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FSX Doesn't Like My Twin Otter


Duckair

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Hello,

After a few years absence I've returned to flight sims.

Got myself a new shiny computer and installed FSX, along with Service Packs 1 and 2.

So, I asked myself, what was the very best aircraft I flew back on the good old days. Well, I've put it down somewhere but just can't find it. So I bought the latest version and installed the Twin Otter Extended.

Everything seemed to be going fine but after a couple of minutes Windows 8.1 tells me its hit a snag and needs to close FSX. I checked the web and found a video and the chap on there said he had solved his similar problem by putting the frame rate slider right over to the right. Well, that made things better but now the same error message crops up after a slightly longer period of operation.

Can anyone tell me how I can cure this please?

Kind Regards,

Cliff

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Please try this...

Locate Your FSX.cfg file here:

C:\Users\Your_username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX\

Open it and assure that this line exist under the [GRAPHICS] section, otherwise put it in:

[GRAPHICS]
..

..
HIGHMEMFIX=1

If that doesn´t help, then please post the exact error message when FSX crashes.

Also tell us where on Your PC FSX has been installed (C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Flight Simulator X is a generally bad choise)

Finn

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Thanks for the very swift reply Finn,

Tracked the file down and made the changes as suggested. I noticed an immediate difference. When the Virtual Cockpit loaded earlier it did an outline of the interior and then populated the gauges into the background. It took about three or four seconds to do this but it was noticeable. After the edit all the graphic loaded instantly. So I had high hopes for a fix. This time I actually got a flight in! Everything went well until I wanted to see what other views I could load on the screen would look like. Then I got the attached file.

I've installed FSX into the default directory as suggested by the installer so it will be in that path you mentioned in your reply. As this is a new build it won't be a chore to uninstall and put it in the right place. Where should I put it?

Very many thanks for all the help!

Kind Regards,

Cliff

post-527-0-54727600-1389132429_thumb.jpg

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The default location is in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\ which is a bad place using win7 or win8, since FSX never will get full rights due to the way UAC works for that folder.

Better use C:\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\ or C:\My games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\ and You will probably see few less issues.

Please tell You computer specs.

Finn

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Hi Finn,

So, I'm in for a busy day. I've uninstalled FSX and all the Aerosoft aircraft and am now defraging the system. After that I'll reinstall using the C:\Microsoft path. Makes sense really. When you install X Plane it's default path is C:\X Plane etc.

The computer specs are: AMD Piledriver FX-4 Quad Core 4300 3.8 GHz, Sapphire Radeon R9 270X Boost OC 2048MB GDDR5 Graphics card and 8 GB memory

I'll do the changes and let you know what difference they make.

Again, many thanks for the help

Kind Regards,

Cliff

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Oh Dear!

That's a lot worse. The sim doesn't like the Twin Otter as the default aircraft. The sim stop working if I try to change the time from night to day. The frame rate is very jerky. even locked up for over 15 seconds.

I'm uninstalling the Twin Otter and going to see if I can just get FSX working with the provided aircraft and see where I go from there. There are some extra lines in the fsx.cfg file

[Trusted]
C:\Microsoft FSX\Aerosoft\Flight Recorder\AS-FlightRecorder.dll.ortbackzqnelwlihrhnlobrqqncuozunrarahwcw=1
C:\Microsoft FSX\SimObjects\Airplanes\Aerosoft_DHC6_100_WHEEL\panel\ASC.DLL.beczkrzchalzqhibqkkobtztaqrebkiankazqitc=2
[MULTIPLAYER]
condAccoutPassword=0
which I don't remember seeing this morning before I cleaned everything out.
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These lines...

[Trusted]
C:\Microsoft FSX\Aerosoft\Flight Recorder\AS-FlightRecorder.dll.ortbackzqnelwlihrhnlobrqqncuozunrarahwcw=1
C:\Microsoft FSX\SimObjects\Airplanes\Aerosoft_DHC6_100_WHEEL\panel\ASC.DLL.beczkrzchalzqhibqkkobtztaqrebkiankazqitc=2
....needs to be in the FSX.cfg inorder for certain modules to work.
This line.....
[MULTIPLAYER]
condAccoutPassword=0
....has nothing with the Twin Otter to do.
I really don´t know whats wrong with Your install, but we have sold thousands of Twin Otter extended copies and not heard of any similar issue.
Your system should be able to run the Twin Otter with no problems.
For FSX, SP2 or Acceleration is required.
Question:
Do You hear any switch sounds when toggling a switch in the VC - if yes then ASC (Our sound module) is working, if not then the problem might be that something is wrong with Your c++ redistributable 2008 install.
You can download and re-install it from here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5582
You could also try to install the latest DirectX 9 version, though I doubt there should be a problem, but it doesn´t harm: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=34429
Otherwise I´m clueless about whats happening.

Finn

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Hi Finn,

I have no doubt in my mind that there is nothing wrong the Aerosoft Twin Otter. I've bought and used your products since 2007 or thereabouts. I've never been a disappointed customer and don't intend to start now.

My problem rotates around Windows 8.1 and the obstacles it creates.

I've had a very successful day. I ran fsx.exe and asked 8.1 to see what comparability mode it would recommend. It came back with use Vista. I've got the sim running without a hitch and all the scenery sliders to the right using the default 172. Very pleased with that.

I've just installed the Twin Otter and flown it for an hour with no crashes, software and mine, so that's another win.

There is a bit of a flicker from objects in airport areas on approach but that is down to my machine's limitations and those imposed by using the Vista comparability I suspect. I'm backing off the sliders a little at a time and see what the best compromise I can get but that is work in progress.

So, today goes down as a 'win'! I've still got lots of things to try to get the best out of the sim and the Twin Otter and the future looks very bright.

Very many thanks for all the assistance. Its nice to have a place to go when things go belly up.

Kind Regards,

Cliff

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Maybe instaed of using "Vista" compability mode You could run it normally, but rightclick FSX and choose "Run as administrator" and see if it runs stable that way.

Finn

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Windows 8.1?? That got my attention. Is this the update, or are you just getting familiar with the newer OS?

I've been running Windows 8.0 and never had any issues. No problems with FSX or any addons including the Twin Otter Extended.

I've procrastinated on updating to 8.1, so I'm curious about your experience.

--WH

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Hi WH,

The Windows 8.1 came as park of the computer package. My old machine was XP. The OS just couldn't handle memory above 4GB so any flight sim would run with both feet tied together.

Thanks for the administrator advice Finn. I'll give that a go later today and see how it goes.

Had a nice problem free hour before bed last night which I take as me being on the right track.

Kind Regards,

Cliff

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Duckair,

FSX is a 32 bit app so it will still only use 4G but the other apps and OS will not be required to share that 4G so FSX will run better. Also alway start FSX with a default plane. The C172 being the one of choice for most. If you chose a 3rd party plane, you are asking for trouble.

Dave

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Busy, successful, day. I've run the sim for over an hour with no problems under Vista Service Pack 2 comparability. Tried running as an administrator and that seemed to speed up the graphics a little more. I've turned the traffic down to 50% overall. The quality of images is poor and I get a performance hit when the objects are drawn and filled in with detail. Can't say as I'm going to miss them at all.

Just tried to run the sim as administrator in native Windows 8.1 and was junked out in a few seconds (as soon as I changed the time to daylight flying) This has been a common occurrence so I look at it as 'work in progress'.

If you right click the fsx.exe icon and go down to 'properties' you get a small window pop up. One of the tags is 'comparability'. If you tick the box and use the pull down it lists which older version of windows you can try to run the exe in. I'm moving up from 'Vista Service Pack '2 and gone for 'Windows 8'.

Thanks for all the help

Cliff

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Duckair...

With the traffic settings over 50% I would also like Your other settings, like Autogen, scenery complexity, road traffic and airport traffic.

I think what You are seeing is OOM (Out Of Memory), so just like Siggie explained - FSX can only use 4 GB of RAM regardless how much You have installed on Your computer.

If too much is loaded into FSX (Textures, Polygons, Mesh, autogen etc...) then FSX will crash.

While most of the default aircraft won´t burden Your FSX session (not computer as susch), most quality addons aircraft will. More detail in terms of smoother 3d objects (polygons) and higher resolution textures will require more from Your FSX session. If Your FSX session then already is burdened with too much else, like high amount of AI traffic, autogen and scenery objcts, You can quickly reach a point where all memory accessible for FSX has been used up.

We all want to run FSX with so much detail as possible, but depending on our hardware and even regardless if we had the hottest PC available, it simply isn´t possible to run FSX at max or even near max settings.

FSX is now more than 7 years old. When it was developed 32bit OS was the norm. MS was convinced that the future was for ever faster CPU's rather than multiple cores, so FSX has never been able to utilise multi core CPU's very well.

End result is that FSX today runs on computers that are quite different from what it was supposed to be. Graphicscards has become much better than planned for, considering the normal lifespan for a simulator like FSX (I think in the old days a new FS was releasd appr. every 4th year). What somwhat helps FSX is that the normal OS today is 64bit. FSX is and will remain 32bit, but a 64bit OS is capable to use more RAM for itself, as well as for other applications, thus freeing more RAM for FSX. Processore speed has not increased that much during the years and since FSX is more dependent on pure CPU spped than on number of cores or graphicscard performance, the FSX performance increase has not been as steep as one would expect. This means that we still need to make compromises with the settings.

A very good guide for setting up FSX can be found here: http://www.simforums.com/forums/the-fsx-computer-system-the-bible-by-nickn_topic46211.html

Please read it before playing around with settings, that way You will get an good idea whats going on inside FSX.

Finn

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Hi Finn,

Thanks for that. It's very easy to forget the very core of this flight simulation has remained static all these years.

I have to ask myself just what I want out of this.

On one hand I can taxi around airports admiring the scenery and views.

On the other I can immerse myself in the pleasures and challenges of flying as near perfect replicas of aircraft in a very close to real life simulation with regards to environment. Well, I know which side I'm going to choose.

Reducing the traffic sliders is a must. I also need to take a close look at the scenery situation as well. I wonder what the effect might be if I were to put all the sliders to the left and invest in an add on photo real scenery package? Another bit of 'work in progress' for me.

I'm very happy the way this issue has been solved for me. I started with a situation where the sim could not run for more than a few minutes before falling over. I've now got a simulation which works well in all the situations I've put it through

By taking into account the limitations imposed by the OS and the way developers work inside those constraints I'm getting a better understanding of the large number of options still open to me to improve on the success I have already got. I, and for that matter no one else either, is going to end up with 'the leaves on the trees' the world of flight simulation predicted years ago. However, what I have got is a huge improvement over the basic FSX that was abandoned by Microsoft years ago.

I wonder if the guy that made that decision still works for them? If he is I'm sure he's doing a great job keeping the restrooms clean and smelling nice,

Very many thanks for all the help!

Kind Regards,

Cliff

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