FSDreamTeam forum
Products Support => GSX Support FSX/P3D => Topic started by: Chrjs on October 11, 2021, 01:05:25 pm
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Hi,
i've been using gsx (ver2, P3D5.2) for years now, but maybe for the last half year i have serious porblems with it. Whenever the couatl service is resetting within the sim (for example sometimes the automatic service with fslabs does not work after arrival), it just disappears from the menu (also no trace of it in the task manager). Of course any FSDT building and gsx services disapppear as well. The addon manager entry, however, stays in the menu.
I have done quite a lot of troubleshooting including the following:
- multiple reinstalls /live updates of GSX
- complete resinstall of P3Dv5 and trying to install GSX as the only addon, so there cannot be a problem with other addons
- upgrading my win10 to win11
- turning off windows defender during install and while running P3D, making exclusions in defender for the addon manager folder and all virtuali files in C:...
- installing the addon manager in differnt locations and drives
the only odd thing that seem to happen during the troubleshooting process is that when i uninstall GSX through the control panel, everything runs through until the very end, then i get the following error message:
"Prepar3D.exe - System error; "The code execution cannot proceed beacuse api.dll was not found. Reinstalling the program may fix this problem"" The same message appears with uninstalling the addon manager. That message did never come up with any other p3d addon, and i have tons of them. After clicking ok, i get the message that gsx was uninstalled successfully.
I hope you can help me getting GSX running again as it should. Please tell me how i can help you to solve the problem here on my end.
thank you very much in advance
chris
edit: i attach two log files, one just before i press the rebuild couatl in P5d and one just after restarting and couatl has dissappeared
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when i uninstall GSX through the control panel, everything runs through until the very end, then i get the following error message:
"Prepar3D.exe - System error; "The code execution cannot proceed beacuse api.dll was not found. Reinstalling the program may fix this problem"" The same message appears with uninstalling the addon manager. That message did never come up with any other p3d addon, and i have tons of them. After clicking ok, i get the message that gsx was uninstalled successfully.
That seems to be a problem. Fact you don't see this error from other add-ons, doesn't mean much, because it depends if that add-on uses the standard P3D Install/Uninstall services, which calls P3D itself to disable/enable an add-on. At that stage, the uninstaller is callign Prepar3d.exe, asking it to remove the add-on you are uninstaling, which is the proper practice for a proper P3D-native add-on.
API.DLL is related to the sim itself so, it seems the GSX uninstaller just reported a problem reported by the sim *itself* when it tried to start it, like it was missing something it surely comes with it. In this case, it's API.DLL, which is the Simconnect API so, a normal installation will surely have it and it should be the correct version.
A problem with the Simconnect API might be caused by having updated P3D from a prevous version using just the Client. Try to install the P3D FULL installer, which might fix the problem.
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hi, thanks for your quick response.
Unfortunately, this was my thought too, that's why i uninstalled P3D completely and started off with just a fresh, complete install of P3D5.2 and only GSX and nothing else, the problem still occurs.
Do you know where this "simmconenct API" is located so i can check if it is there?
kind regards
chris
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Im having this same problem. Since the recent update to new textures of gsx the program will carsh when restarted or at any add on airport
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Do you know where this "simmconenct API" is located so i can check if it is there?
It's installed automatically with the sim. Wha the message says, exactly ?
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Im having this same problem. Since the recent update to new textures of gsx the program will carsh when restarted or at any add on airport
I don't know what do you mean with "recent update".
We had an updates about month ago and the initial release caused the problem of not restarting for some users ( we suspect it was those that didn't had support for long filenames in Windows 10 ), but it has been fixed by subsequent updates later on.
As usual:
- Be sure you have the Addon Manager entire folder added to the antivirus Exclusions
- Be sure the firewall is not blocking the updater from downloading updates.
- Run the FSDT Live Update again after being sure of both the above.
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Ok ive tried all 3 steps you mentioned with no luck. So is it possible it could be a deeper probelm like corrupt windows files i just reinstalled simconnect with no luck aswell. This really only happens with certain airplanes as i stated in my own topic i created a couple weeks ago thanks for your support!
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Do you know where this "simmconenct API" is located so i can check if it is there?
It's installed automatically with the sim. Wha the message says, exactly ?
Hi,
i will try to reinstall P3D completely and report again.
Attached you find the error message,
Kind regards
chris
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OK, so i reinstalled P3Dv5 from scratch (win defender turned off), installed GSX but still no luck. I cannot restart couatl. Uninstalling GSX again results in the same error mentioned above.
Is there anything else I can do?
Kind regards
chris
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OK, so i reinstalled P3Dv5 from scratch (win defender turned off), installed GSX but still no luck
Please clarify if with "no luck", you mean you still get the error about API.DLL, or you don't get it, but you cannot restart Couatl, or both.
I cannot restart couatl. Uninstalling GSX again results in the same error mentioned above.
Please clarify if you get this error on uninstalling, installing, or both.
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Sorry if have have been not clear enough.
Even after a complete and fresh resinstall of both P3D (complete package) and GSX the situation and problem is the same as it was in my initial post:
- COUATL disappears in the flightsim as soon as i restart it, no error message at all
- when uninstalling GSX i get the "api"-error (see the attachment in my last post), the installation of gsx shows no error at all
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when uninstalling GSX i get the "api"-error (see the attachment in my last post), the installation of gsx shows no error at all
As you can see from the screenshot you posted, the error comes from Prepar3d.exe itself so, it doesn't have anything to do with our installer, which is only CALLING Prepar3d.exe to ASK to remove the add-on, and Prepar3d.exe *ITSELF* it's telling you it has an install problem, which seems to be a serious one, since API.DLL it's Simconnect itself so, if that doesn't work correctly, no add-on will work.
As I've said, if other add-ons are working, that doesn't mean P3D it's ok. Some add-ons might use the legacy Simconnect for FSX, which can still be used to connect to P3D, and that's a completely different kind of library that is installed in a different way, with its own installer. But the native P3D Simconnect, which is required by GSX, which is a native P3D 64 bit client, should always work on a proper P3D install.
Maybe something *else* in your PC is missing, something required by the P3D Simconnect (but not by other legacy clients), like the VC++ runtime redistributables.
Which, again, are normally installed with P3D but, the issue with these libraries is that if they are corrupted or conflicting with each other, the normal install might not always be able to fix them.
Again, your problem seems to be with Prepar3D.exe *itself*, that's where your error message is coming from.
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Hi,
just to let you know that there is some progress. After reinstalling everything from scratch with the new P3D5.3 hf2 I don't get the API.DLL error described above anymore. I can install and uninstall GSX/addonmanager without any problem. However, and this is still very sad, couatl still disappears whenever I restart the service, just as stated above. I don't really know what to do anymore. I would love to use the new featuresand your program.
Kind regards
chris
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It is happening to me that i can configure everything, but after selecting the service, PUMP: Coualt dissapears from P3D menues. Cant restart it anyway. Simmilar to you captains i think. But i can still use GSX without the new walk-in gates feature, works normally that way. Win10-P3D5.3HF2.
Following. (http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,25933.60.html)
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Hi,
i'm still working on this showstopper-issue which prevents me from using your product.
I have done more things.
- un-/reinstall the vc++ files
- disable any antivirus-progamm/firewall
still no luck.
To sort out that there is a problem with P3D itself, i bought and installed the Steam version of fsx and installed GSX there and it has the same problem. As soon as i hit restart couatl it just disappears from the menu, only the addon manager remains. In the log the only lines are:
"Python 2.7.13 Stackless 3.1b3 060516 (default, May 22 2017, 13:45:26) [MSC v.1900 32 bit (Intel)] wxPython 3.0.2.0
couatl v3.2 (build 4641)
log started on Sat Feb 26 13:40:09 2022
connecting to SimConnect...
connected to SimConnect
connected to bglmanx
disconnected from SimConnect."
So no problem with the P3D simmoconect whatsoever.
What else can I do to make it work? Could you please help me again?
Is there any way to restart couatl manually? I know other programs/preocesses like EZDok can be started even with P3D running.
Thank you very much in advance.
Kind regards
chris
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Hi,
the issue is still present. Any help?
Thank you very much
Kind regards
chris
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I must have missed your last post and, of course, I cannot reproduce the problem, but I think I found the real cause, checking your log better:
- YOU ARE USING the 32 bit version of Couatl in P3D V5, that's likely because you modified by hand the add-on.xml to do so, since our installer obviously configure it to use the 64 bit version, which is the one to use with P3D 4 and 5.
Or, perhaps another add-on that manages the add-on.xml files might have replaced the correct add-on.xml with a very old version, maybe coming from years ago, when we used a single 32 bit executable for FSX and P3D.
So yes, of course it's to be expected having issues when using the 32 bit version of the program in P3D V5 since, after we released the 64 bit version, in September 2020, we don't test the 32 bit version in P3D anymore, it's remarkable it even starts once...
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Thank you very much for your replay. Sounds like a good idea. But how can i reconfigure it to use the 64bit version? Again, I uninstalled P3D and all associated with FSDT completely and reinstalled it even using different locations.
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Thank you very much for your replay. Sounds like a good idea. But how can i reconfigure it to use the 64bit version? Again, I uninstalled P3D and all associated with FSDT completely and reinstalled it even using different locations.
If you "just" uninstall GSX, without replying YES to the question "Do you remove the Add-on Manager?", the add-on.xml with your modified line won't be removed so:
- Uninstall GSX that way, replying YES to the question "Do you remove the Add-on Manager?"
- Check the "Documents\Prepar3d V5 add-ons" folder and be sure the "Fsdreamteam Addon Manager" folder there has been removed.
- Reinstall GSX.
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Hi again,
so I did everything you said.
- i uninstalled GSX saying yes to removing the addon manager as well
- i manually deleted any folders I could find (the Addon manager folder, the virtuali folders in programapps/local/roaming - there was no folder in the documents P3D folder)
- i reinstalled the universal installer and gsx
still teh same happens as before - it just disappears and does not restart.
on ething i noticed is that all my products in the universal installer were still active (even the ultra old ones like enbr), so there must be something of fsdt/virtualy remaning on my computer even after uninstalling/deleting all the folders. Is there someting in the regedit or anywhere else? How can I clean up the system of these remnants completely? I again attach the log just before I hit restart the service.
kind regards
chris
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- i uninstalled GSX saying yes to removing the addon manager as well
- i manually deleted any folders I could find (the Addon manager folder, the virtuali folders in programapps/local/roaming - there was no folder in the documents P3D folder)
Well, of course there wasn't, because the uninstaller is supposed to remove it. I only told you to check it, in case some external program would interfere with it, but it wasn't the case.
still teh same happens as before - it just disappears and does not restart.
You now got the correct 64 bit version but, you are the one and only reporting this problem now. It was normal it didn't worked well before, but now it's not.
on ething i noticed is that all my products in the universal installer were still active (even the ultra old ones like enbr), so there must be something of fsdt/virtualy remaning on my computer even after uninstalling/deleting all the folders. Is there someting in the regedit or anywhere else? How can I clean up the system of these remnants completely?
There aren't any "remnants" that would cause this, and there's not need to remove the activation, if you don't believe it, you can just Deactivate all with the Universal Installer, but it won't make a bit of difference since your problem doesn't have anything to do with activation..
I again attach the log just before I hit restart the service.
That's not very useful, the log only shows that it's working correctly, but a more useful log would be one produced AFTER you restart the program.
BTW, is it always regenerating the cache ? It's not supposed to do that on each start.
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There aren't any "remnants" that would cause this, and there's not need to remove the activation, if you don't believe it, you can just Deactivate all with the Universal Installer, but it won't make a bit of difference since your problem doesn't have anything to do with activation..
you told me that there was some old 32bit etc interefereing so I think it would be a good idea to start anew without anything else from the past, so I assume there must be a way to uninstall anything from FSDT/virtuali/gsx completely so I can rule out these things.
That's not very useful, the log only shows that it's working correctly, but a more useful log would be one produced AFTER you restart the program.
this was the log shortly after starting a flight, but i attach more versions here, first one after i start the flight and the other after i have pressed "restart couatl"
BTW, is it always regenerating the cache ? It's not supposed to do that on each start.
i get a green message: "Airport cache generated successfully"
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get a green message: "Airport cache generated successfully"
I can see your log is AGAIN regenerating the cache. So I'll ask it AGAIN: is regenerating the cache EACH TIME ?
Yes, you are supposed to see the "Airport cache generated successfully" AFTER it finished regenerating the cache, but that's not what I asked, I asked if it's regenerating the cache on each start, that's the issue which is not supposed to happen, it's not really relevant it finishes successfully but, the fact it's regenerating it at each start, which is not normal, might explain the problem.
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As I said above the only thing I see is the green bar "Airport cache loaded successfully". What is going on behind the scenes I don't know. If you tell me how I can see if the cache was regenreated I will tell you.
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As I said above the only thing I see is the green bar "Airport cache loaded successfully". What is going on behind the scenes I don't know. If you tell me how I can see if the cache was regenreated I will tell you.
Cache regeneration it's pretty obvious: you see a red counter with a percentage going up saying it's regenerating the cache and AFTER that, you will either see an error or the "Airport cache loaded successfully" message.
Your logs shows it did exactly that, it's possible it was fast enough you didn't see the red text, but your logs shows it seems it's doing that all the time, which shouldn't happen, unless something REALLY changed in your Scenery Library.
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Good morning, thanks again for trying to help and solve the problem.
No I don't see the cache rebuilding, just the message "Airport cache loaded successfully".
So what can I try next? There are still some questions bove unanswered.
- Is there a methiod to start couatl manually even with P3D running (I know it is possible with EZDOK)?
- Isn't there a way to start 100% from scratch without any traces of Virtuali/FSDT/GSX on my computer?
- How do I know whether I use the 32- or 64bit Version?
Maybe we can answer these things first to rule them out completely before moving on.
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No I don't see the cache rebuilding, just the message "Airport cache loaded successfully".
And again, I need to know when this happens ( you don't see the airport cache loaded message ) you STILL have the regeneration logged anyway.
- Is there a methiod to start couatl manually even with P3D running (I know it is possible with EZDOK)?
No, there isn't.
Isn't there a way to start 100% from scratch without any traces of Virtuali/FSDT/GSX on my computer?
You might try removing these two folders:
%APPDATA%\Virtuali
%PROGRAMDATA%\Virtuali
And reinstall.
- How do I know whether I use the 32- or 64bit Version?
I already told you that you know DO have the 64 bit version started from the sim. It's indicated in the first lines of the log.
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The first part is actually not that easy. The last few times I opened up P3D to test it, I only got the short message "Airport cache loaded successfully", this morning for whatever reason I saw the red message "Regenerating airport cache", which was completed within 49sec. I haven't changed anything since last starting P3D.
I always remove anything with Virtuali in Appdata and programdata before reinstalling it.
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The first part is actually not that easy. The last few times I opened up P3D to test it, I only got the short message "Airport cache loaded successfully", this morning for whatever reason I saw the red message "Regenerating airport cache", which was completed within 49sec. I haven't changed anything since last starting P3D.
This is perfectly normal but, as I've said, I need to say if the cache is regenerated EVERY TIME if you choose "Restart", which shouldn't happen if you haven't changed anything in the Scenery Library ( surely they Scenery Library doesn't change during a restart ), but it MIGHT give some clue why you don't see to complete a restart.
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I only get a green/red message from GSX when i enter a flight from the start menu. After clicking "restart couatl" i don't get any message at all. all entries in the add-ons menu just diappear, only the addon manager remains.
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I only get a green/red message from GSX when i enter a flight from the start menu. After clicking "restart couatl" i don't get any message at all. all entries in the add-ons menu just diappear, only the addon manager remains.
So what's the Couatl.LOG says JUST after this failed restart ?
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I only get a green/red message from GSX when i enter a flight from the start menu. After clicking "restart couatl" i don't get any message at all. all entries in the add-ons menu just diappear, only the addon manager remains.
So what's the Couatl.LOG says JUST after this failed restart ?
I have posted this log already 3 Times in this thread. It is always the same. Please see reply 1, 14 or 21
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I have posted this log already 3 Times in this thread. It is always the same. Please see reply 1, 14 or 21
Yes, but you also said you only seen the "airport cache loaded successfully", which is NOT what you are supposed to see when the regeneration is logged. When the regeneration is logged, you will always see the red text regenerating the cache.
Now, assuming it was so fast that you didn't see it, it's NOT normal is regenerating the cache at each restart, surely it doesn't happen here, and nobody else is reporting this. We had an older version of the software that used to do that, but it was online for a short period, until we found a cause which prevented the restart, which has been fixed a while ago.
Check the properties of this file:
G:\Addon Manager\bglmanx65.dll
and read the version number in the Details tab.
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I have posted this log already 3 Times in this thread. It is always the same. Please see reply 1, 14 or 21
Yes, but you also said you only seen the "airport cache loaded successfully", which is NOT what you are supposed to see when the regeneration is logged. When the regeneration is logged, you will always see the red text regenerating the cache.
Now, assuming it was so fast that you didn't see it, it's NOT normal is regenerating the cache at each restart, surely it doesn't happen here, and nobody else is reporting this. We had an older version of the software that used to do that, but it was online for a short period, until we found a cause which prevented the restart, which has been fixed a while ago.
Check the properties of this file:
G:\Addon Manager\bglmanx65.dll
and read the version number in the Details tab.
bglmanx65.dll File version: 5.0.0.2
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bglmanx65.dll File version: 5.0.0.2
Ok, and just to be sure, the date of the Digital Signature ?
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bglmanx65.dll File version: 5.0.0.2
Ok, and just to be sure, the date of the Digital Signature ?
Saturday, December 18, 2021 4:04:15 AM
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Saturday, December 18, 2021 4:04:15 AM
You have the correct version, the one that doesn't force a cache rebuild after each restart so now, I'm officially outside of explanations, because what you are looking at shouldn't simply happen.
The only thing I can suggest, is a complete reinstall:
- Uninstall GSX from the Windows Control Panel. Reply YES to the question "Do you want to remove the Addon Manager ?"
- Uninstall any other FSDT product you might have, including any for MSFS.
- If the Addon Manager folder is still there after all the uninstalls, remove it.
- Remove all these folders:
Documents\Prepar3D v5 Add-ons\Fsdreamteam Addon Manager\
%PROGRAMDATA%\Virtuali\
%APPDATA%\Virtuali\
Be careful about the last one in %APPDATA%, because it contains all GSX profiles you might have made for airports or airplanes. I suggest making a backup of this folder somewhere else.
- Download the full GSX installer again, and install it. Check if it works before doing anything else. Don't do anything else and report back.
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Hi,
sorry for the late replay, a very busy week at work.
So I followed your guide 100%, not changing the installer path, not installing via the universal installer but as you said the full gsx installer., not inserting a sepcific exclusion in the default defender. Unfortunately, gsx does not even appear in the menu at all, just the addonmanager. Looks like the couatl engine does not start.
kind regards
chris
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So I followed your guide 100%, not changing the installer path, not installing via the universal installer
That's not what I said.
There's no doubt you can't "install via the universal installer", since the universal installer cannot install an FSX/P3D product so, this should have been obvious because, if you tried to do that, it would have told you installation is not yet available for FSX/P3D products.
What I said it, instead:
- Install GSX using the Full GSX installer, which is the only way you can install GSX with.
- Install the Universal Installer AND use that one TO UPDATE GSX! AFTER you reinstalled it with the regular installer.
not inserting a sepcific exclusion in the default defender.
I'm not sure what do you mean with this. You DO have to add an Exclusion, and it must be the WHOLE Addon Manager folder.
Unfortunately, gsx does not even appear in the menu at all, just the addonmanager. Looks like the couatl engine does not start.
So it seams something changed, although for the worse. Before, you said it disappeared ONLY when restarting, now you say it doesn't even appear on the first start ? Again, that can only be caused by:
- Not having added the Exclusion to the antivirus
OR
- Not having installed the Univeral installer and used that one to UPDATE GSX following the install.
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I'm sorry, but this is just wrong. I DID 100% what you said, here is your "guide":
"You have the correct version, the one that doesn't force a cache rebuild after each restart so now, I'm officially outside of explanations, because what you are looking at shouldn't simply happen.
The only thing I can suggest, is a complete reinstall:
- Uninstall GSX from the Windows Control Panel. Reply YES to the question "Do you want to remove the Addon Manager ?"
- Uninstall any other FSDT product you might have, including any for MSFS.
- If the Addon Manager folder is still there after all the uninstalls, remove it.
- Remove all these folders:
Documents\Prepar3D v5 Add-ons\Fsdreamteam Addon Manager\
%PROGRAMDATA%\Virtuali\
%APPDATA%\Virtuali\
Be careful about the last one in %APPDATA%, because it contains all GSX profiles you might have made for airports or airplanes. I suggest making a backup of this folder somewhere else.
- Download the full GSX installer again, and install it. Check if it works before doing anything else. Don't do anything else and report back."
It nowhere says anything about the universal installer or about exclusions. So I didn't do it and reported back, just as you said in your last sentence.
So, yes NOW I updated GSX2 via the Universal Installer AND added the AddonManager folder to the Defender exclusion list. After doing that Couatl seems to start again, regenerating cache after startring a flight, however, the original problem is still the same. As soon as I restart couatl it completely disappears. So no progress here at all.
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It nowhere says anything about the universal installer or about exclusions. So I didn't do it and reported back, just as you said in your last sentence.
Because that was JUST a guide to do a clean reinstall because, according to YOUR report, your problem at that time was JUST the restart.
Now, in your last message, you seems to have a NEW problem, that is Couatl not starting AT ALL ( not "just" not restarting ). And that's a different problem altogether, which has a separate sticky thread, which seem to have solved THAT particular problem for most users:
http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,25999.0.html
And the first post contained the solution, which is installing the Universal Instraller after the main GSX installer.
So, yes NOW I updated GSX2 via the Universal Installer AND added the AddonManager folder to the Defender exclusion list. After doing that Couatl seems to start again
So, it seems you NOW fixed the "not starting" problem, in exactly the way I said it would.
regenerating cache after startring a flight, however, the original problem is still the same. As soon as I restart couatl it completely disappears. So no progress here at all.
So I can only repeat and confirm my last post about this, that I'm officially out of explanations, because what you are looking at shouldn't simply happen. Nobody is reporting it, you are the one and only with this specific Restart problem.
You might try adding this folder to the antivirus Exclusions too:
%PROGRAMDATA%\Virtuali
ANOTHER possible explanation might be one of your sceneries .BGL files corrupted, which will both force a cache rebuild and, if it's corrupted, will likely made the program crash. That might explain why nobody else is reporting this, since a local corruption of a .BGL is something unique to your installation.
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Good news, I might have found the cause of my problem. Since your last reply I kept on checking everything I could on my computer by trial and error. And today I stopped any background process running one after the other and there it was: a small program called "Display Pilot", which was installed with my latest main monitor ( I have several) from Benq already more than 1,5 years ago. Disabling this process and finally I can restart the couatl service and it does not disappear but does what it is suppossed to do! So I guess anybody having problems with a disappearing couatl service might try to stop any unnecessary background tasks in the task manager, maybe there is some unexplainable incompatibility....
I will now test the new "soltution" if it lasting.... I hope so
thank you very much for your work
kind regards
chris
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a small program called "Display Pilot", which was installed with my latest main monitor ( I have several) from Benq already more than 1,5 years ago.
Does this software use some global hotkeys which you could use even if it's not in focus ? Those sometimes cause this kind of troubles, because what is called a "global hook", is considered an intrusive behavior, that might cause other software to fail. We had issues in the past with some Instant messaging software, which hooked keys so you could take a call even if you are in another app.
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a small program called "Display Pilot", which was installed with my latest main monitor ( I have several) from Benq already more than 1,5 years ago.
Does this software use some global hotkeys which you could use even if it's not in focus ? Those sometimes cause this kind of troubles, because what is called a "global hook", is considered an intrusive behavior, that might cause other software to fail. We had issues in the past with some Instant messaging software, which hooked keys so you could take a call even if you are in another app.
I have unfortunately no idea, I have never used it but I noticed it in my task manager. It seems as with it you are somehow controlling the monitor. I don't see any negative impact disabling it. Maybe it uses some global hotkeys, but i really don't know.