737 Freezes Mid Flight

[torontorob 0]

Hi,
When I fly a flight in P3DV4.2 with the PMDG 737, the simulator freezes for about 10 seconds, and then resumes as if nothing happened. This happens multiple times on a flight and usually starts within about 10 minutes of take off. It does not appear to be a frame rate issue as the frame rates do not drop when it freezes. I fly the PMDG 737 NG for P3DV4 and use multiple ORBX add ons, all specifically made for P3DV4. It does not appear to cause any damage, nor does it crash the simulator, it is just annoying. I have done the exact same flight (Victoria BC, to Vancouver BC), with the P3DV4 default Beach Baron, with no freezing at all. I have read some posts about auto save. In FSUIPC the auto save is not checked, so I assume it is off. I do not have Pro ATC X, so that would not be the issue either. If someone could advise me how to correct this problem I would appreciate it.
Thanks
Rob Singer

My System is an Intel I7 - 4770  with an Nvidia 1080 graphics card. 

[downscc 1,327]

Hi Rob... agree.  Those pauses, hangs, or freezes are what I call long frames.  As far as I've been able to determine this is a problem caused when P3D loads scenery objects.  Some scenery is designed to minimize this (eg Flightbeam) and some not so much (most others).  It has nothing to do with frame rate as you noticed, and it has nothing to do with most Orbx scenery except when you combine their SCA region with something like LatinVFR KSNA you can really get some nice long frames.  I've read reports where even some default scenery objects cause this.  Note that a scenery object is not the airport scenery but a part of it such as objects that are developed using a 3D CAD program and converted into models in the scenery... things such as terminal buildings, towers, shipping dock cranes, etc.  I keep hoping that the next update to P3D eliminates long frames, and each release does have revised code improving performance using multi-threading, but I'm starting to think it may require a new rendering engine.  Maybe P3Dv5?

[torontorob 0]

Thank you for your quick and detailed response. If the problem is caused when P3D loads scenery objects, why do I not have this problem with the P3DV4 default plane, but do have it with the PMDG 737? Would it not mean that there is an issue with P3DV4 and PMDG 737?

Rob Singer

[scandinavian13 5,192]

2 hours ago, torontorob said:

Thank you for your quick and detailed response. If the problem is caused when P3D loads scenery objects, why do I not have this problem with the P3DV4 default plane, but do have it with the PMDG 737?

The NGX is a pretty complex aircraft. The default aircraft really isn't complex at all - no complex model, no complex VC, no FMS to run in the background, simple displays...and so on. Load times in P3D are going to be the sum total of everything that needs to be loaded. Orbx products are extremely heavy, in terms of system load. With the NGX also being pretty demanding, you're going to have freezes if your settings are high enough. Your system needs time to load all of that in. If it can't manage it, it'll hold up the sim until it can.

[torontorob 0]

Thanks for taking the time to respond and for the detailed explanations.

Rob Singer