GSX not showing up in addons

[nullo505]

I want to purchase gsx so I tried out the demo first. After its done installing I can't access it from fsx. When I start a flight, coutl engine or addon manager doesn't show up under addons. I checked internet options and publishers. It wasn't under any of those. I even turned of my antivirus. It still doesn't show up. After downloading gsx I downloaded add on manager. GSX still doesn't show up. I even did an FSX repair and then tried re-installing it. It seems like every addon is working except gsx which isn't showing up under addons. I am not sure what to do next. Is this just a problem with the demo? If I buy the full version will the problem still occur? I am not sure what to do. Please help, for I really want to try out this amazing product.

[virtuali]

The Demo is obviously exactly the same as the full version so, if your system has a problem which is preventing GSX to work, purchasing GSX won't surely fix the problem that your system has. The whole point of having a Demo is exactly to let you check if your system is fine and GSX runs with it.

However, your explanation of the problem is not very clear. You said "GSX doesn't show up", but it's not clear if it's only GSX that doesn't show up, or it's the whole software modules needed to run it.

So, the usual questions:

- Do you have BOTH the "Addon Manager" AND the "Couatl powered products" menus under the FSX "Addons" menu ?

- Do you have both of them, none of them, or just one ?

- Do you have other FSDT products installed ? Do they work ?

- Have you being ASKED permission to run the two modules when you first started FSX after installing ? Have you replied YES to BOTH questions ?

[nullo505]

Question answers:

I don't have addon manager and Couatl under the addons menu
I don't have any other fsdt products installed. This is my first time.
When I first opened fsx, I was never asked permission to run the two modules.
I already checked under publishers. Virtualli is under none of them.

[virtuali]

As explained in all other threads about  missing Addon Manager and/or Couatl menus, they are always caused by:

1) Your antivirus mistakenly blocking them. The antivirus solution has been posted many times already of course, here's another copy of 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 (using the full installer in this case) 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.


2) A problem with your Visual C++ 2005 runtimes installation. The missing runtimes solution has been posted many times already of course, here's another copy of it:

- Go in the Windows control panel, and Uninstall ALL the instances of the Visual Studio 2005 redistributable runtimes. You might have more than one version: remove them all.

- Then, after removing everything related to VS2005, reinstall again these 3 files:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=32BC1BEE-A3F9-4C13-9C99-220B62A191EE&displaylang=en
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=200b2fd9-ae1a-4a14-984d-389c36f85647&displaylang=en
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=766a6af7-ec73-40ff-b072-9112bab119c2&displaylang=en
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=26347

AFTER installing all the runtimes, it could be useful running Windows Update and update everything, including the optional downloads.

3) A problem with your Simconnect install being missing/corrupted. This is not common, but it might still happen. The solutions is:

- Go into your Windows\WinSxS folder and delete the simconnect 10.0.61259.0 folder. Then REPAIR the FSX SP2 (or Acceleration, if you have that one instead) setup, this will restore a broken Simconnect

4) You have inadvertently Un-trusted us as a Publisher, so nothing signed by us will run.

To fix this, go to the Control Panel, under "Internet Options", look for the "Content" tab, there should be a "Publishers" button, that will list the software publishers that you trusted, and another tab with untrusted publishers. If you see "Virtuali s.a.s", remove it from both tabs (especially if it's under untrusted)

[ByteG]

Hi Virtuali,

I am having exactly the same problems as nullo505.
However I am not on "trial mode" anymore since April. I never had any problems with GSX before, even if I had downloaded and installed it with antivirus turned on.

I remember that a couple of weeks ago the automatic installed notified me in FSX that and update was ready but I have to download Standalone Addon manager manually from FSDT site which I did. I remember that I have also updated GSX but I haven't used it since (I went for vacation).
Anyway, when I tried to call GSX menu first using MCE and then manually with CTRL+F12 and it didn't appear. So, I've checked the menu and it was not there.

Ok, I've checked this forum and I've proceeded according to this topic.

First, I've turned off antivirus.
I've uninstalled both ZurichX and GSX, removed VS 2005 distributables and even standalone manager (I couldn't find Couatl engine in control panel).
I have also manually deleted fsdreamteam folder.

Then I've reinstalled first VS 2005 distributables (both x86 and x64 - although I think that the later doesn't matter). I have also versions 2008 and 2012 of VS distributable.
Afterwards I have downloaded both ZurichX and GSX setup files again (full version - although they've worked before).
After installing them and running FSX I was prompted by FSX to confirm running both script engines which I did.
I've even checked exe.xml and dll.xml which contain the following entries:

  <Launch.Addon>
    <Name>Couatl</Name>
    <Disabled>False</Disabled>
    <ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad>
    <Path>fsdreamteam\couatl\couatl.exe</Path>
  </Launch.Addon>

  <Launch.Addon>
    <Name>Addon Manager</Name>
    <Disabled>False</Disabled>
    <ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad>
    <Path>bglmanx.dll</Path>
  </Launch.Addon>

This seems ok to me.

However the menu is not there.

I am not sure if this has any impact but I have also installed Visual Studio 2012 express.

I've also checked if there is a problem with Simconnect but ESP examples work from VS 2012.
And there is no viruali in Trusted/Untrusted publishers of Internet options.

Therefore I am running out of ideas.

And, by the time of writing this post my antivirus (free version of Avast) is still turned off.

So, I would really appreciate your help since GSX has worked for me for 7 months untill now and I would like to continue using it.

Brg,
ByteG

[virtuali]

However I am not on "trial mode" anymore since April.

That only confirm what I've said, that this problem is entirely unrelated to the activation process.

Anyway, when I tried to call GSX menu first using MCE and then manually with CTRL+F12 and it didn't appear. So, I've checked the menu and it was not there.

What, exactly, wasn't there ? The Addon Manager menu, the Couatl menu, or the GSX entries under the Couatl menu ?

[ByteG]

Anyway, when I tried to call GSX menu first using MCE and then manually with CTRL+F12 and it didn't appear. So, I've checked the menu and it was not there.

What, exactly, wasn't there ? The Addon Manager menu, the Couatl menu, or the GSX entries under the Couatl menu ?

A picture is worth a thousand words - as you can see GSX is installed and there is nothing showing on the menu.

[ByteG]

Anyway, when I tried to call GSX menu first using MCE and then manually with CTRL+F12 and it didn't appear. So, I've checked the menu and it was not there.

What, exactly, wasn't there ? The Addon Manager menu, the Couatl menu, or the GSX entries under the Couatl menu ?

A picture is worth a thousand words - as you can see GSX is installed and there is nothing showing on the menu.

And I've found the following in the log file:

couatl v2.0 (build 2322)
log started on Fri Dec 28 10:50:16 2012

connecting to SimConnect...
connected to FSX
bglmanx non ready yet, waiting.

[virtuali]

A picture is worth a thousand words - as you can see GSX is installed and there is nothing showing on the menu.

All the know solutions to both addons disappearing from the menu were already indicated in the above post:

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=7780.msg64351#msg64351

If you *really* tried ALL of that, the only options left are reparing the FSX installation, and if that fails, reinstall Windows.

[ByteG]

A picture is worth a thousand words - as you can see GSX is installed and there is nothing showing on the menu.

All the know solutions to both addons disappearing from the menu were already indicated in the above post:

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=7780.msg64351#msg64351

If you *really* tried ALL of that, the only options left are reparing the FSX installation, and if that fails, reinstall Windows.

Ok, let's see:
- DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL with the antivirus entirely OFF - done (also turned off Win. defender and firewall)
- TURN OFF your antivirus. Don't just exit from its interface ... - done
- Reinstall GSX (using the full installer in this case) with the Antivirus TURNED OFF - done (at least 5 times)
- Configure the antivirus to exclude the following files from scanning: - yes in Defender, couldn't find it in avast.
- Now you can turn the antivirus back on, and launch FSX. - still turned off
- Check you are seeing BOTH the "Addon Manager" menu AND... not there
- Go in the Windows control panel, and Uninstall ALL the instances of the Visual Studio 2005 redistributable runtimes. You might have more than one version: remove them all. - all removed and reinstalled (x86 and x64)
- AFTER installing all the runtimes, it could be useful running Windows Update and update everything, including the optional downloads. - installed all current updates

So points 1 and 2 are done

Regarding  Simconnect, I don't think that it is broken since other addons are working - such as FSUIPC, Accufeel and Active Sky 2012. And also Simconnect examples from VS 2012.

However, I did notice something in Simconnect logs:

0.10827 Exe Launched:  Path="fsdreamteam\couatl\couatl.exe"  CommandLine=""  Version="2.0.0.2322"
0.11898 DLL Failed to load. Check for missing dependencies.
0.11899 DLL Load Failed:  Error=-3  Path="bglmanx.dll"

0.14866 DLL Loaded:  Path="C:\FSX\Modules\iFly737NG.dll"  Version="1.1.0.0"
0.15064 DLL Loaded:  Path="D:\FSX\Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK\SDK\Environment Kit\Traffic Toolbox SDK\traffictoolbox.dll"  Version="10.0.61637.0"
0.15495 Panels data export found and set to 20B319D8
0.20900 DLL Loaded:  Path="D:\FSX\FS Recorder for FSX\FSRecorder_FSX.dll"  Version="2.1.0.0"
0.21393 Panels data export found and set to 20B319D8
0.24268 DLL Loaded:  Path="Modules\A2A_Feel.dll"  Version="<Unknown>"
0.24498 Panels data export found and set to 20B319D8
0.24526 DLL Loaded:  Path="Modules\AccuFeelMenu.dll"  Version="0.1.0.0"
0.24727 Panels data export found and set to 20B319D8
0.24904 DLL Loaded:  Path="fsInsider.dll"  Version="2.5.0.8"
0.33422 Panels data export found and set to 20B319D8
0.84386 DLL Loaded:  Path="Modules\FSUIPC4.dll"  Version="4.8.5.3"

As you can see only Couatl and bglmanx failed to load.

Also, during the first and last reinstallaion my fsx.cfg was rebuild due to unknown reason and this didn't help either.

There is one more thing, please check the error below during the installation.

[virtuali]

0.10827 Exe Launched:  Path="fsdreamteam\couatl\couatl.exe"  CommandLine=""  Version="2.0.0.2322"
0.11898 DLL Failed to load. Check for missing dependencies.
0.11899 DLL Load Failed:  Error=-3  Path="bglmanx.dll"

As you can see only Couatl and bglmanx failed to load.

Yes, they surely failed to load, but that confirms one of the cases in my previous post.

It wasn't Simconnect in this case, by the Visual C++ libraries. These are the only dependencies the two modules have so, whenever you have a "missing dependencies" error, the error in your system it's either Simconnect, or the VC++ 2005 libraries.

Fact that other addons works, simply mean they might have dependencies from other libraries, which are not missing from your system. Unfortunately, the ones with problems is the one we require.

Unfortunately, it's not always possible to fix broken VC++ by reinstalling them. Some users had success by repairing the FSX SP2 (or Acceleration, if that is what you have installed), which will hopefully restore the missing/corrupted libraries.

[ByteG]

0.10827 Exe Launched:  Path="fsdreamteam\couatl\couatl.exe"  CommandLine=""  Version="2.0.0.2322"
0.11898 DLL Failed to load. Check for missing dependencies.
0.11899 DLL Load Failed:  Error=-3  Path="bglmanx.dll"

As you can see only Couatl and bglmanx failed to load.

Yes, they surely failed to load, but that confirms one of the cases in my previous post.

It wasn't Simconnect in this case, by the Visual C++ libraries. These are the only dependencies the two modules have so, whenever you have a "missing dependencies" error, the error in your system it's either Simconnect, or the VC++ 2005 libraries.

Fact that other addons works, simply mean they might have dependencies from other libraries, which are not missing from your system. Unfortunately, the ones with problems is the one we require.

Unfortunately, it's not always possible to fix broken VC++ by reinstalling them. Some users had success by repairing the FSX SP2 (or Acceleration, if that is what you have installed), which will hopefully restore the missing/corrupted libraries.

Ok, I've removed GSX again (completely), removed all VC++ 2005 distributables, run REPAIR for Acceleration, reinstalled all 6 VC++ 2005 packages (4x86, 2x64) and reinstalled GSX (under AV turned off).

Unfortunatelly, the result is the same. (The same thing happens for installing ZurichX also)

However, I found something else in the log:
> 45.09226 [128, 1]Open: Version=0x00000004  Name="Couatl"


It looks that Couatl.exe is being loaded anyway. I guess that the problem is only with bglmanx.dll
Is it possible to get a detailed log and not only Error: -3 ?
Does bglmanx.dll depend on Coualt.exe ?

Also, is there any possible conflict of VC++ 2005, 2008, 2010 and 2012 - since I have all those versions?

[virtuali]

Is it possible to get a detailed log and not only Error: -3 ?

It's not, unfortunately. Only that means "missing dependencies", we don't know what exactly is looking for. But, since Simconnect seems to be working, that leaves only the VC++ runtimes, since there are no other external dependencies for it.

Does bglmanx.dll depend on Coualt.exe ?

No, as I've said, the only external dependencies are Simconnect and the VC++ 2005 runtimes.

Also, is there any possible conflict of VC++ 2005, 2008, 2010 and 2012 - since I have all those versions?

No, in theory. But it practice it happened that some later VC++ runtimes broke earlier versions, for example, a specific release of the 2008 runtime (used by some PMDG products) broke the 2005 version. Microsoft fixed this, but it's possible you might still have the wrong version.

Try the following:

- Download and install the Stand-Alone Addon Manager, which includes a version of the bglmanx.dll linked to a slightly different release of the 2005 runtimes, that will hopefully work.

- If that doesn't work, try again the removal/reinstall of the VC++ runtimes, but this time remove all the 2005 versions AND the 2008 version, then reinstall ONLY the 2005 versions, and TEST. If that works, you might try installing the 2008 version, as downloaded from Microsoft so, if you have a product that will install an older (bugged) version,  it won't if you already have a newer one.

[ByteG]

I've been busting my head with this for two days now.

I have reinstalled VC++ redistributables over 10 times I think. I have also searched for MSVC*80.dll files and manually put them into FSX and Windows\System32 folder.
I have downloaded dependency walker and installed missing DLLs. I have also repaired both original FSX and Acceleration pack and that didn't help either.

Then I've tried something else. I've found on my backup disk Installation of ZurichX version 2.5.1 and GSX version 1.5.
I have removed network cable so that bglmanx.dll wouldn't be downloaded.

And guess what, IT WORKS NOW.
So, the culprit is either latest version of bglmanx.dll or coualt.exe. Honestly, I have expected this all along since everything was ok a couple of weeks ago.
And all I have done since then was installed 2 new sceneries and nothing else.

[ByteG]

- Download and install the Stand-Alone Addon Manager, which includes a version of the bglmanx.dll linked to a slightly different release of the 2005 runtimes, that will hopefully work.

Is it possible to download different versions of bglmanx.dll so that I could check which version doesn't work anymore?

- If that doesn't work, try again the removal/reinstall of the VC++ runtimes, but this time remove all the 2005 versions AND the 2008 version, then reinstall ONLY the 2005 versions, and TEST. If that works, you might try installing the 2008 version, as downloaded from Microsoft so, if you have a product that will install an older (bugged) version,  it won't if you already have a newer one.

I can try removing versions 2008. What about 2010 and 2012?