PMDG 737NGX

[Tsarcasm]

First, I'm posting this here and not on AVSIM because AVSIM is a disgusting and cancerous community. More people being jerks than actually helping.
Onto my problem-- On about 1 out of every 4 or 5 flights when I'm either climbing or in cruise, my displays will just go black. I notice this usually happens when crossing a waypoint in the FMC or when my clouds need to render back in. I'm not too sure why it does this but the VNAV and LNAV both still work fine. Any help at all would be appreciated, thanks!

[skypilot]

1. Really? I've found a lot of good answers to bugs on my FSX from a simple search on AVSIM. But then again, those posts are usually years old. Anyways, my opinion.
2. What are your system specs? Possibly, if your computer is overtaxed, and it needs to render in clouds or data for a waypoint, it will just give up. How powerful is your system?

[Tsarcasm]

Originally posted by skypilot:

1. Really? I've found a lot of good answers to bugs on my FSX from a simple search on AVSIM. But then again, those posts are usually years old. Anyways, my opinion.
2. What are your system specs? Possibly, if your computer is overtaxed, and it needs to render in clouds or data for a waypoint, it will just give up. How powerful is your system?

I've dealt with Avsim twice and they've always been grouchy, rude, and non-helpful. But that was my experience. And I have an i3 @ 2.60 gHz, 8 gigs memory, HD intel graphics 620. It runs the plane just fine at 30 fps but you could have a point.

[3 Wire]

Originally posted by Tsarcasm:

I've dealt with Avsim twice and they've always been grouchy, rude, and non-helpful. But that was my experience. And I have an i3 @ 2.60 gHz, 8 gigs memory, HD intel graphics 620. It runs the plane just fine at 30 fps but you could have a point.

Avsim isn't the only game in town, there are plenty of other sites around, maybe try one of those. Given the level of complexity of their AC and the cost of admission, I suspect PMDG probably has some very good support forums and a strong community that might be able to provide you with some answers. That would probably be the first place I would try.

PMDG aircraft are very complex, and while I'm not using any personally, I know from experience that AC in that league can be very demanding on system resources, and in all honesty your hardware specs appear to be on the marginal side to say the least. From what I can tell just looking around, PMDG recommends an i5 or i7 or better as the minimum CPU for the 737NGX, also your integrated graphics particularly would be a cause for concern to me, in general integrated graphics are not a very good choice for gaming, or applications that place high demands on the graphics rendering capabilities of the GPU.

[skypilot]

Originally posted by Tsarcasm:

Originally posted by skypilot:

1. Really? I've found a lot of good answers to bugs on my FSX from a simple search on AVSIM. But then again, those posts are usually years old. Anyways, my opinion.
2. What are your system specs? Possibly, if your computer is overtaxed, and it needs to render in clouds or data for a waypoint, it will just give up. How powerful is your system?

I've dealt with Avsim twice and they've always been grouchy, rude, and non-helpful. But that was my experience. And I have an i3 @ 2.60 gHz, 8 gigs memory, HD Intel graphics 620. It runs the plane just fine at 30 fps but you could have a point.

An i3 is probably not the CPU to run a PMDG on, as 3 Wire said. I have an i5 @2.40 GHz, 8 gigs, and integrated Intel graphics. Really, FSX is much more dependent on your CPU than GPU. I run FSX fine, like you, on integrated graphics. But all I'm giving you is data and opinions.

Real things to try:
Power plan. Is it at balanced, high performance, saver? I once corrected a serious texture and object rendering lag by switching my power plan to high performance.
Re-install of aircraft? Probably not a likely source, but maybe a corrupt file? You never know.
Hit F10 twice. An iFLY 747 I have (freeware) has this issue. Go to 2D then back to Virtual. Helps with mine.

Form what it sounds like, your system is probably overtaxed by rendering things- clouds, waypoint data, etc. I'm betting when other things like ground/sky textures/layers also load in, your displays go black. If none of this works, maybe its time to see if you can get a more powerful PC, minimum i5 CPU. I don't think I can run a PMDG without serious FPS lag and rendering issues, which is why I don't have it.

[Tsarcasm]

Originally posted by 3 Wire:

Originally posted by Tsarcasm:

I've dealt with Avsim twice and they've always been grouchy, rude, and non-helpful. But that was my experience. And I have an i3 @ 2.60 gHz, 8 gigs memory, HD intel graphics 620. It runs the plane just fine at 30 fps but you could have a point.

Avsim isn't the only game in town, there are plenty of other sites around, maybe try one of those. Given the level of complexity of their AC and the cost of admission, I suspect PMDG probably has some very good support forums and a strong community that might be able to provide you with some answers. That would probably be the first place I would try.

PMDG aircraft are very complex, and while I'm not using any personally, I know from experience that AC in that league can be very demanding on system resources, and in all honesty your hardware specs appear to be on the marginal side to say the least. From what I can tell just looking around, PMDG recommends an i5 or i7 or better as the minimum CPU for the 737NGX, also your integrated graphics particularly would be a cause for concern to me, in general integrated graphics are not a very good choice for gaming, or applications that place high demands on the graphics rendering capabilities of the GPU.

That's the thing, Avsim is their main forum sight lol. But anywho, thanks for the reply. I can run it just fine but I think a better PC will be the move in the future. Thanks to you both.

[TextRich]

Try the default 737. If you get no problem, you likely have run out of system resources with the PMDG aircraft. Consider upgrading your system. 8 GB RAM is too low if you like beefy add-ons like PMDG's. I have a low opinion of integrated graphics. Dedicated graphic cards like the nVidia GeForce GTX series helps to take away workload from the motherboard and keep your display consistent. Finally, I think a processor speed of 3.5 GHz or more is ideal, but I blame the RAM and integrated graphics more for the inconsistent display.

I think the AVSIM community is a lot nicer than this Steam community, and it is actively moderated. I like hanging out here 'cause there are fewer posts and it is the default forum for my favorite sim, FSX Steam Edition.

[3 Wire]

Originally posted by skypilot:

An i3 is probably not the CPU to run a PMDG on, as 3 Wire said. I have an i5 @2.40 GHz, 8 gigs, and integrated Intel graphics. Really, FSX is much more dependent on your CPU than GPU. I run FSX fine, like you, on integrated graphics. But all I'm giving you is data and opinions.

Form what it sounds like, your system is probably overtaxed by rendering things- clouds, waypoint data, etc. I'm betting when other things like ground/sky textures/layers also load in, your displays go black. If none of this works, maybe its time to see if you can get a more powerful PC, minimum i5 CPU. I don't think I can run a PMDG without serious FPS lag and rendering issues, which is why I don't have it.

It's true that FSX is more processor dependent, but the Intel HD Graphics 620 (and all the other Integrated GPUs by Intel) utilize the System's Memory (RAM) as their Video/Graphics Memory. Hence, they do not have any memory of their own. This puts an even greater drain on system resources that are a little on the meager side here to begin with.

A RAM upgrade may help, it's difficult to say.

[skypilot]

Really, it depends on what you expect out of your FSX. I take- maximum- 5 seconds to load in textures. Usually, it takes 3 to load in VC textures on a 737- and I'm fine with that. But for other people, they might want instant textures, and therefore they'll pay more for RAM and CPU. If you expect amazing graphics, you'll pay for it.