Having to reactivate GSX again and again and again

[MagisterMilitum]

Greetings, all,

I am dealing with a problem keeping the software activated on my flight-simulator.

The problem involves GSX being in trial mode every time that I start a new scenario in P3D.  GSX will always be in trial mode upon start-up.  I can activate the software by going to the add-on manager and inputting the license key for BOTH GSX and GSX level 2 (as shown in the attachment below).  Then, I restart couatl through the add-on manager.  These steps typically lead to activation 95% of the time, but sometimes even these do nothing.   However, the active status only lasts only for so long as the current scenario lasts, being only temporary.

I have tried running the both GSX and couatl in administrator mode with no positive outcome.  I have ran out of tricks at this point left only with more frustration.  It is a wonderful program when it is active, but it has been a pain activating it so that it works properly.  

My technical specifications are the following:

GSX version 2.7.2
P3D v4.4
FSLabs A320, FeelThere E170, and so forth
New computer: a dedicated gaming platform with a Nvidia geforce 1060x

Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

[virtuali]

Try to Deactivate first, and then reactivate again.

[MagisterMilitum]

Try to Deactivate first, and then reactivate again.

All right.  I activated GSX level 2, making it active, then I deactivated it and reactivated.  Then it says that GSX level 2 will remain in trial mode until GSX is purchased.  I bought the software from fspilotshop.

By the way, is it necessary to activate both GSX and GSX level 2, or is it sufficient to activate only GSX level 2 by itself since GSX level 2 is what I own?

[MightyDog]

From the GSX level 2 product page :

IMPORTANT - This is not a Stand-Alone product! It's an expansion for GSX, which won't work unless GSX is already active.

So you need both activated

[MagisterMilitum]

From the GSX level 2 product page :

IMPORTANT - This is not a Stand-Alone product! It's an expansion for GSX, which won't work unless GSX is already active.

So you need both activated

Understood, thanks.  Thus far, I have done it as such by activating GSX, then GSX level 2.  The status changes to ACTIVE.  Afterwards I restart couatl, and everything seems to work well.  Upon starting a new scenario, GSX again reverts back to trial mode.   I know that there is a learning curve to managing complex add-on software such as this, but something does not seem right.  If it says that it is active, should it not stay so? 

[virtuali]

Upon starting a new scenario, GSX again reverts back to trial mode.   

Starting a new scenario in the same session, or quitting the sim and start from scratch ?

[MagisterMilitum]

Upon starting a new scenario, GSX again reverts back to trial mode.   

Starting a new scenario in the same session, or quitting the sim and start from scratch ?

I have tried both.  Unfortunately, the outcome is always the same.

[virtuali]

Try to change the Properties for this file:

Addon Manager\couatl\Couatl.exe

To run As Administrator, and Deactivate/Reactivate again.

[MagisterMilitum]

Try to change the Properties for this file:

Addon Manager\couatl\Couatl.exe

To run As Administrator, and Deactivate/Reactivate again.

Yeah...I tried that as well, the same problem keeps happening even though couatl runs as administrator.  Let us say that I activate GSX for the first scenario of the day,  GSX is active and trial mode is removed (only after restarting couatl).  Then I go to do a second scenario; GSX is active, but it is back to trial mode in the second scenario.  Let us say again that I shut P3D after scenario 1, and restarted the sim before beginning a second scenario.  Then GSX reverts back to being inactive and in trial mode.  I tried deactivating after activating, the same pattern continues to occur.

[virtuali]

and restarted the sim before beginning a second scenario.  Then GSX reverts back to being inactive and in trial mode.  

With "inactive", you mean it's not working at all, not even in Trial ( the Trial airports ? ). If this is the case, then your problem doesn't anything to do with activation, it's just that Couatl on the 2nd session didn't start for some reason, so the Addon Manager indicated "Trial", because the Addon Manager doesn't do anything to check the license, it asks Couatl and, if it's not there, it will always say "Trial".

A most common reason why Couatl doesn't start on a 2nd session, it's because you started a new one too quickly after the previous one. Even if the program icon has disappeared, it will take a bit more before the simulator has closed all the program it started, and this will take more, the more add-on you have that must be sent notifications to close, and it will take even more if your system is stressed by too many add-ons and too high-settings, and it will take even more if you don't have lots of RAM.

If you want to get a feeling how much it takes to REALLY close the sim in your system, try to open the GSX Control Panel while the sim is running, and keep an eye on the button that says "Waiting for the sim to close". Exit the simulator, and notice how long it takes for the button to become available to Compile. THIS is when is absolutely safe to restart a new session.

[MagisterMilitum]

and restarted the sim before beginning a second scenario.  Then GSX reverts back to being inactive and in trial mode.  

With "inactive", you mean it's not working at all, not even in Trial ( the Trial airports ? ). If this is the case, then your problem doesn't anything to do with activation, it's just that Couatl on the 2nd session didn't start for some reason, so the Addon Manager indicated "Trial", because the Addon Manager doesn't do anything to check the license, it asks Couatl and, if it's not there, it will always say "Trial".

Yes, the trial airports are working.  That is what I meant by saying "inactive".  Let's say that I start the sim and register the serial through add-on manager.  I can activate it, and trial mode goes away with that.  Then anytime I start a new scenario, trial mode once again is in effect, and I have to register through add-on manager again to have GSX furnish services.  For some reason, the software does not recall that the serial has been registered for subsequent, new sessions.

A most common reason why Couatl doesn't start on a 2nd session, it's because you started a new one too quickly after the previous one. Even if the program icon has disappeared, it will take a bit more before the simulator has closed all the program it started, and this will take more, the more add-on you have that must be sent notifications to close, and it will take even more if your system is stressed by too many add-ons and too high-settings, and it will take even more if you don't have lots of RAM.

If you want to get a feeling how much it takes to REALLY close the sim in your system, try to open the GSX Control Panel while the sim is running, and keep an eye on the button that says "Waiting for the sim to close". Exit the simulator, and notice how long it takes for the button to become available to Compile. THIS is when is absolutely safe to restart a new session.

This could be a possibility that the system is too stressed, but I checked the control panel after I shut the P3D off and it indicates that it is ready to compile fairly quickly thereafter.  

[virtuali]

Yes, the trial airports are working.  That is what I meant by saying "inactive".  

Ok, so you can scratch everything I said about waiting to close, etc., because it's seems GSX is working normally, just in Trial.

For some reason, the software does not recall that the serial has been registered for subsequent, new sessions.

Something in the simulator Compatibility settings can also cause this.  Not necessarily the simulator itself, but even another add-on that runs in some kind of Compatibility setting, might force the OS to activate the compatibility mode, which reroutes lots of registry read/write, which might possibly affect the activation, which is stored in the registry.

Something you might also try is:

- Create a new user account in Windows

- Install GSX into that account, and see if the activation stays. If it does, it might be related to issues with permissions in your other account.

[MagisterMilitum]

I will give it a shot and see how it goes.  By the way, when I installed the software it did not give me the option of installing it in either P3D, X-plane or FSX.  I found this somewhat odd Is this normal?

[virtuali]

I will give it a shot and see how it goes.  By the way, when I installed the software it did not give me the option of installing it in either P3D, X-plane or FSX.  I found this somewhat odd Is this normal?

- X-Plane is not supported.

If it's the 64 bit installer, it's normal it wouldn't install in FSX, because it only supports P3D4, and only from version 4.4 and up. If the problem was the P3D4 version too old, an indication in the installer will said so.

[MagisterMilitum]

Just an update since it has been a couple of weeks...I had no luck working the program through a separate user account.  

I took a couple more screenshots which might shed further light on where the problem truly lies.  Occasionally after I register the serial, the add-on manager asks me to input my license.  This request (as seen in the screenshots) happens perhaps one out of every six attempts at registering my serial through the add-on manager. I enter my serial/license key that I use to register the serial, and the following messages are given to me.  Entering my e-mail address results in a "customer not found" message.

A few questions of mine are: should the license key and the activation key be the same?  I was given a license key upon purchase, but no activation key.