api.dll crash, P3Dv4.3 Client only update

[somiller 694]

I'm experiencing api.dll error/crash. Happened to me flying the PMDG NGX, midflight. The panel displays quit responding, but aircraft continued moving over the ground; autopilot quit working, buttons and switches quit responding...All this continued with the aircraft continued moving over the ground for several minutes...then the little blue rotating windows ring, then finally a P3D crash.

I noticed this thread on FSDT forum, but Umberto insists he's fixed any problem that might be related to his products, by updating bglmanx64.dll, but I have the new version of that file and still have the problem.

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,17829.30.html

Interestingly, I have been getting bglmanx64.dll errors in event viewer after I close P3D, but it seems to be solved if I make sure ActiveSky AS4 is running before I start P3D.

I've also posted this problem on LM's P3D forum.

Something is clearly amiss, and if I can't find a solution to this very soon, I'm going back to P3Dv4.1

Programs/addons running on P3D computer: ChasePlane; TrackIR; LittleNavConnect; FS Force2; Remote CDU Simlink.
Programs/addons running on remote/client laptop: AS4; LittleNavMap; Remote Overhead; PSXseecontraffic; RealTraffic

Kind Regards,
Steven Miller

[CFIJose 5,485]

Hi Steven,

Have you read this thread?

https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/538062-exiting-shutting-down-p3d-v42-causes-apidll-crash/

I have not seen the api.dll error ever since I disabled DL. It's an error that LM needs to investigate.

Thanks.

Jose

[Cruachan 705]

7 hours ago, somiller said:

I'm experiencing api.dll error/crash.

I noticed this thread on FSDT forum, but Umberto insists he's fixed any problem that might be related to his products, by updating bglmanx64.dll, but I have the new version of that file and still have the problem.

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,17829.30.html

Hi Steven,

As you are aware I was one of those who became quite involved in that thread. It was a very frustrating exercise with little to show for it. GSX and the FSTD Addon Manager were definitely involved in some way and I heard it from a little bird that this may have been resolved in Prepar3D 4.3. I believe it and has something to do with the SDK version used during the further development of the product.

However, it seems likely that the circumstances surrounding your api.dll crash may be different in that the crash, as described in that thread, related to exiting the sim while the FSDT Addon Manager/couatl/GSX were running.

I have yet to test this as I am still going through the process of confirming compatibilities and reactivating my list of Addons after updating to P3Dv4.3.

Regards,

Mike

[somiller 694]

1 hour ago, Cruachan said:

Hi Steven,

As you are aware I was one of those who became quite involved in that thread. It was a very frustrating exercise with little to show for it. GSX and the FSTD Addon Manager were definitely involved in some way and I heard it from a little bird that this may have been resolved in Prepar3D 4.3. I believe it and has something to do with the SDK version used during the further development of the product.

However, it seems likely that the circumstances surrounding your api.dll crash may be different in that the crash, as described in that thread, related to exiting the sim while the FSDT Addon Manager/couatl/GSX were running.

I have yet to test this as I am still going through the process of confirming compatibilities and reactivating my list of Addons after updating to P3Dv4.3.

Regards,

Mike

Jose,

Thank you for the info. I'll test your DL theory on my end and see if it helps me.

 

Mike,

Indeed, my api.dll crash occurred during a flight, however, all the bglmanx64.dll errors I had were on P3D exit/close. I had noticed that your errors were on exit, and initially I hesitated to post in your thread, but I reasoned that there may be an outside chance of our experiences being related so I decided to post.

Thank you for your information...I'll be watching this, and your thread with interest.

Kind Regards,

[fghdgdfdfgfgf 111]

100% - of the time I get the API.DLL error Addon Manage is active on my system.

60 to 70% - of the time I get the error while Addon manager is active, the parentage goes way up if I start  the sim at the default scenario airport.

0% - is the number of errors I get the when Addon Manager is not installed or activated -since mid May.

According to my event log: the errors started showing up Mid May which coincides with the time I installed FSDT Las Vegas, until that time I only had FSDT LAX installed on my new puter  (puter built and LAX installed  - February 2018).

I have about 8 hrs of trouble shoot time with this API.dll thingy.  I've tested many combinations of add-ons, default settings, DL on/ff and even tested my hardaware at default bios settings ..... as long as ADDON Manager was not installed or active I get zero errors..

 

 

At Jose: I would be shocked if Dynamic Lighting, in a vacuum, is the root cause here, at least on my system.

 

Edited July 7, 2018 by FunknNasty

[CFIJose 5,485]

Interesting!

I do not think I saw this error in my log using P3D v4.2 while I had addon manager/GSX/Airports installed. I'm actually happy that the generating scenery on load was removed with updates.

But, I trust that it could be an issue on some systems.

[fghdgdfdfgfgf 111]

I'm not totally unfamiliar with this issue. The 1st time I experienced the api.dll issue was on my Haswell when P3D V.4.0 was released, and sure enough the issue coincided with a Addon mgr install. I installed V4 along side my existing P3D v3.5, I think that's when ADDON MGR started using the addon-xml method, and I would get the same error when I used P3d V3.X  but not V.4.

 

Anyway, it's not a huge deal for me ...when it bugs me and I'm not flying to or from Vegas or LAX I just use the Lori tool to disable Addon Manager.

[Cruachan 705]

10 hours ago, somiller said:

Mike,

Indeed, my api.dll crash occurred during a flight, however, all the bglmanx64.dll errors I had were on P3D exit/close. I had noticed that your errors were on exit, and initially I hesitated to post in your thread, but I reasoned that there may be an outside chance of our experiences being related so I decided to post.

Thank you for your information...I'll be watching this, and your thread with interest.

Hi Steven,

Just a brief update to say that the problem is still there!

I tested the 3 exit routes (End Scenario, Exit and the 'X') with the FSDT Addon Manager enabled and the result was the same in each case. Sim crashes with the following reported error:

Note: the defaulting module is now ntdll.dll rather than api.dll.

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Application Error
Date:          07/07/2018 21:59:43
Event ID:      1000
Task Category: (100)
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      Prometheus
Description:
Faulting application name: Prepar3D.exe, version: 4.3.29.25520, time stamp: 0x5b2c3263
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7601.23889, time stamp: 0x598d5074
Exception code: 0xc000000d
Fault offset: 0x00000000000689f2
Faulting process id: 0x2b38
Faulting application start time: 0x01d4163432a87fea
Faulting application path: D:\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4\Prepar3D.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
Report Id: ab892089-8228-11e8-abcf-40e230989421
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Application Error" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>100</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2018-07-07T20:59:43.000000000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>237636</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>Prometheus</Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>Prepar3D.exe</Data>
    <Data>4.3.29.25520</Data>
    <Data>5b2c3263</Data>
    <Data>ntdll.dll</Data>
    <Data>6.1.7601.23889</Data>
    <Data>598d5074</Data>
    <Data>c000000d</Data>
    <Data>00000000000689f2</Data>
    <Data>2b38</Data>
    <Data>01d4163432a87fea</Data>
    <Data>D:\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4\Prepar3D.exe</Data>
    <Data>C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll</Data>
    <Data>ab892089-8228-11e8-abcf-40e230989421</Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>

When the Addon Manager is disabled the problem goes away. So, we are no further forward.

I've reported these findings over at FSDT, but I'm not holding my breath! To date, Umberto has appeared quite unwilling to accept there is an ongoing problem for some users. Understandable, I suppose, when he is unable to replicate the crash event.

Hard to know what else can be done to resolve this issue.

Regards,

Mike

 

[virtuali 4,421]

48 minutes ago, Cruachan said:

 

I'm not unwilling to accept there's a problem for some users. I surely think and believe you have a problem but, even if "it goes away without the Addon Manager", that doesn't necessarily mean there's "a problem with the Addon Manager", it only means you have a problem that is already there, but you cannot see if without the Addon Manager triggering it.

Also, you are reporting a problem with NTDLL, while this thread was about the API.DLL problem.

As already explained on our forum, the API.DLL WAS, as it was reported on our forum, was indeed a problem with the Addon Manager and since that one I was able to reproduce it, I contacted LM, ask them where the sim was crashing, and with their help, I was able to find the problem in our code, and fixed it right away, and this has been confirmed on our forum and the LM forum too, both by other users, other developers, testers, and LM people too.

This clearly shows that, every report is taken seriously and, when it can be reproduced, it's fixed right away, and I never had any problems admitting there was a problem in our code. In fact, our release notes clearly says WE fixed the API.DLL silent crash on exit with an update. Note that, this doesn't necessarily mean we fixed *every* API.DLL crash that would ever appear. We just fixed that one which was our fault, but API.DLL crashes can have many different causes, and we could only act on the one related to us.

This problem of yours doesn't have anything to do with that one and, I'm afraid THIS one, I cannot reproduce, which means there isn't any chance to fixing (assuming it needs fixing on our side to begin with), until I could.

On our forum, I already offered a possible explanation, which would manifest just the same ( = goes away with the Addon Manager disabled ), which is problems with the navigational data. Some users reported that after installing a replacement set of .BGL files for updated navdata, caused NTDLL crashes, but only with GSX installed, but that's just because GSX asks the sim for airports around you, using a function provided by the sim so, what's really happening is not that GSX is causing a crash, but the sim it's crashing by itself when using its own function, which is confused by some corrupted data, not in the default scenery.

The only "fault" of GSX, is that it asks the sim for it but, in order to prevent or at least reduce the chance to be happening, and preventing users from being mislead into thinking the crash it's "caused" by GSX/Addon Manager (when the real cause it's a corrupted .BGL somewhere), we'll probably disable the query of nearby airports when flying above 10.000 ft and/or faster than 250 kts, so GSX would just stop doing anything while cruising, not even search for nearby airports, which is the only thing it does when flying right now.

Also, I already asked on our forum to post a new thread, so users won't be confused by having your issue posted in a thread that didn't had anything to do with it (like THIS one) and was a thread about a problem already solved.

Also, I kindly asking you to stop posting here, we would require me to do an entirely unnecessary double work (which will only decrease, not increase, the level of support you'll get), of following both threads.

And, as I've posted on our forum (again, please reply there), we can arrange a Teamviewer session at the beginning of the next week ( I'm replying to you now, on a Saturday night, but doing remote assistance late in the night is not very smart ), so I can have a look at your system, and perhaps find something.

Edited July 8, 2018 by virtuali

[virtuali 4,421]

20 hours ago, somiller said:

I'm experiencing api.dll error/crash. Happened to me flying the PMDG NGX, midflight. The panel displays quit responding, but aircraft continued moving over the ground; autopilot quit working, buttons and switches quit responding...All this continued with the aircraft continued moving over the ground for several minutes...then the little blue rotating windows ring, then finally a P3D crash.

The API.DLL crash which was caused by the Addon Manager and was FIXED with the update was only happening after exiting the sim. There was a clear reason why it happened that way, and why it only happened on exit (and it could *only* happen on Exit), and this has been found and fixed easily enough. 

An API.DLL crash in midflight doesn't have anything to do with this, and I'm sure you get it even with no Addon Manager enabled. Any 3rd party product using Simconnect OR the new PDK might potentially cause an API.DLL crash so, it can be anything.

 

Quote

Interestingly, I have been getting bglmanx64.dll errors in event viewer after I close P3D, but it seems to be solved if I make sure ActiveSky AS4 is running before I start P3D.

This should prove the Addon Manager (bglmanx64.dll) didn't had anything to do with it and, instead, if was affected somehow by a different behavior of ActiveSky, depending if it's started before or after the sim. Sometimes it might be a conflict between different versions of the VC++ runtimes used by two modules, this is what usually happens when you observe a change depending on the module's loading order. 

Edited July 8, 2018 by virtuali

[somiller 694]

21 minutes ago, virtuali said:

The API.DLL crash which was caused by the Addon Manager and was FIXED with the update was only happening after exiting the sim. There was a clear reason why it happened that way, and why it only happened on exit (and it could *only* happen on Exit), and this has been found and fixed easily enough. 

An API.DLL crash in midflight doesn't have anything to do with this, and I'm sure you get it even with no Addon Manager enabled. Any 3rd party product using Simconnect OR the new PDK might potentially cause an API.DLL crash so, it can be anything.

 

This should prove the Addon Manager (bglmanx64.dll) didn't had anything to do with it and, instead, if was affected somehow by a different behavior of ActiveSky, depending if it's started before or after the sim. Sometimes it might be a conflict between different versions of the VC++ runtimes used by two modules, this is what usually happens when you observe a change depending on the module's loading order. 

Umberto,

Do you consider it worthwhile to post on ActiveSky forum about the bglmanx64.dll error? Currently, the AS4 for P3Dv4.3 update is open beta. So far, EVERY time I start AS4 before starting P3D, I don't get the error. I can't confirm for sure that EVERY time I start P3D before AS4 that I get the error on P3D close, but it seemed like that was the case.

Kind Regards,

[virtuali 4,421]

54 minutes ago, somiller said:

Umberto,

Do you consider it worthwhile to post on ActiveSky forum about the bglmanx64.dll error? Currently, the AS4 for P3Dv4.3 update is open beta. So far, EVERY time I start AS4 before starting P3D, I don't get the error. I can't confirm for sure that EVERY time I start P3D before AS4 that I get the error on P3D close, but it seemed like that was the case.

 

I contacted Hifi simulations myself.

[somiller 694]

57 minutes ago, virtuali said:

 

I contacted Hifi simulations myself.

Umberto,

Thank you!

Kind Regards,

[virtuali 4,421]

On 7/8/2018 at 1:56 AM, Cruachan said:

I tested the 3 exit routes (End Scenario, Exit and the 'X') with the FSDT Addon Manager enabled and the result was the same in each case. Sim crashes with the following reported error:

Note: the defaulting module is now ntdll.dll rather than api.dll.

As you posted on our forum:

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,17829.msg126344.html#msg126344

After you removed ALL other modules from starting (except the FSDT modules), your NTDLL.DLL crashes were gone, clearly proving it didn't had anything to do with our software, which I was quite sure of.

We'll continue looking to find the cause of your other API.DLL crash, but since I'm sure this one is fixed on your side, just like the NTDLL crash, it will likely prove to be caused by something else.

[CFIJose 5,485]

21 hours ago, virtuali said:

As you posted on our forum:

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php/topic,17829.msg126344.html#msg126344

After you removed ALL other modules from starting (except the FSDT modules), your NTDLL.DLL crashes were gone, clearly proving it didn't had anything to do with our software, which I was quite sure of.

We'll continue looking to find the cause of your other API.DLL crash, but since I'm sure this one is fixed on your side, just like the NTDLL crash, it will likely prove to be caused by something else.

Just got this error with no CTD:

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Application Error
Date:          7/10/2018 9:21:28 AM
Event ID:      1000
Task Category: (100)
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      JOSE-PC
Description:
Faulting application name: Couatl.exe, version: 3.2.0.3997, time stamp: 0x5b0e87ef
Faulting module name: Couatl.exe, version: 3.2.0.3997, time stamp: 0x5b0e87ef
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00056fa4
Faulting process id: 0x1214
Faulting application start time: 0x01d4185087c76137
Faulting application path: D:\Prepar3D v4\Addon Manager\Couatl\Couatl.exe
Faulting module path: D:\Prepar3D v4\Addon Manager\Couatl\Couatl.exe
Report Id: 266f25e7-8444-11e8-90fb-888888888788
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Application Error" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>100</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2018-07-10T13:21:28.000000000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>3856</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>JOSE-PC</Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>Couatl.exe</Data>
    <Data>3.2.0.3997</Data>
    <Data>5b0e87ef</Data>
    <Data>Couatl.exe</Data>
    <Data>3.2.0.3997</Data>
    <Data>5b0e87ef</Data>
    <Data>c0000005</Data>
    <Data>00056fa4</Data>
    <Data>1214</Data>
    <Data>01d4185087c76137</Data>
    <Data>D:\Prepar3D v4\Addon Manager\Couatl\Couatl.exe</Data>
    <Data>D:\Prepar3D v4\Addon Manager\Couatl\Couatl.exe</Data>
    <Data>266f25e7-8444-11e8-90fb-888888888788</Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>