CTD when the Bell 47 is the first aircraft after starting the Sim

Do you have any Windows updates outstanding and are all of your drivers up to date?

Maybe apply any outstanding windows updates and get as many of your drivers up to date as possible.

Exception 0x000001d does appear to indicate either a windows setup issue and/or that the registry has some issues.

Yes, crashed again. Did this:

  1. Moved the DISABLED folder out of Community
  2. Reinstalled the Heli Manager
  3. Started MSFS
  4. Change my plane from Boeing 787 back to the helicopter
  5. Make a simple flight plan.
  6. Fly
  7. CTD…

Windows Update says I’m up to date. These are my Windows specifications:

Edition Windows 10 Pro
Version 20H2
Installed on ‎2020-‎06-‎24
OS build 19042.985
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.2020.0

Device info:
|Processor|Intel(R) Core™ i7-6820HQ CPU @ 2.70GHz 2.70 GHz|
|Installed RAM|16.0 GB|
|System type|64-bit operating system, x64-based processor|
|Pen and touch|Touch support with 10 touch points|

According to Intel Driver & Support Assist, my drivers are up to date.

Hi Raoul,

The lead developer has been onto this one and has suggested something to try.

Exit Heli Manager (right click icon, Exit to ensure it isn’t running in background). Then launch MSFS and load a flight with the Bell 47G selected. Does it CTD?

If not, launch Heli Manager and see if it CTD

Let us know how you get on.

Hi HawkMoth,

I only launch the Heli Manager manually, as I disabled it from Task Manager. I made sure it’s not running, and tried the steps you suggested. Unfortunately, it CTD while loading my flight plan (just as before).

The thing is, at the very beginning, I was able to make a short flight, but ever since I crashed the chopper, I haven’t been able to get the Bell 47 running again without CTD. I tried clearing the rolling cache, but to no avail (rolling cache was off anyway).

Is there another cache that I should clear?

So it CTD without the Heli Manager being active?

Dan was just looking for a clue as to where the issue might be and if the heli manager wasn’t running when the CTD occurred, then it is unlikely to be in the heli manager.

Yes, it CTD without the Heli Manager being active. Could there be anything in the aircraft that MSFS is having trouble loading?

As you appear to be the only one with this issue, I am afraid that it is more likely to be an issue with your PC/Windows, but Dan will still take a look at the B47G files, to see if there is anything that might be causing it.

However, as I said before, if you Google exception code 0x000001d, you will find that the registry or your windows setup are stated as likely causes.

I have had no issue with MSFS itself. I’ve used the HDS Carrier Module (from SimMarket) without issue, I have used the freeware Airbus H135, or the Aermacchi MB-339 without CTD. Of course, when trying to figure out what goes wrong with Bell 47, I moved everything that’s in the Community folder out. BTW I’m using the Premium Deluxe version of MSFS bought from the Microsoft Store (not the Steam version).

Appreciate very much your team looking into the issue.

I’m just thinking… Could the CTD somehow be related to SimConnect? After all, the Bell 47 has a window that tells user if the Heli Manager needs to be started or not…

Here’s what I found regarding SimConnect:
Could SimConnect cause CTD? - Bugs & Issues / Performance, Graphics & CTDs - Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums

I’ve not, knowingly at least, tried SimConnect, but if there is an easy way to temporarily disable it and try with the B47 again, that would perhaps answer your question.

However, I am pretty sure that other B47 owners will have SimConnect, so although it might be worth giving it a try, I wouldn’t be overly hopeful of that being the cause.

I know it was a long shot… I was just trying to think of the major differences between the Bell 47 and other planes that I’ve bought or downloaded, and why this Bell 47 crashes for me, but not the other planes or H135 helicopter. One difference I can think of (forgive my lack of imagination!) is the custom model / engine used by Bell 47; another is the connection with the host. Could it be because my system only has 16GB of RAM? As a software developer myself, I could think of various reasons why a lower memory could make it easier to crash. It could also be a bug in MSFS which only manifests itself if there’s not enough memory. Who knows…!

I’m just trying to see if there’s anything we can do to resolve my problem. If we really cannot find a resolution, then I’d have to request for a refund… it’d really be a shame, because I really would like to fly the Bell 47!

Thanks again

I know, from a thread that was titled as a solution to previously unexplained CTD, Finally…Solved CTD issues… for those of us with < 32 GB ram - Self-Service / PC & Hardware - Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums, that a solution was to adjust the page file size, but i thought that you had already done that?

There are, however, a fair number of different CTD causes apparently in existence at the moment, and whether this is what is causing your issue, I don’t know.

Have you been through all of the potential fixes in [Walkthrough] Avoiding CTD´s - Community Troubleshooting Guide - Bugs & Issues / Performance, Graphics & CTDs - Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums

I seem to have found a workaround to allow me to at least run MSFS. Prior to this, I couldn’t even enter the main menu or start a flight because of CTD. The workaround is to recursively set the file time of the flyinside-bell47 folder. It’s not a perfect workaround as the game would still occasionally CTD, and it takes 5-10 minutes to start a flight, but I was able to finally start a flight with the B47.

My guess is that, sensing the file dates are new, the sim would do some initialization. Could it be that when some of this initialized data gets corrupted (somehow), and it causes CTD?

Can you please make sure that you have the latest update, version 1.2, available via FlyInside Bell 47 - Updates (flyinside-helis.com).

You shouldn’t need to uninstall the version you currently have installed, whether it is version 1.2 or not. Just run the installer and try to load MSFS and a flight again.

Adjusting date/time stamps as a workaround does sound like an unlikely solution, but if it does work, it might provide a clue as to a possible misalignment between heli-manager and the B47G files in the Community folder.

I’m no Windows 10 expert by the way but this might be worth a try.

btw, the 5-10 minutes load time is to be expected, for just the first time the B47G is loaded.

I’ve asked Dan if he can take another look at this one by the way.

Sorry for another “by the way” Raoul, but are you using a removable/external hard drive? I know it’s unlikely, but others have experienced issues with MSFS and these type of drives, so thought it worth asking.

Thanks, I did make sure that the heli manager is the version 1.2. When the manager finally managed to communicate with the B47, I didn’t see the text “Update Now” or “Update Available” in the manager.

Indeed, I’m using an external Thunderbolt SSD drive, for both the game and the heli manager. My main drive is also an SSD drive, but I’m weary of the amount of writes that the MSFS does. I haven’t had any problem until now.

Am I to expect 5-10 minutes of load time each time I start MSFS? I thought it only needs to be initialized once.

Thanks again for looking into the issue. During the work week, my response will be slower due to work, but I’ll try any suggestion when I’ll get the chance.

Hi Raoul,

The longer delay should only be on the first time you load a flight with the B47 and it should load normally thereafter.

I’ll see if I can find any of the threads i’d seen about external drives, but i have vague memories that Power Management might have been implicated.

Paul

External SSD causing CTD? - Self-Service / PC & Hardware - Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums was one of the threads i had remembered and although the poster’s solution was to move MSFS to an internal drive, the mention of USB had got me thinking about issues i have had with USB connected devices, like my Oculus Rift, and the role that Power Management plays.

Maybe an easy thing to try is to identify the USB port that your external drive is using, via Device Manager, and in its properties, go to the power management tab and uncheck the ‘Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power’ box. Apply that change and try again.

It might seem like a long shot, but worth a try.

Edit:
It might also be worth checking the windows power options to make sure that windows isn’t putting the drive to “sleep”.

Also, apparently, some external drives have power saving hardcoded into them and if that is the case, the only way to stop them going to sleep is to run a 3rd party utility. this probably becomes more of a tough test and not sure you’d want to go that far.

I’ve checked the Thunderbolt’s power options. Unfortunately, the power option to allow putting the external SSD to sleep is not selected, and is grayed out. I’ve also tried to change the option to disable USB devices’ ability to go to sleep, to no avail. MSFS will decide to CTD when it wants to. The only workaround that seems to temporarily break the CTD cycle is by changing the file time of flyinside_bell47.

By recursively changing the file time of flyinside_bell47, however, would cause a 5-10 wait time to start a flight. If I don’t change the file time, then it will CTD. After changing the file time, and waiting for 5-10 minutes, then I can use the B47 for a few runs, until MSFS decides to CTD again.

From the perspective of an outsider looking in, it really does seem like the sim / helicopter is keying off the file date to decide to whether to initialize the data structures required to use the helicopter. It also seems like a CTD would corrupt this data structure, and changing the date would force a reinit of the initial data, which explains the 5-10 minutes of wait time each time I touched the files. It doesn’t explain why a CTD would happen however.

Is there a debug mode or something that I could run to help narrow down the source of the CTD?