critical error FS9--Help!

[bailout3 0]

I have a 120ghz hard drive which is almost entirely full of FS9 addon software...there is 14 GHZ available memory. I got a critical error but the warning box was there only for a moment...I think it said that it was a critical error due to insufficient memory. I rebooted FS9 after deleting a few programs to give me a little more room. FS9 seems to load normally & functions well except that the ailerons don't work on any aircraft including the default cessna.

I have tried reducing the various items in FS9 but nothing has helped. The a/c flies normally & the scenery is great but the ailerons still don't work. The only thing I can think of now is to uninstall FS9 & reinstall but am obviously worried about my downloads purchased mostly Aerosoft products through Sim Market. As I said I have over $1K in addons & don't want to lose my investment.

If I unintall FS9 will I lose the addons? Does anyone have any suggestions on getting me out of this?

I would appreciate some help.

[cbd80 258]

Hi. Firstly don't panic!

I take it when you say 120Ghz you mean 120GB? Is this your only harddrive? If so, the message you got could have been saying you were low on virtual memory, as the pc will use the harddrive to swap data in and out of memory.

I don't think you need to uninstall everything, as it sounds like a controller problem. What joystick, flight control system do you use? Check that it is calibrated in the sim. If it's USB unplug it and plug it in again. Lastly, check for the latest driver for your joystick.

As for your purchases, you should really back them up yourself. But, if necessary you should be able to download them again. Best to log into your accounts on simmarket and aerosoft and check if they're still available for download.

Chris

[Snave 466]

Back up hard drives are so cheap these days I can't see any reason for NOT having one. USB2.0 types or even USB3.0 if your Motherboard is new enough. 500 gig drives and above are effective and plentiful. Then copy all back up and installation files to that drive as a first step.

You simply CANNOT store addon package installation runtimes on the same drive as FS, it's certain to drag performance down, and any drive that has that little space remaining is going to give you trouble. On a 120 gig drive you really shouldn't allow free space to fall below about 40 gig - yes, FORTY, before performance suffers.

As an alternative measure, usually the largest folder in the FS9 inventory is the aircraft folder. Delete/uninstall those that you are not currently flying, including the 122 paintjobs for the plane you fly all the time, but only in one or two colourschemes or liveries. That alone could save you gigabytes of space.

[Aerosoft Team [Inactive Account] 51558]

I have a 120ghz hard drive which is almost entirely full of FS9 addon software...there is 14 GHZ available memory. I got a critical error but the warning box was there only for a moment...I think it said that it was a critical error due to insufficient memory. I rebooted FS9 after deleting a few programs to give me a little more room. FS9 seems to load normally & functions well except that the ailerons don't work on any aircraft including the default cessna.

I have tried reducing the various items in FS9 but nothing has helped. The a/c flies normally & the scenery is great but the ailerons still don't work. The only thing I can think of now is to uninstall FS9 & reinstall but am obviously worried about my downloads purchased mostly Aerosoft products through Sim Market. As I said I have over $1K in addons & don't want to lose my investment.

If I unintall FS9 will I lose the addons? Does anyone have any suggestions on getting me out of this?

I would appreciate some help.

Of course we'll assist you fully in getting the downloads back, no problem there bailout3, you won't loose any of those. We know simMarket has a different idea on this but as long as you can proof you bought it we'll take care of you.

[bailout3 0]

Hi. Firstly don't panic!

I take it when you say 120Ghz you mean 120GB? Is this your only harddrive? If so, the message you got could have been saying you were low on virtual memory, as the pc will use the harddrive to swap data in and out of memory.

I don't think you need to uninstall everything, as it sounds like a controller problem. What joystick, flight control system do you use? Check that it is calibrated in the sim. If it's USB unplug it and plug it in again. Lastly, check for the latest driver for your joystick.

As for your purchases, you should really back them up yourself. But, if necessary you should be able to download them again. Best to log into your accounts on simmarket and aerosoft and check if they're still available for download.

Chris

Thanks Chris...I had to reinstall the drivers in safe mode to get the joystick to work. I haven't had time to see if there has been any other errors or omissions of any of my other add-ons. The joystick is just a prologic extreme 3D but it does the job. Thank you for getting me back on track.

[bailout3 0]

Back up hard drives are so cheap these days I can't see any reason for NOT having one. USB2.0 types or even USB3.0 if your Motherboard is new enough. 500 gig drives and above are effective and plentiful. Then copy all back up and installation files to that drive as a first step.

You simply CANNOT store addon package installation runtimes on the same drive as FS, it's certain to drag performance down, and any drive that has that little space remaining is going to give you trouble. On a 120 gig drive you really shouldn't allow free space to fall below about 40 gig - yes, FORTY, before performance suffers.

As an alternative measure, usually the largest folder in the FS9 inventory is the aircraft folder. Delete/uninstall those that you are not currently flying, including the 122 paintjobs for the plane you fly all the time, but only in one or two colourschemes or liveries. That alone could save you gigabytes of space.

Thankyou for the info. My system is old..HPa320n AMD Athlon 2.08 GHz...512 boosted to 2 GB DDR SDRAM memory..128 Radeon 128 MB video card & my 120 GB Ultra DMA HD. I asked around town about adding a second drive but I was told the HP hard drive, motherboard, & processor wouldn't work with another drive? The USB ports are USB1,s. With this old system would it be possible to run another HD? Also, if I went to a new computer would I be able to transfer all my FS9 files & addons to it?

Your other comment about deleting repaints..I haven't done any but as you say some a/c came with a bunch of liveries...how do I go about removing those excess files without deleting my a/c? Keep in mind that I am not that technical without a full description. I can work my way around as long as someone lays it out for me in simple language. I really appreciate all your help..thanks for taking the time .

[bailout3 0]

Of course we'll assist you fully in getting the downloads back, no problem there bailout3, you won't loose any of those. We know simMarket has a different idea on this but as long as you can proof you bought it we'll take care of you.

Thanks for your reassurance..I have saved all my invoices for all my scenery...it wouldn't be a problem proving it.

Also many thanks for the great programs your company has provided to make FS9 a super realistic program.

[Snave 466]

Thankyou for the info. My system is old..HPa320n AMD Athlon 2.08 GHz...512 boosted to 2 GB DDR SDRAM memory..128 Radeon 128 MB video card & my 120 GB Ultra DMA HD. I asked around town about adding a second drive but I was told the HP hard drive, motherboard, & processor wouldn't work with another drive? The USB ports are USB1,s. With this old system would it be possible to run another HD? Also, if I went to a new computer would I be able to transfer all my FS9 files & addons to it?

Your other comment about deleting repaints..I haven't done any but as you say some a/c came with a bunch of liveries...how do I go about removing those excess files without deleting my a/c? Keep in mind that I am not that technical without a full description. I can work my way around as long as someone lays it out for me in simple language. I really appreciate all your help..thanks for taking the time .

As long as you have a spare USB port, an addon drive should work as a repository. Not sure how you could have ended up with such an explosively-szed FS9 installation without knowing how to remove stuff, but perhaps your best answer might be in a utility such as Addit! Pro from

HERE

with which you should be able to purge your system of anything you don't need, and which will be especially useful if you want to use the addon hard drive as a repository. It can create the backup folders and files for you.

I recommend a utilty such as this as it can remove not only individual or groups of aircraft, but also scenery and other addons too, so it could be very useful in reducing the ultimate size of the FS9 installation.

With all that said, I would still recommend uninstalling FS9, deleting all the folders and starting from scratch.

The reason for this is simple: With the volume of addons you have it is reasonable to say that you are probably not using 90% of them 90% of the time, so you could use the reinstallation as an opportunity to look at what you REALLY need and eliminate the clutter! As Mathijs says, you don't lose anything from Aerosoft this way - you can always reinstall if you find you desparately miss something, but the shocking truth will be that you actually don't miss most of them, no matter how earth-shatteringly great and all-important you thought they were when you got them...

[bailout3 0]

Thank you for the suggestions..I am definitely going to look at ADDit Pro. I am always afraid of deleting files from FS9 in case they are mandatory for files I want to keep. My computer has a bug that won't let me use restore for some reason no matter what I use as a date.

I can do without some a/c I have purchased which do have some extra paints but most of my $$ has been for scenery, airports & environment. I will back up with another hard drive as well just in case. I have decided to purchase FSX Gold as I hope to transition to a new computer in the fall. I intend on keeping FS9...just in case.

It is always great to talk to someone who knows all about FS. Thank you.