Very odd problem after loading Comanche

[Stratocruiser2]

Just an update. I followed up on my plan, shutting SimStarterNG down completely, deactivating my current FSX cfg file, restarting FSX in the 'traditional' way using my fsx.exe desktop shortcut and allowing it to create a new cfg. Having loaded the FSX default startup flight with the Trike over Friday Harbour without problems, I landed it and then tried to load the Comanche but once again this was unsuccessful. Although the 'nil value' error did not appear on this occasion, the aircraft was non-responsive and, after a few long spells where everything kept freezing I received a 'Fatal Error' message and FSX shut down. Just to ensure that other addon aircraft did not have the same problem, I restarted FSX but this time loaded the A2A J3 which behaved impeccably. I think therefore that it is reasonable to conclude that SimStarterNG is probably not the culprit here, although I will continue to keep an open mind on this. The puzzle however remains and I am of course willing to try any other suggestions if there are any left!

Best regards,
Bill

[Nick - A2A]

Okay, thanks for trying that Bill. It's starting to look like part of the core Accu-Sim engine on your system isn't properly updated.

Please can you browse to the following directory:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\Gauges

The "A2A_Accusim.dll" file should be present in this folder. Please can you check the file version number of this file; it should show 19.2.4.0. (File version number should be shown in a pop-up if you hover your cursor over the file.)

Thanks,
Nick

[Stratocruiser2]

Thanks Nick,

Just checked that and it is version 19.2.4.0 I'm afraid!

Cheers,
Bill

[Nick - A2A]

Thanks for checking Bill.

In that case, please could you let us know if you've had a copy of FSX installed elsewhere on your PC? For example a copy of FSX Steam Edition at any time, or a copy of FSX-A but installed elsewhere?

Cheers,
Nick

[Stratocruiser2]

I've never owned Steam Nick and apart from copying FSX-A to a backup external hard drive back in 2014, FSX-A has always resided on my D drive. I never installed it to C:\Program Files (x86)\ as the advice at that stage was to avoid installing it there in Win7 64-bit and also my D drive was much larger.

I'm going to try one more thing related to SimStarterNG as I have discovered that it backed up the fsx.cfg file that was active immediately prior to installing it back in 2016. So I am going to start fsx using that cfg file and see if the Comanche still misbehaves. I will let you know how I get on.

Kind regards and thanks,
Bill

PS Tried that pre SSNG fsx.cfg but unfortunately still no joy

[Nick - A2A]

Hi Bill,

Sorry we haven't been able to come up with a solution to this one yet. It seems like a rather unique issue. Do you have any software running on your PC which could be interfering with the installation or loading of the product?

I'm think in terms of stuff like CCleaner, Process Lasso or various antivirus software?

The thing that I find most perplexing is that it's only the Comache that seems to be affected.

Kind regards,
Nick

[Stratocruiser2]

Hi Nick,

No need to apologise - I realise its a rather unusual issue but I do appreciate your efforts to resolve it. As always, support from A2A is superb!

I don't have any other software running on my PC that I know of which might interfere apart from McAfee Internet Security but Real-Time Scanning in this is always turned off as it can cause too many issues with FSX.

As you say, its curious that only the Comanche seems to be affected. Since I first noticed this problem I have flown a few hours each in the A2A Bonanza and Cessna 182, as well as a couple of other addon aircraft including the Flysimware Cessna 441 and Ant's recently released Tiger Moth without any similar issues and, as I said previously, I have loaded up all my Accu-Sim aircraft and also done short test flights in a few of them. For the moment perhaps I will leave the Comanche in the hangar and do a bit more flying in some different addon aircraft just to see if this issue rears its head with any others.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Nick - A2A]

Thanks Bill,

Okay sounds like a good plan. However, please can you just let us know the full installation path for your "Documents" and FSX-A directories. If your Documents directory is synced with Microsoft One Drive, that could be another potential culprit.

Cheers,
Nick

[Stratocruiser2]

Hi Nick,

I presume you are referring to the Documents folder where the A2A folder resides (?) and, if so, that is:
C:\Users\Bill\Documents....

My FSX-A installation path is:
D:\FS Games\FSX

I have to admit I don't know anything about Microsoft Onedrive (apart from the fact that it is something to do with cloud storage) and as far as I am aware I don't have it!

Best regards,
Bill

[Nick - A2A]

Hi Bill,

Yes, that's the one. Certainly nothing in those directories gives a clue to the issue and the fact you don't use One Drive rules that one out too.

Still hoping we can pin down whatever it is on your system that's causing this problem but with so many different configs, add-ons and utilites out there, sometimes it's tricky!

Best regards,
Nick

[Stratocruiser2]

Hi Nick,

Just thought I would give you an update as it has been about a month since the previous post. I can have a tendency to become a little obsessional about working on a flight simulation issue until it is solved and this can result in many wasted hours which might have been better spent flying, so I have tried to avoid this here by limiting myself to about one hour of testing the Comanche every few days! To cut a long story short, unfortunately I still haven't identified the cause although I have tried various manoeuvers including deactivating crash detection and playing around with the realism sliders but to no avail. In the middle of all this my graphics card suddenly gave up the ghost so I had to replace it. Although I didn't think the graphics card had any bearing on the issue, I was able to upload the Comanche and fly it without problems on no less than 4 separate occasions after installing the new card. I was about to post here that the problem was resolved but I hesitated and proved myself correct about the graphics card not being the cause because the problem with the Comanche recurred on the fifth flight.

That has been the pattern with this issue - I can have one or two flights where it functions perfectly and then using exactly the same FSX settings the problem resurfaces. When it happens as I mentioned earlier, the aircraft moves around randomly (usually backwards sometimes tipping back on its tail), some of the instruments may not respond, the fuel flow needle will often flicker up and down quickly even though I am not touching the throttle, frequently the mixture control will not respond to the movements of my CH-Pro lever, etc, etc. All of this seemed very like a Simconnect issue to me but, as I said I reinstalled this and it made no difference. Indeed, on the rare occasion in the past when I have had a Simconnect problem with other aircraft, I have always had an on screen message warning me and, under these circumstances, shutting FSX down, restarting it and reloading the same plane normally resolves the problem. Furthermore if a corrupt Simconnect was the cause then I would have thought I would experience similar issues with other aircraft and I have flown many different types over the past month without problems.

The other thing which puzzles me and which I still wonder might hold some sort of clue to the problem is that the Spitfire folder (which I had previously deleted because, as I mentioned before, I don't own the A2A Spitfire) has reappeared in my C:\Users\Bill\Documents\A2a\FSX folder containing various files all with "unknown" in the filename. I presume this might have happened when I ran the A2A update a couple of weeks ago after purchasing and installing the T6. In addition there is also a folder in C:\Users\Bill\Documents..... entitled UNKNOWN containing 2 files one named "UNKNOWN.f" and the other "v2_UNKNOWN". Furthermore my Comanche folder contains a number of files containing "Unknown....." in their file name as well as the expected "v2_Comanche250Log.dat.bak..." files. None of my other 9 Accusim aircraft folders here contain any files with 'unknown' in the filename and all of these aircraft function without problems!

I am not sure if any of this information might help in anyway to clarify this mystery and I'm sorry if it confuses the picture more but I thought I would share it anyway!

Kind regards,
Bill