terrain.dll CTD in P3D4.4

[samisahusky 13]

I posted this in P3D website forums but no response so I'm hoping for better luck over here:

I updated to P3D4.4 and updated all the add-ons that had updates. I was able to do 1 flight from KDTW-KJFT in Aerosoft CRJ900 without issues, but now I have tried 3 times to do a KJFK-OERK flight in the PMDG 747-400 and each of the 3 times somewhere over Europe P3D will become unresponsive with Windows Event Viewer giving terrain.dll as the fault. The message is below:
Faulting application name: Prepar3D.exe, version: 4.4.16.27077, time stamp: 0x5bfdbb35
Faulting module name: terrain.dll, version: 4.4.16.27077, time stamp: 0x5bfdbaa6
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00000000000e316f
Faulting process id: 0x251c
Faulting application start time: 0x01d4c958dddeaf6f
Faulting application path: C:\Users\Steven\Desktop\P3Dv43\P3Dv43 MAIN INSTALL\Prepar3D.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Users\Steven\Desktop\P3Dv43\P3Dv43 MAIN INSTALL\terrain.dll
Report Id: f6c8d6f4-3593-11e9-b060-d43d7e4c88bd

The 1st time was right after coming over the western Ireland coast, the 2nd time was just south of London, and the 3rd time was over the boarder of Austria and Hungary. Needless to say, to get that far takes 5+ hours and for that entire time, there are no problems at all and everything runs great. But I can't make it past Europe without Terrain.dll causing a CTD.

I do have ORBX Global Base pack, ORBX Global Vector, and ORBX Libraries installed and updated. Here is a screenshot of how they are listed in priority for P3D: http://prntscr.com/mnzsr9 http://prntscr.com/mnzsx9 and I am not sure if somehow they are causing the conflict of not. Since I don't know if this is an error that comes up quickly over Europe, or if I need to fly for many hours then go over Europe for it to be an issue, I can't say that uninstalling ORBX and trying the flight would or would not work. I don't have 26 hours available to test that.

I have already tried deleting the common files and letting P3D recreate them. I didn't have any of these issues in 4.3 and again, if it has an update, its been installed. 3 hour flight over North America was fine. Takeoff from KJFK and all the way over Northern Atlantic is fine but once I get into Europe, there are issues.

 

Update: I deleted and reinstalled all ORBX add-ons using the guide https://orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/137 ... nt-1267421

I forced migration for all ORBX add-ons and then relaunched the sim and set up a flight plan from Galway Ireland to Bucharest Romania and back to Galway and left it going in the PMDG 747-400 at FL350 while I went to work. Just got home and it never made it over England before Terrain.dll caused P3D4.4 to become unresponsive (somewhere around EGUN or EGUW airport).

At this point, I don't feel it is a ORBX issue because I've ensured all the files were correctly installed and everything displays as it should as far as ground textures go. The only adjustments I made to the P3D settings after deleting regeneration files was to remove the pause on task check and to set cloud draw distance to maximum per ActiveSky. All other settings were left as default.

I ran the test using everything I would normally use to fly (ActiveSky (updated), Aircraft (PMDG747-400, updated), ProATCX (no update available), ChasePlane (updated), and UTLive (update to 1.2 causes utl_client.exe to not work properly on my system so I'm still using 1.1) with the exception of Delta VA ACARS because this isn't a valid flight) to see if the reinstall and forced migration of ORBX along with deleting regeneration files worked, but it did not. This is clearly an issue over Europe and not a timing issue. The sim couldn't have been going more than 30 minutes after I left for work because it made it from Galway Ireland to about 25NM west of the eastern coast of England before it crashed. In the flight I was trying to do when the problem presented itself, i was able to fly from KJFK all the way to Europe without any issues which is 5 or 6 hours into the flight.

Can ANYONE help me understand whats causing this issue? It is always flagged as Terrain.dll as the fault in Windows Event Viewer.

I would really like to enjoy this new update of the $200 simulator I have but I can't if more than half the world in unflyable 😞

[Jim Young 2,356]

According to the AVSIM CTD Guide, page 38, it is usually caused by too high settings, especially Autogen.  This possible solution was found by searching the Internet for the cause of this error.  It has also been known to happen on a "whim".

54 minutes ago, samisahusky said:

Faulting application path: C:\Users\Steven\Desktop\P3Dv43\P3Dv43 MAIN INSTALL\Prepar3D.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Users\Steven\Desktop\P3Dv43\P3Dv43 MAIN INSTALL\terrain.dll

According to your error report, the error was caused by you loading P3DV4.3.  You have P3DV4.4 installed so I would say your computer is confused, very confused...

[samisahusky 13]

That’s very strange because I deleted content, scenery, and client before then installing 4.4 ... also help/about in P3D reads 4.4 along with the new client, content, and scenery files in windows reads it as 4.4

 

i think you’re seeing the folder path which is a folder I made on the desktop of windows to install P3D into and called it P3Dv43 MAIN INSTALL ... everything P3D related has its own folder for install inside the desktop/P3Dv43 folder ... it’s just a folder name that was named that to organize where everything would be installed for P3D which at that time was version 4.3

 

aside from misreading the folder name path, what makes you think it’s reading it as 4.3?

[samisahusky 13]

Also, it’s not on a whim, because it happens 100% of the time I fly or test anywhere in Europe, but not anywhere else. 

 

Settings were left left as default after I tried deleting regeneration files, which are lower than they were when I had 4.3 installed without any issues. The issues presented itself only after the update to 4.4 and on lower settings in P3D. I have spend the better part of 4 days scouring the internet and trying every suggestion or fix and nothing has worked. Again, this issue is specifically only over Europe. A flight over half of North America had no issues, and a flight from North America, over part of Canada, and over the entire North Atlantic had no issues. The fault does not happen until I come over Europe. 

Edited February 22, 2019 by samisahusky

[Jim Young 2,356]

58 minutes ago, samisahusky said:

That’s very strange because I deleted content, scenery, and client before then installing 4.4 ... also help/about in P3D reads 4.4 along with the new client, content, and scenery files in windows reads it as 4.4

You cannot delete content, scenery, and client before installing 4.4.  You have to go in the Add/Remove Programs and uninstall client v4.3 then install client 4.4; uninstall content 4.3 and install content 4.4; uninstall scenery 4.3 and then install scenery 4.4 or you can uninstall all of them at once and then install each for v4.4.  There's a system registry that might be corrupted plus you have leftover 4.3 stuff.  You could try to run a Registry Cleaner and that might remove all of the 4.3 stuff and you should manually delete anything showing v4.3 too. 

If the problem is only in Europe, then you should uninstall any addon for that area, run P3Dv4, and then reinstall the addon(s).  Or, you could also disable those European add-ons, run P3D and see if this fixes the problem.  If it does, then you know it is one of the add-ons.  The terrain.dll error is extremely rare in P3Dv4.  It use to be a common error in FSX but I rarely see any crashes associated with that module. 

When updating from v4.3 to v4.4, you should not use the old P3D.cfg but think it is overwritten when v4.4 is installed.

[samisahusky 13]

Per the install guide from P3D website when updating P3D, you should go into add/remove programs and uninstall client, content, and scenery prior to installing the update ... that is what I did. Uninstalling 1 then installing its replacement is only if you are updating parts of the update but if downloading and installing the full update exe (recommended by P3D) then you have to uninstall all 3 then run the update exe. 

 

Again i ask, aside from misreading the folder path which the FOLDER is named “P3Dv43/P3D MAIN INSTALL” where are you seeing that it is still 4.3? From my 1st post, but not quoted on the reply:

Faulting application name: Prepar3D.exe, version: 4.4.16.27077, time stamp: 0x5bfdbb35
Faulting module name: terrain.dll, version: 4.4.16.27077

 

both P3D and terrain.dll are reading as 4.4

 

I dont have any europe specific scenery. I have ORBX global installed which has been uninstalled, reinstalled, and reforced migration. The only ORBX global install file that is Europe specific is the OpenLC_EU which has been uninstalled and reinstalled with the rest of the ORBX files listed above. This has not fixed the issue. 

 

Aside from deleting the P3D update and downloading it and reinstalling it, I have followed all other suggested documentation from P3D to isolate/resolve the issue without any luck. The link I posted above is a massive troubleshooting guide from P3D that I have followed for anything that’s relatable and it had not resolved the issue. 

 

I am reluctant to say it is a settings issue because it worked fine over NA, Canada, and NORAT without so much as FPS even dipping below 10 even at KJFK with 100% UTLive traffic and GSX Level 2, but it cannot even make it more than 30 minutes over Europe without this issue popping up. If it was an issue with settings too high it should have Presented elsewhere also, right? Especially at KJFK with that much going on, but it ran fine for 6 hours after that until I got over Europe. 

Edited February 23, 2019 by samisahusky

[Afterburner 374]

If I were you, I would bite the bullet and uninstall/reinstall P3D v4.4 from scratch (actually, I would wait for v4.5, which is said to be released possibly next week) and then install the add-ons. Who knows, something could have gone wrong when you updated P3D from v4.3 to v4.4. Even though it is a simple undertaking to update the sim, you can never rule out that updating the client, content and scenery may replace some files from existing add-ons or their leftovers that may trigger the crash.

If the crash will happen again after a fresh installation, then we need to look somewhere else. I know the whole procedure takes some time, but believe me, it may be worth it.

[samisahusky 13]

I was actually considering this, Afterburner. I had to do the same when I got GSX Level 2 because it turned out a DLL was not coded properly for Windows 7x64. Umberto was able to patch that pretty quick once we had gone thru all the other troubleshooting steps. I've suspected since updating to 4.4 that something didn't go right because even UTL update wouldn't work (utl_client.exe would launch on startup but never initialize in the sim) but I was the one person to have such an issue. So between that and now constant terrain.dll issues but only over Europe, I feel something somewhere has gotten corrupted. I learned from my mistake of not backing up my AI traffic and the Airlines from UTLive which is really the most time consuming part of the past full uninstall/reinstall.

 

Since I didn't have issues with 4.3, could I just revert back to 4.3 for now? I'm halfway done with my work week and I feel like a full uninstall/reinstall would best be done on my days off, but in the meantime, if I can revert to 4.3 then I could still log some hours over the next few days.

[Afterburner 374]

I would revert to 4.3 to see if that fixes the terrain.dll crashes. If yes, then you can assume that something was not fully compatible with 4.4 or that something was broken in the update process, and you can enjoy flying over Europe. However, if the crashes continue to occur, I would then completely uninstall the sim with all add-ons and clean install v4.5, which should be available soon. I hope that it's a win-win situation in both cases.

For your information, I experienced that terrain.dll crashes can be related to an incorrect scenery library hierarchy in conjunction with ORBX add-ons. See here: 

 

[samisahusky 13]

I'm about to revert to 4.3 and test.

I've done some research on scenery library hierarchy for ORBX in the past, and in the 1st post, I attached 2 links to screenshots of where ORBX files are set and should be correct from what I've read. The screenshots are from the Lorby P3Dv4 Addon Organizer (the only Europe scenery I have aside from ADE updates to some airports in EU is the "ORBX!OPENLC_EUROPE1" file that is part of ORBX Global LC

14 hours ago, samisahusky said:

Here is a screenshot of how they are listed in priority for P3D: http://prntscr.com/mnzsr9 http://prntscr.com/mnzsx9

I'll let you know how 4.3 goes. I'll have to revert and then may have to remove some updates from some files (PMDG did not like if you updated their product but not the sim as I found out a month before upgrading to 4.3 from 4.1) and then I'll try the flight plan I created from Galway Ireland to Bucharest Romania and back to Galway. That roughly covert the extent of Europe I was trying to fly over on the KJFK-OERK route. I'll have to leave it running while I get some sleep but if it is still running when I wake up then I'll know 4.3 is good.

[Afterburner 374]

Oh, sorry, I didn't realize that these were two separate links. I thought if was only one link to the screenshot...

Well, to me the scenery library arrangement looks good. It should not be a source of concern. However, what about "FSX lights?"  Are they compatible with P3D v4?

[samisahusky 13]

They are just light objects that look like they would be for adding in ADE in an ADE library. not sure why they are listed as an addon scenery. I'll remove it as part of the testing. Apparently I've that file since back in 2008 and have just kept porting it over to each new update, never caused any issues tho since they are just design objects. They should be a ADE library and not a scenery. I wouldn't have made it a scenery unless the airport I was using needed it to be. But then it still wouldn't explain the error not happening over or near a specific place, but rather randomly over a large area (1st time was Ireland, 2nd time was England, 3rd time was Romania)

[Jim Young 2,356]

12 hours ago, samisahusky said:

Again i ask, aside from misreading the folder path which the FOLDER is named “P3Dv43/P3D MAIN INSTALL” where are you seeing that it is still 4.3? From my 1st post, but not quoted on the reply:

Your OP shows in the error report the 4.3 folders.  I just wanted to bring them to your attention as something went wrong.  Why is the OP error report showing P3DV4.3 terrain.dll?  When Windows throws an error report, it throws in the relevant folders involved in the crash.

I have no further suggestions for fixing your problem.  Good luck!

[samisahusky 13]

Jim, the OP shows the folder paths, that you quoted, and below that shows the faulting program and module located within those folders, which are showing as 4.4 in the OP ... you are seeing the folder name and path in the quote you gave. I could have named that folder anything but the P3D exe and the terrain dll are both showing as 4.4 within the folder that was only named 43 because I made those folders when I did a clean install of 4.3 6 months ago. 

 

Afterburner, the timing of reinstalling 4.3 took longer than expected last night so the test flight is running right now but I’m at work. ORBX files and ActiveSky files will need to be adjusted for the revert back to 4.3 because they are not showing correctly. But on a flight plan crossing Europe twice with PMDG747-400 and ProATCX running. I’ll let you know the results when I get home in about 9 hours

[Jim Young 2,356]

41 minutes ago, samisahusky said:

Jim, the OP shows the folder paths, that you quoted, and below that shows the faulting program and module located within those folders, which are showing as 4.4 in the OP ... you are seeing the folder name and path in the quote you gave. I could have named that folder anything but the P3D exe and the terrain dll are both showing as 4.4 within the folder that was only named 43 because I made those folders when I did a clean install of 4.3 6 months ago. 

When AppCrashView or the Event Viewer retrieve data on a crash or freeze it throws out all applicable elements which caused the error.  In this case, it said the faulting module and app was v4.4 and 4.3.  I'm trying to figure out why the Event also provided the relevant information about 4.3 too.  I see you are moving back to v4.3 so this error will probably be solved soon and you can get back to using the sim again without an error.