I Loathe FSDT's COUATL!

[virtuali 4,421]

For myself, after I've been sitting at my FSX loading screen for ten minutes, the LAST thing I want to see is couatl blocking me from my sim telling me about yet another update. What's more ridiculous, is that 9 (maybe 10) times out of 10, when I select the option to update it, I am always told the update could not be applied, to visit the website (with a URL I cannot select), quit FSX, download the installer and try again. That is seriously obnoxious

The issue is, the last weekend, we moved our entire site to a new hosting provider, and this resulted in the fsdreamteam.com domain having a new IP, and it might take up to 24/48 hours to work on your PC, depending how much often your ISP udpates his own DNS.

 

However, this doesn't mean that the Live Update wouldn't work during this transition period, we are not so short-sighted to rely on a single server for the Live Update feature, there are TWO servers running in parallel, on entirely different domains.

 

The server used for the Live Update is selected randomly when the updater starts which means, even of ONE of the server is unreachable from your system (because, following our move to a new hosting provider, your DNS wasn't updated yet), the OTHER one will be selected.

 

More precisely, you should have a 50% chance of getting the working update server even in this not very usual situation of one of the two server being down. It's not like that we move servers very often, it happened last week after 5 years.

 

So, you are reporting a very unusual situation and are presenting it as it was the norm, but that's not the case.

 

Both servers are working normally now and even users that seemed to have a slower than usual DNS update from their ISP, can see the fsdreamteam.com site now, see here:

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/424219-fs-dreamteam/

 

If you are still having problems now, perhaps the problem is entirely different and MAYBE, because of all the problems with false positive detection by faulty antivirus product, some kind of security program is blocking downloads from the fsdreamteam.com domain but, even in this case, the other server should always be reachable, because it's on dropbox.com, so it's unlikely that one would be blocked too.

 

That's to clarify the issue with supposed low reliability feature of the Live Update feature, which is not obviously the case, since with two servers, it will still work even when we put down one of them.

 

But on top of that, as I've already explained in this thread, the Live Update feature CAN BE DISABLED, by setting the Disable=1 parameter in the [liveupdate] section of the CouatlAddons.ini file, under the %APPDATA%\Virtuali folder.

 

As I've said already in my previous reply, we might add a more user-friendly way to control the Live Update settings other than having to edit a file, and the ability to set the time interval between update checks, which is 24 hours now so, instead of entirely disabling it (which I NOT suggest), you might increase the time between notifications, like every 1/2 weeks.

[Darragh C 0]

hi.. i have kind of a stupid question to ask. i just bought kjfk and klax of the fsdreamteam site but it asking me for Installation ID supplied by the software what does this mean 

 

thank you

[Jim Young 2,356]

This is the eSellerrate activation.  Enter the code(s) as provided in the e-mail you received https://store5.esellerate.net/store/support/manualActivation.aspx.

 

Best regards,

[VBV109 1]

Hi folks!

 

I also have a major problem installing GSX and the Addon Manager.

 

First of all, I turned off my Anti-virus-software, then installed the latest GSX (as an administrator). After that I installed the latest Addon Manager (as an administrator as well!), rebooted my PC, started FSX (as an administrator), got the two "warnings", which I confirmed, that Couatl and Addon Manager were allowed to load in FSX. When FSX was started, I selected my plane (PMDG T7) and an airport (KLAX, gate 103). When I "arrived" at the airport, I took a look at my FSX-addons menu. There I only saw:

iFly 737NG, CaptainSim, CaptainSim, Start IvAp, PMDG, FSUIPC, Vista Mare, RAAS Professional and Addon Manager. So, I did NOT see anything as Couatl.

 

In my Addon Manager (version 2.9.0.14) I only see QualityWings (Ultimate 757 Collection, product in TRIAL mode) and FlightBeam (San Francisco X, Phoenix Sky Harbor - HD and Washington Dulles Intl - HD). None of those programms / addons are installed. But, the worst part is, I do NOT see anything of FSDreamteam. No GSX, no other airports, NOTHING!

 

What can possibly be wrong here? Please help! I am desperate and eager to have GSX working. Ofcourse I have the LEGAL, bought, version of GSX with the mail from support@virtualisoftware in my mailbox.

 

Please, HELP!!!!

 

Btw. Merry Christmas and a very happy new year to all!

[JSkorna 137]

Reinstall GSX.

[SolRayz 392]

Gee wiz, I read through fourteen pages and don't know what to think. All I really want is a quality KFLL but without the headaches. What to do?

[virtuali 4,421]

Gee wiz, I read through fourteen pages and don't know what to think. All I really want is a quality KFLL but without the headaches. What to do?

 

Just download the Trial version, so you will see for yourself that everything will likely works without any problem, which is true for 99% of the users.

 

If you fall into that tiny remaining percentage of users with problems, please report it on our forum or by email, and we'll surely fix the problem, and chances are we'll find something in your system that needed to be fixed anyway.

 

Nobody can guarantee that a software will run on 100% of systems but if it was really true that there are "problems" with our products, they wouldn't sell much (considering we have a Trial version), and we probably won't offer a Trial version to begin with, if we weren't *sure* the problems are a tiny minority and can be fixed anyway.

[VBV109 1]

Reinstall GSX.

Did it loads of times. Trying to figure out, what to do next. But I think of formatting C:. :mad: :wacko: . Next time FSDT needs to bring out software, which removes itself from the register after de-installing.

[Paul J 349]

Hi folks!

 

  I did NOT see anything as Couatl.

 

What can possibly be wrong here?  I have the LEGAL, bought, version of GSX with the mail from support@virtualisoftware in my mailbox.

 

In your dll.xml you should have this section for the Addon Manager:

 

<Launch.Addon>

        <Name>Addon Manager</Name>

        <Disabled>False</Disabled>

        <ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad>

        <Path>bglmanx.dll</Path>

  </Launch.Addon>

 

..... which is there, because the Addon Manager is running.

 

....and this is the exe.xml:-    which launches Couatl.

 

<Launch.Addon>

        <Name>Couatl</Name>

        <Disabled>False</Disabled>

        <ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad>

        <Path>fsdreamteam\couatl\couatl.exe</Path>

  </Launch.Addon>

 

If that section is there - then you have an issue with the exe.xml. Check this first before you rip your whole system apart - ok!

 

pj

[Guest]

It's no big secret, I've had nothing but frustration with Umberto and Virtuali ... but I'll try to provide helpful suggestions as I've ran into this and other problems many times and apparently "I'm the only one and it's all my fault and I'm sabotaging the product(s)"

 

 

Did it loads of times. Trying to figure out, what to do next.

 

Anyway, try this:

 

1.  Download Add-On Manager from here: http://www.fsdreamteam.com/products_addonmanager.html

 

2.  Download the lastest version of GSX here: http://www.fsdreamteam.com/gsx

 

3.  Re-install the Add-On manager and make sure you right click on the file "setup_addonmanagerX.exe" and select "Run As Administrator".  After that installs, go into FSX/P3D and verify the Add-On manager is installed.

 

4.  Now exit FSX/P3D and run GSX installer - right click on the file "gsx_fsx_setup.exe" and select "Run As Administrator".  After it installs, check to see that it's working in FSX/P3D.

 

5.  If it's still not working, then try to run Add-On manager install again (repeat  step 3).

 

6.  If it's still not working then navigate to the file ...\fsdreamteam\couatl\couatl.exe and right click on the file and select properties, select Compatibility tab, and check "Run this program as an administrator".

 

7. You may also want to repeat step 6 only this time on the file: Couatl_Updater.exe.

 

I pretty much have to do this process (or some variant of it) anytime I un-installed an Airport that is under Virtuali.  (I do run both FSX and P3DV2 but they do NOT share the same install location).

 

Hope this helps, Rob.

[DeCampos 40]

well that's fsdreamteam and flightbeam off my list!

[VBV109 1]

Nope, did not work either. I have to install Windows 7 and FSX (and all other stuff) again, after formatting. This is my first and last product of Virtuali and FSDT in my life. NEVER AGAIN!!!!

Thanx a lot for ruining 2 days of my life!

[SolRayz 392]

I really think the developer is shooting himself in the foot with this COATwhatever. I'm in the mindset that the more junk we throw at FSX the more problems. I would be willing to buy just the airport scenery minus whatever new shading techniques. Maybe a light version without intrusive FSX bloatware?

[virtuali 4,421]

It's no big secret, I've had nothing but frustration with Umberto and Virtuali ... but I'll try to provide helpful suggestions as I've ran into this and other problems many times and apparently "I'm the only one and it's all my fault and I'm sabotaging the product(s)"

You had a problem with the one of the scenery installers, that obviously doesn't have anything to do with the Addon Manager.

 

In the latest versions of some of the installers that were updated to support P3D and FSX, the Uninstaller had a bug, that failed to remove a scenery area from the Scenery Library, because the Uninstaller couldn't "remember" if its related Installer were originally ran on P3D or FSX, so it acted on neither of them. This caused a problem with the other scenery installers, because they were confused which scenery library they should read.

 

Yes, this was a bug of one of the installer, which has been found only thanks to your report. I told you about this on our forum too.

 

And yes, of course, all installers (just to be sure none has been left out) have been updated and uploaded again, so this clearly proved your report WAS taken seriously. As I've said on our forum, I always BELIEVED this was happening to you, nobody has ever accused to "sabotage" the products, this is something you made up.

 

The issue is, of the installers that were online last week, only some of them had this bug, the ones I've checked, PHNL had it.

 

My fault was that, initially, I tried your reproduction steps, but just with KSFO + Hawaii1/2, while you also said that in order to reproduce the problem, you had to uninstall PHNL too. I failed to include PHNL in the test, and since PHNL WAS one with such bug, it could only be reproduced when PHNL was one of the products included in the Install/Uninstall sequence.

 

That's why nobody else probably reported it and I couldn't initially reproduce it, you had to include PHNL in the Uninstall sequence, and the PHNL installer used should be one of the new installers with FSX+P3D support. More precisely, the PHNL Uninstaller should have come from an installation that used the latest installer.

 

In an older version of the installer, we had the installer asking for an FSX or P3D installation AND the Uninstaller asking the same question. There was just *one* entry for the scenery, even if you installed in both sims. This was quite messy, because if you originally replied "FSX" to the INSTALL question, and then replied "P3D" when Uninstalling, the Uninstaller wouldn't do anything, if you didn't install in P3D, and would Uninstall some files from FSX and some from P3D, if you installed in both sims.

 

This had to be fixed because, with the release of P3D2, and with some users potentially having all 3 sims on the same system, it could lead to a big mess so, we updated the installers to present TWO separate entries in the "Add/Remove" programs of the Control Panel, one for FSX and one for each separate P3D version (1.x or 2.x). This was of course the correct way of doing it but, unfortunately, a bug crept in, which was the Uninstaller that didn't had a way to know which sim to use. The problem didn't happened before, because the Uninstaller used to *ask* which sim it had to Uninstall from, but it didn't now. So, the end result was the uninstaller created orphaned areas in the Scenery Library.

 

Not all the installers that were online at that date had this problem, because the bug appeared not really with the first P3D2-supporting release, but with the first release that created two separate Uninstall entries in the Add/Remove programs section of the Control Panel.

 

All of this is fixed now, and I guess that you can easily CONFIRM this, if you try your reinstall/uninstall procedure again now (all with new installers, of course, in order to get the new Uninstallers in place). I also sent fixed installers to Flightbeam, not sure if they are online now already, I guess they are.

 

But of course, this doesn't have ANYTHING to do with the Addon Manager, Couatl, antivirus, or anything discussed in this thread, it was just a basic installer bug. And just to be more precise, the bug was introduced while trying to make the installer more user-friendly for users that had FSX+P3D on the same system.

[virtuali 4,421]

Did it loads of times. Trying to figure out, what to do next. But I think of formatting C:. :mad: :wacko: . Next time FSDT needs to bring out software, which removes itself from the register after de-installing.

As I've already told you on our forum, the ONLY key that our software uses is this one:

 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Fsdreamteam

 

This folder contains all your Serial Numbers, so they are NOT removed automatically when Uninstalling, so you don't have to reinsert the Serial each time you want to "just" Uninstall a product for some reason.

 

There are no other keys used by our software and of course, leaving this key in the registry won't cause any problems or have any relationship with the start up of it.

 

According to your own report on our forum, you were never ASKED permission to run the Addon Manager after a reinstall. As I've told you on our forum, this can ONLY because by one of these:

 

1) You haven't done the "Reply YES when asked if you want to remove the Addon Manager and the Couatl Engine" step, because THIS will reset the trust question. Fact you authorized a module is stored in the FSX.CFG. The Uninstall will reset the appropriate FSX.CFG section ONLY if you reply YES to those two questions. The reset of the question is done to Undo your action in case you mistakenly decided not to trust the modules.

 

This is valid for EVERY FSX MODULE. If you don't trust it, it won't start. If you decide not to trust it forever, it won't ask you again. If you trust it and tell FSX to not ask again, FSX won't ask again but, if a module you *already* trusted stop working for some reason, if FSX is instructed to not ask you anymore, you don't have any way to know if the module doesn't start for some reason, or it doesn't start because you said you don't trust it.

 

THAT'S why there's an option to reset that question in the Uninstaller, so you can start afresh and get another chance to trust the module again, and see if it starts.

 

So, if you don't see the trust question after a reinstall following an Uninstall where you replied YES to the two Uninstall questions, the problem must be something else, like:

 

 

2) Your antivirus is still blocking it

 

OR

 

3) You might have mistakenly put us in the un-trusted publishers, so nothing signed by us will run. To verify this, you can go to the Control Panel, under "Internet Options", look for the "Content" tab, there should be an "Publishers" button, that will list the software authors that you trusted, and another tab with untrusted authors. If you see "Virtuali s.a.s", remove it from both tabs (especially if it's under untrusted).

 

When I told you to check #3, you initially said you didn't had the Publishers button, which of course is not possible, but in your next report, you said:

 

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,9631.msg76168.html#msg76168

 

"Now I heard at our forum (at vbirdva), that I probably have a register-problem (via regedit). I had an earlier version installed, which I got from a (former) friend of mine."

 

Now, since the latest GSX full installer is always freely available from our site, so there's no need to "get it from a friend"...the only possible explanation for what someone in your forum explained as a "registry problem" related to having got "something from your friend", could be the appearance of a very old crack made for old versions of JFK and Zurich, which put FAKE Serial Numbers in the registry. That MIGHT have created what someone could classify as a "registry problem", but it surely doesn't have anything to do with the fact you are not asked permission to run the Addon Manager anymore. The only effect such fake serials in the registry would have, is that the related sceneries won't obviously run with versions of the Addon Manager released more recently, but they would just run in Trial mode, the Addon Manager would still work normally, it will just ignore such serials. If this WAS the problem.

 

 

 

 

I have to install Windows 7 and FSX (and all other stuff) again, after formatting. This is my first and last product of Virtuali and FSDT in my life. NEVER AGAIN!!!!

 

Now you are making it sound as if it was our software that made you reformat Windows. This is what you said on our forum, instead:

 

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,9631.msg76215.html#msg76215

 

 

 

Thanx a bunch. Then I will try to order an SSD for Windows 7 only (64 / 128 Gb) and try to configure it as D-drive (startable), so my FSX-HDD drive can remain C for GSX and others. Hope, it'll work after that. And I know, what to do with future FSDT-products.

 

That looks more like you planned to format anyway. In any case, you haven't said what happened when you finally reinstalled Windows on your new drive, and of course it's just wrong to return to post here, when your issue was thoroughly followed on the proper place, which of course is our support forum.

 

I was awaiting for your next report, and I find you decided to go on your own, and complaining here, as if you could any better chance to be supported. Of course, it's exactly the opposite. If you want support, you must keep posting about your issues on our support forum. Posting here, will only result in losing YOUR time and ours too, because I first must write here to said you were wrong posting here, and then I'll have to continue supporting where you left.

 

So, please, return to our forum, and post a follow up of your problem, the above was the last message of yours on our forum, how I could possibly figure out if it was fixed or not ? And, what makes you think you wouldn't have been followed AGAIN, to the point that you felt necessary to post here ?

 

As I've said, many times already, when all else fails, I always gave users the chance to a direct Teamviewer session, to check things directly, there wasn't a SINGLE case were I couldn't fix issues (not Addon Manager issues, of course, but pre-existing problems with the user system), and the user was left unable to use the software. Just ask around to anyone that was assisted directly with Teamviewer, I believe some of them participated in this thread too, and not in a single case a reformat was needed.

 

So, again, I await your next report on our forum (please DO NOT continue here, it's no use saying the same things on two places at the same time), and of course you have the option to do a Teamviewer session, if you want.