This information was extracted from the FileMon log.Where MSFS indicated missing files they were indeed missing.Could these things be solwing down MSFSX?I am trying to get a feel for reading the log informationto properly "spot" possible problems that could be slowingdown MSFSX.Event#******120 7:39:03 AM fsx.exe:3412 QUERY INFORMATIONC:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight SimulatorXSceneryWorldTEXTURE009c2an6.agn NOT FOUND Attributes: Error I looked and verified that this .agn file is is not there.Is it supposed to be? .. my first thought is yes because MSFSX is looking for it. But, I do not know for sure. What is an ".agn" file type anyway?***********************************121 7:39:03 AM fsx.exe:3412 QUERY INFORMATIONC:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator XSceneryWorldTEXTURE.CAB NOT FOUND Attributes: ErrorShould TEXTURE.CAB be there?****************************202 7:39:04 AM fsx.exe:3412 READ C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator XSceneryGlobalTextureVEH_AIR_FUELTRUCK01.DDS SUCCESS Offset: 0 Length: 128 203 7:39:04 AM fsx.exe:3412 QUERY INFORMATIONC:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator XSimObjectsGroundVehiclesVEH_air_fueltruck01_smtextureVEH_AIR_FUELTRUCK01_BUMP.DDS NOT FOUND Attributes: ErrorThe file was not found in this directory. But, look down the pagehere to event #207to event #207. It was later found in another directory.*******************************************************204 7:39:04 AM fsx.exe:3412 QUERY INFORMATIONC:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator XSimObjectsGroundVehiclesVEH_air_fueltruck01_smtexture.CABNOT FOUND Attributes: Error 205 7:39:04 AM fsx.exe:3412 QUERY INFORMATIONC:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator XSimObjectsGroundVehiclesVEH_air_fueltruck01_smtextureVEH_AIR_FUELTRUCK01_BUMP.BMP NOT FOUND Attributes: Error 206 7:39:04 AM fsx.exe:3412 QUERY INFORMATIONC:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator XSimObjectsGroundVehiclesVEH_air_fueltruck01_smtexture.CABNOT FOUNDAttributes: Error207 7:39:04 AM fsx.exe:3412 QUERY INFORMATIONC:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight SimulatorXSceneryGlobalTextureVEH_AIR_FUELTRUCK01_BUMP.DDSSUCCESS Attributes: A******************************208 7:39:04 AM fsx.exe:3412 OPEN C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator XSceneryGlobalTextureVEH_AIR_FUELTRUCK01_BUMP.DDS SUCCESS Options: Open Sequential Access: Read 209 7:39:04 AM fsx.exe:3412 QUERY INFORMATION C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator XSceneryGlobalTextureVEH_AIR_FUELTRUCK01_BUMP.DDS SUCCESS FileStandardInformation 210 7:39:04 AM fsx.exe:3412 READ C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator XSceneryGlobalTextureVEH_AIR_FUELTRUCK01_BUMP.DDS SUCCESS Offset: 0 Length: 128 211 7:39:04 AM fsx.exe:3412 QUERY INFORMATION C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator XSimObjectsGroundVehiclesVEH_air_fueltruck01_smtextureVEH_AIR_FUELTRUCK01_SPECULAR.DDS NOT FOUND Attributes: Error 212 7:39:04 AM fsx.exe:3412 QUERY INFORMATION C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator XSimObjectsGroundVehiclesVEH_air_fueltruck01_smtexture.CAB NOT FOUND Attributes: Error 213 7:39:04 AM fsx.exe:3412 QUERY INFORMATION C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator XSimObjectsGroundVehiclesVEH_air_fueltruck01_smtextureVEH_AIR_FUELTRUCK01_SPECULAR.BMP NOT FOUND Attributes: Error 214 7:39:04 AM fsx.exe:3412 QUERY INFORMATION C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator XSimObjectsGroundVehiclesVEH_air_fueltruck01_smtexture.CAB NOT FOUND Attributes: Error 215 7:39:04 AM fsx.exe:3412 QUERY INFORMATION C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator XSceneryGlobalTextureVEH_AIR_FUELTRUCK01_SPECULAR.DDS SUCCESS Attributes: A

I wrote about this when I ran filemon against FS9--seemed these searches in FS9 were causing a memory leak, which I subsequently fixed by placing the "missing" files where the sim expected them to be.Essentially, MSFS will look for a file in its "expected" location, then it follows a "search" pattern, so to speak, until it finds the file (or doesn't find it). You can sort of see the pattern emerge in your example here--I recall one of the places the sim will subsequently look is in a texture.cab file because it assumes that's a possible location for a texture. I was able to markedly improve FS9's long term performance by using my filemon results to locate and move files to their expected location. I don't know whether the same potential for improvement and cleaner memory usage would extend to FS-X, but you might want to take these results, locate the files you can, and place them where the sim searched "first".Regards,John

John,Thank you for the information.I assumed when MSFSX is installed all ofthe files would be in the correct directoryand no searching would be required then.I have never deleted any of these files.Also I seen references to like Atlanta scenery but I was not even near Atlanta. At the timeI was at KEGE (Colorado). Wonder why MSFSXwas looking for that stuff?I also seen references to Las Vegas. If thesim is looking at far away places .. no wonder things get slow!If I do not know the original location to getthe file from .... it is a problem?The CAB file ? Guess it would be on a CD?Should TEXTURE.CAB be on my hard drive?****************************C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator XSceneryWorldTEXTURE.CAB NOT FOUND Attributes: ErrorHappen to know anything about the ".agn" file types?SceneryWorldTEXTURE009c2an6.agnWhat is an ".agn" file type anyway?I seen a lot of "hits" on this file type.Wonder why they are missing?I never get error messages from MSFSX saying.... cannot find a file.***********************************I do not have any addon aircraft or scenery in MSFSXso this all has to be original MSFSX stuff.>I wrote about this when I ran filemon against FS9--seemed>these searches in FS9 were causing a memory leak, which I>subsequently fixed by placing the "missing" files where the>sim expected them to be.>>Essentially, MSFS will look for a file in its "expected">location, then it follows a "search" pattern, so to speak,>until it finds the file (or doesn't find it). You can sort of>see the pattern emerge in your example here--I recall one of>the places the sim will subsequently look is in a texture.cab>file because it assumes that's a possible location for a>texture. >>I was able to markedly improve FS9's long term performance by>using my filemon results to locate and move files to their>expected location. I don't know whether the same potential>for improvement and cleaner memory usage would extend to FS-X,>but you might want to take these results, locate the files you>can, and place them where the sim searched "first".>>Regards,>>John

Hi Vaughan,those .agn files are the autogen placement files (trees and buildings) for the ground textures. What is odd about the file names flagged as read errors in Filemon is that they really don't exist in FSX. Instead, those particular classes of textures have their autogen information hardcoded in another file.After I noticed those agn file calls (the same read errors were flagged in FSX RTM too) I spent quite a bit of time monitoring for memory leaks or performance issues but haven't discovered any. The FS9 memory leak of land class files with parallel empty texture folders is definitely gone. I assume the reason ACES set it up this way is to provide flexibility for third-party add-ons. We now have much better options in terms of providing custom autogen definitions for land class and polygon textures.I also wouldn't worry about the calls for the .cab and other files; it seems to be the usual "back chatter" with FS and Filemon logs.In my experience, Filemon logs become helpful with problem solving if a file shows access errors hundreds or thousands of times per minute. That usually indicates that something is wrong. A few read errors here and there are nothing to worry about.Cheers, Holger

"What is an ".agn" file type anyway?"An agn file is an autogen file... Essentially, it's a file which defines what trees, structures, etc... will be displayed for any specific ground texture.I guess my question would be, have you ever installed any FS-X add-on? If not, then these could well be missing files or misplaced files (in the case where a file was found but not in the first location looked at) that were just never caught during the original sim design and testing. Filemon is a great tool for finding such issues, but I don't think it is often used other than in an "investigative" mode.As for looking for a file when you're nowhere near the location, a buggy Afcad or bgl can cause that to happen--could be a buggy original file but hence my question regarding add-ons. If you've tried installing an Afcad or two, some issues can be caused there.But given the complexity of the sim, the thousands of files that make it up, this type of error might be fairly common.Regarding texture.cab being on your hard drive, ideally you want to find the file the sim is looking for and place it in it's first expected location. The sim is apparently coded to look at texture.cab as a backup, but by then (if FS-X behaves as FS-9) does it is too late and some available memory may be lost.When I used filemon to examine my FS-9 install, it was due to a terrible problem I had with memory slowly leaking away. I had read somewhere that if MSFS goes hunting for files, even if it finds them, it could cause a memory leak. Turned out to be very true in my case. I had installed a "patch" for the seasonal texture issue way back when, and liked the results so much that I kept it. Unfortunately, I placed the textures in the wrong location. MSFS found them, but the constant hunting leaked memory to the tune of about 2 megs a minute. After 90 minutes of flying, I'd have nothing left and the sim would start to stutter since my system would then have to fall back on "virtual" memory. Once I isolated this problem with filemon, I moved the textures to the right location and voila! The other day I had MSFS running for thirteen hours, and it was running as smooth at the end as it was at the beginning.Regards,John

"In my experience, Filemon logs become helpful with problem solving if a file shows access errors hundreds or thousands of times per minute. That usually indicates that something is wrong. A few read errors here and there are nothing to worry about."Thanks Holger,I should have added that to my second reply--in my original FS9 example, I was getting the errors dozens of times a minute. To this day I still get an odd missing file error in the sim when I watch filemon, but nothing with a profound impact on performance.By the way, you might be the one to ask--do landclass files made with Landclass Assistant or Russ's tool work in FS-X? I've been real curious about that. I don't have a working FS-X set up yet, otherwise I'd try it myself.John

When I got MSFSX I found it unusable on my system:Dell 8400, Intel 530 P4 HT 3GHz, 2GB memory, ATI 1650 PCIe 512MBMy original memory was 1GB, the ATI card was 800PCIe 128MBSo, I never used it until the SP1 came out. I did however do a few of the suggested tweeks: Fiber time, trees, buffer pools ... that was it. I never got the frames above 10-15 FPS with the default Baron.I did not install any addons. No aircraft, no scenery, no afcads .. there was not a need to ... because the program was unusable to me.It is beyond me how I could be missing files ... if FX really needed a missing file I would expect to see a message ... because if FileMon shows MSFS is trying to find it ... MSFS should be able to post a message saying Not Found ... just like it indicated in FileMon.I really, at the moment, at a loss on what to do.If I had never looked at FileMon's log I may have been better off!But now I know there are possible "file" problems and I would really like to use FX. But, with my current 10-12 FPS at busy airports with the Baron58 .... if I installed the Level-D 757 (not available yet) it would be unusable.So, needless to say, I really appreciate you comments and guidance here. I may find one missing link that I can fix to add another 10FPS and I (and possible others without DualCores) would be all set.Once again, help on understanding why does the sim have to "find" files. They should be in specified locations. Not found = error message. I do not have a good grip on this part yet!>"What is an ".agn" file type anyway?">>An agn file is an autogen file... Essentially, it's a file>which defines what trees, structures, etc... will be displayed>for any specific ground texture.>>I guess my question would be, have you ever installed any FS-X>add-on? If not, then these could well be missing files or>misplaced files (in the case where a file was found but not in>the first location looked at) that were just never caught>during the original sim design and testing. Filemon is a>great tool for finding such issues, but I don't think it is>often used other than in an "investigative" mode.>>As for looking for a file when you're nowhere near the>location, a buggy Afcad or bgl can cause that to happen--could>be a buggy original file but hence my question regarding>add-ons. If you've tried installing an Afcad or two, some>issues can be caused there.>>But given the complexity of the sim, the thousands of files>that make it up, this type of error might be fairly common.>>Regarding texture.cab being on your hard drive, ideally you>want to find the file the sim is looking for and place it in>it's first expected location. The sim is apparently coded to>look at texture.cab as a backup, but by then (if FS-X behaves>as FS-9) does it is too late and some available memory may be>lost.>>When I used filemon to examine my FS-9 install, it was due to>a terrible problem I had with memory slowly leaking away. I>had read somewhere that if MSFS goes hunting for files, even>if it finds them, it could cause a memory leak. Turned out to>be very true in my case. I had installed a "patch" for the>seasonal texture issue way back when, and liked the results so>much that I kept it. Unfortunately, I placed the textures in>the wrong location. MSFS found them, but the constant hunting>leaked memory to the tune of about 2 megs a minute. After 90>minutes of flying, I'd have nothing left and the sim would>start to stutter since my system would then have to fall back>on "virtual" memory. Once I isolated this problem with>filemon, I moved the textures to the right location and voila!> The other day I had MSFS running for thirteen hours, and it>was running as smooth at the end as it was at the beginning.>>Regards,>>John>

Hi John,I'm not familiar with the specifics of LandClass Assistant but EZ-Landclass output works in FSX.However (!), there have been a number of significant changes to class and autogen designations, which can lead to unwanted results in FSX (e.g., rain forest trees in Colorado). I've made a table and visual catalog that highlights the differences: http://forums.simflight.com/viewtopic.php?t=57245More importantly, I have found that land class files compiled with the FS9 resample.exe tool clash with the new FSX photoreal image scenery (the one that puts all its textures in the bgl file itself). If they occupy the same LOD5 cell FSX will crash at 30% loading. The same land class files re-compiled with the FSX SDK resample.exe work fine.One more tip for working with the FSX resample.exe: you need to define the NullValue= parameter in the inf file. By default it is set to 255, as opposed to the 254 used for "transparency" in FS9. Keeping it at 255 will result in display issues with the resulting land class file.Cheers, Holger

If you really want FSX itself to let you know that a specific file or texture cannot be found, add these lines to your fsx.cfg file's Scenery section:MissingLibraryAlert=1ShowMissingTextureAlert=1The first will popup a message box if a Library Object is missing.The second will popup a message box if a specific texture is missing.

Thanks Holger...Good tips to know, especially if I update LCA for FS-X :)-John

Bill,Thanks for that information.I will do as you said and then fly around a bit and see what comes up.I bet if there are enough errors it could cause some serious flight "stutters" as I read the error message(s).>If you really want FSX itself to let you know that a specific>file or texture cannot be found, add these lines to your>fsx.cfg file's Scenery section:>>MissingLibraryAlert=1>ShowMissingTextureAlert=1>>The first will popup a message box if a Library Object is>missing.>The second will popup a message box if a specific texture is>missing.

Did circles around KDTW and KATL ... had the same "hits" in FileMon but no errors reported my MSFS.Where will the error show up .. in the sim or in a file?I checked the event log, nothing there.I assumed the error would show up in the sim and I would then have to click it off ...??>If you really want FSX itself to let you know that a specific>file or texture cannot be found, add these lines to your>fsx.cfg file's Scenery section:>>MissingLibraryAlert=1>ShowMissingTextureAlert=1>>The first will popup a message box if a Library Object is>missing.>The second will popup a message box if a specific texture is>missing.

>This information was extracted from the FileMon log.>-SNIP->203 7:39:04 AM fsx.exe:3412 QUERY INFORMATION>C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator X>SimObjectsGroundVehiclesVEH_air_fueltruck01_smtexture>VEH_AIR_FUELTRUCK01_BUMP.DDS NOT FOUND Attributes: Error>>The file was not found in this directory. But, look down the>page>here to event #207>to event #207. It was later found in another directory.>*******************************************************>>204 7:39:04 AM fsx.exe:3412 QUERY INFORMATION>C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator X>SimObjectsGroundVehiclesVEH_air_fueltruck01_smtexture.CAB>NOT FOUND Attributes: Error>> >205 7:39:04 AM fsx.exe:3412 QUERY INFORMATION>C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator X>SimObjectsGroundVehiclesVEH_air_fueltruck01_smtexture>VEH_AIR_FUELTRUCK01_BUMP.BMP NOT FOUND Attributes: Error>> >206 7:39:04 AM fsx.exe:3412 QUERY INFORMATION>C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator X>SimObjectsGroundVehiclesVEH_air_fueltruck01_smtexture.CAB>NOT FOUNDAttributes: Error>>207 7:39:04 AM fsx.exe:3412 QUERY INFORMATION>C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight SimulatorX>SceneryGlobalTextureVEH_AIR_FUELTRUCK01_BUMP.DDS>SUCCESS Attributes: A>******************************>>208 7:39:04 AM fsx.exe:3412 OPEN C:Program FilesMicrosoft>GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator >>XSceneryGlobalTextureVEH_AIR_FUELTRUCK01_BUMP.DDS SUCCESS Options:>Open Sequential Access: Read >209 7:39:04 AM fsx.exe:3412 QUERY INFORMATION C:Program>FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator >>XSceneryGlobalTextureVEH_AIR_FUELTRUCK01_BUMP.DDS SUCCESS FileStandardInformation -SNIP-First, I FSX probably doesn't "flag" these as missing textures sinceit finds them....eventually....What you are seeing here is FSX's convoluted method of file searching.When the texture DDS file isn't found in the local "texture" folderFSX will then see if if there is a "texture,cab" file there that might contain the missing texture. When that isn't found, it thenproceeds to see if a BMP file is available there. If that isn't found, FSX then appears to AGAIn look to see if there is a "texture.cab"file available that might contain the BMP file. When that isn't found, FSX backs out to the "GlobalTexture" folder. In this instanceit finds the DDS file.The solution to getting rid of these search failures is to copy the DDS file into the vehicles texture folder.I went through this exercise quite some time ago, copying all the textures that were first looked for locally and not found but subsequently found in the "Gloabal" texture location.This eliminated all those "Error" entries in my FileMon output.Another thing I found at that time was that FSX first looks fora "sim.cfg" file before it looks for a "aircraft.cfg" file.I changed all my "aircraft.cfg" files to "sim.cfg" and eliminatedhundreds of "File not found" error entries. ( I have severalhundred aircraft in my "AI Aircraft", "Aircraft" and "Airplanes"folders. FSX also looked for several DLL files in the root FSX directory before it finally found them in the System32 folder in the Windowsdirectory. I copied those into the FSX directory as well.Now I get very few "file not found' errors, apart from thosenon-existant .agn files.It may not have improved performance to any degree but to me, it'sa matter of principle, being an old assembly and machine languageprogrammer from back in the days when one could not afford to wastemachine cycles or bytes of memory....Kids these days! :) =GB=

One of the first things I did was run filemon after the SPI (on a fresh install without the file moving as done past), and other than the expected (texture.cab, gauge textures and coded autogen etc) - and to my surprise was error free. This is a huge difference from the RTM product. We had discussed this before and Adam S. had stated he expected that this would make minimal impact. However, at a request from ACES, I sent an overview of what was happening. As these error where on "almost" all(less primary variation of A/C's) the simobjects, and included scenery objects hunting between the main texture and global one.After installing SPI and saw there was no more errors, I dug into the FlightSimPatchSetup.log and saw many references such as:MSI (s) (58:58) [20:53:44:453]: Dir (target): Key: _3A56B9E69DC8411591B599C8B9BBB0A7 , Object: d:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator XSimObjectsBoatsVEH_water_tanker01_smANDMSI (s) (58:58) [20:53:43:437]: PROPERTY CHANGE: Adding _3A56B9E69DC8411591B599C8B9BBB0A7 property. Its value is 'D:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator XSimObjectsBoatsVEH_water_tanker01_sm'.While I haven't a clue what happened above, I know that the tanker (and the rest of the them) are no longer hunting for their textures. There is also many of the fresnal ramp and dds textures added to the other variations (tecture.1 etc) for the a/c's.I wonder if the one you have identified was just maybe missed (and was not loaded at KSEA when I ran the check), as I am not getting "any" of the texture lookup for the simobjects or scenery that was present in RTM. If its only that one, its an easy fix manually (vs the amount a few of us had done previous)EDIT: And thanks ACES for fixing it up !!Anyways, the original topic here but the pics are gone:http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...77060&mode=fullRegards'Garett

Gypsy,Thanks for the information ... very good reply .. thanks.I will do as you mentioned.Is there "supposed" to be a texture.cab file in MSFSX?It is not on my hard drive and I cannot find one on the MSFSX CD's.I do not understand the reason why a file that MSFSX needs could be in any one of "several possible" locations on the hard drive so it has to go through this "lets try to figure out" where it is routine.That kinda takes away from the good "defrag" to get everything in a nice order on the hard drive.