Let me ask you this … Are you using VR? and are you overclocking your CPU? or your GPU?
I am an overclocker (CPU only). I had my i7-2600K at 4.5Ghz for years and only experienced rare CTDs. But lately, with my new Reverb G2 hooked up and configured, I’ve been experiencing a lot more. I was getting ready to rant on this forum (like most of you) and possibly submit a Zen ticket … but then it occurred to me … Hmmmm, maybe I should bring my overclocking down a bit. So I lowered it to 4.2Ghz and I’ve been stable ever since (knocks on wood). Please … if you’re overclocking, try lowering that first in BIOS before coming here and complaining to MS and Asobo. They really have produced an outstanding piece of software and deserve more praise then condemnation. PC components were buildl to run at a certain level FOR A REASON! When you push them beyond those limits you’re just asking for trouble. Don’t be surprised when you get it.
Overclocking has been an issue from the beginning. MSFS seems to be especially hungry when it comes to resources and I noticed that GPU and CPU both get strained far more and over a longer time span, than by games like CoD or BeamNG.drive.
In addition it seems that MSFS doesn’t forgive any kind of instability. I overclocked my rig to the max (meaning: overclocking it even more would lead to failures when doing Benchmarks) and I got lots of CTDs with MSFS while everything else ran without issue.
After switched everything to “AUTO” in the BIOS, MSFS ran well.
Interestingly enough I go most problems with using D.O.C.P. /XMP on the RAM chips. I don’t know how it is with Intel CPUs, but with AMD CPUs overclocking RAM is difficult anyway, but even using D.O.C.P. values made MSFS crash.
I personally found from the initial release any overclocking (even what I thought was modest) causes CTDs with this game. It’s not the only factor, but one you can easily eliminate. I haven’t had this issue since Battlefield 3 which also hated any OC I did.
For me it was sufficient to reduce the overclocking by one or two notches. But it remains true, overclocking is an issue with MSFS that should be looked at when CTDs occur very often in many different situations.
Seems to be another one of those weird things with this program. I’ve never overclocked my current card (it’s a 3080 Ti and so I didn’t see the need) but since the update it’s been one CTD after another; before the update, I never had any. Welcome to the world of randomness, I guess.
Known issue, indeed. But you may not need to undo all your overclocking stuff. Just keep it cool: limit CPU and GPU usage, by setting MSFS to a certain frame rate limit. See Options/General Graphics. Set your frame limit to 20, 30 or 60 dependent on your GPU. Especially if you crash in the menus, this will reduce the chance of error.
The CTD are caused by online functions.
Maybe I NEVER have any crashes to desktop because all the online functions are disabled (except sometimes it is possible to run Bing satellite data.)
I have read somewhere that the CTD are caused by online AI traffic - I don´t need any of these features because that´s why my sim is always running 100% rocksolid without any crash ever, also never experienced any crashes after the infamous new SU5.
(Except airplane crashes, but this is a different topic… )
I set my oc’s to what works with msfs and not lesser intensive games. I don’t think overclocking is an issue it’s that people try pushing it to far or aren’t really sure what they are doing.
I have been oc’d since the beginning with little issue only had 2 CTD’s with the latest build. I must say I didn’t increase any voltages so maybe that’s part of the reason had no issue’s.
I agree. OC is usually overdone. It works for most day to day stuff and even some other games, but MSFS is just a different animal.
I use Prime95 to dial in my OC. If the OC settings “survives” the small FFT test with AVX on (it does not get much nastier than that), it is also good for MSFS. And that OC value is about 200Mhz what I otherwise could run all year long including Photoshop, Blender etc.
I have seen this topic probably around 10 times by now, maybe more. But I think it is good it appears from time to time to remind everyone and especially new people that OC is a NO NO in MSFS.
But it’s not a no no if don’t right. oc’ing was necessary for me especially before SU5 as pushing 4k on an i9-9900k and a rtx2070. oc’s gave me the little extra I needed to make it a smooth enough experience.
It’s only when people try pushing things to far. if i push the cpu above 4.9ghz and above 220Mhz on the gpu it will crash alot I also haven’t touched voltages as that’s when you can damage stuff I believe. I won’t say anymore cos going off topic as the ops post is good advice for those having CTD’s.
FYI: don’t overclock unless you have extensive knowledge and a custom water loop that can keep Max temps OC below what most coolers keep stock clocks at.
Im running now:
i5 9600k at 5 Ghz OC
RTX 3070
32GB RAM
I had CTDs after SU5. Sometimes the game and hole PC freezes and reboots. After i read some statements here that some people tried to undo their OCs on CPU i tried it myself.
My CPU now runs at 4.6ghz stock clock speed and i limited frames to 30 fps.
I tested KJFK at 1440p ultra with stormy weather. No CTD this time so far.
After SU5HF2 in VR I noticed CPU loads are much better distributed and the highest core load I had with my 5.2GHz OC on my i9 10850K was 70%. As such, I took off my OC entirely and performance is still the same. I was only OCing before SU5 because it did actually make a couple of FPS difference, but now it is not necessary.
Depends on your motherboard manufacturer. On Gigabyte switching on XMP is ridiculously easy.
Manual ram oc on Amd is not really recommend anyway, kust get decent 3600mhz ram to match the infinity fabric clock and youre pretty much at optimal performance v stability.
I hold my hands up too. I was getting constant CTD after SU5, particularly after Hotfix 1 and was pointing the blame squarely at Asobo.
I only OC my 2080ti and had the same OC on that I’ve had the whole time with FS, so I figured why should that have been a problem? Almost as a last resort I tried dropping it ever so slightly, so 100mhz off the memory overclock and 10mhz off the GPU clock and it’s been fine ever since. I think I’ve maybe only had the one CTD since making the change.
If you’re still suffering with CTD’s it’s definitely worth a try. Take the OC off and try it incrementally until it starts crashing again.
ps When I say I only OC my GPU, I also have XMP enabled. If this game is dumping because of XMP then it really has bigger problems than we all feared.
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