I have used Lorby Live Traffic for a long time now, to inject AI helicopters in to P3D v4.5 (with HF3).  It has been wonderful.

However, in the last three days, it has become very slow to run/load.

Double clicking the program icon, with the sim running, means having to wait up to a minute (sometimes even longer) for it to run/load.  Once running, I do see AI helicopters in my sim and they do work.  However, after a period of time (random), the globe icon at the top centre of the program stops rotating, all helicopter activity in the sim "freezes", and there is a long delay before it all starts going again.  Worse, sometimes when this happens, activity doesn't "restart" again at all and the program simply closes.

Similarly, if I manually click the Disconnect and then the Connect buttons in the user interface, the program will either disconnect and reconnect (correctly) or, on some ocassions, it will instantly close (with no dialogue box message). It can be hit and miss.

I believe this has happened before with a previous version and it had something to do with the interal URL that was being used?  The URL had changed or something?

If it is a URL issue, then it might just come good and begin working again, normally, in a few days time.  But, considering it has been like this for three days now, so I am not sure if I should hold my breath or not. 😊

 

Here is one of the two entries from the Windows Event Log.  I can provide the other entry if required ...

Source .Net Runtime

Application: LorbyLiveTraffic_P3D_V4.exe
Framework Version: v4.0.30319
Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: System.AccessViolationException
   at <Module>.SimConnect_AISetAircraftFlightPlan(Void*, UInt32, SByte*, UInt32)
   at LockheedMartin.Prepar3D.SimConnect.SimConnect.AISetAircraftFlightPlan(UInt32, System.String, System.Enum)
   at LorbyLiveTraffic.AiHandler.RouteFinderTimer_Tick(System.Object, System.EventArgs)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Timer.OnTick(System.EventArgs)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Timer+TimerNativeWindow.WndProc(System.Windows.Forms.Message ByRef)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr, Int32, IntPtr, IntPtr)
   at System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.DispatchMessageW(MSG ByRef)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application+ComponentManager.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponentManager.FPushMessageLoop(IntPtr, Int32, Int32)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application+ThreadContext.RunMessageLoopInner(Int32, System.Windows.Forms.ApplicationContext)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application+ThreadContext.RunMessageLoop(Int32, System.Windows.Forms.ApplicationContext)
   at LorbyLiveTraffic.Program.Main()

Edited May 8, 20224 yr by freddy_

Hello,

the Exception is a SimConnect error, the API and/or the sim has some kind of memory problem. Could by flooding. Did you install any new addons lately?

What "internal URL" do you mean? I'm not sure that I understand that one.

12 hours ago, Lorby_SI said:

the Exception is a SimConnect error, the API and/or the sim has some kind of memory problem. Could by flooding. Did you install any new addons lately?

What "internal URL" do you mean? I'm not sure that I understand that one.

Thanks for the reply.

Interesting.  The program is slow to run/load even if I do not have the sim running (for example, if I want to run the program outside the sim to access the Scenery Scanner to click the globe icon and update LiveTraffic's database). When I do this, the only other programs I have running are the normal default Windows processes, an anti-virus program (freeware AVG) and a system information and benchmarking tool (AIDA64), both of which I have used for years, with and without the sim running, without any trouble.  If LiveTraffic is slow to run when the sim is not even running, then that would certainly eliminate the sim and any addons.

That said, for completeness, no, I have not installed any new addons lately.  And, for the record, I have plenty of free system memory/RAM available when I run the program; more than 12 GB is free.

I cannot remember specifically, but I seem to recall that the latest Windows 10 update, which I ran about a week or so ago, may have included an update to .Net runtime?  I am a bit vague on that though – I cannot really be sure if I am merely only imagining that.  But, if that was indeed the case, then could a .NET update cause this?

My freeware AVG virus scanner was recently updated to a new version.  Hmmm.  I do have the sim folder and the "C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Prepar3D v4 Add-ons" folder set as exceptions in that scanner though.  There's been no change made, in ages, to any of that program's settings, exceptions list, or anything else ... just updated virus definitions, and the periodic version updates.  Based on you mentioning this could be a potential flooding / memory problem, I disabled the real-time protection and tried to open LiveTraffic, as a test.  But, no change.  The program still took a long time to open (nearly two minutes).

Another test I did was to delete nearly all of my virtual helipads.  I have a lot.  I removed all except two.  Still no change. Even with only two virtual helipads, the program again took a long time to open (again, nearly two minutes).

As part of my investigations in to this issue, I did notice in "Programs and Features", in Control Panel, that I appear to have two SimConnect Clients installed:

• Microsoft Flight Simulator SimConnect Client v10.0.60905.0  and
• Microsoft Flight Simulator SimConnect Client v10.0.61259.0

I am aware the SimConnect Clients are not actually SimConnect itself.  Rather, they provide a "different" way for the addon which installed them to connect with the sim.  I do not know which specific addons installed these.  It may have even been the latest LiveTraffic update that installed one of these?  (I am obviosuly reluctant to uninstall these for fear that it will "break" the relevant addons in my sim.)  I note that the "About" dialogue in my sim reports the (actual) SimConnect version as "4.5.0.0".

Is there a way to enable some kind of logging?  I've seen the file "LorbyLiveTraffic_CreateLog.txt" get populated with information before, usually when the program has encountered an issue it cannot handle.  I usually manually clear it and then save it blank.  It hasn't reported anything in this log file for ages.  And it remains blank at the moment, despite this issue.  Is there a way to activate logging?

.

As for my reference to the "internal URL" ... when the program is injecting online traffic (AI planes), via the "OpenSky Network" or "Real Traffic" data-sources, does the program use the Internet and go to an applicable URL to do so?  That is the URL I was referring to.  I was thinking that even though I am using the program purely for AI helicopters (ie, I have selected the option for "No online traffic") that the program may still be accessing that URL in some way?  Perhaps a "keep alive" or similar.

.

(And, sorry for the long post.  As someone who works in IT support, and gets frustrated sometimes with a lack of information, I want to make sure that *I* give as much information as possible.)

Edited May 11, 20224 yr by freddy_

4 hours ago, freddy_ said:

I have selected the option for "No online traffic") that the program may still be accessing that URL in some way? 

No.

But what it does is, it tries to get the current Zulu time by sending a dummy request to www.microsoft.com and reading the timestamp of the response. And that seems to run into trouble and finally time out. Something must have changed on their end that this request is no longer allowed. Not sure yet if I should do something about it.

In any case, this is only holding up the app on startup or when you have the time synchronization active (then it will happen again every 15 minutes). This is unrelated to the problem that you described earlier. The exception you have posted above is definitely a SimConnect error, no two ways about it. Btw. there are no installed SimConnect clients required with P3D or LLTX (none at all). LLTX is a P3D native app, and with those the client is already part of the libraries used to compile the app. It doesn't matter what you have in the installed apps (unless you force LLTX to use one of them by creating a SimConnect.cfg file)

Edited May 11, 20224 yr by Lorby_SI

OK, you have given me some things to think about with your last post above.  For the record, I do not use the ZULU time sync (every 15 minutes) check box (mine is unchecked).  And the weather one is unchecked also.

Based on my app being held up on startup ... I am wondering if my app is indeed troubled by an erroneous attempt to get the current Zulu time via the dummy request to www.microsoft.com and it's delay in starting is due to that? More on this theory, below.

Intriguingly, I did mention in my first post that I have noticed the globe icon at the top centre of the program stops rotating, periodically, during which all helicopter activity in the sim "freezes", and there is a long delay before it all starts going again.  I did mention the word "randomly" in my post, but I am now wondering if it is not random at all ... could it perhaps be every 15 minutes, despite me having the weather and Zulu check boxes unchecked?  I will run a test on this.

As for the Event Viewer error I posted ... you confirm it is a SimConnect error.  OK.  Based on your post and talking about timing and time outs etc, I am now wondering if that Event Viewer information may be a false report.  The report certainly relates to LiveTraffic, but I think I may have been the cause of it.  I think that report probably stems from the fact that the app was giving me the trouble described and I attempted to close it whilst it was in a "frozen" state (globe icon not rotating), causing a "crash", and a subsequent abnormal disconnection from Simconnect as a result.  In other words, that Event Viewer report, and the app startup delay issue I am reporting, may be two entirely different things. Unrelated.  I will run some tests on this by clearing Event Viewer and attempting to start the app.  If the startup delays are there, but there is no Event Viewer report created, then we can conclude that the Event Viewer report I posted is unrelated and we should therefore disregard it as having anything to do with this issue.

So, in summary ...

Based on your post above... I am leaning toward this being a timeout issue.  Not related to SimConnect at all (ie, disregard that Event Viewer report I posted).  Instead, the startup delay issue I am experiencing is possibly to do with the program trying to get the current Zulu time (and doing so despite no checks in the two check boxes aforementioned?) and that request is running into trouble, just as you said, and is timing out.

However, if that theory is correct, then it baffles me because the app takes up to one or two minutes to start.  If the app is merely timing out on a quick www.microsoft.com time check, then it should fail that, time out, and then start ... with not much delay at all (ie, well before one or two minutes).  Hmmm, that is, unless it does some retries?  As part of this theroy, it will be interesting to see if the globe icon in the app stops rotating every 15 minutes, rather than randomly as I initially thought.

I will run these tests tomorrow (it is almost bed time for me as I type this post) ... and will report the result(s) back here.

Edited May 11, 20224 yr by freddy_

Short answer: yes.

The time is synchronized with the Internet every 15 minutes, regardless if you select to inject it into the sim or not. And since the request to Microsoft is timing out, that is what is holding up the LLTX app. Standard timeout for a HttpWebRequest is 100 seconds. This shouldn't hold up the app, because it happens in a separate thread, but it obviously does. I will think of something.

Edited May 11, 20224 yr by Lorby_SI

OK.  Then my tests tomorrow should confirm this.  I am looking forward to finding out.

Lorby SI wrote:
Not sure yet if I should do something about it.

Well, if it is going to cause the kind of startup delays that I am experiencing, and if it is going to cause AI freezes every 15 minutes, then I know what my suggestion would be.  😉

 

Edited May 11, 20224 yr by freddy_

8 minutes ago, freddy_ said:

then I know what my suggestion would be. 

No doubt. But you are also the only one using the app, apparently. Might make more sense to just take it down.

Ok, I will add yet another cogwheel where you can select the time source (local computer or web address of your choice)

1 hour ago, Lorby_SI said:

No doubt. But you are also the only one using the app, apparently. Might make more sense to just take it down.

Potentially the only one using the app!?  Well, that would be a shame.  I only use it for AI helis, but it offers so much more.  This app, providing me with AI helicopters, has so very much enhanced by sim ... I am so thankful to you for that.  It has been awesome.  If that statement is true, and I am potentially the only one using it, then that is a real shame.  (The selfish person in me says "please do not take it down!", you'll ruin my sim experience which would not be the same without my AI helis – I have invested so much time in them, adding virtual helipads, doing repaints, etc.)

 

50 minutes ago, Lorby_SI said:

Ok, I will add yet another cogwheel where you can select the time source (local computer or web address of your choice)

Yes, if that is a simple and quick addition, then this is a good idea.

May I suggest a further option, expanding on the "Local Time" option you have proposed ...

... I use a third party app ("FS Real Time") which synchronises the sim clock more acurately with real-world time, regardless of the timezone you are flying in.  Perhaps the cog icon should include three options (mutually exclusive, of course) ... "Use Web Address", "Use Sim Time" and "Use System Time".  ("Use System Time" is, of course, synonomous with your proposed "Local Time", and is the same wording used in the simulator's own options screen, making it consistant and thus easier to understand for users.)  Me, using "FS Real Time", would choose the "Use Sim Time" option.

Of course, if you add this cog option, then the app will run effectively as standalone and "taking it down" won't affect me. I'll just need to keep a safe, backed up copy of it somewhere.  But I would still suggest you don't take it down. 🙂

 

Edited May 11, 20224 yr by freddy_

The new version 3.05 build02 has been uploaded to the Lorby-SI website.

The config dialog doesn't need three options. Sim time is always displayed anyway and just to run the internal clock no third option is needed. The checkbox to enable/disable the time sync is there anyway.

As for usage of this app - effectively nobody is using the legacy apps anymore, freeware or payware. LLTX was one of the worst, almost 2000 hours went into it but it never found a large user base to begin with. So putting it to rest is the only major change that it will have to look forwared to (since this kind of AI aircraft control doesn't work with MSFS).

Edited May 11, 20224 yr by Lorby_SI

The config dialog doesn't need three options ... fair enough, understood ... your explanation makes sense.

As someone who works in IT, I certainly appreciate the time it takes to produce a feature rich app such as this one.  So it is sad that it never found a large user base.  MSFS is now beginning to take market share, which, of course, does explain why effectively nobody is using the legacy apps anymore.  For me, I purchased P3D pretty late (2019) and therefore I haven't had it all that long.  So I will stick with it for a while yet.  As for AI helicopters, "HeliTraffic-2009" turned out to not be compatible with P3D, so your "LiveTraffic" app filled that hole for me nicely.

I very much appreciate you adding the new cog icon.  I have installed version 3.05 build02 and can confirm it is now loading quickly and I have not seen any issues with it.  Of course I have only just installed it, but, considering the nature of this change, I can't see any reason to expect any problems.

Thanks very much for your time on this issue.  Believe me, it is very much appreciated.  😀

 

Edited May 12, 20224 yr by freddy_

Thank you for fixing this Oliver, I still use it, every sim session, it is my favourite App.

I had just been putting up with the slow load times… I just changed my routine to account for it.

Kind regards,

Mark

@mwa05  👍