Is it even possible?

[Matt Marciala 1049230]

PMDG 747X for FSX....

 

My machine specs:

 

Q6600 @ 3.6 Ghz

4 GB DDR2 1066 Mhz RAM (Windows XP 32 bit but I have 3 GB switch on)

8800 GTX 621/1011

150 GB Raptor X RAID0

 

FSX Config:

 

All maximum settings except traffic (only airport/road/ferries max), autogen is sp[Mod - Happy Thoughts], 1920 x 1200 x 32, full AA, full AF.

 

Now, here is the question. Is it even possible, with the above configuration to have a full flight which involves taxing from a gate to the runway, taking off, flight that takes say minimum of 1-2 hours, landing, taxing back without --->getting the famous out of memory crash<----?

 

I can not tell you how many hours i have wasted with the OOM error, how many flights and weekends were ruined because of this. I have a very powerful computer, I can play FSX at pretty decent settings and get very good FPS, but there is absolutely no way I can play with this thing. Can someone please help? Anyone else had the same problems?

 

I love the plane, I love its graphics, I love its m[Mod - Happy Thoughts]ive VC, but I don't know how many more of these crashes and half finished flight plans I can take. With their MD-11 coming out, I need to really find a way to get PMDG working without crashing.

 

Off topic, here is my 2 cents as a programmer who also make a living out of writing software and selling it. When you write a program/software/game/addon, you make sure it's in the limits of technology where everyone can run it There is no point of making a product with amazing resolution and great graphics (believe me anyone can jump on 3dsmax and make 250 mb model) but yet create something that can't be run properly. Please don't get me wrong. I have pretty much all the top of the line addons for fsx and PMDG has by far the best graphics among all, and everyone knows that, bottom line is guys, this is like making a car that people can't drive from their homes to their work with one full tank of gas because it's awesome engine which has 1200 hp has 0.004 MPG I mean come on, be reasonable!

 

Thanks,

 

Matt.

[Anthony Atkielski 985811]

The FS9 version seems to work just fine, even with less hardware. But I guess FS9 isn't as sexy as FSX.

[Aaron Danks 1071982]

what famous out of memory crash?

 

I use PMDG 747X with those exact display settings on a lower spec PC (core 2 duo e6400 w/ 8800GTS & 3GB RAM running XP 32 bit) and have never encountered such a thing. I would hazard a bet and say another addon you are using is causing it, is there any extra information contained in the error such as a DLL that caused it?

 

I am also a programmer and as far as I can tell PMDG has stayed well within technological boundaries, the DLLs it loads seem to use minimal memory and CPU time. I have completed multiple 12 hr long flights across the atlantic with FSCommander, Navigraph nDac and Active Sky X all running on the same PC as FSX with framerates just below 20 FPS.

 

Also I'm guessing you're PMDG installation is up to date with the latest service pack/s? otherwise you wouldnt be posting before trying that, right?

 

 

edit: Actually I'd like to mention that I own a number of payware products and the PMDG 747X is by far the most stable of all of them. I don't think this thread should discourage anyone from buying such a great product.

[Bill Casey]

The only time I have ever seen the OOMs with the 747X were when I also had Ultimate Terrain X Europe running as well on an XP machine, far lesser spec, only 2gb RAM and 256mb of vid memory. Turn off UTX and it ran absolutely rock solid and at good FPS too. So, I ditched UTX on that machine. I agree with Aaron, it's another add-on pushing things over the edge. Also note that the infamous 3gb switch is a hack at best and can produce unpredictable results by itself.

 

NB On my new Vista64 machine with 4gb of RAM I can run the 747x and UTX absolutely flawlessly.

[Luca Benelli]

did you check the PMDG forum?

I seem to remember it has already been discussed there.

[Matt Marciala 1049230]

Aaron : If I wanted to discourage people, I'd have written 1/3 of what I wrote and wouldn't even bother with asking for help. I have on several occasions seen during VC usage switching between views memory usage jumps from 1.2 GB to 1.85-1.9 GB range.

 

I have no other addon other than FSInn which I have been using since feb 08. Also not sure you know this but (I don't know if GTS will have the same effect) turning on AA and AF in NVIDIA CP to 16X and enabling hardware sampling makes a great big difference (that's the way I play any game).

 

This weekend I will actually sit down and write a small tool to monitor the memory usage. By the time OOM happens and you CTD, you don't see the full memory usage as I have witnessed far above 1.8 GBs which is much more than the memory usage task manager shows when OOM happens (1.5 GB).

 

Like I said I have 3 GB switch on which should provide a minimum of 2.4 GB to FSX. If by using PMDG it goes beyond that, then there is a problem. Other than PMDG, I have Level-D 767, Super 80, Super 80 PRO, CaptainSim's 737 and in none of these addons my memory usage goes beyond 1.5 GB. I can circle around LAX with bunch of VATSIM aircraft flying/taxing/parking around me with Level-D 767, i never crashed.

 

I should also say this OOM doesn't happen 100% of the time, but I'd say %80 of the time. I remember having flights as far as KMEM-KLAX with no crashes, however I also believe those were in such weird times (9 am saturday or 2 am sunday) which explains less traffic, hence less memory.

 

You should realize flying (just taking off) in KLAX is not same as flying in KPHL. I always fly in ZLA and LAX has by far the heaviest graphics/surroundings and the heavy traffic.

 

Also not sure you realized this but I use VC all the time with TRACK IR 4 PRO. It does make a difference to be in VC in FSX a lot.

 

Everyone : Don't make statements like I can run FSX + PMDG "flawlessly". Even a custom built octa core machine with 3 video cards can't run FSX constant 60+ FPS. I looked for the video but I couldn't find it. I remember though seeing 8 cores in task manager all 100% and yet FSX was still stuttering like crazy. You MUST be having some setting somewhere low, there has to be a catch, not a single soul on earth can run the above settings in such situations in those environments and have constant 60+ FPS, it's technologically not possible (even the Skulltrail fails).

 

Thanks,

 

Matt.

[Jim Karn 850752]

Matt,

 

Do you have any of the FSX service packs installed? SP1 marked FSX to be >3GB aware.

[Matt Marciala 1049230]

Matt,

 

Do you have any of the FSX service packs installed? SP1 marked FSX to be >3GB aware.

 

I have SP1 + Acceleration (SP2).