FSDreamTeam forum

Products Support => Hawaiian Airports support FSX/P3D => Topic started by: TomWeiss on April 25, 2014, 05:32:32 pm

Title: Couatl crashing on start **SOLVED**
Post by: TomWeiss on April 25, 2014, 05:32:32 pm
add on manager says that all 3 are Installed and ACTIVE, but all buildings are not loading (Black textures)

(all were installed with the latest version from the website, dl today)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/thomasdw/new%20Jan%202011/addonmanager.png (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/thomasdw/new%20Jan%202011/addonmanager.png)
Title: Re: All 3 Hawaii airports in P3D active but not loading
Post by: virtuali on April 26, 2014, 10:02:38 am
add on manager says that all 3 are Installed and ACTIVE, but all buildings are not loading (Black textures)

Black textures doesn't mean the buildings are not loading, it means their TEXTURES are not loading, if the buildings didn't load, you wouldn't see anything, not even the black textures.

The most likely reason is that you have manually moved the scenery installation folder outside the FSX\fsdreamteam folder. You can't do that, it must stay where the installer puts it.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: TomWeiss on April 26, 2014, 03:07:20 pm
I did not move them - they are loading OK in FSX, the black buildings are in P3D v2.2, I just installed there.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: virtuali on April 26, 2014, 04:27:57 pm
I did not move them - they are loading OK in FSX, the black buildings are in P3D v2.2, I just installed there.

There's no difference whatsoever, the only possible reason for this, is that you are using some kind of non-default configuration for P3D folders, or use the migration tool, that messes up with the registry keys, so the sim is running on the wrong folders.

Again, if you see buildings, but in black, everything is running correctly, just that textures can't be found so, either are being moved, or the sim is looking into the wrong folders for some reason.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: TomWeiss on April 26, 2014, 05:19:46 pm
probably that is the reason, can you point out which folders I need to check to fix this ?
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: virtuali on April 26, 2014, 05:32:41 pm
probably that is the reason, can you point out which folders I need to check to fix this ?

First, check your registry keys for P3D, be sure they are pointing to the folder P3D is installed into. They can be checked using the REGEDIT default utility, and are located at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v2\AppPath key.

Also, check you are not running the sim in any of the "Compatibility" modes for Windows XP or Vista (if running under Windows 7 or 8 ), and be sure you turn off every migration utility.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: TomWeiss on April 26, 2014, 05:45:53 pm
the path is OK

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/thomasdw/new%20Jan%202011/info-1.png (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/thomasdw/new%20Jan%202011/info-1.png)

could it be that if I copy the textures folder to P3D v2.2 from FSX that they would load ?
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: virtuali on April 26, 2014, 05:56:53 pm
could it be that if I copy the textures folder to P3D v2.2 from FSX that they would load ?

You don't have to manually copy anything, our installer is obviously complete and tested to work under P3D, and installs all needed files in the proper places.

OF COURSE, if you had the P3D migration tool active WHEN you ran the installer, nothing will basically work when using an installer that is supposed to work under P3D, like all our own. If you did that, reinstall using our installer, with every migration tool DISABLED.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: TomWeiss on April 26, 2014, 06:29:30 pm
I did not have anything else than SimSwitch added, I am going to re-install it again, I'll post as soon as I am finished.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: TomWeiss on April 26, 2014, 09:08:25 pm
reinstalled all 3 - the building don't load, there is nothing there but a black square on the surface of the airport where the building should be, very much like it is when the add on is not registered and in trial.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: virtuali on April 26, 2014, 11:15:11 pm
reinstalled all 3 - the building don't load, there is nothing there but a black square on the surface of the airport where the building should be, very much like it is when the add on is not registered and in trial.

Nope. When the scenery is not registered and in Trial, EVERYTHING will work normally, just for 5 minutes at time. Now,I'm not sure anymore what do you mean with "black textures".

From your first report, it seemed you HAD buildings, but with black textures. Now, from this report, it seems you have black areas on *ground* textures, where the buildings are supposed to be, but without a building.

This doesn't have anything to do with registration (because, as I've said, an unregistered scenery will work normally, for 5 minutes), it seems the software is not even running.

The usual question: do you have BOTH the "Addon Manager" AND the "Couatl powered products" menu under the "Addons" menu ?
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: TomWeiss on April 27, 2014, 03:11:15 pm
no, there isn't.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: virtuali on April 27, 2014, 08:56:55 pm
no, there isn't

Not very clear. Are you missing one of the menus ? If yes, which one ? Or are you missing BOTH ?
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: TomWeiss on April 27, 2014, 11:38:03 pm
my reply got truncated

"Couatl powered products" is the one missing

this is what I am getting now

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/thomasdw/new%20Jan%202011/Prepar3D2014-04-2615-56-44-43.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/thomasdw/new%20Jan%202011/Prepar3D2014-04-2615-56-44-43.jpg)
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: virtuali on April 28, 2014, 09:37:24 am
my reply got truncated

Your post was edited ONLY to remove your screenshot, because you posted it against the Screenshot posting rules:

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,3076.0.html

Quote
2) When using external servers to post images, it's best to use the URL tag instead of the IMG tag, so you don't force downloading lots of data to someone that might not be interested and (maybe) is on a slow connection or, even worse, on a pay-for-traffic connection, like those using 3G.

The screenshot didn't show the "Addon" menu in the opened status, so it wasn't possible to see which of the two menus you were missing.

Quote
"Couatl powered products" is the one missing

In this case, it's very likely the antivirus, the solution has been discussed plenty of times:

- Uninstall the scenery. 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 scenery 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.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: TomWeiss on April 28, 2014, 11:09:44 pm
I purchased all these 3 products when they came out - and I did install and use them without any problems, so it is not a question of a first timer having install issues.

I uninstalled everything and tried to install again, this time with antivirus off and added the whole FSX and P3D folders as exceptions for antivirus.

now, both in FSX - AND - in P3D I have no building loading.

the Cuatl is not showing up in either, the add on manager is showing up.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: virtuali on April 29, 2014, 11:41:24 am
I purchased all these 3 products when they came out - and I did install and use them without any problems, so it is not a question of a first timer having install issues.

That should in fact just prove to you that the installers works, because you *have* used the products in the past. What made a difference, is something in your system that changed between then and now. An online update of the antivirus might have caused this, for example.

Quote
I uninstalled everything and tried to install again, this time with antivirus off and added the whole FSX and P3D folders as exceptions for antivirus.

Quote
the Cuatl is not showing up in either, the add on manager is showing up.

Then you must have done something wrong, like not following everything in my previous reply TO THE LETTER because, if you had BOTH modules missing, it might have been some difficult to find issue with your Windows C++ runtimes libraries, or a problem with the Simconnect libraries.

If, instead, you are missing JUST Couatl and it's missing in BOTH FSX and P3D then it can only be the antivirus.

Redo all the following, exactly, don't skip ANY step. In FSX ( because P3D won't ask you ), PAY ATTENTION if you are being asked permission to run BOTH modules when you first start FSX. Obviously allow both of them.

If you REALLY followed all the procedure to the letter, without skipping ANY step, and you are not being asked permission to run BOTH modules, clearly indicate if you are being asked permission to run both, one of them ( which one, of course ) or none of them.

If you are not being asked permission to run *just* Couatl, then sorry, IT IS the antivirus.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: TomWeiss on April 29, 2014, 03:56:38 pm
I followed precisely and to the letter your instructions

I just want to say that, I am used to FSX and that I am writing a review of P3D v2.2 and that all my other add ons are working OK in both P3D and FSX at this time.

I did uninstall
I did reinstall in both FSX AND P3D
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/thomasdw/new%20Jan%202011/progfiles.png (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/thomasdw/new%20Jan%202011/progfiles.png)

disabled
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/thomasdw/new%20Jan%202011/avast1.png (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/thomasdw/new%20Jan%202011/avast1.png)
P3D folder excluded
[URLhttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/thomasdw/new%20Jan%202011/avast2.png[/URL]
specific files excluded FOR P3D
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/thomasdw/new%20Jan%202011/avast3-1.png (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/thomasdw/new%20Jan%202011/avast3-1.png)

how it looks in P3D
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/thomasdw/new%20Jan%202011/P3Daddon.png (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/thomasdw/new%20Jan%202011/P3Daddon.png)

I also installed it in FSX, where it did ask permission for Cuatl to be added, same thing happened the menu does not show Cuatl and the buildings do not load.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: virtuali on April 29, 2014, 04:03:11 pm
First, I would kindly ask you to STOP posting embedded images, against the Screenshot Posting rules which I've ALREADY posted for you in my previous reply. Could you do that, please ? Again, in case you haven't noticed it from my previous reply:

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,3076.0.html

And, don't waste your time posting screenshots of the scenery without buildings. It's more than enough saying "I don't have the Couatl menu", and that's it. Your problem is that something in your system is blocking that program from running, nothing else.

I also installed it in FSX, where it did ask permission for Cuatl to be added, same thing happened the menu does not show Cuatl and the buildings do not load.

You should activate the Simconnect diagnostic mode to see what's wrong with your install:

Open notepad, and copy the following text:


[SimConnect]
level=errors
console=1
RedirectStdOutToConsole=1
OutputDebugString=1
; file=c:\simconnect%03u.log
; file_next_index=0
; file_max_index=9


Save the file as SIMCONNECT.INI in this folder:

Documents And Settings\YOUR LOGIN NAME\Documents\Microsoft Flight Simulator X Files

At the next FSX launch, you should see a text window with diagnostic message, that should tell what's going wrong. Let me know what you are getting, so we can have an idea what's happening. You only need to report the first 10-20 lines, if the screen scrolls too fast, use the "Pause" key on the keyboard so you can read the FIRST 10-20 lines.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: TomWeiss on April 29, 2014, 05:08:53 pm
I am posting screenshots to aid you, please don't be testy with me.

here is a screenshot with the simconnect screen in FSX, maybe I am doing something wrong.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/thomasdw/new%20Jan%202011/simconnect.png

I also added the exlusion to those 2 files in FSX.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: virtuali on April 29, 2014, 05:51:22 pm
I am posting screenshots to aid you, please don't be testy with me.

I haven't said you shouldn't post screenshot, I've asked if you could post them according to the Screenshot posting rules of our forum, which I've posted twice. Using the URL tag instead of the IMG tag is JUST a courtesy towards fellow forum users reading the forum with slower or (worse) pay for bandwidth, internet connections.

Quote
here is a screenshot with the simconnect screen in FSX, maybe I am doing something wrong.

No, it simply shows there are no errors. Try changing this line:

level=errors

into this:

level=normal

and see if you have more messages.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: TomWeiss on April 29, 2014, 06:05:06 pm
plenty of messages :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/thomasdw/new%20Jan%202011/log.png
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: virtuali on April 29, 2014, 09:34:30 pm
plenty of messages :

Which is why I've said in my previous message:

Quote
You only need to report the first 10-20 lines, if the screen scrolls too fast, use the "Pause" key on the keyboard so you can read the FIRST 10-20 lines.

Only the first lines are meaningful, because they might indicate if the sim is trying to load the modules at start, and any possible errors/warnings. Try to post something that shows the diagnostic log from the start.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: TomWeiss on April 29, 2014, 10:20:48 pm
Ok - so how can I extract that info - the window is not editable and I can't copy the lines.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: virtuali on April 30, 2014, 01:44:28 am
Ok - so how can I extract that info - the window is not editable and I can't copy the lines.

Like any other command line windows in the Windows OS, you CAN copy text to be pasted elsewhere, by opening the window menu on the top-left side of the window, there's an "Edit" menu with options to mark text and copy it.

However, a screenshot it's ok, provided you make the FIRST 10-20 lines visible. As I've said in my past two messages, if the screen scrolls too fast, use the "Pause" key on the keyboard to be able to see the first lines.

If you can't do that, you can redirect the log to a file, by uncommenting the following lines:


file=c:\simconnect%03u.log
file_next_index=0
file_max_index=9


This will create a Simconnect000.log file on your C:\ drive. Post the FIRST 10-20 lines from that file here, that's a text file, so it should be quite simple.

If you don't see the file being created, it might be a permissions problem when writing on the C:\ drive. In that case, make a folder named as you like, such as C:\Log, then change the first line to be file=c:\Log\simconnect%03u.log
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: TomWeiss on April 30, 2014, 03:31:51 am
no menu on the simconnect window, no problem, I ran it again, here is a link with the file:

http://www.crimeanairwars.com/TEMP/simconnect000.log
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: virtuali on April 30, 2014, 01:09:17 pm
no menu on the simconnect window

Of course there is a menu in the simconnect Window. As I've said already in my previous message, it will open if you click in the top-left corner, where you have ( the icon it's even in YOUR screenshot! ) a very small FSX icon. Click there, a menu will open, the "Edit..." submenu contains the option to mark and copy text.

Quote
no problem, I ran it again, here is a link with the file:

The log file shows that the Couatl program has started.

You'll now have to check if maybe is starting, but quitting immediately. Keep the Task Manager open, start FSX and pay attention if you see a Couatl*32.exe process being loaded, if only for a very brief time.

Report back with the outcome.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: TomWeiss on April 30, 2014, 02:10:13 pm
cuatl did very briefly load, then it vanished.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: virtuali on April 30, 2014, 02:15:45 pm
cuatl did very briefly load, then it vanished.

So now you will have to enable logging for Couatl itself.

open the Notepad and type the following on a new blank file:

logFile=couatl.log

(please note logFile is written beginning with a lower case l and a capital F )

Save the file as couatl.ini in the FSX\fsdreamteam\couatl folder, so it stays at the same level of the couatl.exe. Then go in FSX, then when it's done loading the scenery you can't edit and ready to fly, then Exit from FSX and post the content of the Couatl.LOG file that should have been created inside FSX\fsdreamteam\couatl, and the Couatl.ERR file too, if it exists.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: TomWeiss on April 30, 2014, 03:01:47 pm
no log file was created

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/thomasdw/new%20Jan%202011/cuatl.png
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: virtuali on April 30, 2014, 03:06:02 pm
no log file was created

The log will be created under %APPDATA%\Virtuali

If you don't see it, put the Couatl.INI file there too.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: TomWeiss on April 30, 2014, 04:01:50 pm
I found this one:

http://www.crimeanairwars.com/TEMP/Couatl.err
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: virtuali on April 30, 2014, 04:17:14 pm
I found this one:

http://www.crimeanairwars.com/TEMP/Couatl.err

Ok, the error is caused by you having manually edited the Couatladdons.ini and made some kind of mistake, which resulted in a syntactically illegal file that crashed the program. Remove the Couatladdons.ini file from your %APPDATA%\Virtuali and REINSTALL GSX, it will surely work.
Title: Re: Black textures on sceneries
Post by: TomWeiss on April 30, 2014, 04:29:55 pm
no I did not edit it - in fact I did not know it existed at all

here it is
http://www.crimeanairwars.com/TEMP/CouatlAddons.ini

in it in some form of code I can't edit.

I tested quickly Honolulu in P3D and FSX and both are loading fine, I'll test them more later tonight. Thank you :) !