CTD's on Startup

User Support Hub Crashes (CTDs)
1

I was starting up MSFS when a Windows update restarted my system while MSFS was starting up. Now I get a CTD whenever I try to start up MSFS. It asks me do I want to do a safe startup. I choose yes/safe. On the next screen with a blue progress bar at the bottom it gets about 3/4 of the way done, and then a CTD. I’ve restarted MSFS about 10 times, with reboots in between. Once it got all the way to the menus/options screen, but when I selected choose a new plane it CTD’d again, and now it won’t get past the blue bar again. I am familiar with the issue of having to restart many times after a CTD to get it to fully run again, but can’t get past this one.

Is there a way to “cold/clean start” MSFS – clear out all buffers/caches/etc. of any previous residue from startup? Any suggestions on how to resolve this problem?

My last flights in MSFS were late July after 1.33.8.0 when it ran fine. I have the latest Steam system and Nividia drivers installed.

Thanks for whatever help you can provide.

P.S. I don’t use any caches in MSFS – they are all turned off (past experiences show them to be problematic and I get good performance without them).

2

Do you have the Sim Update 13 beta installed?

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I am having a similar issue after months of no problems at all. I also get CTD when the progress bar is about 3/4 way through. I spent all day following the Microsoft guidance:

  • moved my community folder ensured vanilla.
  • started is safe mode
  • did a clean update of my NVIDIA driver ( then backtracked to previous version)
  • Did the validity check on Steam
  • ensured all overlays were off
  • minimal background programs running

On the odd occasion where I managed to load the simulator, Deleted cache

Seems to be using a lot of GPU power not tried increasing the virtual memory yet as I was a bit fed up. Sorry I cannot help but I share your pain. I don’t have sim update 13 beta installed.

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No
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1 Like
5

I searched “MSFS CTD on startup” on google and found many suggestions/guesses (apparently this issue is common), one of which was to run a verification of installed files using the steam interface. I did that and it deleted some kind of “installed” file before even checking file integrity. Upon MSF startup it went directly to “Installation Manager” and is now completely re-installing MSFS (1.22 GB). At my 25mbps download it will take all day. I will try it tomorrow and see what happens. :frowning_face:

P.S. My suspicion is that the original aborted startup left some kind of residual file that is causing the CTD’s, and that the complete re-install will fix the problem. Perhaps I should put a post here that MSFS 2024 should have a “clean up” utility that purges all remaining bits from a CTD so that MSFS does a “cold start”.

6

If it crashes systematically and always at the same % of progress bar it could be a faulty content problem. But if it loads at least once without crashing it´s definitely not content related so don´t waste time trying to fix that content. All content is loaded and indexed before reaching the main menu.

If CTD happens after being at the main menu, while at world map or while flying the most probable reason then is a memory allocation error caused by the exe file itself. In particular I have suffered tons of them since AAU2 patch, like many other users, and SU13 beta, 4 Nvidia driver updates and 2 major Windows updates did not solve them yet, at least in my case, so it´s cristal clear where the problem is. From time to time we are blessed with one of those patches that generate CTDs randomly and out of nowhere and there´s no way to get rid of them until Asobo fixes the exe in the next patch.

Blue bar being apparently frozen does not mean game is not loading. Most likely it´s still indexing scenery. To check that launch game in normal mode, go into:

\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\SceneryIndexes

and short files by date. If any files are dated as current day/time wait till no new files are added/updated there. This process can even take 1 hour depending on the amount of addons you have. That indexing time takes ages since SU12 indeed and for some reason after some CTDs the process is repeated, leading to a complete scenery re-indexing, which can take really a lot of time. I think that´s caused by the fix they recently implemented to overcome the problem with the “checking for updates loop”, as I didn´t see that full scenery re-indexing after a CTD anytime before that fix was implemented.

About residual files, don´t worry. The only residual files created after a CTD are the crash report itself and a “running.lock” file, which is the one that triggers the “safe vs normal mode” message during the next launch. The crash reports are not loaded by game at all and can be deleted manually and the “running.lock” file is deleted once you quit game normally. Any other file in the AppData folder which is required by game is always regenerated or updated by launcher during game loading in case it´s missing or updated when you change any configuration once at the main menu.

Cheers

7

Thanks for the info!

The crash point (blue bar) progressed by startup – first 50%, then 60%, then 70%, then 80%, then menu’s appeared. I tried a flight and when I clicked to select a different plane in the map it crashed. After this about 70-75% is consistent. All crashes are all of a sudden the desktop appears. No warning, no message, no nothing. MSFS is just gone. I’m assuming this is a Crash To Desktop (CTD). There is no residual modules hanging around in the Task Manager. Rebooting or not does not change the symptoms.

A full download is many hours for me (currently at 20% after several hours), so I will know more when I try it tomorrow.

I am assuming the issue is related to MSFS having the rug yanked out from under it on my first startup today. I never let Windows do a post update reboot without my full intervention/control, but this time accidently did (got my fingers crossed). The last time I flew MSFS – several weeks ago – everything went fine. In fact I haven’t had a CTD in probably a year. I am very conservative about pushing MSFS too hard regarding performance and hardware. That’s why it always works fine for me.

Thanks again.

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Unfortunatelly a launcher repair, either on Steam or on MS Store deletes all local files at AppData folder as well, so if you had your official content or addons installed there (that´s the default location) it will delete them as well, leading to the need to download full game again. It´s better to install content at a different location and rename the installation folder prior to the repairing to prevent that, so that only client integrity is checked without losing content, and then rename the installation folder again before launching game.

I never understood why they did it so bad as the integrity check is only able to verify launcher alone anyway, not official content or addons. It also happened to me in the past because I was not aware of it. Good luck!

Cheers

9

Unfortunately a lot of the issues we see is symptomatic of 20-something programmers.

Thanks for the info. It’s seems to be a requirement for MSFS flyers, who just want to fly an airplane simulator, to also have to be a “systems programmer” (what I was for mainframes during my career).

Good tip about renaming the folder. I have it on a separate high speed drive, but with the default folder names. I will do what you say to avoid this “gotcha”!

Now 30% downloaded…

Later…

2 Likes
10

After 14 hours of downloading, MSFS came up and seems to work after a quick test. Of course many of my settings that took months to tune are hosed up, forcing me through all that again. Also my downloaded airplanes are missing. Multiply my hours of hassle/grief times 12 million other users? Good thing we are all very dedicated!

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Agreed, have only reinstalled MSFS once before with all the pain you describe. Like you I have spent a couple of years messing with settings bla bla bla and it was finally running like a dream with no stutters ( except Heathrow but even that was not too bad).

Just want to fly for my VA, not really that interested in the IT side but have been forced to learn enough to keep the Sim going.

Anyway, I suppose I was delaying the inevitable and looking for a quick fix. Re-install MSFM, reload all my purchases, re-tweak all my settings !

Hopefully this will work for me too.

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FYI – I have submitted this request for improvement in the 2024 version.
https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/what-we-want/596104/278?u=rgp1942

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I have to reinstall MSFS completely every week as it starts to crash otherwise. This is absolutely insane.

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Deleting rolling cach file helped me to stop CTD on starting screen and launched FlightSim…

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14 to 20 hours downloading again and I still get CTD every time at CHECKING FOR UPDATES. I went through beta testing then purchasdd MSFS when it first came out. Went YEARS without a single problem running MSFS with very few CTD. Since this XBOX for PC CRAP started MSFS has been full of thousands of problems. Anyone know of a TRUTHFUL fix to getting MSFS without a CTD EVERY F— time?

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I’m no expert on resolving MSFS CTD’s, but so many people have helped me there that I feel obliged to share what little I know regarding this subject, based on decades of being a PC “systems programmer”. I have not had the need to do the following, but doing these kinds of things have solved problems for me in previous years. I’m sure others will chime in here with perhaps better ways of doing a “clean” reinstall. Perhaps there is a clean reinstall utility from Asobo after all.

Unfortunately MSFS seems “fragile” when it comes to recovery from an aborted install/update. Here are some things that may or may not work. Using technically sophisticated software such as MSFS can force us into becoming “systems programmers” (as opposed to “application programmers”, or just “users”). So the following is such…

Other software developers often provide a utility that resets your system to “zero” for a clean re-install. It removes residual junk that can cause problems trying to re-install. I’m not aware of anything like this for MSFS, so you will have to do these things manually.

Since you said MSFS worked fine for a long time, and assuming you have made no major system changes since then, your system software and hardware are probably OK. But just to make sure you can check that your “BIOS” and GPU drivers are up to date.

This thread may help.
https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/how-to-actually-clean-re-install/431671

Depending on the source of your version, uninstall may differ – Steam, MS Store. But first uninstall “normally”.

You need to completely remove everything related to MSFS from your system. This includes all files, directories, registry entries, etc. There is an uninstall program called “Revo” that is good at doing this. Here is a free version. If you don’t use this, you will need to ferret out every directory related to MSFS on your hard drives and delete it (you can save any 3rd party stuff in the “community” folder to restore later).

Remove everything related to MSFS from your Windows registry. I don’t have a magic bullet for doing this, but https://www.google.com/search?q=msfs+registry
If you are lucky, somebody may have created a batch file to do this.

Open the windows task manager and disable everything in the startup tab. If you have CCleaner it has a more comprehensive list of Windows startup items.

Reboot your PC.

Download and install MSFS.

If MSFS comes up, you will unfortunately have to redo all your configurations settings, and then restore things in the community folder. Do this a little at a time while restarting MSFS to see if it works.

Take a good hard look at your Windows startup entries. Only restore what is absolutely necessary to run your PC. The less the better.

Good Luck!

P.S. Please send me a box of band-aids for the beating over the head I will receive from others over this post! :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like
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Thank you rgp1942 for your input regarding CTD’s at startup. After a 3rd uninstall and install I once again have a working MSFS. The big difference with this re-install was a very clean uninstall with the help of Norton Utilities cleaning out some registry junk. Several days now MSFS working perfect and it really shines with my step up to RTX 4060.

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I’m sorry I only had time to relay what and not how, but it sounds like you figured it out. I’m glad you got up and running.

I really think Asobo is remiss in not having a utility that preps your PC for a clean install, like other developers do. I could put this in the “Wish List”, but a recent study I did reveals that less than 2% of the items in the wish list get attention, so requesting a clean install utility would be futile.

In that MSFS is basically hosed after an aborted install attempt (but this is nothing new and Asobo has yet to learn how their install process should deal with that), we users need a “fool proof” method of recovery that we have developed ourselves. When I get time I may write something up. In the meantime utilities like Norton, Revo Uninstaller, and CCleaner can be helpful in slogging through it manually.

Congrats again on getting back up and running.

Overview on recovering from an aborted MSFS installation:
_ Save “Community” folder for restoration later
_ Delete all MSFS folders everywhere (including in appdata and program) **
_ Remove everything MSFS from the WIndows registry **
_ Delete everything in %temp% directory **
_ Disable all Windows startup entries
_ Reboot
_ Install MSFS
_ Test
_ Restore Community a little at a time
_ Enable Windows startup entries that are absolutely needed for your system to operate (zero is best)

** P.S. I just found this helpful video. There are probably others like it. It omits saving the registry before you purge MSFS from it. You will want to do that in case need to restore. Asobo could create a batch file to remove all files, folders, and registry entries, or another “systems programmer” type user could do it. I have too many balls in the air to do it myself right now.