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Couatl engine failed after installing new airports

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Highiron:
Hi Umberto,

I downloaded the new installers for Prepar3D for Zurich, JFK, Hawaii 1 &2, PHNL, KLAS, KDFW, and KORD. I installed all the airports and all was functioning fine. I mucked around KLAS for over an hour.

After a restart of Prepar3D to purchase Zurich, KJFK, and KORD the Couatl option was no longer available on the menu. The add-on manager was still showing though. Nothing in my anti-virus definitions had changed, the applicable files are excluded as they always have been and has been working for over a month. The only thing new was the install of the additional airports and a restart of P3D.

I downloaded the stand alone Addon Manager and ran the install, with no success.
I ran the installer again for KLAX, and still no Couatl in the menu. I ran the latest release installer for O'Hare, and still no luck.

I checked the error log, and there is no error logged.
It's 03:06 in the morning, and after spending over 2 hours on it, I give up...

I'm going to say it, because it will make me feel better, I HATE COUATL!!! They don't make a toilet big enough to handle this enormous piece of crap. Every time I install or change an airport the thing goes AWOL. There, now I feel better, and I'm laughing again.

I will feel much better when all my FSDT airports stop disappearing...

virtuali:

--- Quote from: Highiron on December 11, 2011, 11:19:33 am ---I'm going to say it, because it will make me feel better, I HATE COUATL!!! They don't make a toilet big enough to handle this enormous piece of crap. Every time I install or change an airport the thing goes AWOL. There, now I feel better, and I'm laughing again.
--- End quote ---

You have the Addon Manager but not the Couatl menu ? If that's the case, you should first hate your antivirus that has blocked it...

It's not enough to have the Couatl.exe excluded in the antivirus, because that exclusion is only valid for the FSX/P3D folder, if the antivirus is the problem, it's blocking it when downloading and installing (in the Windows temporary folder)

If the antivirus is the problem, you need to download and install the Stand-Alone Addon Manager with the antivirus turned entirely off, and turn it on before launching FSX/P3D.

Highiron:

--- Quote from: virtuali on December 11, 2011, 02:39:11 pm ---You have the Addon Manager but not the Couatl menu ? If that's the case, you should first hate your antivirus that has blocked it...
--- End quote ---

Yes this is usually the case, and have encountered this in the past. I disabled everything possible when downloading and installing the Add-on Manager. It has always worked for me in the past, but not this time.


--- Quote ---It's not enough to have the Couatl.exe excluded in the anti-virus, because that exclusion is only valid for the FSX/P3D folder, if the anti-virus is the problem, it's blocking it when downloading and installing (in the Windows temporary folder)
--- End quote ---

This would be the case normally, but what if the anti-virus is off during the download and installation process as it was and is in my case?


--- Quote ---If the anti-virus is the problem, you need to download and install the Stand-Alone Addon Manager with the anti-virus turned entirely off, and turn it on before launching FSX/P3D.
--- End quote ---

Done this already in at least 5 different ways, all netting the same ineffective result. Since I have encountered this problem before on two separate occasions I have gotten quite used to manipulating my anti-virus to work around this problem, this time the solutions are not working, hence my frustration.

The confusion I'm having is after I installed all of your airports except Geneva, and Fort Lauderdale, the products functioned properly. After closing Prepar3D following several hours of use to do other computing, mainly forum stuff, I restarted Prepar3D to purchase KJFK, KORD, and Zurich. When I went to the menu, *Couatl* was not present, just the *Addon Manager*, I continued with the purchases anyway and Activated all three with the new keys. I then spent another 3 hours trying to fix the problem, but have now run out of options and possibilities. Everything on my system is up to date, proof of that was that all was functioning fine after initially installing the airports into P3D, and other than your airports into Prepar3D, nothing new was installed, so what changed between the first and second sessions hours apart in Pepar3D that now causes the Couatl engine to fail?

virtuali:

--- Quote from: Highiron on December 11, 2011, 10:19:21 pm ---othing new was installed, so what changed between the first and second sessions hours apart in Pepar3D that now causes the Couatl engine to fail?
--- End quote ---

Nothing has changed, of course. The program is always the same, which is why it's not possible that Couatl itself is the problem. In another message, you said that, although your turned off your antivirus, it was STILL alerting your of a "dangerous URL", which means you haven't *full* deactivated.

I'm sorry, but everything in your description (especially your other message) leads to believe the antivirus is the problem.

In any case, our suggested solution procedure, always includes a "Windows reboot" step. Have you done that ? Try to follow this to the letter, don't skip any step:

- If you installed the Stand-Alone Addon Manager, Uninstall it.

- Reply YES when asked if you want to remove the Addon Manager and the Couatl Engine. Reply YES to both questions.

- TURN OFF your antivirus. Don't just exit from its interface, but turn off the real time protection. Actual wording changes between products, however, it's the option to scan every file that gets open in real time, without user intervention.

- Reinstall the Stand-Alone Addon Manager with the Antivirus TURNED OFF. Don't launch P3D yet.

- Configure the antivirus to exclude the following files from scanning:

YourP3DFolder\bglmanx.dll
YourP3DFolder\fsdreamteam\Couatl\couatl.exe

- Now you can turn the antivirus back on, and launch P3D

- Check P3D starts correctly, and you are seeing BOTH the "Addon Manager" menu AND the "Couatl powered products" menu under the "Addons" menu.

Highiron:
Funny that you mentioned it. It's what I have been doing the last hour.

I was able to get around the malicious URL by deactivating the "signatures" within Norton 360. It was the signature of the URL it was tagging, not the file it's self. Nothing to do with the anti-virus or the firewall features of Norton, which were also disabled.

There is no actual way to shut down Norton completely, I've even tried through the System Processes option, and Access is Denied when trying to shut down the module, even though I have Administrative rights over my system. No doubt this is to prevent unwanted tampering. Since deactivating it completely in a normal Windows session is impossible, you can go into it's multitude of menus and cripple it which is how I was able to download KLAS eventually. It took me over an hour and 5 attempts to figure out what to shut down in Norton but I was successful.

I did one better as a solution. I went to "Add Remove Programs" and found 4 versions of *Addon Manager", I un-installed all of them, including FSX and P3D. I restarted the computer in "Safe Mode", Norton cannot run in Safe Mode and I confirmed it was not running. I downloaded the "Addon Manager" stand alone from the KLAX info page version 2.8.1.1.. I then ran the installer in "Safe Mode" as it installed all the files again. I restarted Windows again, and let it boot normally. I confirmed all the files are in place within the Fsdreamteam folder and the exclusions are all still present within Norton for both a FSX and P3D install. I ran Prepar3D and again only the Addon Manager is present no Couatl tab is present. Since everything was installed and downloaded in "Safe Mode" circumnavigating any anti-virus influence I can not see how the anti-virus can factor in anymore.

As for your instructions to follow, I did them last night and twice today in exactly the same manner as you laid out, hence my "Safe Mode" effort.

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