FSX: Steam Edition keeps crashing (need help troubleshooting)

A good place to start is getting the crash details

No worries — we can troubleshoot this, but we’ll need a bit of info from Windows/FSX so we’re not guessing. Here’s what to grab and a couple quick checks you can do right away.

1) Get the crash info from Windows Event Viewer
This usually tells us the “faulting module” (the file that actually crashed).

1. Press Win+R, type eventvwr.msc and press Enter
2. Go to Windows Logs -> Application
3. On the right, click Filter Current Log…
4. Under “Event sources” tick Application Error (and optionally .NET Runtime if you see it)
5. Find the entry that matches the time FSX crashed
6. Open it and copy/paste the details here (or at least these lines):
   • Faulting application name
   • Faulting module name
   • Exception code
   • Fault offset
   • Faulting application path

2) Tell us exactly when it crashes
Different crash patterns point to different culprits. Let us know which one fits:

• Crashes on launch (before the main menu)
• Crashes when loading a flight
• Crashes when changing aircraft
• Crashes when changing views / going to outside view
• Crashes after X minutes (random, mid-flight)
• Crashes only at certain airports or areas

3) Quick isolation test (no reinstall needed)
This is just to see if it’s an add-on / config issue.

1. Start FSX:SE with the default scenario (default aircraft at a default airport) and see if it still crashes.
2. If you use any add-on aircraft/scenery/weather tools: try one test flight with them not running/disabled and see if the crash stops.
3. If you run any overlays (FPS counters, recording, GPU overlays): temporarily turn them off and re-test.

4) Basic sanity checks

1. Make sure you’re not starting FSX “as Administrator” one time and normal the next (keep it consistent).
2. If you overclock (CPU/GPU/RAM), try a test at stock settings just to rule out stability issues.

A few targeted questions so we don’t chase the wrong thing

1. What OS are you on (Windows 10 or 11), and how much RAM?
2. Any add-ons installed (aircraft, scenery, weather engine, shader tools), and did this start after installing something?
3. Do you get any FSX error popup, or is it a straight CTD to desktop?
4. Please paste the Event Viewer crash entry details (especially the faulting module and exception code).

Once we see the faulting module/exception code, we can usually narrow it down pretty fast (graphics-related, gauges, AI traffic, dll/exe add-ons, etc.).