Is FSX inherently unstable

[DaveGi 17]

As a massive fan of flight simulation, I probably spend as much time trying to sort out problems with FSX as I do actually flying. I read the Avsim Forums with avid intest and marvel at the sheer brilliance of some of the contributors and hobbyist who tirelessly look to plug the holes and improve on this aged software; I am so grateful to these guys for their hard work and ingenuity. I guess what I want to know is, does everybody have a situation and experience similar to mine? I have periods where my sim runs well and then without undestanding why, it starts to play up; its almost like it can only sustain a limited time of uninterrupted flying before you have to try and resolve another problem.

 

Over the years I have spent a small fortune on flight simulation with my biggest investment of add ons for FSX and it has given me many years of pleasure and I wouldn't swap it for anything and I think I have to admit certainly my FSX platform has improved tremendously; my latest issue is that I tend to have CTD after approximately 2 hours flying; I figured this might be an over heat but would it really take this long while flying over featureless ocean? I use a corsair water cooling system which seems to keep the temp well below 80 Celsius and my GTX580 graphics card never gets beyond 60 Celsius so I am not sure why this barrier exists. In all other respects I am able to fly without issue with varying frame rates and stutters issues depending on scenery/airport complexity and manufacturer. If anybody has got any suggestions I would love to hear.............

[FS++ 710]

No, FSX itself is fairly stable.

 

Most of the time, it's a particular add-on or a combination of add-ons that take it to the wall.

 

You can only put so much into a 32 Bit virtual address space.

[Vecter 2]

As a massive fan of flight simulation, I probably spend as much time trying to sort out problems with FSX as I do actually flying. I read the Avsim Forums with avid intest and marvel at the sheer brilliance of some of the contributors and hobbyist who tirelessly look to plug the holes and improve on this aged software; I am so grateful to these guys for their hard work and ingenuity. I guess what I want to know is, does everybody have a situation and experience similar to mine? I have periods where my sim runs well and then without undestanding why, it starts to play up; its almost like it can only sustain a limited time of uninterrupted flying before you have to try and resolve another problem.

 

 

Yes, these days it seems I'm chasing down issues more than I'm flying.

 

 

No, FSX itself is fairly stable.

 

Most of the time, it's a particular add-on or a combination of add-ons that take it to the wall.

 

You can only put so much into a 32 Bit virtual address space.

 

With all the addons we run attached to FSX I sometimes wonder if we aren't painting ourselves into a corner.?

[mgh 89]

With all the addons we run attached to FSX I sometimes wonder if we aren't painting ourselves into a corner.?

 

I think the answer to that is definitely yes!

[LHookins 3,104]

FSX has a bug somewhere deep in the code. No one knows what it is, and it is random. Some people never have a problem, others have constant problems, but one thing that stands out is that once you start having problems they don't go away.

 

Because the bug is so random, there are many reported fixes that don't actually work. Report after report says, "Thanks that fixed the problem" then a day or two later, "The problem is back."

 

There are a few problems that have a definite fix. This isn't one of them. Go ahead and try whatever people suggest just in the hopes you have a fixable problem. But never forget that there's a little gremlin in there that will occasionally crash FSX, even if you switch to a new computer and operating system.

 

The only good news I can provide is that some day the crashes might suddenly stop, the same way they started. I can't give any good advice other than to save your flights frequently.

 

I started getting crashes when I finally installed SP2 after about 8 months crash-free with SP1. I was getting the same crashes at the same frequency when I bought a new computer with a new OS. Suddenly last November the crashes stopped. I've been trying to get a handle on what's happening for years, and I'm not any closer now than when I started.

 

While it may be that certain addons cause problems, I was getting the crashes with all addons removed.

 

My best guess at this time is that it has to do with the order in which programs are loaded, even system stuff outside FSX, or at least the order in which memory is allocated by those programs. Not a lot we can do about that.

 

Hook

[BilboBaggins 82]

As with any complex, memory-intensive software, best bet is to reboot and then clear out any unnecessary memory-resident processes prior to launching.

 

FSX clearly stores state in index and config and swap files, so issues can arise from a ny of those.

 

I always keep a saved flight to start up with as default that is as simple as possible to reduce issues.

[Bob Scott 7,722]

my latest issue is that I tend to have CTD after approximately 2 hours flying; I figured this might be an over heat but would it really take this long while flying over featureless ocean? I use a corsair water cooling system which seems to keep the temp well below 80 Celsius and my GTX580 graphics card never gets beyond 60 Celsius so I am not sure why this barrier exists. In all other respects I am able to fly without issue with varying frame rates and stutters issues depending on scenery/airport complexity and manufacturer. If anybody has got any suggestions I would love to hear.............

 

Could be that you are seeing an overheat on some other component of your PC--the power regulation, mobo chipset, or memory perhaps. The power MOSFETs in the voltage regulation circuit are heavily stressed in an overclocked rig, and without good airflow over that part of the board the temps can get really high there. You might try taking the computer's cover off and pointing a desktop fan into the enclosure and see if the problem still occurs. If not, you probably have an airflow/cooling issue in the case that needs to be addressed. And of course a layer of dust on those components could cause the same problems even with good airflow.

 

Regards

[n4gix 4,947]

Might I ask how this thread relates to "Letters to the Editorial Staff?" :lol:

[FIVE-BY-FIVE 453]

fsx vanilla is stable but not with many addons, try out xplane10 for stability(32bit and 64bit) and no stutters in scenery :good: because it uses your cpu, gpu and memory to the max.

[LHookins 3,104]

fsx vanilla is stable but not with many addons

 

Unfortunately, vanilla FSX is indeed unstable. My first addon was CumulusX, which required SP2. I started getting crashes every third flight and removed CumulusX, but still got the crashes. The only thing that remained was SP2.

 

As with any complex, memory-intensive software, best bet is to reboot and then clear out any unnecessary memory-resident processes prior to launching.

 

Good advice. Been doing it for years. It's the difference between crashing every third flight and an almost guaranteed crash.

 

FSX clearly stores state in index and config and swap files, so issues can arise from any of those.

 

If these things hang around after a reboot, I'd be very interested in what they are so I can delete them. I've often suspected something from a previous flight was causing problems.

 

I always keep a saved flight to start up with as default that is as simple as possible to reduce issues.

 

I can't be sure, but my crashes went away about the time I changed my default flight to a default aircraft on a different airfield. If you're getting crashes, this is as good a thing to try as any. My previous default flight was always at one airport, but happened with any planes I saved there as the startup aircraft. I also got the crashes if I disabled the default preload, so I can't point a finger at a definite problem here. I've had no problems starting with the new default flight and moving to my original airport before clicking Fly Now.

 

Hook

[Bob Scott 7,722]

Might I ask how this thread relates to "Letters to the Editorial Staff?" :lol:

 

Yeah, it doesn't. One of the unfortunate consequences of this newfangled AVSIM web format is a list of recent forum activity on the front page that doesn't tell you on what forum the thread is in...

 

Cheers

[BilboBaggins 82]

Ironically, I discovered the persistent effects of Default Flight after picking up A2A Simulations' wonderful P-51 Civilian Mustang.

 

I'd started it up and set it to auto Cold and Dark (i.e. all systems off and set up realistically to go through real-world-style startup checklist).

 

Then saved it as Default Flight for practice with the next day.

 

I always take a "pilot error" approach to FSX, so if something looks or goes wrong, it's investigation of what I might have done wrong, first, before blaming the software or hardware.

 

In this case, the ATC just wouldn't communicate at startup (practicing IFR approaches to Kennedy after taking off from Laguardia). Had the radio turned on, everything looked right, couldn't even get ATIS.

 

Turned out I hadn't pushed the "Mic1" button to on in the cockpit (A2A's modeling is incredible, btw, of all systems). Figured that out and was a happy camper soon thereafter on approach to 31L.

 

Later same day, restarted FSX, default flight, switched out A2A Mustang, switched in FSX default Learjet 45 (which I hate for its incompleteness).

 

No way to push Mic1 in that cockpit! No way to get ATC that I could find at least.

 

Saved new default flight with Cessna 172 at Midway (kind of the MS Flight Simulator equivalent of crawling back into the womb and assuming the fetal position), daytime, all systems running and at Active runway.

 

Shut down FSX (maybe rebooted? I forget; rebooting would have been a good idea).

 

Restarted, then swapped in LJ45 and hit Fly Now. Radio back, now all I have left to fuss about is no real way to start up from Cold and Dark in the FSX Learjet; wish A2A Simulations in their copious free time would make a replacement. <G>

 

Main point is, your Default Flight sets state on many things. Changing it is good for troubleshooting.

 

Also, the more you repeat flying in a particular area, the smoother it is, as the file indexing and generation for the scenery seems to get "baked in" upon repeated use.

 

I remain very wary of fiddling behind the scenes with files, as there are no doubt many mysterious cascading effects difficult to account for and track when doing so.

 

Add-ons can really test memory availability. There are so many variables between visual realtime rendering settings for your video card, in FSX itself, and then even with the different liveries for a particular aircraft (the more beautiful, detailed and complex ones clearly can double their memory footprint in your video card's RAM, GPU-Z with logging turned on is a good way to analyze this), that it's very easy to overwhelm even an Ivy Bridge quad-core system with 16GB of RAM, SSDs and an Nvidia GTX680. FSX remains 32-bit with a 32-bit address space, and the 680 "only" has 2GB of video RAM. <G>.

 

Running FSX is like running a PC and like flying real aircraft. You have to study and pay attention and be methodical.

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

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[n4gix 4,947]

Saved new default flight with Cessna 172 at Midway (kind of the MS Flight Simulator equivalent of crawling back into the womb and assuming the fetal position), daytime, all systems running and at Active runway... <snipped for brevity>

 

Main point is, your Default Flight sets state on many things. Changing it is good for troubleshooting.

One should always set the C172 in whatever condition they like (running or cold and dark), even if they never ever load it again!

 

The sim's "default flight" saves twenty-two additional parameters that regular flight files do not. As a result, the sim will always look back to the "default flight" to pick up those extra parameters...

 

The most bone-headed move that the late and lamented MS/ACES developers ever did was to make the silly "Trike" the "default flight..."

 

...since many of those extra parameters do not exist in the "Trike!" :mad:

[mgh 89]

I have a vanilla copy of FSX + Acceleration which I use solely for development. It's never crashed - except when I've done something wrong!.