Hi,

As per the title, I am generally unable to start MSFS at the first attempt.

Sometimes it crashes at the white screen, but it usually gets past the blackshark.ai screen and crashes on the copyright screen.

I tried every variation I can think of including emptying the community folder.

Eventually (after over 10 attempts) it finally runs and runs well.

I can then repeatedly restart MSFS and it starts up straightaway.

The next restart of my PC, I'm back to square 1 again.

I've not added any new peripherals or aircraft recently so I'm at a loss.

May I ask if anyone else has had this issue and fixed it?

Best regards,

Peter

If MSFS crashes with an empty community folder then I'd start with an extensive memory test or checking ALL drivers for updates.
For the first 9 months after MSFS came out I had plenty of crashes and I could not finish any flight that lasted over 20 minutes. It turned out AMD had an issue with the built-in USB controller which only was solved when a new driver became available.

If it is not drivers, chances are either your bios settings are too tight, especially your RAM and CPU settings. MSFS does not like overclocking and using an XMP profile for your memory is  overclocking!

Perhaps you can list your hardware so we can get an idea of what might be a weak point.

 

Hi,

Sorry about the delay in getting back.

MSFS went through a phase of requiring only a few start attempts, but it is back to usual requiring multiple attempts to get it to start.

It's like trying to start an engine, and when it starts it runs perfectly.

The sequence is:

Attempt #1 - It gets to the XBox screen, freezes and then I get a CTD.

Attempt #2 - It gets passed the Asobo screen and crashes on the Blackshark.ai screen.

Attempt #3 - It gets to the copyright screen and then crashes.

Attempt#4 - Multiple attempts to get past the copyright screen, and then suddenly it does and loads up.

I then can re-start MSFS again many times and it runs every time.

After I shut the PC down, the sequence starts again.

I even did a re-install, but it didn't fix the problem.

Just to put things in context, MSFS up to fairly recently has been loading up and running every time.  Then, all of a sudden it stopped doing this and started requiring multiple attempts.

My CPU is an i7-7700K running at 4.20 GHz

I have 32 GB of RAM.

My GPU is an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti.

I'm hoping that someone could highlight the cause of the problem.

Best regards,

Peter

I think (hope) that I've found the solution.

I used the event viewer and it found "Device Setup Manager Event ID 131 Error".

I found a very helpful website that recommended usiing sfc /scannow in the DOS cmd box and it found some corrupt files.

After a restart, it's run normally for the last 5 attempts.

Hopefully, normal service is back.

In the Microsoft Store or Steam, locate MSFS in your library. Right-click on the game and select "Properties" or "Manage" and then find an option to verify the integrity of game files. This will ensure that all game files are intact and not corrupted.