FSX Tweaks for Virtual Allocation Space running out

Hi Tharanga,

I think you're referring to the System Virtual Address Space (VAS).  You don't mention whether your Windows 7 is a 32 bit or 64 bit operating system.  To check that, go to your Control Panel, then click on System & Security.   Then go to System.  At System Type, you should see whether your system is 32 bit or 64 bit.

If it is 64 bit, then you get a 4 GB VAS when running the System & applications.  So, one would generally shut down all unnecessary applications when running FSX, which uses a large amount of VAS under certain conditions.

If it is 32 bit, then you get a 2 GB VAS, which makes it very difficult to run FSX properly & will often give an OOM (Out of Memory) or other error.  There is a way to increase the VAS on 32 bit Systems but not on 64 bit.   Increasing the VAS on 32 bit systems, will give you another 1 GB, which makes it 3 GB;  this is still quite low but better than 2 GB.

To avail of this extra GB, you will need to apply a 3 GB Switch.   Go to Command Prompt (Admin).  Don't do this if your system is 64 bit.   At the Command Line, write the following:

bcdedit /set IncreaseUserVa 3072

(Note:  the space before  '/ ' ,  before  'Increase' ,  and before  '3072'  (without quotation marks).

Exit Command Prompt & Restart the computer. 

If you need to revert back to 2 GB and disable the Switch, then go back to Command Prompt (Admin), and type the following in the Command Line:

bcdedit /deletevalue IncreaseUserVa

(Again, note:  the space before '/ '  and before  'Increase'  (without quotation marks).

Exit Command Prompt & Restart the computer.

However, remember that your VAS usage fluctuates when using FSX, depending on how much scenery, LOD radius, clouds, vehicles, etc. that it has to read.   So, whether you have a 32 bit or 64 bit system, it's best to disable any third party scenery that is not being used and lower settings generally, especially when on approach or landing.   This is when most errors occur as FSX VAS is already full & it shuts down.   

Sometimes, it helps (when your VAS is running low on approach), to save your flight & shut down FSX.   Then restart it and continue with the flight.  I realise that this is not the best, but it can help if you're still getting errors with the 3 GB Switch or 4 GB system.

Chris

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your reply,

My system is Win 7 64Bit, and my apologies for not giving enough detail about my system

Kind Regards

Tharanga

Thanks for letting us know this Tharanga.  So the 3 GB Switch won't apply in your situation.  You will then need to trim off anything that is adding to your VAS.  Do you get the errors towards the end of your flight, maybe on approach?  That is the usual area when this occurs, which means your scenery, LOD radius, & other settings may be too high.  The only remedy is to lower them, as even a lot of RAM won't help you in such a situation:  it's just the demands of FSX on a low VAS Operating System.

Some have made claims that FSX - Steam Edition makes better use of VAS;  others disagree & claim that Prepar3d is far better.   So there's no clear verdict - it just comes down to lowering settings.  Just one more thing:  most of us have done it, but have you got the HIGHMEMFIX=1  in your fsx.cfg?   This was a setting that the Aces Team failed to add in.  This entry helps in memory allocation in FSX, but is not a guarantee to solve our problems.   If you don't know about it, then let me know.

Chris

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your reply, I really appreciate it. 

Most of of the time, when I fly out of 1 ORBX airport and land in another ORBX airport, and then when I do an Instant Replay with the PMDG 737NGX, I get weird errors on replay, sometimes weird flickering. 

If I fly out of 1 ORBX airport and land in a default FSX airport, I don't get any problems in the Instant Replay

If I fly out of a default FSX airport, and land in an ORBX airport, I don't get any problems in the Instant Replay, maybe in rare occasions, I might get problems

It's mainly the Instant Replay that gives me the problems if both departure and destination airports are ORBX airports

Everything Mentioned above, can have a bit more worse effects with the PMDG 777, maybe because the PMDG 777 uses more RAM or something, still not sure why the PMDG 777 has a bit more worse effects. I am guessing I would not have any problems if I used default FSX aircraft's, because long time ago when ORBX and PMDG did not exist, I never had problems

Is the problem I described due to VAS issues?, or something else

And yes, I would like to know about the HIGHMEMFIX=1  in my fsx.cfg. And also, exactly where can I find the fsx.cfg file?

Kind Regards

Tharanga

Hi Tharanga, 

Okay, I understand that this problem is mainly when you do an Instant Replay.  The FSX Instant Replay doesn't do a good job, so I wouldn't be too concerned with graphical glitches or frequent pauses when using it.  The same when you want to record a video of the whole flight or part of it:  the video doesn't seem to come out well, i.e. stutters, glitches, etc.

With FSX, everything comes into play:  mainly your CPU speed, also your RAM & Graphics Card.  I don't know your specs for your hardware, but if you have only the basic hardware, then the more you add to FSX (detailed airports, aircraft & scenery), the more it will require from you.  I've heard of guys with an overclocked CPU with liquid cooling (4.8 Ghz +) still suffer stutters & pauses at times - so you & I should be thankful if we can do a complete flight without any problems.

I don't know how much details PMDG have put into their subsequent releases.  I know they are very good accurate products, but yes, you will also need a good CPU, RAM & graphics card to gain the most out of it.  So, it's not necessarily VAS that would give you this problem, though it would have some effect.  But as I said, with upgraded hardware, a lot of the problems can be overcome.

Re:  HIGHMEMFIX=1.  As mentioned this is an entry to correct memory allocation problems in FSX.  To use this, go to your fsx.cfg file, found here:  Your Drive Letter:\Users\Your Name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX\fsx.cfg

Open up the file (not the fsx.cfg.txt: this is just a working file, but the main one is fsx.cfg).  When it's opened, go down to the Heading [GRAPHICS].  At the end of the list of settings under that Heading, add this line (as I've written here):

HIGHMEMFIX=1    Save the file & close all those windows.  Hopefully, this might help in some way.  So, it is in this fsx.cfg file that one can make other setting changes that can't be done in the FSX Settings option. 

Chris 

Hi Chris, 

Thanks again for your replies, as I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge with me, as I did not know lots of things until now

I do apologies for not mentioning my PC hardware, but for your information, my specs are

MB - Asus Maximus 2 Formula

PSU - Cooler Master 1200W

CPU - Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad Core 3.20GHZ - (QX9770)

RAM  - 8GB

VGA - GeForce GTX 1050 TI

2 SDD 250GB HDD's

Like you said, we both should be thankful that we can complete a flight without any problems

Also thanks for the HIGHMEMFIX=1, I will try this out and see how I go

Can please get you to check if I added HIGHMEMFIX=1 by showing you a screen print below, just before the [SOUND] section correctly. So to do this edit, I opened the fsx.cfg file, which was just called fsx, not the text file which was called fsx.CFG according to your instructions,

also LOD_RADIUS, I noticed that I have 2 LOD_RADIUS entries, 1 at the start of [TERRAIN], and 1 right at the end of the [TERRAIN] section, when putting an entry, do we always put an entry right at the end of the appropriate topic?, I am not too sure why I have 2 entries for LOD_RADIUS 

[GRAPHICS]

SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED_10=1693458432

SHADER_CACHE_PRIMED=1693458432

D3D10=0

TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD=1024

NUM_LIGHTS=8

AIRCRAFT_SHADOWS=1

AIRCRAFT_REFLECTIONS=1

COCKPIT_HIGH_LOD=1

LANDING_LIGHTS=1

AC_SELF_SHADOW=1

EFFECTS_QUALITY=2

GROUND_SHADOWS=0

TEXTURE_QUALITY=3

IMAGE_QUALITY=0

See_Self=1

Text_Scroll=1

HIGHMEMFIX=1

[SOUND]

                                               LOD_RADIUS section

[TERRAIN]

LOD_RADIUS=4.500000

MESH_COMPLEXITY=70

MESH_RESOLUTION=19

TEXTURE_RESOLUTION=24

AUTOGEN_DENSITY=2

DETAIL_TEXTURE=1

WATER_EFFECTS=3

[AContain]

ShowLabels=1

ShowUserLabel=0

ShowLabelManufacturer=1

ShowLabelModel=1

ShowLabelTailNumber=0

ShowLabelDistance=1

ShowLabelAltitude=1

ShowLabelAirline=0

ShowLabelAirlineAndFlightNumber=0

ShowLabelFlightPlan=0

ShowLabelContainerId=0

ShowLabelAirspeed=0

ShowLabelHeading=0

LabelDelay=1000

LabelColor=FFFF0000

LOD_RADIUS=6.500000

[INTERNATIONAL]

And lastly, can I please find out how many CPU cores can be used by FSX after SP2 is installed for FSX?

Kind Regards

Tharanga

Thanks for your computer specs Tharanga:  I didn't expect you to give those at the first, but it's useful to know the type of system you have.   Your computer is quite good:  CPU speed is on the low side for heavy scenery or aircraft in FSX, since CPU speed is the greatest need for FSX to run at its best.  Using default FSX scenery/aircraft wouldn't be a problem on your system, but it will begin to show problems as you add some 'good stuff' to your FSX.  Some CPUs can be overclocked, but this can only be done to a small extent, otherwise other problems develop, such as overheating & artefacts. 

Otherwise, your graphics card/RAM are quite good, even for the new Flight Sim coming out shortly.   Only thing is that for this Sim, your SSD space may be limiting if you are wanting to pre-download the scenery on a long haul planned route, rather than take in the scenery 'on the fly':  but for this you will need a fast internet to keep up.  Also, you need Win10 to use the new Sim.

As I understand it, FSX will use as many cores as it requires.   I have an 4 Core I7 3.4 Ghz Intel.  When you go to your Task Manager & click on Performance, you will see that your Quad core will also show how many Threads you have and are using.  So when you launch FSX and go into a flight in cruise, you can pause the flight, minimize the FSX window & open up Task Manager - Performance & see what the state is.  You may see only a few threads in use, others parked, etc.  You can also open up Resource Monitor from your Task Manager to get another view & details.  There is a way to commit Windows to use Core 1 for its purposes, thereby leaving the remaining Cores for FSX, but I've never used it or found the need to do.

Chris

P.S.  I just noticed you added a part of your fsx.cfg for me to examine.   Yes, that is the correct configuration file you opened and edited.  If you had the option to have the full file extension shown, then you would have seen the files fsx.cfg and fsx.cfg.txt.   But what you have done is correct.

Re:  LOD Radius.  You should have only one entry for that as there may be a conflict with two there.  If you are holding to the maximum LOD Radius setting as done in the FSX Settings, then you will want to keep the  4.5  entry.  So just delete the  6.5  , which means that you're wanting your CPU to work harder to write out more detail.   And then save the fsx.cfg file.   Normally, any setting higher than 4.5 has been set manually in fsx.cfg:  you might have at some stage experimented with this setting.

Hi Chris,

Thanks so much for your help!, I have given a 5 star feedback and confirmed that my issue was solved today for your help you have given me.

Looking forward to talking to you in the future if I counter any more problems with FSX

For now, take care and stay safe due to this Covid-19 Pandemic 

Kind Regards

Tharanga

It's been good chatting with you too Tharanga, & though I will be away travelling for the next month, sometimes in areas without internet access, I will certainly look out for your posts at some point in time.  Stay well & happy flying!

Chris

Hi Chris,

It's been good chatting with you too mate, have a very safe travel journey, keep safe, Healthy, and happy flying!