Problems with new Couatl.exe that came with GSX 1.9.11.0 under WinXP

[christian1974]

Hi Umberto

Yersterday I downloaded the new GSX 1.9.11.0 istaller.
The installation went fine (no errors or something like that).
Then I did a reboot (as advised). After that I started my FSX and confirmed the upcoming massages. After starting
a fligt I saw that in the FSX-Addon-Menue there was no Couatl-Entry. The Addon-Manager was there and worked.

1)
With no Couatl-Entry GSX did not work!!

My OS is WinXP Pro (SP3) 32bit
(I know it´s not supported by Microsoft anymore - Not good for Flightsimulation - You do not test anymore).
We already had a discussion during the beta-phase.
But as you now made the software it public, I have to the right to say the following.

I bought GSX as a WinXP compatible software and accordingt to your Webpage it still is WinXP compatible
(Got a pdf-printout with date as proof if needed).
And so I have a right to get a working software.

If it is WinXP compatible, also sub-programms as the new couatl have to be WinXP compatible too.
To me it seems as if this is not the case. If it was, I would still have couatl-entries in the FSX-Addon-Menue.

2)
But not only GSX is affectetd. All of your airports use couatl and at all GSX was available for free.
But this don´t work anymore. So the airports dont have their full functinonality anymore.

If I like to have them, the way they were before the update, I now have to use Aerosoft´s AES, which would mean spending more money on additional credits.
I have all of your airports in use (except Zurich). So you can imagine how many credits I would need (36 Crdits means 4 packages (=59.8 Euro)).

So to me there are 2 (or 3 options)

a) You make your software compatible (<- best option to me)
b) You give me refunds for GSX (complete as it is not usable anymore) and the new to buy AES credits
for your fsdreamteam-airports I use (40,34 Euro + 59.80 Euro for AES Credits)
c) You give me an opportunity to update my OS (<- how could you do this?)

Please remember YOU changed YOUR software - It was not me who changed anything on my side.

Hope to hear from you with a suitable sollution.

As I´m on holiday for 2 weeks now, I only can provide you with further information after that..

Kind regards,
Christian

[virtuali]

So to me there are 2 (or 3 options)

a) You make your software compatible (<- best option to me)
b) You give me refunds for GSX (complete as it is not usable anymore) and the new to buy AES credits
for your fsdreamteam-airports I use (40,34 Euro + 59.80 Euro for AES Credits)
c) You give me an opportunity to update my OS (<- how could you do this?)

You omitted the ONLY two solutions that are really available to you:

1) You keep using GSX version you bought.

If the latest version with Couatl 2 worked, you can simply use that.

Nowhere on our site we ever said you are entitled with free upgrades forever, no matter what. YOU have made a choice to use an obsolete and officially unsupported OS, so you must expect that NEW versions of the software you bought might not always work on your old OS.

An easy example you can surely understand:

I have an iPhone 4 that still works fine and has its use, and also iPad 1. However, the iPhone cannot run any IOS higher than 7.x, so I cannot update to the latest OS and, because of this, A LOT of my PURCHASED apps CANNOT be updated to their latest free version, because they have been updated to run only on OS8+. Same with the iPad 1, but even worse, since that one cannot run anything higher than OS6, which means the updated apps I cannot use anymore there are even MORE.

Can I go to Apple or to all the app developers asking for a refund "because THEY changed THEIR software, I haven't changed anything on my side", without making a fool of myself ? Of course not. I'll keep using my purchased app with the LAST version that works, simple as that.

2) You update your OS, which is obviously the only sane choice you can do.

In any case, now that we are out of Beta, we also updated the system requirements on the webpage, to remove XP from the supported OS, but this is really for future customers. As I've said, you can simply keep using the version you bought, if it works.

[christian1974]

Ok Umberto

I see your point.

So I try to work with the old one (as longs as this is possible).
Do I have to turn update options off or something like that???

But how can I be sure, that any new Addon-Standalone installer in the future won´t install the the new couatl too???
I´m sure there will no sollution to this exept the following...

In fact this will mean to me, that I will not buy any of your software in the future
(as long as I have no chance of updating on my side - would have to update more than only the OS).
Sorry about that, as I always liked your software.

[virtuali]

Do I have to turn update options off or something like that???

You can disable the Live Update notifications, by adding the following line:

Disable = 1

Under the [Liveupdate] section of the %APPDATA%\Virtuali\Couatladdons.ini

But how can I be sure, that any new Addon-Standalone installer in the future won´t install the the new couatl too???

*Every* Stand-Alone Addon Manager installer will install the latest Couatl. Now that we are out of Beta, there's only one version available, and it's the latest one.

But you don't have to install it, of course. The stuff these old installer downloads from the live update server is SEPARATE from the one downloaded by the new installers so:

- Old installer coming with Couatl 2 will continue to download the latest Couatl 2-related files. Of course, since we are not updating these anymore, it won't be any different than installing offline.

- The installers download Couatl 3-related files from a *different* URL, so the two won't be mixed.

In fact this will mean to me, that I will not buy any of your software in the future

You surely will, when you'll realize that more and more software will stop working on XP, or when you'll will be hacked and will lose valuable data, because someone will find new XP vulnerabilities, that none will ever patch, since it's not supported anymore by MS with security updates.

[AkkoP]

Hello Umberto,

i am in a similar position. I have recently bought GSX thinking it would work (as per your documentation) however i'm having all sorts of issues. I believe after reading the posts on this forum regarding installation i have attempted the following:
Switched off antivirus and installed latest addon manager
Updated VC++ 2005 redistributables
Attempted 2 different types of bglmanx.dll
looked in Simconnect log and Couatl.exe fails to load

After all this i still can not see the Coautl menu under add ons and still cannot use GSX.

One thing that i will mention is that when i try to use Couatl.exe manually it states that it is not a 32 bit exe and wont start. I have borrowed a friends win 7 machine and have tested it on that and it seems to run fine.

If possible is there an older version of coautl.exe that you know runs on Win XP 32bit that i can try? Really looking forward to using your software but unfortunately i've hit a wall and don't know what else to try.

[virtuali]

i am in a similar position. I have recently bought GSX thinking it would work (as per your documentation)

According to the GSX web page, under "System Requirements", the minimum supported OS is Windows Vista:

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/products_gsx.html

Windows Vista or Windows 7/8/10, 32 and 64 bit editions are supported

My previous reply about using an old version was directed to an user that *bought* GSX when Windows XP WAS indicated as supported on our site, so he can use an older GSX installer he still had.

However, in your case you bought GSX when XP wasn't supported anymore, and this (in addition to the Web page info, which doesn't indicate XP as a supported OS), would have been obvious by downloading and installing the Trial version, which is what you are supposed to do when you buy something that is sold in as Try-before-Buy product. The whole point of having a Trial, is precisely that you can check if it works on your own system before purchase, in case you might have not noticed the System Requirements on the Web page.

The issue is, the current GSX *requires* the current Couatl 3, and it won't work with Couatl 2, which seem to be still compatible with XP so, it won't fix anything using the old Couatl, because the current GSX doesn't work with it.

We cannot be expected to support an officially unsupported OS from 15 years ago. I STRONGLY advice to upgrade to AT LEAST Windows 7.

In addition to that, running FSX on a 32 bit OS, especially with a recent video card with lots of VRAM, WILL cause you endless crashes and Out of Memory errors so, there's really no reason why you would want to use XP today, surely not for FSX.