FSX Simconnect Help

[Les Parson]

I haven't had to go thru the Simconnect experience for about three years. Unfortunately, I experienced a serious Win 7/64 and FSX crash that forced a reinstall of the latter. I operate FS Economy client and ASN on separate PC's across a network. I've spent the last several hours trying to get Simconnect working with no luck. I ran SP1A SDK followed by the SP2. I then did a repair on SDK SP2. This is with the CD Gold Edition. I have Simconnect.cfg, .ini. dll.xml  and exe.xml in 'My Documents' and 'AppData' - Microsoft/FSX.

 

Can someone help with a step 1,2,3 guide ? Also a dll.xml and exe.xml. sample (s) would be very helpful.

 

It seems most of the YouTube videos are geared towards FSX Steam.

 

Any assistance will be very much appreciated.

 

Les Parson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ZG862]

Hi Les,

 

The best SDK installation guide I have come across is the one on FSDeveloper.com - which I'm having problems posting a link to but you'll find at www.fsdeveloper.com/wiki/index.php?title=SDK_Installation_(FSX). There is a corresponding troubleshooting page. This will get the correct version of SimConnect.DLL to work with the version of the SDK you are using to develop applications/add-ins installed on your system.

 

HOWEVER

 

If you are just trying to configure an SimConnect client connectionto work with a specific 3rd party add in, it is my understanding that you don't need the SDK installed to do this, but you do need your add in to refer correctly to the version of SimConnect it requires. Since FSX allows side by side installation of multiple versions of SimConnect it is up to the Add-In provider to point their application to the library they wish to use.

It is reasonably straightforward to check what is happening when your application makes a connection via SimConnect if you edit the Server's SimConnect.ini file (off the top of my head it is in the \Documents\FSX files folder for the user context you are loading FSX) and set the Console value to "Yes" (without quotes). This causes an addition window to open when FSX loads which writes out all the attempted connections and any Exceptions that may follow.

 

If you can post back the results you get from this, I *may* be able to shed some light on what is going wrong.

 

Cheers,

 

Z

[Les Parson]

Thanks very much. I am trying to setup Simconnect (again) across a network with two client PC's (one for ASN, the other for FSE client). I made a little progress in the last several hours but still not able to connect across the network, however the AI Traffic test is successful. With FSE (FS Economy) the error I'm receiving is:

"Exception Number 5; packetid: 1; index 4."

 

I don't know what that means but hopefully the link you have provided will help.

 

 

Thanks again / Les Parson

[ZG862]

Hi Les.

 

Exception 5 is described as a Version mismatch error.

I *think*:

The version on the Server is described in the SimConnect.xml file

The version on the Client is described in the SimConnect.cfg file

 

I'm reasonably sure that multiple versions can co-exist but obviously both must be installed (in the \Windows\Winsxs\ folder) and the client must reference the correct server version described in its config file.

 

Hope that helps a little.

 

Z

[Les Parson]

I have not heard any reference to \Windows\Winsxs\ but I will take a look. The client simconnect.cfg's look like this with no mention of version number:

 

[simConnect]
Protocol=IPv4
Address=192.168.1.4
Port=500
MaxReceiveSize=4096
DisableNagle=0
 

[ZG862]

Les, I need to go back through my notes to check the point at which the SimConnect.dll gets placed in \Windows\Winsxs folder and thus how it is referenced which I'm not going to be able to do until tomorrow pm at latest. In the mean time, could you provide any of the lines ahead of where your exception occurs?

There should be a line which shows which client is connecting to SimConnect (there's a name parameter and an ID) and then subsequently what functions are being called by which connection.

 

For my code, I have a maximum of 64 connections. SimConnect counts down from 64, so the local machine takes connection 64 then my code has 63. All function calls made by my code show in the debug window preceded by the 63 reference along with a reference to the function I called. Thus, when a function fails (ie generates an Exception), I can trace which call was the cause. Incidentally, the 1st connection causes the server simconnect version to be displayed in the debug window.

 

I'm expecting that some inspection of the debug output will be able to reveal which client is failing & we can take it from there.

 

Sorry I can't be more help with the multiple versions thing. Afraid it's something I've read about & made notes on but not had to implement yet. :Big Grin:

 

Z

[Les Parson]

Thanks for your help. The frustration is growing with every hour and conflicting information. I'm thinking of just deleting everything and starting over or maybe just giving up.

[ZG862]

Nooooo!!!!!!

 

I know it is hugely frustrating but the only way to sort these issues once and for all is by being systematic.

The error you are getting suggests that ONE OF the client applications is not playing nicely with the installed version of SimConnect that FSX is talking to.

 

If we can work out which one it is and at which point the exception occurs then we're actually quite close to fixing the problem.

 

Don't give up!

 

Z

[Les Parson]

Ok, I will keep working on it. Since I experienced a server  Windows 7 and FSX crash before all this started, I'm assuming the issues are there. I've been using HIfi Technologies' 'Network Configuration with SimConnect' as a reference. I don't know what to do next, maybe perform another FSX uninstall/reinstall. 

[ZG862]

One of the things I have encountered that may (or may not) be relevant is to do with installation folders and permissions. An article I once read in PC Pilot said that under no circumstances should one install FSX in the default folder (ie Program Files / \Program Files (x86)) since Windows Vista onwards have a nasty habit of layering User Access Control policies on these folders which cause all sorts of grief.

 

I got the impression that if your FSX box is a stand alone non-web connected set up then this was fine since you could just switch off UAC but opinions differ on the wisdom of this in a normal internet connected setup. Anyway - I took the view that sitting FSX on its own drive in \FSX might be a smart move.

 

This has an impact on the SDK installation however that I only discovered through that FSDeveloper link (it IS mentioned in the MS Documentation). The SDK expects FSX to be installed under Program Files and if not requires you to run configsdk.exe to sort out the references. It is possible that something like this (I.e. permissions or paths) is affecting your setup.

 

I try to be sympathetic to poor old FSX - which was written before we all became under continual attack from Malware in a climate where software developers generally left it down to the Network Admin to tighten up security. If development had continued, I like to think that FSXVII or whatever we'd be on now would be point and click installation. Considering how kludged together in terms of technology standards a typical setup is, it's not that surprising that it can be horribly painful to "just" get it to work.

 

Nevertheless, keep posting your SimConnect window output. There are many far more knowledgeable than I who will glance at this (eventually) and tell you in a shot what is going on. Without it, it may take much longer, alas.

 

Z

[ZG862]

OK - I found one of the docs and I was sort of right-ish. See here

 

Essentially, what it is saying makes perfect sense when I come to think it through:

Each instance of FSX can have only one copy of the SimConnect Server

However, there can be multiple client dlls such that a client application can communicate with multiple different FSX servers; the side-by-side (winsxs) installation makes this possible.

 

IF a server is reporting a version error, it would seem to me to be logical that the client is using the wrong client DLL to access it. I presume this can happen if the client installation program has installed under a different user than the current one. There's going to be a config file somewhere in the client software with a path to the winsxs folder that it is using.

 

I'd want to confirm this with the SimConnect window before advising what to do next but my money at this stage is on a client reinstall...

 

Z

[Les Parson]

I don't think I'm getting the same error now. I'm running that diagnostic window which is hard to read. I believe there is a log somewhere that I could post. 

 

As far as the clients go, I thought all that was required was a config file in My Documents. I then read it was necessary to run the SDK msi app. I did that, but alas that help me connect. The only progress I've made I know have the Add-Ons tab in the upper window for FSUIPC. I didn't even have that until recently. 

 

Meanwhile, I will look for the SimConnect Log. Do you know where it is? 

 

Thanks for all your help - Les Parson

[Les Parson]

Thanks for the document. Here is a sampling of the latest from the visual log: 

 

"REQUESTSYSTEMSTATE: REQUEST ID4

 

SZSTATE="SIM"

OBJECTDATA: REQUEST ID=9

OBJECTDATA: REQUEST ID=10

OBJECTDATA: REQUEST ID=14

OBJECTDATA: REQUEST ID=24

 

I have no idea what this is.  I would be happy to share all my Simconnect files if you want to PM your email. After two days of working on this, I have no idea what to do next. Again, thanks for all your help / Les Parson

[ZG862]

Output file is not created unless you specify a value for the "file=" heading - e.g. file=c:\simconnect.log. That last link I posted shows how to make it create a new log each time rather than overwriting but you may well only need one.

 

The existence of the Addons section implies that you have successfully installed the SDK of the Acceleration version I think. As far as I know this is the latest available MS version of SimConnect, although I would imagine that there are later Lockheed Martin.

 

Just seen your response so I'll pm you an email addy and will take a look at your log files after my afternoon meeting tomorrow. Off to bed now

 

Z

[ZG862]

Got your other files Les but do need that SimConnect log to work out what is happening...

 

Z