Last night my cousin and I tried to host our own session and it took multiple attempts to connect to each other. I would host a session for just two people (I'm teaching him how to fly)and in the Connection level would always be in the red (-1). Why? I have a cable modem, shouldn't that be sufficient to host a session. My cousin has a cable connection as well. Our firewall's are all turned off. It was never this difficult in previous versions of FS.Once we get into the session why is it that you cannot change you aircraft without leaving the session? Why can't you access the map while in the session? Why are most of the menu options disabled while flying in the session? It was never this way in previous versions of FS. SP1 did not seem to address or fix anything in the multiplayer system of FSX.We both have FSX Deluxe with SP1 installed.Any help would be most helpful.Thanks,Brandon

Hi Brandon. You can actually access the menus in the game, but to do so the host has to enable "allow players to pause". Not exactly intuitive as a setting I know. It's in the advanced options, there's a button at the bottom in the last screen before the host starts the session. I usually leave everything enabled except slew mode and I advise you to do the same. Let players change their realism settings etc. Players can also change aircraft without leaving the session, they just have to select "end flight" and they'll be returned to the session lobby where they can choose a new plane and starting point. The host however cannot change aircraft. To do so he has to drop the session and restart it.-1 ping doesn't mean you have a bad connection it just means you're behind a router. Gamespy can't ascertain pings for hosts with routers. Silly I know. -1 ping servers end up taking longer to show in the list though in my experience they are no more or less stable than those who have routerless connections.As for the connection problems you're having, I'm not sure. Try hosting the session in a different lobby from free flight, use the fly-ins lobby or somesuch. Failing that maybe try to have your friend use the direct ip connect function, you might have better results. Also do a search for the ports that FSX wants to use, you might want to make firewall exceptions for them.Best of luck.

Hi Haldir,Thanks very much for all of the info you provided. It is very much appreciated.I do have a question though. You said that the -1 ping means that I am behind a router. I am not using a router though, my computer is plugged into the cable modem and the cable modem is plugged directly into the wall. So why would I still get a -1 ping?Thanks,Brandon

Hey Brandon. I'm not sure then on that one sorry, I'm afraid I'm no net guru. Perhaps your cable provider runs things differently from mine, you and others in your neighbourhood may all be connected to some sort of router like device? I really can't say. Perhaps someone with more intimate knowledge on this can help you. Either way, -1 ping isn't a showstopper, just means its a little harder for others to locate your game.Good luck.

Hi Haldir:Thanks for the response. I was able to host 2 games last night with no problems. I figured out that it was my cousins Symantec (tons of it) stuff that was making his connection to my game impossible. When he shuts it off he connects perfectly to my game.Do you happen to know Microsoft's reasoning for not allowing the host to not be able to change aircraft? In previous versions of MSFS the host could change the aircraft while in the session.Thanks,Brandon

I have no idea mate. Actually there are about 100 different choices that were made about fsx multiplayer that just boggle my mind. The inability to stop weather data from being transfered from the server to the clients for starters. Makes it impossible to join if the host is running activesky. You need only read the "suckitude" thread in this forum to catch up on all those. ;)However they also did a TON of things right with multiplayer this time around, and I expect things will improve in that regard with the expansion pack in the fall.As I've mentioned in other posts I never fly solo anymore, I just can't be bothered. FSX multiplayer on the whole is just too much fun.Glad to hear your connection issues are solved. Yes anything made by symantec or mcaffee spells trouble for fsx, so best to avoid them. AVG is much less intrusive and doesn't impede the TCP traffic FSX requires to run, even offline. ;)Cheers.

Thanks for the reply!All the best,Brandon