P3D v4 - Couatl doesn't load **SOLVED**

[Sensient]

Hi there

I have a couple of issues with the current installers in P3D v4.
No issues with the same installers in P3D v3 and by looking at and comparing the add-ons.cfg, the DLL.xml and the EXE.xml, I can't seem to determine the cause of the issue.

Issue number one:
Couatl and GSX don't load. See the attached images Add-on_Menu and the two Add-On_List PNGs to see what shows up.

Issue number two:
I can't activate any products from the Add-On Manager. See the Image on the Add-On Manager open for that. They all remain in Trial mode. If I enter a serial, the pop-up closes when I submit and that returns me back into the Sim. If I go back to the Add-On manager, the scenery is still in trial mode. I tried this for GSX, LSZH and KCLT.

What did I try?

• What I did is reinstall the full GSX 2.0 Installer over the installation, with no luck.
• I used Live Update, with no luck.
• I tried Installing the Standalone Add-On Manager, with no luck.
• I then uninstalled and reinstalled GSX without removing the Add-On manager, with no luck.
• I then uninstalled GSX and removed the Add-On manager, reinstalling the full GSX installer, with no luck.

I did try and add Couatl.exe's path to the EXE.dll as suggested in a different thread, but that didn't bring up anything either, so I removed that again.

Am I the only one seeing this behavior? I honestly do't see what I'm doing wrong here, so I'm seeking enlightenment here.

Thanks in advance.

[virtuali]

Couatl and GSX don't load. See the attached images Add-on_Menu and the two Add-On_List PNGs to see what shows up.

It's entirely normal you won't see GSX or Couatl listed as Addons. They are all part of the Addon Manager Add-on group.

If I enter a serial, the pop-up closes when I submit and that returns me back into the Sim. If I go back to the Add-On manager, the scenery is still in trial mode. I tried this for GSX, LSZH and KCLT.

Do you have the Couatl menu under the "Addons" menu ? ( the normal Addons menu, not the new Options-Add-ons menu )

I did try and add Couatl.exe's path to the EXE.dll as suggested in a different thread, but that didn't bring up anything either, so I removed that again.

Please DO NOT follow ANY suggestions coming with anybody other than FSDT! The installer surely knows which files must be updated, and which must not.

[Sensient]

Umberto, thanks for the swift reply.

No I do not have Couatl listed, as depicted on one of the Screenshots.

[Sensient]

Umberto, any advice on my issue?

[TUX]

Hi i have the same problem.
Any help. Please?

[escobar]

the same over here

[virtuali]

As usual, if you have one of the modules not running, the first thing to do is to install with the antivirus disabled, and configure the Addon Manager folder to be excluded from the antivirus scanning.

[Sensient]

Installed without AV on. The SSD the Addon Manager is installed on is excluded from Scans.
It still doesn't load.

What I noticed though is, that it gets installed into this folder: F:\FSDT\Addon Manager\Addon Manager
Is there supposed to be an Addon Manager folder within the Addon Manager folder? When installing, I cannot change the path.

[virtuali]

What I noticed though is, that it gets installed into this folder: F:\FSDT\Addon Manager\Addon Manager

It's installed there because you chose to install there so, it's seem the first time you chose the  F:\FSDT folder, so it installed into  F:\FSDT\Addon Manager, which is normal, but then you somehow managed to bypass the lock the prevents you to re-select the previously installed folder again, which is there precisely to prevent you to do the mistake of installing one product into a folder and another into another one so, the 2d time you chose F:\FSDT\Addon Manager, so it installed into F:\FSDT\Addon Manager\Addon Manager.

I have no idea why you manage to change the installation folder the 2nd time because, as you might have noticed, you are only allowed to choose the folder freely once, then it default to the first choice.

Of course, if you created an F:\FSDT\Addon Manager\ folder manually, and installed there, it's entirely normal that it would install into F:\FSDT\Addon Manager\Addon Manager, which is not really a *problem* as such, you can install anywhere, it's just not very nice to look at.

In any case, to "undo" your choice and be able to select the folder freely again, you must uninstall everything, and at the end, reply YES to the question "Do you want to remove the Addon Manager?", so your initial choice will be cleared up and you will be able to choose the folder freely on the next installation

[Sensient]

Hi Umberto

Although I don't recall having chosen that second folder manually through the installer, nor did I create it manually.

But I am also guessing, that I have no other choice than uninstalling everything and reinstalling it.

Cheers
Mark

[Sensient]

OK, I uninstalled everything FSDT and also Flightbeam and each teach clicked YES when it asked me whether I wanted to uninstall the Addon Manager and YES a second time each time I got asked, whether i wanted to uninstall Couatl or not. Everything, including the Addon Managers were uninstalled. I started the P3Dv3 and then P3Dv4 to have the scenery.cfg's be rebuilt and then made sure I saw no Addon Manager, GSX or anything remotely FSDT in the Sim.

I then cleant out the F:\FSDT\Addon Manager folder manually, since it didn't seem to remove many things in there. I also ran through all the add-on.cfg's, EXE.xml's, DLL.xml's exe.xml's and dll.xml's for both P3Dv3 and P3Dv4 and removed any remaining FSDT and/or Flightbeam entries.

Then I deleted everything in the Virtuali folders i APPDATA and PROGRAMDATA.

I the downloaded a fresh full GSX installer from the site and installed that. I now do not have a second "Addon Manager" folders in F:\FSDT\Addon Manager (which I expected).

In P3Dv3 everything works (see Screenshot attached). In P3Dv4... same picture as before (see the other Screenshot attached.

Could you tell me in which CFG or XML couatl.exe is called? I cannot do much more than what I've done.

And just to clarify. My Antivirus software and its Deep Guard are deactivated and the entire F-Drive is excluded from scans.

[virtuali]

Could you tell me in which CFG or XML couatl.exe is called? I cannot do much more than what I've done.

There's no used check this. BOTH the Addon Manager and Couatl are called from the same add-on.xml file, located in the Documents\Prepar3d v4 folder, so if you have the Addon Manager, but not Couatl, the only possible reason it's something that prevents Couatl to start, and this is 99% of the times the antivirus.

If the were a problem with the xml configuration or the add-ons.cfg configuration, the Addon Manager shouldn't' have appeared as well.

[Sensient]

Then let's assume I'm in the 1% of people that are not affected by the Antivirus software blocking Couatl from loading.

To summarize once more: The AV software was off during installation, The Addon Manager folder with Couatl inside is on a drive the AV software ignores. With the same installation on the same machine with the same non-running or running AV software (it doesn't make a difference in my case), Couatl loads in P3Dv3 but not in P3dv4.
Considering these facts, I strongly believe the AV software (in my case again, can't speak for anybody else) is not causing this issue.

Generally, it's not about blame for me here. I would like to help finding the root cause for the problem I have and as it seems, not being the only one encountering this issue.
If you don't believe me or can't reproduce the issue, you may have a look for yourself via TeamViewer.

[RoDuSu]

I am having the exact same issue.

I've uninstalled everything, turned off the antivirus, reinstalled GSX as an administrator, started P3D and noticed that Couatl isn't in the menu. I've attempted to register the serial in the Addon Manager and that doesn't work -- if I click on Addon Manager again, it says the software is running in Trial mode and to register the serial.

[virtuali]

Nothing will work if Couatl is not running.

- Download and install with the antivirus disabled.

- Before starting the sim, configure the antivirus, and be sure to exclude the whole Addon Manager folder from scanning.

- If that doesn't work, try reinstalling Windows after the installation.