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macwino

Unable to get ActiveSky to work with FlightMax remote

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Hi, I need help. It's wonderfully stormy here in Northern California today and I wanted to test out using ActiveSky with FS FlightMax. It works fine on my main machine. I get excellent radar returns. However, on my remote machine, I get nothing at all and I've tried for hours to figure out what is not right and have had no luck.I believe the setup is correct. First, I do get radar returns on the remote machine when using FS generated weather. For example, the Guam demo that comes with FlightMax works just fine on the remote machine. It is only when I try and use ActiveSky weather that I encounter the problem.I've carefully followed the instructions for setting up ActiveSky interaction, and, as I said above, it works on my main machine. After first encountering the problem, I checked my remote FlightMax .ini file and noticed that after use of FlightMax's File Copy Utility, the FlightMax .ini file on the remote machine had the ActiveSkyDirectory setting pointing to the C drive on my main machine instead of to how this "C" drive is mapped on my remote machine. So I manually changed this entry from "C:Program FilesActiveSky wxRE" to "Z:Program FilesActiveSky wxRE." But this made no difference. Activesky still didn't transmit its data to the remote machine.I then noticed that the list of files in the directory that appears when you select ActiveSky Manage from the FlightMax device's menu system is different on the main machine than on the remote machine. On the main machine I have about 5 .met files listed in addition to the "Use None" selection that you are supposed to choose. On the remote machine, I only have the "Use None" selection. It is not seeing the 5 .met files listed on the main machine. This suggests to me that FlightMax on the remote machine isn't seeing the ActiveSky folder on the main machine and that this may be the problem. However, as I've said above, the ini settings are identical except for the drive designation which is necessarily different because what is the "C" drive on my main machine is mapped as the "Z" drive on my remote machine. Also, all other aspects of FlightMax on the remote machine seem to be working properly, so I would think my directory pointer scheme is correct. For example, FlightMax on the remote follows traffic just fine, my location just fine, etc. It is only the radar returns using ActiveSky weather that seem to be the problem.Does anyone have any thoughts on what I might be doing wrong? I am running ActiveSky 1.7 and FlightMax 1.4. I am running FlightMax Remote 1.0. Thanks.

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Guest Andy_YXU

I just installed it on my computer and it works fine here is what you might need to do:Here is the section in question in FlightMax.ini where you have to write the path to your active sky:So "ASUS-1" is the name of my other computer"e" is the directory (drive) where it is installed on my remote computer and ActiveSky is the name of the directory. So you can't just switch a letter like C: to Z: you actually have to tell in the path to direct to other computer so the equation looks something like that:ActiveSkyDirectory=Name of remote computerdrive letter on remote computerpathso on your computer it might look like thisActiveSkyDirectory=yourremoteputterzProgram FilesActiveSky wxRENote there are no : after drive letter like C: just c[ActiveSky]ActiveSkyActive=1ActiveSkyDirectory=Asus-1eActiveSkyTry it maybe it will helpalso you know it works when in the menu where you have to choose "USE NONE" you also see some other *.met files means it's reading from your remote.PS. Best way to find out the shortcat with the computer name is using your file mgmt on main putter access drive on you remote where active weather is located, make a shortcut to it on your desktop on main putter and look for properties to this shortcar via righclick abd read the path... do not try to run this shortcut it prabobally won't workHope it helps.Andy

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Andy, thanks for your input. It got me thinking and I solved the problem. See my newest posting for how I worked things out.

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After another day of trial and error, I finally got this all to work and I wanted to write and relate how I did it so that it might help someone else who encounters these problems. I can now run FS FlightMax on my remote machine and get ActiveSky radar returns. FS 2002 and ActiveSky are located on my main machine. And I have FlightMax on my main machine and the remote version installed on the remote machine.First, let me tell you my mistake, which was a serious one. I had failed to set up the ActiveSky folder on my main machine for sharing. Consequently, there was no way the remote machine could access the online or offline weather stored in that folder. Once I enabled file sharing for the ActiveSky folder, the radar returns finally appeared on the remote machine. I guess what fooled me was that I never had to activate file sharing for any of the other FS 2002 folders, and I'd never seen anything that indicated that this needed to be done. But it solved the problem for me.Second, let me tell you about my FlightMax ini settings, because I was very confused here and maybe I can help someone else out so they can avoid this confusion.I found that I had to map the drive on my main machine, where FS 2002 and all its ancillary applications reside, to a drive letter on my remote machine. The remote manual suggests that you do not necessarily have to do this, and presents an alternative, but I found I needed to do it in order to see my FS 2002 directory from the remote machine in the File Copy Utility. I mapped it as Drive Z.Next, I found that either of the following ini settings will work if placed in the Flightmax ini on the remote machine.ActiveSkyDirectory=Z:Program FilesActiveSky wxREActiveSkyActive=1orActiveSkyDirectory=DELL2GHZPC_C_DriveProgram FilesActiveSky wxREActiveSkyActive=1Your path will of course be different, but the path is the one to your ActiveSky directory and you can use either the drive mapping convention or the machine naming convention.All the other settings you need for remote operation are set forth in the pdf file accompanying the program that specifically deals with ActiveSky and FlightMax integration, albeit on a single machine.Finally, a word if you are running Windows 98SE on your remote machine, as I am. When you set up your "ActiveSky wxRE" folder for file sharing on a machine running XP, you will get a message indicating that you are limited to a 12 character file sharing name if you will be accessing the folder from a 98SE machine. I named my folder "ActiveSky" for file sharing, therefore, but left the actual name of the folder as is.I bring this up, because the path you set up in your remote FlightMax ini must contain the actual name of the ActiveSky folder, not its file sharing name. If you use just "ActiveSky," you will not get the radar returns.

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Guest Glaudrung

Intresting topic, but I can't get it working.Now, there is a difference because both Flightmax rem. and Active Sky reside on the remote PC while Fs2K2 is installed on the main PC.When turning on flightmax, I can see all the exported METfiles in the program but in the datablocks, there is no indication of any wind, temperature or windforce... so I don't think it has anything to do with wrong directories...Any suggestions...

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