Help: couatl.exe won't run! **SOLVED**

[Pete Dowson]

I've been using GSX with FSX-SE ever since the latter was released. Today, on trying to do a flight for the first time in weeks, GSX isn't working.

Checking the Add-Ons menu I see the entry from BGLMANX, and the GSX entry in its dialogue definitely says GSX is activated, but there is no COUATL menu entry at all.

So I checked in Task Manager, and COUATL isn't running.

Its entry is definitely in the EXE.XML file and enabled. I tried running it directly from the fsdreasmteam\couatl folder, but double clicking it there appears to do nothing, with or without FSX-SE running.

Yes, I have run the latest Addon Manager update, twice in fact! I also tried running the COUATL Updater EXE. Still no joy.

What would stop COUATL from running? I have not knowingly changed anything recently.

Pete

[virtuali]

What would stop COUATL from running? I have not knowingly changed anything recently.

I think the most common cause it's the antivirus blocking it. Maybe a recent update of the antivirus definitions introduced the problem (which shouldn't happen, since we digitally sign the executable with Taggant signature that should help antivirus not report false positives ).

Try to add the couatl.exe in the antivirus exclusion list.

[Pete Dowson]

What would stop COUATL from running? I have not knowingly changed anything recently.

I think the most common cause it's the antivirus blocking it. Maybe a recent update of the antivirus definitions introduced the problem (which shouldn't happen, since we digitally sign the executable with Taggant signature that should help antivirus not report false positives ).

Try to add the couatl.exe in the antivirus exclusion list.

Thanks for the quick reply, but ...

It can't be that. I don't have any anti-virus software on my Flight Sim PC and the Windows stuff, firewall included, is inhibited. Never had. I only have it on the one PC where I deal with emails and download new programs etc.

Pete

[virtuali]

 Uninstall GSX and reply YES to the questions "Do you want to remove the Addon Manager ?" and reply YES to the question "Do you want to remove the Couatl script engine ?"

Reinstall it.

See if you get the dialog box about running Addon Manager and Couatl on the next FSX startup.

[Pete Dowson]

Uninstall GSX and reply YES to the questions "Do you want to remove the Addon Manager ?" and reply YES to the question "Do you want to remove the Couatl script engine ?"

Reinstall it.

See if you get the dialog box about running Addon Manager and Couatl on the next FSX startup.

Okay. Will try that. Just out with the dog for a while. Will confirm or otherwise later.
Thanks,

Pete

[Pete Dowson]

Uninstall GSX and reply YES to the questions "Do you want to remove the Addon Manager ?" and reply YES to the question "Do you want to remove the Couatl script engine ?"

Reinstall it.

See if you get the dialog box about running Addon Manager and Couatl on the next FSX startup.

Okay. That made it work, thanks (though no dialogue about COUATL -- I am pretty sure the FS "trust" questions only come up for DLLsa and Gauges, not external EXEs.

Not sure what happened to suddenly make it not work, not even after running the latest Addon Manager update and reinstalling GSX earlier today. Some file corrupts which uninstalling removed but which isn't replaced by runnng the later installers?

Thanks,
Pete

[virtuali]

Okay. That made it work, thanks (though no dialogue about COUATL -- I am pretty sure the FS "trust" questions only come up for DLLsa and Gauges, not external EXEs.

The Trust question comes for any executable, including external .EXE files. You can check this by removing the Couatl.exe line from the [Trusted] section of the FSX.CFG.

Note that, if you already trusted "Virtuali" as a Publisher, you won't ever be asked again for anything digitally signed by us. Note that, Couatl.exe will have a different signature than bglmanx.dll, because we just got our certificate renewed, but since Couatl.exe hasn't been updated in months, it still has the old signature, which means if you already trusted it, it won't ask you again.

Not sure what happened to suddenly make it not work, not even after running the latest Addon Manager update and reinstalling GSX earlier today. Some file corrupts which uninstalling removed but which isn't replaced by runnng the later installers?

This is strange, but uninstalling/reinstalling might have done some clean up.

[nigelgrant]

Hi Umberto 

I am piggy-backing on this string since all my symptoms are identical to Pete Dowson’s, other than his specific problems with GSX.  Unfortunately, his eventual solution has not worked for me.  I have Geneva, Zurich, Vancouver, Honolulu, Hawaii Airports 1 and 2. I have the boxed FSX with SP1 and SP2.

By way of background, I went through major hassles nearly a year ago when I updated to Windows 10 from Windows 7, FSX went crazy until I converted to DirectX 10, and this resolved my problems with the bonus of better graphics.  And my FSDT airports were still working fine.

Then I went through the major hassles of the recent file migration problems at ORBx and eventually resolved these, and my FSDT airports were still working fine.

Over recent weeks I started flying Hawaiian Islands to check out the ORBx North America land class. Lihue was fine, Honolulu was fine but arriving at Kahului there were no buildings   Checked at Kona and no buildings. CYVR and the Swiss airports were working fine. 

So I downloaded the most recent Addon Manager, still no buildings; so tried a reinstall of Hawaii 2, still no buildings, but now the buildings had disappeared from my other FSDT airports. As the string above, I uninstalled GSX, and re-downloaded and re-installed GSX with Windows Defender anti-virus turned off.  Still no buildings at the FSDT airports.

•   Addon Manager shows in the FSX menu but not Couatl.
•   Couatl.exe is not in Task Manager, except in the first boot of FSX it appears for a split second, then disappears – but subsequent FSX reboots do not show this.
•   exe.xml looks okay
•   Couatl.exe and BGLmanx.dll are excluded in my Defender virus scan (if I turn off Defender and start FSX, couatl.exe will still not load into Task Manager nor FSX).
•   Couatl.exe and BGLmanx.dll are both registered in the Trusted section of FSX.cfg

If I put FSX in Windowed mode and open couatl.exe manually, the buildings at all my FSDT airports re-appear, so I have pinned a shortcut to the Taskbar and use this as a work-around when flying in FSDT territory.

I have used SimStarter for several months, without problems to the FSDT airports.

I am at a loss now, any suggestions?

Nigel
Vancouver

[virtuali]

Couatl.exe is not in Task Manager, except in the first boot of FSX it appears for a split second, then disappears – but subsequent FSX reboots do not show this.

It Couatl starts, your problem doesn't have anything to do with antivirus, xml files or the trusted section, because in all these cases, it won't even start.

Check if you have a Couatl.ERR file in your %APPDATA%\Virtuali folder and if it shows anything. If you had logging enabled, you should instead check for a Couatl.LOG file.

Also, try to reset all the preference, by removing the whole %APPDATA%\Virtuali folder and REINSTALL GSX, using ONLY the current full installer.

Note that, by removing that folder, you'll lose all your GSX preferences and customizations, so you might want to copy it to a different folder as a backup.

[nigelgrant]

Hi Umberto

This is my first couatl.log after deleting the virtuali folder then downloading and re-installing GSX with anti-virus off, opening up at Kona with a default 737.  There was no couatl.ERR file

Nothing makes sense to me, there are several error messages relating to some airports which don't appear in the FSDT products. Does this give you any clues?

regards
Nigel

[virtuali]

This is my first couatl.log after deleting the virtuali folder then downloading and re-installing GSX with anti-virus off, opening up at Kona with a default 737.  There was no couatl.ERR file

Your log shows there are no errors in that session and Couatl is running correctly. Has it quitted in that session too, as you described before ?

Nothing makes sense to me, there are several error messages relating to some airports which don't appear in the FSDT products. Does this give you any clues?

Those are not error messages and, it's precisely for the reason that you don't have a product installed, that you see what "looks" like an error, but it's not. It's just a message that says, if you don't have a product installed, its script is not loaded, which is correct.

[nigelgrant]

Your log shows there are no errors in that session and Couatl is running correctly. Has it quitted in that session too, as you described before ?

Yes it is the same, couatl  scripting appears in the Task Manager while FSX is booting, then quickly disappears, and I have to manually execute it when FSX has finished booting.

regards
Nigel

[virtuali]

Yes it is the same, couatl  scripting appears in the Task Manager while FSX is booting, then quickly disappears, and I have to manually execute it when FSX has finished booting.

That's not normal, at all.

Have you changed anything in the "Compatibility" settings of Couatl.exe, maybe because you were trying to fix the problem yourself ? NOTHING should be checked in the Compatibility tab of the Couatl.exe program, which is the default.

[nigelgrant]

Hi Umberto

How interesting!  Compatibility mode for couatl.exe showed Windows 7 compatibility, and run by administrator, ticked. Unticked Windows 7 - no change.  Unticked run by administrator - eureka it worked!

I cannot explain because I do not recollect getting into the compatibility feature of couatl.exe to change it, I have done it with FSX.exe.

Thx for your patience and help.

Nigel
Vancouver

[virtuali]

How interesting!  Compatibility mode for couatl.exe showed Windows 7 compatibility, and run by administrator, ticked. Unticked Windows 7 - no change.  Unticked run by administrator - eureka it worked!

I was quite sure of it. We'll probably add a feature in the installer, to have any Compatibility flag for Couatl.exe removed when installing, as we do it for FSX.EXE already.

Compatibility mode is evil. It reduce performances, because it intercepts each and every call to every file open/read operation, to redirect from the Programs folder to the virtualized folder. It intercepts each and every registry read/write operation to redirect everything that used to use the HKLM to the Virtual Store registry, and it even switch your video drivers to run into a lesser mode (WDDM 1.0 instead of 1.1), reducing performances even further.

The only reason why you might need a Compatibilty mode enabled in FSX or in a 3rd party addon, is to fix issues with non-compliant 3rd party addons what insist writing their own file into the main sim folder, which is forbidden in Windows starting with Vista and up.

A better alternative to this, is to change the file permissions for the whole FSX folder (the FSX root folder+sub-folders) to grant your own user read/write access, so you won't need to enable any Compatibility mode, even if you use non-UAC compliant 3rd party addons.