Airmanger + realsimgear + foreflight MSFS2020

[Aviator857]

Ok fixed it. See the SimConnect api (I know this is p3d link but its the same)
http://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv3/LearningC ... nnect.html

<MaxClients></MaxClients>

If this is is set in C:\Users\<user_name>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\simconnect.xml then up it by 5-10 at a time until everything connects. It does require restarting the sim each time so you may just want to bump it by a larger value and reduce it if it causes an issue.

Not sure if its a default or if it got set either manually or by other tool (early on I had to run spad before the drivers caught up) at some point its been on that computer since release.

Also found a Microsoft article on it https://docs.flightsimulator.com/html/P ... ?agt=index

So as I expected there was a limit to the number of sim connect clients, but it is variable and my or may not be set.

As a rule of thumb though look at the problem and don't assume its the other guy... I have been working on this on and off for 2 weeks and none of the vendors seem to care to actually dig into the issue.

Also the "Nothing needs adding to air manager or changing in air manager." statement as a paying customer really rubs one the wrong way... Why not consider adding in a feature request. If you added the adsb out using the stratus protocol that fs2ff or flight events (or other open source solutions do) that would be one more reason to use airmanager, and one less sim connect client a user needs to use. Each sim connect connection has a impact on MSFS2020's performance... Seems like a reasonable request to add that capability.

BTW the EGT gauge that is for the Cessna 172 is marked as compatible with msfs2020 but is referencing the wrong variable and the math is wrong on calculating the needle position with the value provided. I've fixed it locally but need to refine the math as I just put a calibration value in to pull it in line.

[Aviator857]

Panel using airmanager/arduino, Foreflight attached using fs2ff, and RSG 430 using their plugin. Honeycomb yoke, old saitech cessna pedals, an android running airmanager to give me some additional radio stack equipment before I build out the rest on a hardware layer.

trying to get the PIT to match the IRL 172 I fly for IFR practice (doesn't have to match 1:1 but the primary interfaces I want close).

[jph]

Ok, what do you mean by "port" are you talking a sim connect socket, or or you talking about serial ports? If you are talking serial ports that is handled I know it aggressively scans that. If you are talking sim connect "ports' then locking the connections would make sense.

From my point of view I'm looking at 3 black boxes. If this was open source I could isolate it. The variable I think you are missing is if I remove air manager from the community folder and run realsimgear app/plugin I can then connect flight events, fs2ff, and a few other random sim connect clients I tried to see if I can load it up. So why does removing the airmanager from the community folder make everything else work? The same thing goes with running airmanager, no realsimgear then I can run all the other simconnect clients I want. If it was entirely RSG's aggressive port locking then one would think that realsimgear only would block the other sim connect apps but it does not.

Actually digging through the simconnect API I think I may have an answer, I need to look at MSFS specifically and see if I can access what I need to make a change and report back if that is a fix.

A COM port. A Serial port in this case. Simconnect I know absolutely nothing about as the msfs game is banned on religious grounds in my house.

[Aviator857]

Ok but Airmanager utilizes sim connect, and sim connect (though slightly different) is what is used through out the MS/p3d simulators. I use Xplane also though the flight dynamics doesn't worry me much as neither get it perfect on the fringes of the flight envelope and in the middle of the flight envelope at least in a 172 everything is close enough in either. Xplane does have a more refined IFR setup, but for practicing holds and approaches I would rather do it without ATC as the radio work doesn't stress me out in the real world.

I've also updated realsimgear and they said they would note the max connections setting for any future customer support issues where simconnect is concerned. As well as Microsoft/Asorbo in the issue I had open in the SDK... if nothing else the next person that runs into this might be lucky enough to land on one of them.

[Ralph]

Maybe RSG can try to replicate what you say. All they have to do is install our plugin.
But I know for example that one of the RSG guys uses our software with their hardware in his simulator. And I'm sure that there are more, I've seen some setups in pictures.
You can also try a fresh install of FS2020...

[jph]

As a rule of thumb though look at the problem and don't assume its the other guy... I have been working on this on and off for 2 weeks and none of the vendors seem to care to actually dig into the issue.

What do you expect 'them' to do ?
Duplicate your setup exactly ? - I think not.
You seem to have sorted out the issue for yourself so the exercise was worth it.

[Ralph]

We cannot 'dig into' this. It would have to be RSG that has to see where it goes wrong. We do not have their source code, so we cannot do this. They are the ones that should be able to debug this.

[jph]

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[Aviator857]

I get that some of you are users and not simconnect developers so my frustration is with the different software vendors not those of you trying to help. I get it its frustrating as a developer when you know your software has passed every combination of testing you can throw at it and it dies in the wild. It is either going to be a computer setting or other software conflicting. And there is no possible way to test every permutation. However take your developer hat off and think of it as a customer when you are dealing with 3 closed source solutions trying to figure out why it doesn't work and you get a response from each pointing their finger at the other its frustrating. Someone at Asobo actually did set up a near identical configuration to test however it was after I found the answer before they posted back. It seems at least on a new install of MSFS2020 this value isn't set (or isn't low). I did post back for them also with the answer so they would stop investigating and hopefully be there if someone searching for something similar.

I knew it was something limiting the number of client connections, having never developed against simconnect I didn't know there was a way for the end user to change that limit. Since it is a setting not in the "community folder" that we all clear out when there is an issue the setting persisted through my attempts to fix it.

A better error message on all the sim connect clients would of helped also, some just crashed, some froze, but others said can't connect, but then again most of the simconnect tools are written by hobbyists and don't have big company money behind it. May be worth while noting the max connection flag along with network, firewall, etc in any FAQ's related to possible reasons it will not connect to the sim... after all the last one to start is the one that fails. Of course this goes back to simconnect and msfs2020 if a client can't connect due to that flag it should get a error that says something to the effect "cant connect max connections exceeded" and maybe some info on how to change that, and then the sim connect clients relay those errors.

[jph]

It is a simconnect problem and up to the simconnect program to notify, or in the fs game. It should be handled centrally. It is a non issue then.