In the meantine, if I am told that I need to upgrade to Windows 10 to resolve this api.dll crash then I will live with it or simply disable the FSDT Addon Manager when I do not require GSX to be running.
Nobody has told you that, of course.
I'm trying to recognize a common denominator between you two and, there's a 3rd user who posted on Avsim that also has the API.DLL crash on exit and, guess what, he also use Windows 7 so, while I'm not by any means *sure* this is the real reason, it seems we are gathering some evidence it might.
Although it might be annoying to look at, since the crash is on Exit, and the sim IS closing down correctly (not stuck running), it's basically harmless, because Windows DOES have an automatic clean up of any resources used by application when they close, provided they do close, which is the case.
So, there's no need to disable GSX, because the only thing you'll eventually gain, is stopping to see the error in the Event Viewer, but the simulator performances won't change a bit.
I know exactly WHAT is causing the crash (the one I CANNOT replicate, mind...) on your systems, and it's a perfectly legitimate and 100% compliant call to the simulator PDK, required to do Render To Texture (RTT) with DirectX 11, which is almost identical to the sample provided by LM in the SDK, and is only doing a basic preparation work, for something we'll use in FUTURE products, namely KORD V2 and GSX Level 2. But, right now, we are not doing anything with it, just setup the system to be eventually used.
KORD V2 will use such features to display live information panels on the outside of the buildings, and live AI arrival/departure board inside the terminal.
GSX Level 2 will use it to create Jetways with their own individual number, saving A LOT of memory by not modeling each object separately (one for each gate), and allowing users to customize the font, color, style, etc.
But right now, none of this features are "live", only the preparation part is there, without doing anything.
Of course, as usual, we are always the first using cutting edge features but, I suspect that, when more developers would start using these features, you will have similar issues with those products too and, if the issue is really Windows 7, I'm not entirely sure if it would be possible to fix it or troubleshooting it. I assure you that almost every P3D4 developer, including LM, only use Windows 10. You must be crazy, as a developer, not using it, because that's the CURRENT version of Windows, and Windows 7 is not even the previous one, is TWO versions earlier, and as you pointed it out, is already started to be left behind by Microsoft.
I'll remind you that, "Mainstream" support for Windows 7 already ended in September 2015, and the "Extended" support will end in January 2020, so you can expect we'll stop restraining from using Windows 10-specify features, something we are still doing right now.
What we can do, right now, is as follows:
- Enable a user-configuration option (probably in an .INI file), to DISABLE support for the new PDK RTT functions. They are not really required now, so they will surely fix your API.DLL crash on Exit.
If you'll use this option, you won't be able to enjoy the information panels in KORD V2 (they'll appear black), and you won't see the jetway numbers with GSX Level 2, so you'll be in a similar situation of FSX users, since GSX Level 2 on FSX will not show Jetway numbers (there's no RTT in FSX).
But of course, you can always decide you don't mind the API.DLL crash on Exit, and disable that option, so you'll be able to use KORD V2 and GSX Level 2 in full.
