GSX not loading during the sim

[HamBen737]

I have tried with NAvdata SU10 disabled and makes no difference. My sim has not CTD or even frozen, the sim works fine, i just cant enter the menu.

Try disabling all add-ons in the Community folder that have some kind of module ( especially AI traffic injectors, but not just that ), because the only possible reason for this, is Simconnect being broken by too  many add-ons using it, or too many objects in the sim, because after the maximum number of objects in the sim, Simconnect starts to become erratic.

i removed everything out of community except for your programs, same problem, menu spinning.

[Xanys]

I have tried with NAvdata SU10 disabled and makes no difference. My sim has not CTD or even frozen, the sim works fine, i just cant enter the menu.

Try disabling all add-ons in the Community folder that have some kind of module ( especially AI traffic injectors, but not just that ), because the only possible reason for this, is Simconnect being broken by too  many add-ons using it, or too many objects in the sim, because after the maximum number of objects in the sim, Simconnect starts to become erratic.

i removed everything out of community except for your programs, same problem, menu spinning.

Are you having the same issue as me? This is my forum post from few days ago: http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,29427.0.html

[HamBen737]

To Xanys
Yes looks like potentially the same problem

[Tyke]

Any resolution in sight for this issue? I have the same problem as the two people who have already posted.
Attached my log in case its useful. I did a full flight from takeoff to landing but attempting to use GSX Pro on the ground in both cases. Like the OPs it just opens, spins and shuts - no menu.

[virtuali]

Any resolution in sight for this issue? I have the same problem as the two people who have already posted.
Attached my log in case its useful. I did a full flight from takeoff to landing but attempting to use GSX Pro on the ground in both cases. Like the OPs it just opens, spins and shuts - no menu.

Same as the other log, it doesn't even show you in are in an airport, it looks like you went to the main menu, then exited the sim.

Are you using AI Traffic injection perhaps ? With too high settings, it has been found when the maximum number of Simobject allowed in the sim is reached, Simconect starts to behave erratically, so the communication with GSX stops, which might explain your log ending early, since GSX is not receiving anything else from the sim.

[Tyke]

No traffic injection running.
After trying and failing to run GSX pro, I gave up and just ran the flight normally. I ran it with the following programs
Self loading Cargo
Pilot2ATC
Simtoolkitpro.
Navigraph moving maps
STKP was running on a different pc. All these programs worked fine and all have to communicate with the Sim. I don't know if that's a clue. What is different to the way GSX pro communicates that makes the Sim stop talking to it?
It used to work fine for me and stopped when su10 came out OR I upgraded GSX pro to the latest version. Not sure which because I did both updates at the same time.
Is there a way to revert STK pro to a previous version to test it?

[Tyke]

One other thing I noticed was on the very first try to run GFX pro on a flight I get the audible warning "This parking is too small for your aircraft."" Then it closes with no menu. Running GFX pro again is silent.

As I asked previously, is there any way to regress to a previous version to test if it is a problem since upgrading to the latest version?

[virtuali]

I get the audible warning "This parking is too small for your aircraft."" Then it closes with no menu

It's entirely normal it would close with no menu when you hear that message.

Now, the reason why you only *hear* that message, without the text, is likely because you are closing the GSX Toolbar menu with the Toolbar icon, instead of opening it only for the first startup, and close it only with the X icon or the Hotkey, as explained in the manual, Page 80, where the correct usage of the menu is discussed, with the explanation of why when you don't follow this workflow, you'll miss all text messages. The audio is there precisely because we needed a way to alert users that don't follow this guidelines.

Now the 2nd part, why it's say the parking is too small ? This is of course explained in the manual, which explains all the different ways you have at your disposal to deal with this:

Quoting from the manual:

- Page 11

GSX will warn you if a parking spot is either “too small for your aircraft”, or is already taken by an AI. However, a big change from previous versions is that will allow you to use it anyway.

- Page 33, the explanation of the "Max Allowed Wingspan" parameter, which can be used if that previous message annoys you:

This option allows to override the parking radius in the airport .BGL, used to verify if a parking is too small to fit a certain parking. Sometimes, it’s possible a scenery has actual space available around a parking spot, but the scenery designer has specified a smaller radius for that parking spot, maybe for AI flow reasons, or to fix problems with default ground vehicles, or simply because of an oversight.

- Page 27, the explanation of the "Ignore Wingspan when parking" global setting:

This option will disable the “Parking Too Small” warning. Note that, with this version, GSX will always allow to use a parking, even if it says it’s too small but, with this option, you can also disable the warning.

[Tyke]

I get the audible warning "This parking is too small for your aircraft."" Then it closes with no menu

It's entirely normal it would close with no menu when you hear that message.

Now, the reason why you only *hear* that message, without the text, is likely because you are closing the GSX Toolbar menu with the Toolbar icon, instead of opening it only for the first startup, and close it only with the X icon or the Hotkey, as explained in the manual, Page 80, where the correct usage of the menu is discussed, with the explanation of why when you don't follow this workflow, you'll miss all text messages. The audio is there precisely because we needed a way to alert users that don't follow this guidelines.

I understand what that message means. In have edited several airport parking spaces and gates. The problem with your reply is that you assume the menu opened. It did not. If you expect the program to close with no menu after the message, how am I supposed to correct that if I can never see a menu to get to the rest of the program? I couldn't close the menu incorrectly because as I have said several times the menu never appears. There is no X icon. There is no opportunity to use a hotkey. The menu simply never appears after the audible message and GSX pro shuts itself down.  The rest of your reply relates to the program usage under normal usage. I have used it this way just fine when it was working properly. Unfortunately no menu means no access to that area of the program.

For the third time of asking, is there any way to revert to the previous version to test as the program used to work ok.

[HamBen737]

I have resolved my issue. I completely removed anything to do with the program on my computer and complete re install. Works fine now.

[Tyke]

I have resolved my issue. I completely removed anything to do with the program on my computer and complete re install. Works fine now.

Iupdated from 2.3.2 to 2.3.3 and tried starting GSX. Still did not work.

Can you provide any more details as to how you did this?
I tried to unistall it from the Universal Installer but this failed! All I got was multiple errors saying the 2 folders in the MS Community folder were not empty so the delete failed. Go figure. So, the 2 folders in the community folder remained when the uninstall had completed. Useless process.
Also the adddon manager and all its folder were still present. where is the uninstaller for the addon manager? I cant see that in the uninstall list for windows apps.

Really I want to completely remove the whole FSDream product (apart from the serial registry key) and re-install from scratch.
Virtuali can you give me full instructions to manually delete all of GSX pro and any other FSDT folders/files on my machine. I only have GSX Pro. I don't have any scenery files.

EDIT: I manually deleted the 2 FSDT folders in the Community folder. Then the Addon Manager, virtuali (appdata), and coatl folders. Basically all folders I could find that relate to FSDT but not any registry entries. After this I re-installed FSDT Live Installer and then GSX Pro.

Hey Presto, everything works again. So, I am no nearer to working out what was wrong, and it seems the FSDT team don't really know either

[virtuali]

EDIT: I manually deleted the 2 FSDT folders in the Community folder. Then the Addon Manager, virtuali (appdata), and coatl folders. Basically all folders I could find that relate to FSDT but not any registry entries. After this I re-installed FSDT Live Installer and then GSX Pro.

Hey Presto, everything works again. So, I am no nearer to working out what was wrong, and it seems the FSDT team don't really know either

Of course we cannot possibly know that, because you did several things, and your report is not accurate enough to really understand what was the problem and what was the fix:

- You said you removed the 2 FSDT folders in the Community. Taken literally, you are not even supposed to have "folders" there, because what you are really supposed to have there, is two Symbolic links, not folders.

Now, before you say I'm picky and it should have been obvious with folders you meant links, I MUST ask about this, because some users have manually copied the folders from the Addon Manager to the Community manually, causing a conflict with the updated and the outdated version. Other users caused a mess by trying to use the Addon Linker over GSX, when it's completely unnecessary, since the two links ARE already links, so Addon-linking them might result in a circular link causing problems as well.

We HAVE seen these cases, that's why I really wanted to be sure the "folders" you removed weren't really "folders". If they were, that might be what fixed it, and the cause of the problem they should never been copied manually there in the first place.

- Assuming yours is not the above case, when you said you removed other FSDT folders, assuming you are referring to the various GSX preferences under %APPDATA%\Virtuali, it is possible SOME of the files there ( like a custom airport profile ) might have an error or might have been corrupted somehow, to the point GSX couldn't start.

Even in this case, it's difficult to say more and, more importantly, it's impossible to even take steps to prevent it from happening again, without a full report with a startup log and/or any custom profile you might have made/downloaded, so we might find what kind of file corruption would cause GSX to stop working.

So yes, we have no idea, since it's impossible to form one, without having any solid data to investigate on.

What IS important thought, is that you can see how GSX works perfectly fine after a clean reinstall, that's the only thing I can say based on your report.

[Tyke]

To clarify for information and to aid possible future problem solving:
1) I installed GSX pro using only the fsdt supplied installer. Therefore if it installs using links instead of folders in Community, that's what I had.
2) I only upgraded GSX pro using the supplied update mechanism. I have never messed with any of the GSX pro file structures (until the final clearance to reinstall)
3) The product was fine when first installed or on clean reinstall.
4) The problems happened just after a SIM update, or a GSX pro update.
5) The same issue happened with several users but was not very common (a guess based on the number of posts).

The only suggestions I can make are:
1) Provide a means to revert to a previous version for testing purposes.
2) Please confirm that the uninstall button on the installer for GSX pro works as intended. When I used it it failed to delete the items in the Community folder and the contents they link to. Again, I tried to use only fsdt supplied means to uninstall the product which did not work.
3) I am quite computer literate. Many users are not. I would suggest providing a detailed list of everything that needs to be deleted to completely remove GSX pro from a computer. I know this is tricky with how your other products are interlinked but if only GSX pro is installed then it can be a life saver as in my case.

NOTE: Nothing I have said above is a criticism (except constructively). I very much appreciate that it is a complex program compounded by the fact that it has to rely on other products working correctly that fsdt have no direct control. After a lifetime of coding and debugging I know how frustrating that can be.
The main issue that I had was the uninstall function not working for me. That could have made a reinstall so much easier.

And finally, apologies for hijacking the OP's thread but from their and my experience and resolution it seems likely the same problem so may help others with a similar issue.

[virtuali]

1) Provide a means to revert to a previous version for testing purposes.

I'm sorry, but this is too much of a burden on both our server, the installer itself, and our management resources, making everything way more complex that it should be.

And I don't even think is right users should test a product. We are supposed to do that and, if a problem happens, users should report it, and we are supposed to fix it in the current version.

And besides, can you revert to a previous version of MSFS (apart from public Betas, which we don't have) ?

Having "mandatory" updates in MSFS, is for us developers an incredibly huge benefit because, since the simulator won't even start if you don't update, and you cannot rollback to an earlier version, it makes us work much easier than it ever was with ( for example ), P3D, where we have half users with dozens of different versions of 4.x, the other half with dozen different versions of 5.x and a very few sparse people running some version of 3.x as well, which makes support a nightmare.

2) Please confirm that the uninstall button on the installer for GSX pro works as intended.

Of course it works, confirmed multiple times.

That is, if nothing interferes with it, like a permission problem on those folder, an antivirus blocking the file operation, MSFS process left stuck open without you realizing it and still getting an hold on the opened files so yes, lots of things can happen which might be result in a failure to remove either the actual folders in the Addon Manager, or their links in the Community.

But all these errors are obviously trapped with proper exception handling, which means if any of these external events happens, you will see some kind of error message saying it couldn't complete the operation.

That is, assuming you fully understood how the Uninstall button works:

- The first time you click it, it will ask if you want to Unlink the packages. The message box is titled Unlink, the confirmation button is also called Unlink, and the text is saying this function is used to disable a product temporarily, so it can be enabled again very quickly without reinstalling it, making it clear it's not an Uninstall, it's just the removal of the Symlink in the Community.

- After you click "Unlink", a 2nd message will ask if you want to also Uninstall it. The message box is now titled Uninstall, and the text is saying that Uninstalling now, will require a redownload, making it clear it's a real uninstall, that is the removal of the actual folders in the Addon Manager.

[Tyke]

I understand the problem with multiple versions and I can appreciate completely your valid standpoint.

My problem with the uninstall was strange then. I requested unlink, then uninstall. The process continued but several error boxes appeared during it. They were all the same error and said something like: This folder cannot be deleted, directory is not empty.
I opted to continue each time - that might have been the only option, I can't remember now.

It makes me think it was a permission problem or a file locking issue leftover from running the sim.
All I would suggest in that case is recommending a pc restart just prior to using the uninstall button if GSX pro has been used during the current session.

I never use add-on linker or anything that changes the way products are designed to be installed, so other than the above possibilities it will remain a mystery to me.

Anyway, it's all supposition now and I am happy it's ok again.