FSX crashing on my panel file - please help

[FlyingsCool 3]

Hello,I redid the panel for the Dreamfleet Archer to match as closely as I could to my own airplane's panel using gauges from the Australian Simulations Warrior and the Carenado Mentor. I also removed the 2D side window views. The panel works fine in FS9.I've cleaned it up as much as I can by comparing it to the default panel, and I can't seem to find any more inconsistancies. I've made sure all the idents exist in the view_forward_windows line (I found one that was missing, but removing it didn't help.).Each time I load the plane, I get an error saying:The instruction at "0x20c6a07e" referenced memory at "0x01f47fe". The memory could not be read.click ok to terminate program.I know the problem is the panel because when I reference the default panel to the same plane, the problem goes away. I've tried commenting out the non-DF gauges and that doesn't solve the problem. I don't know what else could be the problem. The sizes of the panel bitmaps are taken from the horizontal component of the bitmaps I created. Is FSX more strict about bitmap size now? Does the bitmap have to conform to a width of 1024? The bitmaps are of odd size because the panel was designed to work on a 1920 x 1200 display.I also used the popup gauge method from the Carenado Cherokee so the RPM, ADF, and EGT gauges can be popped up over the yoke. I know that works fine because I've also loaded the Carenado Cherokee in FSX and it works fine.Could somebody help me find the problem?Thanks, Panel below:// This Panel.cfg file created by FS Panel Studio panel editor utility - http://www.fspanelstudio.com// Built Wednesday, January 25, 2006 at 09:53 FSPS Build:18222[Window Titles]Window00=Landing PanelWindow01=Main PanelWindow02=Radio StackWindow03=SwitchesWindow04=GPSWindow05=FuelWindow06=TrimWindow07=YokeWindow08=Zoom ADFWindow09=Zoom RPMWindow10=Zoom EGT[VIEWS]VIEW_FORWARD_WINDOWS=28,MAIN_PANEL,RADIO_STACK_PANEL,31,GPS_PANEL,33,30,1008,1009,1010VIEW_FORWARD_RIGHT_ZOOM=0.500VIEW_RIGHT_ZOOM=0.500VIEW_REAR_RIGHT_ZOOM=0.500VIEW_REAR_ZOOM=0.500VIEW_REAR_LEFT_ZOOM=0.500VIEW_LEFT_ZOOM=0.500VIEW_FORWARD_LEFT_ZOOM=0.500VIEW_UP_ZOOM=0.500VIEW_FORWARD_UP_ZOOM=0.500VIEW_FORWARD_DIR=9.500, 0.000, 0.000VIEW_FORWARD_ZOOM=0.500//--------------------------------------------------------[Window00]file=DFPA28_LANDING.bmp size_mm=1229window_size_ratio=1.000 position=7visible=1ident=28window_size= 1.000, 1.000gauge00=DF181EC!ADF, 125,631,125,132gauge01=DF181EC!ASI, 281,485,121,121gauge02=DF181EC!Clock, 166,528,84,88gauge03=DF181EC!VSI, 625,636,121,122gauge04=DF181EC!VOR1, 770,484,133,139gauge05=DF181EC!VOR2, 771,634,127,133gauge06=DF181EC!ASP, 966,426,261,55gauge07=DF181EC!NAVCOMM1, 965,482,260,83gauge08=DF181EC!CLICK_MAINVIEW, 446,351,564,56gauge09=DF181EC!RADIOPANEL, 381,451,89,34gauge10=DF181EC!ATCPANEL, 394,611,49,37gauge11=DF181EC!COMPASS, 980,61,71,52gauge12=DF181EC!OAT, 841,8,91,91gauge13=DF181EC!DMESLAVE, 974,711,129,11gauge14=DF181EC!TOGGLE31, 554, 751 ,465,16gauge15=DF181EC!DIGITACH, 821,428,89,32gauge16=DF181EC!STROBE, 916,617,36,51gauge17=DF181EC!DOOR, 1,1,1,1gauge18=Mentor0!Warning_stall, 89,644,23,23gauge18=as_W2!Attitude Indicator, 451,482,130,130gauge20=as_W2!Altimeter, 621,482,134,134gauge21=as_W2!Directional Gyro, 452,634,127,133gauge22=as_W2!Turn Coordinator, 286,635,122,124gauge23=as_W2!COMM2-NAV2, 964,567,264,114//--------------------------------------------------------[Window01]file=Main_Background.bmp size_mm=1709window_size_ratio=1.000 position=7visible=1ident=MAIN_PANELwindow_size= 1.000, 1.000gauge00=DF181EC!Carbht, 1175,918,27,106gauge01=DF181EC!Primer, 942,942,53,71gauge02=DF181EC!VSI, 720,633,125,124gauge03=DF181EC!ADF, 668,917,119,123gauge04=DF181EC!Clock, 263,529,87,87gauge05=DF181EC!Tach, 809,922,115,110gauge06=DF181EC!ASI, 375,481,128,134gauge07=DF181EC!VOR1, 866,483,136,142gauge08=DF181EC!NAVGPS, 604,924,25,26gauge09=DF181EC!KEY, 588,977,104,63gauge10=DF181EC!ANNUN, 830,431,173,26gauge11=DF181EC!VOR2, 862,629,134,139gauge12=DF181EC!OIL, 205,797,794,74gauge13=DF181EC!ASP, 1064,428,259,54gauge14=DF181EC!NAVCOMM1, 1063, 484 ,257,83gauge15=DF181EC!AP, 222,922,232,84gauge16=DF181EC!CLICK_LDGVIEW, 635,351,591,59gauge17=DF181EC!ATCPANEL, 493,605,49,40gauge18=DF181EC!THROTTLE, 1005,860,141,174gauge19=DF181EC!COMPASS, 1076,62,74,52gauge20=DF181EC!TOGGLE33, 219,860,286,29gauge21=DF181EC!GPSPANEL, 615,667,50,50gauge22=DF181EC!DMESLAVE, 1067,708,136,14gauge23=DF181EC!Radiomstr, 1023,563,22,26gauge24=DF181EC!DIGIMIX, 1133,403,106,31gauge25=DF181EC!STROBE, 1016,628,36,50gauge26=DF181EC!DOOR, 1,1,1,1gauge27=DF181EC!TOGGLE31, 1598,778,100,99gauge28=DF181EC!DOOR, 1526,884,146,136gauge29=DF181EC!VCSWITCH, 1028,778,313gauge30=Mentor1!hobb, 1240,975,60,10gauge31=Mentor0!Warning_stall, 188,646,23,23gauge32=as_W2!COMM2-NAV2, 1059,570,260,113gauge33=as_W2!Attitude Indicator, 545,483,134,133gauge34=as_W2!Directional Gyro, 546,638,133,133gauge35=as_W2!Turn Coordinator, 384,633,122,129gauge36=as_W2!ADF, 1338,499,254,154gauge37=as_W2!Transponder, 1337,599,251,65gauge38=as_W2!Altimeter, 716,485,134,134gauge39=as_W2!Fuel Selector Toggle, 4,742,193,300gauge40=as_W2!EGT, 478,923,92,92gauge41=as_W2!Gyro Suction, 1632,553,83,82//--------------------------------------------------------[Window02]Background_color=2,2,2 size_mm=297,535window_size_ratio=1.000 position=7visible=0ident=RADIO_STACK_PANELgauge00=DF181EC!ASP, 0,0,297,61gauge01=DF181EC!NAVCOMM1, 0,61,297,96gauge02=DF181EC!NAVCOMM2, 0,157,297,96gauge03=DF181EC!ADFKR87, 0,252,297,61gauge04=DF181EC!DME, 0,314,297,61gauge05=DF181EC!XPNDR, 0,373,297,74gauge06=DF181EC!AP, 0,448,297,84//--------------------------------------------------------[Window03]Background_color=2,2,2 size_mm=475,97window_size_ratio=1.000 position=7visible=0ident=31gauge00=DF181EC!SWITCH2, 0,0,475,97gauge01=DF181EC!TOGGLE31, 0,0,470,25//--------------------------------------------------------[Window04]Background_color=0,0,0 size_mm=456,378window_size= 0.500position=0visible=0ident=GPS_PANELgauge00=fs9gps!gps_500, 0,0//--------------------------------------------------------[Window05]Background_color=0,0,0 size_mm=190,252window_size_ratio=1.000 position=0visible=0ident=32gauge00=as_W2!Fuel Selector, 0,0,190,252gauge01=as_W2!Pcfg, 1,1,1,1//--------------------------------------------------------[Window06]Background_color=16,16,16 size_mm=214,92position=6visible=0ident=33//window_size= 0.150, 0.110//window_pos= 0.118, 0.867gauge00=DF181EC!TRIM, 0,0//--------------------------------------------------------[Window07]file=DFPA28_YOKE.bmp size_mm=793position=6visible=0ident=30gauge00=DF181EC!TOGGLE30, 448,211,101,113//--------------------------------------------------------[Window08]file=CarenadoZoomVOR.bmp size_mm=200window_size_ratio=1.000 position=7visible=0ident=1008nomenu=0//window_size= 0.080, 0.125//window_pos= 0.532, 0.861gauge00=Cherokee1!Adf, -1,-1,203,202//--------------------------------------------------------[Window09]file=CarenadoZoomASI.bmp size_mm=200window_size_ratio=1.000 position=7visible=0ident=1009nomenu=1//window_size= 0.080, 0.125//window_pos= 0.650, 0.861gauge00=Cherokee0!Rpm, 5,6,190,190//--------------------------------------------------------[Window10]file=CarenadoZoomASI.bmp size_mm=200window_size_ratio=1.000 position=0visible=0ident=1010nomenu=1//window_size= 0.06, 0.100//window_pos= 0.210, 0.895gauge00=as_W2!EGT, 3,4,195,195//_________________________________________________________________________________ VIRTUAL COCKPIT//_________________________________________________________________________________[Vcockpit01]Background_color=0,0,0 size_mm=1024,1024pixel_size=1024,1024texture=$Mainvisible=0gauge00=DF181EC!ASI, 215,100,146,146gauge01=DF181EC!VSI, 633,274,147,150gauge02=Cherokee0!RPM, 737,620,136,135gauge03=DF181EC!VOR1, 818,102,156,163gauge04=DF181EC!VOR2, 820,275,157,164gauge05=Cherokee1!Adf, 561,609,153gauge06=Cherokee1!Clock, 61,142,123gauge07=DF181EC!STROBE, 981,254,50,58gauge08=DF181EC!OIL, -2,478,973,79gauge09=DF181EC!AP, 22,631,272,80gauge10=DF181EC!KEY, 475,693,104,63gauge11=DF181EC!NAVGPS, 481,622,40,30gauge12=DF181EC!DOOR, 1,1,1,1gauge13=Mentor0!Warning_stall, 5,253,23,23gauge14=as_W2!EGT, 329,622,115,111gauge15=as_W2!Attitude Indicator, 425, 98 ,149,149gauge16=as_W2!Directional Gyro, 425,278,148,148gauge17=as_W2!Altimeter, 630,90,157,160gauge18=as_W2!Turn Coordinator, 217,278,147,147//--------------------------------------------------------[Vcockpit02]Background_color=0,0,0 size_mm=1024,1024pixel_size=1024,1024texture=$Covisible=0gauge00=DF181EC!VCSWITCH, -20,454,369,126gauge01=DF181EC!ASP, 34,40,320,66gauge02=DF181EC!NAVCOMM1, 31,104,320,96gauge03=DF181EC!XPNDR, 374,251,299,95gauge04=DF181EC!Carbht, 161,609,48,196gauge05=DF181EC!DMESLAVE, 0,372,235,16gauge06=Mentor1!hobb, 248,691,72,11gauge07=as_W2!COMM2-NAV2, 28,202,318,138gauge08=as_W2!ADF, 375,127,302,183gauge09=as_W2!Gyro Suction, 738,196,97,97//--------------------------------------------------------[Vcockpit03]Background_color=0,0,0 size_mm=256,256pixel_size=256,256texture=$Tempvisible=0gauge00=DF181EC!OAT2, 20,8,212,212//--------------------------------------------------------[Vcockpit04]Background_color=0,0,0 size_mm=128,128pixel_size=128,128texture=$Compassvisible=0gauge00=DF181EC!COMPASS, 30,30,60,60//_________________________________________________________________________________ PANEL NIGHT LIGHTING//_________________________________________________________________________________Day=255,255,255Night=0,0,0Luminous=150,60,60//_________________________________________________________________________________ 2D PANEL OUTSIDE VIEW SIZE//_________________________________________________________________________________[Default View]X=0Y=0SIZE_X=8191SIZE_Y=4000[ConfigoMatic]UseKilograms=0Thomas[a href=http://www.flyingscool.com] http://www.flyingscool.com/images/Signature.jpg [/a]I like using VC's :-)N15802 KASH '73 Piper Cherokee Challenger 180

[Guest Patrick_Waugh]

I don't think the larger panel size should be a problem for you, except that it takes much longer to render, and may be a larger mode than your display is optimized to handle. Check your display docs, especially if it is a flat screen to see, if you are interested.I'd recommend getting rid of the [ConfigoMatic] section, and then different 'parts' of the panel one-by-one till you find the section causing the problem. You could start by eliminating the VC section first. Then if that is not the problem, maybe take out the last 5 window sections. Find the one section causing the problem.Then, when you do, eliminate have the gauges till you find the offending gauge, if it is a gauge.FSX is more particular about the syntax in the .cfg file. You may want to read the SDK too.

[bcs112 0]

Thomas,One of the main reasons why FS2004 panels crash in FSX has to do with the way FSX handles so called FS service events. In FS9 certain events would take place when the panel is first loaded and when it is unloaded and many programmers used these events to initialize variables, external links etc.... at startup and to clean up these things at panel shutdown.For reasons unknown to me, and mostly due to programming errors in FSX, some of the events got messed up in FSX and the events used to clean up stuff now occur at very inconvenient moments like for instance when you resize the FS window (which also occurs when you first load the FS windows btw). This means that some variables and external references will be destroyed when the panel is resized or even when the panel is loaded for the first time in FSX. The effect is that when a gauge tries to write a value to this variable (which now no longer exists), things will go terribly wrong because the space in memory that the gauge is writing to is no longer reserved for that variable (hope you are still with me ;)). Hence you get errors messages like the one described in your message.What can you do about this ? There is onlyone solution and that is to contact the programmer of the gauge and let him fix this, you can never solve this in any cfg file but only in the code of the gauge.Bj

[FlyingsCool 3]

Ahh!And the sad thing is, the bug catcher doesn't catch these and offer to send them to ACES, so they may not even be aware of the extent of the problem. Have you or anyone else spoken to ACES about this problem?Thanks,Thomas[a href=http://www.flyingscool.com] http://www.flyingscool.com/images/Signature.jpg [/a]I like using VC's :-)N15802 KASH '73 Piper Cherokee Challenger 180

[Guest Patrick_Waugh]

I haven't experienced this at all with my gauges. They work just fine.

[FlyingsCool 3]

It's very few planes I've tried that I'm having the problem with. It appears to be related to gauges that run outside programs.I'm not sure what's up with the panel above, I'll test it this weekend.Other planes I've had a problem with are:PZL Otter - http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID...04ac&DLID=78624Vought Crusader - http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID...04ac&DLID=85843No changes have been made to either plane except possibly to remove FS98 gauges. Both of these planes cause a crash when switching to another plane from the offending plane. I believe the crash in the Crusader is due to the VthMB gauge, which requires some executables.Other planes I have had a similar crashing problem with are:Dreamfleet Baron 58 lite which crashes upon loading.But all these problems could be due to my missing something upon transferring them.But, even if I did miss something, FSX should be robust enough to not CTD, and hopefully our investigation will bring out the root cause, so future versions can avoid the issue.Thomas[a href=http://www.flyingscool.com] http://www.flyingscool.com/images/Signature.jpg [/a]I like using VC's :-)N15802 KASH '73 Piper Cherokee Challenger 180

[n4gix 4,947]

>Ahh!>>And the sad thing is, the bug catcher doesn't catch these and>offer to send them to ACES, so they may not even be aware of>the extent of the problem. >>Have you or anyone else spoken to ACES about this problem?Yes, I (as well as others) have communicated directly with the appropriate ACES devellper(s) about this, and other problems...Since FSX RTM was installed NOT ONCE among the hundreds of FSX CTDs has the "bug catcher" (actually, "Dr. Watson") been triggered. I asked ACES "Has Dr. Watson died?" Thus far, no one has confirmed his funeral... ;)Oh, and Partick... you work so far "out of the box" with your gauge development I'm not surprised you haven't experienced the problems with the so-called "one shot" PANEL_SERVICE_xxx cases... :-lol

[FlyingsCool 3]

Ok, well I figured out the problem with the Otter (I really should spend more time reading readme's). The GaugeSound.dll file needs to be registered in the dll.xml file wherever your fsx.cfg file is.After I registerd it, I started FS and it asked if it could be trusted, I said yes, then went on to try to load a plane, and FS crashed with a memory write error. But after that, everything was fine and no problem with the Otter or FS.So now I'd like to figure out the problem with the Crusader. I'm sure it has something to do with the Vth headup display. Unfortunately, all the documentation for that gauge is in French. Has anyone translated it into English? Could somebody who understands French and executable registration in FS look it over and try to figure out what needs to be registered and how?Maybe I'll just try to strongarm it and register both the executables that seem to be associated with the program (VthMbPanelVTH.exe and VthMbRwyVthDB.exe). What do they do? Are they used to set it up? Do they get run when FS starts? I do have a registered version of FSUIPC, I don't know if that is needed or not.Thomas[a href=http://www.flyingscool.com] http://www.flyingscool.com/images/Signature.jpg [/a]I like using VC's :-)N15802 KASH '73 Piper Cherokee Challenger 180

[n4gix 4,947]

>Ok, well I figured out the problem with the Otter (I really>should spend more time reading readme's). The GaugeSound.dll>file needs to be registered in the dll.xml file wherever your>fsx.cfg file is.>>After I registerd it, I started FS and it asked if it could be>trusted, I said yes, then went on to try to load a plane, and>FS crashed with a memory write error. But after that,>everything was fine and no problem with the Otter or FS.Now that is certainly odd! I'm glad that it at least seems to have solved the initial loading problem for you.According to ACES, a module such as GaugeSound.dll should not require pre-registration via the dll.xml file, since it is a dynamically called module, meaning that it only loads on demand by another, already registerd module (which is what all C gauges really are anyway).However, the undeniable fact that your loading issue has been eliminated would appear to point to a possible flaw in the routine FSX uses to load/execute non-registered .dll files through dynamic calling... :-hmmm

[FlyingsCool 3]

Well, the plane loaded ok on startup. The problem came when I tried to switch to another plane in the same session. I also got the memory read error upon exit of flight simulator. I get the same symptoms with the Vought Crusader. The Heads up display looks like it works fine in 2D and 3D. It's not fully functional in minipanel mode, but I don't know why. But FS crashes if I try to switch away from the plane or exit from FS. I also noticed some other odd behavior this morning. I started up FS and loaded the Crusader in Free flight, and I didn't notice that for some reason it defaulted to a time in the middle of the night (even though I was at a local airport and it was about 7:30 in the morning). So I switched the time to daytime. But when I did that, the airport ground texture was all black (night time?) and I saw several other textures in black on the ground.I was testing the plane in FS9, and I seem to also get a crash upon exit of FS9 as well, or if I try to restart a flight.Thomas[a href=http://www.flyingscool.com] http://www.flyingscool.com/images/Signature.jpg [/a]I like using VC's :-)N15802 KASH '73 Piper Cherokee Challenger 180

[Guest FireChief]

Bill,I am not having any problem with crashing or FS X asking to register gaugesound.dll. I am simply not getting sound from it any more. I have gaugesound.dll in the root FS X folder, but all my planes gauges that produced sound in FS 9 have no sound at all in FS X. What could be causing that?Rob

[Guest JeanLuc_]

Hi Bill,I know about this "bug report" but it appears in fact that this is FS9 that is flawed, and FSX is sending the correct events for what they are intended to do at the correct time for the correct gauge.It is unfortunate we all in fact relied on this CONNECT_TO_WINDOW event to initialize the gauge since this is in fact not appropriate an event for this. In short, this is not an event relevant to a gauge, but an event relevent to a gauge instance...I'm deep into this right now as I'm working on a new gauge C++ framework I've started to talk a little about here:http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho..._id=30906&page=As for the error message, this usualy occur when the FS private heap is messed up. This can occur sometimes with "custom drawn" gauges (read: vector gauge, GDI+, TDXP etc...) under some circumstances as well.Hope this helps!