So frustrated with FSX!!!

[brettt777]

I am about to scream! I have completely uninstalled and reinstalled FSX for the fourth time and I still cannot get the HUD and MFD's to come up in VC on the FA-18. It use to work. The first time I had FSX installed they worked fine. I reinstalled it for some other reason and now they just refuse to come up. I don't get any kind of error telling me some gauge is an older version and won't work in FSX. It doesn't tell me anything. It just doesn't come up. Even the HUD in 2D won't work. What's the deal? I have a few other a/c that do the same thing but they aren't installed right now. This is a completely new install of FSX and Accel pack with no other add ons. SP1 & 2 are installed with Accel pack, correct? So there shouldn't be any other mods or patches I need. I wouldn't be all that suprised if it was just the add on planes had panels that don't work. That happens to me all the time...   "garunteed to work in FSX" but then all kinds of error messages about the .gau files being an older version. Anyway, how could this happen to a plane that is part of the original game and it use to work? Someone PLEASE help me out here. What am I missing??? BTW my system is a Duo core 2.13 ghz, 2 gb RAM, nVidia 8600gts, X-fi.

[Boikat]

Just a shot in the dark:  If I understand correctly, the "uninstall" only removes what was originally installed with your intial installation, so add-ons, CFG and "Flight Simulator X files" remains, so they remain pretty much unchanged even after re-installing.  I think the uninstall has an option to uninstall and remove all files associated with FSX, and is supposed to remove everything, but it would not hurt to double check if it did.  But that would also remove all add-ons, and I believe, the CFG, also.

[brettt777]

Well, after I uninstalled everything I deleted every directory that was associated with FSX that I could find. I can only assume that uninstall deletes all the registry entries... Anyway, I uninstalled and deleted everything.

[Boikat]

And when you reinstalled, the HUDs did not work?  

If it were me, the first thing I'd do is check the panel.cfg, adn try to find the HUD.  I have an F/A 18, but it's not the Acceleration version.  In the Panel.CFG, it's as follows:

// This Panel.cfg file created by FS Panel Studio panel editor utility - http://www.fspanelstudio.com
// Built Wednesday, March 24, 2004 at 14:27 FSPS Build:14852

[Window Titles]
Window00=Main Panel
Window01=Radio
Window02=GPS
Window03=HUD
Window04=Meatball
Window05=ENG
Window06=Rader Modoki
Window07=Engine control



[VIEWS]
VIEW_FORWARD_WINDOWS=MAIN_PANEL,50,GPS_PANEL,HUD_PANEL,10011,75,100

VIEW_FORWARD_DIR=0.000, 0.000, 0.000

Looking at window03:

[Window03]
Background_color=0,0,0
size_mm=512
window_size_ratio=1.000  
position=0
visible=1
ident=HUD_PANEL
window_size= 0.245, 0.310
window_pos= 0.374, 0.178

gauge00=superh!hud2,  0,8,509,450

So now, I'd look in my panel folder, and make sure that gauge is present.  In the above example, the line "gauge00=superh!hud2,....." is what I have to look for.  In this case, "superh" is a .cab file located in the panel folder, and if I open it up, I see a "hud2.xml" file.

I  some cases, the gauge may not be in the aircraft panel folder, but in the FSX gauge folder itself.

I have no idea if the location of the gauge file for the HUD are any different in the acceleration F/A-18

[Brett_Henderson]

This isn't a known fix..I'm just throwing data in..

I know a couple of people who had weird, on again, off again trouble with the F-18 HUD, MFD and the other gauges around the MFD..

Depending on the system, the fix was a combination of V-card drivers and/or the operating system itself. Do you have the latest drivers for that card ?  AND the latest drivers (and BIOS) for your motherboard ?

One guy running an 8600 v-card had to ditch Vista, and reinstall XP and that sovled it. The other guy had a X6XX series card too (I think it was a 7600), and he got it to work on Vista after getting all new drivers and a BIOS flash.

The only constant I've seen with this problem, has been X6XX cards..

[basys]

Hi Folks

Brettt -
See your post at SimOuthouse

HTH
ATB
Paul

[brettt777]

Here's something that I forgot to mention yesterday. I can move the cursor over many switches and knobs in VC and it will change to the little hand like it's a functional switch. It will even try to "grab" the knob or switch when you click it. A few of them work but most of them won't even move. The DDI function switches are in the off position and the brightness is all the way down. Soooo...I guess they won't work like that; back in my Navy avionics days the DDI's in the EA-6B wouldn't work in the O F F position either. Anyway, there's obviously something not getting activated to turn this stuff on. Any ideas on that one?
Brett...on that vcard driver thing...maybe you might have something there. On this machine I have had an issue where I can only play a DVD in the drive if I use the ORIGINAL nVidia drivers that came with the system. If I use any other drivers, even the Omega ones, every time I try to play a DVD I get the dreaded blue screen telling me about some dll file. It will read a DVD just fine but it won't play it. Point is, there is obviously an issue with the vcard/drivers. I wonder If I need to go back to those original drivers? Only problem with that is no nVidia control panel. Well, guess I'll be asking Santa for a new vcard...I have been wanting to go back to ATI anyway. Never been real happy with nVidia.

[brettt777]

[quote]And when you reinstalled, the HUDs did not work?

[Brett_Henderson]

I still think it's a graphics problem.. I've seen this more than once..

Gauge textures are "kinda" animated.. and odviously 3-D gauges (like switches) are animated. Animated texture rendering is tempermental with older hardware in FSX.

There's a weak link in your chain somewhere ..

I'd first try ALL new drivers, and if that doesn't work, I think you're looking at a hardware upgrade; though you haven't posted your specs yet, so I'm just guessing.

What O/S are you running, too ?


Edit: A particularly troublesome combo is; Vista + Acceleration + old video card..

[brettt777]

My specs are...2.13 ghz Duo core, 2 gb DDR RAM, nVidia 8600 gts, Sound blaster X-Fi, XP home edition. The only problem I have with it being a graphics card issue is that it worked before. When I got FSX and Accel pack a few months ago, it worked fine. Something has obviously changed in the game configuration or the computer setup. I had to reload XP on here a month or so ago but I am quite sure the problem was happening before that. I just don't understand why several of the modern fighters that I fly on here work fine in VC but this one and a couple others just won't work. Now on one airplane I managed to replace a couple of the gauges with gauges from another airplane (that works) and they worked although for some reason the resolution wasn't very good. I am wondering if there is something in the .gau file or some other file that tells the gauges and displays to be on or off, bright or dim?

[brettt777]

Okay here's another thing I just noticed tonight...in the airplanes that don't work the files are all either .gau files or .dll files. In the airplanes that do work, all the files are .xml files. Now that HAS to be a problem wouldn't you th ink? Of course, I don't have the slightest idea what to do about it...

[Brett_Henderson]

Obviously, it shouldn't matter if the gauges are  .gau .dll .cab ..   We've had that mix/match in MSFS for a while now.

You've ruled out the Vista/old-v-card problem, but I'm still thinking it's a rendering issue. What you're not seeing, are pretty much animated bitmaps.

Have you downloaded the latest dirvers for everything ? V-card, motherboard, AND flashed the latest BIOS for that board ?

I had an issue with certain MFD gauges that literally crashed the computer..  and a BIOS flash addressed it.

[Alejandro Rhodes]

:-/ I never had these kind of problem  :-/ I used to ran an AGP 6200 having 1gb ram ,the only thing I saw was a little bit slow in frames , Now I just bought an 8400 & new motherboard ,and never being better than ever in frps

Maybe its because I format My drive from time to time ,For example yesterday I catch a virus(I could remove in a diferent way But Bah ) ,and format my both drives and reistall everything back and then use O&O Defrag, I do this all the time and back up in DVD everything ..

I'm telling you this as an advise ,I think HDD system should be format at least a year ,at least I don't see the problems people shows here ..

just a modest opinion

[merculiv]

I restored my machine like a week ago myself And yes it always good to backup files and programs you don't want to lose.

[brettt777]

Actualy I do that same thing myself. Usualy about once every 6 months. I just reinstalled XP on here a few weeks ago.
Brett, I know it shouldn't matter what type of gauges the airplane uses; many of my other aircraft use .gau files and work fine. But...none of those are "glass" panels...MFD's and PFD's. The other ones that work are all analog gauges. May not mean anything at all...just an observation. I really wish all gauges were xml type. they are so much easier to work with. I know how to edit those but have no clue on the .gau files other than the bmps. Well, I have tried the Omega drivers and the original drivers that came with the PC. I will see if nVidia has anything newer and give that a try. What I really would like to do is go back to an ATI v-card. The nVidia card is what came with the PC. That's what I get for buying a pre-built machine I guess.