Good afternoon folks,
Not my find, but it did bite me and was able to find the solution on the Fenix Discord Server.
There are also mentions of it in the official nVidia GPU Driver threads but figured it warranted it’s own thread for easier access.
If you use the Fenix A320 and Pop Out instruments / displays (regardless of whether or not you use pop out panel manager, or pop out manually), there is an issue with the following nVidia Drivers
- Driver Version: 560.81 - Release Date: Tue Aug 06, 2024
- Driver Version: 560.70 - Release Date: Tue Jul 16, 2024
The issue occurs once you pop out the panels / instruments and then take focus away from the simulator. It doesn’t happen instantaneously but focus has to be away for the sim for a bit of time and then it will freeze.
No CTD has been observed, it just simply freezes and you have to end the task via Task Manager.
To resolve the issue, you can safely use the following driver.
- Driver Version: 556.12 - Release Date: Thu Jun 27, 2024
Shout out to @maddoc2677 who initially reported the issue on Fenix’s Discord and @C6Skypat who has done extensive driver testing on this
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Hi,
do you think can we hope in a solution with next driver release ?
Best regards
Enrico
Sure, you can always hope, hopes a plan…
I don’t work for nVidia so I (nor anyone else here) know for sure.
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you totally right
What they say in official nvidia driver threads ??
Do you have a link ?
Best regards
Enrico
There was nothing about this on nVidia’s forums (that I’m aware of).
The issue was raised on Fenix’s Discord who suggested to use DX11 as DX12 isn’t supported.
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I’ve had this problem too EVERY time since July / August. Was working perfectly before. I tried the latest 2 NVIDIA drivers and even went back to version 560.70 (which I know was rock solid); same problem.
I reported a bug today on fenix’s website. I got a reply and they asked me to switch from DX12 to DX11 (I’ve always been on DX12 until today).
Good news: I cannot reproduce the bug (so far) with DX11. I’ll try more tomorrow. pop out windows were definitely working with DX12 before July/August so it’s a regression. My bug is still open but switching to DX11 seems to work around that problem for me at least. You may want to give it a try and confirm what I’m seeing.
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I also switched to the FBW and inbuilds 320 using pop-out windows and DX12 and that’s not freezing so the problem seems specific to the Fenix 320 (and the newly added cousins probably)
If you want to use DX12 you have to use
- Driver Version: 556.12 - Release Date: Thu Jun 27, 2024
Yes this only affects the Fenix and started before the Cousins launched.
Well, bad news: Fenix decided to close this bug report without addressing it.
Their answer: use DX11 or the increasingly old NVIDIA driver 556.12.
Their argument is that Dx12 is still beta (according to MSFS) and they are unable to guarantee stability.
I find this argument weak because the 320s from both FBW and Inibuilds have no problems with pop-out windows using DX12 and the latest NVIDIA drivers. I did not test every plane but this 100%reproducible crash seems very specific to Fenix.
I don’t see MSFS or NVIDIA fixing this bug any time soon.
Also, MSFS2024 is only going to use DX12; we shall see if this fatal bug is still repro there.
Another workaround if you want to stay on DX12 with the latest NVIDIA drivers is to check the “Alternative Display Renderer” in the Fenix App. I did not get this deadly freeze even though I’m not sure what it means to use the “alternate” renderer.
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The “alternative display renderder” uses the CPU or the CPU’s built-in GPU to render the glass cockpit screens. This reduces at least the amount of used VRAM of the main graphics card.
Nice to read, that it helped You, Rascal650. I will give it a try.
With NVIDIA driver v560.94 My Fenix freezes after 5 Minutes or one hour and I have to end MSFS with the task manger. It is heavily varying.
Can confirm I have the same issue
Hello FENIX is freezing and I need stop msfs with the task manager. Is it due to the last update ? Impossible to fly …
Christophe: Switch to DX11 or go back to NVIDIA driver 556.12.
Did anyone check if it’s still a thing in 566.3?
New Dragon Age is coming out next week I’m not looking forward to constant switching drivers depending on what I plan to do in the evening…
I’ve checked - it still freezes 
What I experience with the Nvidia drivers. Changing settings in the Nvidia Configuration Screen mostly results in stutters. When I do a clean install and let everything untouched my flightsim runs smootly. Even with the latest driver 531.61. Trying to push the limits with bios settings, nvidia settings, etc… mostly deteriorate MSFS in a never ending story…
Sincerely,
I can’t reproduce this freezing issue with panels popped out. That doesn’t mean it’s not happening, doesn’t happen on my system with all up-to-date drivers. With that said, I do use DLSS Swapper and use the latest dlss driver.
Not only it is a pain, but you can add this now NVIDIA GeForce Users Must Update Their GPU Drivers As 8 High Risk Vulnerabilities Discovered . I´ve sent this to as many people I know on the community and you would be surprised to see how many just don´t care. I find it amazing that you preffer to make your pc vulnerable just to play msfs smoothly. And let´s be honest it is a pain, as these drivers seem to be quite bad in general when talking about msfs.