couatl not starting

[bjratchf]

I can't seem to get couatl started on its own when P3D starts. Its is in the exe.xml (I put it there), but it seems that there are multiple exe.xml's for P3D... I downloaded and reinstalled the standalone addon manager and manually did the couatl update.

Whats the trick to getting this thing started- it used to work fine?

[virtuali]

Whats the trick to getting this thing started- it used to work fine?

There's no need to do anything manually, since all the proper XML files are of correctly set by the installer. Assuming, of course, the installer hasn't found an already corrupted XML file, but it would have given you an error in this case.

If you haven't seen any errors while installing, the most likely cause for Couatl not starting, is that your antivirus is blocking it, because it has mistakenly identified it as a threat, due to a bug of the antivirus.

- Download and install with the antivirus disabled.

- Configure the antivirus to exclude the whole simulator folder from scanning.

[bjratchf]

I don't have an antivirus running- I have windows defender disabled (via group policy) since it has caused problems in the past.

Here are my exe.xml's for you to look at... I made sure there was a couatl entry in both:

C:\Users\Brendan\AppData\Roaming\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v3\exe.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="Windows-1252"?>
<SimBase.Document Type="Launch" version="1,0">
   <Descr>Launch</Descr>
   <Filename>EXE.xml</Filename>
   <Disabled>False</Disabled>
   <Launch.ManualLoad>False</Launch.ManualLoad>
  <Launch.Addon>
    <Name>Couatl</Name>
    <Disabled>False</Disabled>
     <Path>fsdreamteam\couatl\couatl.exe</Path>
  </Launch.Addon>
   <Launch.Addon>
      <Name>ChasePlane</Name>
      <Disabled>False</Disabled>
      <Path>C:\Program Files (x86)\OldProp Solutions Inc\ChasePlane\ChasePlane.exe</Path>
      <CommandLine>P3Dv3</CommandLine>
   </Launch.Addon>
   <Launch.Addon>
      <Name>as_btstrp_config_manager</Name>
      <Disabled>False</Disabled>
      <Path>as_srv\as_btstrp_config_manager.exe</Path>
   </Launch.Addon>
</SimBase.Document>

C:\ProgramData\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v3\exe.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="windows-1252"?>
<SimBase.Document Type="AceXML" version="3,0" id="exe">
  <Descr>AceXML Document</Descr>
  <Filename>exe.xml</Filename>
  <Launch.Addon>
    <Name>SODE</Name>
    <Path>C:\Program Files (x86)\12bPilot\SODE\SimObjectDisplayEngine.exe</Path>
    <CommandLine>P3Dv3</CommandLine>
  </Launch.Addon>
  <Launch.Addon>
    <Name>Couatl</Name>
    <Disabled>False</Disabled>
    <ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad>
    <Path>fsdreamteam\couatl\couatl.exe</Path>
  </Launch.Addon>
</SimBase.Document>

[bjratchf]

I changed the exe.xml to read manual load - true

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


I get the dialogue asking me if I want to start couatl- I press yes. Looking in task manager- I don't see the program start. It could be starting up and shutting down so fast.  Why would it do that if it runs fine after my sim is up and loaded? Is there a way to "delay start" the couatl so it doesn't fail?

[bjratchf]

Ok I figured out what the problem was:

It is problematic that couatl is setup to run in administrator mode- when I went into compatibility settings and unchecked this option, couatl started fine on the next p3d start. I'd like to add for the record, couatl was installed this way- it was not marked to be in administrator mode by me.

[virtuali]

I'd like to add for the record, couatl was installed this way

No, it wasn't.

it was not marked to be in administrator mode by me.

Couatl.exe is not compiled to ask for admin permissions by default (and if it were, it would always ASK to start that way), and this can be checked by the lack of a small yellow shield on its icon, which appears when executables are pre-configured that way.

And, if it was configured that way, you wouldn't see the "Administrator" flag checked in the Compatibility tab, but the program would always ask to run as Admin instead, at each startup.

Only the administrator user of the computer can set the "Administrator" flag checked in the Compatibility tab so, it must have been you trying to fix it, and forgetting it. Note that, since that's a setting in the registry, it's possible you did it long ago, in a previous installation.

In addition to that, it's not correct having Couatl.exe being present in both EXE.XML files (the one under %APPDATA% and the one under %COMMONAPPDATA% ), the proper location for P3D V3 is %COMMONAPPDATA%, and our installer will automatically *remove* it from %APPDATA% and add it to %COMMONAPPDATA%, so you are not supposed to copy its lines again manually.