OOMS FSX Steam Edition

[dva2143]

I have being using FSX Steam Edition for awhile, I had a problem with OOMS before but not as bad as this, I have read all the forums. I have done many tweaks to the fsx.cfg file to even doing a new fresh install. I do use a lot of addons like orbx, flytampa, fsdreamteam, etc. I have PMDG, Aerosoft Airbus iFly 737 and 747. I was wondering if anyone with the same specs as me is having this problem and how did they fix or how could I fix it PLEASE HELP.

Intel Core I5-7400 CPU @3.0 Ghz
RAM 16GB
NiVIDIA GeForce 1060 GTX 3.0GB

[Rogen]

More addins means more use of VAS (Virtual Address Space) and eventually an out of memory exception will occur (this will occur regardless of how much actual memory there is in the machine), more accurately it should be called an out of virtual address space error.

The OOM occurs because a 32 bit application (like FSX) can only access a maximum of 4 GB of virtual address space, and even then only if the application is large address aware and is running on an x64 OS, otherwise the limit is 2 GB.

Fortunatelly FSX is large address aware and I take it you're running an x64 OS to have 16 GB of ram available.

This is a major reason for the need for 64 bit sims, being as it's easy to load up VAS to max with addins, especially high fidelity addins like the 3rd party jets and scenery you have.

Reducing the LOD value can help, and using tools like FSUIPC or Microsoft's Process Explorer will allow monitoring of VAS usage and when it is close to running out of available VAS you can save the flight, exit FSX and reload.

You can also selectively choose to not load airports, scenery etc. I use a tool to manage scenery outside of FSX, it's a Java based tool and works very well and allows easy adding, ordering and disabling of scenery.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/fs-sceditor/?source=navbar

Here is a thread on OOM and VAS for a bit of info around a similar discussion, it includes a few links with useful info on understanding and working around the issue of VAS limitation of a 32 bit executable.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/314160/discussions/0/1291817208500306625/?ctp=2

Cheers

[capalmas]

Same old story

My simulator is FSX steam edition. I spend hours (and money) in add-ons, sceneries and new airplanes (ifly 737, 747, PMDG 737 NGX, level d 767-300ER, aerosoft A318/319/320/321, a bunch of airport sceneries, mesh, terrain, weather, textures, IA libraries, etc). Additional to the hardware upgrades (MCP panels, joysticks and stuff).

I have spent a lot time and effort to have something great but always comes with the DAMM OOM (out of memory) at the end. I am just getting frustrated I cannot reach landing at the end.

I have read a lot about the 4 gigs restriction with FSX, and the freaking story of FSX running in 32 bit mode. I have followed every single tip or hint I find on the flight sim communities. I’ve tried hundreds or tweaks to save virtual memory when I play. I always enable the scenery cache that I need for the flights only. Manage the areas I use in my flights with scenery configurations, and track the virtual memory space when I play. Same thing always, near to landing and get the freaking OOM error.

I have a very nice gaming computer. With a nvidia 1080 graphic card.

As I said, my frustration is killing me (lol...) I’ve been thinking to send FSX steam to hell if there is other option

My questions:

Have you ever had OOM issues? How did you fixed it?
What flight simulator do you use?
What do you recommend me to do? Is there a better simulator to use? How expensive could it be?

Thank you

[Rogen]

I feel your frustrations.

The limits of 32 bit is why there is a 64 bit sim migration occurring, with the main players in the 64 bit world being...


- XPlane11 (XP11), a long established and evolved product still plugging away.

- Prepar3D v4 (P3D) from Lockheed Martin, was built using the base code of FSX-ESP which was a training level version of FSX that LM purchased the rights to back in 2010.

- Flight Sim World (FSW) the official successor to FSX by Dovetail Games who re-released FSX-SE on Steam after Microsoft dropped development. Built from the base FSX code and available as Early Access on Steam, it still has quite a way to go to be a viable replacement for FSX-SE but what it does do it does pretty well and it is being updated reguarly.

- Aerofly FS2 provides a more visual experience however is limited in what the base sim offers, e.g. weather, seasons, airports etc.


Unfortunately the current 64 bit world is not all peaches and cream, for example third party 64 bit support is currently limited and it will be a few years before the third party's can catch up.

Plus all your current 32 bit based addins for FSX-SE will for the most part not work on a 64 bit sim (unless an update is available) and certainly all the sims above have their own quirks and issues.


Anyway back to OOMs...

Mostly I fly GA and experienced my first OOM after purchasing and installing Drzewiecki Design's New York City X. I took off from La Guardia, started to fly around NY and OOM. Eventually I was able to fly around the scenery by installing the "Lite" texture version and reducing my LOD_RADIUS from 7.5 to 4.5.

Given I have a known base where I can force an OOM without much effort, I started reviewing my options with regards to a new sim. The criteria was to be able to migrate most of my existing addins and tide me over till the 64 bit market matures.

P3D version 3.4 fitted the bill, which although it is 32 bit, my review showed version 3.4 had significant changes to memory handling to reduce OOMs.

With P3D I was able to install Drzewiecki Design's New York City X, the full version, and fly around it without an OOM with a LOD_RADIUS of 6.5, it does get close to max VAS usage though.

So your choices are to go for a x64 sim or as I have chosen, go 32 bit and wait it out a while longer. For myself it was the least expensive option as most of my exisitng addins would function just fine.

If choosing P3D (x64 or x86) there are a few things to be aware of,

1), Each major version release has to be re-purchased, e.g although I have version 3.4 I would need to fully re-purchase for version 4.

2), There are multiple levels of licensing, starting at a monthly fee for developers, right up to a couple of thousand dollars for a pro training license.

3), P3D is officially not sold as an entertainment product and has a ula saying entertainment usage is prohibited but is fine for learning, (so make sure you learn but don't enjoy doing it ;-).

4), most people opt for the Academic version which carries a water mark in the top RH corner, although in version 3 it can be disabled from showing.

5), P3D is FSX but not quite and although it comes with planes and jets, there are no Airbuses or Boeings and mostly the included planes are third party products.

6), It has it's own quirks, e.g LOD_RADIUS is hard coded to a max of 6.5 and it is quite noticeable.

7), while most FSX-SE items will install, some workarounds are needed, e.g. manual installs by setting a FSX reg key to a dummy location and then manually installing using the files from the dummy location.

8), Some FSX products do a platform check and will not install or update for P3D unless you re-purchase a specific P3D license (think A2A) and possibly the other high fidelity products.

9), Some Effects folder contents are DX9 in FSX, whereas DX11 compatibility is required for P3D. If there is not a P3D version available, I work around by installing to FSX-SE, then running DX10 Fixer to update the effects files to DX10 and then copy the changed files to P3D (identifying by date).

10), If you have Orbx New Zealand you'll need to fly that area with crash detection off, else your plane will randomly crash into invisible walls during flights.

11), No FSX-SE DLC will work.

12), FSUIPC4 tends to crash P3D on unload although I've found moving the FSUIPC4 entry in dll.xml to the top greatly reduces the occurances.


With that out of the way, if you go the 3.4 way you could expect reduced OOMs and a frame rate of at least 20 FPS higher, probably more with your 1080 card and with faster texture loading, plus most existing addins will install and function. For example Orbx is no problem, Central 3 just asks what platform you are currently using and away it goes, Active Sky Next has a P3D version available which is included as a download when ASN is purchased as a full package.

I also managed to get A2A's Accu-Feel working by a manual dll copy and edit of the dll.xml.

Not forgetting you could also go the full 64 bit way if so desired.


All the above said and given I fly mostly GA, I still come back and fly a lot in FSX-SE, because really none of the other sims have the same level of features, compatibility, the huge number of addins, and options like a configurable LOD_RADIUS which is needed for great looking photoreal scenery.

I personally have also picked up FSW and intend to follow its progress. Hopefully it will become a viable alternative for FSX-SE in the future.

PS: FSW by default comes with Orbx base as its scenery packge and includes A2A's Accu-Feel.

Here are a selection of P3D pics:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1260353184
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1260352756
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1260352239
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1260351665

Bit of an essay... hope its helped.

Cheers

[kimchoc]

Pretty simple. You install the game to vanilla. You add, ONE add on at a time, until you find critical mass. Deal with that add on. Simple. Done that many times. If you really do have all that stuff that you do now, you should know this. These errors have been out there for years. No one here is going to solve it for you. If you still want to beat your head against the wall, go over to avsim forums where the real experts are. You are very lucky to have gotten the Roger reply.
Here are kids on laptops with a mouse.
Oh, let me add, kids on CRACK, on laptops. KOCOL's for short.
Excellent replies above. I too have fsw but not installed. I seem to have hit on a workable add on solution in the method I described.
The secret to a smooth fsx is less stuff.

[Erazer]

Prepar3D gives a very simple possible solution on their site.

Press the Windows key + R to bring up the Run window, type msconfig and hit Enter.

Choose a selective start-up and uncheck Load startup items.

Open the Services tab and check Hide all Microsoft services.

Click Disable all, Apply and OK

Reboot.

You might also consider some old ideas about adding a fixed size pagefile say 1000MB with the min and max sizes given the same value so it doesn't change size. Just make sure that it stays in one piece.

Jack Riordan has/had a possible 'fix' for the 32 bit 4GB limit bug which is applied to the 32-bit executable in question. E.G. fsx.exe

Memory management also depends on which version of Windows you are using.

[Erazer]

Memory Limits for Windows 10

Windows 10 Home – 128 GB
Windows 10 Professional – 2TB
Windows 10 Enterprise – 2TB
All 32 bit versions of Windows 10 – 4GB

Memory Limits for Windows 8.1

Windows 8.1 RT – 4GB
Windows 8.1 – 128GB
Windows 8.1 Pro – 512GB
Windows 8.1 Enterprise – 512GB
All 32 bit versions of Windows 8.1 – 4GB

Memory Limits for Windows 8

Windows 8 – 128GB
Windows 8 Pro –512 GB
Windows 8 Enterprise – 512GB
All 32 bit versions of Windows 8 – 4GB

Memory Limits for Windows 7

Windows 7 Starter Edition – 2GB
Windows 7 Home Basic – 8GB
Windows 7 Home Premium – 16GB
Windows 7 Professional – 192GB
Windows 7 Enterprise – 192GB
Windows 7 Ultimate – 192GB

[Rogen]

Virtual address space is not memory...

And the OOM (out of memory) is actaully a poor name as it should be OOVAS but I guess they thought users would understand the term "Memory" better.

Think of it as a 4 GB virtual address space "Window" of memory, so no matter how much memory a workstation may have, a 32 bit program is by the nature of being 32 bit - limited a maximum of 4 GB of virtual address space.

[Rogen]

To quote the Matrix, there is no spoon...

[Rogen]

And you'd be refereing to this link here?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=560426533

We'll I'm sorry to advise but FSX-SE already has the Large Address Aware flag set, which means it is by default able to access 4 GB of virtual address space (VAS) instead of the standard 2 GB of a standard 32 bit program.

There are tools available to test, the microsoft developer program of dumpbin will provide the details and it you review the thread below you'll see the results of said dumpbin headers for the fsx-se executable.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/314160/discussions/0/1291817208500306625/?ctp=2

This is why sims are going 64 bit, so they have more virtual address space and can thus handle more scenery, higher fidelity aircraft and higher resolutions and various other bigger/better addons etc.

64bit is the future of simming.

Cheers