Troubleshooting a crash on PC is always a process of elimination. In this guide, we will show you how we process tickets on Zendesk and how you can do most of the troubleshooting in advance, before submitting a ticket:
First thing to do when you suddenly experience crashing is to answer these questions:
- Did you install Windows Updates?
- Did you install new 3rd party add-on in the Sim?
- Did you update your GPU drivers?
- Did you update any other drivers?
- Did you update any existing program on Windows?
- Did you install any new programs on Windows?
- Did you change/install new hardware (CPU, GPU etc.)?
- Did you install new peripherals (Yoke, Throttles, Eye-tracker etc.)?
If your answer to any of these questions is “yes”, then revert to the situation when you didn’t have crashing to isolate what is causing it.
In addition, did you go through the troubleshooting guides found on Zendesk (links to the articles are at the bottom of this post)?
From these articles, you will find all the basic troubleshooting steps for most common issues we see with the Sim. These steps are also the first thing we ask you to do when you submit a ticket, if you haven’t done it already.
How to uninstall a Windows update
AMD
- Remove old drivers: AMD Cleanup Utility
- Download and install the most recent drivers: AMD Drivers and Support
NVIDIA
Follow: How do I manually install the NVIDIA driver for my graphics card?
If the issue persists after this, then the next step is to remove all 3rd party add-ons from the “Community” folder and “Official” folder. All marketplace downloads are installed in the Official folder.
How to restore the sim to its vanilla state to get back in game
This is a step we always ask users to do when they submit a ticket on Zendesk and are experiencing crashing.
NOTE: Our responsibility is to ensure the stability of the sim in its vanilla state, which is why we will only investigate vanilla installations.
If the issue still persists, after going back to Vanilla, you can create MSinfo and MSFS State Reports to diagnose the issue further.
How to generate DxDiag, Msinfo, Mountpoints and MSFS State Report.pdf (1.7 MB)
These are also the files we ask you to create if you submit a ticket.
What to look for in these reports:
MSFS State Report
From this report, we are looking for 3rd party add-ons and any 3rd party program that is connecting to the Sim. Even if you remove add-ons from your Community folder, you can still have conflicting add-ons in your Official folder. Also, you can have programs installed that do not install anything inside the Community folder but communicate with the Sim via simconnect. From this file, we can also see your graphics settings and can compare them to your hardware to see if there could be a conflict.
For example, if you are using an old CPU/GPU combination with 4K monitor and your graphics settings are set to ultra, we are quite certain that this combination will cause issues.
If the crashing persists after going to Vanilla, it is always a good idea to generate this report and double-check that you have actually removed all 3rd party add-ons and eliminated all 3rd party programs connecting via simconnect.
MSinfo
When you scroll down the file, you will find a section called [Windows Error Reporting] and underneath it, you can see:
- Time of the crash
- Name of the crashing application
- Faulting module
- Exception code
- Path of the crashing application
What we look for in this report is what is the faulting module and exception code if we can see the Sim crashing. Also, we look for other programs that are crashing close, or at the same time as the Sim. If you can see this in your report, then it is highly likely that the second program is linked or even causing the Sim to crash. In this case, it is recommended to uninstall/close the program and try to run the Sim to see if the crashing has been resolved.
If you see multiple applications crashing, it is a good idea to close them before running the Sim to see if any of them could be causing a conflict and crashing the Sim.
Faulting modules are usually .dll files or .exe file of the crashing program. If the faulting module is .exe, then we check the exception code.
You can diagnose and troubleshoot these issues, for example, by typing the following in your favorite search engine:
- “exception code 0x80000003 crash”
- “faulting module ucrtbase.dll crash”
From the search results, you can find plenty of articles to help you troubleshoot these issues.
Below, you can find links to how to troubleshoot most common exception codes and faulting modules we see on Zendesk.
- How to troubleshoot faulting module ucrtbase.dll and/or exception code 0xc0000005 crashes
- CTD’s starting with exception code 0x800
- How to troubleshoot faulting module ntdll.dll crashes
IMPORTANT: Even if you go through the troubleshooting steps, there is always a change that it will not resolve your issue. These reports are just indications to “what the issue might be”, but as we have learned, it is not so straight forward.
We recommend for all users to go through these troubleshooting steps before submitting a ticket. The more of the troubleshooting you can do in advance, the more we can concentrate on finding the root issue of the crashing and help you get back to the skies.
When submitting a ticket to Zendesk related to CTD’s, always include the following information:
- Your DxDiag
- Your Mountpoints (if you can get to the main menu)
- Your MSinfo
- Your MSFS State report (if you can get to the main menu)
- All the steps you have already taken
- Your platform (MS Store or Steam)
- Possible screenshot(s) or video of the issue (not necessary, but always helps)
- Your gamertag
You will receive an automated message from Zendesk after you have submitted a CTD ticket asking for these files. It is important that you share as much information as possible on your first contact. This will help us be more efficient in our troubleshooting and responses.
Related articles on Zendeks: