FSX Freeze Fixed, But CTD on exit module mfc90.dll

[boeingaviation 0]

Posting out of frustration as have been trying to get FSX working correctly for a long time.

 

Ok so after getting a new pc and installing Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit fresh then firstly installing Windows 7 Service Pack 1 followed by remaining updates.

 

Next I installed FSX from DVD and initially it got stuck at "removing applications for about 5 minutes" then continued the install.

 

I then installed FSX Acceleration the same way and that got stuck on updating component registration then continued then install.

 

After installing Acceleration I only have 1 entry in Add/Remove programs called "Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Acceleration"..... Should Acceleration not be separate?

 

I ran FSX and after about 10 minutes flying around if I changed views, right clicked or minimized the FSX window the sim would freeze.

 

I downloaded the Vista 32 Bit Version of the uiautomation core.dll and put into main FSX directory which fixed the freeze after 10 mins.

 

When I exit FSX I get CTD error message and the fault module is mfc90.dll.

FSX appears to be running normally, but just wonder what this file is.

 

I have .Net Framework 3.5, 4.5 & 4.5.1 installed via windows update.

 

Just wanting to get some advice please from the avsim community to fix the problem.

 

Many Thanks in advance.

 

Chris

[Jim Young 2,356]

 

 

After installing Acceleration I only have 1 entry in Add/Remove programs called "Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Acceleration"..... Should Acceleration not be separate?

 

When you uninstall Acceleration, the Add/Remove entry will change to just "Microsoft Flight Simulator X".  Uninstalling Acceleration or SP2 (which is the freeware version of Acceleration), will not affect the installation of FSX.

 

 

 

I downloaded the Vista 32 Bit Version of the uiautomation core.dll and put into main FSX directory which fixed the freeze after 10 mins.

 

Make sure it is one of the versions shown in the AVSIM CTD Guide, page 7.  It's strange that you got a freeze after changing views, right clicking and minimizing the fsx window and the uiautomationcore.dll fixed the problem.  According to every expert I know, the uiautomationcore.dll only fixes freezes from selecting a menu item (right clicking on the panel or window and selecting an FSX menu item at least 19 times).  I personally have not been able to replicate that freeze and many fsx users have had a problem replicating it too.  But many say it happens to them and the uiautomationcore.dll fixes their problem and that's the good thing.  I have never knowingly used the uiautomationcore.dll that's placed in the main FSX folder and I have used FSX since the day of release.  I have had freezes but the uiautomationcore.dll never fixed the problem and I found other reasons for the freeze (see page 12 of the AVSIM CTD Forum - Freezes during a flight and Freezes during loading.  As you know, the uiautomationcore.dll is part of Microsoft.net.  Microsoft.net (the proper version for FSX is 1.1 or 2.0) is installed when you install FSX/Acceleration.  It is used by Microsoft to make sure the application runs properly as they intended, including memory management.  Microsoft.net is not backwards compatible so the latest version only will not work properly and you will see an occasional anomaly.

 

 

 

When I exit FSX I get CTD error message and the fault module is mfc90.dll.

 

MFC90.dll is part of Microsoft Visual C++ 2008.  You need Microsoft Visual C++2008 w/SP1 installed.  See the AVSIM CTD Guide for a link to the proper versions.  FSX w/Acceleration uses Microsoft Visual C++2005 w/SP1.  Addon's you might have installed after FSX/Acceleration will install Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 as that application or addon was developed for the 2008 version.  So, you have an addon that is causing the mfc.90.dll error.  The likely culprits are usually located in the entries in the dll.xml.  In the AVSIM CTD Guide, page 3, you will see how you can disable modules in the dll.xml to troubleshoot.  Once you find the offending application, you should uninstall/reinstall the addon and make sure you install with Admin Rights and UAC is disabled and any ant-virus program is disabled.  We had another member who had this same error and he followed my guidance and found out the Concorde-X was the culprit after disabling that entry in the dll.xml.  There were many, many addon's made with Microsoft Visual C++2008 w/SP1.  Some, like ASN, have since upgraded to the 2010 or 2012 version when they upgraded ASN to the latest version.  Again, the proper version will be installed with the product and product upgrades.  You just have to make sure UAC was turned off and any anti-virus program was not scanning FSX during operation.  You should also make sure FSX is always started with Administrative Rights.  This is done by going to the main FSX folder and right clicking on fsx.exe and selecting Properties.  Under the compatibility tab, look all the way down and make sure Run as Administrator is checked (not done by default).  Make sure no other items on this compatibility page is checked as it could cause anomalies now or sometimes later when running FSX.

 

 

 

I have .Net Framework 3.5, 4.5 & 4.5.1 installed via windows update.

 

Again, make sure you have 2.0 installed.  The only way to find out if 2.0 is installed (it will normally not show up in the Add/Remove Programs) is to open up Windows Explorer and click on the C: or main drive where Windows is located.  In the upper right corner, there's a Search box.  Type in Microsoft.net and it will show you all of the versions you have installed.  Look for v2.050727.

 

Best regards,

[boeingaviation 0]

Hi Jim,

 

Thanks for the quick response. I think I may have the faulting module wrong as this is a fresh install of FSX with Acceleration with no addons tweaks.....I was going off memory for the CTD error.

 

I will test again and come back with the correct faulting module.

 

Also from what you've said about the uiautomation core dll its strange that it fixed my freezing issue but it has.

 

Also with the Microsoft Visuals I believe I have C++ 2005 installer i think which installed with FSX, but I don't think I have SP1 for 2005 with it. I'm a little confused though do I need the 32 Bit versions of 2005 & 2008 and service packs or both 64 and 32 Bit?

 

Thanks,

Chris

[Jim Young 2,356]

Also from what you've said about the uiautomation core dll its strange that it fixed my freezing issue but it has.

 

Also with the Microsoft Visuals I believe I have C++ 2005 installer i think which installed with FSX, but I don't think I have SP1 for 2005 with it. I'm a little confused though do I need the 32 Bit versions of 2005 & 2008 and service packs or both 64 and 32 Bit?

What happens if you take the uiautomationcore.dll out of the main fsx folder. Do the freezes continue? What I think happens is one gets a freeze. They see the uiautomationcore.dll is the "holy grail" of FSX fixes. The place it in their main fsx folder. Freezes stop. Yet no one goes to think that you had to shutdown FSX and memory became stable again. Same as if you restart Windows. Your system is new and refreshed. So really the reason for the freezes to stop was the fact you shutdown FSX, went looking for the uiautomationcore.dll fix, might have restarted Windows, and then you placed the uiautomationcore.dll into your main fsx folder. Freezes stopped. You figure, wow! That was the fix! This IS the holy grail of stopping freezes!  This is what I think really happens because it doesn't happen to everyone.  If it happened to everyone, then I would agree it IS the holy grail of FSX fixes.  In any case, it is always good to see crashes and freezes fixed even if the fix might have been a placebo.

 

A year or two ago I found out that a software developer was installing the uiautomationcore.dll in my main FSX folder when I installed his software.  I was getting crashes and freezes and I could not figure out why.  I ran the program AppCrashView and saw that a version of the uiautomationcore.dll was loading in my main fsx folder.  I was shocked as I didn't put it there and was very upset.  I took it out and the crashes and freezes stopped.  I found out who was installing the uiautomationcore.dll in my fsx folder without my permission and he admitted he was the one doing it but it was a mistake as he forgot to remove it from his installers and didn't realize he was installing it.  He has since removed it from his installers.

 

In regards to the Microsoft Visuals....  FSX only uses the 32 bit versions as FSX is a 32 bit program.  If you have Windows 64 bit version installed, Windows Update may also install the 64 bit versions but FSX will not use them.  You can safely remove any installation of the 64 bit versions if using FSX.  X-Plane is a 64 bit application so they would use a 64 bit Microsoft Visual.  If you have both versions installed, that's no problem.  FSX will only use the 32 bit version.  The 64 bit version is just taking up space on your HDD.

 

The program AppCrashView (the link to the program is on Page 1, AVSIM CTD Guide), will show every crash you had since Windows was installed.  It is better than the Windows Error Reporting (.wer) reports as it shows more data.  It's a great program to have sitting on your computer to run after a crash or an application freeze.

 

Best regards,

[boeingaviation 0]

Hi Jim,

 

Thanks for your quick response.

 

I was told that the freezes may be caused by the CPU voltage being too low. I increased the CPU voltage and it didn't make a difference about 10 mins into flying the sim froze.

 

The freeze was that I could still here sound changing when I pressed the views button, but the view was frozen.

 

I shutdown FSX and put the uiautomation core dll into the main FSX folder restarted FSX and flew around trying every possible thing from pausing/un pausing, menu clicks, changing views and minimizing and expending FSX window so I could still use internet etc.....and no freezing.

 

Gonna test it more in depth tomorrow, but that's when I got the CTD error on exiting FSX not that I was too worried as the sim was working but would be nice to iron out any bugs.

 

Also why is it that when installing FSX off the DVDs it gets stuck at removing applications for 5 minutes then continues the install? Same with Acceleration pack it gets stuck on updating component registration.

 

I saw another member tried extracting the setup files to the hard drive and then running install as administrator and that fixed their problem, but how would that work coz you have to insert a 2nd DVD normally so when it gets to that stage does it just find the files in the folder you've extracted them to?

[Jim Young 2,356]

 

 

Also why is it that when installing FSX off the DVDs it gets stuck at removing applications for 5 minutes then continues the install? Same with Acceleration pack it gets stuck on updating component registration.
I saw another member tried extracting the setup files to the hard drive and then running install as administrator and that fixed their problem, but how would that work coz you have to insert a 2nd DVD normally so when it gets to that stage does it just find the files in the folder you've extracted them to?

 

I really think this is a permissions issue.  Windows 7 and above have so much security to protect you from evil people who want to hurt you.  Microsoft had to do it because too many people complained that 'evil people' broke into their system and wiped out their files.  So, when you are trying to uninstall or install things, Windows looks to see who the user is who's trying to remove something or install something.  If your computer system is not identifying you (i.e., Users/(your username)), Windows balks at completing the task.  This is why we recommend disabling UAC and/or making sure you start the task with Administrative privileges.  Your anti-virus program (if installed) may be causing issues too as it does the same as Windows - protects you from evil people who want to destroy your files because, for the evil people, it's "fun stuff" to do things like that.  So, you are not downloading any files from the Internet when you install a program from your DVD.  You know the DVD contains FSX files and they are considered to be trusted.  So there is no reason to run your anti-virus program because you know the Source and it is deemed to be trusted.

 

Of course, another problem with DVD's is smudges or a dirty DVD where Windows has a hard time reading the DVD.

 

As far as moving the FSX files from the DVD to HDD and then running the setup program.  I have never tried this but understand it does work.  I think you move the files from the first DVD to your HDD and, when it asks for you to insert the second DVD, well.... you insert the second DVD and see if that finishes the installation.  If not, then you will have to copy the second DVD to your HDD and then right click on Autorun and select "Install".  It should then look for your installation so far of FSX and continue the install. 

 

Best regards,

[boeingaviation 0]

Hi Jim,

 

I am the only user on my pc and my account type is administrator.

 

UAC is disabled (pulled the bar right to the.bottom to never notify), the only thing I didn't do is disable my nod32 antivirus.

 

I never thought the my actual discs could be dirty, that could be worth cleaning them and do you think it may be worthwhile doing a repair of FSX & Acceleration once I've cleaned the discs and disabled antivirus.

 

Cheers

[Jim Young 2,356]

I am the only user on my pc and my account type is administrator.

There is also "All Users", "Default User", and "Public" User. "All Users" could include someone who hacked into your computer (highly unlikely but still that's what the security is for).

 

Best regards,

[boeingaviation 0]

Ok thanks Jim, do you think it would be a good idea for me to run a repair with antivirus turned off?

 

Question how do you run the install as administrator (my account is an administrator) but when running off the DVD you can't right click and say run as administrator.

 

So even though I'm the only user on my.pc and under accounts it shows just me as administrator there are still those other ones you have pointed out.

[boeingaviation 0]

Hi Jim,

 

So it turns out my freezing is not fixed.

 

Just loaded up to do a flight in the aerosoft Airbus and same freeze happened about 2 minutes into the game. This time the faulting module was ui.dll.

 

Bit of a loss what to do now.

[Jim Young 2,356]

Ok thanks Jim, do you think it would be a good idea for me to run a repair with antivirus turned off?

 

Question how do you run the install as administrator (my account is an administrator) but when running off the DVD you can't right click and say run as administrator.

 

So even though I'm the only user on my.pc and under accounts it shows just me as administrator there are still those other ones you have pointed out.

I would turn your anti-virus program off.  I cannot advise as I have never used an anti-virus program since Aug 91 when I started computing.  I use the Windows Firewall and now Anti-Malwarebytes because most of the danger is in malware, not viruses.  I have gotten the Russian ransomware malware a couple of times but an anti-virus program would not have stopped it and Microsoft Essentials surely didn't stop it so I decided to get Anti-Malwarebytes.  Whenever there's a fix for a virus or malware, the evil guys find a way around it.  It's fun stuff for them.  When you have your anti-virus program disabled temporarily, you just need to know what you are installing.  Installing FSX or doing a repair is really, really safe.  Downloading something from the Internet is safe too if you know the Source.

 

I'm not going to make a truly big thing about installing everything as an Administrator.  If you turn off UAC, you will not need to run anything as an Administrator as Windows security is turned off.  But, as I recall when I last reinstalled FSX in February, once you start up FSX it will ask you if you want to run FSX with only you as the user or for all users.  Whenever I install something and asked that question I state "all users".  If FSX is installed in the non-default folder, you really do not have to worry too much with this Run as Administrator.  When FSX is in the default folder (Program Files (x86), then you will need to turn off UAC and/or Run as Administrator for everything you do.

 

You can still run the installation of FSX as an Administrator if you go to Windows Explorer, search for the DVD Drive and then look for the FSX setup program and then right click it and select Run as Administrator.  You'll have to back out of any Autorun program if it pops up.

 

If you look for C:\Users, it will show you all of the users for your computer.  You need to make sure hidden folders can be seen.

 

 

 

Just loaded up to do a flight in the aerosoft Airbus and same freeze happened about 2 minutes into the game. This time the faulting module was ui.dll.

 

The ui.dll (user input) freeze is strange.  You might want to check out the following link as this individual fixed it by rebuilding his FSX.cfg (or I think he did) - http://www.avsim.com/topic/473512-uidll-ctd/

 

EDIT:  Forgot to add you might want to check out this link too:  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3092627

 

Hope this helps!!

 

Best regards,

[SteveW 1,792]

Could be a due to a mix of things. First of all, if you've got UIAutomationCore.dll v6.0.5840.16386 placed in the FSX Program Files folder, then leave it there. As Jim correctly states, it's only to prevent CTDs using the in-sim ALT menu in FSX. It may not crash the sim at the same time as the menu is used, so can look like something else causing it. Placing the proper version into the FSX folder ensures it picks that one up, and not the one supplied with the system which, on Win7 and above, is not fully compatible with FSX.

I don't know what addons you are using, but It's possible your errors may be from another program invoked by FSX, maybe an addon that tries to write to a read only folder a few minutes into the sim, or when the sim ends, and then it crashes.

When we make a first user on our Windows computer we are already a member of Admins, that is to say we simply get access to a range of administrative features like Add Users, that would be unavailable otherwise. This does not mean we have proper permissions for addons that install user writeable files in the read only FSX program folder.

If we've installed FSX into the default location (Program Files), unfortunately Running as Admin and reducing the UAC slider is not the answer to most file permission errors with FSX. Instead we simply set the Write permission for the Users group on the FSX program files folder before installing addons: In Explorer, Right-click on the FSX folder and from the popup menu, choose "Properties" -> select "Security" tab -> click "Edit" button -> click on "Users(MyComputer\Users)" group in the top box -> check "Write" and "Modify" -> press OK, OK...

FSX+A installs onto XP, Vista, Win7, 8, 8.1, and 10 with no problems found. When the FSX installer runs, the program will detect user permissions and elevate them for the installation, there's never any need to invoke FSX installations with Run as Admin or change UAC level.

 

Problems only come from addons that install files into the FSX folder, or programs that do not provide the correct permissions when they are invoked by FSX. Programs that run along with the FSX process must have a matching set of permissions or various problems can arise from windows API functions becoming unavailable through a permissions access mismatch.

Running installations after logging on as a different user can have strange effects and cause problems down the road. Example; installing some addons only sets permissions on their folders for the "Installer" and not the "authenticated Users". Generally we can safely add Write and Modify permissions for the Users group, (or add the group if it does not exist), on any folders used by addons or by FSX, and not screw up the security system. This way we can for example, open aircraft.cfg files in notepad and not get an error trying to save the file.

Having said all that your problems may simply have come from some inability to read the DVD successfully as you say it seems to hang or have problems during the installation. I think it's possible to copy the DVDs to a folder and run from there, share the folder and map a drive letter to it. Or maybe simply run the repair functions from the DVDs first.

[boeingaviation 0]

Hi Steve,

 

I have FSX installed into x program files/Microsoft games. This time around I installed FSX buy right click on the setup file on the DVD through windows explorer and going run as administrator & also turned off antivirus.

 

I loaded the simulator & after a few minutes of flying around with default helicopter it froze but I could still here sound as if I were changing through views.

 

I'm going to try some different graphics drivers as I think these may be the cause.

 

I was ran a sfc/scannow which didn't show any errors.

[boeingaviation 0]

So an update.

 

I have no addons installed into FSX and fsx is installed into x:program files (x86) flight simulator x.

 

I copied the contents from FSX DVDS and Acceleration DVD to my external hard drive and ran the setup file as admin from there.

 

I have deleted and rebuilt the FSX.cfg file but still my crash report is for the ui.dll but I have no addons installed into FSX apart from fsuipc and fs real time. I did a test today and noticed that if Ieun fsx in full screen mode which blacks out my 2nd monitor it runs fine. I can then press alt and enter to go into windows mode and it loose the top of the window so I can't press the red x at the top of the window to exit flight sim I have to kill process.

 

I have never ever had so many problems with FSX since I bought it in 2010. And I've had to reinstall it quite a few times.

 

I've got ms visual c++ 2005,2008,2008 sp1, 2010 2012 & 2013 installed. For some reason when I try to install 2005 sp1 it installs but I still only have 1 entry for c++ 2005 in Add/Remove programs.

 

I've also got .net 2.0, 3.5,4.5,4.5.1,4.5.2 and all security updates for it.

 

I decided to try my luck with prepar3d and it installed fine took some time, I can actually fly with it as long as I don't minimize the main p3d window to browse the internet or do other things. If I open them ontop p3d continues running normally but the moment I minimize and then try to restore the window it loads the last view frozen but same as FSX I can hear the sound changing as I cycle through views but view remains on the frozen view.

 

I'm at a complete loss as to what's wrong. I'm 100% sure I installed windows correctly but this time around straight after installing windows I manually downloaded from Microsoft website and install Service Pack 1 for windows 7.

 

Not having any problems with windows itself that's normal it just flight sim.

 

I'm almost regretting upgrading my computer now as before everything was fine.

 

Just FYI I have the power saving feature enabled on my EVGA Supernova power supply and am running an EVGA GTX 970 ftw.

 

Hoping I can get both FSX and prepar3d running properly.