Frequent, extended pauses, then textures refresh ...

[Dark Moment 0]

Well, I'm not winning. The sim is freezing and refreshing textures every few seconds, it seems, even with all sliders to the left and a default plane. It's unusable, in fact. What could have suddenly caused this? FS is the only program making any serious demands on the processor. Here's the typical picture during a freeze:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/125932.jpgFor memory, I run two 256 DDR memory chips running at 300GHZ and one 256 I added from another machine that runs at 200GHZ. I believe that means that all three would only run at the slower speed, but could that cause such pauses? I run Windows XP.MarkMark "Dark Moment" BeaumontVP Fleet, DC-3 AirwaysTeam Member, MAAM-SIM[a href=http://www.swiremariners.com/cathayhk.html" target="_blank]http://www.paxship.com/maamlogo2.jpg[/a]

[barryward12345 0]

Just what a/c, scenery, AI combination are you running to get a Commit charge of 700 megabyte?I only have a machine with 512 meg RAM - and I try to keep that down to about 450 meg -- if I go over that by having too much AI, clouds, detailed mesh, etc then I get big pauses.I see that in theory you have an extra 256 meg RAM more than I do -- but that commit charge seems very high to me . Try to reduce it by reducing all sliders until you get it below 512 and see if you still have the pauses. It seems to me that you are trying to do too much with your machineRegards Barry

[Dark Moment 0]

>Just what a/c, scenery, AI combination are you running to get>a Commit charge of 700 megabyte?>>I only have a machine with 512 meg RAM - and I try to keep>that down to about 450 meg -- if I go over that by having too>much AI, clouds, detailed mesh, etc then I get big pauses.>>I see that in theory you have an extra 256 meg RAM more than I>do -- but that commit charge seems very high to me . Try to>reduce it by reducing all sliders until you get it below 512>and see if you still have the pauses. It seems to me that you>are trying to do too much with your machineThanks, Barry, this is what I need to hear. Trouble is, the picture above is with a default aircraft, default KSEA, all sliders left i.e. no scenery detail at all, no autogen. The whole thing is that, up to recently, I have been happily running with most sliders well to the right, 100% traffic and so on, and still maintained an average of 18-19FPS (I lock at 20FPS anyway) with my regular aircraft which is the full version of the MAAM-SIM DC-3. So I'm at a loss as to why this has started happening. But I hear what you say about reducing that commit. I'll do more testing, thanks.MarkMark "Dark Moment" BeaumontVP Fleet, DC-3 AirwaysTeam Member, MAAM-SIM[a href=http://www.swiremariners.com/cathayhk.html" target="_blank]http://www.paxship.com/maamlogo2.jpg[/a]

[Guest baksteen33]

Hi Mark, it's peculiar, sometimes, somebody posts a problem and a couple of days later it happens to oneself... For a brief moment, my sim looked exactly like your screenshot. Rebooting the PC solved it and I wouldn't have a clue what happened inside. Afterwards, I tried to reproduce it by repeating what I did the last session but no way. Using an Ati GPU btw... Anyway, that's not the reason I'm writing. You mentioned that you recently modified the amount and your RAM configuration. Is that when the trouble started? I believe it could be and generally put, it's not such a good idea to run different types of RAM. If you want to know whether your RAM-config is stable/viable, I'ld suggest to download memtest86+ from www.memtest.org and produce a bootable floppy or CD-Rom (i.e. the iso-image version for the CD-Rom). Let it run through a couple of passes and you'll quickly get an idea whether something is wrong or not. If memtest reports errors, one solution could be to manually adjust the timings and frequencies in the bios. Another thought is, that certain chipsets will not function properly if too many RAM-banks are addressed (an Intel i845 to name one). In this case the only solution is to remove one of the modules. I could imagine it's the latter looking at the age of your system. The easiset way to stay out of RAM-related trouble is to stick with 2 module configs. And there are obviously exceptions like the nForce2 chipset. Most 'no older than 4 years FlyTendos' will do well when sticking to the 'twin-module rule'. I'm sorry if this doesn't add to possible driver related shortcomings, Mark, but the exclusion method is also a method... :-) Hope this adds to thoughts, good luck and kind regards Jaap

[ronzie 21]

Before starting FS9 what does your mem usage and PC use look like. Any suspicious processes showing up in the list?The 100% cpu usage can be an app or service looping error, resource (a dedicated area of ram) depletion, or excessive page swapping caused by a ram leak.Have you added any new dlls to the modules folder? These are loaded whether or not the application using them is active.

[barryward12345 0]

Hi MarkIn the screenie below you can see what I am running on my machine when I am 1. Using FSAutostart to stop any processes that I don't need while flying and 2. setup at KSEA with the default Cesna ) most sliders set to around 75% , with some set far right.You can see that I have a total commit charge of 388 meg with FS9 taking up 259 meg of that. Because I have a total of 512 meg, I have plenty of physical memory left for this situation and the page file is not used.If however , I use a more complex a/c in another situation, I can get commit charges that are very close to my total physical memory. I would like to get a further 512 meg of RAM -- but I have 2x256 sticks in the only 2 slots available on my motherboard. So I would have to scrap them and get2x512 sticks. Also, my machine uses 266 type RAM which is no longer available, so I would have to use 333 RAM and I don't know how that would go.Like another poster, I think that maybe you are doing the wrong thing by mixing your RAM types.Regards Barry

[Guest baksteen33]

Hi Barry, indeed, when beefing up your RAM, the safest would be to go for two 512MB modules and with 2 available slots there aren't too many options. RAM is backward compatible so you don't have to worry about frequencies. On the contrary, operating 400MHz sticks (PC3200) at lower frequencies should allow lowering the timings and thus signify another - although very little - performance boost. Another advantage of running higher spec RAM arises when you maybe decide to exchange the mainboard/CPU one day. This scenario would signify having to buy less new components (of course provided, you wouldn't be opting for a DDR-2 system). BTW, it's pretty amazing to see how little processes are active on your end! :-) Good luck and kind regards Jaap

[Dark Moment 0]

RonzieAs I write this, with nothing but AOL running on my computer as an application, my CPU Usage is around 2-5% and my PF Usage 326MB. Total physical memory 785904, available 409400. Processes 58, none of which are showing any CPU usage except System Idle Process and Task Manager.When I boot FS, PF Usage screams up to about 750MB or more. FS seems to have become unusable, with textures refreshing - that is, 100% CPU Usage causing long pauses - within seconds of the sim restarting itself each time. I can't even get to the top right corner to shut it down without the mouse freezing on me each time.All I have added in the way of .dlls in the past few days is the latest FSUIPC and ActiveCamera. The 768MB of physical memory installed is identical excepting 256MB runs at 200MHZ whereas the other two 256MB units (I have three slots) are 300MHZ memory sticks. However, I don't think the problem lies here; I installed the third stick weeks ago and all has been running fine.Your second sentence sounds interesting, but I wouldn't know where to start looking for it. I've chased a ram out of a field before now, but never swapped a page with one.Oh woe is me. Wot to do?Mark "Dark Moment" BeaumontVP Fleet, DC-3 AirwaysTeam Member, MAAM-SIM[a href=http://www.swiremariners.com/cathayhk.html" target="_blank]http://www.paxship.com/maamlogo2.jpg[/a]

[barryward12345 0]

>>When I boot FS, PF Usage screams up to about 750MB or more. WOW! So your FS9 is adding approx 430 megabytes to your memory usage -- something is definitely wrong, I would say. As I said in another post, I try to keep my memory usage to around 450 Megs total including WindowsXP and FS9 -- of course, with higher detailed a/c, that will go up to almost 500 meg -- that is why I could do with some more memory myself. But at 740 megs for you, something is not right.Regards Barry

[barryward12345 0]

BTW, it's pretty amazing to see>how little processes are active on your end! :-) Good luck and>kind regards >>Jaap Hi Jaap.Yes - I run a tight ship around here - no room for slackers!! :)Barry

[Dark Moment 0]

I have discovered a funny in my MODULES folder.There is a file there called FSUI.DLL (no, that is not a typo, I have FSUIPC.DLL as well). I don't recall seeing this file there before, although it is definitely an MS file; I'm wondering whether some download installed it but it's from an earlier sim or something. I have another version of FS9 on another disk, and it's not in that one .... Anyway ... when I removed it from the installation I'm having problems with, and booted the sim, I got all sorts of error messages saying that various .dlls were corrupt and that I would have to reinstall FS9. Yeah, right. When I replaced it, the sim loaded fine with no error messages, although my pause and refresh problem remains.So does anyone else have this file? What is it, anyone?Mark "Dark Moment" BeaumontVP Fleet, DC-3 AirwaysTeam Member, MAAM-SIM[a href=http://www.swiremariners.com/cathayhk.html" target="_blank]http://www.paxship.com/maamlogo2.jpg[/a]

[altstiff 71]

Not sure if this helpshttp://www.fsgateway.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41095XP Home SP2Asus P4P800-SE Intel 3.0GHZDDR 400 D/C 4x512MBLeadtek 6800GT 256MB (77.72)SB AudigyCH Products Yoke/Pedals USBSee you in the fence...CYYZ

[Dark Moment 0]

The thread certainly tells me where it came from and why it's not in my alternative FS9 install which hasn't been patched! Thanks.This doesn't resolve my particular issues, though, unfortunately.Mark "Dark Moment" BeaumontVP Fleet, DC-3 AirwaysTeam Member, MAAM-SIM[a href=http://www.swiremariners.com/cathayhk.html" target="_blank]http://www.paxship.com/maamlogo2.jpg[/a]

[barryward12345 0]

>I have discovered a funny in my MODULES folder.DONT PANIC! DONT PANIC!! FSUI.DLL is quite legit!! :)Barry

[Dark Moment 0]

Yes, worked that out, thanks Barry.I think I've cracked the cause, though. My latest ActiveCamera.dll. When I remove it, everything is smooth as silk again. After three days of trying to find out why, trying everything else under the sun.So now I'm off to find out why. Meanwhile, I'm rolling AC back to the pre-update state.Mark "Dark Moment" BeaumontVP Fleet, DC-3 AirwaysTeam Member, MAAM-SIM[a href=http://www.swiremariners.com/cathayhk.html" target="_blank]http://www.paxship.com/maamlogo2.jpg[/a]