Cannot activate Couatl

[Richard McDonald Woods]

Hi Umberto,
I cannot start Couatl to get loading started.
Pressing Ctrl+F12 does nothing. I have tried re-running the Live Update and restarting Couatl, but no improvement.
The Couatl.err file has not been updated since January this year, so have not included it.
I attach the Couatl.log file
Any help, much appreciated.
Cheers, Richard

[virtuali]

Nothing in your message shows you can't activate Couatl. In fact, since a Couatl.log is produced, it means Couatl is running, and if it wasn't, you wouldn't see any buildings on any of our sceneries too.

What doesn't seem to work, from your description of the problem, is the hotkey that starts GSX. This can happen for any of those reasons:

- You haven't installed GSX. If you haven't, you will not see any of the GSX sub menus under the "Couatl powered products menu". Solution is of course installing GSX.

- You have changed the Couatl key assignment to have the hotkey to be something else than CTRL+F12. Use the "Change key assignments" menu under the Coautl menu to chec this.

- You have a conflict in the hotkey assignment. If two functions are assigned to the same hotkey, none of them will work. Check the key assignment menu to be sure there are no conflicts

- Another add-on you have installed has stolen the GSX hotkey, creating a key conflict.

[Richard McDonald Woods]

Umberto,
I have re-installed the Addon Manager but CYVR is showing without scenery except for the jetways. The Addon Manager shows that GSX is active, but I have no COUATL-powered products option on the FSX Add-ons dropdown.

What should I do?
Cheers, Richard

[virtuali]

but I have no COUATL-powered products option on the FSX Add-ons dropdown.

THe most likely cause is your antivirus has mistakenly blocked it.

- DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL with the antivirus entirely OFF

- Uninstall GSX. 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 GSX with the Antivirus TURNED OFF. Don't launch FSX yet.

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

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

YourFSXFolder it's usually C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X, if you installed it in the default folder.

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

- Check you are seeing BOTH the "Addon Manager" menu AND the "Couatl powered products" menu under the "Addons" menu.

[Richard McDonald Woods]

Hi Umberto,
I have no firewall on my FSX-only PC. Followed your instructions including re-downloading GSX installer, though, and now have GSX working again.
I do not know the cause, but so long as the solution has worked, I am a happy bunny.
Thanks for your help,
Regards, Richard