FSX Crashes on ALT+ENTER When Using FSUIPC

[Hangar34]

Hi, hope someone can help.

I have returned to flight simming this week and have been reinstalling FSX and various add-ons. Everything has been fine until I installed the latest version of FSUIPC (4.728b).

Basically, what happens is that FSX crashes with an application error (as shown below) whenever I press ALT+ENTER, and very occasionally when I perform other menu functions. To prove it to myself, I have since renamed the FSUIPC.DLL in order to prevent FSX loading it as a module and the issue has gone away. Also, FSUIPC is the only third party add-on that I am using that I believe is utilising the SimConnect.dll. The specific application error I've been getting is:

Faulting application fsx.exe, version 10.0.61637.0, time stamp 0x46fadb14, faulting module SimConnect.dll_unloaded, version 0.0.0.0, time stamp 0x46fad5b6, exception code 0xc0000005, fault offset 0x0a1f2000, process id 0x10ec, application start time 0x01cc7881be8eaecf.

My system specs are:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+

2GB Corsair XMS RAM

Nvidia 9800GTX

Windows Vista SP2

Flight Simulator X Deluxe Version w/ Acceleration (SP2)

Please let me know if there is any other information required to shed further light on the problem (error logs etc.)

Many thanks,

Steve

[Hangar34]

Just to add some further information.

Not long after posting, I discovered that there was a newer version of FSUIPC4.DLL (version 4.731). I have just tried this version and immediately FSX crashed the first time I pressed ALT+ENTER, resulting in the same error message.

I have removed FSUIPC4.DLL, and again the problem disappears.

Steve

[Pete Dowson]

Faulting application fsx.exe, version 10.0.61637.0, time stamp 0x46fadb14, faulting module SimConnect.dll_unloaded, version 0.0.0.0, time stamp 0x46fad5b6, exception code 0xc0000005, fault offset 0x0a1f2000, process id 0x10ec, application start time 0x01cc7881be8eaecf.

...

Please let me know if there is any other information required to shed further light on the problem (error logs etc.)

Odd. Generally problems like that, switching screen modes and so on, are caused by video driver problems. I've no idea how or why SimConnect is involved in such a switch, and FSUIPC neither knows nor cares about it. Nevertheless, it looks like it must be an FSX installation error or corruption.

The FSUIPC4.LOG file, from the FSX Modules folder, might be helpful -- it may show an error with SimConnect too. Just paste it into a message here.

When you say "reinstalling FSX .." was there an FSX previously on this same PC? If so, did you attempt to uninstall it or similar? Have you reformatted and reinstalled Windows since?

If you have tried to uninstall FSX and then came to reinstall it, it is very likely that the SimConnect part is in a mess. The uninstaller does not properly uninstall the side-by-side libraries used by SimConnect, it just seems to destroy the links, and when you try to reinstall the whole area becomes an unrecoverable mess. I ended up having to completely start from scratch with a fresh install of Windows.

Regards

Pete

[Hangar34]

Hi Pete, and thanks for the very prompt support.

FSX was previously on my machine some time ago and was properly uninstalled. However, as you suggest it is quite possible that some legacy stuff was left over, especially with regard to SimConnect.dll.

I will paste the contents of my FSUIPC4.LOG below, though to me it looks to offer little help as there do not appear to be any specific errors.

Completely re-formatting my PC and performing a clean FSX install isn't really a viable option for me at present, however I will try and establish if the crashing is a result of *any* add-on module, not just FSUIPC. I never used to have any problems when I used to run it, although it was quite a few versions ago. Here's my FSUIPC.LOG contents:

********* FSUIPC4, Version 4.731 by Pete Dowson *********

User Name=(removed for privacy)

User Addr=(removed for privacy)

FSUIPC4 Key is provided

WIDEFS7 not user registered, or expired

Running inside FSX on Windows Vista

Module base=0B3E0000

Wind smoothing fix is not installed

DebugStatus=15

531 System time = 22/09/2011 07:06:13

531 FLT path = "C:\Users\(removed for privacy)\Documents\Flight Simulator X Files\"

890 Trying to connect to SimConnect Acc/SP2 Oct07 ...

1047 FS path = "E:\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\"

3422 LogOptions=00000000 00000001

3562 SimConnect_Open succeeded: waiting to check version okay

3562 Trying to use SimConnect Acc/SP2 Oct07

7640 Running in "Microsoft Flight Simulator X", Version: 10.0.61637.0 (SimConnect: 10.0.61259.0)

7640 Initialising SimConnect data requests now

7640 FSUIPC Menu entry added

7703 E:\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\FLIGHTS\OTHER\FLTSIM.FLT

7703 E:\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\SimObjects\Airplanes\Aircreation_582SL\Aircreation_582SL.AIR

117437 System time = 22/09/2011 07:08:10, Simulator time = 10:43:19 (01:43Z)

117484 Aircraft="Aircreation582SL red"

216172 Starting everything now ...

219219 Advanced Weather Interface Enabled

557015 **** No SimConnect events or states being received! Re-connecting now ... ****

557187 Trying to connect to SimConnect Acc/SP2 Oct07 ...

557219 Now running with SimConnect Acc/SP2 Oct07

557219 SimConnect_Open succeeded: waiting to check version okay

557234 Running in "Microsoft Flight Simulator X", Version: 10.0.61637.0 (SimConnect: 10.0.61259.0)

557234 Initialising SimConnect data requests now

557234 FSUIPC Menu entry added

557265 C:\Users\(removed for privacy)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX\Previous flight.FLT

Thanks for the help and I'll post my findings on running other modules.

Steve

[Pete Dowson]

FSX was previously on my machine some time ago and was properly uninstalled. However, as you suggest it is quite possible that some legacy stuff was left over, especially with regard to SimConnect.dll.

I will paste the contents of my FSUIPC4.LOG below, though to me it looks to offer little help as there do not appear to be any specific errors.

Well, SimConnect stopped responding here:

557015 **** No SimConnect events or states being received! Re-connecting now ... ****

557187 Trying to connect to SimConnect Acc/SP2 Oct07 ...

557219 Now running with SimConnect Acc/SP2 Oct07

557219 SimConnect_Open succeeded: waiting to check version okay

557234 Running in "Microsoft Flight Simulator X", Version: 10.0.61637.0 (SimConnect: 10.0.61259.0)

but as it shows, it was okay on re-connecting.

The log isn't finished, so i assume FSX crashed at that point.

I really don't know anything which would crash SimConnect specifically with an ALT+ENTER screen mode change. As I said, it's usually down to video drivers.

Completely re-formatting my PC and performing a clean FSX install isn't really a viable option for me at present, however I will try and establish if the crashing is a result of *any* add-on module, not just FSUIPC. I never used to have any problems when I used to run it, although it was quite a few versions ago.

Four things you can try:

1. Change vidfeo drivers -- later or earlier.

2. Remove all .WX files (weather) from your Documernts \ Flight simulator X files folder. A corrupted WX file can wreak havoc in SimConnect and it may only happen when FSUIPC is running as it is reading the weather from SimConnect regularly.

3. Try forcing FSUIPC to use an older version of SimConnect. see the notes below, quoted from the 4.731 release notes in "Download Links".

4. Try uninstalling just SP2 / Accelerator via the Windows menu, and re-testing. Then re-install that.

Regards

Pete

]In case for some reason you need FSUIPC to use an older version of SimConnect than the latest you have installed, you can try adding this line to the [General] section of the FSUIPC4.INI file

UseSimConnect=Orig

where "Orig" stands for "Original" (the build 60905 version which came with the original release of FSX), or alternatively one of these:

SP1 for the SP1 updated version

SP2 for the SP2 or Acceleration version (the same SimConnect version applies to both these updates)

ESP for the first ESP version

P3D for the current Prepar3D version Note that it is unlikely that either of the last two will work correctly with FSX, but it is possible (not tested though) that those later simulators will work with FSX versions of SimConnect.

The use of this facility is at your own risk. It won't do any harm, but FSX might not work if you make the wrong choice here. Check the FSUIPC4.LOG when you first set this, to see what actually then happened.

The facility is only provided as a work-around for some obscure SimConnect installation problems, or to run an older SimConnect purely as a test of some function giving trouble in another add-on.

[/color]

[Hangar34]

Well, good news it seems!

The second suggestion you made Pete seems to have worked. I only had a couple of .WX and .FLT files in the folder you mentioned, however I deleted everything out of there (bar the Logbook.bin file) and restarted FSX with the most recent version of FSUIPC4.dll and all seems to be fine - ALT+ENTER'ing and not seeing a crash yet - let's hope it stays that way!

Really appreciate the professional and detailed support and suggestions that have got me through this little hiccup and apologies for suggesting that FSUIPC might have been at fault.

Kind regards,

Steve

[Pete Dowson]

The second suggestion you made Pete seems to have worked. I only had a couple of .WX and .FLT files in the folder you mentioned, however I deleted everything out of there (bar the Logbook.bin file) and restarted FSX with the most recent version of FSUIPC4.dll and all seems to be fine - ALT+ENTER'ing and not seeing a crash yet - let's hope it stays that way!

It should do -- at least till the next corrupted WX file! ;-)

Regards

Pete