Black screen

[ML52]

I've been having trouble with my screen going black in game. I can still hear sounds but have to shut down and reboot. It only happens with Aces High no other programs causes this.

[Gman]

ML52 see my thread below, I'm having the same issue.

What are your PC specs if you don't mind me asking, I'm trying to run this down and not having much success, problem has returned despite 100s of changes to stuff.

If you recently got a 980 nVidia card, or are running another GeForce card, and upgraded to the most recent drivers, could you also please post the details?

[ML52]

Gman sorry to hear that you have the same problem.

Intell core2 duo e6600
asus p5wdhdeluxe 975x/ich7rfsb
550 watt power supply
radeon x1900xt 256mb (2)
windows xp

I hope this is what you asked for Gman.

[Skyyr]

Likely unrelated, but I upgraded to a GTX 970 and, initially, saw virtually no performance improvement (this was on a clean OS install). After checking and messing with drivers, settings, graphics settings, etc., nothing seemed to result in performance better than my last card.

Then, a few weeks ago, the game started flashing bright white, then reloading all of the textures/maps/planes, etc. It would do this non-stop, until the game locked up and crashed. It looked like it usually does when you alt+tab out and then back into the game, only it kept looping the effect.

I first attempted a re-install while backing up my downloaded resource folders (skins, maps, etc.). Same issue. Attempted rolling back drivers, same issue. Complete system restore, same issue. Virus scan - nothing. Malware - nothing. Corrupted OS files or drivers - nothing. Everything was completely normal. The only variable was the game itself.

I did a complete uninstall of the game, this time not backing up any of the resource folders (except for films and screenshots). I then reinstalled the game.

Voila!

Not only was my problem fixed, but I actually had a huge performance increase with my FPS pegged at 60. Not sure why that was required, as I had no crashes or changes to my system prior. It just... happened. You may want to try that, if nothing else seems to work.

[Skuzzy]

The "world.cfg" and "video8.cfg" files can cause problems if you simply change video cards.  You can safely remove those two files.

[glzsqd]

Was surprised when i was able to transfer the entire game over from one computer to another and it still worked fine.

[ML52]

I have reloaded the game and it worked for a while.

Shuzzy should I try removing those files even with no card change?

[Skuzzy]

Here is a good rule of thumb.  If the game aborts in an unexpected manner, there is always a chance a config file could get corrupt.

It is quite easy to rename the "settings" folder, and try it out.  Copy the stick files from the old folder to the new one and if the problem is a corrupt config, that should do the trick.

[Gman]

I have a feeling that last tip or two from Skuzzy is the ticket.  I'd tried reinstalling the game, back and forth between 3 different drives two of them SSD and the other a WD Black 1tb spinner.

I'd recently copied a lot of my settings for AH, maps, films, all that stuff from a backup I keep in a couple spots.  I have a feeling that the files SKuzzy named were corrupted within the backup files, and I'd just keep re-copy/pasting them into each new install, constantly replicating the problem. 

It seems to be gone now, I have everything back to normal, overclocks, vid card tweaks, 144hz mode w/gsync enabled, and I played for about 2 hours straight today without a hiccup, all the problems were gone.

No big deal really, considering as I said it's the first ever trouble I had, and I'm positive I caused it myself by moving stuff around now, as it was fine for weeks after switching from 970s to 980s, nor was their problems in other games.

Lesson learned, it's a good thing to know now regarding the fixes.

[ML52]

I did the same Gman, copied the files deleting the ones Skuzzy mentioned and didn't have a problem last night, so far so good. Thanks Skuzzy!

[ML52]

I spoke to soon, happened again last night. I did notice though that it only occurs in gv's not in aircraft. Strange.

[Bizman]

Outside of the box thinking, could this be related to Power Saving Options? New drivers may change the settings. If the power led changes colour to orange when the screen goes black, that might be the reason. Restarting the monitor should bring the picture back in that case. If the power led of the monitor stays green (or blue) even with the black screen, it's something else.

[Gman]

It isn't happening like that, not on my system - the monitor isn't losing power, and all the driver settings in that regard are set to max performance.  The graphics slowly start to move in slow motion, then freeze, shudder for an instant, then blackout, but you can still hear sound, even through monitor speakers - I tried switching monitors back to an older 144hz 27" Asus that wasn't 1440p or Gsync equipped just to rule that out.  Plus you can see the power light of the monitor doesn't change, not until the game goes to tower after you crash, sits there for a few seconds as well - THEN when it ctd's the light will change for an instant, but that's completely normal.

I finally think I've defeated it, after many false victories declared, it would sneak back up and attack.  Skuzzy nailed it, it HAD to be in the settings.  The only frustrating thing is I tried so many important little setting "sneak backs" of bringing things over, that somewhere among about the 1/3 of the usual settings I would re copy in a reinstall, that corrupted file existed.  So, I had to start all over, reset all the controllers, all the head positions in each plane (an ongoing thing), the sound settings (the biggest PITA trying to tune all those back to where they were), and so forth.

This was after a reformat of one of my systems, just to be sure it wasn't a driver that driver sweep missed or something - that gaming system has no important anything, and reformating now is a breeze compared to years ago, so nbd.  However the issue still happened with the usual AH backup settings file I keep in a couple spots.  The only answer had to be what Skuzzy figured - it was corruption IN that file, as everything else possible was checked and rechecked x about 10.  You don't realize all the settings you change over the years and just don't think about until you have to redo them all.  I flew around for an hour in the Ki43 thinking I'd really screwed up the stick settings or something, as I couldn't kill a thing, until I found the stall limiter and all the other boxes in that menu were rechecked.  I'm finding things hourly like that, it's kinda fun.  Still can't remember how to turn off the music on the start page, haha.

[Bizman]

Still can't remember how to turn off the music on the start page, haha.

Create an empty file titled title0.mp3 into the Sounds folder. You can do it even with Notepad or any other program. Or, if you wish, rename any tune you like to that.

[Skuzzy]

Options->Preferences->Game Sounds->Music slider.