JoinFS multiplayer

[karlh 3]

Peter,

 

As a couple of our other members at MsFlights.Net have mentioned, our testing in recent days has us excited. Not so long ago, we settled on the FSD method for our crossplatform operations. In 2014/15 it was the best for our needs. Through a lot of diligent work, ATC_Roo has gotten it as tweaked as possible. I think you've got a winner here with JOINFS! We look forward to the future of the program and have many members that have expressed their willingness to test the various features.

[Peter Memmott 9]

Hi guys,

 

A new test version 1.0.0 is now available, http://pmem.uk/joinfs/development.html

This is a separate test version that can co-exist with the current stable version 0.4.2.

 

It has the following changes:

• All lights now supported.
• Squawk now supported.
• Helicopters now supported.
• Reduced sampling frequency.
• Fixed incorrect menu type that caused focus and mouse click issue.
• 'My IP' should now only show IPv4 addresses, and never IPv6.
• Fixed truncated model list.
• Remembers selected simulator folder after scan.
• Gives warning about saving the current recording.
• Asks once when a new version becomes available.

Thanks for all the feedback so far,

Peter

[Jessica Bannister-Pearce 120]

Great Peter. We ran into a few issues connecting today. Two of us couldn't host a session, despite having port 6112 open. The other weird issue is that my system isn't broadcasting on the 6112 port. According to my friends, my system broadcast around the 25036 area. (It changed twice during seperate sessions). Otherwise, a fair success.

[Peter Memmott 9]

Great Peter. We ran into a few issues connecting today. Two of us couldn't host a session, despite having port 6112 open. The other weird issue is that my system isn't broadcasting on the 6112 port. According to my friends, my system broadcast around the 25036 area. (It changed twice during seperate sessions). Otherwise, a fair success.

Hi Jess, that's interesting. The high port number shows that your router wasn't actually port forwarding on 6112 as expected. As I understand it, with port forwarding set up your router should be using 6112 on the outside as well. Perhaps there's an issue that I have overlooked. When you configure your router do you specify your local machine's IP address as well as the port?

 

The reason it changes is because the router may decide to simply use another port when you re-run JoinFS. But at least this explains why they couldn't connect to you at the start. This also ties in with someone else who said that everyone had port-forwarding yet still they had someone that couldn't connect. My guess is that they had a high port number as well.

 

I shall do some investigating. You can always check the port numbers by looking at the menu, 'View|Network'. I guess that's what you used to find out the port number. If everyone has port forwarding set then all the port numbers should be 6112. If they aren't then it suggest the routers are not forwarding as I'd expect.

 

Thanks for the update,

Peter

[ark 1,288]

Peter, I ran a test using two computers I have on my house network, and JoinFS (JFS) ver1.0 seemed to work OK. However, JFS ver0.4.2 did not seem to work with JFS ver 1.0, both machines had to be running the same JFS version.

 

Could you please explain the GUID and RTT headings under View/Network.

 

Thx,

Al

[Peter Memmott 9]

Peter,

Could you please explain the GUID and RTT headings under View/Network.

Thx,

Al

Starts to get a bit technical here :smile:   The GUID is a unique number that identifies each JoinFS node. There's a bit of clever routing going on to help get around the problems with port forwarding and router configurations. So the Route column shows the IP address that JoinFS needs to send data to in order to get to that particular node - it's not always the IP address of that actual node. Most of the time it will be the true IP address, but sometimes if it's not possible to talk to the node directly it will use another node on the network instead. This is why two nodes may appear to have the same route IP address because it's using that address in order to have it forwarded to the target node.

 

RTT is the Round Trip Time. i.e. the network latency to the node in seconds.

 

Hope I explained that ok,

Peter

[ark 1,288]

Starts to get a bit technical here :smile:   The GUID is a unique number that identifies each JoinFS node. There's a bit of clever routing going on to help get around the problems with port forwarding and router configurations. So the Route column shows the IP address that JoinFS needs to send data to in order to get to that particular node - it's not always the IP address of that actual node. Most of the time it will be the true IP address, but sometimes if it's not possible to talk to the node directly it will use another node on the network instead. This is why two nodes may appear to have the same route IP address because it's using that address in order to have it forwarded to the target node.

 

RTT is the Round Trip Time. i.e. the network latency to the node in seconds.

 

Hope I explained that ok,

Peter

Thanks Peter. I just figured since you provided the info for the user in the Network view I should have some idea what it represents!   :smile:

Al

[Robert455 15]

Another example of what you can do with overdubbing. This is just a short teaser video I did while in virtual reality and the two panels are a stereo view. JoinFS is pretty amazing for such a small and simple program.

 

 

 

[TXHills 17]

Regarding aircraft substitution:

 

A pilot joined the session in an aircraft I did not have.  The aircraft list showed the aircraft as the default Cessna 172 (blue and white, I believe) and when I clicked on the substitution button I could see the actual aircraft (a payware DC-3).  But - until I made the appropriate substitution I could not see any aircraft (not even the default Cessna 172).  Is this the way the (temporary) Cessna 172 substitution is intended to work?

 

Dan

[Robert455 15]

I would bet not. Might give Peter a heads-up...

 

I was flying it yesterday and the guy I was flying with used a plane I didn't have and he showed as a 172 just fine and I could sub his plane out. Maybe it's just peculiar to some installations?

[TXHills 17]

I would bet not. Might give Peter a heads-up...

 

I was flying it yesterday and the guy I was flying with used a plane I didn't have and he showed as a 172 just fine and I could sub his plane out. Maybe it's just peculiar to some installations?

 

Thanks Robert.  I will test this further - I also had a situation where one of my add-on aircraft would not show as a substitution even though I was flying the exact same aircraft at the time.

 

Dan

[Robert455 15]

Hey Dan, that might be another bug. I can't know for sure if this is the case but it at least sounds similar and based on you not seeing the other plane, might be the reason. I was trying to use some Mike's Repaints liveries on one of the B-17s in the video above and it kept subbing out as a 172 on playback even though it was a livery I had and that worked.

 

Turns out that if there are quotes in the description field in the aircraft.cfg, JoinFS can't find it because Peter strips quotes. He's working on a fix. If you have any special characters in the aircraft.cfg on the airplane you are trying to use, might post a bug report on the JoinFS BBS and submit the full stanza to Peter so he can see what is going on.

 

Peter apparently just opened it up to all who want to download it and he has already fixed a number of things in the 1.0.0 TEST version available at his site: http://pmem.uk/joinfs/development.html

[Peter Memmott 9]

Hi Dan,

 

There have been a couple of bugs in the model matching, one was fixed in test version 1.0.0, and another fix is in the upcoming 1.0.1. Back in 0.4.2, the model list sometimes became truncated leading to missing models, and the latest bug that I fixed was for model names that included double quotes - they were getting skipped.

 

The intended way that model matching works is:

• If you have an existing Model Match configured then it will substitute that.
• Otherwise, if you have the model/paint in your simulator it will show that model.
• If not, then it will choose the 'Unknown' model (you can set this Unknown model from 'File|Edit Model Matching')
• By default, the 'Unknown' model is the Microsoft Cessna 172SP
• If you don't have the default Cessna 172SP in your simulator then the 'Unknown' model will be set to the first one in the model list.

So you should always see an aircraft on screen. If you don't then something is wrong and I'll need to find out why.

 

I'll add the above to the manual, thanks,

Peter

[TXHills 17]

Thanks Peter.  I will verify that all is set correctly and let you know if things do not work as you described.

 

Excellent application - have yet another entire group making the move from DafSim to JoinFS.

 

Dan

[Robert455 15]

On a slightly different note... I just tried AITrackerX (http://lorby-si.weebly.com/) with JoinFS and they play together! AITrackerX sees aircraft that JoinFS is replaying and you can move from plane to plane to see from their vantage points using the AITrackerX view system.

I have a message in to Oliver (author of AITrackerX) to see if he can add some more flexibility in the viewing, but it works as is now!