GSX Level 2 editor freezing p3dv4.3 **SOLVED**

[DVA12924]

Every time I make any edits with the editor from GSX L2 it causes P3Dv4.3 to become unresponsive. I have to force close the sim (ctrl+alt+delete) and restart where I find that none of the changes I was attempting to make have even been executed or saved. Attempting to redo the edit again causes the sim to become unresponsive. It is not the sim itself as I can leave the sim going for hours not touching GSX editor with no freezes or errors of any kind but as soon as I open the editor and attempt to apply a change, the sim becomes unresponsive.

I've done a full Repair install of P3D, a full uninstall and reinstall of GSX/L2, and full revert to an old display driver and update to newest driver again. Folders, paths, links all have been verified and are working for all other programs. I am extremely confident in saying that this is not a system issue on my end. GSXL2 works great for its actual animations now with the 1st 2 problems I reported as resolved, but without the ability to update a single gate without causing a freeze where changes are not even applied has thrown yet another wrench into the gears of progress.

I also was never able to solve the issue with the black gate numbers http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,19175.0.html following your instructions and even despite a FULL uninstall including add-on manager and reinstall for GSX/GSXL2. Immediately on reinstall, the same gates that had black numbers before still had them so this leads me to believe that somewhere rooted in the installation are files that do not get uninstalled and have become corrupted causing these gates to remain with black gate numbers and also causing editor to cause P3D to become unresponsive. The black gate numbers I could have dealt with and continued to finish this project while we troubleshoot the issue so I could actually fly for the first time in 2 week, but with the issue of editor causing the sim to freeze now, I am once again grounded until this problem can be resolved, or I will have to not use GSX (half of my heavy gates at ZBAA have been replaced with 2 jetways but the 2nd jetway not positioned yet so I have jetways laying around everywhere in the incorrect locations. I cant change that because Editor keeps freezing P3d every time I click apply) thereby rendering the program useless.

Umberto, I am trying my best to remain calm and civil but please understand that just because you open your sim and don't see the same issue doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Everyone has a completely different set up with hardware and folder paths and add-ons. I understand that there is no way to predict and avoid every possible combination of issues that could arise. At this point, I just want to get these problems resolved so I can go back to enjoying my flight simulator. I can do my best to walk you thru all the steps I've taken to get to this point if needed in case it it something that may have become corrupted on my system, or whatever the case may be. I want to work with you to get this problem fixed.

[DVA12924]

Closed and reopened P3D but this time it didn't show the rebuild database message and no gates showed up. Only add-on manager was showing in the addon drop down menu from FSDT and it doesn't even show GSX or GSXL2 registered on the system now and has them in trial mode but it is still installed. There's for sure something going on here that shouldn't be.

Re inserting the serial numbers I have in email confirmations are not doing anything. GSX is now stuck in trial mode on my system.

[DVA12924]

I completely uninstalled and reinstalled GSX/L2 again, this time being sure that all files GSX installed were uninstalled/deleted. The reinstall allowed GSX to see the product as active again but was still freezing P3D when "Apply" was clicked from the editor. I deleted the INI file from appdata folder and I could then send the command to change "all gates w /J" to be changed to a different gate model. I could see the change taking effect, but even after almost 10 minutes of waiting without seeing more changes, some jetways still showed the GSX default model. When I tried to edit a parking position where one of the jetways were still GSX default, the sim froze again.

This leads me to believe that the editor is creating corrupt INI files that is causing the sim to freeze and prevent the proper models from loading. The only resolution I have to prevent the sim from freezing is to allow GSX to just replace the jetways with the GSX default model and leave everything else alone. This basically means that I have no customization available for anything within GSX or the sim will freeze. I have nothing else running with the sim aside from GSX and ChasePlane when this happens (and I've had the same results with chaseplane not running).

[virtuali]

Closed and reopened P3D but this time it didn't show the rebuild database message and no gates showed up. Only add-on manager was showing in the addon drop down menu

This was simply because Couatl didn't start because you opened / closed the sim too quickly between sessions. I think I already explained this to you:

Have you noticed how much time it takes AFTER the simulator icon has disappeared, for the "Compile" button in the GSX Control Panel to become active ? This is the same time when is REALLY safe to start the sim again after closing it once, because the GSX Control Panel ASKS Windows when Prepar3d.exe has closed, and this can (and it DOES) happen several seconds *after* you see its icon disappear, so you might be tempted to just starting it again.

[DVA12924]

I wait a minimum of 5 minutes between each restart of P3D, as I also already explained to you. This in no way has any change on the editor causing the sim to become unresponsive whenever "apply" is clicked in the gate editor, which is the topic of this title and the issue needing attention.

[virtuali]

This leads me to believe that the editor is creating corrupt INI files that is causing the sim to freeze and prevent the proper models from loading. The only resolution I have to prevent the sim from freezing is to allow GSX to just replace the jetways with the GSX default model and leave everything else alone.

The editor surely doesn't create corrupt INI files. An INI file cannot cause the sim too freeze. Not just that, the whole GSX/Couatl programs, by themselves, CANNOT cause the sim to freeze, no matter how hard they try, because they are separate .EXE programs so, by definition, cannot crash the sim.

What CAN crash the sim, instead, are the models themselves. Not because the models are wrong, of course, but because there might be some kind of problem in your video driver settings/tweaks which is causing what is an otherwise 100% perfectly compatible model, not not work on your system.

When you customize a single jetway, the one in the parking spot you are editing will momentarily switch from static to dynamic, in the same way when you USE the jetways in normal use with SODE.

Are you able to customize the automatically-replaced default jetways ( move, rotate ), as they are, without changing their model ?

[virtuali]

I wait a minimum of 5 minutes between each restart of P3D, as I also already explained to you.  This in no way has any change on the editor causing the sim to become unresponsive whenever "apply" is clicked in the gate editor, which is the topic of this title and the issue needing attention.

I was ONLY replying to your specific report of "this time it didn't show the rebuild database message and no gates showed up". That's why a made a separate post only for THIS issue, and a separate post for the "sim to become unresponsive whenever "apply" is clicked.

Ok, so you waited but, instead of waiting 5 minutes, which is surely not required, next time it happens, check if Couatl.exe is still running in the Task Manager. Maybe it has been unable to close for some reason, and the most likely reason for this is the simulator not closing cleanly, so Couatl couldn't receive the order of quitting from the sim.

[DVA12924]

I will have to test default models tomorrow.

It may be the graphics card driver, but I have an Nvidia 1080 card with the latest driver. This thing can run the Space Shuttle if it wanted to (meaning it has WAY more power than my system or the sim build could need (Windows shows CPU usage at 24-40%, RAM usage at 40-50%, and GPU usage at 25-30% with sim running along with ProATC X, GSX, Virtual Airline ACARS system, Active Sky, REX, and chaseplane all running along with it)).

I'll try changing the default jetways (since all airports have been reverted back to fresh GSX install anyway) and if that doesn't work, I'll revert to an older graphics driver and see if that works. Issue with it may be the graphics driver is the last driver was installed on 9/28/18 but the issue of P3D freezing didn't start until 1 or 2 days ago.

And just to clarify, the ONLY time P3D freezes at all, ever, is when I click the "apply" button on the gate editor. If you will recall my videos from prior issues, this was not an issue then because I could click the apply button and make adjustments, but has since become oan issue and no new graphics drivers or graphic settings were changed between then and now.

[virtuali]

It may be the graphics card driver, but I have an Nvidia 1080 card with the latest driver. This thing can run the Space Shuttle if it wanted to

You are now confusing the "power" of your system, with what a single obscure tweak might possibly cause.  So not, it's not as simple as just changing driver, it might be a setting/tweak problem instead.

I always use the latest drivers, and I never had any of such issues with any version of them. But each time nVidia release a new driver, I always choose a custom install, with the option to do a "clean" installation.

sim running along with ProATC X, GSX, Virtual Airline ACARS system, Active Sky, REX, and chaseplane all running along with it)).

Have you tried disabling all this stuff, at least while editing (just AS A TEST), to see if some of these could cause a problem ?

[DVA12924]

When I am editing GSX, it is only GSX and P3D running. All the other add-ons are launched only when an actual flight is about to take place.

I reinstalled the graphics driver in hopes that would fix the black box gate numbers yesterday but did not do a custom clean install, I'll give that a go tomorrow also.

With GSX reverted back to a clean installation, I had a chance to throw in the long haul flight I've been putting off. I would love to test now while we are both awake, but currently I am over southwest Alaska enroute to Beijing with about 10 hours of flying left.

I'll take this chance to reread the GSX documentation with the chance I've overlooked something.

[DVA12924]

I have done the following:

Reinstalled latest Nvidia graphics driver using a custom clean install
Restarted computer
Deleted P3D Shaders and P3d.cfg (recommended by many users on another forum)
Restarted computer
Ran P3D using default airplane at default location and did a quick test flight to ensure P3D recreated the shaders and P3D.CFG files - No issues found and sim worked wonderfuly
Closed P3D
Waited 30 minutes (got lunch)
Ran FSDT Live Update
Restarted computer
Opened P3D, running alone with no other add-ons
Loaded PMDG 747 to ZBAA gate 403
Allowed GSX to finish starting and PMDG to load aircraft
Changed panel state to cold and dark so i could edit freely and allowed PMDG to load the panel state (it at this point has been about 3 minutes since the flight had been "launched" from P3D main menu)
Opened GSX menu with Ctrl+F9 (key command I set for GSX as to not interfere with UTLive key commands)
At this point, GSX has fully loaded along with P3D and GSX has imported/replaced all standard FSX gates with default GSX SODE gates, however some are still showing black gate numbers)
Selected "Customize this parking location" from the GSX menu
Selected all gates with /J using the button at the top left of the gate editor screen and selected to change them all to a different type of gate with bridge and gate numbers
Clicked Apply
GSX started replacing gates, but even after a 5 minute wait, some gates did not change from default GSX SODE gates to the newly selected ones and still some had black gate numbers
P3D had not froze at that point so I tried to enter the customize mode by selecting the gate I was loaded into (403) and clicked "Customize Parking" from the editor screen, where GSX loaded the customization mode placing the sim into SLEW mode, as it should.
Noticed the jetway at the spot I was editing disconnected from the jetway additional options (AC unit, elec plug, etc) and the gate was then rotated facing away from the aircraft (90 degrees from the location it should have been with head facing opposite direction) but the ground markings and jetway additions were still where they should have been.
I moved the parking position back slightly to test if controls were still working, and the parking spot moved. Moving the Jetway moved the unit, marking, and addons but while still 90 degrees misaligned.
I pushed "Y" to exit SLEW/Edit mode and P3D immediately became unresponsive and was forced to shut down. The GSX gate editor screen remained open and functional between P3D freezing and when I shut it down using ctrl+alt+delete (verified while in there that no other programs were running other than those listed with the 4th screenshot. Couatl.exe*32 was showing as running in the "Processes" tab, but not using any CPU at that time, however after P3D was forced shut down, Couatl.exe*32 began using CPU without GSX or P3D running, using about 20-25% of the CPU usage (out of 28-30% usage for the entire computer usage)

Below are the screenshots:

https://prnt.sc/l2aylo - in Edit mode with jetway disconnected from the ground makings, additions, and rotated 90 degrees and facing away from aircraft
https://prnt.sc/l2aywl - GSX gate edit screen showing gate Number is still not generating correctly, and jetway /jetway options selected for all gates with /J.
https://prnt.sc/l2az3f - Top title bar of P3D now shows as "Not Responding" immediately after exiting Edit/SLEW mode
https://prnt.sc/l2aza1 - showing P3D not responding, no other programs running with P3D aside from GSX gate editor and GSX Control Panel (Firefox opened to post the thread and see screenshots). Also, notice in the upper right corner of this image that the gate did not change from the GSX default SODE jetway.

2 things tested but faild to yield results: Graphics Driver reinstalled using Custom Clean install and ability to edit parking position/jetway positions with no other addons running.

Windows Event Viewer did not generate a critical error, but did see it as an "Application hang" ... here is the report from Event Viewer:
The program Prepar3D.exe version 4.1.7.22841 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed. To see if more information about the problem is available, check the problem history in the Action Center control panel.
 Process ID: e70
 Start Time: 01d45c29e32d6874
 Termination Time: 380
 Application Path: C:\Users\Steven\Desktop\P3Dv4\Prepar3D.exe
 Report Id: 1c582dbd-c81f-11e8-9952-d43d7e4c88bd


What's interesting in this report, it that it sees P3D as version 4.1.7.22841, where as the windows control panel of installed programs shows P3D installed as 4.3.29.25520

Perhaps this has something to do with the issues?

screenshot attached - From within P3D Help/About menu showing P3D V 4.1 installed
http://prntscr.com/l2bf02 - Windows control panel showing P3D V4.3 installed

Since all of my addons are stored outside P3D main folder, I will try to uninstall P3D and reinstall and then verify addons working including GSX. It seems to me that there is something that didn't happen correctly with the P3D update to 4.3 (I knew I should have stayed with 4.1(   ). I'll see if that fixes anything and if P3d shows that it is actually 4.3 now. Also, notice in the last screenshot that Simconnect is still reading as 4.1, but P3D 4.2 installed simconnect 4.2 as I've seen from other users. I'm leaning more toward this is an issue/conflict with P3D update and simconnect rather than a GSX issue.

[DVA12924]

Did a full reinstall of P3D, and it is now showing version v4.3 in help/about in the sim.

I launched the default scenario and GSX loaded fine.
Opened the GSX menu and the correct options displayed.
Changed aircraft to PMDG 747 and moved to ZBAA gate 403.
Noticed that the same jetways with black numbers as before the reinstall are still showing black.
Noticed that all jetways were GSX default SODE gates overlayed onto FSX default jetways.
Exited P3D and opened GSX Control Panel and selected "Disable default jetways"
Reloaded P3D with PMDG 747 at ZBAA gate 403
Allowed aircraft, sim, and GSX time to load up.
Opened GSX gate editor from GSX menu
Selected "all gates with /J" from upper left corner
Changed all gates to a different model with bridge, ground markings, jetway additions, and gate number.
Clicked "Apply" and watched the changes take place. Waited about 3 minutes to be sure GSX editor had enough time to complete the changes.
Noticed that 2 Jetways in the view did not change to the ones I had selected in Editor, but instead remained GSX default SODE jetways.
Exited from Editor
Reloaded airport database within Couatl menu
Noticed the Jetways that had not changed were removed when Couatl shutdown to begin restart and rebuild, so they are imported and managed by GSX
Once reloaded, opened the editor and selected "Customize Parking"
Waited for the load to complete and then moved the parking back a forth a bit to test functioning. parking position did in fact move with the commands and Jetways appeared normal.
Exited from parking customization mode
Selected all gates with /J and again switched to a different Jetway type model with the same features as the prior (ground markings, no logo, jetway additions, etc.)
Clicked "Apply"
P3D froze and became unresponsive.

After 4 hours of downloading files and uninstalling/reinstalling, I managed to get GSX to work for all of 5 minutes

I'll try with a different aircraft at a different airport, just to rule those 2 out

[DVA12924]

Closing sim and reloading into a default P3D aircraft (non-addon) the C-130, called up GSX to have a follow me car dispatched to take me to the gates (testing functionality). When I arrived at the gates, the 3 Jetways were replaced with GSX default SODE as they should be. I shut the engines off and called up the gate editor. From there, I selected all 3 gates and changed them to a new jetway model with personal options for ground markings and jetway additions and clicked "apply". All 3 gates changed to the ones I had selected from Gate Editor. I selected "customize parking" for the gate I was at and moved the parking spot back and forth to test functionality - no issues. I exited parking customization and no sim freeze. I selected the individual gate I was parked at and again changed the jetway and clicked "apply and the jetway displayed properly, without sim freeze.

This leads me to one or more the the three as the issue:
1)PMDG 747 aircraft
2) AFCAD I am using for ZBAA - I download AFCAD files from AVSIM for FSX and update them to P3D using ADE 1.76 with the following method:
-Add any Object Files that the selected airport will use and ensure they are in the library (use ModelConverterX to open any object models within the downloaded AFCAD and eport to desktop with a new name _OBJ.bgl which is then moved to P3D Scenery/Global/Scenery)
-ensure all aprons, taxi, runway, paths, parking are set to "Draw Surface" = Yes "Draw Detail" = Yes
-customize runways and taxi/path/parking lighting to my personal preference (all taxiways/paths/parking have center line and center line lights)
-Run Fault Finder and fix any faults found
-Create new CVX file to go with AFCAD by drawing a polygon around the airport following the boundary fence selecting "Flatten Mask Class ExcludeAutoGen" for the polygon type tag (this makes sure that P3D, ORBX, or anything else places any trees or other unwanted objects/buildings on the airport).
-Run Fault Finder again to verify no faults found
-Compile to add on AFCAD folder which is kept outside of P3D main folder
-This method has worked many many times and is the approved method for updating FSX AFCAD files to P3Dv4 compatible. GSX does read these AFCAD files correctly as the push back and follow me vehicles have always followed the paths 100% accurately).
3)GSX does not like at all when you try to edit 126 gates at once - The default airport and all airports I have edited with GSX up to ZBAA have had a maximum of 18 gates within a terminal and I would update 1 terminal at a time. This ZBAA AFCAD however has no terminals, but just lists all the gate numbers in order using 101 102 103 for "terminal 1" 201 202 203 for "terminal 2" and so on. This means that when I go to change the default GSX jetways, GSX is trying to change 126 selected gates and edit them at the same time. It could be that trying to edit that much at once is overloading the system with information and causing the freeze.

I'm going to perform more tests, breaking down all 3 of the above and testing.

PS- sorry if anyone feels this is off topic or whatever, but I assure you, all of the information I have posted in this thread is related to P3D freezing when using GSX gate editor so it is on topic, and Umberto said himself elsewhere that the reason GSX support is on a forum is so that anyone can see the resolutions to the the reported problems and be able to fix them themselves in the future if the user runs into the same problem. Whatever the issue may be, knowing the steps taken and the testing done to get to the resolution is just as important as having a resolution if another user is to benefit from it. So I apologize for the massive amount of information, but simply remaining quiet until I come back and only say "fixed it!" and nothing more will help no one.

[DVA12924]

I renumbered every parking spot in the AFCAD and reopened P3D and GSX. As you can see in the video, all worked well until I tried to customize a gate where the gate number is showing as a black box, then trying to edit that gate caused P3D to become unresponsive.

Whatever is causing these gates to show black gate numbers is also what is freezing P3D. I tried it again using the default P3D C-130 and the same issue happens when trying to edit a gate with a black gate number. Windows Event Viewer did populate an Error for P3D once it was closed:
The program Prepar3D.exe version 4.3.29.25520 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed. To see if more information about the problem is available, check the problem history in the Action Center control panel.
 Process ID: 1ae0
 Start Time: 01d45c7e6913aacc
 Termination Time: 449
 Application Path: C:\Users\Steven\Desktop\P3Dv4\Prepar3D.exe
 Report Id: 214f7be8-c873-11e8-bbf1-d43d7e4c88bd

You can also see in the video that Couatl is not using CPU until P3D is closed and then uses the majority of CPU being used system wide. But because all running applications aside from P3D show as responding and P3D.exe is what is freezing, then GSX error logs will not show anything wrong because those programs, per windows, are working still.

So I can say for sure that it is not the AFCAD, the large amount of edits at once, or the aircraft. I'm stumped as to why GSX is acting this way.

Edit - the simulator was closed for the entire length of time it took to type the above. I reopened the simulator and loaded P3D default C-130 to a heavy gate at ZBAA (D1 now) and nothing in GSX loaded and the GSX menu was missing from the addon menu in P3D, but Addon manager was still there. I opened Addon Manager, and it shows GSX and GSX Level 2 both in trial mode. This is the same as what happened before. When it happened last time, I uninstalled GSX and GSX L2 and when making sure all was removed, I found the registry keys in one of the remaining GSX folders (intentional?), this time I can't find it in a folder. I did notice while looking for it that the INI file for ZBAA did not change the gate numbering I did in AFCAD, so GSX was still reading the old INI file but putting the correct data on most spots.

When I uploaded the video to YouTube, I noticed it cut off right before I went to edit that gate next to mine with the black gate number which is when P3D froze  ... I'll try to make a new video showing the entire process.

[DVA12924]

I get this error when trying to restart computer after P3D freezes - http://prntscr.com/l2g697

There is something somewhere that is causing Couatl to cause at least my setup of P3D to freeze and the Couatl program does not terminate, remaining running in the background even though GSX sees the simulator as closed.