FSX stalls on takeoff

[PRB]

This started a month or so ago. I start FSX, the splash screen displays, but the rest of the program does not load. The icon doesn't show up in the task bar, and the program does not appear in the task manager's application tab. However it does show up as a process, which is the only way it can be closed. It does this about 60% of the time I try to launch it. Re-booting the computer always fixes the problem. So, in other words, if the computer has been on for a while, odds are FSX won't start unless I reboot the computer first. There is nothing that looks helpful or related in any of the event logs. Strange, no?

[heywooood]

I can't speak to this specific problem...other than to say that FSX always manages to get 'out of round' eventually. I think the longest trouble free run I ever had was the last one. A little over three years. Just had to delete and reinstall last month and finally have it back (almost) to where it was. Though as you probably know - no two installations are ever the same. You always get a slightly different FSX every time..maybe better FPS with DX10..maybe less so - maybe some old favorite add on is gone or forgotten (I have dozens of little programs, files, and tweaks - maybe a hundred, that when fiddled into some coordination, would make FSX look and run quite well) but over time you can lose track of them.

Usually if it lasts a year without something cropping up I feel pretty good about things.

I feel your frustration...wish I had a solution. Might just be time to roll it over and start fresh.

[PRB]

That's a good point. It may be time for a "refresh". I bought this computer in 2013, and that's when I installed FSX on it. It's been going ever since. The thought of re-installing all that scenery, all those planes, all the add-ons, oh boy...

[MrZippy]

A Repair as opposed to a complete reinstallation?

[heywooood]

That's a good point. It may be time for a "refresh". I bought this computer in 2013, and that's when I installed FSX on it. It's been going ever since. The thought of re-installing all that scenery, all those planes, all the add-ons, oh boy...

Oh I know..it's daunting. I've come to the point where I look at it as more of an adventure or friendly challenge than a chore. Makes it easier to work through it. I have to say that when I first reloaded just the FSX Gold pack in its vanilla form and saw 180-200 fps in the flyby view (C172 over KORS) just this last week or so, I was pretty pumped to see where it it would end up after all my enhancements were installed. (I left it alone for two days just to have those frame rates while I could)

I'm happy to report that right now, after reinstalling ORBX, REX, and a few other programs and files, I have a sustained aprx 40fps average in most locations in my most demanding aircraft. In the lighter impact planes - Milton's Loadstar and some of the others - I still pop out over 100 depending on terrain detail and weather.
That's a bit higher than I was before...Same rig - just a cleaner installation, cfg, registry etc...probably accounts for it - plus the randomness of FSX lol

[heywooood]

A Repair as opposed to a complete reinstallation?

I have tried the 'repair' option every single time I've had a problem and gotten nowhere...if you know how to make that work please let me know how you managed it. I would love to have been able to do that just once.
OTOH - just biting the bullet and cleaning it all out has, at least this time, netted me a nice improvement

[Milton Shupe]

Wow! I feel for any of you who have had to reinstall. My computer and FSX was setup almost 10 years ago. Never had to re-install FSX; still runs great. I do not install a lot of aircraft or scenery as I spend all my time in development work and testing.

I will be replacing Win/XP in a few months so a reinstall at that time will be necessary. Going to Win 7.

[Ganter]

This started a month or so ago. I start FSX, the splash screen displays, but the rest of the program does not load. The icon doesn't show up in the task bar, and the program does not appear in the task manager's application tab. However it does show up as a process, which is the only way it can be closed. It does this about 60% of the time I try to launch it. Re-booting the computer always fixes the problem. So, in other words, if the computer has been on for a while, odds are FSX won't start unless I reboot the computer first. There is nothing that looks helpful or related in any of the event logs. Strange, no?

The only time this happened to me a couple of years ago was following the adding of a scenery to the scenery library I had done some work on.
FSX would splash then crash - nothing/ no message.

I deleted the new scenery from the library, started fsx, the scenery library database updated and we were go for flight.

I don't know what it didn't like about the scenery and some time later I worked on it again in ADE, re-inserted it and all was well.

Good old FSX - a fussy little eater and always a trick up it's sleeve.

Hope this helps.

[BendyFlyer]

PRB - I do get this issue from time to time it does seem to be caused by a number of things, memory or a corrupted FSX .

Your memory may clogged with cached stuff or loose threads from other programs that have not closed cleanly or there are other programs running that give themselves a higher priority than FSX. Generally I have very slow load times when this is going on up to 6 plus minutes. But curiously once run and shut down it will load in 2 mins the second time. I guess I look at this way, FSX always wants to be top of the heap and always seems to do this if I try and get it going with other stuff in the background. I just shut everything down then do a quick clean up using Temp File Cleaner by Old Timer V 3.1.9.0 that ensures there is no junk about. No google either. You can be sure there is something in the background that is not showing in processes but probably in services etc. If you don't need them shut them down. The other thing is that there is always a minor conflict with FSX because it runs 32 bits but your O/S is 64 bits so FSX gets confused or chokes from time to time. Another issue not addressed by anybody much on any forum is the very basic Windows architecture which requires the building of a box or screen and then running the program in that window. There are a lot of clashes vis a vis 32 bit v 64 bit and windows has to go searching for the right dlls etc, sometimes I am sure it just misses them. After all that then when you start start as administrator. Still doing it

Step 2 copy your FSX cfg. file (for any tweaks you may have done there) then delete it. Now start FSX and let is run and rebuild the cfg file. Then close it and make the necessary changes you need (not gauge run permissions etc you can do that any time when you use a model) start it again and see how it goes. Still doing it?

Step 3 Time for a fresh install. You can choose the repair route or delete it all and reinstall but either way Back up everything you can, critical textures and scenery file and or textures that you may have change, fonts, logbook bins I generally dont worry about aircraft because a new install of FSX find them and does what it should menu wise after that. As I keep all my scenery addons outside of FSX I never have an issue with addons etc.

Still no good - you might have some memory issues on your mother board or corrupted Windows operating system.

Some ideas and my experiences anyway.

[PRB]

PRB - I do get this issue from time to time it does seem to be caused by a number of things, memory or a corrupted FSX .

Your memory may clogged with cached stuff or loose threads from other programs that have not closed cleanly or there are other programs running that give themselves a higher priority than FSX. Generally I have very slow load times when this is going on up to 6 plus minutes. But curiously once run and shut down it will load in 2 mins the second time. I guess I look at this way, FSX always wants to be top of the heap and always seems to do this if I try and get it going with other stuff in the background. I just shut everything down then do a quick clean up using Temp File Cleaner by Old Timer V 3.1.9.0 that ensures there is no junk about. No google either. You can be sure there is something in the background that is not showing in processes but probably in services etc. If you don't need them shut them down. The other thing is that there is always a minor conflict with FSX because it runs 32 bits but your O/S is 64 bits so FSX gets confused or chokes from time to time. Another issue not addressed by anybody much on any forum is the very basic Windows architecture which requires the building of a box or screen and then running the program in that window. There are a lot of clashes vis a vis 32 bit v 64 bit and windows has to go searching for the right dlls etc, sometimes I am sure it just misses them. After all that then when you start start as administrator. Still doing it

Step 2 copy your FSX cfg. file (for any tweaks you may have done there) then delete it. Now start FSX and let is run and rebuild the cfg file. Then close it and make the necessary changes you need (not gauge run permissions etc you can do that any time when you use a model) start it again and see how it goes. Still doing it?

Step 3 Time for a fresh install. You can choose the repair route or delete it all and reinstall but either way Back up everything you can, critical textures and scenery file and or textures that you may have change, fonts, logbook bins I generally dont worry about aircraft because a new install of FSX find them and does what it should menu wise after that. As I keep all my scenery addons outside of FSX I never have an issue with addons etc.

Still no good - you might have some memory issues on your mother board or corrupted Windows operating system.

Some ideas and my experiences anyway.

You have inspired me to conduct a scientific investigation, lol. I am going to keep track of all the programs I run before launching FSX, in an effort to isolate which one might be FOOBAR'ing FSX.

EDIT:
I thought of a better way. Microsoft's Process Explorer is a great (and free) tool. Part of their "sysinternals" suite. I used it to save a text file of all the running processes when FSX launches successfully. The next time it fails, I'll get another list and compare the two.

[heywooood]

one thing you might try before getting too deep is to clear out your 'pilots logbook' - just delete all the contents of that folder - FSX will just begin logging again and this has actually worked for me once.

not your saved flights mind you - just the log book list of flights you have made

[Milton Shupe]

I usually keep my main Airplanes folder free of clutter as well keeping only my current 2-5 projects in there along with the defaults. FSX loads much faster that way. Still takes a minute to load on this 10 year old 32-bit computer.

[PRB]

one thing you might try before getting too deep is to clear out your 'pilots logbook' - just delete all the contents of that folder - FSX will just begin logging again and this has actually worked for me once.

not your saved flights mind you - just the log book list of flights you have made

I wiped out my logbook and my saved flights. I had a lot of saved flights. Didn't need any of them. FSX has not failed to load since. Good call!