A most bizarre problem - SimStarterNG users help

[Ray Proudfoot 8,976]

Hi all,

I've used SimStarterNG for years and everything in P3D v5.3HF2 runs fine when it's executed via that program.

But here's the mystery and it's got me beat. If I start P3D from its desktop shortcut (so no SimStarterNG) the sim will load but then the problems start. Specifically,,,

1) Under the Add-ons menu item the Check SODE DLL connection shows no green banner and message.

2) FSDT Addon Manager interface doesn't show.

3) ChasePlane internal views work but external ones don't. The top of the ChasePlane display turns a bright green.

4) I can see AIG Ai aircraft at the airport and my lua script shows there are 12 on the ground. But Ai Companion doesn't show any aircraft. But right-clicking the P3D interface I can select Ai aircraft and switch to them.

All this points to SimConnect being broken. But why does it work fine when launched via SimStarterNG but not when launched independently? As far as I can establish all the DLLs, EXEs and entries in both add-ons.cfg are runnning and are identical to the entries in those parts of SimStarterNG.

Finally, when I close P3D it doesn't close. It hangs and has to be terminated. Programs that launched via exe.xml have to be manually terminated.

Sometimes I just want to check something quickly hence why I run P3D independently.

Any geniuses out there?

[newtie 533]

4 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Hi all,

I've used SimStarterNG for years and everything in P3D v5.3HF2 runs fine when it's executed via that program.

But here's the mystery and it's got me beat. If I start P3D from its desktop shortcut (so no SimStarterNG) the sim will load but then the problems start. Specifically,,,

1) Under the Add-ons menu item the Check SODE DLL connection shows no green banner and message.

2) FSDT Addon Manager interface doesn't show.

3) ChasePlane internal views work but external ones don't. The top of the ChasePlane display turns a bright green.

4) I can see AIG Ai aircraft at the airport and my lua script shows there are 12 on the ground. But Ai Companion doesn't show any aircraft. But right-clicking the P3D interface I can select Ai aircraft and switch to them.

All this points to SimConnect being broken. But why does it work fine when launched via SimStarterNG but not when launched independently? As far as I can establish all the DLLs, EXEs and entries in both add-ons.cfg are runnning and are identical to the entries in those parts of SimStarterNG.

Finally, when I close P3D it doesn't close. It hangs and has to be terminated. Programs that launched via exe.xml have to be manually terminated.

Sometimes I just want to check something quickly hence why I run P3D independently.

Any geniuses out there?

Hmmm...never seen anything close to this in my SS career. Might want to visit the Aerosoft help forum and post this over there. They're usually pretty quick.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,976]

11 minutes ago, newtie said:

Hmmm...never seen anything close to this in my SS career. Might want to visit the Aerosoft help forum and post this over there. They're usually pretty quick.

I have, thanks. The author works so it may be a day or so. I cannot think of anything different that SSNG does other than launch the executables I have chosen.

SimConnect is getting broken by something when P3D is launched directly that isn’t when run from SSNG. It would make more sense if the other way around.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,976]

@Lorby_SI, Oliver, looking back over SimConnect problems you seem to have an excellent grasp of how it works.

Can you throw any light on my problem where everything is fine when launched via SimStarterNG but issues develop when P3D is launched indepently with full admin permissions.

I disabled exe.xml, dll. xml and add-ons.cfg in my user\roaming\LM\P3Dv5 folder but the problem persisted.

[Lorby_SI 2,042]

5 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

@Lorby_SI, Oliver, looking back over SimConnect problems you seem to have an excellent grasp of how it works.

Can you throw any light on my problem where everything is fine when launched via SimStarterNG but issues develop when P3D is launched indepently with full admin permissions.

I disabled exe.xml, dll. xml and add-ons.cfg in my user\roaming\LM\P3Dv5 folder but the problem persisted.

This doesn't sound like SimConnect trouble. More like something is missing than something is interfering. 

SimConnect in general is not that easy to "break". I wouldn't know how to do that if I wanted to. The SimConnect API is an integral part of the sim itself, it is not "added on" or something. When you "install SimConnect" you are actually not doing that at all. The installers that you find in P3D are installing old clients, so you can use equally old SimConnect programs. Since P3D V3, when you have a SimConnect program that has been built with the proper libraries from P3D, no additional installation of any kind is necessary. Not even on remote computers.

From my perspective, what you need to find out is what SimStarter is actually doing. If I remember correclty, it had these "profiles", which translated to collections of copies of your sim config file (like the exe.xml etc.). SimStarter would swap those copies in before starting the sim, so you would end up in a specific profile or scenario. So I doubt that you are even looking at the correct/necessary exe.xml for example. 
But that is a question that the developer of SimStarter will have to answer, that is above my paygrade.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,976]

@Lorby_SI, many thanks Oliver for shedding some light on SimConnect. I’m having a dialogue with Peter of SSNG but nothing is really coming under suspicion.

Yes, there are profiles in SSNG but the differences are minor. Just different for the aircraft I’m flying so the startup scenario is different. Nothing affecting the various xml and cfg files.

It’s more of a frustration than annoyance as my flying is always with SSNG which runs everything fine. I’m just baffled that running P3D directly has this problem.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,976]

Today I started P3D via SSNG and fancied a bit of plane spotting. Switching from the PMDG737 to the male avatar these problems with SODE and Addon Manager started again. Ai Companion on another computer couldn’t read the Ai even though they were present.

So this swapping of vehicles inside P3D seems to be the problem. A reinstall of Client, Content or both seems sensible. Which one controls the vehicles?

[Cruachan 705]

Hi Ray,

Dare I suggest you try the effect of uninstalling SSNG temporarily? If SSNG is in some way responsible - does seem likely since everything works when SSNG is in play at the start - then  uninstalling should (hopefully) reverse any changes implemented by SSNG and the anomalies, as experienced when P3D is run from the desktop shortcut, will be gone. In theory this should not involve any risk of breaking the sim, but then again Sod’s law might intervene to determine the outcome.

Maybe consider backing up the SSNG installation and your User folder before delving deeper into this.

Regards,

Mike

 

[Ray Proudfoot 8,976]

1 hour ago, Cruachan said:

Dare I suggest you try the effect of uninstalling SSNG temporarily? If SSNG is in some way responsible…

How can it be responsible when I have the same problems running P3D direct? I appreciate the suggestion but I don’t think it will help.

I uninstalled and reinstalled the Content today and performed the test which eventually breaks something in P3D. Using the default F-22 I switched to multiple airports around the world. Everything fine. Then I switched to a 3rd party aircraft- Carenado PC12 - and very soon after the link to Ai Companion was broken.

But this is not something I do as a matter of course. I’m content that if I select my aircraft at the Scenario screen all is well. Maybe it’s a bug in P3D. Who knows.

All is okay for now running via SSNG and not changing aircraft inside the sim.

I suspect uninstalling and reinstalling SSNG and restoring my preferences would not be easy.

[Cruachan 705]

2 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

How can it be responsible when I have the same problems running P3D direct? I appreciate the suggestion but I don’t think it will help.

Hi Ray,

Perhaps I misunderstood, but I was under the impression all was well while using SSNG whereas you were experiencing strange behaviours with various addons when SSNG was not part of the equation. I was simply wondering whether SSNG was creating unique configurations as part of its method of operation. If these configurations remained in place when P3D was run directly from its desktop icon then perhaps this might explain those anomalies. Uninstalling SSNG should, and again I say hopefully, undo those modifications, if such exist, and would be a way of confirming that SSNG was somehow involved.

Regards,

Mike

[Ray Proudfoot 8,976]

@Cruachan, Mike, since my original post I’ve discovered the problem will also occur when changing vehicles inside the sim irrespective of whether P3D is launched independently or via SSNG. Switching to the avatar broke the connection allowing SODE to show the test message. Maybe it’s a genuine bug.

I’ve compared my Prepar3D.cfg from SSNG and the one in my profile and they’re virtually identical with only a couple of minor differences.