(2) suddenly appears next to the MSFS app in Task Manger

User Support Hub Hardware & Peripherals
1

Hello Folks;

I just noticed out of the blue (2) appearing next the MSFS app in task manager (photo attached). I have not changed anything and have no additional processes linked to the application that would cause it to be associated with another process. I already did the updates I think about a few weeks ago however, I also got a message for a mandatory update a few days ago which I think was strange since I had already updated to 1.33.80. The update only took about 2 mins so I assumed it was just a patch / hot fix.

Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated since I noticed that there may also have been a drop in performance, can’t say for sure and it may be psychological.

Screenshot (392)
Screenshot (392)1920Ă—1080 203 KB

I have never seen it before so I really want to resolve it.

Thanks very much

Cheers
UHen25539

2

I believe that just means the main process has spawned another process (as opposed to threads of which it spawns many). This is quite normal and not suspicious. Expanding the task manager item may show same or different names depending on what the process is.

Edit: Just for a test, I fired up MSFS with a GA plane. Noted 3 processes briefly during initial startup but only saw one after that and at the start of flight.

1 Like
3

There are several ways of going about this.

Is the sim currently running?
If it is, close it. Do they both go away, or only one?
If it isn’t, expand the entry and kill both processes. If you restart the sim, do they both come back?

Sometimes you get a rogue process that shouldn’t be there, and you have to kill it; sometimes, an app is designed to run two or more processes, but (and I’m happy to be corrected) I don’t think MSFS is one such.

4

I remember seeing a bug report process or crash report process running along side the main executable last time I checked.

5

Just click the drop down beside it (just to the left).

This is just telling you that MSFS has spawned a process. I have 7 or 8.

FSRealisitc
FSUIPC
Etc…

Will all cause this as they start with MSFS.

But as I said, just click that little > beside it and it will show you the process.

3 Likes
6

Hello @UndyingHen25539 ,

We ask that people not use General Discussion for help, advice, or troubleshooting. I’ve moved your post to Tech Talk, since this deals with the Windows Task Manager.

7

Hello Folks;

Thanks very much for your input and suggestions I really appreciate it. I actually found the culprit , I expanded the MSFS task as skypilotYTS suggested and saw “Couatl Scripting Engine” running.

I bought FSDT scenery and took GSX for the airport (didn’t purchase the product) but never used it since I am not a big fan of it. I recently did a FSDT live update and I guess that updated the script to run at launch which will explain the GSX Pop up I get at MSFS launch and the script being launched withing MSFS.

The interesting thing is this is the 1st time I have seen this (embedded) since I have always seen a separate task spawned in the task manager for any addon i use, instead of withing the task in flight sim.

I guess things are being done a little different within MSFS for specific addons.

Thanks again all.

Kindest Regards.

Screenshot (393)
Screenshot (393)1920Ă—1080 206 KB

UHen25539

8

Glad you sorted it out,

The Couatl egnine gets spawned through MSFS as it is written into the exe.xml file which is located in your root MSFS Install Directory (varies based on Steam / MS Store).

image

To stop it, you can just delete the lines, or change Disabled from “False” to “True”

<Launch.Addon>
    <Name>Couatl</Name>
    <Disabled>False</Disabled>
    <Path>C:\Program Files (x86)\Addon Manager\couatl64\couatl64_MSFS.exe</Path>
</Launch.Addon>
9

Fantastic; this is good to know. Thanks skypilotYTS.

Cheers.

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