FlexSim opens with empty Start Page

[harald_e]

[ FlexSim 19.0.4 ]

On my new computer I've installed both 64 bits and 32 bits versions of FlexSim. The 64 bits versions are working properly, but the 32 bits versions are not working at all. The Start Page is completely empty, and a lot of options will cause FlexSim to hang (e.g. opening Experimenter, Tree or Tools). Below is a screenshot of FlexSim 19.0.4 after opening.

Before installing FlexSim I installed Visual Studio 2019, so the C++ Redistributables are be installed (2013 and 2015-2019, both 32 and 64 bits).

CPU Intel i7-9750H, GPU NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060, OS Windows 10 Pro (1903)

[harald_e]

Can somebody look at this?

[Ben_WilsonADSK]

Hi @Harald Emsbroek,

The software actively discourages you from having both the 32- and 64-bit versions of the same software installed at the same time.

I currently have the 64-bit version of 19.0.4 installed. When attempting to install the 32-bit version using the Advanced options of the regular .exe installer, I only get this option to uninstall:

If I attempt installing the 32-bit using the .msi file instead, Windows shows me this error and I'm not allowed to proceed:

How are you installing both 32- and 64-bit FlexSim?

And out of curiosity, if the 64-bit is working properly, why also install the 32-bit, given that 32-bit applications are limited severely in comparison to 64-bit when it comes to maximum memory usage?

[harald_e]

Hi @Ben Wilson,

We use a variety of FlexSim version, from FlexSim 6 to FlexSim 2019. If there are both 32 bits and 64 bits versions available, we use both of them, because not all our customers use the 64 bits version. We also need to be able to debug both 32 bits and 64 bits versions of our FloWorks module. And I think debugging modules is easier in 32 bits, when attaching it to Visual Studio.

I normally install a FlexSim version, zip the folder (our "clean copy"), and immediately uninstall this FlexSim version. Whenever I need a specific version for a project, I copy a clean copy to the project folder, and start working from there. This way I can easily go back to a working FlexSim version, if I mess up the original FlexSim files.

On my old computer I stopped installing after 19.0.2 (32+64 bits) and 19.1 (beta, 64 bits only), and I had no problems with any of the versions. On my new computer I installed 18.0.10, 18.1.2, 18.2.3, 19.0.4 and 19.1.1. The 64 bits versions are working fine, but the 32 bits version all start with an empty start page (and broken functionality, like the Experimenter, etc.). There were no (error) messages during any installation, but when uninstalling any of the FlexSim versions, the following message appears:

I used the .msi files for 19.x, as there is no installer available for 32 bits. I don't remember in which specific version I activated my license.

Did something change in the latest FlexSim releases, causing any 32 bits version to fail?

[Ben_WilsonADSK · Accepted solution]

Hi @Harald Emsbroek,

The experimenter and start page both rely on FlexSim's built in Webkit renderer, as does the User Manual. I suspect if you opened the User Manual you would find that it also does not work correctly.

My best guess is that you are still missing some component required by the Webkit DLLs.

You can download the latest Visual C++ redistributables, for both 32- and 64-bit, directly from Microsoft, here:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2977003/the-latest-supported-visual-c-downloads

Since your 64-bit FlexSim installations seem to work correctly, I'd first try downloading the vc_redist.x86.exe for VS 2015, 2017, 2019. Perhaps when you installed the redistributables earlier there was some issue. Hopefully a reinstall directly of the redistributable, rather than Visual Studio itself, will do something to bring 32-bit into line.

Let us know if a reinstall of the Visual C++ components made any change.

[Ben_WilsonADSK]

Hi @Harald Emsbroek,

Do you get that error message when attempting uninstall of either 32- or 64-bit? Or just 32?

After reboot is the software successfully uninstalled?

[harald_e]

Hi @Ben Wilson,

Unfortunately, no success...

I've downloaded to 32 bits version, and first tried the "repair" option. Then I rebooted the system, and reinstalled FlexSim 18.0.10, but still no start page.

I uninstalled FlexSim, rebooted the system, uninstalled the redistributables, rebooted the system again, and tried installing the redistributables agian. An other reboot, and then installed 18.0.10 again, but still no start page.

(the redistributables are version 14.21.27702, for both 32 bits and 64 bits)

[Ben_WilsonADSK]

@Harald Emsbroek,

Can you confirm that User Manual is also broken in 32-bit?

Are there any error messages in the System Console? Usually it should open automatically on exceptions, but you may try opening it manually. Probably also worth checking Output and Compiler consoles as well. With all 3 consoles open, try opening a new Start Page window (or Experimenter, or User Manual).

Are any error messages printed?

[harald_e]

@Ben Wilson,

From the start page I cannot open any docking window (FlexSim will hang then). I first have to open the default workspace, and then I can open the consoles. When I try to open the manual (or the experimenter) FlexSim hangs, without any messages.

I can create a simple source-queue-server-sink model and run it. Processflow seems to work. Dashboards are also broken. No error messages or exceptions, FlexSim simply isn't responding after opening manual/experimenter/dashboard, and can only be closed using the task manager.

[Ben_WilsonADSK]

@Harald Emsbroek,

"as there is no installer available for 32 bits"

FYI, the .exe installer DOES include an option to install the 32-bit version, behind the "Advanced" button:

[philboboADSK]

Try right-clicking the FlexSim shortcut and selecting Run As Administrator.

[harald_e]

@phil.bobo, Run as Administrator didn't help.

[philboboADSK]

Are all the Webkit DLLs in the correct location in FlexSim\program\Webkit?

Maybe you have anti-virus software that is preventing the 32-bit Webkit DLLs from being loaded?

[philboboADSK]

Do you have any Unicode characters in your Windows Account User Name?

I seem to recall having issues with Webkit on a Polish computer with Polish characters in the Windows Username. This was causing the AppData path to have Unicode characters and that was screwing up Webkit.

[harald_e]

@phil.bobo,

The WebKit folder is identical to the folder on my old computer.

At this moment I'm still using the Windows Defender anti-virus.

My user account is in a domain, but only ASCII characters, %APPDATA% points to "C:\Users\Harald\AppData\Roaming".

[Ben_WilsonADSK]

@Harald Emsbroek,

Have you tried temporarily disabling Windows Defender to see if it is erroneously blocking the WebKit DLLs?

I'm guessing this will not be the issue since we've not heard reports from any other users, but we need to rule it out as we are running out of things to try.

@phil.bobo, any other ideas?

[philboboADSK]

I don't have any other ideas. I would debug it by trying to figure out what is different between that computer and other computers where Webkit is working properly.

[Ben_WilsonADSK]

Hi @Harald Emsbroek,

We're looking to close out some old cases that are still open and I saw this one.

Did you ever reach a satisfactory conclusion? If so, how did you solve the problem? We'd love to hear about anything you may have discovered.