CTD Crash To Desktop P3D 4.5 since 2 days

[Steff Fabiano 0]

hi community,

everything worked fine and stable, but 2 days ago, P3D v4.5 suddenly CTD again and again. I checked WIN10 updates (no updates available) and other parameters, because I did not change anything in the days before. P3D CTD at different times, after 80% of loading, after 100% loading and pushing back, or after a longer flight while taxing in.

do you have any suggestions what might be the problem ?

thanks, steff

[ailchim 213]

Have you checked what Windows updates happened automatically in the days BEFORE the crash started?  It seems to me that automatic Windows Visual C++ updates can unsettle P3D.  

If the dates of Visual C++ updates look look to tie in with the onset of your P3D crashes, go to Microsoft, download all the latest Visual C++ versions  (2005 is still there somewhere) and run the installers yourself.  I may be delusional but when I look at Reliability Monitor, P3D crashes often seem to follow on from Visual C++ updates.

[787flyer 633]

It could be a number of things.

Any clues in Windows Event Viewer for a faulting module? That may give you a lead.

Also what VRAM do you have left? Maybe this is reducing to such a low level P3D drops out.

 

Usually CTDs upon loading have something to do with scenery add-ons loading  so my advice to rule this out is to install Lorby Add-on Manager, make a backup of your P3Dv4.5 files and then set about disabling your P3D add-ons  to determine which one is likely causing an issue.

 

Other things to consider:

 

• Delete your Shaders folder after any Windows update (or Nvia/AMD driver update)
• Backup up your Prepar3D.cfg file and place it somewhere safe. Delete the original file and let P3D build another one.

 

[Steff Fabiano 0]

Tanks for your replies.

I will check what Visual C++ updates have been installed lately.

faulty modules ... how can I identify them inside event manager, do they have a special tag ?

VRAM ... could be it, but how is it possible, that all days before VRAM is fine, but next day reducing to low ?

Shaders ... what is the main topic behind shaders inside P3D, what is it´s function ?

thanks a lot, steff

 

[Steff Fabiano 0]

I made some further investigations and found P3D v4.5 crashing to desktop when starting PUSHBACK or leaving the RWY at airports (e.g. EDDK, LOWI, EDDS), no problems in the air.

Is this behaviour typical for a known problem ?

Thanks for any ideas.

Steff

[Rogen 1,095]

11 hours ago, Steff Fabiano said:

I made some further investigations and found P3D v4.5 crashing to desktop when starting PUSHBACK or leaving the RWY at airports (e.g. EDDK, LOWI, EDDS), no problems in the air.

Is this behaviour typical for a known problem ?

Certainly not typical behaviour.

There are three things I do as first steps in tracking down CTDs in P3D.

• Delete the shader cache       (these will rebuild automatically)
• Delete the Scenery indexes   (these will rebuild automatically)
• Rename the Prepar3D.cfg    (for testing only, I never delete it as I have a ton of settings changes with)

After that it's a process of elimintation to track down which is relatively easy to do if things are installed within Libraries.

I usually start with the last added or tweaked addon, or do a bunch at a time to narrow down.

Could also be something in the dll.xml or exe.xml, again don't delete, rename so you can come back to it if it is not the issue.

I also use the P3D Addon Organiser from Lorby where I have 25 Auto Discovery Library locations for scenery and aircraft etc. (none are in the "Documents" path).

It's a very useful tool as P3D's Addon Organiser is as buggy as.

Cheers

[Steff Fabiano 0]

Thanks Rogen,

is Lorby Organizer almost the same as SimStarter, where you can manage (on/off) add-ons seperately ?

I will check shaders, scenery indexes and p3d.cfg again.

And you suggest to switch on one add-on after another, to check the faulty ? So start P3D after each add-on again and again ?

Thanks, Steff

[Rogen 1,095]

I don't have Sim Starter and don't know what it offers.

The Lorby Addon organiser is for managing addons, if Sim Starter also provides such reliable same options feel free to use it.

And yes I mean disable (or enable) as a process of elimination.

Starting with the most likely suspects first and keep notes, it's easy to get out of wack when following processes of elimination.

I started having a CTD myself a few weeks ago, fortunatelly easily solved by a clean of the shaders and indexes.

Cheers

[Ray Proudfoot 9,032]

On 7/16/2021 at 12:35 PM, Steff Fabiano said:

I made some further investigations and found P3D v4.5 crashing to desktop when starting PUSHBACK or leaving the RWY at airports (e.g. EDDK, LOWI, EDDS), no problems in the air.

Is this behaviour typical for a known problem ?

Thanks for any ideas.

Steff

I had an identical problem a few years back. P3D would crash as soon as the wheels left the ground. Turned out to be a problem with FSUIPC which populates a table of Ai that are airborne. Having the AIG package there were more Ai than the table could cope with. This only happened when running Radar Contact ATC program which uses that data.

If you’re using FSUIPC make sure you have the latest version. V6.1.2

https://forum.simflight.com/topic/80977-updated-modules/

You don’t say if this problem occurs with all aircraft or only one. Third party or default?

We need as much info as possible to assist you. 4.5 is a very stable version so it’s likely to be an addon causing the problem. Do you have GSX? If so, temporarily disable couatl.exe from running. That controls the running of GSX.