Is there any way to get rid of that green line that says GSX is regenerating cache every time I remove or add a scenery? I don't use GSX and I would like to get rid of this this that seems to stay there way too long. Since I use SweetFX, it keeps blinking too. I wish it was doing thing quietly in the background if it has to do what its doing.

Is there any way to get rid of that green line that says GSX is regenerating cache every time I remove or add a scenery? I don't use GSX and I would like to get rid of this this that seems to stay there way too long. Since I use SweetFX, it keeps blinking too. I wish it was doing thing quietly in the background if it has to do what its doing.

 

I don't think so.

 

Even though you don't own a full GSX license, you own a GSX-enabled airport - hence the message. I agree, it does seem more like a developer diagnostic rather than a useful notification for the end user.

Umberto has tried to explain away several issues with inaccurate and/or partial information ..

Up to know, the only inaccurate information has been provided by you. For example, when you said this:

 

"It should also be noted that Couatl.exe was NOT digitally signed until very recently - Oct 30, 2013"

 

That's inaccurate information, because you confused the timestamp of when that specific release has been signed, with the date of the certificate itself.

 

Another inaccurate information when you mistakenly said that we don't have control on the security context of the Couatl_updater.exe, which clearly is not the case, since the that updater, being flagged to ask admin permission to the user, will either run under that security context, or not at all (if the user doesn't allow it)

I know this is a long thread, but just to remind you my original response #2 in this thread was to offer a possible solution to Manny's problem with Virtuali.  It's unfortunate that we're on Page 15 now -- perhaps Umberto needs to ask "why are we on page 15"?

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/419631-i-loathe-fsdts-couatl/?p=2784583

 

I've provided my own solution and shared that solution.

I don't see what the problem Manny was having had anything to do with all your subsequent discussion about "security context", what an crash in the OpenAL sound engine (wrap_oal.dll) has anything to do with this ?

 

I'm not sure what you are referring to with "my own solution", I see a reference to the PMDG "Op-Center" as the ideal solution for UPDATES (and just have a look in the PMDG forum how many problems there are with it caused by, GUESS WHAT, antivirus...), but Manny's problem was related to Couatl.exe itself crashed because the OpenAL sound library crashed so, what UPDATES has anything to do with this ?

 

As I've said already, if you still think that starting an updater from within FSX is safe (IT IS, for the things THAT updater does, which is just Python code), I already offered a solution, which is exactly as you were suggesting to do "like other developers, update when FSX is closed", which is the major update, which requires installing the Stand-Alone Addon Manager, getting both minor and major updates at the same time, when the sim is not running.

 

But again, the update method doesn't really have anything to do with the whole thread, it was just being added later. The "original" issue, which was the problem reported by Manny, was just a problem likely caused by bugged support for OpenAL by his sound drivers, which caused the wrap_oal.dll to crash and, since Couatl.exe is linked to it, it crashed as the its main executable.

 

wrap_oal.dll is not something we made, is the official OpenAl redistributable wrapper from Creative which is supposed to route OpenAL calls to DirectSound, for all those audio cards that don't support OpenAL with a custom driver (Creative Labs audio cards have custom drivers to route OpenAL to their EAX extensions). If you google for wrap_oal.dll problems, you can find thousands of reports, because it's used by a lot of games and can cause them to crash if there are either audio drivers problems or conflicts caused by different games installing different versions of that library.

 

What do you think would be the best solution and, exactly, what you would "trust" better, considering we HAVE the need to generate sounds in some way ? What might have caused more problems ?

 

1) Writing our own sound engine ?

 

2) Use an established standard used by lots of other games too, which is OpenAL of course ?

 

Anything can fail, if there are OS configuration problems, but I'm quite sure that #2 is way more reliable #1, if only because it's under scrutiny by many more users than just Flight sim users.

 

Of course, this specific sound issue has started a page-long discussion about what Couatl.exe does, and diverted into useless discussions and opinions not based on facts on "everything Couatl", I had to explain (again) what it does, and there's no need to repeat it again now (it's in this very thread), then the discussion went on the Self-update methods, which is an entirely different issue too.

 

Nobody like to read this thread in its entirety so, it's easy to say "if the thread is long, there must be some meat to it".

 

The thread is long, because I keep replying in the most complete and accurate manner, since I strongly believe that that FULL DISCLOSURE it's always the best approach.

 

I've got some useful feedback from this thread, and I can promise that we should probably have less problems with antivirus interference in the near future, because a new way ( the "Taggant system", if you want to search for it ) that executables digitally signed in a certain way can be whitelisted automatically by antivirus vendors as being safe, and that, as I've said, clears the vast majority of the issues we are having.

Is there any way to get rid of that green line that says GSX is regenerating cache every time I remove or add a scenery? I don't use GSX and I would like to get rid of this this

If you don't use GSX, there are two ways to disable it:

 

- By removing the FSX\fsdreamteam\couatl\GSX folder

 

This will remove it permanently.

 

- Edit the %APPDATA%\Couatladdons.ini file and under the [gsx] section, add this line:

 

disable = 1

 

This might be a better way, in case you want to use it without having to reinstall it

 

It's the same as with the Live Update. Couatl is an HOST to many different "plugins". The Live Update is a plugin and it has its own [Live Update] section in the Couatladdons.ini file and can be disabled setting disable = 1 in its section. GSX is another plugin with its own [gsx] section and can be disabled in the same way, XPOI is another plugin with its [xpoi] section, and so on...

 

Note that, ANOTHER advantage of Couatl running externally to FSX, is that you can change any of these settings (even enabling and disabling a plugin), on the fly, just edit the Couatladdons.ini, set disable to 0 or 1, and use the "Restart Couatl" to apply the settings.

 

This way, you can enable/disable every Couatl plugin without having to restart FSX. For example, example: if you don't own GSX, but you happen to land at an FSDT airport that you can use GSX freely on. You can temporarily enable GSX only for that flight, and then turn if off when you don't need it, so you are not disturbed by any eventual messages coming from GSX.

Hmm.. I can understand why people don't like this. Since I bought KIAD, the virtuali thing has "updated" like 5 times... really annoying.

 

 

This might be a better way, in case you want to use it without having to reinstall it

 

Thank you

Hmm.. I can understand why people don't like this. Since I bought KIAD, the virtuali thing has "updated" like 5 times... really annoying.

Is this a criticism ? I thought that updating often, as soon as a problem is found, was something appreciated!

 

In addition to the fact that I've just explained (twice in this thread, last time just before this post ) how to disable the Live Update notification, THIS is the update Log:

 

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/couatl_liveupdate_notes.html

 

Most, if not all these updates are coming following USERS reports. So, if we don't update, we don't listen to users request and, if we update, we are "annoying" ?

Hmm.. I thought the frequent updating is some bug. If it's legit bug fixes then I guess I'm okay with that. Maybe make them weekly or something? will sure ease the pain a little.

I'll take all the updates that you want to send this way. It doesn't bother me at all. I can't waste my time getting upset at a simple update.

Thanks Umberto for all the hard work and great scenery. I have them all except Geneva.

I'll keep supporting you guys.  :good: 

Now where is KIAH????   

I just spend 3 days going through this thread, and I would like to add my two (ok three) cents.

 

Lots of good info here.

And almost everything that has been said against the Addon Manager, Couatl, the updating process, has been countered with plausible arguments of Umberto.

And still, one problem remains (for me).

This gut feeling I have that makes me go "aaahrg....I dont know....what if my precious FSX install gets all screwed up?"

I have even PMed with Umberto (a while back) to which he replied to the same poilite and detailed manner as in this thread.

The feeling does not go away :-(

I have the same feeling about ORBX FTX global (I do not use it), ENB mods, DX10...although things do look promesing there....etc.

(No I am not a vanilla FSX user, I have OPUS FSX, REX,GEX,UTX and Mytraffic 2013 and use PMDG777 and 737 mainly)

 

This feeling WILL no go away (for me) unless a "lite" version is offered that does not need all the updating, no Couatl and no (additional) .dlls in my FSX install !

Not having these features does not mean scenery has to look bad at all....I have Fly Tampa Vienna for example and I find it beautifull.

Sure, Flightbeams KIAD is way better, and I would love to have all my airports looking like that, but not if there is even a small chance of ending up with defective FSX install!

 

Basically it comes down to numbers I guess.

If I understand correctly there are thousands of users of the discussed software of which 99% have no problem.

Only 1% do have a problem!

 

Now, in this 1% of problem cases there are most likely not too many users that have gone through all the trouble I have.

I have used guides to buy hardware optimized for FSX, I have used a guide to install Win7 on an FSX dedicated performance platform (not a simple emailing/internet platform) and I have used a guide to install and tune FSX so it runs as trouble free as is possible.

Took me a whole week to install things right!

(and yes I have a backup image of that)

If I take a look around AVSIM I see more people who have NOT done all this, and who run FSX along side all their other software.

That is fine, no problem, to each his own. (amazing actually that only 1% have problems if you think about it).

 

I think the user who has optimized his/her PC, has FSX as a serious hobby and is carefull with what he/she does and does not install into FSX, is the user who would prefere a "lite" version!

 

So in the end, Umberto would be making a lite version for the few people like me, and possibly you, that have tuned and optimized their Win7/FSX install.

It is just not going to happen!

 

It is the scenery developers choice how to do things and I do realize that I have pretty much stopped FSX (scenery) progress on my install.

But I am ok with that.

I prefere a complex aircraft over complex scenery and I prefer stability over progress and innovation.

Boring, maybe, but that is my choice.

 

For what it is worth, I might still give KIAD (Flightbeam) or KJFK (FSDT) a trial.....but first I will make a backup image again ;-)

I have Fly Tampa Vienna for example and I find it beautifull. Sure, Flightbeams KIAD is way better, and I would love to have all my airports looking like that, but not if there is even a small chance of ending up with defective FSX install!

With this sentence, you already have all your answers then, if your Flightbeam KIAD is running fine, it means all our stuff is running fine (otherwise KIAD won't work), which means you ARE in the 99% of users that don't have any problems.

 

If you keep your system well maintained, as you said you are, you will not have any problems in the future either.

 

And you noticed the difference in quality and the good fps that comes with it.

 

FYI information, this is what the Addon Manager does for Flightbeam KIAD:

 

1) It controls the rendering of the dense forest which is one of that scenery highlights, in multiple seasons, without taking extra memory for the seasons, which is what would happen if the scenery were a "lite" BGL-only version.

 

2) It allows a novel feature ( I think nobody ever did it before ), which is variable night-lighting depending on the visibility. When there's fog, the aprons are lighted differently. Courtesy of a Couatl script I wrote for Flightbeam...

 

Now you know you are in the vast majority of users without problems, and you know what this software is doing for a scenery that you appreciate.

Just an AVSIM newbie's thought: I just uninstalled the trial version of FS Dreamteam's GSX and the whole FSX's controls functionality with it - though the last one wasn't intentionally LOL.

So after 6 hours of installing and tweaking the FSX and the addons I have, now it looks like I'm on my way to throw everything away and start from scratch.

No, it's not a coincidence: FS Dreamteam's GSX caused this.

 

Thanks a lot, FS Dreamteam, you really made my day! :mad:

... and don't even START with "are your stuff licensed?"!!

Don't know what your referring here  to fsx  control functionality   must be some new feature  that I havnt  seen yet,  and uninstalling gsx  wouldn't  cause this issue, anyway since everyone  that  uninstalled it  would be complaining  as well.

Don't know what your referring here to fsx control functionality must be some new feature that I havnt seen yet, and uninstalling gsx wouldn't cause this issue, anyway since everyone that uninstalled it would be complaining as well.

Agree, impossible that unistalling GSX can cause that. Like you said everyone else would have the same issue. First time I ever heard anyone make this claim. I hate to say it but that guys post come across like a typical troll/victim post looking to get a reaction from others.

 

You would think if that were true the guy would have reached out for help either here or on the FSDT support forum before blowing up his FSX install and starting over.