sundog

Seth, can I see your log.txt file after you've experienced this? Whatever is happening to you is unusual, but there may be some clues in there. You might consider re-installing SMP as well; perhaps something went wrong during one of the update installations somehow.

Even if there aren't many clouds visible, SMP 3.2 pre-loads clouds and keeps them in memory in order to avoid stutters when you fly into bad weather and they are needed. In contrast, SMP 3.0 created new clouds on demand, which resulted in the stutters everyone hated in that release. So it doesn't really matter how good or bad the weather is as far as SMP's memory usage is concerned. This isn't an "issue" with 3.2, it's a conscious trade-off between memory usage and reducing stutters. But, you can adjust that trade-off with the cloud draw area slider if need be. Short story: you are probably in fact running low on VRAM for some reason (maybe you're running at a high resolution and/or with high anti-aliasing settings?), and need to turn down the cloud draw area setting to better fit your system's capabilities. SMP does demand more memory than default clouds - that extra detail has to come at some cost.

I'm quite certain SMP itself does not leak memory. We tested that exhaustively.

Looks like you're running HD Mesh and some custom scenery; even with a Titan, I think you probably just ran out of memory over time. What you're describing is consistent with memory (especially VRAM) running low and/or becoming fragmented. By disabling and re-enabling SMP, you caused it to delete and re-create its clouds, which may have un-fragmented things enough to keep you going for awhile longer again. That said, if you've never experienced this in prior versions of X-Plane using the same scenery, weather, and add-ons, it may be worth reporting to Laminar. It could indicate that there is some sort of memory leak or fragmentation over time that wasn't there before.

It can be either VRAM or RAM; either case can lead to instability. In the case of VRAM running low, it can cause your video driver to start swapping memory, and the delays that result can cause driver time-outs that then lead to a crash. In extreme situations, it can create a situation where X-Plane tries to allocate memory for new terrain you're flying into, and the driver says "I can't do it" which can also lead to a crash.

I think maybe you are comparing SMP's cirrus clouds to default cumulus clouds? That's apples and oranges. SMP's cumulus clouds do move realistically relative to the plane.

When RWC is in "always" mode, it downloads its own maxx_metar.rwx file (or something similarly named - I'm the road and can't check specifically) and ignores the metar.rwx file provided by X-Plane and/or the NOAA plugin.

Phlash, what you are describing sounds exactly like a system that is almost out of memory. HD Mesh in particular can consume huge amounts of it. Your need to adjust settings in SMP is only a symptom of this larger problem. When you cause SMP to recreate its clouds by adjusting its cloud draw area, it is probably just de-fragmenting enough memory for your system to scrape by a little bit longer. Fundamentally, you are running more add-ons than your system can handle, and you will have to choose which ones to keep. I can't say this enough: just because something was the last thing to write into your log doesn't mean it was responsible for a crash. A plugin that directly causes a crash will cause X-Plane to log a very clear message that the crash was caused by that plugin; otherwise, you're probably looking at memory exhaustion, some sort of memory corruption from any of your other add-ons, or a driver error. I'm seriously considering disabling all log messages in our next release since it causes so much confusion.

Oh my; that does indeed look like our bug somehow. If you can get this to happen again, can you please also provide your METAR.rwx file so I can try to reproduce it? Hopefully it's something our upcoming 3.2.1 update already fixes, but it would be good to know for sure.

If it were bad METAR data, the log would clearly state at the end that the crash was caused by Skymaxx Pro (and there would also be a massive uproar from the thousands of other customers affected!). What you're describing sounds more like you're running out of system resources, or a video driver crash. I'd have to see your log to be sure.

The last log you sent shows that HD mesh is still installed, at least partially. And it still does not indicate that SMP or RWC was responsible for your crash; rather, your log is still consistent with a computer that's running out of memory. I think it might be time for you to start with a plain vanilla installation of X-Plane and work your way up.

Looking at your log, I see you've got HD Mesh, a lot of custom scenery, a complex third party aircraft, and several other plugins installed in addition to SMP/RWC. I think you're simply demanding too much from the resources your PC has, and it's running out of memory as a result. SMP isn't really the cause of the issue; you just have too much stuff installed and SMP may be pushing your system over the edge. Try temporarily removing HD Mesh and I bet things work a lot better. If not, try removing your custom scenery - then try using a default aircraft. I'm afraid your PC just can't handle all of these add-ons at once, and you'll have to choose which one(s) to remove.

Short answer: no, there is nothing for us to fix. I think your photoscenery is just causing you to run out of memory. Try temporarily removing it, and I bet things become a lot more stable. Longer answer: If SkyMaxx Pro were directly responsible for your crash, your log would clearly state at the end that the crash was caused by SkyMaxx Pro. Just because something is the last thing to write to your log does not necessarily mean that it caused your crash. What I think happened is that new weather conditions were successfully processed by SkyMaxx Pro, but as you were running on the edge of your system's resources, some subsequent request (perhaps for a new scenery tile) exhausted your memory and led to a crash. I see you're using photoscenery, which can eat up memory VERY quickly - so that's my prime suspect. I also see a bunch of weird SASL errors in your log, so if a newer version of your aircraft is available, upgrading to it is also advised.

Your log does not indicate that xplane crashed from smp's code. It looks more like you ran out of resources as you entered bad weather. I'm on the road but will look in more depth later if need be.

Yes, like I said before your product license is no longer valid. Given how many times you have changed operating systems, perhaps you tried to activate SkyMaxx Pro on what looked like too many different computers. When your product license is invalid, you won't see any clouds in SkyMaxx Pro, and the RWC menu won't appear. Which is exactly what you are describing. If you haven't been installing SkyMaxx Pro on PC's other than your own, contact X-Aviation support (not via this forum), explain how many times you re-installed your OS, and they may be able to reset your license for you.

Yeah, that's not us. Apparently FSGRW is not yet compatible with 10.50. Stick with 10.45 until 10.50 is officially out.

SkyMaxx Pro's check to validate your product license failed. Try re-installing it, and make sure you're connected to the Internet. On another note, your log indicates that your X-Plane installation is really, really messed up. I would recommend re-installing X-Plane and only the add-ons you need from scratch. You're also running the 10.50 beta which could cause other problems as well.

Marc, I wasn't accusing you of anything. Just trying to understand where you filed your original support request as I was afraid you were trying to contact Sundog directly instead of X-Aviation. Looking at your latest log, it does not indicate that SMP or RWC was responsible for your crash. However, I see you've got a lot of custom scenery and I believe HD Mesh installed, along with a complex third-party aircraft and non-default SMP settings. I think it's a safe bet that you're simply demanding too much from your system; you are probably running out of memory which is what is causing your crash. SMP may be the "straw that broke the camel's back" so to speak. I know it may seem unbelievable that you can install more add-ons than even a GTX1080 can handle, but you can. My advice would be to temporarily remove your high-definition scenery and see if that helps. I bet it does. Also, make sure you are using the latest version of your aircraft. Turning down the cloud draw area setting in SMP may also be necessary.

You should be filing support tickets with X-Aviation, not Sundog. Sundog doesn't even have a ticket system, so I'm not sure where you sent your reports originally! Your logs for SMP 3.2 are from June 9; there was a known issue for one hour during June 9 where NOAA was issuing METAR data that caused RWC to crash on startup. The following hour's METAR data cleared this up, and as far as I know it has not happened again. If you're still experiencing crashes, please send more recent log files for us to look at (I suspect they won't indicate SMP is responsible)

You might want to un-check the "never change visible weather" option in the RWC configuration. If that's on and FSGRW drops new weather data for your immediate area, it will be ignored.

We'd have to see the log.txt following a crash to say if it's METAR related or not. I suspect it wasn't - last time it happened, there were tons of reports from everyone at the same time. The only thing I see in your log that's amiss is that you have a very old version of SASL that's known to cause some problems. You might want to try updating your 777 to the latest version.

If this happens again, please post your log.txt so we can tell what happened. Also, there is a known issue with X-Plane 10.50b1 where many plugins crash at startup in hard to reproduce manners. If you installed 10.50b1, roll back to 10.45.

Hey, sorry if I sounded snippy there. I'm traveling and so my responses are a bit terse. The idea of trading off vertical column complexity vs. area covered is an interesting one.

If your expectations are to have 5 layers of dense clouds generated by FSGRW, with detailed, individual clouds extending all the way to the horizon without impacting your framerates - your expectations are simply too high for what current hardware can do. You are correct that there is no computer on the market that can handle a worst-case scenario of weather with the cloud draw area cranked up without dropping some frames. You must find the right balance between cloud draw area, your system's capabilities (both GPU and CPU), the weather you're flying in, and the performance compromises you are willing to make.

MaxxFX does something completely different from SkyMaxx Pro; it manipulates the colors and effects of the entire scene. MaxxFX and SkyMaxx Pro may be used independently from each other; there are no dependencies between them. So you can remove it if you want to, but you will be removing MaxxFX's functionality by doing so.