Icons disappear in Central London

[IndiaBravo]

Hello,
I bought and installed the software today and mostly I'm very pleased with it but I'm encountering a very strange problem. Whenever I approach Central London 2 things happen. First all the icons disappear from view and secondly the Coati Powered Products menu disappears from the Add-Ons dropdown list in FSX although the Add-On manager remains. Coming out of Central London does not restore the icons. I am having to exit FSX completely and restart it.
As a test I placed the aircraft at London City airport to see what would happen if I started from within the area. The icons were all there when the aircraft was statiionary on the runway but as soon as it left the airport boundary they disappeared again and so did the Coati Powered Products menu.

I thought it might be because of an overload of information in a heavily built-up area so I tried it out in Central New York but it was fine there. I also tried to reduce the density of information from the menu but that didn't work either.

I hope you can shed some light on this problem.

Thank you

[virtuali]

I thought it might be because of an overload of information in a heavily built-up area so I tried it out in Central New York but it was fine there. I also tried to reduce the density of information from the menu but that didn't work either.

Have you tried to reduce the icons density before going to London ?

Also, check if you have an error log in the following location:

%APPDATA%\Virtuali\Couatl.ERR

if you have one, post its content.

[IndiaBravo]

I have tried reducing the density but that did not work. I also tested it on central New York but it worked fine there. It does not seem tobe a density issue. You asked for the contents of
%APPDATA%\Virtuali\Couatl.ERR but I can't find such a location. I did a file search on my C drive for Couatl.ERR but nothing came up. Could you please let me know where it might be. Would it be in a hidden folder? I'm using Windows 7 64 Bit.

[virtuali]

You should just type %APPDATA%\Virtuali on the Windows start button blank area, and that folder will come up, see if you have a Couatl.err file there.

[IndiaBravo]

I did as you suggested. it took me to Appdata/Roaming/Virtuali which had the following contents:
2 folders called Airplanes and GSX which were empty and 3 files CouatlAddons.ini, Keymapping.ini and XPOI.ini.
No sign of Couatl.err.

[IndiaBravo]

Since there does not appear to be an error log and I've eliminated the density possibility, is there any other avenue I should investigate. Can I de-activate the software when approaching Central London and re-activate it whilst in-flight to alleviate the problem or will it still require a restart of FSX.

Also it would be helpful if any member reading this could specifically try the software over Central London and confirm that they are not experiencing the same problem.

Thank You

[virtuali]

Can I de-activate the software when approaching Central London and re-activate it whilst in-flight to alleviate the problem or will it still require a restart of FSX

You can just restart Couatl from its menu, XPOI runs entirely outside FSX, so it's really a complete reload, without restarting FSX.

[IndiaBravo]

That seems logical but as I said in my very first post, the Couatl menu disappears from the add-ons dropdown list in FSX along with the icons so I cannot restart it. I've also tried clicking directly on the Coatl.exe file but to no avail. Once they disappear, they only come back when I exit FSX and restart it This is why I'm asking whether I can de-activate it when approaching London in anticipation of it crashing and then re-activating it when leaving the area. The De-activate button is within the Virtuali add-on manager which does remain in view. Can that be done without restarting FSX?

[virtuali]

That seems logical but as I said in my very first post, the Couatl menu disappears from the add-ons dropdown list in FSX along with the icons so I cannot restart it.

That was clear, I meant you can try restarting Couatl BEFORE it disappears, just in case it might have had a problem before approaching the area.

This is why I'm asking whether I can de-activate it when approaching London in anticipation of it crashing and then re-activating it when leaving the area. The De-activate button is within the Virtuali add-on manager which does remain in view. Can that be done without restarting FSX?

What license activation has anything to do with this ? That function one and only purpose is to remove your PC from the hardware activation, so you won't consume another activation if you install it on a new one.

[IndiaBravo]

I didn't realise that de-activation was to do with the license. I thought it might be just to disable the software temporarily.

Anyway after hours of trial and error I think I've located the problem but I don't have a full solution, just a workaround that would prevent having to restart FSX. To re-iterate the problem, it is that within approximately a 10 mile radius of Central London all the icons disappear as do the Couatl menu options. Pressing Ctrl+F11 becomes inactive so there is no way to get them back without re-starting FSX. Emerging from the 10 mile radius does not restore the icons or the menu options.

The density of information is not the problem because it only goes wrong in Central London as far as I can tell. There is no problem in Central New York for instance, nor does it make sense to Restart Couatl since at that stage it has not yet stopped.

No, I've identified that the problem lies specifically with the Facilities Icons, not the Geonames POIs. I'm not sure whether this a general problem or just specific to my set-up but for the benefit of other users who may be encountering the same issue, the workaround is to select "Hide Facilities icons" after pressing Ctrl+F11. This must be done BEFORE entering a 10 mile radius around London. You can switch them back on AFTER emerging out of the "danger zone". If you don't do it before entering the zone there is no way to get them back as far as I can see apart from restarting FSX which is a nuisance.

The problem is with the Facilities icons. If you hide the Geonames but leave the facilities active it does NOT solve the issue.

Hopefully, Virtuali will address the issue if it is brought to their attention.