Cannot get GSX to work in FSX:SE **SOLVED**

[fraz31383]

Installed FSX:SE on day of release and have been trying ever since to get GSX to work but have had no success.

Apologies if I am being a stupid here and have missed something blindingly obvious, but I have read numerous posts and genuinely tried everything I can imagine to get GSX to work.

As it stands at the moment:

1) I have downloaded (with antivirus off) version 1.9.0.4 of the GSX installer on 24th December. I installed with the antivirus still off and excluded the 2 files (bglmanx.dll and Couatl.exe) mentioned in previous posts from antivirus scanning.
2) Simconnect is installed and have tried uninstalling and reinstalling this multiple times in case this is the problem.
3) Both Couatl and Add on manger are installed and present in the add on manager menu in FSX:SE and GSX shows as Active, however does not appear in the Couatl powered products menu.
4) Pressing CTRL + F12 does nothing within FSX:SE and the default key mapping has been left at default
5) I have checked Control Panel, Internet Options, Content, Publishers etc and Virtuali s.a.s is under trusted publishers but NOT under untrusted. I have removed this from trusted as advised in previous posts and then re-trusted during launch of FSX:SE.
6) GSX shows as installed under Programs & Features in Control panel and detects the correct FSX:SE folder upon launch of the installer.

Please if there is any advice you can offer to sort the problem, as GSX is my favourite add on and I don't really want to use FSX:SE without it!

Many thanks

P.S Also tried a clean install of FSX:SE but no difference. Have now (29/12/14) also tried the 1.9.0.5 full GSX installer but this doesn't solve the issue either.

[virtuali]

3) Both Couatl and Add on manger are installed and present in the add on manager menu in FSX:SE and GSX shows as Active, however does not appear in the Couatl powered products menu.

If you have BOTH menus, you can discard all the issues about Simconnect, antivirus, security certificates, etc. Those are ONLY meaningful if the modules don't run, but if you have their menus, the modules are clearly running.

If I understand your issue correctly, you HAVE the Couatl menu, but you don't have any entry related to GSX under it. Are you sure you installed GSX using the full installer ?

The latest full installer is 1.9.0.5, BTW...

[fraz31383]

3) Both Couatl and Add on manger are installed and present in the add on manager menu in FSX:SE and GSX shows as Active, however does not appear in the Couatl powered products menu.

If you have BOTH menus, you can discard all the issues about Simconnect, antivirus, security certificates, etc. Those are ONLY meaningful if the modules don't run, but if you have their menus, the modules are clearly running.

If I understand your issue correctly, you HAVE the Couatl menu, but you don't have any entry related to GSX under it. Are you sure you installed GSX using the full installer ?

The latest full installer is 1.9.0.5, BTW...

Yes that is correct, have the Couatl menu but no GSX in the list. Yes I am 100% sure I used the full installer, I even downloaded version 1.9.0.5 from the GSX website earlier this morning just after my initial post.

[virtuali]

Yes that is correct, have the Couatl menu but no GSX in the list. Yes I am 100% sure I used the full installer, I even downloaded version 1.9.0.5 from the GSX website earlier this morning just after my initial post.

I cannot say what it might be without having a look at your system. If you want to start a Teamviewer session, contact me with a PM to arrange it.

[acidbottle]

if the OP finds a solution please post back the results here.

having identical issues, fresh FSX SE install, GSX installs fine with no visible error. the addon manager and couatl are all showing in the menu bar. default key ctrl + f12 is not displaying anything. tried changing this as ive seen in a few posts but no go. nothing is visible, at least in the demo airports ive tried

I want you to take my money but this has baffled me. have orbx (all uk areas) and a few planes plus uk2000 airports installed, all work fine with no issue.

[virtuali]

I just had a Teamviewer session with fraz31383, and found what the problem was in his case: probably due to some kind of strange registry situation, due to the fact he used a registry cleaner (that didn't seem to clean much), there were registry keys pointing to empty folders, in this case the folder that holds the scenery.cfg, so the GSX was still trying to read into the folder normally used by FSX, or by an FSX Steam Edition installed alone, but that folder wasn't there.

We'll surely have a proper fix to handle these unusual cases, probably in the next days or so, and it won't require to download new installers, because it will likely be an update of just the Couatl.exe program.

IN THE MEANTIME, you can check if you are in the same situation, if you look for this folder:

%PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\FSX

But there's none. If you don't have this folder, your issue is probably the same as fraz31383 so, AS A TEMPORARY solution, to have GSX working, do as follows:

1) Create the Microsoft\FSX folder under %PROGRAMDATA% ( It's usually C:\ProgramData )

2) COPY (don't move, copy! ) the scenery.cfg from the %PROGRAMDATA%\FSX-SE into this newly created folder

This scenery.cfg will be used by GSX only, and if you add a scenery in FSX Steam Edition, either manually, or using an installer, you must copy again the updated scenery.cfg from the FSX-SE folder to the FSX folder, so GSX will get to know about the newly added scenery.

This will be ONLY a temporary fix, to allow you to use GSX while we fix it properly.

[acidbottle]

many thanks, this has worked for me as a temp solution. much appreciated.

[virtuali]

The fixed version of Couatl.exe is now online, so if you just re-run any FSDT installer, you'll get it, so there's no need for that temporary fix anymore.

[fraz31383]

The fixed version of Couatl.exe is now online, so if you just re-run any FSDT installer, you'll get it, so there's no need for that temporary fix anymore.

Thanks Umberto and thanks again for your time spent yesterday trying to sort the problem.

Frazer

[mebe]

Hi Umberto,

I switch to this thread from where I originally posted, when it seemed to be a Norton 360 problem (KIAH).

Before Christmas it seemed that I had solved my problem because as reported I did not download the addon manager but GSX only, started GSX, which then obviously got the addon manager by itself and when I started FSX, both cuatl and addon manager were then active in  the FSX addon bar and both GSX and all Airports were working.

But when I was  starting FSX I got a message, that reporting a conflict with the

Dynamic Link Library version 2,9,0,25 bglmanx.dll.

Accepting to use the Library made GSX etc. running, not accepting, removed  cualt and Addon Manger from the FSX bar and airports and GSX were not working.

This where I stopped testing, not testing the rest of my Cockpit hard and software, .because the problem  seemed to be solved.

Today I started FSX, again I was asked, not to accept bglmanx.dll. By doing it, GSX worked, but my GoFlight instruments, as far as connected to the FSX PC (some are linked through a second PC), are not working any more.

I was trying several times always the same result and found similar reports on a FSX forum.

So for a first attempt, shall I remove GSX again and all its components and download the new Addon Manager, start with it.

I will also check, if the mentioned FSX.cfg conflict exists in may case as well, which I can only do tomorrow earliest.

Sorry, bit confusing probably..

To make a long story short, do you recommend to delete the old addon manager and use the new one in any case ?

best regards

Bernd 

[virtuali]

Accepting to use the Library made GSX etc. running

That means the program works normally on your sytem.

not accepting, removed  cualt and Addon Manger from the FSX bar and airports and GSX were not working.

That's normal too. If you don't run the modules, nothing will work.

Today I started FSX, again I was asked, not to accept bglmanx.dll. By doing it, GSX worked, but my GoFlight instruments, as far as connected to the FSX PC (some are linked through a second PC), are not working any more.

That seems to indicate that running those modules causes a conflict. I had a look to the GoFlight software, and installed it, and it doesn't cause any problems on my system, but I can't possibly know if the conflict happens only if you have a GoFlight hardware attached or not.

I've checked the GoFlight software, and it seems to require the VC++ 2012 runtimes. Our modules requires the VC++ 2005 runtimes, and this is made intentionally, because that's the same version FSX itself uses, so we tried to be more close to the FSX standard, in order to minimize conflict. Simconnect itself, used by FSX, uses the VC++ 2005 runtimes.

So, the most likely explanation, is the Windows Side-by-side system that allows two modules using two different runtime libraries to be running together in memory, is not working properly.

To make a long story short, do you recommend to delete the old addon manager and use the new one in any case ?

You can TRY running the GSX full installer and DO NOT install the Stand-Alone Addon Manager afterwards. This because the Addon Manager version that comes with the GSX installer is slightly different than the one that comes with the Stand-Alone Addon Manager, meaning it requires a different sub-version of the VC++ 2005 runtimes, one that hopefully works in your system.

If this fixes the problem, then you know you should always install GSX or a scenery installer, and never install the Stand-Alone Addon Manager, until you fix the problem, or you don't run other products that triggers the conflict.

[fraz31383]

IN THE MEANTIME, you can check if you are in the same situation, if you look for this folder:

%PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\FSX

But there's none. If you don't have this folder, your issue is probably the same as fraz31383 so, AS A TEMPORARY solution, to have GSX working, do as follows:

1) Create the Microsoft\FSX folder under %PROGRAMDATA% ( It's usually C:\ProgramData )

2) COPY (don't move, copy! ) the scenery.cfg from the %PROGRAMDATA%\FSX-SE into this newly created folder

This scenery.cfg will be used by GSX only, and if you add a scenery in FSX Steam Edition, either manually, or using an installer, you must copy again the updated scenery.cfg from the FSX-SE folder to the FSX folder, so GSX will get to know about the newly added scenery.

This will be ONLY a temporary fix, to allow you to use GSX while we fix it properly.

Hi again Umberto

I today decided to do a complete clean install of both my boot/Windows drive and the drive that I installed FSX onto, in the hope of preventing any future problems. However straight after installing FSX:SE I made GSX the first add-on I installed, used the latest installer etc from FSDT site, accepted permissions during FSX:SE splash screen/start up. Once the Sim was loaded Add On manager and the Couatl powered menu was there but no GSX?!

I came back to your post following our Teamviewer session and went through the temporary fix, however, where I expected NOT to find the %PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\FSX I infact DID. I therefore thought to myself if GSX is looking for %PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\FSX-SE (which was missing in this case), if I renamed "%PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\FSX" to "%PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\FSX-SE" would this work, and hey presto it did! Scenery libraries were rebuilt upon loading FSX:SE and GSX was now back where it should be in the Couatl menu!

Im not sure of the relevance or significance of this but thought I would share in case it helps anyone else out or if it assists you with potential future issues.

In addition, I went back into %PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\ and where I had renamed the original FSX to FSX-SE a newer FSX only folder had been regenerated?! Hope this might mean something to you or others out there but at the moment I'm happy as I now have GSX working... haven't installed any other add-ons though so hope I don't encounter any issues with those!

[mebe]

Thanks so far, I will try asap.

Additional information.
I also use the DX 10 fixer, until yesterday version 2.5.

Yesterday I updated to version 2.6, better I tried it. The procedure is to completely delete the previous version and then install the new one.

Starting the installation of version 2.6 I got the message, that either my rights (this was not the problem) or the path is not correct. As far as I understand it also the fixer uses VC++ (no idea which version).

I then switched back to version 2.5 (new installation), which worked without any problems.

As I did not make any changes at all in my systems, when Norton 360 refused to accept bglmanx.dll and addon.exe and I was asked by the FSX not to accept the Virtually software, I was asked through several questions which I, as already reported accepted.

Obviously this led to the problems I am facing now.

So either the addon manager or the microsoft/FSX logic, that tried to delete all links etc. your software had set, must have made certain changes, which cause the problems.

Is the information that the new installation of the 2.5 Fixer DX10 workes, the 2.6 version not, helpfull ?

Regards
Bernd 

[virtuali]

I came back to your post following our Teamviewer session and went through the temporary fix, however, where I expected NOT to find the %PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\FSX I infact DID.

This is NORMAL. The %PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\FSX-SE folder is created ONLY if you install FSX Steam after the regular FSX. If you install with no previous FSX version, the standard %PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\FSX folder is used, and no Steam-specific folders are used.

I therefore thought to myself if GSX is looking for %PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\FSX-SE (which was missing in this case)

No, it's not. Or, it shouldn't...

if I renamed "%PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\FSX" to "%PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\FSX-SE" would this work, and hey presto it did! Scenery libraries were rebuilt upon loading FSX:SE and GSX was now back where it should be in the Couatl menu!

This is wrong, and shouldn't happen. I can see the code here now, and when the Steam version is running, the %PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\FSX-SE path is used ONLY if BOTH the fsx_se.cfg AND the scenery.cfg files are found in their respective %APPDATA%\Microsoft\FSX-SE  folders. BOTH must be present, if even one it's missing, the standard %PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\FSX path is used.

So, the only possible explanation, is you are using outdated Addon Manager and Coautl executables. Latest Addon Manager is 2.9.0.26 and latest Couatl.exe is build 2.0.0.2376. If you don't have these version, reinstall GSX again to get them.

[virtuali]

Is the information that the new installation of the 2.5 Fixer DX10 workes, the 2.6 version not, helpfull ?

Only to prove/confirm the problem is something happening to the VC++ libraries, which we cannot obviously fix in every possible situation. All our installers runs the official MS installers for the VC++ libraries, but all these installers cannot fix a problem caused by a "newer" installer, because they would never do what they consider to be a "downgrade" of any files.

This means, if another product installs a newer but bugged or conflicting version of the libraries, it cannot be fixed by "just" running the correct MS installers, like we do anyway in our installers.

The only thing you can try from our site, is to run the Stand-Alone Addon Manager AS LAST of, if that doesn't work, run GSX installer AS LAST.