fsx-ms FSX Loading Flight (Terrain Data etc.) suddenly very slow - help!

[VHOJT 172]

Hi there all,

 

I am at a complete loss and almost at my wit's end with this problem I am having.  FSX boots fine.  But where it used to take, say, 20-30 seconds to load a new free flight, it now takes 5 minutes or more.  I have been testing at YMHB and FAJS (both quiet airports) with no traffic, and in the default tricycle thingy.

 

The problem developed on my previous (very clean, low-addon and virtually unused) FSX installation, which I only installed a two months ago.  I removed it and the add-ons and reinstalled from scratch.

 

I reinstalled FSX, and addons one-by-one and the problem has returned the day after I have installed it.  In this installtion, it happened after I installed EZCA V1.16, but I then uninstalled EZCA and the problem is still occurring, so I am in doubt as to whether it caused it.  In the previous installtion, it happened after I installed the Aerosoft Airbus and EZCA had been working fine.  I uninstalled the Airbus and the problem persisted. 

 

I have tried booting FSX not allowing it load any modules, rebuilding CFG, disabling add-on scenery, disabling anti-virus etc, uninstalling add-ons etc.  The drive has defragmented last night.  FSX has its own folder in C drive, anti-virus is excluded from there, and I run it in administrator mode.

 

I don't know what else to try and I obviously can't reinstall every day.  I was hoping some of you on here might have some experience with the issue and/or advice?

 

I have included my log of the FSX install and troubleshooting process below.  The only add-ons I have are listed there.

 

Thanks for any help you can offer me!

 

Cheers,

Rudy

 

 

Log:

 

SECOND INSTALL (AFTER VERY SLOW LOADING TIMES FOR OLD FSX INSTALL)

-- 10/02/16 --

INSTALL FSX

SP1, SP2

**Loading times good**

Install Aerosoft Airbus

 

** Loading times good **

Install PMDG 737NGX

Added PMDG CFG entires WideAspect=True and HighMemFix

Installed UIAutomation Core in FSX Root folder according to PMDG instructions

** Loading times good **

Installed FTX AU + updated libraries

** Loading times good ***

-- 11/02/16 --

Installed EZCA v 1.15 then v 1.16 update

** Loading time slow!! **

Uninstalled EZCA + deleted its AppData

Rebuilt FSX.CFG

Denied FSX acccess to load any modules on start-up

Unchecked all FTX Australia pieces of scenery

Disabled real-time virus protection in Microsoft Security Essentials

Restarted computer

** No effect **

 

Summary of add-ons and system specs:

 

FTX Australia

PMDG 737NGX

Aerosoft Airbus A320/A321

EZCA

 

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM etc.  Don't think system specs have much to do with it as it was working fine before.

[Jetstream96 20]

Do you only experience this issue with FSX? Or other programs loads slowly as well? I had similar issues a few days ago, after running Windows update. Tried to check the hard disk for errors then it became fine.

[VHOJT 172]

Only when loading flights or starting a new flight in FSX.  The program launches fine and the computer is running normally. I'll give your suggestion a go, but I doubt it's the culprit.

 

Thanks for your idea,
Rudy

[VHOJT 172]

Problem seems to have resolved itself after more fiddling, I was still unable to isolate what was causing the problem.  Will see if it returns, which I supsect it might as I haven't found the cause.

 

Updated log below with details of my fiddling in case someone else who has this problem might find it useful:

 

SECOND INSTALL (AFTER VERY SLOW LOADING TIMES FOR OLD FSX INSTALL)

-- 10/02/16 --

INSTALL FSX

SP1, SP2

**Loading times good**

Install Aerosoft Airbus - still good

Install PMDG 737NGX

Added PMDG CFG entires WideAspect=True and HighMemFix

Installed UIAutomation Core in FSX Root folder according to PMDG instructions

** Loading times good **

Installed FTX AU + updated libraries

** Loading times good ***

-- 11/02/16 --

Installed EZCA

** Loading time slow!! **

Uninstalled EZCA

Rebuilt FSX.CFG

Denied FSX acccess to load any modules on start-up

Unchecked all FTX Australia pieces of scenery

Disabled real-time virus protection in Microsoft Security Essentials

Restarted computer

** No effect **

Deleted CFG again (second/third/fourth time)

Disabled all modules except terrain loader (FTX)

Re-enabled Microsoft Security Essentials (FSX folder still excluded from real-time protection/scans)

** Loading times good ***

Re-enabled all modules

** Loading times good ***

12/02/16

Re-enabling FTX scenery in add-on scenery

** Loading times good ***

Restart, start FSX, load Airbus - allow all modules in home screen menu.


** Load times good **

Restart FSX, try again same situation

** Load times good **

Add back PMDG HighMemFix and and Wideaspect CFG settings, try again

** Load times good **

Install EZCA in deafult directory (can't change) + 1.16 update + configure FSX with tool :S

Allow EZCA to run on FSX startup

** Loading times good **

Try computer restart, and start FSX again


** Loading times good **

[VHOJT 172]

Further investigations show that svchost.exe service in task manager is sometimes taking up 50% of CPU when FSX is trying to load.  Not sure how I figure out what has "launched" that particular svchost.exe instance (there are many of them at once), but I'll try and get to the bottom of it.

[VHOJT 172]

It appears to be due to wuaserv.dll (to do with Windows Update) running from that particular svchost.exe.  After several hours of searching and trying a million things to fix the issue (Windows update used to work fine, now it hangs when checking and has this svchost.exe/wuaserv.dll CPU usage problem), good luck to anyone trying to fix it.  Temporary solution is to disable wuauserv apparently - but then, no updates!

[Jetstream96 20]

It appears to be due to wuaserv.dll (to do with Windows Update) running from that particular svchost.exe.  After several hours of searching and trying a million things to fix the issue (Windows update used to work fine, now it hangs when checking and has this svchost.exe/wuaserv.dll CPU usage problem), good luck to anyone trying to fix it.  Temporary solution is to disable wuauserv apparently - but then, no updates!

Maybe just disable "automatically check for updates" and do it manually every a few month. 

[VHOJT 172]

Yeah that'll have to be the way for the time being.  Anyway, as long as the wuauserv service is not running, CPU + FSX are happy!

 

Cheers,

Rudy