Jonathan J.D Daniels Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 Hello and good day to all involved and reading this topic. I would like to know if any one can help me out as I am experiencing an all black screen in my FSX. The problem first occurred a couple of days ago (literally 2 days ago) when I purchased and downloaded a copy of both Orbx FTX Global BASE and Orbx FTX Global VECTOR. After I installed these two add-ons I eagerly loaded up my FSX for a KBOS-EGLL flight and everything worked great and looks very nice might I add (Great Products). Here is where my problem is...I do all cross Atlantic flights and I simply don't have 12-13 hours to fly so I takeoff climb to cruise and then time accelerate x8 to be exact until something makes me go back to normal speed such as wind or turbulence or if its a smooth flight I'll time accelerate until top of decent. Now since installing Orbx Global and Vector when I time accelerate then go back to normal speed it gives me the usual loading screen (loading aircraft, scenery, AI traffic etc...) then it loads and I get this black screen. FSX itself hasn't crashed I can still hear my plane and hear the engines as I throttle up and down and if I bank hard right or left I can hear the passengers scream and over speed warnings...Also it doesn't always turn black a few times it turned blue and I could see my plane but when I move the view it duplicates my plane like a smear effect when I turn the camera. I've been testing it out with GA planes time accelerating and going back to normal and it does it almost every time FSX re-loads. May I please have some guidance with this situation as I am trying to avoid a complete FSX re-install. By the way I am running REX texture direct 4 sp5, REX soft clouds, FTX Global, FTX Vector, FS Global 2010 mesh, FS Captain, EZDock Cam, Traffic360, Cielosim Airport EnhancerHDX, GSX, PrecipitFX, AIsmooth, and AISeperate. Just in case this may help I have but not in use FSPassengers(still installed), Zinertak Night environment X(Uninstalled). Aside from the black screen after I time accelerate my FSX runs smoothly and with no other problems so I am hoping for a easy quick fix but I am also willing to go the distance for my flight sim to work as I want it to again as I have been trying to fix it on my own for a couple of days with no luck but didn't try re-installing yet so any suggestions are welcome. P.S... I purchased FS Global 2010 and FTX Global base and Vector all together so all other add-ons I already had and they were all working with each other and I know my problem came after installing Orbx Global, Vector, and FS Global 2010 and my problem seems like a scenery or graphics issue since the sim it self didn't crash but I could be wrong and have no experience with this so could it be that one or more of my older add-ons are incompatible? Thank you for your time and assistance Jonathan J.D Daniels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Sawatzky Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 IMO, you are asking your way under powered PC (or is it a laptop?) to do far too much, and it is simply not able to keep up.... btw, what are you running for a graphics card? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Hickerson Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 agree on the under powered, but what is your video card? Single monitor, I guess. Just looking at the array of addons, I believe your other software will pull more overhead than Orbx. You have a ton of addons which all require to be in memory! What about the plane? BTW, when did the black screen occur during your flight? for example over water or landing, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan J.D Daniels Posted October 12, 2015 Author Share Posted October 12, 2015 Thank you guys for your timely response and interest in helping me out that's first and foremost. @Doogles, I also share that opinion with you my friend and I am steadily working towards a whole new system but this is what I have for now. As for the graphics card, I am running Intel®HD Graphics 4000. @EGE001 I was using the freeware Thomas Ruth a340-600 and it happens anytime I have been flying for a while lets say 30 min and when I accelerate beyond x4 and put it back to normal I have done numerous tests and it has happened over land while I was testing in default GA aircraft and it has happened over water during cruise. Its the re-loading of the scenery. And as I said I agree the system is low end but I'm getting between 20-30fps which isn't the best but better than others with the same specs maybe 15 lowest in dense areas such as Heathrow Approach. Also it is a laptop and I only use it for FSX...Strictly FSX. As for the monitor I have it hooked up to my Television as a dual monitor if that's what you mean...Sorry for the timing of my response i will be at the laptop for a while now and will answer more promptly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Sawatzky Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 Its the time accelerating that I think is your biggest problem, you are trying to ram way too much video memory into that poor graphics card and it just can't handle it....I can't imagine even doing that with my rig without causing problems, the same applies for switching locations without first closing down the flight and starting clean....try flying without doing any time accelerating and see what happens.... I also think in your laptop, the CPU and GPU are integrated, so keep in mind that FSX is trying to calculate and draw global data for thousands of miles while you are doing your time accelerating, and the CPU can't process that much either.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan J.D Daniels Posted October 12, 2015 Author Share Posted October 12, 2015 Just in case i found a topic called Now this is weird...and the first screen shot in that post with the mountains and the rest black i have gotten that as well but not from the same reason he got it but from the time acceleration and i was wondering if i could try the same solution that Rob Newman gave? I don't switch locations or anything like that after starting my flight and i exit after every flight before the return trip because of the amount of add-ons i have so i like them to reset. If i fly without time acceleration it works...In the past 2 days while trying to fix it my self i flew short flights KJFK-KDCA/KDCA-KBOS etc and even took off and just flew around enjoying the scenery for anywhere between 45min and 2 hours and its fine but i haven't flown any long hauls without time acceleration. So are you suggesting trying the long haul? because i think it'll work without time acceleration but without time acceleration i would never have time to complete a long haul flight. I need a solution that will still let me use time acceleration, but as i said before im willing to go the distance so if that's the solution then i guess ill go find a 737 but surely there's got to be something i can do? Or not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Banks Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 With respect to time-acceleration, I've heard an awful lot depends on the aircraft/add-on in question. Some (that use in-cockpit systems that depend on "normal" timing) just do not work well in accelrated mode. Many of the tube liners are like that: Aerosoft, PMDG etc. They specifically warn you about not using acceleration. I've found that I can get away with it for short periods at 2x or 4x - but hardly ever on 8x. There's simply too much "catch-up" to do when you finally get back to 1x. It's also worth investigating having two separate fsx.cfg files - one for HD local use and one for lo-res long haul use. Turning down LOD radius, texturemaxload and autogen could help. Adam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Sawatzky Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 As far as I am concerned, if I have to use more than 4X time-acceleration, then that is not a long haul flight anyways....why not enjoy the scenery and my flying time I do have and fly around locally? I also use FSPS XtremeFSXPC which allows me to save three different FSX.cfg's for different types of flying... http://www.thefsps.com/fsx/37-fsps-xtreme-fsx-pc.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan J.D Daniels Posted October 13, 2015 Author Share Posted October 13, 2015 With respect to time-acceleration, I've heard an awful lot depends on the aircraft/add-on in question. Some (that use in-cockpit systems that depend on "normal" timing) just do not work well in accelrated mode. Many of the tube liners are like that: Aerosoft, PMDG etc. They specifically warn you about not using acceleration. I've found that I can get away with it for shot periods at 2x or 4x - but hardly ever on 8x. There's simply too much "catch-up" to do when you finally get back to 1x. It's also worth investigating having two separate fsx.cfg files - one for HD local use and one for lo-res long haul use. Turning down LOD radius, texturemaxload and autogen could help. Adam. Hello Adam thank you for your assistance and interest in helping me with my problem it is greatly appreciated. I mainly use Thomas Ruth's A340-600V2 I've been using FSX for almost 2 years I've always done long haul flights and always used time acceleration with the same aircraft and add-ons except Orbx products which I just got...with that being said after installation of Orbx Global and Vector I followed all instructions very carefully maybe too carefully because my settings were set lower but in the Orbx manual it gives suggested settings which I used. So I'm going to leave all my add-ons as they are and apply the solutions that were suggested in this thread but since I want to keep a little of the eye candy I'll try to mix it up a bit and see how it goes and if that doesn't work I will try all suggestions at the same time and honestly I think that might do the trick but I will post the results. If there are any extra and/or other ideas please let me know, I greatly appreciate everyone's help. Thank you J.D Thank you for that link Doogles that is great i appreciate it Going to give FSX a go with my new found wisdom and understanding...Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Banks Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 Jonathan - going by your last reply, it appears that the "straw that breaks the camel's back" is ORBX Global - and that the problem isn't with that particular aircraft - just a generic memory management thing. I'd still go for the long-haul optimised fsx.cfg idea. I forgot to mention that you should try to avoid jumping in and out of VC and external views for these sorts of trips. That's a bit of typical OOM advice, but it may help. One other thing: are you using FSUIPC? Check that you have its auto-save function disabled if you are. Keep us posted! Adam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan J.D Daniels Posted October 13, 2015 Author Share Posted October 13, 2015 Adam I do have FSUIPC but its the unregistered version so I don't think that auto save feature is available to me. However if it is available to unregistered users where do I go to turn it off? And ok ok guilty as charged I do switch very often between wing view and pilot seat but they are both views in the VC category so is it still as bad? And the more than one FSX.CFG's is a definite. Doogles posted a link for a product I'm pretty much going to buy but just wondering before I do can I copy the FSX.CFG and change the max texture load in one to low-res and leave the other one at high-res and keep them separated and just switch them out depending on if I'm flying long haul or regional? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Sawatzky Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 Doogles posted a link for a product I'm pretty much going to buy but just wondering before I do can I copy the FSX.CFG and change the max texture load in one to low-res and leave the other one at high-res and keep them separated and just switch them out depending on if I'm flying long haul or regional? Jonathan, yes you can do this with that product I recommended, it will allow to save three different profiles with three different max texture load settings... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan J.D Daniels Posted October 13, 2015 Author Share Posted October 13, 2015 Jonathan, yes you can do this with that product I recommended, it will allow to save three different profiles with three different max texture load settings... I meant could i do that by just creating a backup of the one i have now editing it for long haul flights and manually switching them out when needed without the product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Sawatzky Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 I meant could i do that by just creating a backup of the one i have now editing it for long haul flights and manually switching them out when needed without the product. I have never tried that, but I don't see why not, other than the possiblity of it getting corrupted at some point and just the hassles of changing it out manually all the time.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan J.D Daniels Posted October 13, 2015 Author Share Posted October 13, 2015 I have never tried that, but I don't see why not, other than the possiblity of it getting corrupted at some point and just the hassles of changing it out manually all the time.... Well then I think I'd be better off with the FSPS Extreme...So far all I did was delete my Shader files as Rob Newman advised on the thread "Now this is weird". Basically another person posted a screen shot of the same thing I was experiencing and Rob Newman gave the solution to delete the shader files, the person didn't respond so I figured it worked and asked him if I should do the same he advised me to do so and I did. I loaded up the Baron and started at KISP after takeoff I climbed 3000ft then I turned on altitude hold and turned time acceleration up to x16 did a few banks and full 360 turns as well as climbing and descending rapidly for about 10min then made my way to KJFK. I turned off time acceleration and it loaded up . I then landed and took off again doing the same exact thing for a lot longer in fact I flew out to sea(wishing I was in my 340 on my way to London) and came back all at x16. At top of decent I turned it off and it loaded. So far so good but this wouldn't be the 1st time it didn't go black after I set time back to normal so I am now going to test it further with the a340-600 will post results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Banks Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 Editing and [manually] swapping two fsx.cfg files is really no trouble. Sure, the paid utulity may be handy, but I try to keep things that "fiddle with my FSX" down to a bare minimum. I'd rather buyanother aircraft than spend my money on a utility like this. Getting to know your fsx.cfg (and tweaking it) is essential if you want to get the most out of FSX. However - before you start, make sure you back up your current one and keep it safe. Try Googling around for tweaks - particularly with respect to low resolution long-haul related ones. I know there are quite a few threads out there that I've seen in the past. There are quite a few parameters you should think about changing (considering a mjor part of your flight may be over sea). Deleting the shaders cache is always a good one. It won't do any harm. Just reading your last post: manouvering when speeded up? I'd say that was asking for trouble! Adam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan J.D Daniels Posted October 13, 2015 Author Share Posted October 13, 2015 Yea I for sure was asking for trouble... I know that's a forbidden no no but I was testing it with some of the solutions that were offered to me to see if it would withstand the load and it did so far... As I said in earlier posts I have a low end laptop but its dedicated only to FSX and until now, no problems and smooth 20-30fps in dense areas with multiple add-ons so it always surprises me how well it actually performs, but I'm working towards something better suited for FSX... I'll get there soon. Right now my A340 is sitting at gate E9 at KBOS loading up with FS-Captain and I'm going to take her long haul to see how it works out with the adjustments made so far. As for the low-Res long haul .cfg I will look into it as I didn't do anything to the FSX.cfg just yet. So thank you for that information but so far I simply deleted the shaders cache and then did the above test which went well, now onto the long haul test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Newman Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 For anyone wanting a utility that allows easy setup of multiple config files, I would suggest a utility called "SimStarter". First, it's free. You can donate via paypal, but you don't have to (though I personally think it deserves something). Second, it works for FSX and P3D (not V3 yet, but it will I am sure be added). Thirdly, you get 10 profiles per sim. Most important of all however, each profile not only let's you have a custom FSX/P3D.cfg file, but it also allows you to have custom scenery.cfg files, and lots of other customisations. It even directly interfaces with Active Sky Next and can start it with custom setting per profile too. The upshot is, you can create a specific profile for GA flying with max settings, a large LOD radius, high density weather, and all scenery elements loaded. And a separate profile for airliners with reduced settings, reduced weather fidelity and only the scenery you need. To give you an idea, I have an FTX regional GA profile that uses almost max settings, loads all airport scenery, disables FTX Vector (I don't need it when I'm in a full region). I then have an FTX regional airliner profile that reduces a few setting and only loads airliner capable airports. I have similar profiles for FTX Global, and FTX Global Hybrid. It's very comprehensive, and we'll worth checking out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan J.D Daniels Posted October 13, 2015 Author Share Posted October 13, 2015 Thank you for the "Simstarter" information Rob, it will be looked in to as I will be needing the multiple FSX.cfg's. As for the tests I ran, I deleted my shader profiles hoping that would do it so I can keep the eye candy, unfortunately it seems that's not enough. So now I'm going to reset my settings to the way they were set before installing Orbx to better suite my system specs. The results from the A340 long haul test: I loaded up and took off, shortly after takeoff (less than 5000ft) I was responding to ATC and I accidently clicked select new IFR destination. When the selection screen showed up I clicked cancel, it exited and then I get this: Even though my screen showed this FSX didn't crash or freeze, my plane was still flying, I still heard turbulence and I even still raised my gear and flaps. I pressed ESC(escape) and the end flight screen showed up as if nothing was wrong, so I clicked continue flight and it changed to this: I then continued to press ESC and continue flight and each time it changed to something different. I will only post those 2 screen shots but it changed to a lot of other weird images, all the while the sim never crashed. I was over land when this happened and this time there was no time acceleration. To me this means that time acceleration cant be the culprit, hopefully its the settings which I'm going to change and test now. Since time acceleration can't be the sole cause are there any other ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Banks Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 I have the payware version of FSUIPC, but you might want to see if the freeware version allows you to monitor VAS useage. You can set it to display a value in the window bar and "ping" you if it gets critical. Note that the value is *free* RAM (left) - and not a toal of how much is being currently used. This way, you can see what may be causing your memory problems (which is what it looks like to me). Adam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan J.D Daniels Posted October 14, 2015 Author Share Posted October 14, 2015 The unregistered version does not let me do that, however, I lowered some settings and made a different FSX.cfg for IFR. I tested the GA .cfg and it worked fine. I did it for extra long as the scenery was very nice. Now I'm going to test the long haul again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 Hi, When using embedded graphic such as Intel, you have to increase your RAM and the amount alocated as it doesn't carry its own. The black screen means that memories dedicated to display are full but other programs keep funtionning as they have RAM and swap file. If you want to enjoy new addons you have to change settings. Nevertheless with a laptop and a integrated graphic chip, the boundaries are close Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan J.D Daniels Posted October 14, 2015 Author Share Posted October 14, 2015 Hello Richard, thank you for the advice. I just want to be clear, you mean change my settings in FSX or my computer? Also I'd like to know how to increase RAM and the amount allocated? I just completed a test flight from KBOS-EGLL and everything worked out. I'm not sure if I got lucky and it will occur again or if I solved the problem. So far I created another FSX.cfg for long haul flights with lowered FSX settings such as auto gen, and texture max load. I will be running more tests with both long haul and regional .cfg settings to see if I can recreate the problem. If not everything is well and I will post my results. Thank you and everyone else who gave a sense of direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Banks Posted October 14, 2015 Share Posted October 14, 2015 Don't forget LOD radius: that has a huge impact across the board. Adam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan J.D Daniels Posted October 14, 2015 Author Share Posted October 14, 2015 In my testing I only changed one thing at a time each test so I can better figure out exactly what was the cause of my problem. After changing my auto-gen it still occurred, however, after changing my max texture load in conjunction with the lowered auto-gen I completed a full test flight with no problems. I am going to get on FSX and conduct more tests and if I complete another long haul flight then I think "WE"(ALL INVOLVED) may have found the solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan J.D Daniels Posted October 15, 2015 Author Share Posted October 15, 2015 Hello to all. I am pleased to inform that I have solved my black screen issue. The solution to my problem for anyone out there experiencing this as well, was to lower my settings. In particular I left everything at max and lowered my max texture load, my LOD range and Auto-gen. After applying these lowered settings I have not encountered the black screen during flight anymore. Hope this helps out for anyone experiencing this, and thank you to everyone who gave me ideas and suggestions as without you I may have had a harder time solving this issue. Thank You Sincerely, Jonathan J.D Daniels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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