I Give Up On SP2!

[Ramasurinen 0]

The full screen menu CTDs are not limited to any particular Nvidia card. They can and have occurred on all cards from the 7 and 8 series as well as some 6 series cards. I've had them and defeated them on my 8800 ultra 768mb. In fact it's the 79xx series cards that are worst affected by it, I don't know of anyone who has a card in that range that works with SP2.Some fixes have been discovered and they help some people but not all unfortunately and there seems to be no common thread hardware wise between those that do suffer the crashes, other than having an Nvidia card. Dual and Quad core owners get them, both AMD & Intel, and the motherboard doesn't seem to be a factor either.I'd love to know what the underlying issue on this one is, and what it was that changed between SP1 and SP2 menus wise to expose such a weakness in the nvidia drivers.

[Guest]

I have an 8800GTX and I have ZERO problems with FSX. It runs fine, I can do everything I want whenever I want to and I have never ever had ONE lockup or CTD or WHATEVER problem with FSX SP2. I DID have problems with FSX RTM and SP1 though (like menus taking a few minutes to pop up), but SP2 solved it ALL for me! In other words: SP2 rocks. Yes, that's how it goes in computerland. ;)

[Guest fsxmissionguy]

Snip: "In fact it's the 79xx series cards that are worst affected by it, I don't know of anyone who has a card in that range that works with SP2."Hmmmm. That's interesting. I have always used the nVidia 7950 GT. Have had no problems throughout the development of FSX through all versions including betas, but have seen lots of owners of the 8800 series cards with issues.DX9c is solid and well-understood by the two leading video vendors. nVidia's implementation of DX10 is not solid. I think their boards bear out that view. ATI does not seem to be having these issues with their DX10 offerings from what I have read.If I'm Bill Gates, I'm reexamining my relationships with HP and nVidia. These two companies (my view) have killed Vista because of their dominance of their respective segments.

[thrakete 0]

One reminder, though I am sure almost everyone knows this by now:Be sure to follow the driver installation instructions (I think they call them "hints" now) on the online NVidia driver page when doing your installation. If you make the installation with an anti-virus program running for example, the results are completely unpredictable.Before anyone jumps on this post, I am not suggesting that this is the reason for any of the problems discussed above.Regards,Thrakete

[dokelly07 0]

7950GTO here and no problems. At least, no CTD'sI have the wonderful screen tearing because I cannot force Vsync. When I force Vsync on, I get smooth but every 3 second stuttering. I have heard that all cards do this, and its an FSX thing....so Im not caring much.But yea, SP2 is great for me, as it gave me FPS. Sorry to hear, but not all 7 series Nvidias are affected. It is machine specific like everything when it comes to these endlessly configurable machines.Danon O.

[cklink 0]

"I'd love to know what the underlying issue on this one is, and what it was that changed between SP1 and SP2 menus wise to expose such a weakness in the nvidia drivers."Exactly, and if ACES could send off to Nvidia what they changed, it may give them a point/direction to investigate for a fix. Or maybe the menu crash is just a side effect from some type of lost focus on the app, or calls being made the driver can't handle? I agree it would be interesting why the issue only after SP2. One things for sure, both parties have a mutual gain by resolving the issue LOL.Regards'Garett

[Guest John Glossop]

Has anyone considered that it might not be the specific video card being used, but rather the amount of memory the card uses?http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940105looks to me like a possible cause of all these CTD with modern video cards (and also explain why the 8800GTS 320 mb card appears not to have the problem.If so, this hotfix might just relieve the problem.Just my 2c

[remilton 66]

I have the 940105 hot fix installed some time back and it does not fix my problem. I am running Vista 32bit with a Q6600, 2 Meg Ram and a 8800GTX and after flying for about an hour and a half, my computer starts to act flaky and then usually CTD. No error code, but Windows will later on report a problem with the NVidia driver and recommend downloading the latest NVidia update. I have yet to find a driver that does not do this.This is the only serious problem I have with FSX, but it is fairly significant.Ron

[Guest fsxmissionguy]

"If you make the installation with an anti-virus program running for example, the results are completely unpredictable."Vendors which encourage their users to download and install their software without a virus scanner are providing their users with horrid advice, and you should never follow it.nVidia is not immune to distributing files containing viruses and trojans, even though it may claim to be. Some very famous companies have distributed malware, trojans, virii and rootkits - sometimes intentionally.Beware the developer who tells you to turn off your virus scanner. It's a dead giveaway.If, on the other hand, your virus scanner is constantly providing you with a stream of false positives, consider switching. Crying wolf virus software is just as useless.

[thrakete 0]

">>Beware the developer who tells you to turn off your virus scanner. It's a dead giveaway.<<"IMHO, if you suspect the vendor of such sinister conspiracies, you should not be using their product in the first place. In the case of NVidia, I have experienced the problem of getting a defective installation of drivers if my anti-virus is left on, so their caution is valid. It could, of course, depend on which anti-virus program you are using.However, I guess I should have suggested that the driver installation program should first be downloaded to disk with anti-virus on, then the computer disconnected from the internet before making the actual installation. I always do this, even though in my case it means disconnecting an Ethernet cable manually.In any case, thank you for your opinion.Regards,Thrakete

[thrakete 0]

">>Beware the developer who tells you to turn off your virus scanner. It's a dead giveaway.<<"IMHO, if you suspect the vendor of such sinister conspiracies, you should not be using their product in the first place.In the case of NVidia, I have experienced the problem of getting a defective installation of drivers if my anti-virus is left on, so their caution is valid. It could, of course, depend on which anti-virus program you are using.However, I really should have suggested that the driver installation program first be downloaded to disk with anti-virus on, then the computer disconnected from the internet before making the actual installation. I believe most people do this. It at least allows you to retain protection from other virus sources during the download period. I always use this method, even though in my case it means disconnecting an Ethernet cable manually.In any case, thank you for your comments.Regards,Thrakete

[thrakete 0]

Please excuse the duplicate. I got a garbled screen on my first attempt to post.

[HUSSAR 272]

>Please excuse the duplicate. I got a garbled screen on my>first attempt to post.>>Probably a trojan from nVidia :-lol ... sorry couldn't help it!Am using a BFG 8800 and no probs here as I install drivers very carefully after removing old drivers, driver cleaner pro etc.Had numerous probs with eVGA 7950 and couldn't keep FSX running for very long after SP1 & SP2.

[thrakete 0]

I asked for that one, and thought about it after I posted.I used to go through the whole removal, clean, reboot a couple of times, etc. routine with the NVidia drivers, but lately just use their program from the driver site. It's supposed to do all that. (But who knows?)Anyhow I recently installed an 8600 GT (factory overclocked with 512 MB on the board) with no special procedures and it seems to be working O.K. I almost went for the 8800 series, but was a little concerned about my available power here.Thanks for the humor-we need more of it on here.Rgards,Thrakete

[Guest fsxmissionguy]

"... In the case of NVidia, I have experienced the problem of getting a defective installation of drivers if my anti-virus is left on."This is flawed logic and thus shouldn't be followed especially when it comes from random people on the internet.If you extend this logic, then you would quickly come to the conclusion that you should not use any virus software when downloading and installing any driver software, because it might result in a "defective installation." Sound like a good idea to you?If so, go for it. Just don't use your computer for online banking or any other activity you care about.Legitimate anti-virus software is not capable of causing a "defective installation of drivers" no matter what you read or think, unless of course, it detects something. (hint, hint)Some vendors even blame anti-virus software when their installation files are crapola. Imagine that ... a company with a history of putting out flawed drivers blames AVG. Whodathunkit?