Sim starts off screen

[SkippyBing]

Has anyone else had a problem with P3D4 starting off screen?
The splash screen displays while it's loading, there's a brief message about loading traffic and then nothing, however there is a process running in task manager, and anything that needs to connect to a running instance, such as a weather program, says it's connected.
The only solution I've found so far is to delete prepar3d.cfg, but I then have to faff around resetting my preferences. It seems to happen about every tenth start but I haven't figured out why. Any ideas?

[DaveWG]

The position of the window is stored in the cfg, under the [main] section, labelled "location".
No idea why yours keeps changing, but you could manually edit the cfg to reposition it.

[RobM]

Has anyone else had a problem with P3D4 starting off screen?
The splash screen displays while it's loading, there's a brief message about loading traffic and then nothing, however there is a process running in task manager, and anything that needs to connect to a running instance, such as a weather program, says it's connected.
The only solution I've found so far is to delete prepar3d.cfg, but I then have to faff around resetting my preferences. It seems to happen about every tenth start but I haven't figured out why. Any ideas?

Are you saying that after the loading bar reaches 100%, the screen just goes black, and the picture never pops in, no matter
how long you wait, eg, an endless loading screen? Do you still hear the sound of the aircraft even though the screen is black?

Or did I misunderstand?

- Rob

[rvn817j]

I'm not exactly sure of the OP question, but I also sometimes get a black screen after P3D v4 load. I hit "Alt" key to pull up top P3D v4 command line and bottom Windows 10 task bar. Sometimes just hitting "Alt" will result in P3D v4 visuals starting to load / appear. If not, I then attempt to put P3D v4 into window view. This process has worked pretty well for me. (I also use ChasePlane and having access to the Windows 10 task bar is needed to pull up the ChasePlane camera.)

[SkippyBing]

Sorry to make it clearer, I normally run in windowed mode and the window just doesn't appear I'm left starting at my desktop. What's odd is that if I Alt+Tab it doesn't show as one of the running programmes. I did try editing the Prepar3d.cfg the first time it happened but either that had no effect or I did something wrong, I'll have another attack on that next time it happens.

[jmig]

Sorry to make it clearer, I normally run in windowed mode and the window just doesn't appear I'm left starting at my desktop. What's odd is that if I Alt+Tab it doesn't show as one of the running programmes. I did try editing the Prepar3d.cfg the first time it happened but either that had no effect or I did something wrong, I'll have another attack on that next time it happens.

If it doesn't show up in Task Manager, something must be killing it at about the point it shows the opening screen? Have you tried Repair yet? Have you checked Windows Error log?

[SkippyBing]

If it doesn't show up in Task Manager, something must be killing it at about the point it shows the opening screen? Have you tried Repair yet? Have you checked Windows Error log?

That's the weird thing, it shows in Task Manager but not if I Alt+Tab to cycle through the available running programmes. I'll check the Error log next time it happens though.

[Penzoil3]

Try hitting control and Windows key simultaneously. This worked for a program I had doing that. Found it on the web.
Sue

[rvn817j]

Skippybing: Take a look at this thread - https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/517726-p3d-v4-will-not-startup-black-screen-after-initialization/

May have to uninstall and re-install P3D client. That process is not too difficult, but ensure you read up to do it correctly. Also, if you added scenery or other items that do not have auto-install files, you may have fouled up the P3D loading process. Good luck.

[RobM]

Yes, that's very strange the way you've described, disappearing but still running. It's almost as if P3Dv4 is minimizing to the taskbar
when it loads. When this happens, is the P3Dv4 icon still showing in the taskbar? If so, what happens when you click on the icon
in the taskbar, right or left click?

You mentioned you always run in windowed mode. Does this still happen if you run in full screen mode?

I ask because I wonder if it's some way your windowed mode is set up.

Just some thoughts.

- Rob

PS also another thought along the same lines: when this happens, have you tried using ALT+ENTER, the toggle between
windowed and full screen, to see what happens?

[spatialpro]

May have to uninstall and re-install P3D client

That would also be my advice.

Andy

[falcon409]

Skippy I had that problem from time to time also, the startup would begin to load, then once it was complete. . .nothing. I could see that it was active in the quickstart taskbar but I couldn't get it to open. I discovered that by clicking a small box on the bottom right where the taskbar is, it would open the window for me. No idea how it worked or why, but it worked every time.

[SkippyBing]

Skippy I had that problem from time to time also, the startup would begin to load, then once it was complete. . .nothing. I could see that it was active in the quickstart taskbar but I couldn't get it to open. I discovered that by clicking a small box on the bottom right where the taskbar is, it would open the window for me. No idea how it worked or why, but it worked every time.

Falcon,

Thanks, I'll try that next time it happens, and if that does do it I'll start working my way through the other suggestions!

Thanks all.

[warchild]

over the years, the biggest thing thats plagued me which is similar to this, is 1. running more than one monitor, and 2. using virtual desktops.. Windows 10 dfaults to virtual desktops being on ( from my experience, but ymmv ). If its going to a virtul dektop it doesnt tell you, but rather expects you to automagically know it, and you have to hunt and peck for it. that little button on the taskbar Falcon mentioned is a godsend..