GSX not starting most of the time with latest update **SOLVED**

[LEdwards2012]

I'm not 100% sure but I think it was a virus protection issue for me, as everything was working fine until this morning and the only thing that changed on my system was the virus definition file. I had run the most recent live update a couple of days ago and it did not cause me an issue as I was using GSX with no issues yesterday.

The virus protection behaviour seems to be a bit random as it was not stopping GSX all of time. In general, I feel that the virus protection industry is a bit of a scam and Microsoft make money charging developers to allow their programs to work!

[MattG]

I made a backup of the add-ons.cfg file and then removed the entries above and then re-numbered the packages so it was going in order: 1,2,3,4  (you get the idea).

You mean they were out of order before ? This is strange, since we don't touch that file, it's the sim that will handle the creation of all the section, when an add-on asks to be registered.

Have you used an external utility that handles add-ons ?

Hi,

No they weren’t out of order. I mean I put them back in order when I removed any mentions of FSDreamTeam.

I don’t use anything to manage the add ons.

[LEdwards2012]

I have managed to fix the problem and no it's not related to any sort of anti-virus software.

In the following file: C:\ProgramData\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4\add-ons.cfg I had entrires for the following:

FsDreamTeam Exclude
FsDreamTeam Addon Manager

I don't have those entries in my add-ons.cfg.

[2bsc]

I don't have those entries in my add-ons.cfg.

Which seemed to be the problem for me. I manually added those two folders by simply copying other addon-entries and redirecting the path to "...Addon Manager" and "...Exclude".

[virtuali]

This is strange, I assure you that running GSX installer will result in both entries added to the add-ons.cfg file ( Prepar3d itself is doing this, under request from the GSX installer ) but, more importantly, the Live Update will never try to touch them.

[wegerlee]

This issue is a bit of a hit and miss.  All my Sim files incl. FSDT and the virtuali one under users are excluded.  Never had any problems until last update. Here is my scenario again.

5th attempt:  Loaded SIM with default scenario -  GSX is showing - no scenery cache loading - did it manually.  Changed to LTAC with default aircraft again - reloaded airport cahe - then changed aircraft tp NGXU -  and GSX was still present.  There have been other occasions were this has not worked.  At times it does not rebuild airport chache, wich it usually does.  That doesn't explain though why the GSX menu disappears?!

[virtuali]

GSX is showing - no scenery cache loading - did it manually

This is already not normal. What do you mean with "did it manually" ? The "Restart and rebuild the airport cache" option ?

[wegerlee]

Yes via the GSX dropdown.  I thought I give that a try since I did not see it rebuild the Cache. The problem is not limited to PMDG.  Had it on Aerosoft A330 as well

[virtuali]

Yes via the GSX dropdown.  I thought I give that a try since I did not see it rebuild the Cache. The problem is not limited to PMDG.  Had it on Aerosoft A330 as well

As I've said, I cannot reproduce it in any way.

Try to wait a bit before switching airplanes, if you are on an airport that has many jetways, and GSX is still creating them when you switch airplanes, it might get stuck ( it shouldn't, we have code to prevent this, but you never know, each system is different... )

[Claude]

Folks, I don't currently have issues and have not yet installed the Feb 7th Live Update. Curious, I checked and found add-on.cfg files in two locations. The files are different in size and do not have duplicate entries.
 
The "addon.cfg" file in C:\ProgramData\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D\ is 1KB and includes four(4) "Package.*" entries.
There are no references to any FSDT products in this file.

The "addon.cfg" file in C:\Users\...\AppData\Roaming\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4\ is 6KB and includes twenty-six(26) "Package.*" entries.

The developer of the Lorby Add-On Organizer software explains the difference as follows: "There are two because there are two different kinds of add-on.xml "methods".
The file in \ProgramData\ contains...references to content that has been installed with the command line tools of P3D (and where the add-on.xml can be anywhere on your computer instead of \Documents\). It is only rewritten when an installer adds or removes one of those addons through the CLI.

The file in \AppData\Roaming lists those addons that are in the autodiscovery folder \Documents\Prepar3D v4 Add-ons\. It is rewritten every time something changes in that folder.

[rdlepage]

Tried all the suggestions here. nothing works. Just reinstalled it completely and still the same problem, if anything its worse.
As the problem cant be reproduced by the developer those of us having problems are stuffed. What we need is an option to use the previous version before all these problems started.
Why don't they put the previous version back in the live update so we can test.
Not only does it affect GSX but also any FSDT airport that you have installed so that's many products we may have paid for that we can no longer use.
Hope a solution is found soon as there clearly is a problem.

[virtuali]

The "addon.cfg" file in C:\ProgramData\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D\ is 1KB and includes four(4) "Package.*" entries. There are no references to any FSDT products in this file.

And this is strange, because the GSX installer ( NOT the Live Update ) is supposed to place the sections here, not in %APPDATA%

The file in \ProgramData\ contains...references to content that has been installed with the command line tools of P3D

Exactly, this is the way the GSX installer works: it ask P3D to add the sections themselves, only during installation. The Live Update will never, ever, touch this and none of our software is trying to access the add-on.cfg file directly. The ONLY time it's even changed, is when installing GSX with the full installer, and not directly, but by using P3D from the command line.

So, if you don't have the FSDT sections in the add-on.cfg under C:\ProgramData, it's can only be caused by one of this:

- You edited the file manually, for some reason.

- An external utility has changed that file.

- Another installer has corrupted it, because it tried to modify it directly ( we don't do that ), so the sections are missing.

- You uninstalled P3D entirely AND manually cleared all settings, by removing the %PROGRAMDATA%\Lockheed Martin and %APPDATA%\Lockheed Martin folders.

THIS will trigger the "Auto-Discovery" feature, which is when the sim finds you have an add-on.xml in the Documents\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3d V4 add-ons which is not referenced in either of the two add-on.cfg files (because you removed their folders in *addition* to uninstalling/reinstalling the sim), so it will ASK "Do you want to activate the add-on xxxx ?".

This is called Auto-Discovery and, if you reply Yes, it will re-create the missing sections for those add-ons in the %APPDATATA%\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3d V4\ADD-ONS.CFG file.

[virtuali]

Why don't they put the previous version back in the live update so we can test. Not only does it affect GSX but also any FSDT airport that you have installed so that's many products we may have paid for that we can no longer use.
Hope a solution is found soon as there clearly is a problem.

That's the wrong approach to the problem. Since the update itself doesn't have any problems ( because if it did, it would affects many thousands of users, not just an handful ) and of course I already verified all correct files are online and works normally, we should understand why it doesn't work on YOUR system.

And again, I'm still fairly convinced is something related to the antivirus or similar security product ( like a firewall or anti-spyware ), which is blocking either the program itself or the Live Updater, preventing to update everything.

Or, it's blocking access to our own folders ( %PROGRAMDATA%\Virtuali and %APPDATA%\Virtuali ), which it's obviously wrong and will likely cause a crash on start ( or a failure to rebuild the airport cache ), and again, this is the fault of the antivirus.

Also, fact this happens ( to SOME users !!! ) every time we release an update to the executable, seems to confirm more and more it's caused by some external interference, antivirus/firewall/anti-spyware, etc.

The CORRECT approach of the problem, of course, would be that some affected user would contact me in private ( email or forum private message ), so we can arrange a Teamviewer session and I can see what's going on on their system. Waiting for your messages.

[wegerlee]

Hi Umberto,

When would it be convenient for you on a TeamViewer session to go through this??  After yesterdays flights which worked out fine from Ankara to Vienna, I opened my sim this morning, flying from UUEE to LYBE.  GSX menu showed when changing airport, as soon as I changed to the AS A319 it disappeared again.  As far as AV is concerned the entire SIM folder is excluded from AV plus the virtuali folder. under the APP section. I am going to add the LM folder under program data and program files plus any other Lm folders I can see to check if that makes a difference.  I post back to you.  Kind regards

Elmar

[Captain Kevin]

When would it be convenient for you on a TeamViewer session to go through this??  After yesterdays flights which worked out fine from Ankara to Vienna, I opened my sim this morning, flying from UUEE to LYBE.  GSX menu showed when changing airport, as soon as I changed to the AS A319 it disappeared again.  As far as AV is concerned the entire SIM folder is excluded from AV plus the virtuali folder. under the APP section. I am going to add the LM folder under program data and program files plus any other Lm folders I can see to check if that makes a difference.  I post back to you.  Kind regards

Did you also add the Add-on Manager folder to this? That might help if you haven't already done this.