FSX freezes randomly

[Guest firehawk44]

Jim, you're very right about the sliders having significant bearing on performance, with even high end machines such as mine. I know for me the cloud draw distance appears to have a dramatic effect on the frequency of the freezes I have experiences, and likewise, the frame rate has an impact as well. I might have solved my particular problem last night actually; after a month of contending with this nonsense. With me, since this all derived from a reinstallation of the game as a consequence of what I wrongly interpreted as performance issues that has resulted from an ineffective virus repair/restoration, the real fundamental and underlying issue was whether my reinstallation was a causative factor in this. It turns out that it possibly was. I had been imprudently attempting to transplant various game modifications the quick and dirty way by just copying and pasting folders and files into the fsx main directory. Obviously this was risky and foolish in terms of its potential for causing subsequent compatibility issues. I'm not entirely certain that this was the root cause of my problem, but after having completed a DTW to RKSI long-haul in conjunction with an ACARS program and without any incident, I'm inclined to think it may have been. Thanks again for your continuing help and I will be sure to return here in the next few days and post my findings after more test flights.

Sometimes that's okay (copying and pasting) but that can sometimes get out of hand and it creates more problems. I really don't have too many problems with my FSX/Acceleration. It runs great 99.5% of the time even with sliders set relatively high. But, every so often I hit one of those nasty CTD's/BSOD's while running FSX and automatically think FSX killed my system. But it turns out to be a system issue for me instead. I built my current system. After receiving some expert guidance from SpiritFlyer (Stephen) here on AVSIM, I was able to overclock it up to 4.8GHz. I ran stability tests and it didn't crash but the other day I got a BSOD with the STOP 0124 error. That's most likely a memory issue so I adjusted the timings and lowered the voltages. I also brought down my overclock from 4.8GHz to 4.5GHz to maybe reduce any possible overheating. So far it's working. Stay tuned! Anyway, I hope you have fixed your issue(s). You probably know this but, once FSX/Acceleration is installed, the first thing you should do if FSX crashes is to delete or rename the FSX config then restart FSX and let the config rebuild itself. There are a lot of tweaks that simply do not work on all systems. Even the guru, Nick Needham, who wrote the excellent guide on setting up fsx and tuning it states many of the tweaks to not work. So, rebuilding the FSX.cfg gives FSX a fresh start w/o damaging any addons. I have also successfully done a repair of FSX/Acceleration instead of uninstalling/reinstalling. You just have to remember to repair Acceleration or, if Acceleration is not installed, repair SP1 and SP2 by clicking on the execute's or else you'll really have major issues. That saves me from having to reinstall every addon again which can be very, very time-consuming. Then, if that doesn't work, you should probably go to where I'm at now -- looking for BIOS, hardware issues.... and I think that's where many of us are at now. Best regards,Jim

[casinoroyal 0]

Well thank you again for your informative contribution. I will certainly report any progress I've made toward achieving a workable solution. Now I'm thinking it has something to do with the virtual airline tracking system that I run in the background, as I flew about 2 hours last night an then the game froze once again. After that, I started fsx independent of any other ancillary programs and came back over 8 hours later to find the game running just fine (also after having turned up cloud draw and increased frame rates). I can't say for certain whether its the ACARS system thats inducing my freezes, but its beginning to seem so. Best of luck on your continuing journey to achieving your own final resolution to any fsx issues yet outstanding and thanks again for the advice.

[Guest firehawk44]

Well thank you again for your informative contribution. I will certainly report any progress I've made toward achieving a workable solution. Now I'm thinking it has something to do with the virtual airline tracking system that I run in the background, as I flew about 2 hours last night an then the game froze once again. After that, I started fsx independent of any other ancillary programs and came back over 8 hours later to find the game running just fine (also after having turned up cloud draw and increased frame rates). I can't say for certain whether its the ACARS system thats inducing my freezes, but its beginning to seem so. Best of luck on your continuing journey to achieving your own final resolution to any fsx issues yet outstanding and thanks again for the advice.

I did a Google search for acars in fsx and found several systems with freezing or hanging issues such as yours. They said they fixed the problem with the uiautomationcore.dll fix as suggested by Koanchi above. Did you try that fix? It won't hurt to try. If it doesn't, all you need to do is delete the uiautomationcore.dll from your main FSX folder. Best regards,Jim

[casinoroyal 0]

Yes sir I have tried using that file, but it apparently has no effect for me. I know that I've had multiple freeze inducing issues occurring simultaneously, so while that may address one of the causes, there has always been something else in the background which I've never really been able to identify. I could try using that file again though, but I think this is something to do with that simconnect.dll file. Whenever I used to get information from event viewer, it would typically cite that as one of the faulting files. Unfortunately, in the course of my more recent freezes, event viewer has never logged any errors or messages which correspond with fsx problems. Thanks again.

[jostytosty 1]

random freezes can be stoped in X [Win7-64 / i7's with HT] by setting the FPS to unlimited. The uiautomation issue is a different thing, it doesn't freeze X but crashes it. The freezing happens with long distances flight at high altitude mainly. I think one should play around a bit with the affinity mask settings in the FSX.cfg. you can calculate them yourselves: 1111 1111 = 8 cores = 4 cores + 4 HT. using the programming calculator in win7 [or Vista] you can find out what decimal number it is.But it reads backwards! So the last 1 is the first core [1=on 0=off] Turn off all HT [they are the second ones ]cores and you get [note you won't get the first 0 to turn off the last HT in the BIN calculator] -0-1010101= 1010101 = dec: 85.Put 85 in the affinity mask.On my i7 980 [no x] I use 1111 1111 0101 = dec 4085. [got 6x cores+ 6 HT] The first 2 HT cores are turned off, leaving Win7 some HT space to play around with on the other cores.I think one should just try out themselves what works for them. This works fine for me, but since the i7-980 i don't have to put FSX to unlimited anymore and I don't expirience freezes at high altitude anymore. probably due to the 2 HT-cores that are turned off.

[casinoroyal 0]

Fellow sufferers of fsx freezing, I think I've found my own solution. It took me over a month (5 weeks) of diligent and tiresome effort to discover this, but now I finally have the information that I believe has solved my problem. I apologize in advance, because this will very likely have absolutely no application to your own problems, although it might. For me the issues I was experiencing derived from two separate sources. The first causative factor for me, and by far the more serious had been an incompatibility between my game and my VA's tracking system. This freeze would typically manifest within about 2-3 hours of game play and was never recoverable (never "unfroze" itself). The second type of freeze was caused by my adjusting the cloud draw and frame rate sliders far beyond what my machine is capable of handling. This problem would usually initiate within 2 hours of flight time, manifest recurrently throughout the duration of the flight at regular intervals (every 15-30 minutes) and would always unfreeze within 5-10 minutes. The fact that it did unfreeze has led me to believe that this issue has some bearing on our common dilemma and hopefully my personal solution (adjusting the cloud draw and frame rates downward) has some relevant application for others out there. Anyways, as I said before, I wanted to return to advise everyone of when I found a solution for my problems and what it consisted of. I urge you all to do likewise, that way we will have a collective knowledge base of problems and corresponding solutions, which will hopefully provide assistance to those in distress with fsx freezing issues. Good luck to all of you and I hope that this helps someone.

[StewCal 12]

I was truly hoping having read this entire thread that there would be a concrete solution to this frustrating issue. The issue for me just started recently. I built a new system in February of this year and have not had the freeze issue until I installed SP1 for the PMDG NGX. I'm not sure the update was the cause but it did not have any freezes before that and I've been flying that aircraft almost exclusively. The only other thing I could think of would be that an automatic update to windows 7 happened around the same time. Whatever the case, I have not been able to complete a single flight since without a freeze. I do find it interesting that these freezes are just temporary. Never had the patience before to find that out on my own. I waited out one last night but after the sim started running again the freezes kept happening. Not fun.I guess I'll try some of the suggestions listed above but I don't expect miracles. My system is 2600k based. Running Bijote's tweeks (but have let FSX rebuild the FSX.CFG without any changes). Have always run the sim with the FR slider to unlimited (will try the external limiter though). Been using onboard sound so I'll fool with that.Why does this hobby have to be so frustrating? I've been banging my head against the wall over flight sim for years. Beginning to wonder if it's worth it..

[shamrockflyer 647]

Thanks for the PMs guys, I am aware that MANY users have seen this occasioal non-responding program.To clarify: The problem referred to in this post is not about CTDs, BEX adn other error messages. It is simply that every now and then, when flying ABOVE 10'000 ft. no matter on which hardware, in which a/c, etc. FSX will be "not responding" for 2-10 minutes, then usualla continue, although most users have given up by then and shut down the program in the task manager.This happens on different platforms, graphic cards, with or without add-ons, etc. with service pack 2 OR acceleration installed. It has something to do with thread scheduling and is a FSX internal program. Many users fly only VFR and never notice this. It has nothing to do with user accounts, running the sim as administrator, even the OS used - it happens on XP, Vista, 7, 32- and 64-bit.It seems less likely to happen- with autogen off- with default weather (as opposed to simconnect-injected weather)- with less load on the sim- with 3.5 as detail radius rather than 4.5We are guessing it happens less with lower settings.It seems to happen more often if you add and remove scenery or AI traffic a lot - (not confirmed, just a hunch)On my current system it happens about every 80 hours, that's about every 2 months for me, so I don't bother with it much. It would be very annoying if you would fly a lot IFR.We'd like to hear from people who have experienced this, but also from heavy IFR flyers who NEVER experience the "not responding" issue.Note: you may not be aware you have the problem if you do long-hauls and leave your computer unattended. FSX just resumes after a few minutes.

You are the lucky one... I on the other hand, Am not. I mainly fly short haul like many of us here do I presume, But when I fly long haul I notice especially on a flight... Lets say from Hong Kong to Amsterdam which Is a 10 hour flight. I get a freeze after about 6-7 hours of flying, and FSX does not resume after 5-10 minutes It just stays unresponsive!! Im not at all pleased because It limits me too what and where I can go on FSX. Iv'e tried everything from the highmemfix to updating drivers but still no luck!! To be honest I just overclocked my computer from 2.8Ghz to 3.6. So I am very suprised that I still have many issues with the Sim. If anyone has the same issue's as I am experiencing, Or If you have found a fix for this (PM) me and share your knowledge.

[StewCal 12]

Well, I'm cautiously optimistic. I've been able to complete 3 flights since I tried a couple of things. First I scanned my harddrive using my Sytem Mechanic utility. It found a few problems with some system files which it fixed. Then I installed an external framerate limiter. I had been running FSX with the frame slider to unlimited without problems until recently.I'm not sure which of the above fixed the issue, but I seem to be ok now. I'll have to do more longer flights but I have my fingers crossed.

[Guest firehawk44]

I was truly hoping having read this entire thread that there would be a concrete solution to this frustrating issue. The issue for me just started recently. I built a new system in February of this year and have not had the freeze issue until I installed SP1 for the PMDG NGX. I'm not sure the update was the cause but it did not have any freezes before that and I've been flying that aircraft almost exclusively.

Didn't PMDG issue a solution for the freezes after installing SP1? It's pinned on their website. No indication you tried that solution in your post so I have to mention it. Have you checked your Event Viewer to see what caused the crash/freeze (actually it called 'the application hung'). Most likely you have a computer system problem unless you have most of your scenery sliders to the right and the AI sliders too high. I see you have completed 3 flights since making some changes. I think the System Mechanic utility fixed several issues which were making FSX hang. I use a Registry Cleaner regularly and also check for Malware. Malware can easily bring a system to it's knees. You might want to monitor system overheating too. One other suggestion -- do a Google/Bing search when something happens to your computer. If FSX froze, ask Google/Bing 'why did FSX hang/freeze'. If FSX was hanging after installing SP1 to the 737NGX, ask Google/Bing 'why did fsx freeze/hang after installing SP1 to the 737NGX'. This way, you'll be able to see possible solutions and discussions regarding your problem throughout the FS community and not just here on AVSIM. In addition, anytime your sim crashes, check the system Event Viewer and look for what happened on the date/time FSX froze or crashed. It will usually indicate a module that caused the crash, like the ntdl.dll module or the g3d.dll module, etc. Once you have that information, ask Google/Bing 'fsx crashed/froze/hung because of a fault in the ntdl.dll'. You'll be surprised as to how many solutions are available throughout the community. Hope this helps.Best regards,Jim

[StewCal 12]

Didn't PMDG issue a solution for the freezes after installing SP1? It's pinned on their website. No indication you tried that solution in your post so I have to mention it. Have you checked your Event Viewer to see what caused the crash/freeze (actually it called 'the application hung'). Most likely you have a computer system problem unless you have most of your scenery sliders to the right and the AI sliders too high. I see you have completed 3 flights since making some changes. I think the System Mechanic utility fixed several issues which were making FSX hang. I use a Registry Cleaner regularly and also check for Malware. Malware can easily bring a system to it's knees. You might want to monitor system overheating too. One other suggestion -- do a Google/Bing search when something happens to your computer. If FSX froze, ask Google/Bing 'why did FSX hang/freeze'. If FSX was hanging after installing SP1 to the 737NGX, ask Google/Bing 'why did fsx freeze/hang after installing SP1 to the 737NGX'. This way, you'll be able to see possible solutions and discussions regarding your problem throughout the FS community and not just here on AVSIM. In addition, anytime your sim crashes, check the system Event Viewer and look for what happened on the date/time FSX froze or crashed. It will usually indicate a module that caused the crash, like the ntdl.dll module or the g3d.dll module, etc. Once you have that information, ask Google/Bing 'fsx crashed/froze/hung because of a fault in the ntdl.dll'. You'll be surprised as to how many solutions are available throughout the community. Hope this helps.Best regards,Jim

Thanks Jim, I appreciated the help. I'll have to look to see if PMDG did issue a solution. Made a few more flights without incident....

[Silent Warrior 0]

My variant of this problem appears already in the 2D UI - more or less. I get a hang even when I change aircraft (which is, of course, a 3D display). So far I've tried the following:New sound drivers (doubt that was at all necessary, but who knows)Moving GameuxInstallHelper.dllSetting Autogen and Scenery Density to Normal (down from Dense)Installing FSX outside of Program Files (x86) - I'm using Win7 64 - and giving me, the User, all manners of rights and explicitly setting ownership to me through the properties dialog (Security and General tabs; also unset Read only)This appears to have solved the problem for me, though I still get a brief hesitation at aircraft switch. I have flown all of 20 minutes with this fix, so I will probably have to get back to you with a more reliable report.[Edit] I should probably also add that I have no payware add ons - texture mods, aircraft up the wazoo, approaching 20 Gb of add on scenery, but no user install of FSUIPC, PMDG, UT, whatever. No one substantial mod, except Aimée Leclerc's (sp?) work.[Edit AGAIN] Uh-huh - and specs:Win7 64FSX Acceleration/SP2Core i7 860 (I think - the one pulling 2.93 GHz at stock speeds)4 Gb RAMRadeon HD 6850ASUS Xonar D2/PMSaitek X52 (HOTAS mouse FUBAR)

[StewCal 12]

Still having no issues since the above fix...probably have 30 hours in without incident.

[Silent Warrior 0]

My troubles seem to have improved by setting Autogen and Scenery sliders all the way to the left... Which is a MEGA-BUMMER. Well, at least I can fly again.

[CaptainMu 0]

Possible solution!!!I posted a while ago, that reducing my processor to just one kernel with msconfig worked for me - no freezes anymore. Though I did not like this workaround for obvious reasons. But it was a sign that multicore processors seem to be the common factor in freezes. Some other solutions where you configure FSX in the config file of FSX to use a certain core pointed to the same direction.Now I stumbled across a thread where someone figured out that his overclocking brought his FSX to freeze, and that the freezes stopped when he decreased the clock multiplier enough in his BIOS. Well, I never did overclocking, I thought first. But interesting was the theory of the author that some kind of minimal off-balance between the different cores in the processor seems to have been the origin of his FSX freezes. (BTW, he had no problem with any other game while doing overclocking)So I had a look into my BIOS (AMD Phenom II x4 955) - more exactly into the processor settings. There I found an option called ACC (Advanced Clock Calibration), which was turned OFF. I read about that feature and found out that it probably could not harm when it was turned to AUTO. (There seems to be no clear documentation about this feature by the manufacturer) I switched it to AUTO - and FSX had NO FREEZES any more since then!!!Obviously, the ACC feature does what it says: It seems to "calibrate" the processor clocks, maybe synchronizing them to work better together. (I am no expert) I read, that not every BIOS has that feature - even when running an AMD processor. But it's probably worth looking for it. Maybe other processors or motherboards have instead of this another feature to solve the problem.Good luck and I would love to get some feedback, if it works for you mates, too.