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ASN on a networked computer ?

dominique

By dominique
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NoLonger Life Member

NoLonger

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I am running ASN on my flight sim PC. I thought about running it over a network but then I read it has no real advantages, even more, some report worse performance with ASN over a network! HiFi mainly gives this option because some people keep on wanting it, not because it's better. So imho it isn't worth all the trouble at all.

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Sid Life Member

Sid

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Also been intrigued by networking but what J van E says has also kept me using it on my main flight PC upto now. In general I would love it if networking could be better harnessed and optimised to maximise its potential to allow us to do more things offloaded and do them with improved performance and more efficiently whilst allowing the main sim PC to focus on the minimum it needs to do and in turn focus its own performance. I hope LM will further explore network connectivity, interfacing and its real potential to the full alongside the on-going development of their P3D platform as it could even lead to wider, better and creative things in the future to have such capability built in and optimised further than with the current FSX level.


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skywreck Senior Member

skywreck

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I am running ASN on my flight sim PC. I thought about running it over a network but then I read it has no real advantages, even more, some report worse performance with ASN over a network! HiFi mainly gives this option because some people keep on wanting it, not because it's better. So imho it isn't worth all the trouble at all.

 

ASN running on a client PC means that the program processes run on the client,  the resulting weather creation data will then be injected to the Server for graphic display creation of clouds, etc. There is also an advantage in running as many programs as possible on the client by avoiding to have to keep switching between screens during a flight on the Server (assuming only one monitor is being used) - Any FSX utility running on a client will reduce some CPU usage on the Server.

If a network is properly created and configured performance is not an issue. You can give it a try and then test your FSX performance before and after.

 

If you need advice on how to set-up a network (not to be confused with a Homegroup), let me know and I will gladly oblige.

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paddler Life Member

paddler

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ASN running on a client PC means that the program processes run on the client,  the resulting weather creation data will then be injected to the Server for graphic display creation of clouds, etc. There is also an advantage in running as many programs as possible on the client by avoiding to have to keep switching between screens during a flight on the Server (assuming only one monitor is being used) - Any FSX utility running on a client will reduce some CPU usage on the Server.

If a network is properly created and configured performance is not an issue. You can give it a try and then test your FSX performance before and after.

 

If you need advice on how to set-up a network (not to be confused with a Homegroup), let me know and I will gladly oblige.

Please can you explain the difference between "network" and "home group"? When I upgrade my fsx / P3D computer in a few months I was looking at using my present computer to run addons and leave the new system purely for the flight sim. I currently have other computers hooked up to my home router, this is what I thought that I would hook up to as well though I didn't know if I could simply connect the new flight sim computer direct to the old one via cable and accomplish the connection that way.

 

Thanks in advance.

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skywreck Senior Member

skywreck

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Best to give you an example..

 

Assuming both your computers running on Win7 OS. You need to do some prep work to get it all working.

Have identical account names and passwords on both computers, with full admin rights.
Go to Control Panel\System and Security\System\Change settings\Computer Name\Change - Give a unique name to
each PC but ensuring your Workgroup name is the same on both, example FSNET. Do this on both Computers. You will need to reboot.

Go to Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network Connections\Local Area Connection(whichever is active), then right click and select Properties, highlight with mouse Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4 and then select Properties tab in the window.

Bullet in Use the following IP address:
IP address: can be any in the range of 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.255
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: this is your router address, often 192.168.0.1 - login to your router and check it out.

Bullet in Use the following DNS server addresses:
Enter the IP addresses of the Preferred and Alternate DNS servers. You'll need to ask your ISP or check
for the info at their website, most of them make this info available in the support pages.

Do the above in both Computers.

As an example, my computers have the following unique IP addresses - 192.168.0.10 & 192.168.0.20
Same subnet mask as above and same gateway IP address (your router's IP address).

Now you need to share some folders and assign appropriate permissions.

Open Windows Explorer
Right click on your C:\ drive and select Properties then Sharing tab then click on Advanced Sharing.
Place tick in Share this folder - click on Permissions, click on Add then in the window that opens
type the common username you have for both computers, then close and you will see this username
appearing in the Group or user names, and below under Permissions for (your username) make sure
you tick all the boxes. Carry out this process for all disk drives you wish to share in your computers, as well
as for any folders you need to share. Reboot.

You have now created a simple network, have assigned a unique IP address for each PC and
created shares in various drives and folders. Now the last step is for you to be able to access
those shared drives and folders.

Go to Windows explorer\Tools\Map Network Drive, in the new window select browse and the unique names of
your PCs should appear under Network clicking on any of the PC names will show you the contents of all the drives
you have shared and you can select one and assign a Network letter to it. Thereafter every time both PCs are on,
you will have access to your disks.

Now you can install on your client PC any software such as Weather Programs, etc. Be aware that some older
programs such as TOPCAT still require WideFS to connect to FSX remotely.

Hope this is of help. If you have any other questions, let me know and I'll do my best to help you.

 

Regards

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skywreck Senior Member

skywreck

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Thank you Joaquin for your offer. I installed the trial version of ASN yesterday on the flying computer but will try now to network it.

 

Be guided by my earlier post on creating a Network when up and running:

 

 

Make sure you install the Acceleration SDK or SP2 SDK if you don't have the former. Go to: SDK\Core Utilities Kit\SimConnect SDK\lib and on the client PC only run SimConnect.msi

Now go to SDK\Core Utilities Kit\SimConnect SDK\config and copy SimConnect.xml to AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX in the Server (FSX PC), open the file with notepad and fill in the areas in bold based on your network settings

 

<!-- Example Global (remote) IPv4 Server Configuration-->

  <SimConnect.Comm>

    <Disabled>False</Disabled>

    <Protocol>IPv4</Protocol>

    <Scope>global</Scope> Make sure this is set to Global

    <MaxClients>64</MaxClients>

    <Address>192.168.0.10</Address> This will be whatever IP address you selected for your FSX PC when creating the network

    <Port>500</Port> I find this port works fine most of the time.

  </SimConnect.Comm>

 

Save File and close.

 

Now go back to SDK\Core Utilities Kit\SimConnect SDK\config and copy SimConnect.cfg to the root folder of your client PC and using notepad edit as shown below.

 

[simConnect]

Protocol=IPv4

Address=192.168.0.10 This will be whatever IP address you selected for your FSX PC when creating the network

Port=500 As explained above

MaxReceiveSize=4096

DisableNagle=0

 

Save and close.

 

Now it is extremely important that you read the Network Configuration section in the ASN Manual because you will need to open ports and possible permissions in your Antivirus/ Firewall.

 

Now reboot both PCs and start ASN on client then start FSX on Server and at some point during FSX start-up ASN should display a green message indicating it is connected to FSX.

 

Once the network has been created you can if you prefer use one keyboard and one mouse for both PCs using Input Director, Synergy or any similar programs.

 

Regards

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skywreck Senior Member

skywreck

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Joaquin,

 

Many thanks.

 

By the way I forgot to answer your question about difference between Workgroup and Homegroup Networks, have a look at Microsoft's explanation here http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-8/domain-workgroup-homegroup-what-is-difference

 

I prefer the Workgroup because I can assign the IP addresses I want and restrict access to a specific user (myself). My wife and kids all have their own laptops/PCs are also on same workgroup and this allows me to customise their access to different Network areas.

 

Regards

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