Author Topic: addon manager crash on exit p3d 4.2 **SOLVED**  (Read 38141 times)

Cruachan

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Re: addon manager crash on exit p3d 4.2 **SOLVED**
« Reply #75 on: July 09, 2018, 05:38:25 pm »
Hi Umberto,

An interesting development at my end: I stripped Prepar3D v4.3 back to a bare bones installation. All Addons disabled (with the exception of the FSDT Addon Manager), everything in the dll.xml and exe.xml files disabled and fresh scenery.cfg and terrain.cfg files created. The latter has been modified only by ORBX FTXCentral 3 and the Black Marble NG Control Panel.

The good news: the ntdll.dll faulting module error has gone!
The not so good news: the api.dll faulting module error has returned and is occurring during all 3 Exit routes as described previously.

I’ll wait for you to get in touch. Meantime I’ll leave my basic configuration as is. One good thing - the sim loads so much more quickly..lol!

Regards,
Mike
« Last Edit: July 09, 2018, 05:41:38 pm by Cruachan »

virtuali

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Re: addon manager crash on exit p3d 4.2 **SOLVED**
« Reply #76 on: July 09, 2018, 05:42:12 pm »
The good news: the ntdll.dll faulting module error has gone!

This clearly proves the problem was never caused by our software, which of course I was quite sure of.

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The not so good news: the api.dll faulting module error has returned!!

This, instead, doesn't prove THIS api.dll is caused by our software unless, of course, you are still with the old version, which DID caused the (invisible) crash in the API.DLL ON EXIT ONLY, and this is confirmed to have been FIXED in the current version which is online now.

The API.DLL can be caused by so many different causes so, for example, even an airplane gauge using Simconnect can cause it, even if you removed all modules, because that won't necessarily require an addon module to work.

Have you tried resetting the Prepar3d.cfg file as well ? Maybe a bad setting from having installed another addon is causing problems, so it won't matter if that addon is now disabled.
« Last Edit: July 09, 2018, 05:50:52 pm by virtuali »

Cruachan

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Re: addon manager crash on exit p3d 4.2 **SOLVED**
« Reply #77 on: July 09, 2018, 06:32:10 pm »
Have you tried resetting the Prepar3d.cfg file as well ? Maybe a bad setting from having installed another addon is causing problems, so it won't matter if that addon is now disabled.

Hi Umberto,

No, I confess I didn’t consider that possibility. I will do so and try again with the newly created default file before modifying anything within that file.

Regards,
Mike
« Last Edit: July 09, 2018, 06:36:09 pm by Cruachan »

Cruachan

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Re: addon manager crash on exit p3d 4.2 **SOLVED**
« Reply #78 on: July 09, 2018, 10:29:08 pm »
Have you tried resetting the Prepar3d.cfg file as well ? Maybe a bad setting from having installed another addon is causing problems, so it won't matter if that addon is now disabled.

Hi Umberto,

Using newly created default Prepar3D.cfg without any modifications.

Sadly, same result in all 3 Exit route cases: faulting module api.dll

In case of 'End scenario' and 'X' P3D crashed every time.
'Exit' was less consistent: sometimes it did crash and sometimes it did not.

I've attached the Report.wer file (retrieved following exit by 'X') in case the content is of any help.

Regards,
Mike

virtuali

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Re: addon manager crash on exit p3d 4.2 **SOLVED**
« Reply #79 on: July 10, 2018, 09:49:12 am »
Sadly, same result in all 3 Exit route cases: faulting module api.dll

In case of 'End scenario' and 'X' P3D crashed every time.

As you can see, it doesn't happen here. Neither a visible crash, nor an invisible crash only seen in the Event Viewer.


Sabretooth78

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Re: addon manager crash on exit p3d 4.2 **SOLVED**
« Reply #80 on: July 12, 2018, 05:52:55 am »
The api.dll crash on exit persists for me as well - even in an extreme scenario:  Fresh install of P3Dv4.3 and NO 3rd party content of any type installed aside from GSX and KJFK (and SODE, which was installed through the FSDT installer).  The only modifications to Prepar3D.cfg that I have made are those necessary to display full screen on my larger monitor (set through the Options-Display dialog; the crash would also occur on a completely "pure" cfg in attempts before the reinstall anyway).

The crash occurs with only GSX installed and with only KJFK installed, which would seem to indicate it's not being caused by either of those packages but rather Addon Manager itself.

I've had the crash on all but three exits out of at least 15 tries.  Interestingly one successful exit occurred immediately after unregistering SODE, another immediately after disabling the Couatl live update, and the last immediately after updating my graphics drivers (which were only 2 months old and who knows if I won't have to roll back for some reason).  On all subsequent exits, regardless of those settings, it has crashed reliably on every other attempt.  The only time it does not reliably crash (or seemingly at all) is when exiting from the opening scenario screen.

Short of a hardware or Windows issue that has never revealed itself in any other way, I'm a little thrown for how these crashes cannot possibly be caused either by Addon Manager or by some persistent bug in P3D4 which Addon Manager is exposing.

Is there no way to get a copy of the files that were current as of March, unless such would cause more consequential problems?
« Last Edit: July 12, 2018, 06:00:05 am by Sabretooth78 »

virtuali

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Re: addon manager crash on exit p3d 4.2 **SOLVED**
« Reply #81 on: July 12, 2018, 07:49:24 am »
Short of a hardware or Windows issue that has never revealed itself in any other way, I'm a little thrown for how these crashes cannot possibly be caused either by Addon Manager or by some persistent bug in P3D4 which Addon Manager is exposing.

The missing keyword here is "on YOUR system" because, as of today, there are only two users, you and Cruachan that still reports this issue. As I've said in other threads, I would like to have a look at your system by doing a Teamviewer session. PM to arrange this.

Cruachan

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Re: addon manager crash on exit p3d 4.2 **SOLVED**
« Reply #82 on: July 12, 2018, 08:55:02 am »
Heads up guys, it seems the rules have been changed...lol!

Hitherto we have understood and been advised to strip everything back until the cause of an issue is identified. In the past this guidance seems to have worked well enough and Sabertooth78 and I have, with diligence, followed this diagnostic process. However despite our best efforts, it seems the goal posts have now been changed! We have both confirmed that the problem goes away when the FSDT Addon Manager is disabled and yet Umberto appears to be in denial over our findings.

To assert that we are the only users reporting this problem is at best shaky. It seems doubtful that our individual setups are unique in some strange way, but we have gone along with this supposition in the hope that Umberto would help us isolate what is responsible. Clearly he must have some ideas as he is suggesting having TeamViewer sessions to allow him to examine our installations. Why then can he not air his thoughts publically to allow us to conduct our own investigations?

We cannot be certain, but there is every likelihood that other users may be affected by this and are watching this thread to see how it all pans out. Just because they don’t post does not mean they are not there....waiting.

Mike

virtuali

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Re: addon manager crash on exit p3d 4.2 **SOLVED**
« Reply #83 on: July 12, 2018, 09:31:51 am »
Heads up guys, it seems the rules have been changed...lol!

No, they haven't.

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Hitherto we have understood and been advised to strip everything back until the cause of an issue is identified. In the past this guidance seems to have worked well enough and Sabertooth78 and I have, with diligence, followed this diagnostic process. However despite our best efforts, it seems the goal posts have now been changed! We have both confirmed that the problem goes away when the FSDT Addon Manager is disabled and yet Umberto appears to be in denial over our findings.

Yes, this is still valid. However, I would first like to check if *everything* has *really* been disabled. Which is why, I asked for a Teamviewer session, which as of today, you still have failed to reply to.

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To assert that we are the only users reporting this problem is at best shaky.

This is clear fact. That doesn't obviously mean I'm sure nobody else still has the problem, but surely nobody except you too is still reporting it, after the May 22th fix. The "nobody else except you two has reported it", doesn't mean anything more than that.

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Why then can he not air his thoughts publically to allow us to conduct our own investigations?

Because until I'm able to reproduce it, I cannot do anything about it. So, the TM session is obviously a way for me to reproduce it, on YOUR system, since I'm obviously unable to reproduce on mine and, of course, on any other system of everybody else working at FSDT.

I'm waiting for your PM to arrange an TM session.

Cruachan

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Re: addon manager crash on exit p3d 4.2 **SOLVED**
« Reply #84 on: July 12, 2018, 08:51:08 pm »
Hi Umberto,

My sincere apologies if I seem to be coming on a bit strong, but it’s just a mark of my frustration over this matter. Your patience and persistence is admirable as is your apparent unwillingness to lock this thread until we find the solution, and I thank you for that.

I admit I may appear stubborn at times and can spend inordinate amounts of time working a problem before eventually conceding defeat. However, this aspect of troubleshooting where an application can reveal an issue, without actually being the root cause, is new to me and has been quite difficult to accept. I’m far from being the expert in this field so feel I should be acknowledging that your convictions may well prove to be correct after all.

I have no objections to having a TeamViewer session. Indeed, I did ask in an earlier post (either here or at AVSIM) for some guidance regarding what I needed to do in the way of preparation and any info (e.g. IP Address) required to facilitate your access to my PC. I may have misunderstood how this works and had assumed that you would get in touch with me to arrange a time convenient to us both.

When you stated that you intended to use the TeamViewer session to check that everything has really been disabled I wondered why you seemed unwilling to elaborate about this on the forum and we could check for ourselves. DLL.xml and EXE.xml (AppData and ProgramData) currently have all items disabled, All Add-ons, with the exception of SODE (installed by the GSX installer) and FSDT Addon Manager have been disabled in sim, Prepar3D.cfg is default bar a few graphic changes to suit my display, Scenery.cfg is default plus 3 Black Marble entries (testing a few things for Chris Bell). What else should I be checking?

If requested, I can send you all the relevant files for you to examine.

Regards,
Mike


Sabretooth78

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Re: addon manager crash on exit p3d 4.2 **SOLVED**
« Reply #85 on: July 12, 2018, 09:46:34 pm »
My sincere apologies if I seem to be coming on a bit strong, but it’s just a mark of my frustration over this matter. Your patience and persistence is admirable as is your apparent unwillingness to lock this thread until we find the solution, and I thank you for that.

Same here.  I sent a PM earlier, but my outbox isn't showing it so I have no idea if it sent.  Long story short, I'm not against participating in a session but at the same time I'm not sure what value such intervention could provide.  Same situation as Cruachan, with the added nuance of a completely fresh installation.  My schedule is also a bit restricted - especially end-of-week.  At this point I'm left with tweaking BIOS settings to hope for the stupid issue to go away, or that a future Live Update mysteriously fixes it.

In any event I'm of two minds on this issue.  Thinking in my day job mindset as an engineer, I'm not usually the one to have such problems nor do I often have to concede defeat.  On the other hand, I just want to use the darn thing for what it's for - flying.  The crash on exit doesn't bother me so much from an operational standpoint (in all reality it's quite inconsequential), it's just that I see that as a potential harbinger of other problems (i.e. well, it's obviously causing an issue somewhere, so is this going to manifest itself somewhere else down the line?)  I'm an engineer - I abhor loose ends.  As I've mentioned before, I've had occasional seemingly random crashes periodically, so in my mind they could be related.  Yes, I know there is no evidence to prove it.  But neither is there evidence to disprove it.  That's what's so vexing and frustrating about it.  (I say I don't usually have tech problems, but in another example to the contrary, I think I'm the one-in-a-million case where I still maintain an FSX installation that I would contend is still more stable than P3D4.  At least when FSX does crash it's usually apparent why.)

If nothing else, I was expecting a complete system reinstall once I no longer require FSX, so that would theoretically clear up the hardware/Windows question.  Not quite ready for that yet.  I'm actually contemplating building a new rig anyway, so who knows.

UPDATE:  I reset my BIOS to "Optimized Defaults" (I typically run a modest overclock) and as seems to be the pattern, first time did not CTD but all subsequent exits bombed out.  I'm sure it's coincidence but it's almost as if there's some kind of cache somewhere getting corrupted.
« Last Edit: July 13, 2018, 04:52:26 am by Sabretooth78 »

virtuali

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Re: addon manager crash on exit p3d 4.2 **SOLVED**
« Reply #86 on: July 13, 2018, 10:23:23 am »
I have no objections to having a TeamViewer session. Indeed, I did ask in an earlier post (either here or at AVSIM) for some guidance regarding what I needed to do in the way of preparation and any info (e.g. IP Address) required to facilitate your access to my PC. I may have misunderstood how this works and had assumed that you would get in touch with me to arrange a time convenient to us

Just PM-me about this. PM-me = Send me a Private Message on the forum.

virtuali

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Re: addon manager crash on exit p3d 4.2 **SOLVED**
« Reply #87 on: July 13, 2018, 10:25:10 am »
Same here.  I sent a PM earlier, but my outbox isn't showing it so I have no idea if it sent. 

The outbox will not refresh until I read your PM, which I did only now, since we obviously live in different timezones...

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UPDATE:  I reset my BIOS to "Optimized Defaults" (I typically run a modest overclock) and as seems to be the pattern, first time did not CTD but all subsequent exits bombed out.  I'm sure it's coincidence but it's almost as if there's some kind of cache somewhere getting corrupted

The problem might be related to the video card so, acting on the bios might change something related to it.

Sabretooth78

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Re: addon manager crash on exit p3d 4.2 **SOLVED**
« Reply #88 on: July 13, 2018, 01:31:40 pm »
I do have the ASUS-supplied "GPU Tweak" program which I was using for a short time until it once caused the whole system to suddenly reboot and I suspected it also may have been causing instabilities in P3D, though I thought I had cleared that back to defaults and I haven't used it since.  In any event I wasn't getting these CTDs, though, but I've seen more inexplicable problem causers and solutions so it wouldn't surprise me.  I'll play around with that this evening and see what if anything happens.

p3dx3

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Re: addon manager crash on exit p3d 4.2 **SOLVED**
« Reply #89 on: July 13, 2018, 06:42:12 pm »
I installed P3D 4.3 from scratch and lowered the autogen radius slider from the max and have not had a crash. I read posts on avsim about the autogen slider causing Nvidia device hung messages. The crash on exit was fixed in 4.3 and auto updating gsx. Thank you Virtuali.