FSDreamTeam forum
Products Support => GSX Support FSX/P3D => Topic started by: red5ive on March 04, 2021, 06:34:12 pm
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The above programs have stopped working after I applied a live update on 1 March 2021. Also, the Windows 10 Reliability Monitor is full of Critical Events relating to "Couatl Scripting Engine fo FSX/ESP".
I have looked at the various posts relating to this issue and have tried all the suggested solutions without success.
I would welcome any further suggestions.
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Same here.
Regards,
Hans
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After a complete reinstall of GSX on P3D V4.5 and the deletion of all remaining files it still is not loading in P3D. Should I add something to the dll.xml or the exe.xml in the P3D config? Why is it not possible to do a clean install on the same machine? Not only GSX is not working but also the airports I bought.
Regards,
Hans
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Hi guys!
Try to delete files from ProgramData\Virtuali\Couatl\prepar3dv4
and than do live update. Maybe it will solve this problem.
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When doing a report, you should ALWAYS enable logging in the Troubleshooting menu of the GSX Settings page. Without logging enabled, the error log is not detailed enough to understand what the problem really is.
Once you enable logging, you'll find the log in the %APPDATA%\Virtuali\Couatl.LOG file, and this is the file you should ZIP and Attach to a post.
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Where do I find the Troubleshooting menu of the GSX Settings page? The Couatl log I have is enclosed.
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Where do I find the Troubleshooting menu of the GSX Settings page?
Exactly there: there's a Troubleshooting section of the GSX Setting page. However, if GSX doesn't start, you won't have a GSX menu to begin with.
The Couatl log I have is enclosed.
It seems that logging was already enabled and, your log file is saying the simulator has crashed or stopped communicationg with Simconnect for other reasons, so our software quits because the sim has closed the connection.
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The simulator did not crash. It happened after installing the latest update of GSX and I was not the only one whith this issue. I use GSX on this PC for about 2 years and never had a problem. I also lost the dll.xml file in P3D after the update. Is there a way to repair or reinstall the simconnect?
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Would reinstall the P3D client be an option to fix the simconnect?
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Virtuali, Thanks for your reply.
With the benefit of hindsight, I realise that I should have had logging enabled in the GSX settings. But, Like Krielkip, my simulator did not crash, GSX just failed to load the next time I started P3D after the live update.
Also like Kielkrip I have been using GSX for some quit some time (6 months) without any issues.
I would also point out that P3D and all other addons (Active Sky, SODE etc) are still working without any issues.
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I haven't said the simulator SURELY crashed. I said "the simulator has crashed OR stopped communicating" so, in your case, if it hasn't crashed, it must have stopped communication with GSX, at least this is what the log posted says but, since the only one that posted a log was Krielkip, I can only say for sure this was the problem in HIS case.
As usual, you should never confuse the effect with the cause. While the effect is the same ( no Couatl and/or GSX menus in the sim ), the causes might be completely different, which is why I asked to provide a log so, @red5ive, please enable logging and provide with your detailed log.
I also lost the dll.xml file in P3D after the update. Is there a way to repair or reinstall the simconnect?
The dll.xml file is not used by GSX that, being a proper P3D4 native product, use the add-on.xml method. There WAS a bug, a long while ago, that a corrupted DLL.XML ( which, again, is NOT used by GSX ) would caused add-ons using the add-on.xml method to not load, but it has been fixed, and I don't think is the problem here because, at least from the log posted by Krielkip, the software DID start so, it's not a problem of it being prevented to load, it's started fine, but it was disconnected from Simconnect.
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Thanks for your reply. Well does this mean end of story or can you provide a solution to repair simconnect. All my addons are working flawlessly. Why is it not possible to completely uninstall GSX including the register items and do a clean install with the activation serialnumbers I still have?. Could that possibly make GSX working again?
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Why is it not possible to completely uninstall GSX including the register items and do a clean install with the activation serialnumbers I still have?. Could that possibly make GSX working again?
First, why you think "it's not possible" to completely uninstall GSX, and why you think this might be caused by a registry entry ?
If the problem was that you needed a GSX reinstall or a registry entry, I would have told you how to reinstall it and/or how to clean a registry entry but, the problem is, nothing of your problem has anything to do with GSX, because according to your log, GSX IS starting, but the simulator has disconnected from it.
Fact other add-ons are working doesn't mean anything, there are several Simconnect versions and they can be installed all at the same time, and each add-on might use a different one so, for example, an add-on that use the FSX version CAN connect to P3D 4, if that one is working and yes, it's possible that a problem between the two would prevent another add-on that use a different version to work correctly, because the add-on using the outdated ( but working ) version, might have stuck the sim in that version.
GSX in P3D 4 uses the native P3D4 version of Simconnect so, if you have a problem with that one, but not with other versions, add-on using the FSX version will still work, but not the ones using the native 4.x version, like GSX
First thing to try, is to disable EVERY add-on except GSX, which for proper add-on that use the add-on.xml method like GSX should be fairly simple: disable them in the OPTIONS->ADD-ONS menu. However, legacy add-ons might still use the DLL/EXE.XML files, so they can only be disabled by manually removing their entries from those files, or uninstalling them.
If you are able to run GSX with all the other add-ons disabled, then it's SURE your problem was caused by an add-on using an outdated Simconnect version that caused a conflict with the proper version used by GSX, which would otherwise work.
If, instead, you still get that problem with all the add-ons disabled, then you might really have a problem with the P3D native Simconnect, which is usually fixed by Uninstalling/Reinstalling the simulator that, opposite of what many think, DOES NOT require to reinstall add-on.
Of course, all the usual suggestions are stil valid:
- Configure the antivirus to exclude the whole Addon Manager folder
- Run the FSDT live Update after the antivirus has been proper configuired.
- Sometimes a Windows restart might help, in order to complete an update of the VC++ runtimes required by Simconnect, P3D and GSX.
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Umberto,
Just one question, how am I supposed to enable logging when I cant get GSX, Couatl or Addon Manager to run?
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Just one question, how am I supposed to enable logging when I cant get GSX, Couatl or Addon Manager to run?
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 %APPDATA%\Virtuali folder
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Umberto,
What you describe above is precisely what I did to generate the log file that I attached to my original post.
I will y it again, but I suspect it will yield the same result.
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As I suspected, running P3D again produces an identical Couatl.log file to the one I originally posted.
For the sake of clarity, I would just reiterate the issue as I see it.
I was running a P3D session with GSX working normally when I recieved notification of a live update being available. I therefore exited P3D and ran the live update.
When I ran P3D again after the update, GSX was no longer available in the Add-ons menu.
Ever since the update, every time I run P3D a critical event is logged in the Windows 10 Reliabilty Monitor. The Critical Event description is attached to this post.
If there is any further information I need to provide to assist in solving the problem please let me know.
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- Configure the antivirus to exclude the whole Addon Manager folder
- Run the FSDT live Update again after the antivirus has been properly configured.
- Sometimes a Windows restart might help, in order to complete an update of the VC++ runtimes required by Simconnect, P3D and GSX.
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My antivirus was already set up to exclude the whole Addon Manager Folder, but I have run the live update again and rebooted to complete the update of the VC++ runtimes.
GSX still does not appear in the Add-ons menu of P3D and the Couatl log file is unchanged.
However, I did notice that the Windows Reliability Monitor Technical details for the Couatl APPCRASH (Seee attached) refered to a WERInternalMetadata.xml file. I believe that this file is related to Graphics Card driver issues but I cannot locate this file on my system.
My Graphics card is an NVIDIA RTX2070 and the driver version is 27.21.14.5751.
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I have just noticed an earlier post from joe91 suggesting deletion of files in ProgramData\Virtuali\Couatl\prepar3dv4.
I do not have a Virtuali folder in my ProgramData folder. Could this be part of the problem?
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I do not have a Virtuali folder in my ProgramData folder. Could this be part of the problem?
Those folders are always automatically created at each start, if they are missing. Perhaps your antivirus is blocking THAT too. Try to create it manually, and add it to the antivirus exclusions too.
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I do have a Virtuali folder in C:/ProgramData but it is empty. Should there be anything in it?
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Hi Krielkip,
According to Joe91 it should have two subfolders i.e. ProgramData\Virtuali\Couatl\prepar3d.
Like you, I only have the Virtuali folder which is empty.
I created that folder and excluded it in my anti virus but it has made no difference. For some reason, Couatl64_P3D.exe simply refuses to run on my machine.
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Like I said in my opinion this is the end of story. In my logfile it says: bglmanx non ready yet, waiting. Whatever that may mean. I regret mostly that I can't use the airports anymore.
Regards,
Hans
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I do have a Virtuali folder in C:/ProgramData but it is empty. Should there be anything in it?
As I've said, the content of this folder ( the airport cache ) will be recreated automatically when the Couatl program starts and, if you have a log, it means it has started. However, the antivirus might have blocked access to that folder too, which will explain why, even if it started, why it couldn't continue.
This, of course, assuming you are getting a new log at each start, which you can check by looking at the time/date of the log or, just remove it, and see if a new one is created again. I'm saying this, to be sure you are not looking at the last log created the last time the program started, to understand if it's still starting now.
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Like Hans, I have come to the end of the line with this issue.
I have tried all the suggestion from other posts regarding similar issues, I have tried with all anti virus disabled but the situation remains the same.
It is a shame because GSX is a nice feature when it works.
I hav therefore decided to uninstall and try to forget the whole sorry tale.
Regards
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If you contact me in private, we can arrange a remote assistance session, so I can check what's wrong with your system.
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I would like that too if it's okay by you. Maybe we can resolve the issue. I really miss GSX.
Regards
Hans
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Hi,
Just want to add my name to this list and topic. P3Dv4.5 was working without any problems with any of my addons. About 2 weeks ago, or maybe slightly less, I think there was an update to FSDT GSX2 which I applied. On restarting P3Dv4.5 I immediately noticed that I had no gsx2 menu when pressing ctrl+F12. I then checked the addon list and sure enough gsx2 was not listed. Over the past couple of weeks I have reloaded GSX2 many times to no avail. I have also reloaded P3Dv4.5 but still no gsx2.
Grateful for any advice on this before I give up totally.
Barry Titchen
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I did contact Umberto as requested but I have also not had any response.
However, after considering this issue further and encountering a similar issue with the Aerosft ASUpdater, I decided, against my better judgement to un-install my anti-virus (Bullguard). Having done so, GSX is now working.
Despite the fact that GSX is now working on my system this still leaves a number of unanswered questions.
1. Why did GSX stop working in the first place when I had not made any changes to my system? I can only guess that it might be due to a virus definition update that identified Couatl as a threat. This despite the fact that I had previously tried disabling every aspect of the virus detection and the Firewall.
2. How is it that other updaters such PMDG, Flightbeam, Flight 1 Agent etc all continued to work without any issues?
3. I have yet to decide if I want to continue running my system without the Anti-virus or just delete GSX instead.
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Life is too short to deal with an anti-virus that disables non-malicious software.
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red5ive. Did you uninstall GSX and install it with Bullguard off or uninstalled? I also use Bullguard. Maybe this causes the problem. Although I use it for some 6 years now.
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On February 22 Microsoft installed an update KB4023057 "Health tools" on my PC. It's to be found in Settings - Apps & Features. I think this was the date that GSX would not start anymore. I also had a lot of folders of which the date had changed to 22-02-2021. I'll uninstall KB4023057 and see if this will resolve the issue with GSX.
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Hans,
I uninstalled GSX and manually removed any directories I could find that had been left behind by the uninstaller.
I uninstalled Bullguard, rebooted the PC and then reinstalled GSX.
Obviously, after uninstalling Bullguard, Windows Defender and Firewall became active, and I think I disabled them temporarily while installing GSX.
Regards
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I’ve had this problem with v5.1 a couple of times recently. On one occasion Addon Manager was not visible in the Addon menu. I restarted the PC and tried again.
This time Addon Manager was visible but many, perhaps all my purchased scenery and GSX was not registered. I chose the option to Register Serial but that seems wrong as they have already been registered.
Another reboot and everything is fine. I shall exclude Addon Manager folder in System monitoring and see how it goes. All this scenery was purchased ages ago and GSX too of course.
P3Dv5.1 was installed a couple of weeks ago and registering them in v5.1 seemed okay.
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Hi, Further to my earlier post and recent posts here from others, I also use Bullguard so there may be a link here; however, I'm nervous about uninstalling it at this stage. I find it interesting that the FSD team has not said anything on this yet!
BJT
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I find it interesting that the FSD team has not said anything on this yet!
Because the problem has been already discussed so many times and, there's just nothing we can do on our side, since the program works perfectly provided:
- Your antivirus is not mistakenly blocking it, so you must add the whole Addon Manager folder to the antivirus exclusion list. DO NOT "turn off" the antivirus, we never suggested to do that, both because it's not required, but mostly because most antivirus are not really "turned off", because the low-level service is always running so the solution is not to turn it off, but to add the whole Addon Manager folder to the A/V Exclusions.
- Your firewall is not mistakenly blocking our Live Updater, so you don't get the latest version. This is usually a combination of the antivirus problem: the antivirus might block some files and let pass others, or the firewall might block everything ( so you are stuck with an old version) causing a mixup of new and old files that will likely result in the software not loading.
- Some of your Windows libraries might be outdated. Our Live Update obviously installs all the required runtimes, but sometimes they don't work UNTIL THE NEXT REBOOT.
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Hi Umberto. My P3Dv5 install was fine this morning. I flew a circuit around Zurich and all was well.
I don’t have a third party anti-virus. Defender is fine for me. I have added Addon Manager to the exclusion list this morning. It will take a few days to establish if that has done the trick.
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Hi, many thanks FSD Team for getting back to me. I'll continue working the problem as I have done all the actions recommended in this forum. Flying without the realism of GSX2 is just not the same for me. Regards, BJT
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Hi Umberto, since adding Program Files(x86)\Addon Manager to my exclude list for Windows 10 scanning everything has been fine.
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Hi Umberto, since adding Program Files(x86)\Addon Manager to my exclude list for Windows 10 scanning everything has been fine.
Of course. That's what we always said to do, whenever the antivirus is involved.
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Of course. That's what we always said to do, whenever the antivirus is involved.
I’ve never had to exclude that folder in a couple of years of running Windows 10. Clearly something has changed in the OS.
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I’ve never had to exclude that folder in a couple of years of running Windows 10. Clearly something has changed in the OS.
Sure it has. Antivirus definitions are updated very often.
But that's not the main point. We don't suggest to add the Addon Manager "only" to prevent the antivirus to possibly block it, it's a best practice in any case, because even when something "works", the antivirus is still affecting it heavily. Each time an executable tries to open a file, the antivirus will scan it in the background, and this can have an huge impact on performances or slow down operations a lot. Recreating the airport cache in GSX when you add/remove a scenery usually takes 5-7 seconds, but if the antivirus is not Excluded this can easily go up to 40-50 seconds or even more, if you have *lots* of sceneries.
Whenever I install a new system from scratch, the FIRST thing I do is:
- Add entire simulator folder ( FSX, P3D, MSFS ) to the antivirus Exclusions
- If I keep additional sceneries installed on other drivers/folders, I also add all of these to the antivirus Exclusions
- The whole Addon Manager folder, of course.
- Every other folder that might contain executable add-ons. If you bought them from reputable vendors there's nothing to fear.
This is the only way to be sure the antivirus won't interfere and you'll always get the best possible performances.
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Umberto,
If the forum had a like option I would have used it. I notice in the pinned topics this info isn't included. A suitable candidate surely? :)
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Hello Umberto,
I finally succeeded in solving my problem with GSX. I reinstalled the client of P3D V4.5 HF3 and now GSX is working again. Maybe a hint for other users too.
Regards,
Hans