Am I Suffering In Silence? Or is it me....

[polk2 15]

No its not just you.

Its the main reason I won't try X-plane,or even keep up with the every update in P3D, or even look into new products.

Life is just too short to keep on troubleshooting snags and problems , I dont tweak anymore.

 

Then there are products that are so confusing, i don't even get to the stage on the You Tube review where the endless options can be chosen and what every selection on the 50 choice list does  Ezodk/Chaseplane etc.

 

This hobby will drive you crazy if you let developers trap you into a riddle solving nightmare everytime you try and update/upgrade something

 

 

 

[FLNG 6]

Glad to see this thread as I have been wondering the same things.  I switched over from FSX last year and, while the OOM's are gone, the are definitely more problems of other types in P3D (at least in my case).

I have the most issues it seems with EZDocV2 and FSUIPC5.  EZCa2 frequently can't remember some camera settings on some planes yet other times it can.  FSUIPC5 seems able to redefine axes or link up double axis assignments etc.

I have a couple aircraft where if I save them in a scenario and load it later, some of its features won't work.  If I create the flight from scratch, all is well.  (I know about saved states - that's just not it ) 

I have used all these in FSX for years and am and familiar with their setup.    These are just a few examples.  As the OP pointed out, there's always something.....

  I make mistakes sometimes like anyone else, but there's something else going on in P3D (V4.3 in my case).

 

Cheers

Jeff B.

[Patco Lch 1,464]

Like conducting an orchestra. Trying to get each section and then the individual elements in each section to play together in harmony. Oh but isn't it sweet when it happens!?

Doesn't it feel victorious to finally get something to work after many frustrating hours of Google and Utube research. And then rarly use whatever it was but you just had to make it work. Couldn't walk away defeated. Flight sim is an inexhaustible hobby. Takes time expense, patience and tenasity. Certainly not for the plug and play genery. You have to love it or you will eventually leave it.

[Chuck Steinmetz 6]

4 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Not really Chuck. All your saving is a bit of loading time. What caught my eye in your post were problems with FSUIPC5 and throttles disconnecting. Is that something that happens occasionally or more often? Make sure you have the latest version of FSUIPC5 as earlier versions are not supported.

It shouldn’t be too difficult to sort out the hardware side. List what you have and the problems. Ideally you should raise it in the FSUIPC forum. Paid version or free one?

I believe the throttle issue is related to a USB going to sleep - I upgraded computers and needed to change the settings.  But then of course today the brake and flaps stopped working.  The fix was to swap out the USB port.  I have found the FSUIPC forum to be helpful - he demands that you know your stuff, but honestly that has made me a better user.  I do have the latest version and it's paid.

In general, I started this hobby about as naive as you could get when it comes to any part of the inside of a computer....today, while I couldn't program one to save my life at least I know what a config file is and how to make a change.....but I may never know the difference between 'local' and 'roaming' in my user folder.

To the gent (pracines) that mentioned Jetline Systems' customer service - you are spot on.  By far the best because at their core they are good people.  There are other great companies in this hobby - some not so good - but in general most of you like the opportunity to help out where you can.

So while I'm not crazy about another NE win tonight (sorry) I do have a better sense that I'm not alone and I won't get nearly as frustrated the next time things go wrong.  Thank you.

Edited February 4, 2019 by Chuck Steinmetz

[raymie 81]

Thanks Chuck for your original post on this topic and other fellow simmers who have responded. I have found this topic to be both very interesting and informative at the same time.

I feel very fortunate that I have not had very many stressful hair pulling flight sim issues that have caused me to lose any sleep.For me as a real world pilot who can only afford to currently fly via flight simulation I have only been grounded a few times with just several CTD's in P3D 3.4, pre-installed on a two year old Jetline computer and at times the dread 32 bit "OOM". Like many other flight simmers, I too suffered through several Microsoft Windows 10 Update "Screw-ups". Eventually I will probably move on and update my Jetline with another 1 TB SSD and put the latest version of P3D whether it be version 4 or a version 5 if and when that hits the market.

For the most part, I have adopted a "KISS" philosophy (Keep It Simple Simmer) especially with P3D 3.4. Other than aircraft addons & F1 GTN750 & 650, the only scenery addons I have are from Orbx. I have stayed away from all of the other software addons that seem to enhance the flightsim experience greatly but also stirs the so-called flightsim pot with a lot of potential program problems and crashes. I would very much like to add a real world feel to my flight sim experience with hardware addons such as rudder pedals and multi-engine throttle, prop and mixture set-ups, however I am afraid that I too may be hit with a "sleepy USB" so for now, I will stick with my 9+ year old Saitek X 52 throttle and Joy stick which still works well. 

Again, thanks for the great post and informative thoughts. By the way, I was not all that crazy either how the Super Bowl turned out but it is what it is!

[Bob Scott 7,716]

I've found that, as in flying the plane, checklists are a Godsend for making sure I don't forget to do the whole littany of important "little" things before loading things up for a flight.  Before i started doing that, I experienced a recurring rash of midstream aggravations, like realizing that my destination scenery isn't active when I'm halfway there, forgetting to export the makerwys data to my ATC program so it can't see the runways on my shiny new addon airport, getting that surprise "a Couatl update is available" message because I didn't pre-emptively run LiveUpdate, not physically checking the departure and arrival airports etc.  Once I got methodical about it, the unhappy surprises really dropped off to noise level.

Some of the unhappiness mentioned above, like USB ports going to sleep, are checklist items I address anytime/every time Windows gets an update...I have a small list of things to check, like making sure the update didn't re-enable power saver settings on the USB ports, didn't re-enable the nVidia HD Audio drivers on my video card (it conflicts with my primary sound card), and didn't make my network shares disappear on the remote PC that runs weather/ATC/EFB.  I have a checklist for adding scenery to the sim that makes sure I get the scenery in the proper place in the config hierarchy, that I disable any conflicting ADE/AFCAD in MyTraffic, that I check the SODE gateway install, that I've checked the position of GSE and clutter around a couple of preferred parking spots, and that I actually sit a plane down on the field post-install in day and night conditions looking for things like elevation problems, misplaced or doubled-up objects, lighting issues etc.  And once I've done it, I log it in a spreadsheet so I can check if it's been properly prepped for use.

Checklists are a tried and true way of methodically managing complexity...a way of making sure you look at the important things every time  They're a great way of learning from all those little mistakes, rather than continuing to make them over and over again, which really does detract from the joy of a flawless simulated flight.

Regards

 

 

[Ray Proudfoot 8,932]

5 hours ago, Chuck Steinmetz said:

I believe the throttle issue is related to a USB going to sleep - I upgraded computers and needed to change the settings.  But then of course today the brake and flaps stopped working.  The fix was to swap out the USB port.  I have found the FSUIPC forum to be helpful - he demands that you know your stuff, but honestly that has made me a better user.  I do have the latest version and it's paid.

That's an easy fix. Control Panel - Device Manager and then right-click on each USB Hub and choose Properties.

Go to the Power Management tab and ensure "Let this device go to sleep" is unchecked.

You don't mention your yoke and throttle make but generally they prefer USB2 ports to USB3. You will have a couple of those so try to plug them into those if they're not already.

Windows 10 updates do have a tendency to switch those power mgmt settings back on so it's something you need to watch.

[Rocky_53 1,566]

11 hours ago, Chuck Steinmetz said:

I've been flightsimming for several years.  I've watched the progress of P3D and many addons.  But I'm wondering if I'm the only one who seems to run into issues w/ the software.  It's very possible that it's set/up operator error....

I'm not questioning performance - I'm lucky enough to have purchased my computer(s) from Jetline Systems and they are solid machines.  I run a FDS Jetmax single seat 737 Sim w/ Simavionics software.  I also network Pilot2ATC on a third computer.

It took some learning to get everything set up  - but all seems to work well.  Once in a while I run into a glitch w/ P2ATC, but no ATC software is perfect.  The Simavionic software is rock solid.  Where I seem to run into issues is w/P3D (V4.4) and addons.

And where I get really frustrated is after spending the time setting up sim, the weather, the flight plan, the route, etc, etc...inevitably I run into an issue w/ something not working correctly....an airport, addon, FSUPIC/Throttles may disconnect, the jetways are sitting up in the sky, the plane is 5 feet into the ground or in the airport, a chunk of something is missing, etc....and there is no consistency to what the issues are so tracking them down becomes difficult.

I have learned to reboot my computer(s), make sure the are talking to each other, keeping my software up to date, make sure I've run the elevation config in Vector w/ any additional software as a part of my 'preflight' almost every time.  And yet just as you are ready to fly or start in earnest something comes up.

So am I nuts?  Is it just me?  And while I have no real desire to switch over to X-Plane (again, this has nothing to do w/ performance) are there fewer issues in this area w/ that software?  I know they have made many improvements in other areas.

So that's it - I felt I had to vent after an unsuccessful attempt this AM.  If this doesn't sound familiar to anyone else than it's definitely operator error and I'll keep reading forums like this and other for ways to improve my reliability.

Thanks!

Chuck

Chuck... I share your frustration and thoughts 150%! I too am getting rather miffed with the whole simulation thing, for the very reasons you pointed out.

[dajetking747 0]

Hello. I have a 777 jetmax with overhead, 2 jetline computers. I noticed someone mention earlier about USB. My setup has a 777 printer and for some reason the printer stopped working - I couldn't figure out why it stopped printing - it had power, the computer recognized it, all settings were correct but wasn't printing. Then I remembered purchasing a 3.0 USB cable for the printer, swapping out the 2.0 USB cable.  This is when the printer stopped working so I decided to reconnect the printer with the 2.0 USB cable and it started to print again. My conclusion, too much power / data transfer with the 3.0 USB cable for the printer to handle. 

[Christopher Low 5,341]

I had one of these moments last night when the "loading autogen scenery" part of the loading process suddenly started taking excessive amounts of time (to the point where I had to load P3D again). I remembered something similar happening several years ago, but I could not remember the solution. Fortunately, I found an old thread on the UK2000 forum that I had posted at the time.....and I realised that I had disabled the scenery entry that called the autogen model files! The P3D loading process was searching for them without success, which is why it appeared to have virtually stalled.

Edited February 4, 2019 by Christopher Low

[vc10man 732]

11 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Maybe I’m just lucky because I’m enjoying P3D v4.4 with the PMDG737, plenty of 3rd party airports, Orbx FTX Global, GSX, EFB 2, Ultimate Terrain Europe and USA and Active Sky. Can’t remember when I last had a crash.

There are minor problems to sort out. SODE jetways not working at some airports but I hope to have those fixed with downloads. Keeping firm control of layering in scenery.cfg is always good.

More or less as per you too, except I have finally figured out SODE jetways and GSX, as last night I flew from simWings LEPA using FSL's A319-115, and I got the jetway to operate. Same at UK2000's EGPF.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,932]

Rick, I had customised the jetways to make them transparent in P3D v3 but then switched to v4 and it remains a task outstanding. Seeing your pax embarking / disembarking is really cool.

GSX has made P3D so much better. I’ve almost forgotten the £100+ I spend on AES credits.

[Litmoose 90]

I'm in the same boat too, to the point where I've barley flew in the last few months, even considered knocking it on the head completely. Its just got to the point where I'm questioning is it really worth the time, effort and money. It just feels like every flight has become a chore.

 

Making sure everything up to date which has become a massive task now with the amount of addons we all have, then turning 2nd PC on and making sure everything is turned on and working correctly. Then decide where to fly and create a plan for it.

 

Then finally, start the sim up and start a flight, by this point its taken about 30mins. Then you get airborne after about an hour, then like what happened in my first flight in about a month it crash's to desktop with no warning 10minutes after take off. At that point I just rolled my eyes and shut everything down.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,932]

@Litmoose, can you list your hardware and software? If these crashes are frequent try a simple VFR flight with no plan, default aircraft, no weather and fly in an area where you have no 3rd party addons.

If you can fly around without any crashes that’s a start. I appreciate it’s not very exciting but when you’re trying to find and fix problems reverting to as simple a setup as possible is needed.

Are you sure there isn’t an entry in Event Manager? That would be odd.

[vc10man 732]

18 minutes ago, Litmoose said:

I'm in the same boat too, to the point where I've barley flew in the last few months, even considered knocking it on the head completely. Its just got to the point where I'm questioning is it really worth the time, effort and money. It just feels like every flight has become a chore.

 

Making sure everything up to date which has become a massive task now with the amount of addons we all have, then turning 2nd PC on and making sure everything is turned on and working correctly. Then decide where to fly and create a plan for it.

 

Then finally, start the sim up and start a flight, by this point its taken about 30mins. Then you get airborne after about an hour, then like what happened in my first flight in about a month it crash's to desktop with no warning 10minutes after take off. At that point I just rolled my eyes and shut everything down.

Feel your pain too. I too go through that same gamut of preparing a flight, etc, etc. and can fully understand a CTD when it happens. But 9 times out of 10 it is generally user-related. Maybe an add-on that was not configured right or that particular add-on called for a .dll that causes the CTD? Or maybe a user pushing the boat too far and the sim not accommodating? Who knows.

But like Ray, I too operate PMDG's high-end stable of aircraft, plus FSL, with a ton of add-ons, such as Active Sky-----which incidentally made a good weather engine at LSZH as snow flakes came tumbling down, and fogged the surrounding area t night as I searched for Rwy 28 at LSZH----EFB2, and, touch wood, have not experienced major issues. All this on an i5-4670k o/cd to 4.2GHz via a EVGA GTX970 4Gb.