Test Multiplayer Server

davewave · Post by **davewave** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 1:55 pm

I have created a test 2.0 server.

Would appreciate people coming in and testing it for me.

Thanks

FSMP · Post by **FSMP** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 5:30 pm

An IP address might help ??

davewave · Post by **davewave** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 6:39 pm

Good point Geoff. Long day lol.

The server is on 86.63.33.56

ROBERT DUNN 2 · Post by **ROBERT DUNN 2** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 2:55 am

I've had an aircraft on Dave's P3Dv2 host for 12 hours now and I've found it to be stable and error free. I've not disconnected ever in that time period. I shall leave that P3Dv2 multi connection going for an additional 12 hours and briefly report back to this thread my experiences. I'm testing connectivity and stability only at this time. I've posted on Dave's FSOpen forum my questions and proposals of Dave and FSOpen concerning P3Dv2 multi hosting.

msFLIGHTS.net also runs an experimental P3Dv2 host which has proven stable and well behaved also. That IP address is 71.231.12.143. Our community's hosting test has experienced few if any of the disconnects and client side errors that have plagued our FSX-FSOpen host server. The IP, hardware and operating systems are the same with our community's previous FSX-FSOpen host server as with our current P3Dv2 experimental host server. P3Dv2 multiplayer seems to work and work better, more dependably. msFLIGHTS.net continues to operate it's 24/7 FSX-FSOpen host server off different machinery and a different IP address than in the past. Our traditional hardware and IP are now testing P3Dv2 multi.

Respects, Bob...

ROBERT DUNN 2

RSDunn2@msflights.net

davewave · Post by **davewave** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 3:34 am

Hi Robert, thanks for testing. I'm taking mine down now, everyone please use msFlights.net on 71.231.12.143.

vvs · Post by **vvs** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 2:44 pm

Compatibility P3D version 1.4 and version 2

Hello.

i came to the test IP 71.231.12.143 with 2 PC or are installed P3D versions 1.4, I noticed following bug, with 6 players miss of fludity. The planes of the other players remain fixed to the ground. On the other hand in local area network my two versions 1.4 work perfectly, there is no bug. As in priori the server was in version 2 can be that the version 1.4 and the version 2 are not compatible between them.

Thank you

Waterman981 · Post by **Waterman981** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 6:37 pm

I know last night one person connected to it with his 1.4 install, but I never saw him either. It's probably safest to say you need the same version. It is interesting though that it doesn't straight off refuse the connection due to major version.

davewave · Post by **davewave** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 6:55 pm

Fsx would not let you join a session if you were on a different service pack level. I'd expected this to be the case between 1.4 and 2.0 but if the variables have remained the same then no reason why you can't be on the same session.

Of course it could be that LM just forgot to think about this so although you can connect the packets are a different format.

The packets are very different from fsx so I can't answer this yet, would appreciate if LM could confirm if 1.4/2.0 share the same UDP packet layout or they're not compatible and hence shouldn't be in the same session.

FSMP · Post by **FSMP** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 7:20 pm

If the Spoiler event has now been moved to give spoiler values in the Position packet in V2.0 ( as was stated in a previous LM post), then the packet structure is different, and 2.0 should have been updated to NOT connect, or allow connections from 1.4

Or maybe some clever stuff was done to make 1.4 & 2.0 remain compatible ??

I just connect 1.4 to MsFlights 2.0 server, and it connected, and on my Radar, I can see the two planes in the session ( Parked at the airport). Chat works, I can chat with others in the session.

No idea yet is position info is passing correctly .. that is where the 1.4 to 2.0 changes would potentially be ?

Anyway, early days yet .. no doubt any issues will get sorted in 2.1 or 2.2 ( like they did in 1.1 & 1.2)

ROBERT DUNN 2 · Post by **ROBERT DUNN 2** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 10:35 pm

At IP address 71.231.12.143, on what is now labled 'msFLIGHTS.net P3Dv2' msFLIGHTS.net-FSOpen.co.uk joint Prepar3D Academic version 2.0.9448.0 experimental public host server, the in-game voice has been ENABLED at 128 Kb/s (high quality) at the request of multiplayer pilots in attendance (Lite-Brite and Geoff). This in game voice enablement is a change from previous msFLIGHTS.net-FSOpen P3Dv2 host settings. Weather theme is fair weather, time is minus 5 hours from real time, host airport is KSEA Sea-Tac Seattle, host is in pilot role.

This host is running a minimal installation of P3Dv2 with settings minimal and frame limit set at 10 fps. The OS is Windows 8.1. This same computer with a different set of disk drives can be run under Windows 7 if required. P3Dv2 repurchase, reinstallation and reconfiguration would be required to run under this seperate boot drive Win 7.

Fast copper wire Comcast residential internet is Speedtest.net measured at 20 Mb/s upload speed, 120 Mb/s down and is constant at that speed. No other sizable internet draws occure (no Netflix, no internet data transfers, no FSX multiplayer hosting, no other gaming of any sort). The computer is a 3 year old Intel i7 2600K Sandy Bridge at 3.8 GHz, 256 Gb SSD, 16 Gb RAM, Gigabit broadband to an Asus RT-AC66U router. FSOpen.co.uk has TeamViewer access and permission to reconfigure anything as needed.

This P3Dv2 host server is intended to operate 24/7 during this developmental and testing period of indefinite duration.

What I personally and msFLIGHTS.net as a community would like as a result of this software development association with Dave and FSOpen.co.uk is concurrency with FSX multiplayer pilots. I'll explain this request for mutual situational interaction between those pilots who can't or choose not to advance to P3Dv2 and who still fly FSX (or older) and pilots running P3Dv2 in multiplayer.

msFLIGHTS.net has active P3Dv2 forum discussions ongoing, as does FSOpen.co.uk forums. msFLIGHTS.net's TeamSpeak3 at msflights.jmainguy.com is available for voice and text comms when flying the msFLIGHTS.net-FSOpen P3Dv2 host server.

FSMP · Post by **FSMP** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 11:23 pm

As far as compatability is concerned, I had no problem connecting to a 2.0 host with the old 1.4 client.

Mulderpilot13 · Post by **Mulderpilot13** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 11:26 pm

The test server has been up and active for a while now. Seems stable, and is 100% capable of this. I am proud to see ms FLIGHTS .net P3Dv2 server being reviewed and tested here. Thank you Bob for your GREAT efforts.

ROBERT DUNN 2 · Post by **ROBERT DUNN 2** » Wed Nov 27, 2013 3:06 am

Thanks, Mulder. IMHO however, FSOpen's interest in supporting P3Dv2 will prove much more beneficial to multiplayer communities and multiplayer pilots than the hardware and counsel that we at msFLIGHTS.net might contribute to this P3Dv2 multi promotional effort. While FSX Beyond Gamespy has indicated interest in P3Dv2 public multiplayer session listing, FSOpen has published a commitment toward this facilitation. I am pleased to be able to support such effort in some small way and excited by the possible benefits to the greater multiplayer world of simulated flight and ATC training. Mulder is one of the capable host TeamViewer administrators that will be keeping the msFLIGHTS.net-FSOpen experimental server operational and correctly configured 24/7.

A hardware specification correction and addition to my above hardware configuration post: The solid state drive is 512 Gb, not 256 Gb. I forgot I upgraded the SSD last year. Also there are 4 free Tb of 7,200rpm SATA3 HDD storage out of a total of 8 Tb on HDDs. They are 2 solo internal drives and 1 external USB3. I gave up on RAID 0 configurations as not worth the risk to reward, 'specially for the file storage that this capacity is now used. These drive descriptions are applicable only to the Windows 8.1 configuration of the host server. A Windows 7 configuration of this same computer involves entirely separate drives. While similar in capacity and speed, they are physically different hardware for Windows 7 configuration.

Evans · Post by **Evans** » Wed Nov 27, 2013 9:54 am

Nice to see I had some influence

ROBERT DUNN 2 · Post by **ROBERT DUNN 2** » Wed Nov 27, 2013 11:24 am

We intend to configure and operate this public multiplayer host server to the liking of the pilots who train and test on it. Sure you will have an influence and say in the server configuration as well as Geoff and all the other P3Dv2 multiplayer early adopters. We DO need to figure out a posting place for such host configuration discussion, problem reporting and requests. I have yet to determin what the development of FSOpen ServerP3Dv2 software will require of this host. We agreed to defer to Dave Wave's testing needs until his development and software testing are complete.

We started off with multiplayer configuration settings based on what we use on msFLIGHTS.net's FSX host server. On that server, FSX connected to Jeppesen weather feed, we run real world weather, 15 minute injected like most other FSX hosts. P3Dv2 only has weather themes and defined weather. I've been choosing fair weather theme for no particular reason. Considering the liklihood of other weather third party programs being used client side, how shall we configure weather in P3Dv2 multi?

Our original disabling of in-game voice was based on historical unsatisfactory experiences with such voice enablement in FSX multi. The audio quality was poor for us with that setting and the bandwidth demand was great at a time when we were conserving that bandwidth. We now have 8 times the bandwidth both up and down as then and therefore do not need to consider bandwidth demands host side. When using a TeamSpeak3 server, in-game FSX voice would horribly feed back when broadcasting from within FSX briefing room. I have yet to analyze these sort of in game voice things with P3Dv2 multi. We look for feedback from you P3Dv2 multiplayer pilots on all these questions. Lite-Brite expressed intention to investigate differences between FSX and P3Dv2 in game voice considerations.

Time of day setting at minus 5 hours from real time was a negotiated compromise based on the desires of our German contingent, the desire to primarily fly in daylight in our favorite regions and the real life "primetime" of users (mid and late evening). This setting can be decided on by our concensus also.

Server resets do NOT seem to be needed to clear errors like was common with FSX-FSOpen Server2. Therefore, I don't anticipate nearly as many opportunities to toggle these multiplayer settings during such reboots.

Initially, let's use this Prepar3d.com forum thread to communicate our advice and desires about multiplayer settings. Let's further decide how and where to discuss matters concerning this public P3Dv2 host operation on a more permanent basis. We at msFLIGHTS.NET should be able to offer our excellect vBulletin based forum for this purpose but it is not the neutral website some here might prefer. Our website is very active generally and probably the most active P3Dv2 multiplayer discussion place I've found during these early days of P3Dv2 release. I haven't visited AVSIM yet, tho.

Respects, Bob...

ROBERT DUNN 2

RSDunn2@msflights.net