Repeatable Sim Freeze (Not CTD) – Washington DC Area / River Visual into KDCA

User Support Hub Crashes (CTDs)
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1

I am experiencing a fully repeatable simulator freeze (not a crash to desktop) when flying into the Washington DC area, specifically during the River Visual approach into KDCA.

The simulator becomes completely unresponsive (image and audio freeze), requiring a force close. This occurs consistently at the same geographic location during the approach.

Reproducibility:
100% reproducible

Steps to Reproduce:

  1. Fly toward KDCA using real-world routing (e.g., from cruise, not preloaded nearby)

  2. Use the River Visual approach

  3. Descend into the DC area following the Potomac River

  4. At low altitude near central DC landmarks, the simulator freezes consistently at the same point

Observed Behavior:

  • Full simulator freeze (not CTD)

  • No error message

  • Requires force termination

  • Occurs at the same location every time

Expected Behavior:

  • Stable approach and landing into KDCA without freezing

System Specifications:

  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D

  • GPU: NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti (16GB VRAM)

  • RAM: 32GB DDR5-6000

  • Storage: 2TB NVMe Gen4 SSD

Simulator / Environment:

  • Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020

  • Real-time weather enabled

  • Aircraft: Fenix A320

  • High/Ultra settings

  • No performance issues elsewhere (large hubs such as KCLT, KMIA run normally)

Installed Content in Affected Area:

  • KDCA payware scenery

  • Washington DC landmarks add-on (City Update from Asobo)

  • World Update USA installed (photogrammetry active)

Additional Notes:

  • Issue began after first flight into the area without preloading

  • Now consistently reproducible in the same location

  • Does not appear to be a general performance limitation

  • Appears tied specifically to scenery loading or streaming in the DC region

Request:

I am looking to determine if this is:

  • A known issue with Washington DC photogrammetry

  • A conflict between World Update USA and third-party landmark scenery

  • A streaming or scenery tile-related problem

If others have experienced similar freezes specifically in the DC/KDCA area, I would appreciate confirmation and any targeted solutions.

Thank you.

2

Hi mate.
Are you alone with the simulator or are you doing other things while flying? Do you have a web browser with many windows open? Try this if it happens again without having to force close it.

**Windows + Ctrl + Shift + B (**Restart the graphics driver in Windows 10/11 without needing to restart the entire computer.)

3

This is where I’d start. Rename your Community folder or drag it to the desktop, then try again. If it still freezes, kill the sim from the Task Manager, then choose Safe Mode when you restart. This will disable all third party addons. If you still get the freeze then, it has to be something in the default product. If not, start re-enabling addons a few at a time.

4

I thought it was just me but I have been having the same problem as well. I just made another attempt to land at the airport without any of my mods and it still crashes. It might be one of the world or city updates? I will further investigate.

5

Also had this happen flying the River Visual into DCA, the last two times, so tried to replicate. And yes it is definitely a repeatable issue.

SIm - FS2024

Aircraft - FSReborn Phenom 300 and PMDG 737-800

Location - 38’54’27N 77’5’18W

Completely Repeatable. I approached this location from different angles and my sim froze at this exact location each time. Didn’t matter if the community folder was empty or not.

6
7

Maybe you had a collision with one of those Blackhawk helicopters. Just kidding. I’ll give it a try this weekend. I do prefer the PMDG 737-800 also.

8

No additional windows open during the sim. Also resetting the Nvidia will crash the sim.

9

It happened to me twice and I solved it like this… Anyway, it’s all about trial and error… You don’t know if you don’t try.

10

I’ll give it a try next time, but it sucks when you doing FNO on VATSIM and there is another aircraft 3 miles in trail…