Network and connection problems

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Rinma
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Joined: Fri Jul 17, 2020 9:05 am

Network and connection problems

Post by Rinma »

Hello,

I tried with a friend of mine to fly together. Here is what happened:
- We could not connect to each other directly
- We both opened ports in the router
- Still no direct connection possible
- I opened a Hub, He could not find it
- We connected both to a pre-existing hub, both with X-Plane
- We were both connected and could see us in the Users list but not in the simulator
- I switched to Flight Simulator X and he still used X-Plane
- Now we could see each other

So in summary, we could not connect to each other. Not in a global session, not in hub mode nor directly. As we could connect we were not able to use the same simulator.

How can I debug this to provide more information?
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Peter
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Re: Network and connection problems

Post by Peter »

Hi, are you still having problems with this?

Peter
Papric
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Joined: Sat Nov 14, 2020 4:07 pm

Re: Network and connection problems

Post by Papric »

Hello,
We have exactly the same issue.
We use the last version which is v 1.5.4 under Windows 10 for me and Windows 7 for my friend.
Thanks and regards.
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Peter
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Re: Network and connection problems

Post by Peter »

Hi Papric,

Are both the Simulator and Network buttons green?

Are you using X-Plane? If so, don't forget you currently need to add extra AI aircraft in the X-Plane Flight Configuration to show the other pilots in the session.

Peter
Papric
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Re: Network and connection problems

Post by Papric »

Yes Peter,
we use JoinFS for FSX and P3D. and both simulators are alive and buttons are green.
In fact my friend cannot connect to my server when I activate my VPN... (his network button is orange)
But we can both connect to any existing green hub available and see each other.
We'd like to enable a hub since we are several members of our club flying together, some are flyinf FSX-SE, FSX, P3D, and also MSFS2020...
I need to activate my VPN to properly run FSXWX (My Internet provider is Orange which seems to ban some FSXWX TCP links... )
Best regards.
Eric.
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Peter
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Re: Network and connection problems

Post by Peter »

Papric wrote: Sat Nov 14, 2020 4:56 pm Yes Peter,
we use JoinFS for FSX and P3D. and both simulators are alive and buttons are green.
In fact my friend cannot connect to my server when I activate my VPN... (his network button is orange)
But we can both connect to any existing green hub available and see each other.
We'd like to enable a hub since we are several members of our club flying together, some are flyinf FSX-SE, FSX, P3D, and also MSFS2020...
I need to activate my VPN to properly run FSXWX (My Internet provider is Orange which seems to ban some FSXWX TCP links... )
Best regards.
Eric.
JoinFS only uses UDP, so basically you need your router to be able to get UDP packets externally at port 6112 and make sure they arrive at your PC on 6112. This usually involves setting a Port Forward on the router, however it's not unknown for some ISPs to be awkward with their networking and restrict your use of external ports.

A possible test would be to connect as you are to an existing hub and ask the other person to look at the User/Session view in JoinFS. Ask them what port number it shows next to your name in the list. If it's not 6112, then your router is doing some port allocation and may explain why they can't connect to you on 6112.

Peter
Papric
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Re: Network and connection problems

Post by Papric »

Thanks Peter,
We'll check that.
Best regards.
Eric.
OLYMPUS38
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Re: Network and connection problems

Post by OLYMPUS38 »

Many problems to connect two FS2020 with Joinfs in session mode :
we used last JoinFS ( 1.6.6 ) and we have the two buttons in green Simulator and Network
but unable to see the planes on the same runway in FS2020 : very strange because we can see
the other plane in the world map screen with correct identifier but not on the runway.
An idea about what happens ( or what we forget to do ...) ??
Thanks
Best regards
J C S
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Peter
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Re: Network and connection problems

Post by Peter »

Hi J C S,

Any chance we could get together on Discord to try this out? I really need to get to the bottom of this particular issue.

Thanks,
Peter
OLYMPUS38
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Re: Network and connection problems

Post by OLYMPUS38 »

OK i will connect to Discord the afternoon
J C S
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Peter
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Re: Network and connection problems

Post by Peter »

OLYMPUS38 wrote: Sat Jan 02, 2021 12:07 pm OK i will connect to Discord the afternoon
J C S
I'm busy between 1500z and 1700z, but before or after those times should be good.

Peter
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Peter
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Re: Network and connection problems

Post by Peter »

For the benefit of others, it appears that the issues related to aircraft not appearing in the simulator are due to a problem with the Elevation Correction feature. So if you can the aircraft in the JoinFS Aircraft window, cross reference the altitude value shown, and try disabling Elevation Correction in the JoinFS settings to see what happens. I've just done some testing and the aircraft appeared correctly after switching off this setting. You may need to keep this setting switched off until I find a proper fix for it.

Peter
OLYMPUS38
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Re: Network and connection problems

Post by OLYMPUS38 »

Always the same problem with JoinFS : connection is correct but some of friends see nobody on the runway. :
We use the last version 1.7.5 . I create a session and five friends connect to this session .
Simulator and network Buttons are green and i see every body on the view / session screen and also on the view/airplane screen.
Also in Littlenav Map we can see the others . But as we are on the airport , one ( always the same ) can't see anybody and another see only 2 planes.
For the others, all is correct we can see every body with the correct plane. have you an idea wherre we can search ? I don't think it's a JoinFS problem
but perhaps a FS2020 problem but we have all exactly the same settings in FS2020 and in JoinFS
J C Solecki
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Peter
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Re: Network and connection problems

Post by Peter »

OLYMPUS38 wrote: Fri Feb 19, 2021 9:03 am Always the same problem with JoinFS : connection is correct but some of friends see nobody on the runway. :
We use the last version 1.7.5 . I create a session and five friends connect to this session .
Simulator and network Buttons are green and i see every body on the view / session screen and also on the view/airplane screen.
Also in Littlenav Map we can see the others . But as we are on the airport , one ( always the same ) can't see anybody and another see only 2 planes.
For the others, all is correct we can see every body with the correct plane. have you an idea wherre we can search ? I don't think it's a JoinFS problem
but perhaps a FS2020 problem but we have all exactly the same settings in FS2020 and in JoinFS
J C Solecki
Are you able to see everyone when in the air? That would eliminate any ground elevation issues.

For the person that can't see others, what does it say in the JoinFS monitor log?

Peter
OLYMPUS38
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Re: Network and connection problems

Post by OLYMPUS38 »

I don't think for an elevation issue because every body is on the ground and it's the same in the air.
For the monitor log i have not the answer : we have to do another try to see that perhaps this afternoon.
Thanks
SeamusMcNeil
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Joined: Tue Jan 19, 2021 4:11 pm

Re: Network and connection problems

Post by SeamusMcNeil »

Hi Peter I hope you are doing well - Jim Oates here from cixVFR ;)
I want to say how amazing joinFS is and thank you so much for your time developing this all these years.

So in regards to port 6112, everyone in my group can connect to our hub but one chap - I asked him to connect to me and he did but it did not have port 6112 next to his name it had some other random port. I saw your comments about that before. Is the port next to their name the port they are coming from or trying to connect to? I think I see that they need to also be coming from port 6112? is that correct please?

I understand it is UDP but I dont fully understand if joinFS sets port 6112 as the source and destination port numbers?

I put this post here as it is related so please let me know if I should start another thread.

Cheers
Jim
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Peter
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Re: Network and connection problems

Post by Peter »

Hi Jim, :)

Thanks for your comments, always welcome.

The port that you see in the session window is their router port that has been chosen by the router to communicate with. That's basically the router job, to translate addresses and ports as they go out and come in to your home network. The 6112 default JoinFS port is on your PC, so when data is sent to the internet is goes out of 6112 on your PC, arrives at your router, but by default (no port forwarding) the router hardware can send it out from any port. When the data comes back to the router's port it remembers the translation and redirects it back to 6112 on your PC.

So basically, it's not a problem to see random ports, unless they have configured port forwarding on their router in which case it should be 6112. There is no real need to configure port forward unless you are creating sessions.

I don't know if you have seen all the other posts but a connection problem has arisen over recent days due to a web service returning incorrect information which has caused a lot of people to be unable to connect. This is now fixed in JoinFS version 2.0.4. I released it last night so it should ask you to update when you run it. Please bear in mind that 2.x.x is incompatible with 1.x.x so all will need to update, including the CIX hub. That should fix the problem.

Peter
SeamusMcNeil
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Re: Network and connection problems

Post by SeamusMcNeil »

Excellent information Peter - many thanks. I have asked the group I am in to all upgrade to the latest version.

All the best for now.

Cheers
Jim
OLYMPUS38
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Re: Network and connection problems

Post by OLYMPUS38 »

We have made a try do connect with always the problem : my friend don't see me
here you have the log of JoinFS made by diagnostic with the last version 2.0.4

- Joined session
22/02/2021 15:24:15.460 - Added node '****:6112/30' @ '****:6112'
22/02/2021 15:24:15.494 - Connected '****:6112/30'
22/02/2021 15:24:15.630 - Listing aircraft 'OLYMPUS38' from '****:6112/30' - Model 'Asobo Baron G58'
22/02/2021 15:24:15.671 - Injecting aircraft 'OLYMPUS38' - User '****:6112/30' - Model 'Asobo Baron G58' - Sub 'C172'
22/02/2021 15:24:15.696 - ERROR - Failed to inject aircraft 'OLYMPUS38' - User '****:6112/30' - ID '4294967295' - Sub 'C172'
22/02/2021 15:25:02.119 - ERROR - Unable to get weather observation
22/02/2021 15:25:02.439 - L’adresse demandée n’est pas valide dans son contexte, 0.0.0.0:6112
22/02/2021 15:25:02.439 - L’adresse demandée n’est pas valide dans son contexte, 0.0.0.0:6112
22/02/2021 15:26:02.109 - ERROR - Unable to get weather observation
22/02/2021 15:26:02.445 - L’adresse demandée n’est pas valide dans son contexte, 0.0.0.0:6112
22/02/2021 15:26:02.445 - L’adresse demandée n’est pas valide dans son contexte, 0.0.0.0:6112

it seems that is a problem of injection by Simconnect of the aircarft . the connection is correct
What do you think about that
We have verified the version of Simconnect wich is 10.0.61259.0
OLYMPUS 38 is my callsign in MSFS2020
Best regards
Jean Charles solecki
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Peter
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Re: Network and connection problems

Post by Peter »

Hi Jean,

Could you confirm that you are using MSFS2020 and that you have the Baron G58 available in the MSFS2020 menu?

Could you also make sure that the Asobo options are ticked in the scan window, 'File|Scan For Models'.

Peter
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