FSX:SE not starting when FSL Spotlights installed - SOLVED

[Peter Smith]

I've had this issue for some time and as I was getting no help from Flight Sim Labs staff I decided to resolve it myself.

The problem: After installing FSL Spotlights V 1.0.0.33, FSX:SE would not start stating that the path to fsx.exe could not be found and that three DLL files were missing. The initial solution was to uninstall Spotlights and that 'appeared' to resolve the issue, except my A320X lights were not working making night flights a pain.

I have spent 3+ days reloading my PC from scratch, and everything worked fine until this morning when I installed 4 pieces of software, 3 photo editors and another, which turned out to be the cause of the whole issue, for me at least.

I visited one of my online bank accounts to find a message about downloading a free copy of Rapport Trusteer (from IBM) endpoint protection software. On trying FSX:SE afterwards, it was broken again.

After a couple of system restores which got me back to the point where everything was reinstalled but FSX:SE would not load, I uninstalled Rapport Trusteer software, all is working again.

I suggest that if you have Rapport Trusteer installed and you are having any issues with other software, remove it.

Hope this helps someone, Regards.

PS: My previous thread on the same subject has been censored (FSL call it "hidden").

[Lefteris Kalamaras]

Dear Peter,

Our support staff goes above and beyond the call of duty much of the time, by providing personalized sessions to assist our customers with their computer issues - and I am not referring here to issues with the FSLabs products themselves, I am referring to those *many* instances where our staff will resolve scenarios with Windows installations, incorrect graphics drivers, bad disk performance and many other such user mistakes that have NOTHING to do with our products.

Our staff is well known to provide such assistance that goes above and beyond gratis - that is, FREE OF CHARGE - even if it takes them hours on remote session to resolve those issues. They do this because, like you, they are simmers at heart and want to help as many people as possible in getting a good experience.

I am continuously amazed, however, by the expectations that some customers have that our support staff is *required* to provide this extra service - it seems that it is believed by some, that our staff is actually *supposed* to spend one-on-one time with them to solve their general PC issues and failure to do so attracts quite an irate response by those customers (sometimes, even by suggesting that the perceived high price of the product actually gives them the right to behave so inappropriately).

I understand that, because of the issues we faced with our server upgrades in the past month, there might have been some delay in responses or a few dropped emails, we were very forthcoming about this issue but this isn't the problem here.

In your particular scenario, it is quite clear that a third-party piece of software (and not one that is often used) was the culprit of your issues. What's more, that third-party software is an antivirus / malware detection utility, which our installation and general problem-solving FAQs clearly point to with multiple recommendations and suggestions for folder / file exclusions and disabling, so the steps were laid out for you to resolve the issue ahead of time without our support staff's involvement.

So - assuming that we had indeed provided a one-on-one remote session as it might have taken to resolve this, where our support engineer would have detected that the proper installation steps were not actually followed as described, what should the cost for providing this service be?

While I truly thank you for your business and while I have nothing personal against you, I'd therefore really appreciate it if you would consider mellowing the tone you use in your posts as it is actual people who are trying their hardest to assist you, not inconsiderate machines that have no reaction to inappropriate commentary.

In other words - some nice words work much better sometimes.

Thank you for listening.

[Peter Smith]

Thank you for your reply.

You''ll have to forgive myself and others for blaming your software when we have had a perfectly working system, then loaded FSL Spotlights and found FSX:SE to be 'broken' to the point that it won't load, and once FSL Spotlights was uninstalled, found everything to appear to be working again. It's a reasonable assumption that FSL Spotlights was to blame. As it turns out, during my recent system reload all installation recommendations for all of the software I have reloaded have been followed, to the letter and it was a subsequent installation of a third party application that 'broke' FSX:SE. Who could have known? As for a one-on-one session, it was never even offered, I was simply ignored.

You offered some advice in my support ticket, which I followed. When I reported that I still had the same problem having taken all the steps in your suggestion, I heard nothing from anybody. It was only after posting the same info. in a thread on here (which helped another user sort his problem BTW)  which got censored (hidden is not the right word), I had an abrasive email from Norman where he stated that he couldn't even find any support ticket from me. I sent him the link to it. To date, I have had no reply.

After all that, I hope that you can understand why I  feel the way I do about my 'support' experience with FSL.

I am fully aware of the challenges a company like yours faces on a daily basis having had a 30+ year career in IT provision and customer support, but you cannot ignore customers problems as FSL seem to have mine.

Providing support is often a thankless endeavour so once again, thank you for your reply. I hope that what I have discovered will help somebody.