Begging for help networking Active Sky with V4.1

[JasonW 32]

1 hour ago, Rob Ainscough said:

The SimConnect.ini is really only used for logging, it doesn't "configure" connections.  It might be helpful in your case to enable Verbose and log the output and then check the output after you attempt to connect.  If you see some error entries that's actually a good sign, but in your case I suspect you aren't getting that far.  You have to manually add the SimConnect.ini file.  

 

 

So for what Im trying to do, I really dont need the .ini file?

However, Just so Im clear on this too, by manually adding you mean create a notepad file with the information in it and name it?

 

 

Just want to go over the steps once more.

• All service packs installed on both PCs
• Install AS on Client Machine
• Install ASConnect on server machine
• Simconnect.cfg (with server ip added) in my documents on client machine
• Simconnect.xml (with server ip added) in Appdata/Roaming/LM/P3DV4 on server machine
• Also add server ip addresses to sim connect cfg and xml in Client Program Files (x86)/HiFi/AS_P3Dv4/simconnect files

 

Thats it, right?

 

 

Quote

EDIT: network connections don't have to be this difficult ... some 3rd party software I use (specifically "ForeFlight") will connect to XP11 and P3D V4.x completely seamlessly ... auto detect and connect all wireless from my iPad and I don't have to configure anything other than select my flight simulator from within ForeFlight.  My hope is vendors will get a little more progressive and invest the time to make this process a lot less "fiddly".

I couldnt agree more. This has been an absolute nightmare, I would even be willing to pay more for 3rd party apps (or even updates) that had 'install and go' network capability. 

[JasonW 32]

This is my XML file that is going in appdata/v4 on server machine. My ports are different than your example Rob but I got the numbers from the ports listed in AS's sim connect file. Does it make any difference? 

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="Windows-1252"?>

<SimBase.Document Type="SimConnect" version="1,0">
  <Descr>SimConnect</Descr>
  <Filename>SimConnect.xml</Filename>
  <Disabled>False</Disabled>
  <SimConnect.Comm>
    <Disabled>False</Disabled>
    <Protocol>IPv4</Protocol>
    <Scope>global</Scope>
    <Address>192.168.1.100</Address>
    <MaxClients>64</MaxClients>
    <Port>500</Port>
    <MaxRecvSize>4096</MaxRecvSize>
    <DisableNagle>True</DisableNagle>
  </SimConnect.Comm>
  <SimConnect.Comm>
    <Disabled>False</Disabled>
    <Protocol>IPv4</Protocol>
    <Scope>local</Scope>
    <MaxClients>64</MaxClients>
    <Address>127.0.0.1</Address>
    <Port>500</Port>
    <MaxRecvSize>4096</MaxRecvSize>
    <DisableNagle>True</DisableNagle>
  </SimConnect.Comm>
</SimBase.Document>
 

[GSalden 4,656]

Is your port 500 open for network ?

[jay281 33]

Try ports 4506 for the <Scope>global<Scope> and 4507 for local. 4506  in the simconnect.cfg on the AS machine. 

[jay281 33]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="Windows-1252"?>

<SimBase.Document Type="SimConnect" version="1,0">
  <Descr>SimConnect</Descr>
  <Filename>SimConnect.xml</Filename>
  <Disabled>False</Disabled>
  <SimConnect.Comm>
    <Disabled>False</Disabled>
    <Protocol>IPv4</Protocol>
    <Scope>global</Scope>
    <Address>192.168.1.100</Address>
    <MaxClients>64</MaxClients>
    <Port>4506</Port>
    <MaxRecvSize>4096</MaxRecvSize>
    <DisableNagle>True</DisableNagle>
  </SimConnect.Comm>
  <SimConnect.Comm>
    <Disabled>False</Disabled>
    <Protocol>IPv4</Protocol>
    <Scope>local</Scope>
    <MaxClients>64</MaxClients>
    <Address>127.0.0.1</Address>
    <Port>4507</Port>
    <MaxRecvSize>4096</MaxRecvSize>
    <DisableNagle>True</DisableNagle>
  </SimConnect.Comm>
</SimBase.Document>

[jay281 33]

Ive changed it for you ^ 

James 

[jozeff 93]

Hello,

Did you install active sky when a VPN client was enabled? This caused me a lot of problems trying to connect to simulator..... The IP address has to match the one that you used when you installed active sky. Probably you though of that. I know how terrible it can be when things don't work properly. Hope you will be flying soon!!!!

Jozef

[Guest]

Port value (500) seems a little odd ... check your ports via TCPView (link I provided).

Have you verified that the appropriate EXE.XML and DLL.XML entries for as_connect were created on your P3D PC?

Cheers, Rob.

[JasonW 32]

12 hours ago, GSalden said:

Is your port 500 open for network ?

The only thing Ive done with my router is assign specific ip addresses for both pc's, I was under the impression that I wouldnt have to change anything else in router settings if I had both machines on a private network (via cable) with the C drives shared.

11 hours ago, jay281 said:

Try ports 4506 for the <Scope>global<Scope> and 4507 for local. 4506  in the simconnect.cfg on the AS machine. 

Ill give it a try, Technically I have two configs on the AS machine. One in the my documents folder and one in the simconnect files folder in the HiFi directory. CHange them both?

10 hours ago, jozeff said:

Hello,

Did you install active sky when a VPN client was enabled? This caused me a lot of problems trying to connect to simulator..... The IP address has to match the one that you used when you installed active sky. Probably you though of that. I know how terrible it can be when things don't work properly. Hope you will be flying soon!!!!

Jozef

HI Jozef, Im sort of a networking noob, I have no idea what VPN is.  

1 hour ago, Rob Ainscough said:

Port value (500) seems a little odd ... check your ports via TCPView (link I provided).

Have you verified that the appropriate EXE.XML and DLL.XML entries for as_connect were created on your P3D PC?

Cheers, Rob.

Port 500 came from the xml file that was created in the simconnect folder (HIFi Directory) when AS was installed on the client machine, I just copied it think that was the port AS wanted to use. I havent check the ports yet because I wasnt sure which one I should be using, I was gonna test once I had all these entries where they are supposed to be.

[kand 205]

I recently had issues with the exact same type of simconnect config, it turned out to be my xml file (possibly formatting). Worth a shot, install the SDK, navigate to the SDK/config/simconnect, copy the example simconnect.xml to your P3d app data/roaming. Edit the examples to match your need, see if that helps

[klamal 282]

1 hour ago, JasonW said:

The only thing Ive done with my router is assign specific ip addresses for both pc's, I was under the impression that I wouldnt have to change anything else in router settings if I had both machines on a private network (via cable) with the C drives shared.

This would not be something you do on your router(unless your pc's are on different networks).  Whatever port you have in the xml need to be allowed thru your "server" machines firewall.

1 hour ago, JasonW said:

Port 500 came from the xml file that was created in the simconnect folder (HIFi Directory) when AS was installed on the client machine, I just copied it think that was the port AS wanted to use. I havent check the ports yet because I wasnt sure which one I should be using, I was gonna test once I had all these entries where they are supposed to be.

You can use whatever port you want to technically.  However, there are reserved ports for known applications/protocols.  For example, http uses by default port 80.  If you try to use this port for SimConnect and have a web server running to, SimConnect would fail trying to use(bind) that port.  I forget exactly what port numbers are recommended to start with these days but the 4507 example above should be pretty safe.

So whatever port you decided to use on your server, your client needs to use that to connect to.  And, your server needs to allow this port inbound as well.

[jothanon 7]

I have Active Sky installed on both server(P3D computer) and client machines.You have to run the ASConnect_P3Dv4_Install.exe from the CLIENT machine