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Terry O'Brien

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 & SimConnect

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Does anyone know if Microsoft intends to support SimConnect in the new 2020 Simulator or will it have a new network connection interface?

If users who want to network computers using Microsoft FS 2020 and SimConnect  (if they intend to use it) have the same problems that so

many users have experienced connecting computers with Windows 10 since they removed WORKGROUP, I fear FS2020 will die on the vine.

I have spent thousands of hours ( that was THOUSANDS ... YES THOUSANDS !!!!) and money upgrading hardware trying to get SimConnect

to work to no avail and it all started when Microsoft removed WORKGROUP.  I think I would have given up Flight Simming altogether had it

not been for FSUIPC. (THERE IS NOTHING MORE MADDENING THAN HAVING AN ITCH YOU CANT SCRATCH).  I thoroughly  enjoy my flight

simulator and I am looking forward to FS2020 but the pain I suffered struggling with SimConnect was almost too much to bear and I don't want

to go through that again.

(MICROSOFT PLEASE TAKE NOTE).

 

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26 minutes ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

Otherwise, sorry I can't tell you about MFS and SimConnect per NDA and I'm not sure if that specific information is public

it is public https://www.flightsimulator.com/november-21st-2019-development-update/

Quote

For those with a preference for using FSX tools, SimConnect will be supported. We will also support additional modern standards like HTML for UI and glTF for 3D models.

 



 

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On a side note... HTML is a modern standard?  It was invented in 1990... that's now modern?  Heh! 😁

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Ed Wilson

Mindstar Aviation
My Playland - I69

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I'm the eternal pessimist, but so far we've seen support for legacy aircraft, support for legacy sound, a screenshot of an ESP MSDN page and now support for legacy IPC.  Is this going to be two sims in one or just FS-XI with a few (albeit major) bells and whistles?

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4 hours ago, mpozzi said:

what is Sim Connect ?

google is your friend...

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Hope they get a deal with Lookheed Martin to include all the new Simconnect functions LM has added since FSX + their own new stuff. 


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55 minutes ago, roarkr said:

Hope they get a deal with Lookheed Martin to include all the new Simconnect functions LM has added since FSX + their own new stuff. 

Ideally they won't need it.

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P3Dv4 + XP11

MFS

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On 2/14/2020 at 2:01 AM, Terry O'Brien said:

I have spent thousands of hours ( that was THOUSANDS ... YES THOUSANDS !!!!) and money upgrading hardware trying to get SimConnect to work to no avail...

Before you spend another second on trying to get anything to work, spend a few days (or as long as it takes) to get a reasonable understanding of networking. In the long run it will save you those thousands of hours for any number of computer issues, is nowhere near as difficult as you might think and is actually quite interesting.

There will be plenty of tutorials on YouTube, or subscribe to something like PluralSight for a month or two. Understand things such as:

1.) OSI 7 layer model, specifically layer 2 (eg Ethernet), layer 3 (eg IP) and higher up into protocols such as TCP and UDP, then higher up again into application layer protocols such as HTML.

2.) FULLY understand IP addresses and how a subnet mask and an IP address go hand in hand to specify the Network and the Node.

3.) Understand the difference between a pure ethernet layer 2 switch and an IP layer 3 router.

4.) Know what a default IP gateway is and why it is necessary for IP addresses on different networks.

5.) Understand TOTALLY why a computer with an IP address of 192.168.0.1 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 (or 192.168.0.1/24) cannot communicate with another computer with an IP address of 192.168.1.1 and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 without a correctly configured router which has ports on both networks.

6.) Fully understand DNS, although it isn't really necessary for your local home networking directly.

7.) Understand the differences between static IP addresses and dynamic and, for the latter, the basics of how DHCP works.

8.) Learn the simple troubleshooting steps you can take when one computer cannot talk to another.

9.) Understand exactly what a firewall does and the basic functionality that ALL firewalls provide that can both keep you protected and drive you up the wall by blocking traffic you want to allow.

I used to have to teach this stuff to people with only a very basic understanding (and lots of false knowledge) so feel free to drop me a PM for any pointers.

 

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On 2/13/2020 at 8:01 PM, Terry O'Brien said:

 I think I would have given up Flight Simming altogether had it

not been for FSUIPC.

FSUIPC also uses SimConnect to talk to the sim.

SimConnect is not about networking, that is only a side effect. SimConnect is the API that third party programs use to communicate with the simulator. That includes gauges too. Without SimConnect there wouldn't be any advanced simulation of aircraft instruments or systems, or any functionality that works seriously outside of the box. None of my own addons would be possible without SimConnect, and neither of them is meant to run networked.

But since the SimConnect API is accessed through the IP stack, a suitable client can communicate with it from any IP endpoint, even on another computer. That happens on a very basic level, and has nothing whatsoever to do with Windows Workgroups or similar top layer applications.

It is yet unknown if MSFS will support networked applications, but the exsitence of the SimConnect API itself has already been confirmed by MS in an interview a while back.

Best regards

Edited by Lorby_SI
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LORBY-SI

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TCP/IP does not typically need a network share... I think the sharing and workgroup issues arise from addons that require physical drive access... and that is most definitely not a SimConnect requirement.


Ed Wilson

Mindstar Aviation
My Playland - I69

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In Windows networking firewall Defender, we might need to set up an allowed list including Prepar3D.exe or FSX.exe to allow simconnect over the network. Usually it is a mistake in setup of the firewalls and nothing to do with workgroup. SimConnect is a wrapper of network pipes, SimConnect clients dlls  or exe apps running on the same PC as the sim are using the loopback interface.

In the manual it shows the basic network setup. We specify the address of the other node in the Simconnect.xml in \Users\[you]\AppData\Roaming\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v4 or \Microsoft\FSX:

<SimBase.Document Type="SimConnect" version="1,0">
 <Descr>SimConnect</Descr>
 <Filename>SimConnect.xml</Filename>
	 <SimConnect.Comm>
  <Disabled>False</Disabled>
  <Protocol>IPv4</Protocol>
  <Scope>Global</Scope>
  <MaxClients>64</MaxClients>
  <Address>192.168.1.124</Address>
  <Port>1025</Port>
  <MaxRecvSize>4096</MaxRecvSize>
  <DisableNagle>False</DisableNagle>
 </SimConnect.Comm>
	 <SimConnect.Comm>
  <Disabled>False</Disabled>
  <Protocol>Auto</Protocol>
  <Scope>Local</Scope>
 </SimConnect.Comm>
</SimBase.Document>

substitute with your server ip in the <Address> line.
<Port>1025</Port> - the free ip port to use - any port over 1024 except 8080.

 

On the client PC \Users\[you]\Documents called Simconnect.cfg

[SimConnect]
Protocol=IPv4
Address=192.168.1.124
Port=1025
MaxReceiveSize=4096
DisableNagle=0

substitute with your server ip in the Address= line.
Port= the server ip port - any port over 1024 except 8080.

I compiled SimConnect clients to return the sim version data, one for each version of SimConnect. I ran each sim FSX and P3D on the server, one after the other and connected with the respective clients for each sim, from the client PC, which all returned the data correctly.

Both PCs had regular Users, with no adjustments to UAC privileges or permissions at all. Prepar3D.exe and FSX.exe have been allowed through the firewalls. Both were running McAffee A-V and Internet security suites in stock setup.

I also tested with Defender and Multisession P3D Plus. The only requirement was to allow the exe's in the firewall.


Steve Waite: Engineer at codelegend.com

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Using simconnect interface network for years mainly using HiFI setup recommendations. HiFi recommends port 500 in the sinmconnect.cfg on the server. Always been somewhat of a mystery. Just curious Steve why the port 500 ?

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On 2/14/2020 at 8:58 AM, FDEdev said:

google is your friend...

looks like a very old, crappy and boring platform

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22 minutes ago, Adrian123 said:

Using simconnect interface network for years mainly using HiFI setup recommendations. HiFi recommends port 500 in the sinmconnect.cfg on the server. Always been somewhat of a mystery. Just curious Steve why the port 500 ?

Doesn't really matter. Usually ports 1024 and below are reserved for system, ports 1025 and above for additional. So it may be possible that 500 conflicts with a pre-designated system resource.


Steve Waite: Engineer at codelegend.com

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