Active Sky Next & Remote CDU Strange Conflict

[Mike777 163]

Not sure if this is the correct forum, Mark. I was having a problem with ASN (v. 5707) not detecting FSX Steam loading.

ASN is installed on a networked computer. Server is running Windows 7 64, client is running Windows 8.1.

 

ASN would detect FSX running on the initial bootup of the server computer, but not on a second startup of FSX (without rebooting

the server computer). After making port changes to my Norton Internet Security Smart Firewall, disabling Smart Firewall, making changes

to Windows Firewall, experimenting with port settings in various simconnnect config files, the problem would not go away.

 

Then I noticed that after I shut down FSX:SE, simserver.exe is still running. When I end that process in Task Manager and then

restart FSX:SE, no reboot of server computer, ASN again detects that FSX is running.

 

Two other things to note:

1) When I close FSX:SE and then attempt to restart it I get a message from Steam that FSX is still running, even though I have

made sure that FSX has shut down (in Task Manager view). I can only restart FSX:SE by killing Steam.exe and Staemwebhelper.exe

in Task Manager. So maybe Steam is supposed to shut down simserver.exe but isn't doing it.

 

2) Here is the full exe.xml entry. Please note folder Remote CDU is installed as that may be part of the problem (FSX is also

in .... Common).

 

<Launch.Addon>

<Disabled>False</Disabled>

<ManualLoad>False</ManualLoad>

<Name>SimServerRemoteCDUs</Name>

<Path>D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\SimServer 2 (PMDG CDUs)\Simserver.exe</Path>

</Launch.Addon>

 

I also get a message "Simserver is already running if I restart FSX without manually ending simerver.exe's process.

 

I've looked through the Steam and Boxed FSX SDKs, but I don't see any EXE.xml command for closing a program started by exe.xml,

when the FSX session ends.

 

I also had a problem that, every time I start FSX:SE, I got a message "Flight Simulator is attempting to start "SimServerRemoteCDUs" (Version 2.0.2.0,

Config entry Number 2). Do you want to run this program?" It gives what looks like the correct address for the remote CDU program.

However I fixed this problem by changing "Manual Load" to false. I don't know how the "manual" setting came about.

 

Remote CDU itself is working just fine for both the 777 and NGX, both on my client laptop using Firefox and on my I-Phone. I have

licenses for both.

 

I have version 2.02 -- haven't upgraded further as I don't own P3D.

 

Lastly, this computer just had its C: hard drive replaced, with the repair people cloning the old C: drive to the new C: drive.

However FSX:SE and Remote CDU are installed on D:.

 

Mike

[marcom 139]

Mike, I'm a little baffled to be honest.

I don't own the steam version of FSX, but I do own ASN and have no problems running both in parallel.

The simserver.exe is designed in such a way that you don't need to close it manually after shutting down FSX/P3D. It will just continue to run in the background and wait for a FSX/P3D instance running again.

I'm also not familiar with the exe xml you are referencing. The Simserver doesn't add any entry to a XML file nor does it require. The only changes required are the ones documented (the PMDG options file to enable data in/output)

 

Sorry for not being able to provide you with more help. Perhaps someone else has experience running the steam version?

 

Best Regards

Mark Foti

[Mike777 163]

Mike, I'm a little baffled to be honest.

I don't own the steam version of FSX, but I do own ASN and have no problems running both in parallel.

The simserver.exe is designed in such a way that you don't need to close it manually after shutting down FSX/P3D. It will just continue to run in the background and wait for a FSX/P3D instance running again.

I'm also not familiar with the exe xml you are referencing. The Simserver doesn't add any entry to a XML file nor does it require. The only changes required are the ones documented (the PMDG options file to enable data in/output)

 

Sorry for not being able to provide you with more help. Perhaps someone else has experience running the steam version?

 

Best Regards

Mark Foti

Hi, Mark,

 

Thanks for your (as usual) quick reply.

 

It looks like I am the one who created this problem in the first place, not Remote CDU or ASN.

 

EXE.xml, located in ...Appdata\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX_SE (or close to that), allows helper programs to be started with FSX

(same in FSX Boxed version). ASN uses it, for example, at least in a networked configuration.

 

It turns out I myself added lines to this file to automatically start simserver.exe when FSX starts. However, when

simserver.exe starts that way, it is somehow marked as part of FSX. So neither Steam nor ASN detect that FSX has closed,

apparently, and therefore don't react correctly. This is because simserver.exe doesn't close when FSX does, but also because

simserver is somehow marked as part of FSX.

 

When I removed the autostart instructions for simserver from EXE.xml, my problems with Steam and ASX disappeared! Simserver.exe

continues to remain in memory after FSX closes, but does not cause any conflicts.

 

I thought EXE.xml was just a simple file that allows the startup of FSX helper programs like yours. But this approach had

unintended consequences! Go figure!

 

Sorry to have bothered you about this, but it took me awhile to figure out what was going on.

 

Mike