How to avoid disconnects and freeze-ups

[Yosef AlBatal 1078160]

Hello VATSIM pilots, I have faced it, you have, everyone did, and in response to the questions on how to avoid it,

 

I’ll try to help you overcome the freeze-ups and disconnects we face while flying m[Mod - Happy Thoughts]ive events such as “Cross the Pond”, “Heathrow Overload”, etc.

 

This problem is faced even if you have a high-end computer and a high speed broadband connection, and you know it can get very annoying.

 

The problem simply lies within a wonderful program we wouldn’t be able to do anything without, FSUIPC by Peter Dowson, basically FSU means Flight Simulator Utility, but the problems lies in the IPC, which is Inter-process Communication, it’s the thing that holds and communicates back and forth a lot of information, holds your Flight Simulator to a bunch of add-ons, all sending information back and forth at the same time, for example a weather add-on, real-time clock add-on, a powerful aircraft such as PMDG’s set, and of course, Squawk Box.

 

Squawk Box deals with many things, of which that kills FSUIPC in major events, is the m[Mod - Happy Thoughts]ive amount of aircraft, each one has a position, heading, speed, etc, which updates many times a second, and also the same info goes to the aircraft to update its TCAS system.

 

Now you have an idea why the problems you face have nothing to do with your high-end PC.

 

How to solve it? The following is only required to be done in major events, it would require few settings changes in both FS and Squawk Box, explained by screenshots which follows, cheers.

 

 

Also disable aircraft shadows (FS doesn't have the best render engine out there, it still draws the shadows of all aircraft even at very high altitudes).

 

Please note that all of them will [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ure you a smooth experience, but you should try them one by one to see the effect; also based on the level of compromise you are willing to make.

 

Edit: As pointed out by Mr. Brad Littlejohn, range of planes added should be a minimum of 5 miles.

Edited January 9, 2012 at 05:41 AM by Guest

[Abdelrahman M. Elfeky 1044]

Great Thread!

One thing I had discovered lately is when am running the Squwakbox as Windows Application ( Start> Sqwuakbox ..etc) , FS and SB both perform better then if I run SB via the modules tab in FS. Lots of errors and freeze-ups is now disappeared and might happen when flying into really crowded airspace then I have to lower the FPS and some of the FS graphics options.

 

Don't know if that is true but Dual-Core CPU's is another factor in running FS9 and FSX smoothly . you see , FS like any other game does not fully load the 2 cores or ever 4 you have but only part of them ,leaving space for Windows to work on background. Having single core will result a high load on the single core by FS and Windows and the best solution is to either upgrade or lower the settings.

 

Regards,,,

[Robert Fersch]

Hi Yosef,

 

Thanks for the info. I did lower the frequency of updates for Cross the Pond and had a smooth flight.

 

A question, will TCAS still show traffic properly if I "skip FSUIPC TCAS table update"? I would like to have TCAS available.

 

Best Regards'

Bob

[Yosef AlBatal 1078160]

Hi Yosef,

 

Thanks for the info. I did lower the frequency of updates for Cross the Pond and had a smooth flight.

 

A question, will TCAS still show traffic properly if I "skip FSUIPC TCAS table update"? I would like to have TCAS available.

 

Best Regards'

Bob

 

Hello Bob,

 

No, the TCAS wouldn't work, but it is the last thing to try if the others didn't improve the performance, the problem is when you decrease the range and have slower updates, TCAS itself becomes useless, it's a matter of compromise, but I guess - not sure - that the most effective solution is both the update rate and smooth aircraft position.

 

I also don't know about FSinn, it's been just over a year for me in VATSIM, and all I know is SB (which is great for me), and I cannot find a place to get and try FSinn from.

 

Edit: For the CTP, without TCAS, I had my full faith in the controllers, it was a perfect event from my cockpit

[Robert Fersch]

Hello Yosef,

 

Thank you for the quick response. I figured the TCAS would not work. I agree that the update rate and positions smoothing are the first to try and I think not showing aircraft labels is also very helpful.

 

At the next big event, I will be testing with Squawkbox to see the effect of these solutions. If it is necessary, I'll eliminate TCAS update. After all, that's why, as you said, we have controllers!

[Brad Littlejohn]

Just a bit of concern especially regarding the multiplayer settings in SB.

 

If you lower them to 2nm, you could be shooting yourself in the foot. A good example:

 

You're on the downwind to the runway. ATC points out traffic for you to follow, at your 10 o'clock, 4 miles, on final, and descending. You won't see him. why? Your settings are too low. This could throw a spanner in ATC's arrival stream, let alone the chain he/she is creating/trying to create with you. You actually may need that range for the multiplayer setting raised to keep you in the know about the traffic around you.

 

That brings up another point: What if you're VFR? It would be rather hard to see and avoid, if you don't get the traffic until you're 2nm from it, and even worse, if it is opposite direction.

 

What probably would help out, would be setting it no lower than 5nm. I say 5 because that is the minimum distance you'd need to have for most wake turbulence separation. If you're a small behind a Super, I'd say 6. But 5 should be the most.

 

BL.

[Yosef AlBatal 1078160]

Very true, that's why it's for major events, which are usually IFR, otherwise having a freeze-up and/or disconnect, especially in the runway line-ups and approach will also mess with the ATC, I've had it once when I was told to hold short because an invisible plane should be back online in few seconds.

 

Edit: Also I remember I was once number 2 on final in LOWW, and number 1 just froze ahead of me, had to make a G/A with an immediate turn.

[Brad Littlejohn]

Very true, that's why it's for major events, which are usually IFR, otherwise having a freeze-up and/or disconnect, especially in the runway line-ups and approach will also mess with the ATC, I've had it once when I was told to hold short because an invisible plane should be back online in few seconds.

 

Edit: Also I remember I was once number 2 on final in LOWW, and number 1 just froze ahead of me, had to make a G/A with an immediate turn.

 

Not not all major events use IFR, nor should they only be IFR or exclusive to IFR. In most, it should be accommodating to both, which, as PIC, you should always be aware of the other aircraft around you. If ATC points them out to you, and you don't see them because you've set your range too low, you'd be exacerbating the loss off separation that ATC could potentially have. That is something that would be preventable by the pilot in this case..

 

Think about it in this example. ATC has a hole in their stream of 4 miles that they could fit you in for a base turn to final for the runway. They point out traffic for you to follow at your 10 o'clock, 4 miles, and descending. Your range is too low, so you don't see them. Because of that and other traffic already on final, instead of being #2 on approach, you're now put back to #7 or #8, putting you on a 15 - 20 mile final.

 

Having that range that low added on an additional 20 miles to your flight.

 

BL.

[Yosef AlBatal 1078160]

Thanks, edited main post accordingly, cheers!