Prepared not working

[jetsmell 45]

The Prepared screen comes up. When I click on any part of it like choosing an aircraft etc. I get a pop up message that basically says;

Windows needs to shut down. When that message is clicked on, the Sim disappears.

[Chock 17,769]

Have you recently installed anything into the sim which has prompted P3D to start doing that, or did it just start behaving like this all of a sudden? If you have, then that would indicate that something is clashing with something else in the sim's config files when it cranks up. So...

There are a few things you can try. First up, you can go to Avsim Commercial member Lorby's website - http://www.lorby-si.com/ - and download and install the freebie utility - addonorganizer_1_42_b03.zip. Running this will allow you to check and disable suspect add-ons which might be the cause of problems with the sim loading up properly. Alternatively, you can go into the main P3D installation folder and find the file - Delete Generated Files - and click on that. Don't worry, doing that won't uninstall things from your sim, but it will then let you start up P3D and sequentially allow you to choose which add-ons you want P3D to enable, which can obviously help you determine what, if anything, is causing an issue. 

I've found that nine times out of ten, these steps will invariably sort of start up issues with P3D.

[Jim Young 2,356]

Most likely a problem with the P3D.cfg and one of the two dll.xml's.  Rename or delete and restart P3D.  The default location for the dll.xml is in the same folder as the scenery.cfg.  It will be rebuilt.  The one in the same folder as the p3d.cfg is the former default and some developers like to use this location. The AVSIM CTD Guide, page 33, provides more information about this error.  These two files are loaded at startup as well as your photoscenery.

It also could be an issue with Windows files.  Use the System File Checker to look for missing or corrupt files (page 15, CTD Guide).

[John_Cillis 2,406]

3 minutes ago, Jim Young said:

Use the System File Checker to look for missing or corrupt files (page 15, CTD Guide).

I must caution against using System File Checker, unless it has been improved.   I had problems with my system and thought they were due to corrupt files, but I was not getting blue screens, just occasional CTD's with FSX a long time ago on a Gateway computer I had purchased.  I ran system file checker and immediately started getting blue screens two to three minutes into my Windows session.  I had to return the system, surmising my problems were due to heat causing the file corruption, since the place where my system was wasn't well ventilated.

My current system is out in the open, on my apartment breakfast counter, which is why I chose my apartment, since it was the perfect place for a computer with its access to a power outlet they put there.  In addition to internal cooling I use a cheap $9.00 table fan blown at an angle to the ventilation openings in my system, which keeps the temps near arctic conditions, which Intel cpus just seem to love.

A CTD at the start of P3D may be due to a blown scenery file index, find and delete all of them, paying attention to the last scenery you installed which is almost always the culprit.  Either that or the default aircraft you are using may not be right for P3D, P3D still has the old bug where certain aircraft will cause it to CTD, it was never fixed.  The solution to that is easy--back up your P3D.CFG file just in case and delete the original.   That will let P3D rebuild itself at the defaults.  The XML suggestion is also an important one, in case an addon has added something incompatible with your P3D release.  System File Checker should always be a last, last resort.

John

[Jude Bradley 659]

11 minutes ago, John_Cillis said:

I must caution against using System File Checker, unless it has been improved.   I had problems with my system and thought they were due to corrupt files, but I was not getting blue screens, just occasional CTD's with FSX a long time ago on a Gateway computer I had purchased.

John

Small World,John. I used to work for Gateway, back in the last century. I covered IRL/UK tech support back in the 90's - 2006. 

[Jim Young 2,356]

8 minutes ago, John_Cillis said:

must caution against using System File Checker, unless it has been improved. 

Disagree.  This is a Microsoft approved program and is updated with every update to Windows.  I suspect something else caused your error but you say you got BSOD's right after running it.  Did it indicate whether any corrupt files were found and replaced?  In any case, the System File Checker is safe (or it would not be in the AVSIM CTD Guide).  I did a Google check and did not find anyone else having issues with this Windows program but, maybe back in the Gateway days they might have had issues.

[John_Cillis 2,406]

1 minute ago, Jim Young said:

 Did it indicate whether any corrupt files were found and replaced?....

Yes, it did, and that was when my problems began, because Windows Update had been applied, and Windows Restore, which I ran first, did not remove all the updated files.  So System File Checker mixed the old with the new.  My last Gateway System, which ran FSX quite well, was also hosed by the Windows Update Process, because Microsoft dropped support for Vista after my system advised me I needed Windows update and before I applied that update.  So what happened?  My Gateway, which was a dependable, solid piece of hardware, they built their systems like tanks just like my current MSI Vortex, got stuck in an indefinite loop that could not even be broken out of in Safe Mode or DOS mode, trying to load update files that it could not find over the web.

I've worked in various WAN management roles, until my retirement due to disability four years ago, since 1989, mostly as a business systems LAN implementation instructor.  At Holiday Inn and Best Western and Doubletree we invented "Cloud" computing for our hotel clients and I was the lead tester in those programs.  We started with token ring, moved to CAT 5 because it supported longer, more reliable runs in certain business situations, especially 40 or 50 story hotels where some of our Point of Sale systems in rooftop lounges interfaced with our servers down in the basement, which interfaced with our servers at our corp. HQ's in Atlanta (Holiday INN), Phoenix and Cincy (Doubletree), and Phoenix and all over the world (Best Western).

I am not arguing with you Jim that you do not know your stuff, but I know mine quite well, and if you browse Best Western's website or Harley's Hotel booking portal, you will see two websites I helped architect for their reliability.  I wrote the specs on Harley's portal, because that project had stalled.  I started it again, because even in Agile environments you need documentation, and in its first month of operation it saved Best Western more than two million dollars.  That is what allowed me to go out on disability and support three households, my ex wife's my daughter's and my dingy old apartment in Phoenix even as I suffer from early onset pancreatic cancer.

JC