Huge Breakthrough in Out of Memory CTD (I Hope!!!)

[psolk]

First, I apologize if you already read this in another forum, alot of us frequent many forums some of us only one or two and I am trying to get as
much visibility to this post as possible.
Everyone, I really hope this is the final fix. This could get long because it has been almost a year long struggle and I tired everything as you can
see below but I think I finally found an issue that might affect a lot of others. If you want the quick fix skip right to the end but trust me it is
worth the read. I am sorry that I am going to flood the forums with this post but hopefully I can help someone with my findings.

I need some help confirming it so hopefully some others can help. In addition to the list of possible CTD's seen below that I have found through
extensive testing (almost a year) I think I may have just found the one final killer I was missing. I literally tried everything in the list below
which is basically a compilation of every error message post I have seen throughout the forums.

I was down to JUST UTUSA and GE in the US for the past 3 months. No other scenery add-ons. Despite this whenever I would come into the New York area
in any of the Heavies, LVL-D, PMDG or PSS I would get the dreaded out of memory error followed by a CTD. I monitored the mem usage and it usually
happened with at least 800 megs of PHYSICAL memory available so I knew it was bogus and was being generated by the software. I found ALL of the things
below to cause CTD's, NOT the planes You get to read all of these before you get to the breakthrough at the end!!! Any one can be your killer...
In no particular order...
1. Improper Sid/Star
2. Add-on scenery including modified Afcad files
3 Modified AI with bad testures as well as bad AI Afcad and Duplicate Afcad due to AI trafiic:
3A. AI is a killer. If you use an add-on traffic program, open up the AFCAD to an airport like KJFK. Then open up the surrounding files, KEWR, KLGA.
In total you will have something like 1000 AI in a 20 mile span. MT for example lists KEWR with something like 15 runways and gives ILS approaches for
helicopters. Now you multiply that by 3 airports in the region and your poor simulator is trying to load 45 runways. All of these files get used even
if you are not flying into that particular airport. Remove the Afcad entirely or try even removing surrounding Afcads. You can also manually go in and
correct the runway usage. KEWR for example should have 4L/22R closed for landings and 4R/22L closed for departure. Personally I disable 11/29
completely as it is very rarely used in real life. In other words, there is a lot of factors that need to be looked at with AI beyond just texture
issues. Duplicate AFCADS or AFCADS with conflicting information will also cause a CTD or OOM message
4. Other add-ons while you fly
4A Third party programs that when used in conjunction with certain add-ons cause an out of memory. They might be fine alone or with other a/c but
there are certain programs that just do not play well with some of the more advanced add-ons.
5. How much physical RAM do you use and what your swap file is set to:
5A Also a corrupt swap file can cause this error in which case Microsoft.com has a fix for removing and recreating the swap
6. How much free space is available on the drive with a swap file
If a drive is low on space and can not grow the swap it will produce this message
7. In the unlikely event it is a hardware memory error: run memtest
8. Modified terrain.cfg
9. Improperly removed scenery from a previous install
10. Improper Render to Texture setting in FS9.cfg
11. Landclass files improperly placed. BIG ONE HERE!!! There are some rumors going around that a LandClass file should NEVER have a texture folder and
that ANY LC file with a texture folder will cause a leak. That is not true. If the LC file specifically calls a texture file in the texture folder it
is referencing then there is no problem. If the LC file does not call any texture files and there is an empty texture folder it will still search the
texture folder but it will not free up the memory it uses to search. It looks some more, memory never gets released and you have an Out of Memory
error. This is when the there should be no texture folder. People assume anytime they see a LC file it needs to be moved and that is not necessarily
the case.
Also, do not assume because it is payware it is correct...

12. One thing I have found for certain is that it is very rarely ONE add-on causing a problem. It is usually another add-on that might have been added
at a later date that forces the issue to surface. Sometimes an add-on that has worked for years will be exposed for the issue it had all along by
another add-on you added later. Never assume it is just the plane you are flying OR the last thing you added. It could go much much deeper...

Now despite trying ALL of this and getting down to a fresh install, I still ahd CTD's with an Out of Memory. At my wits end I started looking for new
solutions I had not heard anywhere else yet. Mark McG. at LVL-D had always mentioned checking the name of the Airports in every Afcad you were using
matched the default. For example, if you were using an Afcad for KEWR and the default Afcad said Newark Intl make sure your add-ons used the same
name. I finally when I had no other answers decided to check the name of the Afcad matched the name of the Airac files we all use. Sure enough Bingo,
KEWR was listed as Newark Liberty International NOT Newark Intl the airport names did not match. I chaged all of the entries in the Airac and set off
on my same 9 hour flight from Rome to Newark I have been trying to complete for over 9 months. Incidentally I can always fly into Rome and leave the
sim going for days but can never come home. i have been stuck in Italy for months Sure enough I got to my ALTN airport which was KJFK Kennedy Intl in
the Afcad and I had the CTD with an Out of Memory error. Here I stopped to cry, take a shot of vodka, cry some more, think about giving up simming
forever, throwing the computer out the window and cried some more.
Not giving up I went back into the Airac and did a search on KJFK. BINGO AGAIN, this is listed in the AIRAC as John F Kennedy International, not
Kennedy Intl. I changed this is every spot in the Airac I found it, there were quite a few entries in different files, loaded up my ASV6 SU3,
FsPassengers, FsBuild FlightPlan, Lago Rome scenery, UTUSA, GE 2006, LvL-D 767 the first time, PMDG 744 the second and PSS 77 the final and FINALLY
AFTER ALMOST A YEAR I AM HOME

The sim has been running for hours, no issues at all. I honestly think that the missing link that has been causing so many of us issues since the
release of these add-on heavies is Airport name mismatches with Airac files. It is one variable I have not seen mentioned before in any forums and in
my case allowed me to complete a flight I have failed at probably 100 times in the past year (ever since the release of LVL-D.)
I honestly want to kiss my computer right now. Please others, try this confirm this and give me some feedback. I really hope this is the golden ticket
we have all been looking for...
Sincerely,
-Paul Solk
Liquid Cooled
AMD 4000 San Diego
2 Gigs Kingston Corsair XMS CL2
Dual 7800 GTX
24 inch widescreen dual 19 inch LCD
Raid-0
http://home.comcast.net/~psolk/3monitorsa.html

[Dutch64]

Interesting! No idea this different airport name could have such an impact! BTW, No 11 in your list is also a cause for stutters and a drop in
framerates.... Took me a while before i found that one indeed

[jboweruk]

Man you must've had some headaches, but glad you finally seem to have it down, hope it all works and many thanks from all of us for
posting your findings. Going through all those AFD files though.... ooooh, and the Airacs, aargh, I really can't see me sitting there doing
that, as I don't have too many CTD's anymore anyway. But hey, if it gets bad again I'll certainly refer back to this, and Mods, can you sticky
this for everybody's sake pls?

[SaVas]

S0mething methinks I need to look at

[psolk]

Dutch,
I had no idea either. To be honest I do not think I have seen others point to this as a ctd cause before. It is something i found by trial and error...
You are so right on # 11 btw, it can kill your performance..
There were so many factors influencing my FS experience it was not even funny. Blurries I thought were caused by my FS config or textures were
actually caused by an add-on that was calling FSUIPC 4000 times per second. Remove an add-on that has nothing to do with texture and your textures
clear up. It is amazing how everything is correlated.
J,
headaches is an understatement. This has really occupied the last 9-10 months of my FS time. Fortunately or unfortunately I have been pretty much
housebound this entire time due to medical issues. I was never flying for fun this past year, I was always flying to troubleshoot. Try doing the same
9 hour flight 5 days straight with it crashing every single day in the last ten minutes of the flight. Frustration is just the beginning. It gets
hard to do it again the next day but I think I may be a little bit Obsessive Compulsive LOL. I once spent 72 hours straight working an issue for IBM.
I guess it is a personality disorder

Thanks again for the feedback, I really hope this little finding turns out to help others too. That was my whole goal of posting ALL of my findings...
-Paul

[BenzHangar]

What is the step I should take in comparing afcads and airac?
How can I find it ?

I too feel your pain. My problem is KJFK. On weekends I fly transatlantic to Kennedy & most of the time upon approach I have to
kill all AI traffic just to have a smooth Flare between the numbers.

Thanks

[pagir]

Paul,

Maybe you induced yourself a really big headache to let your back recover

Hope you are getting as well in the real world as in the virtual one!

Congrats on this tricky one!

Pagir

[JayKae]

Great stuff but has anyone ever thought of using FsAutostart ?

FSAutoStart allows the user the ability to automatically shutdown services and programs to provide as much resources to running
today’s most demanding applications. It also provides the ability to launch selected programs before the application is launched. Lastly,
it can automatically restart those programs and services previously shutdown, thus bringing the computer back to its original state. It also
adds some performance enhancing options like Defragment Memory. Build 11 24 November 2004 • Made code to start/stop programs
and services multi-threaded for faster execution • Added a few more descriptions for possible error messages when starting/stopping
services • Fixed bug that caused crash in GUI when loading a profile with a filename longer than 20 characters • Added auto-arrange to
the main profile window (icons will arrange themselves as the window is resized)

Get it from here

http://library.avsim.net/download.php?DLID=57040

[BenzHangar]

Use it all the time. Its great a program for running FS9 but on long flights comming into KJFK or KEWR,
Its a smooth approach but the stutter is still there.

Works for me:

GE2006 = Texture

Speedupmypc= Free up floating memory on your pc. I can't remember where I got it from, but
Its a freeware. Check your search engine.

FsAutostart= Kills programs thats running but not needed. GREAT PROGRAM.
Thanx JayKae for that reply.

Endit= Also a great program I run from sun up to sun down. Its just like FsAutostart .

Also this link to AVsim Forum Discussion is a manual to our problems. Now its not actually a manual.
but it help with your problem.

NOTAMS: To all NYC area pilots. SHEA STADIUM is one big problem in NEW YORK.
Once in viewing sight your framerates evaporate. in this post solves that problem.

http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=s...pic_page=1

[psolk]

Hello Captains,
I hope all is well with everyone.
A little bit of time has passed and I have done a number of long haul flights in real time since my last post. I have done each of the following
flights (KEWR-EGCC,(UK2000) KEWR-EGLL (UK2000) KEWR-LIRF (Cloud9 Rome) and KEWR-LLBG (Freeware Israel scenery) at least twice as round trips with no
reboots in between the segments and have been unable to replicate the error that was 100% consistent in the past. Before anyone asks I have not
reverted the files to reproduce the crash as I am just having so much fun flying again to be honest...

This unconfirmed fix is only for one very specific CTD. It is not going to fix every CTD in FS BUT it is more specifically CTD on Final after a long
haul or a CTD right after touchdown specifically with any of the add-on heavies.
If you are experiencing these issues, there are detailed instructions on the steps I took and the procedures to follow in order to test this for
yourself at the bottom of the thread.

Again, this is only for the CTD at the end of a long haul or right after touchdown when approaching specific airports. If you get a CTD upon startup,
a CTD mid-flight, a hardware blue screen or lock up then this will not help you, I just want to make that as clear as possible so people do not waste
their time. If you have one of these other issues then please read the entire thread above for some other software fixes...
The following process assumes knowledge of the tool Afcad by Lee Swordy. Please backup all files prior to modification.

1. Obtain a good text-editor (Personally I like Text-Pad (google it) but Wordpad and Notepad will work as well)
2. Obtain Afcad 2.2 by Lee Swordy
3. Determine the appropriate location of the Navdata
PMDG (Root FS9\FMCWP\NavData)
LVL-D (Root FS9\Level-D Simulations\Navdata) same procedures
as PMDG
PSS (Root FS9\PSS\navdata) Different procedures see PSS site
for instructions
4. Open Afcad and search for the ICAO in question For this example use KEWR.
5. If you just have one file that says Stock, note the name and move to step 6.
If you have two files, one that says Stock and one that says Mod, ensure that the names match and note the name
and move to step 6
If you have more than two Afcad files, one that says Stock and multiple files that say Mod, search the forums for posts about duplicate Afcads.
6. Note the airport name from step 5
7. For PMDG and LVL-D, Locate the File wpNavAPT.txt
8. Search for the ICAO code in question. For this example KEWR
Either do a ctrl-F or edit/find and type KEWR
Note the Afcad name should be Newark Intl to match the Stock file.
9. Delete the word Liberty from the .txt file one character at a time with either Backspace or Delete. Do not highlight and delete the entire word.
10. Now, go the the end of the word Intl and hit the space bar until your columns line up again. If you count from the beginning of the line to the
ICAO code the letter K in KEWR should be in column 25.
11. Do ctrl-f again and locate each instance of KEWR and repeat.
12. Save the file

Test...

That should do it Captains, good luck to all and please let me know if this has helped. A few of you already have reported it worked for you but we
need confirmation to really look into it.
Thanks for all your time and thanks for reading,
-Paul