A glitch in the scenery or virtual mem issue?

[stephan]

Thanks guys!!! I'm a little slow to absorb information at times. Used to do some programming years ago,but with my age,and not fooling around with the data end of computers since way back when< I have to re-read and try to wrap my head around the words and draw them together to make sense,hehehe. So,I plan on printing up the last few comments and sit and read,as to goof with the data of a computer and not be clear on what you're doing can be very risky. I need to be clear that I will be OK with trying some of this.Thanks again.

[OldAirmail]

OK, Stephan, this may be your answer.

Read - VAS.OOM! Or why you crash & die.

It sounds just like a VAS out of memory problem.

[stephan]

Thanks.I myself,and I believe the original complaintant fly FS9. If that is of no issue,and this can effect all FS games and such,the problem is this...how do computer unsavy folks go about making adjustments to the VAS. Messing around with addresses and allocated space can be dangerous to the entire HD if one isnt absolutely careful,and knows what they are doing.

[OldAirmail]

From the Wiki VAS link;

"In computing, a virtual address space (VAS) or address space is the set of ranges of virtual addresses that an operating system makes available to a process."

So this is a computer operating system problem, that can affect ALL computer programs. But flight sims are the ones that we use with high memory demands.

Any flight sim can run into the same problem because of the massive amount of memory needed to create & hold the world environment that you see and fly over.

The high quality of the Philadelphia airport KPHL from Sun:Sky:Jet is enough to raise my VAS memory by 200 megs JUST FLYING OVER IT!.



The problem that they are talking about, is that the operating systems that we use aren't completely releasing that memory.

The article by Kosta makes some general suggestions.

One solution in FSX, OOM and Addon VAS Usage is to use a program called FS2004/FSX Scenery Config Editor to activate/deactivate the scenery that you fly over.

After all, if you're in an airbus A380, a mile high over KPHL, you don't need all that detail. BUT your flight sim will load most of it anyway.

But read Kosta's comments before you use it.



Another is to limit the amount of high detail textures that you use.

Still another is to save and reload the flight after restarting the flight sim.

To do the last one, you need to monitor how high your flight sim program memory usage is, and stop it before it hits the brick wall.


That program, for anyone who's interested, is also great for tracking down a great many problems. Among other things, I used to use it to remove viruses when nothing else would.

That program, Process Explorer, is very simple to use, but can be very hard to understand.


In Kosta's article he give EXACT instructions on how to use it for monitoring the VAS related to your flight sim.

If you want you can read FSX, OOM and Addon VAS Usage for tips & skip over all the fine points.



To over simplify the problem - The high quality that you like is the cause of the problem.

Use simpler scenery detail. Reduce the "Level of detail" radius in the sim. Save and reload the flight every now and then.



There is one problem with memory that is assumed by the people discussing the problem.

A 32bit computer operating system can have up to 4 gig of memory. But as soon as you turn it on, it will use some of that 4 gig to operate. So in reality, that 4 gig machine will only have about 3.4 gig for you to use. And it could even be less depending on what other programs autoload on your system.

That means that the VAS memory space for your flight sim is going to be much less in practice.


My 64bit machine has 16 gig. BUT FSX will only be able to have a VAS of 4 gig reserved for any program, FSX included.

With you and I using the EXACT same plane, flying over the EXACT same scenery, you will crash & burn, as I keep on flying.

[Romflyer]

This OOM or VAS problem is a concern for any 32bit program including FSX, FS9 and even P3D
Stephan.....in the pursuit of keeping things simple......for people like you and me who aren't overly computer saavy. Did you manage to determine whether your windows operating system is 32bit or 64bit?
If it is the later(64bit) then the simplest fix is the link that I posted at the beginning of this thread.....

1. you download it
2. you dbl click on it, it will prompt you to browse to your fs9.exe
3. once you locate it (in your main FS9 directory) then you click OK or run
4. close the program
5. then go and open up your FS main folder and find the new FS9.exe file
6. right click on it and chose "create short-cut"
7. now drag that short-cut to your desk-top.......your done

Your FS9 is now what they call "large address aware"

[OldAirmail]

What are your systems specs
If you are using a 32 bit operating system the max ram you can have is 4 gigs and it only sees about 3.4 gigs at best .
I remember I had to use some of the tweaks in order to make it run without getting this message
I think the UIautomation dll works with windows 7 or Windows 8 64 bit systems and should not be used on 32 bit operating systems

You can try this program out it will shut down unneeded programs before you start FS9

http://www.iobit.com/gamebooster.html
I think it will work with FS9 but not sure
If not your only solution is to tweak your scenery cfg file.
Or update your system which is what I finally did.
I now run both FS9 and FSX full out with no problems.

The Game Booster would be especially good if you're running 32bit Widows.

If you have a 64bit system, then it might be a little less useful depending on how much memory you have.

Four gig - Very useful
Six gig - useful
Eight gig or more - not necessarily all that useful. At that point the main benefit of shutting down un-needed programs, would be to reduce the CPU time allotted to the closed programs.

On a 64bit system, EACH program will be permitted up to 4 gig. Not that it'll necessarily use that much. That amount is just the maximum that it can use.



I think that your tweaking has a good deal to do with your success.

[garymbuska]

I would caution you to try and alter the amount of RAM your system is using these kind of things are better off left alone unless you know what you are doing. Your operating system needs to have x amount of ram to run smoothly granted it can be tweaked but if you do not give it enough it will create all kinds of issues and will more than likely Crash to desktop and give you the old Blue screen of death

[OldAirmail]

In many cases that's right. But it may not solve this problem.

From that blog article - FSX, OOM and Addon VAS Usage

"Simply explained, VAS is a working space of a program (let’s just call it that). DO NOT think physical memory or page file have anything to do with this. VAS is a specific space for an application, which can, under 64bit operating system be up to 4GB for the 32bit application."


"Does it matter if you have 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB of RAM? No. Does it matter how big or disabled your page file is? No."



Regarding one of his suggestions: - 2) Keep your other scenery deactivated

I do offer the suggestion/warning - "But read Kosta's comments before you use it.".

Not all solutions are a good idea for everyone.


My suggestion is to reduce the VAS memory demand, and his article does offer some suggestions on that.

[stephan]

Thanks once again. The problem that started this thread is not one of mine,but of someone else on another page. I have Windows XP,and a 1.8gHz processor,with 2 gig ram.Yet,I can fly my sim (FS9) wide out,and with AC that I have made my own panels,most of which contain several hundred gauges and switches.My Camsim Embraer Phenon 300 has a panel I made that has 14 windows,and the main window has over 140 gauges,and the co-pilot panel,which runs on a 2nd monitor has over 100. Yet,I have no issues with my sim.BUT,I can forget about flying FSX. That is no problem for me. I have come to learn quite a bit about FS9 and have enough enjoyment from it to even think about starting with FSX again,until I can afford an actual gaming computer. Thanks again folks.

[OldAirmail]

I must have misunderstood. I thought that you and your friend had out of memory crashes.


The computer/flight sim that you have doesn't entice you into committing the mistake that I try to avoid: Downloading every freeware scenery on the internet.

And I'm not all that sure, but I think that the scenery for an FSX city is MUCH bigger than one for FS9.


Just the Sun:Sky:Jet KPHL files in the FSX Addon Scenery folder is a monster.




That, I think, is why so many FSX fliers have the VAS / OOM crashes.

If you had high def scenery of Washingto DC, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston, you would probably run out of memory on a flight from DC to Boston.



So none of the stuff we were talking about was of any help? That'll teach me not to stick my 2 cents into an FS9 problem.

Well, I tried.

[garymbuska]

One has to remember that FSX is displays things differently so naturally the file sizes will not be the same.

[stephan]

Hey,I appreciate ANY answer I get from you folks.What is offered,and yet may not work on a particular issue,still is information that I might find useful elsewhere! I appreciate everyones comments and attempts to help. It's all knowledge and what you offer to help now,may in fact,help me later.