I switched to FS9 from FSX because most of the sim pit builders use it and swear by it. We really like all the scenery available and the add-on airports make it fun to fly almost anywhere in the world. When we’re flying, it’s smooth as glass. However, my son and I can rarely finish a flight before FS9 crashes. We’re not getting “blue screen” crashes, just FS9 crashes. Not “out of memory errors” anymore either. I think NickN got that fixed.

It’s not to any particular place either. Today my son flew from KATL to KJFK. On final FS9 quit. That’s so frustrating for him he just doesn’t want to mess with it anymore. Could this be a scenery error? He says it happens when he drags anything to our multiple monitors such as the FMC, overhead panel, GPS, etc. We have a touchscreen monitor on the same card as my projector to use for the FMC/GPS. We have another LCD monitor on a second video card for the overhead panel. It always has worked before in FSX. But in FS9 when he drags the item over it will crash.

I told him to get the items set on the screen before takeoff and then don’t touch them again to see. However, the SkAI traffic has been putting planes on the runway and so close on arrival that he has to go to windowed mode, turn down traffic, move the items back and then proceed on almost every flight. That will crash it.

Even with the stutters and tweaking, he could always finish a flight in FSX. Is it possible that my scenery library is causing this as well?

Did I make a mistake? Please help if you can!

I've had it happening to me in FS9 too... and I was never able to find the reason :/

Not the temp. This i7 machine is rock solid at 4ghz and very cool. Never above 70º.

I don't think it's a download. It's been doing this through various states of add-ons.

Nothing running in the background. This is a dedicated system running a home cockpit. I have nothing launched other than the items needed for the flight.

This may force me back to FSX.

This Antec case has fans all over it! It sounds like a jet engine itself. I can see the fans running. This doesn't seem to be a hardware issue.

I made the FS9.exe file >2gb aware. Without it, I was getting OOM errors on long hauls. I also think that a few add-on airports have memory leaks. However, JFK and ATL have never raised this concern.

It was real time. He's about to fly from JFK to ATL now. I'll post how that goes.

This seems to be something to do with moving the FMC/GPS/Overhead panel to the other monitors. He just called to me that it crashed again when he was dragging the overhead panel to the other monitor.

What would cause that?

I built it. The fans are running. I can see the GTX fan and the processor fan. This system has been thoroughly tested in Prime95, MemTest, OCCT, etc. The temps are never hot. It is one of the coolest systems I've had.

He flies the Captain Sim 757 (this is what has crashed today), the PMDG 737, the Level-D 767, Wilco E-Jets, and the defaults. I can't narrow this down to any one plane.

He started the flight from JFK. Before reaching cruising altitude FS9 disappeared and the desktop was there. A very quick error message related to FDC Live Cockpit this time (has never happened before). It read: FDC Live Cockpit Overflow Error (or Excess Data, he can't remember exactly it was so fast). Again, no full flight.

Before this flight FS9 crashed two times on the ground as I was having him test dragging the FMC to the other monitor. It would seem to crash each time he dragged slowly but not if he moved it fast across to the other monitor. Does that mean anything?

Thanks for the help! I hope we can get this working!

As Shane pointed out ... this does not sound like any hardware crash (although video drivers could be a possibility)  but instead is some kind of quark specific to the setup itself and use

These are the problems that can be frustrating to figure out and the only way to lock the problem down is to eliminate elements of what you are doing when this happens

Being a pit you have a lot of things that can force a problem. Going back to the basics and working your way back up which eliminate things like multi monitor, dragging windows around, etc is the only way to pinpoint a cause.

and no, there is nothing wrong with XP x64 and I would never suggest someone go back to a 32bit OS. That memory switch in the boot.ini file is NOT about allowing more memory.. its about allowing more address space which in turn lets programs that are >2GB aware access more memory and also allows the Windows system report more memory use. Regardless, even with the switch in a 32bit OS you are restricted on memory where in a 64bit you get a full 4GB to any 32bit app as long as the app is marked for >2GB use in its EXE header


Now, giving this system does have a marked fs9.exe it could be possible another program being run along side fs9 may be seeing a clash with FS9 being >2GB aware and the other program is not. Although I have never seen such an issue.

These kinds of problems are the ones that take time to sort out. I do not think this is hardware at all and something to do with the configuration/setup in use. As mentioned, all you can do is process of elimination, identify the action that causes the error then reasearch the problem based on what forces it to appear.


I would be careful with driver changes.. one of the catch22's MSFS users face is finding a driver that fixes a problem like a multimonitor crash but runs the sim like crap

you have a lot of items in play

Eliminate the addons Steve and fly without them.. if no problems come up, enable them one by one till you come across the culprit. When it shows then go to the website for the product in use and request assistance for the issue

There are programs like WIDEFS made by Pete at FSUIPC that allows another system to act as a network slave to the sim.. I dont use the software.. your question would be better answered in the pit forum than here

They are on your Asus CD

Use those instead. In the Asus install utility GUI its the 2nd option as I recall, Intel Chipset Drivers