lives.  I removed that, started up FSX, and saw that the scenery entries hadn't been changed, nor was a new file created in this location.  I then tried the SceneryConfigEditor tool, which showed me yet another scenery.cfg file, this time in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX, which I think is the one actually in use.  The tool reported no errors with this file, so I didn't delete it.

 

Instead I moved on to Jim's next suggestion of looking at my fsx.cfg file.  Having taken a copy, I deleted it.  Starting FSX did indeed create a new one.  Lots of pop-ups while starting asking if I wanted to allow various dlls to run.  I did so one at a time - allowed one, then shut down FSX and checked the Application log.  Started FSX again, allowing just one more, then close etc.  Finally, the errant add-on was exposed.

 

Turns out to be one of three add-ons that got installed with Concorde-X from FlightSim Labs; specifically FSL Events.  The other two, FSL Options and FSL Sounds, did not generate the error on shut down.  I can now actually toggle the behaviour by editing FSX.cfg and flipping the value for FSL Events within the Trusted section from 1 (OK to load) to -1 (don't load).  

 

I'm guessing that I could achieve the same end without the annoying prompt on starting FSX by editing my dll.xml file and setting the Disabled element to be True for FSLEvents.  My limited understanding of dll.xml (and its sibling exe.xml) is that FSX will first check the Trusted section in FSX.cfg.  If allowed, then look at dll.xml to check the required behaviour.  If anyone can confirm this is how it works, then that would help me and perhaps others.

 

Armed with this evidence, I've posted a question on the FS Labs forum asking for advice from them (and their users).  It would be a shame to lose Concorde-X - it's a wonderful product.

 

Meanwhile I thank you for your patient assistance in guiding me towards at least identifying the source of the problem (and educating me along the way).  That's often more than half the battle.

 

Wishing clean event logs to you all

Thanks for reporting back with your solution or at least that you discovered the modules causing the problems.  In regards to the scenery.cfg in the same folder as your fsx.cfg.  This is the default scenery.cfg and should never be modified or deleted.  The working version you found in the Program Data\Microsoft\FSX folder.  If you ever delete the working one (or rename it or move it to another folder), it will be rebuilt using the one located in the folder here the fsx.cfg is located.  The scenery.cfg in your main fsx folder is not a working version and it may be used as returning your scenery.cfg to the default if you ever wanted to do that.

 

It's strange that a module like FSLEvents loaded by the dll.xml whenever you start FSX would cause you problems.  Make sure the files exist.  Perhaps they cannot be loaded because they are corrupted or not there (this could happen in a bad install of the product).

 

Best regards,