FS9 hang-ups

[Chuck Clark]

I have installed FS9, registered copy of FSUIPC v3.08, and PFC driver v1.62 using Windows XP on a 2.2GHz Pentium4 w/1 GB of Ram. I couldn't get it to go past the opening screen. I downloaded latest drivers for my 64 Vidia GeForce3 Ti 500 and Santa Cruz cards and it still wouldn't work. Then called MS - they had me 'reset' a setting somewhere in the bowels of FS9 from a '3' to a '0' and now all works well unless:

1) I switch view mode to 'spot plane' which causes a loss of sound and freezes the screen (it also disables the sound on ALL programs until I reboot!)

2) I try to select 'Customize Weather' under 'user defined' choice on weather page which crashes the program with a 'fatal flaw' showing Mod:weather.dll, v9.0.0.30612, offset:00012d05.

I'm also running FS2002Pro and updated its PFC and FSUIPC drivers. It seems to run okay; i.e. I can change views, set weather, etc. with no problems or loss of sound. I have CS2 running well with older PFC & FSUIPC versions and don"t want to change them since they work okay>

Any suggestions?:?

[Pete Dowson]

Then called MS - they had me 'reset' a setting somewhere in the bowels of FS9 from a '3' to a '0' and now all works well unless:

1) I switch view mode to 'spot plane' which causes a loss of sound and freezes the screen (it also disables the sound on ALL programs until I reboot!)

2) I try to select 'Customize Weather' under 'user defined' choice on weather page which crashes the program with a 'fatal flaw' showing Mod:weather.dll, v9.0.0.30612, offset:00012d05.

...

Any suggestions?:?

Sorry, no. I've no idea I'm afraid. I don't this can really be related to anything in FSUIPC and certainly not PFC.

The weather things sounds like you have a corrupted install of FS -- I would suggest a re-install to try to fix that. There's nothing much happens in FS when you make that change, it simple enables some other buttons on the same dialogue. My software isn't even running when you are in FS dialogues.

The sound related problem may be something to do with sound or video drivers, or that dreaded DX9 again.

What was this "magic setting" you changed from '3' to '0' by the way? I'm intrigued!

Regards,

Pete

[Chuck Clark]

Thanks for the prompt reply. First, the "magic setting" was to change the FULL_SCREEN line in the FS9.CFG file (that gets hidden in the user's 'My Documents','App Data', 'Microsoft', 'FS9' file) from '=1' to '=0'. I don't know why this made a difference. MS support then had me 'reset defaults' in the FS9 trouble shooting menu. That restored normal sound function, but the program still crashes if I try to 'Customize Weather'. MS support then had me try a 'Clean Boot' but that didn't help. They then had me uninstall FS 2004, delete all FS9 related files, and reload the program in a new directory as well as download DirectX 9.0b (as opposed to 9.0a that comes with FS 2004). I did all this without loading your FSUIPC or PFC.dll modules to be sure that the problems had absolutely nothing to do with your excellent additions.

No luck. View mode changes now kill the sound again (that can't be recovered for any application until I reboot), and clicking 'Customize Weather' still crashes the program. At least I can fly successfully with your FSUIPC and PFC.dll as long as I don't change view modes from 'Cockpit' and don't try to set the weather. The later problem bothers me the most as I want to set cloud ceilings at minimums for instrument approaches but am unable to do so.

I'll let you know if I ever resolve these problems.

[Pete Dowson]

First, the "magic setting" was to change the FULL_SCREEN line in the FS9.CFG file (that gets hidden in the user's 'My Documents','App Data', 'Microsoft', 'FS9' file) from '=1' to '=0'. I don't know why this made a difference.

That will make FS start up in Windowed mode instead of full screen mode. The most noticeable difference between a maximised window and "full screen" is that you don't get a Title Bar in the latter mode. You switch between the two modes by ALT + ENTER.

Evidently MS thought you had some sort of video driver problem, or possibly that the video section in the CFG file was corrupted.

I'll let you know if I ever resolve these problems.

Yes, please. They seem unique at present. Very odd. Good luck!

Pete