Hi everyone,
I have a strange freezing issue with MSFS 2020 and GSX Pro.
MSFS 2020 works normally when GSX is removed from the Community folder. As soon as GSX is present, the simulator freezes completely. It does not crash to desktop; it hangs and has to be terminated manually.
I have already completely removed and reinstalled GSX using the FSDT installer, but the exact same problem remains. I have also tested the simulator without GSX, and it works normally, so the issue is reproducible specifically when GSX is present.
I created and inspected a dump of FlightSimulator.exe while it was frozen. The dump shows many simulator threads waiting in ntdll!NtWaitForSingleObject, with FlightSimulator threads around FlightSimGetProcessId / FlightSimGetProcessIdEx. I also checked the dump with !runaway and !locks; there was no obvious CPU runaway thread and !locks did not show an obvious critical-section deadlock.
This started suddenly around July 3. I had not intentionally changed my GSX configuration before the problem started.
Has anyone seen the same issue with MSFS 2020 and GSX Pro, or does anyone know what component could cause GSX to make the simulator hang at startup/loading?
System: Windows 11, MSFS 2020.
Thanks for any help.
Personal Comments and Observations
What does GSX Support have to say about it? This might be something they’ve mapped out from a diagnostic perspective.
Thanks for your reply. I haven’t found a solution through GSX support yet. At this point, I’m honestly not sure what else to check, as I’ve already tried a complete removal and reinstall of GSX and several other troubleshooting steps.
The strange thing is that MSFS 2020 works normally without GSX, but freezes when GSX is installed. I posted here because I’m hoping that someone might have experienced something similar or can offer a different technical perspective that I may have overlooked.
I’m of course also continuing to look into the GSX side of things. Thanks again for taking the time to respond
Does it still crash if GSX is the only Add-On in Community Folder? It might not necessarily be a conflict between GSX and the sim. It could be conflicting with some other add-on you have.
Yes, I tested that as well. I emptied the Community folder and tested with only GSX installed. Unfortunately, MSFS still freezes. When I remove GSX, the simulator starts and works normally again. So at least in my testing, it does not appear to be a conflict with another Community add-on
Thankfully someone else is experiencing the same issue. Hopefully they can find a solution. I’ve sent them the logs which points to the Couatl engine crashing.
Thanks for the update. My Couatl logs show a similar pattern. The connection is initially reported as OK (connectionOK: true), but one WASM request remains pending (waitingRequests: 1). After that, a WASM timeout occurs, Couatl attempts to reconnect, and after another timeout Couatl restarts/stops. At the same time, MSFS becomes completely unresponsive.
Since MSFS works normally without GSX, this does seem related to the GSX/Couatl/WASM communication. Hopefully comparing the logs from both systems can help identify what is causing the request to hang.
Update GSX to the latest version.
After updating, delete the fsdreamteam-gsx-pro folder from the LocalState > Packages directory.
Thanks for the suggestion. I’m using the Steam version of MSFS 2020. I found the fsdreamteam-gsx-pro folder, but on my system it is located at:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Addon Manager\MSFS\fsdreamteam-gsx-pro
I don’t have the same LocalState\Packages location shown in your instructions. Do you mean that I should delete the folder from the Addon Manager location instead, or is there a different equivalent location for the Steam version?
I just want to make sure I’m deleting the correct folder before trying this. Thanks for your help.
Nope.
Steam version
%APPDATA%\Microsoft Flight Simulator\Packages
delete the fsdreamteam-gsx-pro folder
EDIT
If you’ve never managed to launch GSX, that folder may not exist.
Thanks. I followed your instructions for the Steam version and deleted the fsdreamteam-gsx-pro folder from %APPDATA%\Microsoft Flight Simulator\Packages.
I also ran the FSDT Live Update and confirmed that everything was fully updated. Unfortunately, the issue is still exactly the same: MSFS reaches the “Ready to Fly” screen and then freezes completely, as shown in the attached photo.
I have been using GSX for over two years on this same system without any problems like this. The issue only started recently. MSFS works normally when GSX is removed, but freezes when GSX is installed.
Is there a specific Couatl or WASM bridge log I can provide from immediately after the freeze to help identify what is happening
Please open the exe.xml file in Notepad.
Then take a screenshot showing its full contents and attach it in your reply so I can review it.
Here is the full content of my exe.xml file. The Couatl entry is visible at the bottom. Let me know if you notice anything incorrect or conflicting in the file.
Change couatl64_boot.exe with couatl64_MSFS.exe and save the changes.
The last lines should look like this:
<Launch.Addon>
<Name>Couatl</Name>
<Disabled>False</Disabled>
<Path>C:\Program Files (x86)\Addon Manager\couatl64\couatl64_MSFS.exe</Path>
</Launch.Addon>
</SimBase.Document>
After making the change from couatl64_boot.exe to couatl64_MSFS.exe, MSFS started crashing during startup before reaching the main menu.
I then reverted the exe.xml entry back to the original couatl64_boot.exe, but unfortunately MSFS is still crashing during startup now, even with the original configuration restored. I cannot reach the main menu anymore.
Before making this change, MSFS did start normally and I could reach the flight, although it would then freeze at the Ready to Fly stage when GSX was installed.
So the current situation is worse: MSFS now crashes during startup with both configurations. Could you please advise what I should check or restore next?
Could you please contact me via private message? I have a few ideas we can try next and it will be easier to handle there.
