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FSXA Gauges Conflict causing system crash

G

G. Munro

Messages
16
I have three very large gauges all of which access the fs9gps database (one accesses only the maps, one accesses maps and data, one accesses data only). The gauges are self contained - they do not pass data between them. My problem is that while any two of these gauges work successfully at any one time, all three gauges cause a system crash with no message. There is no overall memory problem as memory usage is very low (< 1 gb). The gauges vary in size from 22000 lines to 43000 lines of code.
Some possibilities occur:
1. Is there a limit (of 2?) on how many gauges can access fs9gps at the same time?
2. Two gauges use <Formattedtext> but not the third. Errors in <formattedtext> have caused me problems in the past so could this be a problem? If so why can two gauges work but not three?
2. Is there some sort of limit on gauge sizes other than the 50kb update limit? (If I was over this limit then a single gauge would crash would it not?)

I would be grateful for any advice from anyone who has had a similar problem.
 
Instead of fs9gps try ,
fs9gps:1 and fs9gps:2 and fs9gps:3
one in each of the gauges , see if that resolves your problem.

Cheers
Karol
 
I should clarify - it does not actually crash immediately. Initially it fails to load all text across the whole panel - an indication its out of memory (but there is plenty available). Then if the aircraft is reloaded it seems to work OK. If not it will crash later on. Have also tried the panel in a different aircraft but the same - so its not caused by the aircraft model. The immediate crashing was a slightly different scenario.
Another possibility is corruption in FSX ?
 
Your problem seems to be strange , I run a panel that calls the FS9GPS for over half a dozen gauges , one of my radars runs to 5,405 lines of script .
At one stage I had about 6 radars operating at one time during development and testing , all without problems .

I know very little about " flooding " , but I gather if you use a K event in code it can constantly fire , and as a consequence overload the system .
Perhaps somebody could advise further on flooding and if it causes this type of problem .

Cheers
Karol
 
Dear Karol,
Thanks for thinking about this problem for me. Yes flooding is easily detected by FSUIPC and prevented by using a condition for setting K: variables.
Unfortunately this is not occurring in this case. Interesting that you call fs9gps from six gauges - it indicates there is not a limit on the number of gauges that can access fs9gps.
Fs9gps may be a red herring. I suspect the <fomattedtext> function but can not see where or how since only 2 out of 3 gauges use it. I also suspect the size of the programs may have something to do with it.
 
Hi

Since you are using Formatted text I presume that you are using FS9 syntax .
As far as I know you cannot use formatted text in FSX syntax .
To date all my radars are done in FSX syntax .

Could you please post one of your Element sections that contains Formatted text .

Cheers
Karol
 
I assure you that <formattedtext> does work in FSX. I have used it extensively - see my published GPSNEW gauge.
Here is a sample <formattedtext>. I know that if you get the indexing wrong it causes a system crash but this would happen even if I had a single gauge running. A single or two gauges running has no problems at all. Another strange effect is that after start if you go to the flight planner and select Load it comes up with a blank screen.
Here is a <formattedtext> extract:
<Element id="Waypoints ID Loop">
<Position X="0" Y="72"/>
<FormattedText X="270" Y="270" FontWeight="700" FontSize="16" LineSpacing="22" MultiLine="Yes"
Font="Century New Gothic" Tabs="10" Color="Aqua" Bright="Yes" Adjust="Left" Fixed="Yes">

<String>
%((L:Synoptic Number 2, number) 16 == )
%{if}
%( (A:GPS Flight Plan WP Index, number) ++ s1 8 + (C:fs9gps:FlightPlanWaypointsNumber, number) min s2 0 &gt; )
%{if}
%{loop}
%(l1 (&gt;C:fs9gps:FlightPlanWaypointIndex, number))
%((C:fs9gps:FlightPlanWaypointIdent, string) )%!.5s!\t
\n
%(l1 ++ s1 l2 &lt; )
%{next}
%{end}
%{end}
</String>
</FormattedText>
</Element>
 
Dear Karol,
A question occurs to me - do your six gauges just access variables or do they do Nearest, Waypoint, or ICAO searches? I am doing all these searches so if there was a limit in the number of keys allowed this could explain it. I have already established that I can search on two different keys in two different gauges at the same time.
Thanks again for your interest in this problem.

Best Regards,

Gavin Munro
 
Hi Gavin

Some just access variables .
One MFD - Nearest airports -Nearest runways to support a synthetic ILS .
Another MFD - is a Flight planner editor searches Nearest , airport , Lat/Long , Waypoint , ICAO , VOR , NDB , INTERSECTIONS .
Radar -Waypoint , Flight plan listing , AI searches .
So basically it's the lot , to date no problems have been experienced .

I did have a problem in the Flt Pln Editor that caused a CTD when I deleted a Flt Pln in toto , but I developed a method to overcome that issue and it works fine now .

Following is the Flt Plan listing loop , the display area only has room to show 15 lines , so there are other aspects that enable it to be scrolled for larger
plans that might have 60 or more legs .
Code: 
            <Element id="LEG_Data">
                    <FloatPosition>14.000,32.000</FloatPosition>
                    <GaugeText id="Fltpln_LEG">
                        <BackgroundColorScript>0x000000</BackgroundColorScript>
                        <FontColorScript>0x349F34</FontColorScript>
                        <FontFace>Tahoma</FontFace>
                        <FontHeight>17</FontHeight>
                        <Tabs>0,10R,30L,102L,220R,282R,345R</Tabs>
                       <GaugeString>
                            %((L:ListInitialVis) 15 + (@c:FlightPlanWaypointsNumber) min s2)
                                %{if}%((L:ListInitialVis) sp1)
                                    %{loop}
                                    %((A:GPS FLIGHT PLAN WP INDEX, number) l1 ==)%{if}\{clr=@NextFontColor}%{else}\{clr}%{end}                                   
                                        %(l1 (>@c:FlightPlanWaypointIndex))
                                            %((@c:FlightPlanWaypointIndex))%!d!
                                            \t%((@c:FlightPlanWaypointIdent))%!s!
                                            \t%((@c:FlightPlanWaypointMagneticHeading,degrees) d360)%!03d!
                                            \t%((@c:FlightPlanWaypointRemainingDistance,nmiles))%!9.1f!
                                            \t%((@c:FlightPlanWaypointRemainingTotalDistance,nmiles))%!d!\n
                                        %(l1 ++ s1 l2 &lt;)
                                    %{next}
                                %{end}
                        </GaugeString>
                        <Length>305</Length>
                        <Size>344,305</Size>
                        <Bright>True</Bright>
                    </GaugeText>
                </Element>

Cheers
Karol
 
G. Munro said:
I assure you that <formattedtext> does work in FSX. I have used it extensively - see my published GPSNEW gauge.
Click to expand...
That is still FS9 XML Schema, which indeed will work in both FS9 and FSX.

FSX XML Schema however does not support <FormattedText>, which among other reasons makes me avoid it like the plague! :rotfl:
 
Dear Karol & Bill,
There is a bit of confusion here - Mr. Karol's <formattedtext> is in FS9 schema but mine is FSX. Certainly in FSX <formattedtext> can crash the system if there is a flaw in it but it works fine otherwise. It is even possible to use if{ } els{ ] syntax instead of the usual %{if} %{else} but I converted it all to the %{if} in case this was the cause of the problem. But this does not address the main problem. I reviewed again all of my <formattedtext> and found a few anomalies which I fixed but this made no difference. I think <formattedtext> may be a red herring. I have done further experiments and found that eliminating another unrelated and very simple gauge of only 5000 lines solves this problem. This other gauge did nothing complicated - only displaying basic text lines. This is a clear indication that there IS a size limit on panels even though all documentation I have seen suggests there is only an overall memory limitation of 4gb. So the question now is what is the size limit for panels? Is there any way the limit can be increased? The total number of lines of code in this panel would be somewhere between 100,000 to 150,000.
Thanks again for your assistance gentlemen.
Best Regards,

Gavin Munro
 
out of curiosity as I have seen similar issue with 4 heavily coded glass Display Units.

Did you try it on P3D V4 ?
 
I dont have access to P3D so can not try that. Its clear it has something to do with size but not clear what limits there are and whether or not the use of <formattedtext> has anything to do with it. I had a similar problem with another aircraft where I could easily reproduce two displays but the third worked sometimes and the fourth crashed immediately. I will try separating the gauges into modules. This will take some time and may not be fruitful so I am not over anxious to start on it.
 
I tried on V4. Same issue. Any combination of 3 DU works nicely, adding 4th (any) crash P3D V4. Most likely hitting some XML panels limit.
 
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