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Hi Peter,
we have experienced a dramatic frame drop using version 1.0.21 which did not occur on previous versions.
Here some more info:
- Sim was P3D v 3.0
- about 15 players connected
- all players had a frame drop below 10 fps, frame restored if disconnecting from JoinFS
- one players used tacview to record all what happens into the net, Tacview showed literally hundreds of objects created in a random way more than actual players. JoinFS views did not showed these abnormal traffic, nobody of players created such objects.
- we will make deeper tests about
/Mario

Hi Mario,

The frame drop will be due to the large number of objects being created. Did nothing show up in the monitor logs? Did anyone have autobroadcast enabled?

Peter

Peter wrote:Hi Mario,

The frame drop will be due to the large number of objects being created. Did nothing show up in the monitor logs? Did anyone have autobroadcast enabled?

Peter

uhmm, did not watch at log, about autobroadcast it may be, i had it checked, don't know what's is the right way to use it..
will check better on the next session.
Thanks
/Mario

If you see any problems you can open the monitor view, click the record box in the bottom right and click View Logs. This will show the current and previous log files.

That auto-broadcast option is only experimental, it should be used with extreme caution. I would advise having everyone turn it off, otherwise all objects in your simulator including little trucks and all AI aircraft will be shared over the network and likely flood everyone's simulator with objects. The problem may be exacerbated if these are objects that it has trouble creating.

If you want to send particular objects over the network like missiles, you could try using the latest version 1.1.2 which allows you to select it by model in the objects list. I haven't yet explored this fully myself, but that's the general idea.

Hope that helps,
Peter

Hi Peter,
thanks a lot, will do as you say and send logs if necessary.
BTW:
did you have took a look at that "IS USER SIM" i mentioned before ?
/Mario

Hi Mario,

The IS USER SIM variable is already set by the simulator. So for each person in the session their aircraft is already marked as IS USER SIM. Is there a particular reason that you think this is not the case, or are you saying that something isn't working because of this?

Peter

Peter wrote:Hi Mario,

The IS USER SIM variable is already set by the simulator. So for each person in the session their aircraft is already marked as IS USER SIM. Is there a particular reason that you think this is not the case, or are you saying that something isn't working because of this?

Peter

Hi Peter,
yes you are right for the 1st person model, but what happens for 3rd person .mdl ?
In MP only the external model can be run by the 3rd person so you can write into .mdl code a xml snippet something like this: if the above code is ran by the 1st person .mdl AIM7 visibility depends on the local L:VAR that is not visible by 3rd person .mdl, so if you want that the situation be congruent (aka: i see what you see) you have to use some broadcast sim variable (ie: as in this case the main secondary radio freq.).
Above code runs perfectly in P3D/FSX multiplayer, it does not run in JoinFS since (A:IS USER SIM, bool) seems to be always true. Because (L:BL104_LOADED_RIGHT_7, bool) is not visible by external .mdl the result is that all our airplanes are seen by other players as they are completely clean without any external stores unless they are hard-coded into the .mdl. On other side it can happen that i see on other airplanes same stores that i have loaded while my mate did not loaded them.
What we need is the (A:IS USER SIM) be correctly broadcast true for the 1st person player and false for others.
Hope to have been clear.
/Mario

Hi Mario,

could you clarify what the .mdl is, are you talking about the .mdl file that comes with aircraft add-ons for the 3D model? Is there a website that has details about the code that you're referring to? It's completely new to me.

And are you just talking about weapon object variables?

Thanks,
Peter

Peter wrote:Hi Mario,

could you clarify what the .mdl is, are you talking about the .mdl file that comes with aircraft add-ons for the 3D model? Is there a website that has details about the code that you're referring to? It's completely new to me.

And are you just talking about weapon object variables?

Thanks,
Peter

Hi Peter,
.mdl (aka model) files are a sort of executable files (executed by the sim) that came out from the use of a 3D graphic software, almost all FSX/P3D developers use Autodesk 3ds Max that provides a comprehensive 3D modeling, animation, rendering, and compositing solution for games, film, and motion graphics artists.
The 3ds Max source is compiled by a FSX/P3D sdk-compiler (XtoMdl.exe) into .mdl file that contains all rendering instruction plus all animations and visibility tags.
The .mdl file can contain xml code to control animations and all actions related to.
FSX and P3D, differently from FS9, use two different .mdl files, one for the external model and on for the internal cockpit.
Both are executed by the "IS USER SIM = true" (aka 1st person player), the external one is executed exclusively by "IS USER SIM = false" (aka 3rd person player).
There are very few variables propagated in mp mode, all those labeled as "All aircraft" into SDK=>Simulation Variables, for this reason programmers uses local (L:VAR) variables to manage animations and visibility tags. This way work perfectly in single player but fails badly in multiplayer since local variables are not propagated and thus not seen by 3rd person .mdl, this lead to inconsistency in multiplayer "what i see is not what you see" as far animations and visibility tags.
As an example: if the programmer does not control ailerons and elevators movements they are correctly seen in mp since these variables are correctly propagated, however if you want give much realism to your model, ie: aileron/elevator can't move without hydraulic power, you have to use some L:VAR and inconsistency begins.
Our model (external .mdl) has to know if it is executed by 1st or 3rd person, in the former it uses L:VAR in the latter it has to use some "All aircraft" sim variables to control animations or visibility tag. It is the case of above xml code, it uses (L:BL104_LOADED_RIGHT_7, bool)
or (A:COM ACTIVE FREQUENCY:2, Frequency BCD16) pending on IS USER SIM value, it may seems odd use COM2 to set/unset visibility tag but COM2 is one of the "All aircraft" mp propagated sim variables.
IS USER SIM is not propagated using JoinFS since it works into a single player environment, so "IS USER SIM" is always true and model is forced to use (L:BL104_LOADED_RIGHT_7, bool) and since is not visible (false by default) the result is that all our models are seen as they were completely clean without any store, also several animations can't work for the same reason.
Hope to have been much clear than before.
Let me know if you can fix this issue otherwise we have to adopt a different strategy but this requires to recompile all our models.
/Mario

Thanks, Mario, that makes sense.

If you cross reference this page with IS USER SIM, https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/cc526981.aspx, it says that this variable can not be set with SimConnect, so it is unlikely that I can change this value directly after creating the object, unless you know of a way to do it?

I'll have a poke around and see if I can get the value to change.

Re: broadcasting VRS objects, I'm going to change the broadcast option so that you can set all VRS manufactured objects to be broadcast. This should help quite a bit. You also need to make sure you do Scan For Models with the "Misc" folder selected so that the correct models are shown for missiles etc.

Peter

Peter wrote:Thanks, Mario, that makes sense.

If you cross reference this page with IS USER SIM, https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/cc526981.aspx, it says that this variable can not be set with SimConnect, so it is unlikely that I can change this value directly after creating the object, unless you know of a way to do it?

I'll have a poke around and see if I can get the value to change.

Re: broadcasting VRS objects, I'm going to change the broadcast option so that you can set all VRS manufactured objects to be broadcast. This should help quite a bit. You also need to make sure you do Scan For Models with the "Misc" folder selected so that the correct models are shown for missiles etc.

Peter

Hi Peter,
unfortunately not, i knew it, however we can work around using a L:var
ie: (L:IS_FIRST_PERSON, bool) that can be set to "true" using a gauge into virtual cockpit. This var will be unknown by the .mdl and thus set to false, this could help to recognize if the .mdl is running in 3rd person or not, this need to recompile all our models but can be done.
/Mario

Peter, could you please add autobroadcast also for SSW weapons?

Thank you!

marte21 wrote:Peter, could you please add autobroadcast also for SSW weapons?

I've just installed FSX@War. Do you know which folder(s) the SSW weapons are in?

Thanks,
Peter

They are files appart from FSX@war. They are the weapons used by SimSkunkWorks vACMI, they are inside Airplanes folders. I think that Mario can provide you a complete set

Diego

I'm going to add something similar to the Edit Model Matching window, called Edit Broadcasts. You'll be able to select an item or specify the prefix of a groups of items that you want to broadcast. For example, adding "FSXatWar" will hopefully cover every aircraft and object in the FSX@War package.

Peter

Peter wrote:I'm going to add something similar to the Edit Model Matching window, called Edit Broadcasts. You'll be able to select an item or specify the prefix of a groups of items that you want to broadcast. For example, adding "FSXatWar" will hopefully cover every aircraft and object in the FSX@War package.

Peter

Hi Peter,
can be of interest know that all vacmi weapons are contained into SimObjects->Airplanes, are not simobjects but flying-objects with their own .air file and aircraft.cfg, all their titles have a prefix: title=VACMI-
ie:
title=VACMI-AIM9
title=VACMI-AIM7
title=VACMI-B61
title=VACMI-GBU12
etc..
all their folders begin with "SSW-VACMI-" prefix
i guess that they are already treated by JoinFS as it manages ai airplanes, they are also tracked by our radar, sometime happens that if you fire 2 aim-9's in rapid sequence the second one locks on the first one
/Mario

Hi Mario,

In the latest test version 1.1.4 it now broadcasts all models that start with "VRS_", "FSXatWar" and "VACMI". So you no longer need to use the auto-broadcast option if you were using that.

Best regards,
Peter

Peter wrote:Hi Mario,

In the latest test version 1.1.4 it now broadcasts all models that start with "VRS_", "FSXatWar" and "VACMI". So you no longer need to use the auto-broadcast option if you were using that.

Best regards,
Peter

thanks a lot
/Mario

Just curious as I'm not a user of any of the fighter sims etc.

What does your average default FSX pilot see these weapons as when they are auto broadcast in JFS?

The default model they have set?

If so do these weapons/default models expire on impact?

ATC Roo wrote:Just curious as I'm not a user of any of the fighter sims etc.

What does your average default FSX pilot see these weapons as when they are auto broadcast in JFS?

The default model they have set?

If so do these weapons/default models expire on impact?

Hi,
as far dropped bomb most probably he does see nothing since it falls behind him, can see the explosion however.
Missile are more interesting since you can see them coming against you and also can be plotted on radar scope
Each weapon has his own visual model and flight model as well.
They "should" expire on contact, however, due to a FSX/P3D limitation, they remain inactive into the scenario.
Hope to has been clear
regards
/Mario