Sudden, dramatic loss of framerates -- try this if it happens to you

[dswo]

I'm not talking about the framerate loss that occurs when you fly over Seattle or Tokyo. No, this is panicky, do-I-have-to-reinstall-FSX-or-maybe-even-Windows-from-scratch framerate loss.

PROBLEM: I've been busy with holiday things, and haven't flown much in the last two weeks. This morning, I tried several framerate-friendly scenarios, and all of them gave me 6 or 7 fps, down from my usual lock of 20. I looked at my log, and the last good flight I had was on Dec. 12. Unfortunately, my last system restore point was Dec. 17. I tried going back to Dec. 17, and it didn't help. I also restored my FSX.cfg from Dec. 12 (which I archive separately) and that didn't help either. I keep a log of changes that I make to the system, and I don't see anything that would affect FSX. What the log doesn't record are Windows updates. (It's also possible that there's an iTunes update in there too.)

SOLUTION: I tried the easiest thing first, which was to reinstall DirectX. I wasn't hopeful but it worked -- I loaded up my original flight from this morning, and there I was, back at 20 fps.

I still don't know why this got corrupted in the first place. If I had to guess, I would blame iTunes, which also forces you to install QuickTime (and makes it the default player for all manner of media, whether you like it or not). But that's only a guess.

Hopefully my hour of panic will help someone else. If the same thing happens to you -- dramatic loss of framerates, in situations that you know should be easy, when you haven't altered your FSX setup, and you haven't messed with your video or sound drivers -- try installing the most recent DirectX end-user runtime package (not the SDK, which is a much larger file).

[Spikehughes]

From everything I have read in the past - you cannot uninstalll DirectX per se' - (correct me if that is wrong).
Still reinstalling must have fixed the corrupted files I guess
Glad you got it sorted

[dswo]

From everything I have read in the past - you cannot uninstalll DirectX per se.

Yes, that is my understanding as well. Here's what I'm guessing happened when I installed the latest DirectX end-user runtime package:

1. Registry entries were corrected or replaced (if deleted by something else)
2. Missing files were replaced (if deleted by something else)
3. Corrupted files were replaced (if addled by cosmic rays)

[hey_moe]

I have run into the same problem of files getting corrupted. I know when I update the video drivers I would expect this but I don't understand why they get like that under normal add ons...Mike

[Anneke]

However where can we find the DirectX full end-user runtime installer( not the web installer)?