Why does your software insist on modifying my P3D Config file? **IT DOESN'T**

[bobsk8]

I spent over a week last week trying to find out the source of sudden blurries with my Aerosoft Airbus in P3D. I was almost to the point where I was going to do a complete reinstall of P3D.  Through trial an error I finally tracked it down to an entry in my P3D config file "affinity mask= 14"  Since i did not place that in my config file, because it is known to cause texture loading problems, I couldn't figure out where it came from. So I deleted it, and then everything was fine an no more blurries.  This morning GSX would not start when I started P3D, so I went to the add on manager to reload it, and I noticed the options on the right to modify my config file. I see one of  them is for affinity mask and the default is 14.  I wen to my config file, and sure enough . the entry was back again set at 14.  I do not want my config file tampered with in any way, unless I do it. How can I disable this changing of my config file. By the way, other people on facebook are complaining about similar problems in the last couple of weeks, and two of them found this affinity mask entry. 

[virtuali]

The Addon Manager DOES NOT change the .CFG file. YOU tell the Addon Manager to change it, but ONLY if you press the "Save to Prepar3D" button!

You are probably mislead to think the Addon Manager has changed that setting, because when you open its menu, you see the Affinity Mask at its default of 14 (which is a good starting value for a Quad-core system), but that doesn't mean the Addon Manager has already applied the setting.

It means that, since you had NO setting in the Prepar3D.CFG file for the Affinity Mask, this is the setting that is going to be written should you press the Save button. If you just look at the menu and exit without pressing the Save button, the file is NOT going to be changed.

You can of course have proof of this very easily:

1) Edit the Prepar3D.CFG file, and be sure the setting is NOT there

2) Launch P3D

3) Start the Addon Manager. Look at the menu (yes, you'll see the Affinity at 14, because that's what it defaults to if you don't have any setting)

4) DO NOT Save, and exit the Addon Manager

5) Exit the sim

6) Check your Prepar3D.CFG file again, and you'll see the Affinity Mask hasn't been added or changed in any way.

The only way for the Addon Manager to change your Prepar3D.CFG, is if YOU tell it to do so, by pressing the "Save to Prepar3D" button.

Now, of course, your next question will be "But I *want* to use other Addon Manager tweaks, so I have to press the Save button, but I don't what the Affinity Mask to be changed", and of course, there's an answer to that.

It's not as if you don't have a setting, the sim won't use it. If a setting is not present, the sim will just use its own internal default value which, in case of the Affinity Mask is "use all cores automatically", which translates into ALL cores bits enabled, which means 65535.

So, if you WANT to use other tweaks in the Addon Manager, but you don't want the Affinity Mask to be 14, and you wanted to be AS IF it wasn't there, just set it to 65535 (all cpus enabled).

We set it to 14, because it's usually best to reserve 1 real core to Windows, but if you found the "use all cores" it's best for you, use it.

But again, this is going to be an issue ONLY if you WANT to use the Addon Manager to tweak the .CFG file, so you WANT to use the Save button.

If you don't want the .CFG file to be "tampered", just never press the Save button, and nothing will be touched.

[bobsk8]

OK, I understand what you are saying. When GSX did not start, I thought that it was important to hit the save to P3D to get GSX to work again.  I think this menu should be modified somehow to tell people that this saving to P3D is not necessary, if they do not want heir CFG file to be altered.  


Bob

[virtuali]

I think this menu should be modified somehow to tell people that this saving to P3D is not necessary, if they do not want heir CFG file to be altered.

It should be obvious that NOT pressing a "Save" button (any Save button in any app), will prevent the related file to be modified, unless you assume it modifies the file anyway, which is not what it does and, of course, it's the correct and expected behavior.

If, instead, pressing the "Save" button WAS necessary for the correct GSX operation, we could clearly said so in the manual or, more likely, have the installer automatically set any mandatory parameters. Which is exactly what the installer already does: since human animations won't work if the "SKINNED_ANIMATIONS" is not set to 1, that's the ONLY parameter of the CFG file we set automatically (in the installer, not while running), because it's the only one that is really *required* by GSX.

[bobsk8]

I think this menu should be modified somehow to tell people that this saving to P3D is not necessary, if they do not want heir CFG file to be altered.

It should be obvious that NOT pressing a "Save" button (any Save button in any app), will prevent the related file to be modified, unless you assume it modifies the file anyway, which is not what it does and, of course, it's the correct and expected behavior.

If, instead, pressing the "Save" button WAS necessary for the correct GSX operation, we could clearly said so in the manual or, more likely, have the installer automatically set any mandatory parameters. Which is exactly what the installer already does: since human animations won't work if the "SKINNED_ANIMATIONS" is not set to 1, that's the ONLY parameter of the CFG file we set automatically (in the installer, not while running), because it's the only one that is really *required* by GSX.

Sorry but that was not clear to me and apparently a few other people that ran into the same problem, and BTW I have been running flight sims since the mid 80's so I am far from a beginner in this. I just now  deleted my Cfg file in P3d  after reading your post, and reloaded P3d, and guess what , no GSX was in the add on menu. I went into the add on manager and as you suggested, I did not select "save to P3D" this time following your advice to the letter, I just clicked on GSX and hit the exit button.  I then exited out of P3d, and restarted it. Guess what, still no GSX.  I then repeated this same scenario twice more with the same result, no GSX. The third time repeating the same exact sequence, GSX loaded properly.  That is why I hit the save button when I tried this back around the 9th of September when I updated GSX and the installer,  it did not work unless I saved it to P3D back then . I didn't think I would have to try it multiple times to get it to work.  So seeing it work once, on September 9, it seemed that this was the procedure to follow.

At least now the correct procedure is documented. And by the way, it is  my understanding from some very knowledgeable people working with P3D, that it doesn't need a bunch of tweaks like FSX does. In fact, it really needs only one, Optimize Parts=1.  All these other tweaks are more than likely to cause more issues that they solve, which was the situation in my case. Affinity Mask=14 turned my very smooth running P3D into a blurry mess for almost 2 weeks and I spent hours and hours trying to fix it. 

[virtuali]

Sorry but that was not clear to me and apparently a few other people that ran into the same problem, and BTW I have been running flight sims since the mid 80's so I am far from a beginner in this. I just now  deleted my Cfg file in P3d  after reading your post, and reloaded P3d, and guess what , no GSX was in the add on menu. I went into the add on manager and as you suggested, I did not select "save to P3D" this time following your advice to the letter, I just clicked on GSX and hit the exit button.  I then exited out of P3d, and restarted it. Guess what, still no GSX.  I then repeated this same scenario twice more with the same result, no GSX. The third time repeating the same exact sequence, GSX loaded properly.  That is why I hit the save button when I tried this  before, because the first time back around the 9th of September when I updated GSX and the installed,  it did not work unless I saved it to P3D. I didn't think I would have to try it multiple times to get it to work.  

[virtuali]

Sorry but that was not clear to me and apparently a few other people that ran into the same problem

What "problem" ? The problem it's just assuming the Addon Manager would change the CFG file automatically, when it doesn't. It's only by assuming this that you might be confused.

If, instead, you just trusted the program would do the logical thing for any Save button out there, which is changing the file it relates to when it's used, and NOT changing the file when is NOT used, it will all makes sense...

I just now  deleted my Cfg file in P3d  after reading your post, and reloaded P3d, and guess what , no GSX was in the add on menu.

Fact that GSX was missing after this step, it's entirely unrelated BOTH to my post (which suggested this ONLY to PROVE you the Addon Manager doesn't change if you don't Save it, nothing else ) and nothing in the CFG file would prevent GSX from running.

The most likely explanation for GSX not running twice in a row and then running on the 3rd attempt, is that you exited the sim and restarted it too quickly, without allowing enough time to close all opened process, so it's possible that Couatl.exe was still running from the previous session, and this WILL prevent GSX from running.

This totally unrelated to the CFG file.

I went into the add on manager and as you suggested, I did not select "save to P3D" this time following your advice to the letter, I just clicked on GSX and hit the exit button.  I then exited out of P3d, and restarted it. Guess what, still no GSX.  I then repeated this same scenario twice more with the same result, no GSX. The third time repeating the same exact sequence, GSX loaded properly.

I don't understand what your "guess what" means, as if you are trying to say that, without pressing the "Save" button, GSX might not work. This is not the case and not what have happened, according to your own report.

Your report of the 3rd attempt further proves this. You say "the same exact sequence", which I assume you haven NOT changed the CFG file even for the 3rd attempt, but this time GSX WORKED. I guess  you simply too a bit more longer this time (even 1 second more might have been enough), and allowed the sim to close properly, so you didn't end in the same issue of the first two attempts. It should be entirely clear at this point, that pressing the "Save" button is NOT required to run GSX.

That is why I hit the save button when I tried this  before, because the first time back around the 9th of September when I updated GSX and the installed,  it did not work unless I saved it to P3D. I didn't think I would have to try it multiple times to get it to work.  

You are linking two entirely unrelated things, as they were cause and effect, when they aren't. You just decided to press the Save button, assuming this might "fix" your not running GSX, and the "Save" button did exactly what it's supposed to do: SAVE the changes to the CFG file.

So, the real issue you are reporting here, is NOT the "Addon Manager changes the CFG without my consent", because this is not what it does, and it's not even that we should say that NOT pressing the Save button will NOT touch the CFG file (which is clearly implied in the behavior of any Save button in any application).

The issue is that you are complaining why we haven't clearly said something like this:

If GSX is not working for any reason, don't try to fix it by pressing the Save button, because it won't help you, but it WILL (as the name says) change your CFG file so, if you don't want to have the CFG changed, and your GSX is not working, don't press the SAVE button, and ask support instead.

[bobsk8]

OK, now I understand how it works. I thought that the Add on Manager was responsible for getting Couatl and GSX to load. That is why I used it trying to restart GSX. I also now understand what the save button does in the add on manager and will not click it anymore.  And I will give P3D more time to close down, before restarting.

Thanks for the explanation.  

[virtuali]

I thought that the Add on Manager was responsible for getting Couatl and GSX to load.

It is. Both Couatl and the Addon Manager are needed for GSX to work. 90% of the work is done by Couatl, but some things that are not provided by the FSX SDK (Simconnect) and require direct in-memory access, can only be provided by the Addon Manager, which can access FSX internals directly, since it's a .DLL that runs in the same memory address space (while Couatl, being an external .EXE, cannot).

So, they both have to work, in order to have GSX working.

That is why I used it trying to restart GSX

The Couatl menu has a "Restart Couatl". The GSX manual says the "Restart Couatl" option is your PANIC button, in case something goes wrong, and it used to restart Couatl and all its plugins, including GSX.

The SAVE button in the Addon Manager does what its name says (it's not called "restart-something" for a reason...): it SAVES the tweaks that are presented right above it, in the sim CFG file.