FSX - initial thoughts

[ajb]

Well, having now updated my PC hardware and getting superb FS9 performance (with just one odd glitch :think: ) I decided to take the plunge and invest in FSX. Performance is very good, suprisingly, not perfectly smooth but then I didn't expect it to be, but more than aceptable . Some of the effects and visuals are very nice and a great leap forward over FS9. BUT!! Why are there so many trees in just about every scene? My local airport (Stornoway) has no trees at all - except in FSX. Vagar airport in the Faroes is like a jungle - you can't even see the control tower from the runway. Barra airport is like the Mojave desert in FSX (no trees at least) - not so in real life. FSX's landclass mapping seems to be a bit on the crappy side, here in the UK anyway. Oh and addons are now mainly payware :@ .

However all of that pales into insignificance as the bugger hangs on me every time I run it :@ :@ . I have 2 hard drives in my PC, one with XP and the other with Vista Home Premium, both 32bit. I have FSX installed on both systems and both freeze solid without warning and in different circumstances every time. Sometimes after a few minutes running, sometimes after an hour or so. I cannot break out to the desktop and have to reboot. The event log is not reporting anything untoward (I think). All drivers and updates are current and I'm running the pro version with SP1 and SP2 installed. Don't know where to start looking. Google didn't help on this occasion.

Any ideas?

Andy

[DaveB]

Oh dear Andy :roll:

When you say you're running the 'Pro' version, do you mean FSX?? The original versions were Standard and Deluxe and both these (if bought early enough) required SP1 and SP2 to get the best out of them. With the advent of FSX 'Gold' and FSX Acceleration, I really don't know what the state of play is regarding the updates. I believe FSX Gold is FSX and Acceleration.. FSX Acceleration is the payware addon which includes SP2 hard coded into the addon and by now, I'd have expected 'Standard' and Deluxe to have either SP1 included or both but I couldn't be certain. Shoddy if at least one of them isn't there at this stage in the proceedings!

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[ajb]

Ooops! I meant FSX Deluxe (although it says pro on the internal label, which obviously confused me ). I don't have Gold or Acceleration, just the bog standard deluxe version which I updated with SP1 and SP2 (as they were in original form on the release I received from Amazon last week). Interestingly the demo version did exactly the same thing on both op systems but I thought that it might be due to the fact that the demo was a fairly ancient bit of software for modern kit. Just goes to show what I know :doho: .

Andy

[DaveB]

Hi Andy..

OK, I see ;-) Just had a look at my copy of Deluxe and it says Deluxe on the inside too but that's by the by

Right.. things to try. If you're running fullscreen as we were all beaten into doing with FS9 and before, try running it windowed.. it seems to run better on my system this way. Alternatively, if you're running windowed, try fullscreen. ;-)

I take it the 'hang' is quite literally that.. a reset button job. Not particularly helpful as you're not going to see an error code and I find event viewer about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike. Are you running it in DX9C or DX10 demo mode?? I'm not exactly sure what difference this would make as I don't have DX10 :think:

When you loaded SP1, had you already tried it without first?? Also, when you loaded SP1.. did you give it a run first or load SP2 straight on top?? It's always good policy to let it run once.. add SP1.. run that once.. add SP2 then off you tiddly go. Apologies if you already did this.

The downside of our forum format is you can't see sigs so I can't see what your hardware is and neither can I remember it I dunno but I'm getting a feeling it might be a graphics issue but why it's hanging and not just spitting out I've no idea. Hopefully.. one of the guys here who use it all the time will be able to offer some worthwhile advice. I have it but rarely use it :roll:

EDIT..
I've just read your system specs and it should handle FSX no problemo. Nowt there to suggest any underlying issues.

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[TSR2]

I'd suggest.... that if it is doing the same thing on different machines, and different versions (i.e. the demo) that the problem is an addon, a gauge or piece or scenery or something.

[ajb]

Hi Guys,

I run full screen under DX9C. Tried DX10 but didn't like it under Vista as it takes away control from the graphics card settings. I will try windowed mode though, anything to try to get a stable platform.

When I installed I followed the Simforums advice by NickN (all 29 pages :o ) so each part I installed was followed by a default flight and then a reboot. There are however, no addons yet. I'm also going to try a few runs logged on as Administrator as I have a hunch that permissions play a part in the problem. Probably a red herring but as I've no messages from the PC I'm clutching at any straws :-( . The hang always requires a reset button restart.

Just a thought, could power be a problem? The rig runs off a 600w (OCZ StealthXStream) power supply. I would have thought that it was man enough for the job but I understand that some power supplies do not deliver their rated watts.

Andy

EDIT: Hmmm. Tried running as administrator in full screen and it ran for well over an hour without hanging . I did get a weird graphical "happening" where the flight suddenly showed the cockpit textures as the outside scene and from the outside view the Grumman's floats were just big black squares :o. I simply ended the flight and selected another one with no subsequent problems. Checked the CPU core temp (43°c), and the GPU core (53°c) which seem well within limits. I think that I'll give FS9 a real hammering tonight just in case my belief that it's just FSX is misplaced (I've spent most of my time on FSX since the upgrade).

[Tako_Kichi]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that it is recommended to run FSX in Administrator mode on Vista.

Of course, can I find the article in question now I need it again?....can I 'eck as like! :roll: :-(

[Chris Sykes]

I have to run FSX on admin mode under Win 7 and i remember having it in admin mode under Vista too!

[TSR2]

Easiest way to do it (not that it should need to be done, but hey) is to right click on the FSX exe file and tick the box saying Windows XP SP2 compatibility. This overrides the UAC stuff for that exe

[Fodda]

Better yet, right click on the exe as above (or the shortcut leading to it) then select Properties. Under the Compatibility heading, just tick the box that says "Run this program as an Administrator" then OK.

FSX will always then run under Admin mode when started.