fsx-se Add-on panel causing crash? (and AppCrashView problem)

[Medic1030 0]

Hi folks,

I seem to be experiencing an odd failure/crash issue related to a specific add-on aircraft, and I think I've narrowed the problem down to the panel.

The aircraft is the Beech 1900D by Premier Air Design. Whenever I attempt to load a flight with this plane FSX crashes ("This program has encountered an error and needs to close" or something to that effect). This usually occurs at the very beginning of the flight loading process, just before or just as the loading bar appears. Occasionally it appears at the very end when the loading bar is complete, or rarely I have been able to load a flight successfully (twice) but as soon as I clicked on the first switch or gauge it crashed the same way.

I've tried multiple uninstalls and reinstalls including reloading FSX between reinstalls and loading both a default and add-on flight before reattempting to re-use the PAD B1900D but the problem keeps reappearing, and only with this one add-on aircraft. Finally on a whim I replaced the panel folder with the panel from the default Beech King Air and presto, it works. I can load the flight and fly it with this replacement panel, leading me to the conclusion that there is a problem with something in the panel.cfg or one of the gauges. Interestingly this aircraft came with 2 panel options but the problem occurs with both. I can't find any other reports of this issue so I really don't know where to go next. I'd really like to get this plane working with the intended B1900 panel as others have, seemingly without issue.

I know this is the part where I'm supposed to paste the report from AppCrashView, but that brings me to my second problem... When I run AppCrashView it fails to display a single crash since February of 2014, which happens to coincide with approximately when I used NickN's guide to optimize windows. Wondering if I did something then that somebody can help me out with to reinitiate crash reporting so I can have an idea of what's going on. I fail to believe that this computer hasn't experienced a single crash for 2 years.

Any help anyone can offer with either of these issues would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Corey

 

Edit:

Forgot to mention that I'm running FSX-SE on Windows 7

[charliearon 3,024]

I just did the download and install of the PAD B1900D and the panels worked perfectly both VC and 2D.  Nice

 

aircraft.  No Appcrashes.  I normally go to Control Panel/Administrative Services/Event Viewer to check on crashes.

 

I'm Using FSX Standard Edition with SP1 and SP2 installed.

[Mike777 163]

 

 

Forgot to mention that I'm running FSX-SE on Windows 7

 

Hi, Corey,

 

Does the manufacturer of the addon say that the aircraft works with Steam?  If the installer was not designed to work with Steam, it may still be possible to get it working, but you will need to do some tweaking.  I'm not familiar with this aircraft/addon, but I may be able to help with Steam.  Do you have Steam only on your computer or do you also have the Box version?

 

Mike

[charliearon 3,024]

Hi, Corey,

 

Does the manufacturer of the addon say that the aircraft works with Steam?  If the installer was not designed to work with Steam, it may still be possible to get it working, but you will need to do some tweaking.  I'm not familiar with this aircraft/addon, but I may be able to help with Steam.  Do you have Steam only on your computer or do you also have the Box version?

 

Mike

No installer for this aircraft.  It's basically stick the aircraft folder into SimObject/Airplanes and have at it.

[Medic1030 0]

I only have FSX-SE on my computer, no boxed version. As Charlie mentioned there's no installer.

[Mike777 163]

No installer for this aircraft. It's basically stick the aircraft folder into SimObject/Airplanes and have at it.

Hi, Charliearon,

 

Yes, I just downloaded it and it is a simple manual install. No dll or exe files that might complicate a Steam installation.

 

I noticed there is an updated model -- maybe that will work better. The instructions say that one panel uses only FSX gauges but both appear to have additional gauges. The OP seems to have already tried the supposed FSX only panel -- so the only thing would be to remove the addon gauges from the panel.cfg file one by one -- or get the event viewer to work and show which module is causing the crash.

 

Mike

[charliearon 3,024]

Sounds good to me!  I did do the updated model download and that was the one I was testing.  Maybe

 

I'll give the older download a try.  I tried the 2008 version using both panels and all A-OK!

[Mike777 163]

 

 

I only have FSX-SE on my computer, no boxed version. As Charlie mentioned there's no installer.

 

Hi, Corey,

 

Maybe you could try removing the extra gauges located in the panel folder for the supposed FSX only gauge version, see if the problem goes away, and then add them back one by one, reloading after each addition.  I don't think a missing gauge will cause a crash.  Sorry I don't have time to test this aircraft at the moment.

 

Mike

[Medic1030 0]

Hi, Corey,

 

Maybe you could try removing the extra gauges located in the panel folder for the supposed FSX only gauge version, see if the problem goes away, and then add them back one by one, reloading after each addition.  I don't think a missing gauge will cause a crash.  Sorry I don't have time to test this aircraft at the moment.

 

Mike

Thanks, I really appreciate you guys taking the time to help. I'll try those suggestions. FYI I did try both versions of the aircraft as well as both included panels. Is there a way to tell which of the gauges in the the folder are original FSX gauges and which aren't?

 

Also I'd love to be able to figure out why I'm having this issue with only this aircraft when others aren't. Could it be a problem in my dll.xml or exe.dll files? Would love to get my windows crash reporting back up and running to help solve this if any of you have any ideas.

 

Thanks again.

[Mike777 163]

 

 

Is there a way to tell which of the gauges in the the folder are original FSX gauges and which aren't?

 

By comparing them as to name, size and date saved with those in the main FSX/gauges folder.  When it comes to loading a gauge, a gauge in the panel folder with the same name as a gauge in the FSX/gauges folder I believe will take precedence over the fsx/gauges folder.  But I looked at a few (not all) and the names are different.  However the designer is using several cab files -- maybe he took gauges out of fsx stock cab files and put them in these.  Not easy to know why one of the panels is called "stock FSX."

 

 

 

Could it be a problem in my dll.xml or exe.dll files?

 

Always a possibility, but I doubt it since this plane doesn't install any dll or exe files of its own.  That is a common problem in Steam with older complex addons, but often they can be made to work by editing those two files to point to the correct location.

 

Mike

[Jim Young 2,356]

 

 

Wondering if I did something then that somebody can help me out with to reinitiate crash reporting so I can have an idea of what's going on. I fail to believe that this computer hasn't experienced a single crash for 2 years.

 

If you have any programs that clean up your system or your system registry (I use Advanced System Care but many use CCleaner), it will remove any crash reports (.wer).  Many crashes (which are not really crashes) appear in the System Event Viewer (see page 2 for what to look for there as you MUST look in the Summary of Administrative Events and no other logs).

 

 

 

Could it be a problem in my dll.xml or exe.dll files? Would love to get my windows crash reporting back up and running to help solve this if any of you have any ideas.

 

In the AVSIM CTD Guide, page 3 (see link in my signature), we show you how to investigate your dll.xml/exe.xml:

 

• Disable modules in dll.xml and exe.dll– Sometimes a module you have installed is corrupted or is somehow duplicated in the dll.xml.  You can check to see if any modules are the cause of your crashes by disabling all modules (except the first one). Change the parameter ‘False’ in the line <Disabled>False</Disabled> to True or simply move the dll.xml and exe.xml to a temporary folder and restart your program.  If the problem is fixed, move the file back to the proper folder and enable each module one by one until the culprit is found.

The Beech 1900D does not use the dll.xml or exe.xml to load anything required for the aircraft so you could move your dll.xml to a temporary folder, load the Beech 1900D and see if it still crashes.  I really doubt anything is wrong with the dll.xml as you would get a crash during startup if it was anything in the dll.xml and you wouldn't even see the setup screen.

 

I really think your issue is with a gauge not being where it is supposed to be so it's an installation problem with the Beech 1900.

 

Best regards,

[Medic1030 0]

.

 

I really think your issue is with a gauge not being where it is supposed to be so it's an installation problem with the Beech 1900.

 

Best regards,

Jim,

 

I think you're bang on here. When this aircraft is first selected FSX asks for permission to run various gauges (6 of them I think), which I've done after each reinstall whenever prompted. So what I did now was I removed the B1900 folder from my simobjects folder, renamed it and reinserted it in simobjects, restarted FSX, then reselected the B1900. Not sure if all of that was necessary, but this achieved my goal, which was for FSX to re-ask for permission to use those files. This time I said no to all, and what do you know, the plane loads and flies without crashing. Now I'm guessing I just have to give permission for these files one at a time until I find the culprit that causes the crash. Once I do I don't know what to do next but it'll be a start. Still find it odd that these gauges aren't an issue for any others using this plane.

 

Also, I do have CCleaner so ill temporarily disable it.

 

Regards,

Corey

[Jim Young 2,356]

 

 

I do have CCleaner so ill temporarily disable it.

 

You don't need to disable it.  Just saying that when you do run the program it will remove Windows Error Reporting (.wer) files and these are used by AppCrashView.

 

That's strange the aircraft works after saying no when asked for permission to load a gauge.  Where is FSX installed?  In C:\Program Files (x86), the default or did you take the installation outside of the default and install it in C:\FSX or D:\FSX as recommended by many.  Gauges are subjected to false positives too many times and, if you have an anti-virus and/or anti-malware program, you should exclude the FSX folder from being scanned by the program.  You should have seen a "nag" telling you a virus or malware has been found in such and such a gauge but sometimes it is missed.

 

You also should have User Access Controls disabled (see page 6 of the CTD Guide).  I would also take ownership of the FSX directory (see page 9 of the CTD Guide for the link to this file and how to use the utility).  Make sure FSX is always started up with Admin privileges:  right click on FSX.exe in your main FSX directory, select properties, select the Compatibility tab, then look down and make sure it shows a tick mark next to always using admin privileges for ALL users (not just you).

 

I saw in your OP you used Nick's guide for optimizing Windows.  That's good but I hope you also used the AVSIM FSX Configuration Guide (see link in my signature) for configuring FSX (especially if you want good AA).

 

Best regards,

[Medic1030 0]

Alas, I seem to have partially figured out the problem.  The crash is being caused by GPWS_Sound.gau.  When I don't give this gauge permission to load everything works perfectly. When I do, FSX crashes on loading the flight.  This is a repeatable error so I'm going to say that I'm pretty confident that I've narrowed it down, though it doesn't seem to make much sense.  I'm not sure exactly what this gauge does, but based on the name I'm assuming that it's involved somehow with the warning sounds associated with the GPWS.  I can live without this. I'm a curious guy though, so I have a nagging need to know why I'm experiencing this problem while others aren't. Seems strange.  If anyone thinks they know why this is causing a crash or how to fix it please let me know, otherwise I'll go on enjoying my plane without it.

 

 

 

That's strange the aircraft works after saying no when asked for permission to load a gauge. Where is FSX installed? In C:\Program Files (x86), the default or did you take the installation outside of the default and install it in C:\FSX or D:\FSX as recommended by many.

 

 

I did not install it to the default location. It's installed directly in c:\steam\steamapps\FSX.  My anti-virus is set to ignore this directory as well as the fsx directory in my user appdata location.

 

 

 

You also should have User Access Controls disabled (see page 6 of the CTD Guide). I would also take ownership of the FSX directory (see page 9 of the CTD Guide for the link to this file and how to use the utility). Make sure FSX is always started up with Admin privileges: right click on FSX.exe in your main FSX directory, select properties, select the Compatibility tab, then look down and make sure it shows a tick mark next to always using admin privileges for ALL users (not just you).

I saw in your OP you used Nick's guide for optimizing Windows. That's good but I hope you also used the AVSIM FSX Configuration Guide (see link in my signature) for configuring FSX (especially if you want good AA).

 

 

Yep, all this is done except for taking ownership of the FSX directory, but now I'll likely do that too!

 

 

Thanks everyone for all your help so far.

 

Corey

[N60JBravo 27]

That gauge is looking for a non-existent .ini file.

 

When it can't find the file, crash.

 

regards,

Joe