Addon Manager Issue That's Occurred Before

[str1ker]

Hey,

My name's Ashton, and I'm actually reviewing this scenery for VFR Reviews (I'm also doing a XPOI review).

It's actually been a while since I received the scenery, and I'd like to apologize for the long delay in writing the review itself.  The main reason for the massive delays are the factors in my life which just overload me with work.  It's unlikely I'll continue reviewing products as I have before as a result, but I'm determined to finish the ones I still have to do.

Anyway, so here's the situation.  Basically, I managed to install this scenery just fine, XPOI installed as well, and it was all working fairly nicely, though I had a few occasional errors on startup, which I basically fixed by starting repeatedly until FSX would work (these problems were related to the addon manager and the bglmanx DLL, but I did not disable them when prompted).

So yeah, I had XPOI and the scenery working half of the time.

Later on, perhaps a week after installing, everytime I started FSX to test the products and get a better feel for them for the review, nothing would go wrong, it would work beautifully, and it continued to be that way for about two or three weeks.

So that brings me to my current situation, where FSX won't start at all, unless bglmanx is disabled.

I have no other DLL-based addons installed, making the addon manager the only 3rd party DLL that FSX needs to load which means there's likely no conflict between anything.

I read up on a thread, checking out fixes, trying all of them, except one:
http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=713.msg5806#msg5806

That dude says he went back to version 4.28 and everything worked fine.  I'd like to try the same, however I don't know how to obtain version 4.28, so I'm wondering if you could help me out with getting it.

I'm largely in the same situation as the rest of the dudes, Vista x64, which appears to be the common issue, and I'm not surprised due to Vista's track-record with compatibility, especially with x64 running x86 applications.

So yeah, sorry to disturb you, please feel free to move the thread if you feel it's appropriate, I'm totally new to this forum anyway.

And please feel free to bombard me with any technical stuff, I'm a developer too so I know how FSX does its things most of the time.

Sincerely,

Ashton

[virtuali]

I don't have much to add to the above post. I can only confirm that, on my Vista x64 installation (on a Mac...<g>), there are no problems whatsoever.

I don't understand your remark about this supposed "version 4.28". We don't have such version. That poster was refering to FSUIPC version, which was the problem in one case. But you are saying you don't have any other 3rd party modules loading, so it's confusing now.

Can you please post the contents of BOTH your EXE.XML and DLL.XML, to be found under %APPDATA%\Microsoft\FSX ?

[str1ker]

Ah, I see , well then I'm totally out of ideas.

Here are the files contents as requested.

dll.xml

Code: [Select]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="Windows-1252"?>
<SimBase.Document Type="Launch" version="1,0">
  <Descr>Launch</Descr>
  <Filename>dll.xml</Filename>
  <Disabled>False</Disabled>
  <Launch.ManualLoad>False</Launch.ManualLoad>
  <Launch.Addon>
    <Name>Addon Manager</Name>
    <Disabled>False</Disabled>
    <ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad>
    <Path>bglmanx.dll</Path>
  </Launch.Addon>
</SimBase.Document>
exe.xml

Code: [Select]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="Windows-1252"?>
<SimBase.Document Type="Launch" version="1,0">
  <Descr>Launch</Descr>
  <Filename>exe.xml</Filename>
  <Disabled>False</Disabled>
  <Launch.ManualLoad>False</Launch.ManualLoad>
  <Launch.Addon>
    <Name>Couatl</Name>
    <Disabled>False</Disabled>
    <ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad>
    <Path>fsdreamteam\couatl\couatl.exe</Path>
  </Launch.Addon>
</SimBase.Document>
I've actually purposely removed the other entries which were disabled by default in the dll.xml file anyway, since I had no use for them.

[virtuali]

Ok, your files are fine.

Can you tell me, exactly, what happens when you start FSX ? Do you see some kind of error messages ?

[str1ker]

I actually get three different messages, and each one comes up kinda' randomly.

The usual one says "Microsoft Flight Simulator has stopped working" and gives the usual Vista solutions to Close the App, Check Online, or Debug the App, then giving the Problem signature.  I've noted that he listed fault module each time changes between the many DLLs in FSX's folder.  Could be weather.dll, ntdll.dll, any of them, though I have no yet seen bglmanx.dll as a Fault Module.

The next one I get, which typically comes up after a couple tries receiving the above one, is usually the one which says that FSX has detected a problem with bglmanx.dll, then asking if I would still like to run it.  If I do, I get the above message.  If I don't, FSX works fine, but any scenery, like KLAS, doesn't show the buildings, as expected.

Finally, the one I get sometimes, totally randomly, is the "Your computer has run out of available memory.  Please restart Flight Simulator and select different graphics, scenery, or traffic settings."  I've run FSX maxed-out just for video recording and have received no such issues before.  I've even done so with KLAS and all went fine.  Plus my computer's quite a good actually, QX9650 with 4GB of RAM and two 9800GX2s.

Those are all the messages I get.

[virtuali]

I've noted that he listed fault module each time changes between the many DLLs in FSX's folder.  Could be weather.dll, ntdll.dll, any of them, though I have no yet seen bglmanx.dll as a Fault Module.

The next one I get, which typically comes up after a couple tries receiving the above one, is usually the one which says that FSX has detected a problem with bglmanx.dll, then asking if I would still like to run it.

Finally, the one I get sometimes, totally randomly, is the "Your computer has run out of available memory.

I think the diverse kind of error messages you are gettting, are probably the result of more widespread system problems. The only thing that's sure, your problem doesn't have anything in common with the others, and is not related to the Addon Manager, which is only *affected* by those issues, just like all the other modules you get warnings from.

These could be either software (the pattern looks like you catched a virus or something like that) or hardware, see below.

Plus my computer's quite a good actually, QX9650 with 4GB of RAM and two 9800GX2s.

Considering that FSX doesn't support or benefits from a SLI configurations, a possible explanation for such random messages could also be hardware related, like not enough juice to power 2 graphic cards (and the rest of the system too), but it's just a guess, and almost impossible to tell without having a look at your system.

I'd try first with a Windows reinstall, then start looking for hardware issues, if it happens again after a clean Windows reinstall.

[str1ker]

Unlikely it's a virus, I haven't had a virus since my Windows 98 days.

As for SLI, I know FSX doesn't support it, which is why I usually disable it when running FSX, or games which use PhysX and stuff.  FSX has always been fine with SLI on though, so can't be that.  I'll try disabling it again just to be sure.

I think I'll hold on the Windows reinstall for now, and I'll try messing around a bit more, then I'll do an FSX reinstall and see what happens.

If all else fails I'll consider the Windows reinstall, even though I'd hate to have to do that.  After all, every other program on my computer has had zero issues, it's only been FS that's sorta' been an on-off kinda' deal that's only occurred with bglmanx.

Thanks for the help dude, I'll report back later to see what I've managed to do.

[virtuali]

If all else fails I'll consider the Windows reinstall, even though I'd hate to have to do that.  After all, every other program on my computer has had zero issues, it's only been FS that's sorta' been an on-off kinda' deal that's only occurred with bglmanx.

Sorry, but thart's not the case. I've based my reply on the information you have given, which is you get random crashes from every module in FSX, including bglmanx.dll, but not only, and even in some Windows modules, like ntdll

Had you said you only get crashes from bglmanx.dll, that might have been a different issue, but it doesn't seem to be the case, based on your report.

About SLI, the fact you disable it when running FSX wouldn't change much: if your PSU does't have enough power, or doesn't supply power which is *stable* enough, this would be a problem even with SLI disabled, because turning off SLI would not power down the 2nd card, it will just consume a little bit less.

If you don't have any other problems in Windows, an FSX reinstall might be easier to try first.

[str1ker]

Yeah, working on bugs is a weird one.

I've got a 1200W PSU, so I doubt power's the issue, since I play games like Crysis, GRID, graphically intense games in general.

Edit:
Alright, just to let you know what's happening, I've tried out a couple more things (stuff that I've changed since FSX was installed, system-related stuff), and I've had no change in the issue, so I'm off to uninstall then install FSX.

That'll hopefully fix up whatever's wrong with it.

Thanks for the help so far .

[str1ker]

Alright then, weird.

This time, I installed FSX, followed by Acceleration, followed by the Addon Manager, followed by KLAS and XPOI, all without starting FSX inbetween.

I started FSX up, it built the scenery library, told me about new key mappings, then Vista kindly displayed the annoying FSX has crashed screen, placing ntdll.dll at fault.

I started it again, and it worked.

So, just in case this is a one-time miracle, I'll do what I need to do with KLAS and XPOI (screenshots mainly), then I'll finish off my two reviews, and I'll let you know later-on if FSX continues to work, or becomes 'random' again.

Thanks for the help dude.

[str1ker]

Strangely enough, everything's sorted itself out, how convenient .

Thanks for the help man, seems to be working perfectly fine now .

Edit:
Scratch that, I'm still getting the problems .

Edit 2:
Scratch that, it's working again.

I guess it's gone back to the sometimes-it-works, sometimes-it-doesn't state.  Oh well ...

[virtuali]

Can you please try to reinstall any of the products again (doens't matter which one), because we just updated the .DLL today ?

[str1ker]

Alright, I'll do that in a minute.

Edit:
Installer did it's thing, downloaded the file, installed as normal.

First try, fault module ntdll.dll error.

Same with second try.

Third try is FS telling me that it's found a problem with bglmanx.dll giving me the option to run with or without, I click Yes, fatal error as before occurs.

I'll try after a restart, since it's been an on/off thing for a while.

[virtuali]

Try a reinstall, but before reinstalling, try to remove manually all bglmanx*.* files in your root folder, because maybe something is preventing to update them.

By removing manually and reinstalling, you are sure the download ones will be in place.

[str1ker]

Alright then.

May I ask though, even though the installer has administrative rights, why are you unsure about the downloaded file not properly replacing an existing one?

Edit:
Got the error still.