[Resolved] P3D v5.4 random lockups driving me mad

[Ray Proudfoot 9,040]

1 hour ago, Luke said:

Ray, you seem to make a lot of conclusions based on very little data

Really? I thought I'd been quite methodical in trying to eliminate various parts of the hardware and software. I don't approach testing haphazardly. As a former programmer I test a theory to prove whether it might be suspect. The trouble is there were many theories to test starting with the computer hardware. Having established that was not the problem I moved on to the software.

Bear in mind I had a scenario that worked reliably for a long period of time. My old computer with an AIG package and a version of P3D that gave me no trouble.

I suspected graphics drivers. That gave me a few days of problem-free flight but when the lockups returned I knew it could not be those.

Next was AUS v2 because I could reliably get the lockup with a short flight between YSCB-YSSY. I was going to uninstall it but Bob suggested Ai might be the issue. Since it was easier to disable Ai I did that and the flight was fine. That put Ai under the spotlight.

But which package? I have over 1000 BGLs and have had lockups over Europe, North America and now Australia. Clearly there was more than one suspect AIG package and identifying it would be a nightmare.

So I chose the only sensible option left to me. Go back to a version of P3D that worked for me.

Having just completed YSCB-YSSY with all my AIG Ai enabled the flight was successful. Yes, it's only one flight but I'm as sure as I can be the problem lies in v5.4.

1 hour ago, Luke said:

And if you do go back to 5.3HF2, I'd restore the offending AIG package and see if you can get a lockup. I suspect you will.

See above. With your knowledge and guessing it was a software issue that affected lots of my flights I'm surprised you didn't suggest reverting before. Don't fix something that isn't broken as @simfan1983said earlier.

I'm not sure what LM have changed / improved in 5.4 but for me I don't see anything that makes it necessary for me.

[Sparkrite 190]

20 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

I'm as sure as I can be the problem lies in v5.4.

Or maybe rather how V5.4 handles faulty AIG BGLs ?

Why don't you "bite the bullet" and buy V6.1 ? Especially now that it offers DLSS.

[Luke 782]

44 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

The trouble is there were many theories to test starting with the computer hardware. Having established that was not the problem I moved on to the software.

Didn't we start with Windows 11 and anti-virus? It's been a long saga. Given the small number of changes between 5.3 and 5.4 I am surprised that reverting has made things go away with known bad AI. I'll be curious to see whether things stay good long-term. I hope so.

I am leery of downgrading or reinstalling the sim because I see a lot of people doing that very quickly and it often makes things worse in terms of lost setup and rarely fixes the actual issue, IMO.

Cheers

[Ray Proudfoot 9,040]

1 hour ago, Sparkrite said:

Or maybe rather how V5.4 handles faulty AIG BGLs ?

Why don't you "bite the bullet" and buy V6.1 ? Especially now that it offers DLSS.

That appears to be the case but only with some BGLs. Open them with AIFP and they look fine.

With no Concorde what would be the point? There’s not enough in a major release to convince me the effort is necessary.

[Ray Proudfoot 9,040]

48 minutes ago, Luke said:

Didn't we start with Windows 11 and anti-virus? It's been a long saga. Given the small number of changes between 5.3 and 5.4 I am surprised that reverting has made things go away with known bad AI. I'll be curious to see whether things stay good long-term. I hope so.

Indeed we did but those proved to be blameless. @simfan1983 may have been onto something when he mentioned lots of changes to GPS. Maybe that impacted on some BGLs.

I’ve just completed a second flight. This one into KPHX when with 5.4 it froze 8ft off the runway after a 50m flight. This time it was fine.

51 minutes ago, Luke said:

I am leery of downgrading or reinstalling the sim because I see a lot of people doing that very quickly and it often makes things worse in terms of lost setup and rarely fixes the actual issue, IMO.

It’s the first time I’ve done it but I had no options left. Trying to identify the BGLs that were causing the problem would have been a Herculean task. I bought this computer to enjoy flying, not to be a tester of seemingly perfectly good Ai aircraft.

I’ll let @Kaiii3 know over at AIG.

[Sparkrite 190]

30 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

With no Concorde what would be the point?

Yep, I forgot you're a Concorde user. Must be the time of year (hic!) or else just 'oldtimers' setting in.

 

32 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

There’s not enough in a major release to convince me the effort is necessary.

Ah Ray ! There are many many changes in V6.1 over V5.3/V5.4, not least the changes in lighting, shadows, reflections and just general ambience which IMO are massive changes for the better.

Not to mention the introduction of DLSS.

I have both V5.4 and V6.1 installed and sharing 99% of my addons without any problem. However I hardly use V5.4 anymore.

[Ray Proudfoot 9,040]

14 minutes ago, Sparkrite said:

Ah Ray ! There are many many changes in V6.1 over V5.3/V5.4, not least the changes in lighting, shadows, reflections and just general ambience which IMO are massive changes for the better.

v4 brought us a 64-bit sim. v5 updated the whole world’s scenery including coastlines. It also gave us EA. Both major improvements.

But I’m afraid I need something major in v6 and lighting and reflections isn’t enough for me especially when ChasePlane needs buying again when very little code needed changing.

I don’t mind a new Active Sky because those guys have had it incredibly hard in recent years.

I suspect this will be the last version of P3D in its current format. I anticipate a major change possibly with streaming to come.

[Bob Scott 7,749]

The main reason I did the 5.3HF2 -> 5.4 upgrade was the fix for some ramp elevation problems that made acft float a bout half a foot off the ground (most evident at a couple of FSDT sceneries that are major hubs for cargo ops--KMEM, KSDF).  With 5.4 the plane sits back down on the ground as it should.  It also fixed a relatively small memory leak related to the graphics system, a possibly larger issue for long flights.

That said, I've not had any unusual behavior in 5.4 after upgrading (content, scenery, and client).  I also have a relatively old bgl-only install of AIG that doesn't use the traffic controller.

 

[Lenovouser 11]

For me, V5.3 ran a little more stable than 5.4

I don't have any major problems with 5.4, but 5.3 ran for over 1200 hours without a CTD.

I don't notice any major changes with 5.4, except that the VRAM usage is slightly lower.

[787flyer 640]

Just to add on to what Bob said above, my AIG is a .bgl-only install so I am not using the AIG TC app or AIGFPs which may be different to what Ray has installed in his sim. Not sure if this is indicative of anything.

 

 

 

[Ray Proudfoot 9,040]

It is curious why others with lots of AIG BGL files don't have this problem with 5.4. I wasn't going to reinstall everything so once the main program was installed I simply copied everything over from the old computer. All I needed to do was adjust the parent folder and the path to P3D. It saved hours of work.

I was advised to switch to AIGFP by AIG staff but that's not something I want to do since BGLs can be edited with AIFP3. There's no equivalent for AIGFP files so I can't remove a NO PAINT aircraft.

And if you want to limit Ai at busy airports using FSUIPC it can only cope with BGLs. AIG TC will just reinject any aircraft deleted.

@Bob Scott, from what you've said it doesn't sound as though I'm missing anything important with 5.4. And like @LenovouserI ran v5.3HF2 for ages without a single problem.

@787flyer, I also run AIGFP but with a relatively small number of airlines. I'm about to start another flight so until I've gone a week without a problem I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[spilok 1,139]

I'm by no means a computer expert, but I certainly do have a great deal of experience with systems of all kinds.  Being in the business of owning and operating an office equipment company for 34 years, I've had numerous occasions of having to troubleshoot problems in customers offices.  I employed several  I.T. professionals to do this every day.  So, I was necessarily involved in making decisions based on I.T. input and conclusions drawn concerning problems with hardware and software.

So, it is not "curious" to me whatsoever as to why some systems run exact software better than others who run the same software poorly.  Their hardware configurations and additional programs are infinitely different. Often, individual systems are not that particular and the majority of users get the same experience from a particular program. But many times, the little changes in a specific system setup PREVENT that experience from being as successful as that experienced by others.  We have to keep searching our system configuration to discover the reason (s) why we experience the failures we perceive to exist.

I know this is not an answer to the questions posed in this thread, but it's simply what I consider a "logical" explanation of why it's so difficult to solve.

[Ray Proudfoot 9,040]

I had an email from Chillblast this morning requesting I run HWINFO with Thermal Analysis set. I was flying at the time so started logging and after landing (no lockups! 😁) I sent it to them together with @Luke's post regarding PL1, PL2 and tau.

I explained that the problem appears to be solved as I've had no problems since reverting to 5.3HF2. Once they reply after analysing the log I'll post info.

[Luis Hernandez 586]

Now I see why you pay Chillblast, @Ray Proudfoot. That's some kind of support I don't see down here...

Did "downgrading" to 5.3HF2 affect your Concorde? I only updated to v5.4 (and "downgraded" my sceneries to v4.5) because there was an update.

Edited January 3 by Luis Hernandez

[Ray Proudfoot 9,040]

1 hour ago, Luis Hernandez said:

Now I see why you pay Chillblast, @Ray Proudfoot. That's some kind of support I don't see down here...

Did "downgrading" to 5.3HF2 affect your Concorde? I only updated to v5.4 (and "downgraded" my sceneries to v4.5) because there was an update.

I'm paying for it though Luis. A few hundred pounds on top of the price for the components and build. Worth it though for peace of mind.

I've just had my first flight in Concorde (LPPT-GCLP) and it was fine. As long as you're running v5 it's happy.

Do you have any aircraft parking in buildings? I found that trying to use v3 AFX files (for extra parking positions) with v5 and that was the result. So I gave up and stayed with v5 AFX ones.