Running 2 computers for FSX

[paul123 5]

Call me a bit slow but only discovered today that you can use 2 computers for FSX.......... I have an oldish core 2 duo 2.3Ghz with a nvidia 7950 GT card which I do not use anymore. Is this worth investigating ? Sorry but I do not know where to start, can anyone enlighten me what the advantages are ? I have FSX Gold.

Thanks Paul

[RWFeldman 159]

LOL. You can run 3 or 4 or 5. I use to run three before the advent of multiple display video cards. Required, for a start, FSUIPC Registered, WideFS, Network capabilities etc. FSX you need simconnect. My FSX computer only runs FSX and all other apps are on the networked computers. If you do a Google search on the subject you will find detailed instructions. It would take two pages for details, though its not complicated if you understand networking. The advantages are obvious. The less a CPU, Mem,HDD etc has to do for other processes, the more it can do for FSX

 

That computer would work fine for displaying maps, Web browser, ASE, FScommander etc. I use to get my network computers at garage sales.

[paul123 5]

OK thanks Rendi, so if I run REX through the second computer do you know approximately what FPS I could gain ???

[RWFeldman 159]

There is no tru way of judging that. I mean, Im not going to go back and install all the addons I have running at the same time on the network computer on the sim computer then do Benchmark testing. Brings up a point, all BM testing is done in a very sterile environment. Start and run all theses programs in the background then test. Reliability is what I find the greatest improvement. By that I'm referring to Hangs, OOM's etc. It doesn't fix a crap computer but helps guite a bit.

 

Mind you, REXE's weather engine, in its current state, takes a fairly hefty computer just to run it. I use AS2012 weather engine networked now which is far less resource hungry.

[ideoplastic 86]

Assuming both your computers running on Win7 OS. You need to do some prep work to get it all working.

 

Have identical account names and passwords on both computers, with full admin rights.

Go to Control Panel\System and Security\System\Change settings\Computer Name\Change - Give a unique name to

each PC but ensuring your Workgroup name is the same on both, example FSNET. Do this on both Computers. You will need to reboot.

 

Go to Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network Connections\Local Area Connection(whichever is active), then right click and select Properties, highlight with mouse Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4 and then select Properties tab in the window.

 

Bullet in Use the following IP address:

IP address: can be any in the range of 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.255

Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway: this is your router address, often 192.168.0.1 - login to your router and check it out.

 

Bullet in Use the following DNS server addresses:

Enter the IP addresses of the Preferred and Alternate DNS servers. You'll need to ask your ISP or check

for the info at their website, most of them make this info available in the support pages.

 

Do the above in both Computers.

 

As an example, my computers have the following unique IP addresses - 192.168.0.10 & 192.168.0.20

Same subnet mask as above and same gateway IP address (your router's IP address).

 

Now you need to share some folders and assign appropriate permissions.

 

Open Windows Explorer

Right click on your C:\ drive and select Properties then Sharing tab then click on Advanced Sharing.

Place tick in Share this folder - click on Permissions, click on Add then in the window that opens

type the common username you have for both computers, then close and you will see this username

appearing in the Group or user names, and below under Permissions for (your username) make sure

you tick all the boxes. Carry out this process for all disk drives you wish to share in your computers, as well

as for any folders you need to share. Reboot.

 

You have now created a simple network, have assigned a unique IP address for each PC and

created shares in various drives and folders. Now the last step is for you to be able to access

those shared drives and folders.

 

Go to Windows explorer\Tools\Map Network Drive, in the new window select browse and the unique names of

your PCs should appear under Network clicking on any of the PC names will show you the contents of all the drives

you have shared and you can select one and assign a Network letter to it. Thereafter every time both PCs are on,

you will have access to your disks.

 

Now you can install on your client PC any software such as Weather Programs, etc. Be aware that some older

programs such as TOPCAT still require WideFS to connect to FSX remotely.

 

Hope this is of help. If you have any other questions, let me know and I'll do my best to help you.

 

Regards

[paul123 5]

Thanks for the replies, what programmes apart from weather do you guys use your second computer for ?

[rjmcgill 15]

I did all of the above, oh how I wish this was out when I started. That is one of the best to the point guides I have read yet! You should probably put that in a word or PDF and distribute it through the commuinity. I run an addon called flight commander from which I have a moving map, flight planner, black box, and numorous other things running in the background. It helps to be able to look at the approach plates on airnav, pull up flight plans on flightaware, plan the real flight on the same route and see how it goes. I also FSPassenger which adds a perk to flying and trying to adhere to proper procedures. In real life I fly a Citation 750 for my fathers company. I love the airplane but it is a handful to fly. I generally use an ipad for approaches and the such. And yes I still have the jepps behind my seat. Happy flying, this is the reason we have new pilots coming into the industry. I read a ton of forums and always see real pilots dogging simmers. I love all people who have a gerneral have an interest in the field. Happy flying to all, embrace a new guy or gal, they will help us to grow. Cpt. Out.

[ideoplastic 86]

I also use the remote PC for charts, injecting ASE weather, transferring REX textures to FSX, Topcat FSBuild, Vroute, and all the Vatsim Pilot software. FSX runs beautifully. Another advantage is the ability to use Input Director and control both with a single mouse and keyboard.

 

Thanks for your comments RJ, much appreciated.

 

Regards

[RWFeldman 159]

Thanks for the replies, what programmes apart from weather do you guys use your second computer for ?

FSCommander, VA Acars systems,Squawkbox 4, AI Smooth, Air Hauler, Google Earth, V Routes, FS Host Client .Web Browsers etc.

[ZKOKQ 986]

EFB, FS RealTime, Show Text, AES Remote, AS2012, FS Commander,Radar Contact, Pro Flight Emulator Deluxe,FS Flight Keeper, AI Smooth, TopCat.

[RCITGuy 35]

Hi Guys

 

Sorry to butt in here, just a quick one to ask, would a laptop, Dual core 3GHz with 4GB mem and SSD drive be suitable to run something like AS2012, FS Commander (and VATsim eventually) at the same time or would those 3 kill the laptop? Hoping I don't need another water cooled, over-clocked mega rig to run stuff like that...

 

Would this all be best done with SimConnect or would WideFS7 do it better?

 

I would also like to run FSFSPro remotely from my laptop too if that possible..

[dolph98 25]

RCITguy, I have a lesser laptop than you stated (Dell Inspiron 1525) to run REX Ess+OD (Sometimes I run ASE instead), Plan-G and surf while flying. It works flawlessly. My main PC runs only FSX and RC4, or PFE depending on whatever I'm flying. I have a wired network connection but it works equally well over wireless. I do not let REX update any graphics over the LAN but it will work, just takes longer. No, I run REX on the main PC only when I want to tweak the scenery. I have SimConnect for the progs that need it, and WideFS for the rest. I don't remember it being as complex as ideoplastic suggested, but I did have to map my FSX and settings folders. Rather than an IP address I use the computer names because my IP addresses are not fixed addresses.

[Gaiiden 98]

Any tips on multiple network connections? Meaning both my network and main PC (both running W7) have wireless connection to my router to get out to the internet but I have a gigabit switch to connect the two directly. How to make sure the gigabit switch is used for non-internet access to make data transfer as quick as possible?

 

I've been meaning to set up a proper network between the two for FSX for months but never gotten around to it still...

[IAF747 8]

Does it improve performance? Like FPS?

[Glynn 405]

Does it improve performance? Like FPS?

 

Hello

Yes it does help lessen the load on the main FSX PC, and Radar Contact seems to run much smoother over a network, FSCommander is also benefits

But apart from the FPS increase there is also the convenience of having a second machine running your moving map and hosting your charts ect.