[FSX]: SimConnect across machines

[Keith Smith]

For those who are attempting to run the FSX client on a separate machine, here's a ZIP file with some instructions on how to do it. This was originally hosted on AVSIM and written by a 3rd party.

We will eventually provide our own documentation for this process.

The pilot client actually takes very little CPU. I would submit that there is very little to be gained by running the PE client on another machine, particularly if your FSX machine has multiple cores available.

Note: I've tested this out. There is no need to enable file sharing to give the standalone machine direct access to the FSX machine's filesystem. Simply follow the portion of the instructions that install the SimConnect.ini, and SimConnect.xml files on the FSX machine, and the SimConnect.cfg file on the standalone machine. Run the updated SimConnect installer (see two posts down) on the standalone machine, and then you're off to the races.

[Keith Smith]

It sounds like the steps are:
1) configure the SimConnect pieces on the FSX machine to act as a server
2) configure the SimConnect client on the SB machine to know where the FSX server is
3) install SB4 on the FSX server (selecting the 'this is the computer running FSX' option)
4) install SB4 on the SB machine (selecting the 'this is the SB machine' option)

I believe the steps to install PE would be to replace the DLL's (sbaicontrol, sbtrans) on the FSX machine with the PE versions, and then follow the standard PE steps on the SB machine (although the sbaicontrol and sbtrans dll steps aren't technically necessary on the SB-only machine, since those only come into play when FSX is running).

The vast majority of the work here is getting SimConnect configured on both machines. The PE-specific portion should be fairly trivial. At the end of the day, the PE FSX client is just a SimConnect client.

[Keith Smith]

The original SB4 was linked against an older version of SimConnect. PE's client is linked against the latest build of SimConnect. I've attached the latest SimConnect installer. If you're running this on a machine that doesn't have FSX SP2 installed, then you'll need to run this installer to get the latest SimConnect version on your standalone machine.

Without this, you'll find that the PE client won't start (linker error), since it won't be able to find the right version of the SimConnect library.

This will all be addressed when we ship with our own installer. It's a little rough right now, I know.

You can grab the latest SimConnect installer HERE

[BonanzaDude]

I am getting there. Found out one problem was the Port that was being used for SimConnect. For whatever reason it was set to 500 on the flight sim computer and it was changed on the remote computer to match the flight sim box. Now I get a "An error occurred connecting to the Air Traffic Control Server. Connection timed out" error.

John

[Keith Smith]

Good to hear, John. I'm new to this, but in the sample docs I read, it sounds like ActiveSky uses port 500 to talk to FSX via SimConnect, so your sim might have been set up for that, and that alone. In the sample docs included the in zip above, they have port 500 configured and one additional. My guess is that we're using the additional port.

On to your current issue, then. One of 4 things is occurring:
1) your machine is attempting to connect to the right server and port, but is blocked by a firewall or anti-virus tool
2) your machine is attempting to connect to the right server and port, but you aren't using valid credentials. Verify you're using the passwd 'beta' as shown on the CONNECT page?
3) your machine is attempting to connect to the right server but is using the wrong port/protocol because you're running the stock SB4 exe, not the PE version
4) your machine is attempting to connect to the wrong server (either one of the VATSIM servers, or the PilotEdge Dev server (localhost)).

Any idea which of those might be likely?

Keith

[BonanzaDude]

3) your machine is attempting to connect to the right server but is using the wrong port/protocol because you're running the stock SB4 exe, not the PE version

BINGO

I think I am connected.

I just have to take some time to figure out SquawkBox.

John

[MMoore0324]

Hi guys,

I just registered this afternoon and as a real world pilot, I think this is a brilliant idea. Thank you Keith for taking this on. This is just the sort of software that I've been wanting for years.

I have been working for the past 30 min or so to get the PE client installed on a networked connection. I use several other applications via the network with FSX so I'm pretty familiar with the various protocols and such. When I try to run the SB4_PE client everything starts up fine. When I try to connect to the server though, I'm getting an error window which says "An error has occurred, click OK to abort squawkbox. (11)" Any ideas? I am sure it's not my simconnect config because I can run my ASE, FSE, AND regular SB4 clients just fine from my networked machine. It's only the PE_Client that is giving me a hard time.

Another question I have is, if I can't get this particular client working on my network for now, and I decide to just run it on my FSX machine; does the PE_client require any user input? Meaning, since I fly in full screen, can I just have the client running in the background and not need to switch to windowed view for anything?

Thanks for the help guys! I'm really excited to get flying on this network!

Matt

[Keith Smith]

Hi Matt,

We're happy to have you here. Having the SB_PE client crash after connecting is a new one, I don't think I've heard of that happening before.

Can you verify that you have the ts3win32_client.dll and fmodex.dll files in the Squawkbox directory? If they weren't there, I'd expect the app to not start at all, but I figured I'd check.

Have you installed this on both computers, btw? The other modules that get installed (transponder and one or two others) do need to be installed on the master machine if memory serves. Separate to that, you can then install and run the SB_PE client on a separate machine and have it talk via SimConnect (as you are doing).

No keyboard inputs are required once you're connected to the network, however, there is a known issue on some machines where if FSX is running as Administrator, the PTT key won't work in SB_PE unless SB_PE is the focused application. If you're running full screen, that won't be able to happen, so if you can, make sure you're not running FSX as Administrator.

[MMoore0324]

Hi Matt,

We're happy to have you here. Having the SB_PE client crash after connecting is a new one, I don't think I've heard of that happening before.

Can you verify that you have the ts3win32_client.dll and fmodex.dll files in the Squawkbox directory? If they weren't there, I'd expect the app to not start at all, but I figured I'd check.

Have you installed this on both computers, btw? The other modules that get installed (transponder and one or two others) do need to be installed on the master machine if memory serves. Separate to that, you can then install and run the SB_PE client on a separate machine and have it talk via SimConnect (as you are doing).

No keyboard inputs are required once you're connected to the network, however, there is a known issue on some machines where if FSX is running as Administrator, the PTT key won't work in SB_PE unless SB_PE is the focused application. If you're running full screen, that won't be able to happen, so if you can, make sure you're not running FSX as Administrator.

Thanks Keith for your response. Yes, both of those DLL's that you referenced are both in the SB directory. I have also installed the other two modules into the FS machines SB directory. Tomorrow I'll try to just run everything right on my FSX PC and see how that goes.

Just a quick off topic question... I apologize if this has been covered in the forums or on the website somewhere. Do you have any plans to expand the coverage to outside of ZLA?

Thanks!
Matt

[Keith Smith]

ZOA will be covered (in fact, we cover it during the Sunday night betas). Beyond that, check out the 'Where' page on the site for more info.

Just out of interest, when you have a chance, please try connecting with an invalid password, ie, set it to 'test'.

Additionally, try a test where your aircraft is parked in PANC (Anchorage, Alaska) and then connect to the network. Let me know if it's able to connect and remains stable, or if it crashes there, too.

I'm trying to pinpoint what is causing it to fail for you.