PMDG 747v3 Hang/Freeze at Cruise

[nicky3762 2]

Hi all,

I'm new to the PMDG 747v3 and have been slowly learning to fly it. It's a work of art and runs very well. However on my long haul flights I've noticed a strange issue; it freezes for a period of time, runs for a bit, then freezes again, and repeat.

I can spend an hour prepping and taxiing on the ground and it never happens, then during climb there'll be a very short hang (<5s), the duration and frequency of these hangs increase until at around an hour into the flight the plane is essentially unflyable (freeze 30s, run 5s etc). It's not just the plane that hangs, the entire sim hangs even in the save flight dialog. There is no time acceleration, no custom camera software running, and very little running programs in the background. I've tried reinstalling FSUIPC and the plane itself to no avail. A lengthy search on the internet also turned up nothing like it - there are lots of PMDG 777 hang issues but none on the Queen II perhaps cause it's still quite new?

The only way round this is to save and reload the sim every so often which is not always tenable especially online. Anyone have advice? TIA.

Regards,

N

[vc10man 732]

Check you have not set Auto-Save in FSUIPC

[pracines 823]

Just to confirm that in my experience just yesterday I flew the 747 v3 from SBKP to NTAA (12h45m), I had no such issue. I was monitoring the flight for approx. 90-98% of the time.

I'm using Win10 version 1703 build 15063.138

P3D v3.4 with HF3

I do not use FSUIPC auto save, and this could be the culprit.

Another possibility is an anti-virus software issue.(?)

You said on your "long haul flights" you have this issue, are you saying that on a 3-6 hour flight all is well?

It may be a good idea to post your full system specs/details, and confirm that you read and followed the first 33 pages of the introduction manual, as these contain so many excellent problem preventing/solving points and requirements.  

[scandinavian13 5,192]

2 hours ago, nicky3762 said:

The only way round this is to save and reload the sim every so often which is not always tenable especially online. Anyone have advice?

As Rick said, it sounds a lot like FSUIPC autosave.

As Paul mentioned, as well, it may also be an anti-virus program interfering.

[nicky3762 2]

Good day gentlemen, thank you all for your replies.

I have of course read all the documentation in their entirety (save for the 1606p FCOM) and took all the necessary steps to ensure proper operation. During the course of my initial internet searches I came across the FSUIPC auto-save solution a couple of times (which worked for some people on other PMDG craft) but didn't pay any attention to it as I do not have a premium subscription to the program. However, now that you guys mention it again I realize while I do not have auto-saves in FSUIPC set, a flight tracker that my VA uses does - via FSUIPC. I'm descending right now and will turn off the feature during the turnaround to see if the issue arises on the return leg.

Fingers crossed it doesn't. Will update again for posterity if this is indeed the solution.

[nicky3762 2]

Pleased to confirm that the cause of freezes during cruise is VA tracker initiated auto-saves through FSUIPC. Have now done a 6 hour flight without incident. Conclude that PMDG aircraft don't play well with FSUIPC auto-saves, period. Thank you guys.

[scandinavian13 5,192]

14 minutes ago, nicky3762 said:

Pleased to confirm that the cause of freezes during cruise is VA tracker initiated auto-saves through FSUIPC. Have now done a 6 hour flight without incident. Conclude that PMDG aircraft don't play well with FSUIPC auto-saves, period. Thank you guys.

Yeah. This is due to the heaps and heaps of information that get saved in order to ensure that a loaded flight loads properly later on, since the sim doesn't track most of the data we need for our aircraft to properly initialize. If you save often enough, things start to back up on the processor. Since the sim is still very processor-dependent, the result is stutters.

[Captain Kevin 586]

Interesting thing is that I had one instance where it was constantly freezing for a good period of time, then it would run for five seconds before freezing again. As I don't use FSUIPC, I'm ruling out the auto-save. I ended up exiting the simulator and restarting it, and never had the issue since then. Not really sure what caused it, but that was the only time I ever had that happen.