davegriff

Sounds like your icons cache is getting corrupted. If thats all it is, you can force a rebuild of the cache through control panel:Control Panel, DisplaySelect Appearance, in dropdown select IconIncrease SizeDecrease SizeDave

dirk98Remember framerates must be set limited to use the use the TextureMaxLoad setting.See here for explanation: http://www.steve-lacey.com/blogarchives/2005/11/the_stutters.shtmlDave

>> the default value of over 90000 is way to high - as they human eye can't see that far <<LOL :( A man went to his optician and said "I think I need glasses, I'm short-sighted"The optician took him outside and said "What's that up there?""The sun" he replied."Well just how far do you want to see?"Dave

Oops! my error - I misread your post. Must be getting old. (or blind, daft, tired, senile - take your pick).Dave

Further thought re my reply in #8 and the suggestion to what flyforever was referring to leads me to think he was actually referring to the Windows last access timestamping. This can possibly slow file accessing.Try stopping it and see if FS runs any better. This I think only works in XP and Vista.To turn off time-stamping go to Start/run and enter "fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 1" (without the quotes)To turn time-stamping back on enter "fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 0" (without the quotes)Fsutil is intended for system administrators so will require administrative privileges (so I suggest you dont run any other commands through it unless you're sure what you're doing)Dave

Can't help either I'm afraid but very curious. Any chance of a picDave

Mark,Er, don't you mean a bgl - in a folder with an associated texture folder?Dave

Just Googled "stub.exe". Seems it could be an adware risk/problem.Dave

I'll go along with the 2Gb mem as ok too. Its all I have and haven't yet seen FS use it to the full under xp32; nor do I suffer bsod's or oom'sDave

Sounds like a graphics card problem to me. May be overheating? Not sure 3dmark will help with finding a faulty card at all.Dave

Your specs are ok for fs2004 unless at airport really heavy scenery/traffic. I think flyforever is refering to XP's File Indexing Service - can be a real resource hog. Look here how to turn on/off:http://www.wikihow.com/Disable-File-Indexing-on-Windows-XPI often see people saying things like "running AI at nn%" which actually is totally meaningless. Depends how much AI on your system, what percentage the traffic within the traffic bgl is set at and more.Could also be due virus, progs running background or auto updates.Dave

Just a thought...As this topic has been revived, I'll mention that I've had an idea that may help things for quite a while, but haven't got round to trying anything yet. As I understand, texture tiles are saved with the mip-maps, has anyone tried saving the tile files using a different reduction algorithm. DXTBMP lists about 15 different compression types I think (box, quadratic etc), so it would take some time to try them all. Certainly the results of each are different for "ordinary" use, but would it help here or even show any difference in FS?I'll maybe get round to trying it some time (when I've got a few weeks to spare!!), but does anyone know if I'd just be wasting my time. Does anyone know the present algo used?Dave

As far as I know, the dx installer just wont allow you "downgrade" even if you try. When the installer finds newer files installed it just pops up the message "DX installation finished" (or similar) without actually doing anything. (I suppose you could force a downgrade by "breaking" your current install somehow)Dave

fs9 was written to use DX7 (I think) and requires certain DX components. Obviously it will use the equivalents from dx10/11, if thats what is installed, else it couldn't run at all!Dave

When MS said they were discontueing them a while back, I downloaded all I could find on the web. PM me your needs and I'll forward if I have the ones you want.Dave

Dont beat yourself up over this backup business. A second hard disk (£30 will do) + a (freeware) file sycronization programme is really all you need. Remember though, whatever media you backup to, it is liable to failure just the same as your main HDD. If an HDD starts making strange noises, goes into scandisk for no apparent reason on bootup, reads and writes start taking longer or throw errors, programme or system load times increase - all signs a disk is on its way out. DONT wait until the glaringly obvious warnings come up before you think about a new HDD. They're very cheap and only really reliable for 2-3 years anyway. Even the event of an accidental complete reformat is easily recovered from (for FS anyway), if noticed quickly enough.Above all, remember computing, especially gaming, is very transient. Brilliant though FS2004 is(and FSX), its well past its 2-3 year design life. There's still vast scope for improvements to graphics, ATC response, AI handling etc. When the next properly thought out and marketed flight sim comes along, you'll want to play it for sure, and dont think the stuff you have now will be even remotely compatible - it wont. (It mightn't even be written by MS!)For now save your time and effort for flying, enjoyment is what its supposed to be about.Dave

I installed fs 5 years ago. This install - now 60+ gig - has recently been copy and pasted (the whole thing, all in one go, as with each move) to its fourth hard disk in its third machine. I've never "re-installed" fs, just reset the registry via Afcad and moved any cfg, flt files etc by hand. I've never had an OOM, just the odd CTD caused by the usual texture or landclass issue. (I guess though that maybe some over-protective payware would need re-installing). I do keep the old install handy for a few months though.....Backing up such a setup would need a tape drive or second hd. I'm not recommending this next statement to anybody, and maybe I've been (extremely) lucky, but I've never made a backup in 30+ years of computing except for truly irreplaceable documents and apps etc written by me. Never lost anything important. I've never known a hd to "crash" without warning - and I never put my main machine under threat of virus attack (or the annoying autoupdate!) by keeping it offline. Dave

Mine are set at 31 at present, but I change it from time to time (its not an exact science!) 25 - 35 fps seems to suite most people best. A lot depends on what you're personally happy with, your system, and certain settings (particularly in fs9.cfg). The reason for setting a limit is I believe to allow more time for fs to carry out some important tasks (absolute quess, but problem could be texture loading time???).As a guide I'd say go to a busy-ish airport and watch fps (press shift + z a few times). Then try limiting fps just below the "average". This has been discussed many times on this and other forums. Do a search here for things like "fs9.cfg", "fps", "framerates" etc for more info, wherein you may find inspiration.As I said though, I'm not saying this will solve your black screen problem.(but this will at least bump the topic - I'd like to know the answer too!)Dave

Excellent tip. I recently found a bunch of MRAI afcad files that were corrupt - couldn't even read properties in XP. Unfotunately I just deleted them without noting down their names so not sure if the download was corrupt or happened later (but seemed to be in same "batch"), so anyone having probs would be wise to check files starting MRAI_.... Often thought it would be a good idea to compile a list of known faulty files (I'm just too lazy too do it!)Daveps Not intended to knock the very good MRAI team!

Dont know if this will help with current problem, but I think its generally accepted that framerates should always be limited.Dave

I think most agree it should be turned ON. (certainly, reflective textures require it)Dave

Take a look here:http://www.visualflight.co.uk/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4599Dave

You could modify the .agn files under /scenery/World/scenery using the Autogen Annotator (part of the scenery SDK I think). The max trees allowed per tile is I believe 600 and buildings 400. This work has already been done and altered .agns are available, but I cant remember the name of the Addon or the site it was available on.Dave

Try Start/run/DxDiag (XP) or Start/search/DxDiag.exe (Vista) and see if that shows up any problemsDave

I've used AVG for years very successfully. For what reason do you suggest should I avoid it?Dave