"Full Screen" Problem
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Thread: "Full Screen" Problem

  1. #1

    "Full Screen" Problem

    I would be very grateful if anyone could offer advice or insight into a problem which seems to have manifested itself over the last couple of weeks for which, I am unable to find either a cause or solution.
    I run Windows 8.1 using a screen resolution of 1920x1080x32 (with which I have never had a problem), which means that FS9 opens in a minimised window. As usual I make my selection of aircraft, scenery etc, and then hit the “Fly Now” button. Once the sim has started I then hit Alt+Enter to go to full screen. Roughly 6 or 7 times out of 10 the screen will go to “full” and the sim performs as it should.
    However, on the other occasions hitting Alt+Enter causes the screen to blank and after a few seconds a small window appears telling me that,
    “Microsoft Flight Simulator has encountered a problem and needs to close. Microsoft is gathering information etc, etc,.....”. (I think we all know how much weight that statement carries!!)
    My keyboard is a Logitech wireless, and thinking that perhaps that may be the cause of the problem, I tried a spare Logitech wireless and then a wired keyboard with the same result. Selecting “Full Screen” from the View menu did not work every time either.
    I have now reached the (narrow) limits of my expertise and hope that someone can at least throw a little light on what has now become a frustrating annoyance.
    My thanks in advance for any guidance anyone is able to offer.

    David

  2. #2

    Hi D,
    A couple of things.

    You could try updating your GPU driver, I expect you have already.

    I would drop the res down to what I have at 1680x1050 32, and see what happens, you really won't notice any quality difference, and it's giving the screen/GPU and easier time. Also I think there some resolutions that work better scaled for Fs9 usage and yours might not be the best, especially if it only works 60-70% of the time!

    Cheers

    Shessi

  3. #3
    Hi Shessi
    Firstly, I hadn't thought about the drivers so thanks for the nudge there. I have checked and they would appear to be up to date.
    I tried your suggested resolution which appeared to do the trick but on my 24 inch widescreen I was getting a slight but noticeable lateral distortion. I settled on 1600x900x32 which, fingers crossed seems to have done the trick. (So far, he added cautiously!)
    Many thanks for the reply and the suggestions
    Take care
    David

  4. #4
    If it works at a lower resolution, you might have a memory
    chip issue or memory leak, as no matter what RAM you have on your Graphics card, FS always uses system RAM first.

    Just a thought.

    Ttfn

    Pete

  5. #5
    Morning Pete,
    Many thanks for the input but you have introduced me to a term which, until now, I have not been aware of: Memory leak.
    Firstly, could you please educate me as to what this is and secondly, and more importantly, how can it be fixed.
    I'm sorry to say that even with a reduced screen resolution, the problem has not entirely disappeared although it does not manifest itself quite so often so there may be something in what you say. (Whatever it means!!!!!).
    Thanks again
    David

  6. #6

    Hi D,
    It's an old occurrance that just won't happen now.

    It is where the inefficiency of progs and Windows to manage memory usage over a period of time, which increases the RAM usage uneccesarily, and therefore reduces the amount of memory available for other progs to use. This is not a permenant memory loss only while the pc is up and running, and is re-set when turned off, to start 'leaking' again when you start up the pc/Windows/progs etc again.

    TBH with Win 8/10, modern memory controllers, well written progs/apps and the relatively large amounts of memory built into all components it's not an issue any longer.

    On the other hand it, a more likely issue that is causing this is age/heat-stress and usage that will reduce component efficiency. So your pc being some 5-6 years old, and it may be that the res you force your graphics chip/card to display for Fs9 is giving it a hard time already, that's why you only have a 60-70% win rate on displaying that res. It's possible to stress damage a component over a period of time, all components have a life, so it may be that you're coming to the begining of that point, as it's not total failure.

    If you are getting continual problems at lower res's, then consider. If you are using an embedded garphics chip on your motherboard, consider changing to and put in a dedicated graphics card. Don't go for latest-greatest as you don't need it (and the expense). Or if you have a graphics card already fitted consider a slightly better replacement. A bit of diagnostics would help.

    Upping the RAM with a graphics chip will not do anything for your graphics capability, but certainly won't do any harm for the overall running of the pc.

    Cheers

    Shessi

  7. #7
    Now here's a thing!!
    Shessi, taking on board all your comments, I have almost decided to replace my PC, it would, on the face of it, appear to be showing it's age; it is over 5 years old and does do some hard work, (it also has to handle a lot of musical software).
    With that in mind, I have spent the afternoon "mirroring" FS9 on to my laptop, an Acer Aspire. The minimal setup I had on it worked beautifully each and every time.
    Now, having gone about halfway to building up the scenery library, I fire up the sim, hit Alt+Enter to go full screen and.....crash!
    I am reluctant to believe that two computers should show an identical fault, my only conclusion being that something I have installed (and I think it can only be a scenery item), is causing the problem.
    Here begineth the process of elimination!!!
    David

  8. #8
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    Just a thought, if your laptop has Windows 10, & you installed the sim into Program Files, then there will possibly be issues.
    Robin
    Cape Town, South Africa

  9. #9
    Hi Robin
    My laptop has 8.1 and FS is not installed in Programme Files, I learned that lesson a long time ago but thanks for the thought
    . I do however think I have found the cause of the problem among my scenery files. Just in the middle of testing, more to follow.....
    David

  10. #10
    Found the Culprit!!

    For a long time I have kept a log of any changes I make to FS9, especially any scenery additions. At about the time my problem began it seems I installed,along with a couple of others, scenery and landclass for Gdansk, Poland.
    By pure luck this was the second scenery item I deleted in my process of elimination and, you've guessed, everything back to how it should be on both computers
    I suppose I had better not identify the developer but on looking at the original download the following disclaimer does appear;

    "---------------------
    USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
    ---------------------

    Results may vary--depending on your current settings, video card issues, conflicting programs, corrupted files.
    Some files might get corrupted or damaged during compression, zip/unzip, upload/download, reasons unknown... etc.

    If you are NOT SURE if this file(s) may be harmful to your system--DO NOT USE IT.
    If you encounter errors, crashes and other undesirable effects--UNINSTALL THIS FILE(S)."


    I shall not be tempted to investigate any more of this gentleman's offerings.
    Thank you Shessi, Pete and Robin for your comments and suggestions, I have learned a thing or two from them. I'm just pleased I decided to mirror the sim on my laptop and the occurrence of the same problem gave me a direction to go in.
    David

  11. #11

    Great news!

    Very satisfying to self diagnose AND find and repair the problem...good work D!

    Cheers

    Shessi

  12. #12
    Senior Administrator huub vink's Avatar
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    I'm glad you got it solved.

    Cheers,
    Huub

  13. #13
    Just a quick postscript to the above saga.
    Pleased to say that FS9 is once again functioning as it should on both computers with the Alt+Enter function behaving perfectly EVERY time, also my frame rates seem to have improved noticeably.
    God alone knows what this clown did in creating this scenery, but the readmes in the download seem to consist of several "warnings" full of phrases such as "this may not", "this should not", "not fully tested", "mistakes in the first version", and so on. Warning bells should have sounded and I should not have installed it.
    However, all's well etc....
    Thank you gentlemen for your comments and your efforts to try and help me solve the problem.
    Cheers
    David

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