Hi,I am trying to learn MSFS and I have a pilot nephew who is willing to teach me. Yesterday, we tried multiplayer setup and basically it is useless for teaching (as it puts the other player in a different aircraft) as well as the default instructor tool packed with FS9.We concluded, only effective way for him to teach flying is being in the cockpit together and being able to watch the panel and see what i am doing. Is there a way to connect and synchronize two instances of MSFS over internet? I don't think FSUIPC/WideFS does this. I am hoping one of you have come across this problem before and a solution to recoommend. thanks in advance//sri777

Not yet, there isn't, but it's in development.Mark "Dark Moment" Beaumonthttp://www.swiremariners.com/newlogo.jpg

Hi,You should be able to host the multiplayer session allowing an observer. Once your nephew joins he should use ctrl-shift-t to select your aircraft, then ctrl-shift-o will place him inside your aircraft so he can observe what you are doing. Note: You will have to lower the player settings in the host window to allow you to add the observer. Hope this helps.Eddie

Eddie,That is great. Will try and report back. thanks

>Not yet, there isn't, but it's in development.>>Mark "Dark Moment" BeaumontMark,can you post more details please. Are you developing this or you mean microsoft is?-sri

>Hi,>You should be able to host the multiplayer session allowing an>observer. Once your nephew joins he should use ctrl-shift-t>to select your aircraft, then ctrl-shift-o will place him>inside your aircraft so he can observe what you are doing. I just tried it over my local network on two different computers and unfortunately not able to make it work. >Note: You will have to lower the player settings in the host>window to allow you to add the observer. Hope this helps.What do you mean by this. Where and should i do this? Basically after clicking the 'Join' button from instructor's computer, what should be done? If i just press ctrl+shft+t and ctrl-shift-o, nothing is happening. Here are the details of what i have done:On student computer:1) selected all options on multiplayer setting dialog2) created a multiplayer session3) created a flight and sat on the runway.From the instructor's computer:1) Click on OpenMultiplayer Session and selected 'student's' session and clicked 'Join' button.you wrote, press ctrl+shft+t to select the aircraft. If i click this combination now immediately after the above step #1 here, nothing happening, instead i am hearing a warning beep.So, i went ahead and selected a flight and parked myself also on the same runway (synchronized time and location). 2) If i click Ctrl+shft+t now, then suddenly student's flight name appeared on the top right of the screen. 3) Then i pressed ctrl+shft+o (nothing basically happened on the instructor's computer and that may be ok)4) At this point, I switched to student' computer and from the student's multiplayer host options, i was able to verify that the instructor has joined as 'observer' (I found instructor name with (o) next to it in the players list) 5) I took off as studentBut nothing is happening on the instructor's computer except that he can see student's flight taking off on the run way into the sky. In otherwords, making the instrcutor an observer is not putting him into student's cockpit. The panel i am looking at on the instrcutor's screen is still from his own plane and not of student's. I really need this to get going. I would greatly appreciate any help. thanks.

Both computers should be in multiplayer. One should be hosting, and this is the one that should be set to allow observers. If there is going to be just the two computers, set the host multiplayer for Max. Pilots = 2, and Max. Observers = 1. Then click on ok and allow the second computer to connect to the session through multiplayer. Once the observer is ready to join the cockpit of the student, he will hit the ctrl-shift-t keys simultaneously until he sees the students name in the upper right corner of the screen. Once he sees the students name, he will hit the ctrl-shift-o keys and it will place him in the observer mode inside the students cockpit. The instructor panel is not used to do any of this, it is all done through multiplayer. You may have to use the S key and cycle throught the views. It has been a while since I used observer mode but I think switching the views will get you in the cockpit. Hope this helps.Eddie

Eddie, sorry for the confusion with 'instructor' name. I just used it to indicate one computer is 'student's' and another one is 'instructor's. Nothing to do with MSFS instructor application.I used both computers in multiplayer mode only. The question i was wondering is - when first computer hosts the multiplayer session, on second computer you first connect to the session. Then immediately what to do on the second computer? Hit ctrl+shft+t or select a plane first and hit the keys? If you hit the keys first nothing happening except for the warning beep. If i select some plane and hit the keys, then yes the first computer player's name is appearing at the top right. Then if i hit ctrl+shft+o, nothing is happening on the second computer. I haven't tried switching view though....i will try that too...>Both computers should be in multiplayer. One should be>hosting, and this is the one that should be set to allow>observers. If there is going to be just the two computers,>set the host multiplayer for Max. Pilots = 2, and Max.>Observers = 1. Then click on ok and allow the second computer>to connect to the session through multiplayer. Once the>observer is ready to join the cockpit of the student, he will>hit the ctrl-shift-t keys simultaneously until he sees the>students name in the upper right corner of the screen. Once>he sees the students name, he will hit the ctrl-shift-o keys>and it will place him in the observer mode inside the students>cockpit. The instructor panel is not used to do any of this,>it is all done through multiplayer. You may have to use the S>key and cycle throught the views. It has been a while since I>used observer mode but I think switching the views will get>you in the cockpit. Hope this helps.>>Eddie

<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>Certainly helps me, Eddie, thanks. I had no idea you could do that, but then I don't read the instruction book until all else fails. I learn something new every day.Original poster: no, it's not me developing the "shared" cockpit, but there's a company out there doing just that. Not Microsoft - yet.Mark "Dark Moment" Beaumonthttp://www.swiremariners.com/newlogo.jpg

I can get the computer that is hosting the multiplayer session to have the Student Pilot name is the right hand corner but I can never get into the Student Pilot's cockpit by pressing the CTRL-Shift-o (assuming oh and not zero).My question is does each multiplayer load an aircraft after the session begins?W. Sieffert

After doing some more testing between my computer and another computer in the home, I have concluded that Microsoft screwed up the Observer mode in FS2004. I don't know why they would include observer mode in multiplayer if it doesn't even work. In FS2002, observer mode worked as I described in the previous reply. FS2004 keeps saying the observers are maxed, when there is no one in observer mode at all. Sorry to get your hopes up, but I was under the assumption that Observer mode would work in FS2004 as it has always worked in the previous versions. If you get it to work, please let me know because I would to know what you did to get it working.Eddie

Eddie,Do CTRL-Shift-D (track mode ON/OFF) have to be set?W. Sieffert

This was possible in FS98 ctrl+shift+O now there's a surprise.You could do it with any aircraft the controls were not always exact .This may have effected the other players frame rate but I never expewrienced any proiblems.I used to bug the ATC in VATSIM (RATSIM) with it hehe. The feature could be still implemented I am sure.Regards,Atkin

See my link in an adjacent thread for more info but otherwise check out FSNet at gates.to. It was reviewed in last month's PC Pilot and sounds promising. There is a free beta availableDavid

Surprise!!! This worked in FS98 and on networks in all A/C shift-ctrl-O Why the feature was dicontinued is a mystery.Perhaps a rush to release FS9 RegardsAtkin