MCE stuck on "Trying to connect to simulator"

[RALF9636 1,920]

Since a few days I have a strange issue (after it worked fine for years).

MCE starts and then is "Trying to connect to simulator", but after a while the green version number is not appearing any more and MCE becomes unresponsive.

After a lot of trouble shooting I found that when I delete everything under the [voices] section in the mce.ini then MCE starts fine again - with the default voices. I can then choose TTS voices in the UI and MCE works fine in this session. But when I start MCE the next time (with the selected TTS voice in the mce.ini) the problem occurs again. This happens everytime when I have selected a TTS voice. If I stay with the default voices, all is fine.

 

Of course I re-installed MCE and made a factory reset - several times, to no avail.

 

Any idea what is happening?

 

 

Edited May 13, 2023 by RALF9636

[FS++ 707]

15 hours ago, RALF9636 said:

Since a few days I have a strange issue (after it worked fine for years).

MCE starts and then is "Trying to connect to simulator", but after a while the green version number is not appearing any more and MCE becomes unresponsive.

After a lot of trouble shooting I found that when I delete everything under the [voices] section in the mce.ini then MCE starts fine again - with the default voices. I can then choose TTS voices in the UI and MCE works fine in this session. But when I start MCE the next time (with the selected TTS voice in the mce.ini) the problem occurs again. This happens everytime when I have selected a TTS voice. If I stay with the default voices, all is fine.

 

Of course I re-installed MCE and made a factory reset - several times, to no avail.

 

Any idea what is happening?

 

 

Which Windows version? Which third party TTS voice was assigned (from which vendor)?

I assume you didn't override folders permissions to C:\users\ folder or any of its subfolders as that can cause strange behaviour like the app not being able to edit settings or things like that.

[RALF9636 1,920]

 

On 5/14/2023 at 12:17 PM, FS++ said:

Which Windows version?

Windows 10 Pro, Build 19045.2965.

There was a Windows update a few day ago. Possible that coincides with the beginning of this issue, but I am not 100 percent sure.

On 5/14/2023 at 12:17 PM, FS++ said:

Which third party TTS voice was assigned (from which vendor)?

The issue occurs with Cereproc voices (tested with Jack, bought directly from Cereproc a long time ago), Ivona voices (tested with Eric, bought directly from Ivona a long time ago) and also the Microsoft voices (Zira).

 

On 5/14/2023 at 12:17 PM, FS++ said:

I assume you didn't override folders permissions to C:\users\ folder or any of its subfolders as that can cause strange behaviour like the app not being able to edit settings or things like that.

Not that I am aware of. Definitely not in the recent days. And MCE does write into the mce.ini; I can see the selected TTS voice listed there.

 

[FS++ 707]

On 5/16/2023 at 9:03 PM, RALF9636 said:

 

Windows 10 Pro, Build 19045.2965.

There was a Windows update a few day ago. Possible that coincides with the beginning of this issue, but I am not 100 percent sure.

The issue occurs with Cereproc voices (tested with Jack, bought directly from Cereproc a long time ago), Ivona voices (tested with Eric, bought directly from Ivona a long time ago) and also the Microsoft voices (Zira).

 

Not that I am aware of. Definitely not in the recent days. And MCE does write into the mce.ini; I can see the selected TTS voice listed there.

 

Although cannot replicate, Might be something to do with switching C++ compiler recently to generate those dlls that contain the text which TTS voices are supposed to speak.

Get this file , unzip and replace <TTS> folder inside \Multi Crew Experience\Voices\ folder, overwriting everything in that folder.

Only 2 dlls are loaded at any given time, and randomly selected periodically to provide variety in speech.

Human recorded audio hasn't been touched for at least 2 years.

Edit: Don't forget, for the scenario where MCE is stuck while loading, enable "Debug=1" in "mce.ini" and a "startup.log" will be generated. Send it to support. Thanks

Edited May 19, 2023 by FS++

[FS++ 707]

On 5/13/2023 at 7:56 PM, RALF9636 said:

Since a few days I have a strange issue (after it worked fine for years).

MCE starts and then is "Trying to connect to simulator", but after a while the green version number is not appearing any more and MCE becomes unresponsive.

After a lot of trouble shooting I found that when I delete everything under the [voices] section in the mce.ini then MCE starts fine again - with the default voices. I can then choose TTS voices in the UI and MCE works fine in this session. But when I start MCE the next time (with the selected TTS voice in the mce.ini) the problem occurs again. This happens everytime when I have selected a TTS voice. If I stay with the default voices, all is fine.

 

Of course I re-installed MCE and made a factory reset - several times, to no avail.

 

Any idea what is happening?

 

 

Let me know if still experiencing same issue with replacement files.

[RALF9636 1,920]

8 hours ago, FS++ said:

Let me know if still experiencing same issue with replacement files.

Sorry for the late reply. I was away from my PC for a few days.

It's looking good so far with the provided replacement files. MCE started fine after selecting different TTS voices, tested several times. I will report back should I see the issue again.

Great support as always! Thank you!