WideFS/FS2002/ProjectMagenta

[RWillis]

Hello--

I currently fly with ProjectMagenta software. After booting up the system

today, FS2002 crashes and points to the module wideserver.dll. After removing the module FS2002 boots up "normally." I have reinstalled FS2002, replace the .dll--the problem remains. I am using

all the latest versions of fsuipc and widerserver--Using the software has

been uneventful until today! Any ideas or suggestions would be most appreciated. Thanks,

Robert

[Pete Dowson]

I currently fly with ProjectMagenta software. After booting up the system today, FS2002 crashes and points to the module wideserver.dll. After removing the module FS2002 boots up "normally." I have reinstalled FS2002, replace the .dll--the problem remains. I am using all the latest versions of fsuipc and widerserver--Using the software has been uneventful until today! Any ideas or suggestions would be most appreciated.

Sorry, I''ve no idea. Something has evidently changed. Do you know what you might have changed?

When you say "latest version", could you elaboarate, please. Do you mean the latest versions as detailed in the Versions list at the top of this forum? You should really quote version numbers, just in case. The "latest version" to many folks actually means "the latest version I've seen" which in some cases has been mighty old!

Can you also be more explicit about what actually happens when it crashes. What does it actually say, apart from "pointing to WideServer.dll". There are usually ways of getting rather more data than that.

Are you using Windows 98 or Me or XP? Can you get a DrWatson log, in the manner explained in the FSUIPC User Guide under "If FS crashes ..."?

In the end the best way to proceed is to try to work out what might have changed, between when you had it working and when it stopped. Could the Network software, or drivers have become corrupted? Is the network working well on its own, outside of WideFS? Maybe if you deleted the Network card from the Device Manager and reinstalled it along with its driver it might resolve the problem?

This might seem like clutching at straws, but you need to consider every possibility. I've not changed anything on your system, the currently released WideServer is being used by many without problems, so it is something odd there somewhere.

Maybe it's the WideServer DLL itself which has become corrupted? Try reinstalling it from the ZIP.

Pete

[RWillis]

Thanks, Pete--

All the versions are as listed in the newsgroup--I'm using XP--the mystery continues--thanks again for the comments,

Regards,

Robert

[RWillis]

Pete--

Here's the log file for the crash--it happens on starting up FS2002--

thanks,

Robert

drwatson.zip

[Pete Dowson]

Here's the log file for the crash--it happens on starting up FS2002

Thanks. That log was most useful.

The normal module linking to FSUIPC, performed by FS when loading the various modules, is corrupted. It contains some ASCII character rubbish by the look of it!

How that could happen I have no idea, but my suspicion falls on one or other of the many other add-in modules you seem to have installed. These are the add-ins you have, most of which I know are okay:

APS.DLL (for 767PIC perhaps?)

ViMaCore.dll (Lago stuff)

wideviewlt.dll (WidevieW)

AutoSave.dll (mine)

FSNAT.dll (is this for Lago scenery perhaps?)

A22V1_System.dll (?)

WCFSM.dll (a weather DLL of some sort?)

WeatherCenterDisplay.dll (ditto)

FSUIPC.dll (needed for WideFS in any case)

WideServer.dll (of course)

FSNav2002.dll (FSNav)

FSSound.dll

Quite honestly I've never seen so many add-in DLLs in one installation!

Now I'm not saying any of them are no good, but I'm a little concerned as to how data which WideServer needs and which is really outside of its control (the FS linkage) is betting trampled on.

Could you try this experiment. First, take ALL the above DLLs out of Modules except for FSUIPC and WideServer. Does it run now? If not, supply me the DrWatson and I'll think again.

If it does run, add the modules back in one at a time till it doesn't run again. Which module was it?

Just to be sure, then remove all modules again EXCEPT FSUIPC and WideServer, and the tentative culprit. Does it still not run? If so then that's a rogue module. Let me know which one it is (I may need a copy to check it here).

Note that just doing all this may well appear to cure the problem in any case -- the order of the Modules in the folder will get changed, so FS will load them differently, and different areas of memory will be used so different things wil get corrupted. There's not really a lot we can do about that. On XP I've not found a way of keeping folder orders EXCEPT by literally moving everything out so it is empty, then moving them back in, one at a time, in the order you want them. The trouble is I don't know of a utility which will actually tell you the order they are in to start with! On Win98 the DOS "dir" command would do it if you didn't specify sorting, but the XP version seems to always sort.

Let me know. Thanks,

Pete

[Pete Dowson]

I've examined the actual corrupted part of WideServer's linkage a little closer, and it appears to have been overwritten by something with the text "&Wea" in it.

Of the added DLLs you have, this seems to point to one of the weather-ralated ones, viz:

WCFSM.dll or

WeatherCenterDisplay.dll

I've not seen the latter, but I have just found a copy of "WCFSM.dll", and that certainly contains the text:

"&Weather Center"

so now I'm wondering what it does with it.

Maybe it is the FS title bar text? WideServer currently allows for up to 127 characters in the title bar excluding what it might add. Maybe you have something making it longer? What do you normally see in the FS title bar? (You'll need to switch to windowed mode to see it).

Have you actually changed anything or installed anything which would make the text there longer? What options do you have set in the WideServer.ini file (send it or show it here if you like).

If this seems to be the cause of the problem, then I can send you a modified WideServer with the title text length allowed to grow much larger, to see if that helps. If it is the problem and it is in WideServer, it is mighty strange that it has never happened before. That limit has been there since WideFS began, some 6 or more years ago!

Of course, it may be WideServer's modification of the title bar, so the text is longer, which causes the Weather module to corrupt the memory. I wouldn't be able to fix that -- you'd need to write to the author. However, one option you can try is stopping WideServer modifying the title bar at all -- the following documented option can be used for that (set it to No):

====================

TitleBarUpdate=Yes: Set this to ‘No’ if you don’t want any sign that WideServer is running. Sometimes other programs and add-ons can be affected by the changes that WideServer makes to the Flight Simulator title bar. With this set to ‘No’ these add-ons may run correctly.

====================

Let me know.

Regards,

Pete

[RWillis]

Thanks Pete--I will follow your suggestions when I return after the weekend--I appreciate your help--

Best regards,

Robert

[Pete Dowson]

Thanks Pete--I will follow your suggestions when I return after the weekend--I appreciate your help

Hi Robert,

I'm away Monday throgh to Friday next week, inclusive, so please forgive a lack of response on my part.

Pete

[Guest Robert]

Pete--

The dll was corrupted (apparently) by fspauser (the first time I tried it).

I replaced the .dll and everything appears "normal." Thanks for your help--

Regards,

Robert

[Pete Dowson]

The dll was corrupted (apparently) by fspauser (the first time I tried it). I replaced the .dll and everything appears "normal."

Glad you fixed it, but ...

... "FSpauser"? There wasn't a DLL by that name in your FS modules folder, or at least it wasn't running. Or is this an external application? Are you saying it overwrote part of the WideServer DLL file itself?

Pete

[RWillis]

Pete--

It was an external application. On a related matter (I think), I just installed PMDG's 737NG. After rebooting, fs2002 crashed and pointed to widerserver.dll. Removing the module, fs2002 worked fine. I have posted this with their support forum. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks again--

Robert

[Pete Dowson]

On a related matter (I think), I just installed PMDG's 737NG. After rebooting, fs2002 crashed and pointed to widerserver.dll. Removing the module, fs2002 worked fine.

737NG uses FSUIPC. Maybe you have an old version, or maybe their installation installed an old version? Check. Make sure you have FSUIPC 2.975 and WideServer.dll 5.50 or later. Right click on them in Explorer and check the Properties-VersionInfo.

If this isn't it you'll need to wait for their response. There's no relationship at all between any aircraft and WideServer, so they must be stomping on something.

Regards,

Pete

[RWillis]

Pete,

The PMDG folks are stumped by this. What I did (as you suggested above) was to remove the dll's and replace them one by one. After I did this, fs2002 booted up without problem. In other words, after selectively introducing the modules one by one there was NO system crash. Needless to say, this is not what I expected. My question is--what does all this mean? Is there a possible memory problem since the dll's are being loaded into (new) different memory regions? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks again,

Robert

[Pete Dowson]

Is there a possible memory problem since the dll's are being loaded into (new) different memory regions?

It sounds like there's a memory addressing problem and something is trashing something else. Modules are loaded in the order they appear in the folder's directory, so, each time you copy them in, the loading order changes. Can you list all the non-FS modules you have installed? Maybe it's one of the new ones, maybe it is something else. Can you get a Dr Watson dump? (Look in the FSUIPC User Guide, the section "If FS crashes ..." near the end will tell you how). If so, ZIP it and send it to me. I'll see if I can spot the culprit.

Regards,

Pete