Can't start some elements of FMGS

[Barrykensett]

I have been running FMGS on a W7 laptop and then networked to an XP desktop, all worked fine. I then added another XP desktop to the network and this will run the FCU and Overhead OK but if I try to start any of the programs in the EIS folder (e.g. ND, PFD, MCDU) I get error "EIS has encountered a problem and needs to close" message. I get the same whether I use autostart or try to start the individual elements.
In case I had setup wrong I copied the whole FMGS folder from the PC which worked but still same result so it's some thing to do with the particular PC. Graphics driver updated, .net installed, latest XP updates installed.
This must be something simple but I can't find it, any ideas anyone?
Barry
www.a320sim.com

[Stephan Schwarz]

Hi Barry,

Firewall? Antivirus? Correct IP Subnetmask set?

Regards,
Stephan

[bobsta63]

Forgive me if I'm wrong but are you saying you are now trying to run the Overhead panel on a different PC to what is running FSX/P3D?

It is a requirement that the OVH MUST be run on the main FSX machine as this (as far as I'm aware) provides the network communication for the A320 FGMS software to the other remote PC's for running the other displays and panels etc. - I remember reading that a couple of places on the forums and in JeeHell's User guide.

Hope this helps,

Cheers,
Bobby

[Barrykensett]

Stephan
The comments you make are relevant when running across a network. I am sure my setup is OK in the points you raise as I am already able to run across 2 PC's, it is adding the third that is giving me pain and even then I can run some elements of FMGS.
Bobby
Quote from the manual:
• The Server, along with AP/FBW and a few other software, must be installed
on FS computer.
• The other “satellite” applications (PFD, ND, MCDU, Overhead, EWD, SD,
STBY Airspeed Indicator, STBY Altimeter (FT and metre), STBY Horizon,
DDRMI, Clock, ISIS, Triple Brakes Indicator), can be installed on remote
computers linked by your network.

I have the server on the same PC as FSX, the rest can run across the network. In the case of the problem PC I am able to run the Overhead and the FCU, it is other programs that give me errors.

The problem must be simpler than these issues. I have found that if you have FMGS loaded on a PC that it is possible to open the folders and run the .exe directly for PFD, ND etc. Yes it only gives a blank mask but the program does run. With the additional PC I have added it is not possible to run the .exe directly in this fashion, nothing to do with networking. It must be a simple small problem but I can't find it and I am pretty well up with these things!

Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Barry
www.a320sim.com

[OmniAtlas]

Forgive me if I'm wrong but are you saying you are now trying to run the Overhead panel on a different PC to what is running FSX/P3D?

It is a requirement that the OVH MUST be run on the main FSX machine as this (as far as I'm aware) provides the network communication for the A320 FGMS software to the other remote PC's for running the other displays and panels etc. - I remember reading that a couple of places on the forums and in JeeHell's User guide.

Hope this helps,

Cheers,
Bobby

you can run the ovh remotely. I have been doing so without any issues.

[OmniAtlas]

I have been running FMGS on a W7 laptop and then networked to an XP desktop, all worked fine. I then added another XP desktop to the network and this will run the FCU and Overhead OK but if I try to start any of the programs in the EIS folder (e.g. ND, PFD, MCDU) I get error "EIS has encountered a problem and needs to close" message. I get the same whether I use autostart or try to start the individual elements.
In case I had setup wrong I copied the whole FMGS folder from the PC which worked but still same result so it's some thing to do with the particular PC. Graphics driver updated, .net installed, latest XP updates installed.
This must be something simple but I can't find it, any ideas anyone?
Barry
www.a320sim.com (http://www.a320sim.com)

Have you setup widefmgs correctly?

[Barrykensett]

Yes I am sure widefmgs is correct as the overhead and FCU work fine. The problem is not related to the network, I can't run the programs for some reason.
barry

[jeehell]

Hi all,

I confirm, there is no issue with running the OVHD remotely. It is best to have it on the main PC (less data transfer), but this should be OK on a normal network.

Back to Barry's issue:
- could be the antivirus related (I know some DLL and executables have been blocked by avast for sure)
- Do you get the error message after the first time trying to launch the applications? Or after a second try?
If it's on the second try, maybe the EIS is running in a very small size factor (sometimes the ini file containing the sizes/positions of the instruments is badly reset to 0x0 size...)
-Do you get the process names of the EIS in the task manager?
-What about the CPU of your computer? What usage right after launching my soft?

Regards,
JL

[OmniAtlas]

Have you tried deleting the FMGS folder on your network computer and installing like new (instead of copying from the main server computer)?

[Barrykensett]

I have solved the problem but just to record in case of future questions:
I removed FMGS completely and downloaded fresh.Turned anti-virus (AVG) off.
I got multiple error messages as each program of the EIS ran (Except Ohd and FCU which loaded fine and worked) when loaded using starter program.
Processes were in task manager. Don't quite understand processor issue, some elements run OK.
Going back to the simplest situation, without using starter program on other PC's I can usually click the .exe of elements of the EIS - say PFD - and a black box loads, doing that on this problem PC results in error message.
I solved the problem by putting that PC back in the cupboard, loaded FMGS on another older unused PC and it all works fine first time. There is something odd about that particular PC, hope no-one else gets it!
Thanks for help.
Barry

[jeehell]

Hi Barry,

did you try installing again the software without the antivirus running? it oculd be it corrupted some files...

Regards,
JL

[Barrykensett]

This is academic but I carried out the following:
Unloaded FMGS and deleted the folder. Did antivirus scan and then disabled. Downloaded fresh copy of FMGS and loaded to c:/FMGS. Loaded for non-fs PC, no standbys, just basic panels. Clicked starter and updated software. Clicked starter again, FCU and OHD loaded normally, ND, PFD, MCDU, EIS all gave error messages and failed.
If I do this on the other PC that I am now using on the network all programs start as I would expect. There is something about this particular PC, strange since it was my desktop for a few years and has been the instructor station on the sim for the last five years. The one I am using instead is even older but with no problems. I could reload the operating system and try again but really this PC is ready for the scrapyard so no pressure, it's just the unknown that bugs me!
Barry

[jeehell]

Yes that bugs me as well. I can only guess an issue with OpenGL and your graphic cards/drivers....

JL

[Barrykensett]

Sorry to raise this issue again, I got over the error during trials by ditching that PC. However I have now started getting the system running on my flight simulator and the problem has re-visited me. I can't ditch another PC.
in summary then: all modules run fine on the FS PC. Moved the SD, EWD and all standbys to another networked PC and all run fine. However trying to put the ND and PFD on the third PC gives me the error message that EIS has encountered problem and needs to close.
Both of the add on PCs are the same spec and set up the same. Both are XP, Firewalls off, widefmgs set up same on both.
Tried reloading FMGS.
Any more suggestions welcome as this is now a show stopper.
Barry
www.a320sim.com

[jeehell]

Hi Barry,


can you give more detailed info on your computer specs and network setup?(manufacturers, drivers,models, etc)
what version of my software are you running?
did you try to copy the folder of the working computer to the flawed computer?
regarding antivirus software, was it off during install and while running the soft?this has been a recurring issue for some, particularly avast is a pain. Sometimes you only get a fraction of a second before it locks a file...
I'll try to make a log file while running everything, it may help.

regards,
JL

[Barrykensett]

OK some more details
PC2 details:
Motherboard Winfast K8M890-8237
Processor Amd Athlon 64 3200+
Memory 2048Mb
Graphics ATI Radeon X1950 GT Driver 6.14.10.6706

OS Windows XP Pro SP3
Anti Virus AVG Free 2014
Anti malware Spybot S & D

A320 FMGS B35.3 2014-09-27
Updater applied all PC's

Network
PC1 Win7 P3D and FSX (Jeehell A320 model used on both). AST and FMGS Servers
PC2 XP (AST PFD and ND), FMGS PFD and ND
PC3 XP (AST SD, EWD, Standbys, SIOC, FO MCDU(IOKeys)) FMGS SD, EWD, Standbys
PC4 XP (AST OH, CPT MCDU) (No FMGS loaded yet)
PC5 W7 (FS Commander, Active Sky Next, AST Instructor Station, VPilot) (No FMGC loaded yet)
All PC's on same network, no firewalls active (Rely on router).
WideFS working on all PC's. Simconnect working PC5 & PC1.

Trial outside the simulator all modules ran OK on W7 laptop. When adding XP PC all modules ran OK except PFD & ND.
First trials in the simulator all modules run on PC1 satisfactorily.
Second trials PFD and ND loaded on PC2 - not working *. EWD,SD and standbys loaded on PC3 - all working.
* Error message "EIS has encountered problem, needs to close, tell Microsoft etc" four times.

I have never had problems with AVG but will try loading again with AV off. Have tried copying files from PC1 to PC2 but still fails.
Note the two PC's I have used on testing where PFD & ND work are Windows 7. The two where it fails are both Windows XP.

Barry
www.a320sim.com

[jeehell]

Hi Barry,

This really seems like an error because of the navdb.dll module, which may be blocked by your AV.
This navdb.dll is the only link to ND/PFD. As you noticed, all instruments (PFD,ND,SD,EWD) are inside the same file EIS.exe. But the navdb is loaded only on PFD and ND.
Maybe try to see if your AV soft can have exclusions folders.

Regards,
JL

[Barrykensett]

Will try but I am away for a week. Just noting that things worked OK on PC 1 and that has same AVG.
thx for help.
Barry

[jeehell]

Anyway, when you're back at testing, I've added back a logging I removed some time ago.
In the EIS folder, you' have ini files, one for each EIS (PFD.ini, ND.ini, etc...).
In those files, add the following line:
log=yes

This will make the log files (called Log_PFD/txt, etc...) not empty anymore. I will need the files on the computers where the EIS crashes.

Regards,
JL

[Barrykensett]

OK bit more information. Firstly stopped the AV. Downloaded FMGC again. Also redownloaded the navdata file.
Note above I am only trying to run ND's and PFD's on PC2, I therefore only selected those items when loading. When I looked for the ND and PFD .ini files they were not there. I then went back and looked at PC1 where I originally ran the nD and PFD satisfactorily and the .ini files were there. It was necessary therefore to load more files. I loaded the same setup that I used on PC1 with the exception of the server. The .ini files were now there and I added log=yes to the ND and PFD. When I ran it I got he same errors but there was nothing in the log txt files. Note now I am also running the SD,EWD,MCDU, FCU and OH on this PC. Only the FCU and the OH worked, all of the rest gave the usual error message so it is not just the ND and PFD and hence not presumably linked to the navdata. Basically it is everything with a "screen" so perhaps OpenGL is the common factor?
Any more ideas?
Sorry to be a pain.
Barry

[jeehell]

Hi Barry,

so it crashes really early upon launching.
I changed the EIS.exe file a bit:
http://www.jeehell.org/EIS.exe
Put it in your EIS folder on the faulty PC. Try to run it alone, using one of the shortcuts (PFD, ND, wahtever) which are created by the installer. It will create a file called startlog.txt, and see if it is empty as well.

JL

[jeehell]

I also believe the issue is OpenGL. There have been big issues with ATI cards, especially older ones.
When googling your graphics card, it seems to have some issues with some of the drivers and Opengl. Are you sure you have the latest one released? ( I could find a 10.2 version ?).
I activated OpenGL logging from the application, the EIS.exe should output an EIS.log file, which may indicate OpenGL errors/info. Download it again if you downloaded it before this message...
http://www.jeehell.org/EIS.exe
JL

[Barrykensett]

I think we are getting to the bottom of this problem.
I updated the drivers and the following is the EIS log:
0 (I) Thread ID 3192 Log subsystem started in elapsed time mode.
16 (I) Thread ID 3196 Service thread started
328 (i) Thread ID 3196 Temporary rendering context created
328 (I) Thread ID 3196 Getting OpenGL entry points and extension
328 (I) Thread ID 3196
328 (i) Thread ID 3196 OpenGL rendering context information:
328 (i) Thread ID 3196 Renderer : ATI Radeon X1950 GT
328 (i) Thread ID 3196 Vendor : ATI Technologies Inc.
328 (i) Thread ID 3196 Version : 2.1.8545 Release
328 (i) Thread ID 3196 GLSL version : 1.20
328 (I) Thread ID 3196
375 (I) Thread ID 3196 Getting OpenGL entry points and extension
406 (i) Thread ID 3196 Backward compatible core PBuffer context successfully created
406 (I) Thread ID 3196 Service context successfuly initialized
688 (i) Thread ID 3192 Temporary rendering context created
688 (I) Thread ID 3192 Getting OpenGL entry points and extension
688 (i) Thread ID 3192 Temporary rendering context destroyed
734 (I) Thread ID 3192 Getting OpenGL entry points and extension
43828 (i) Thread ID 3192 Service context queue task depleted

The earlier version of drivers was 2.0.6645

I could then start the ND's and PFD's so open GL is indeed the problem. However the graphics ran so slow as to be unusable and I have had to roll the drivers back to keep my sim operational. The AST ND and PFD has always worked fine on this PC.
I then found that I could start the standby's, SD, EWD on the third PC of my system which looks good, this is fitted with a Radeon HD2400 PRO as is my PC4 which will eventually run the overhead.
I don't want to throw a lot of money at these PC's but I have found a HD2400 PRO on ebay which I will put in PC2. That could well fix this problem.
Barry

[jeehell]

Hi Barry,

Just for the sake of knowledge, which graphics ran slow: AST or mine or both?

Regards,
JL

[Barrykensett]

Everything on the PC ran slow including AST or yours. Even affected the network. Really was bad and all corrected when I rolled the drivers back except yours.
Will report when I have changed the card.
barry

[jeehell]

Ok so that was apparently a driver issue more than anything else. Yes please keep me posted!

JL

[Barrykensett]

Changed the graphics card and the modules now load so it was probably open GL was that problem. Next problem is the graphics are running very slowly, like a slide show. CPU showing 99%. Running the same modules of AST runs at around 60% and very smooth. Wonder why the difference. Will try running on another PC when I get the chance. EWD, SD and standbys on another computer running well.
barry

[OmniAtlas]

Running the standby instruments is very CPU intensive, try running without that first.

[Barrykensett]

They are on another PC. I am trying to run 2 ND and 2 PFD on one PC using two screens into one card. Nothing else running on that PC. Tried starting one ND and one PFD but still not smooth.

[jeehell]

Hello Barry,

Please update to the latest version I just put online.
Then, in the EIS folder, you go to the PFD.ini, ND.ini,PFD.ini, FOND.ini and add the following lines:


PFDminDelay=0.04
PFDmaxDelay=0.2
NDminDelay=0.04
NDmaxDelay=0.2








Now those are the default values. You should change mainly the minDelay value, this is the value which decides how fast the application tries to update it's display (0.04 means once every 4 ms which is 25fps).

The ND (and a bit the PFD, but less than the ND), can take a LOT of CPU, because it needs to perform a LOT of calculation each time a new frame is drawn. If the 4ms is too tight, the process will eat the CPU time available for all applications, resulting in the 99% CPU usage.

I suggest you do the follwing to tune the timings:
1. Run the software, only CPT PFD, check how much CPU it takes.
2. Adjust the PFDmindelay in PFD.ini so that it takes less CPU than 10%. Everything less than 0.1 should be relatively smooth.
3. Run only CPT ND, check how much CPU it takes.
4. Adjust the NDmindelay in ND.ini so that it takes less CPU than 25%.
5. Max delay should be fine at 0.2.

Every time you change one value in the ini file, you need to save the ini file and start again the software.

Now, put those PFDmindelay and NDmindelay values in all the ini files (PFD,ND,FO PFD, FO PFD) (each PFD can take the place of the ND, and vice versa, the PFD timings being used while in PFD mode, and ND timings while in ND mode).


Note that you can also adjust the EWD, SD and STBYs that way (SDmaxDelay, SDminDelay, EWDmaxDelay, EWDminDelay, STBYmaxDelay, STBYminDelay).


Regards,
JL