All FSDT Sceneries and GSX Stopped Working

[George_M]

I've searched the forums and have tried the various suggestions but none have worked.  Here's what happened:

I own KJFK, KORD (Ver.2), KLAX  and GSX.  Last weekend on FSX launch, I got a message prompting a couatl update.  As I always do, I checked the option to see what was being updated before applying the update.  The message I got indicated that this was an old version that I had already installed.  So I ignored it and went about flying.  Afterwards though, I noticed that GSX was not working.  When I called for deboarding, I received the various messages and heard the sounds but nothing was visible externally.  I then went to KJFK and all terminals and ground textures were gone (only the gates were visible).  I then checked KORD and KLAX and saw the same thing (no terminals, ground textures - only gates visible).  The same was true for Flightbeam's KSFO which I also own (I know....not your product but your addon manager is required for it).  I had already excluded (long ago) bglmanx.dll and couatl.exe in my antivirus program.

After trying to uninstall and reinstall to no avail, I gave up.  At this point, I decided to go ahead and reinstall FSX.  This was something that I was planning on doing anyway so I figured this would correct the FSDT issues I was getting.  What I did:

1. Uninstalled all FSDT products including the couatl engine and the addon manager.  I noticed that there was still a registry entry for FSDT but I did not delete that.  I left it alone.
2. I downloaded (with antivirus turned off) fresh copies of KLAX, KJFK, KORD, GSX and the latest version of the addon manager from your website.
3. I reinstalled FSX
4. (With antivirus still disabled), I installed KLAX and GSX.
5. I added bglmanx.dll and couatl.exe as exceptions once again in my antivirus program (I changed the directory of my FSX install...the main reason why I was planning on doing a reinstall in the first place)
6. I then ran the latest version of the addon manager.

At this point I decided to test.  When I went to KLAX, same problem.  No terminals or textures...only gates.  GSX was also not working at all (CTRL + F12 resulted in nothing happening).  I then checked to see if the addon manager and couatl powered products were available in the addon drop down menu.  Couatl was missing.  So I deactivated KLAX and GSX.  Reinstalled them again (with antivirus off) and then ran the addon manager.

I then launched FSX again.  This time, KLAX seemed to be working correctly (terminal buildings and texture all visible).  When I pressed CTRL + F12 to bring up GSX, instead of a listing of all the terminals, GSX had only the following options:

1 - Open AA (TWA)
2 - Open AA (High Bay)
3 - Open Continental Airlines
4 - Open U.S. Coast Guard

In addition, GSX does not work at any other airports (pressing CTRL + F12 does nothing).  Addon manager shows GSX as "Product INSTALLED and Active".  I have not tried to install any of the other FSDT sceneries I own or Flightbeam's KSFO.  In fact, I have no other add-on sceneries installed, only KLAX.

I'm sure I've done something wrong here and I'd really like to get it squared away.  There's some type of conflict happening that is causing me problems.  At this point, I wouldn't mind getting rid of everything related to FSDT (including registry entries) so that I could have a clean slate to reinstall my FSDT purchased sceneries and GSX.

Any ideas?  Thanks.

George Marinakis

[virtuali]

There's no conflict and you can't just ignore a warning of an older version of a scenery.

Just install using the latest version of all sceneries installers and, install GSX as the last one, using the latest version of the installer.

[George_M]

There's no conflict and you can't just ignore a warning of an older version of a scenery.

I didn't ignore it (even though there is an option to do that very thing in the new version notice).  I chose not to install at the time after reading what the update involved, which were the same items as those from a previous update.  This was evident from the date of the readme for that particular update (early July if I recall correctly).  If I failed to mention it before, I always allow these updates.  I chose to bypass this one because it was clearly an old update which I had already installed.  Everything stopped working during that particular FSX session (all FSDT sceneries in addition to GSX) so it would seem that my decision not to allow that update at the time is the cause.  Wouldn't my subsequent actions have corrected the consequences of the decision not to update?

Just install using the latest version of all sceneries installers and, install GSX as the last one, using the latest version of the installer.

I've done this already (unless the installers have changed since last Saturday).  I downloaded all the latest versions of the sceneries I own along with GSX and the addon manager. I did this with antivirus turned off.  I decided to do things one at a time so I installed (with antivirus turned off) just one scenery (KLAX) and then GSX.   I also excepted bglmanx.dll and couatl.exe from my antivirus scans, as has been suggested in other posts.  At that point, I decided to test.  Initially, I had trouble getting either to work (see my post above - the addon manager apparently failed to install couatl as it was missing from the addon drop-down list in FSX).  KLAX appears to now be working but GSX does not work correctly at KLAX (no terminal or gate options) and does not work at all at with any other scenery (which is default at this moment...pressing CTRL + F12 does nothing).  Your addon manager shows GSX as being installed and active.

So are you suggesting that I uninstall everything and reinstall again or are you suggesting that I do that for just GSX?  Are there any other residual files and folders left after uninstall that could cause problems?

[virtuali]

I didn't ignore it

You said you did:

The message I got indicated that this was an old version that I had already installed.  So I ignored it and went about flying

(even though there is an option to do that very thing in the new version notice).

That option will ONLY turn off the notification, if that annoys you, but it won't make the update optional automatically. An "old scenery" message requires to update the scenery. Depending how old your version was, the scenery might simply disappear at the end of the Trial, or not work at all.

Initially, I had trouble getting either to work (see my post above - the addon manager apparently failed to install couatl as it was missing from the addon drop-down list in FSX)

The installer never "fails" to install anything. If Couatl doesn't work, it's either the antivirus blocking it, or other problems with Windows runtimes libraries, explained in other threads too.

So are you suggesting that I uninstall everything and reinstall again or are you suggesting that I do that for just GSX?  Are there any other residual files and folders left after uninstall that could cause problems?

As I've said in my previous message:

Just install using the latest version of all sceneries installers and, install GSX as the last one, using the latest version of the installer.

If you want to do a more clean uninstall, uninstall everything, and reply YES to the questions "Do you want to remove the Addon Manager" and "Do you want to remove the Couatl scripting engine ?" which are made at the end.

Then, reinstall everything using the latest installers and GSX as last.

[George_M]

As I've said in my previous message:

Just install using the latest version of all sceneries installers and, install GSX as the last one, using the latest version of the installer.

If you want to do a more clean uninstall, uninstall everything, and reply YES to the questions "Do you want to remove the Addon Manager" and "Do you want to remove the Couatl scripting engine ?" which are made at the end.

Then, reinstall everything using the latest installers and GSX as last.

I opted to do this more clean uninstall.  Everything was removed (including the Addon Manager and the Couatl scripting engine).  I then reinstalled everything with the latest installers.  I made sure to install sceneries first (KJFK, KORD, KLAX) and then GSX last.  I also made sure to perform these reinstalls with antivirus turned off.

Unfortunately, this failed to fix the problem.  No terminals at KJFK and KORD and no terminals or textures at KLAX.  GSX would not work at any airport (i.e. pressing CTRL + F12 resulted in nothing happening).  This seems to happen as a result of the couatl scripting engine failing to properly install since FSX produced the following error message when launching:

==============
Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library
Runtime Error!
Program: D\FSX\fsdreamteam\couatl\couatl.exe
This application has requested the Runtime
to terminate it in an unusual way.
Please contact the application's support team for
more information.
==============

Couatl powered products was not in the Addon drop down menu (only the addon manager).

After all of this, I was finally able to get things working again by doing a more thorough uninstall.  Here's what I did:

1. Completely uninstalled all sceneries and GSX.
2. Removed the Registry keys for FSFDT and Flightbeam (Note: I would not recommend that people edit their registry due to the inherent dangers of messing around in there if you don't know what you are doing -- it was a last resort step for me)
3. Deleted the virtuali folder in my AppData directory
4. Deleted the virtuali folder in my Program Data directory
5. I then reinstalled the sceneries

-----> At this point I launched FSX.  There was no runtime error and both the Addon Manager and Couatl powered products appeared in the Addon menu.  The sceneries were all in Trial Mode (since the product keys were now deleted) but everything was working properly.  I activated the first scenery (in this case, KJFK) and it properly exited Trial Mode.  I then moved on to the second scenery (KORD) and activated it.  At this point, I ran into another glitch.  I went back to check on KJFK and all the terminal buildings were once again missing.  If I remember correctly, I think what did next was to select the <Check Live Update> option from the Couatl Powered Products menu.  Even though it reported that I had the latest version installed, I had it reinstall it again.  This brought the buildings back at KJFK.  The rest of the sceneries activated correctly and the disappearing buildings and texture issues did not reoccur.

6. I then exited FSX and reinstalled GSX.

-----> I launched FSX.  GSX was in Trial Mode.  I entered my product key and GSX showed as being Installed and Active.  However, it remained in Trial Mode until I exited FSX and restarted it.  After doing so, GSX is now working properly.

George Marinakis