5 replies to this topic

[Gypsy Baron]

Hello Pete,

I am wondering if there are user-readable offsets where FSX places the tsxt for the messages
that are displayed to the user...namely the messages in Multiplayer such as "XXX has joined the game",
"yyy has left the game", "Aircraft xxx substuted by Aircraft yyyy".

These messages are extremely difficult to read unless you happen to be running the display at 1024x768
as they are the red-text-on green-background type.

I used the "WhiteMessages=Yes" in the FSUIPC4.ini file and that works fine for the ATIS broadcasts
and my Lua display messages but that does not affect the 'comings and goings' messages.

I have observed, and written to,  offset 0x3380 and these messages come out OK but that is not
the buffer used by the messages I wish to access.

What I want to do is grab the text in the 'comings and goings' buffer and re-write it to my
Lua window, which is very readable.

Any clues as to where that buffer might be? I assume the messages are sent via  simconnect
but I have zero experience in that realm.

I find it interesting that the ATIS red-on-green messages are now white-on-green with the ini file
line added but the messages I am after are not affected by that fix.

Any clues/help would be appreciated.

   Paul

[Pete Dowson]

[quote name='Gypsy Baron' timestamp='1335134043' post='441444']
I am wondering if there are user-readable offsets where FSX places the tsxt for the messages
that are displayed to the user...namely the messages in Multiplayer such as "XXX has joined the game",
"yyy has left the game", "Aircraft xxx substuted by Aircraft yyyy".[/quote]

I've never found them -- not that i looked for those specifically, but I most certainly wanted to intercept the ATC messages.

[quote]Any clues as to where that buffer might be? I assume the messages are sent via  simconnect
but I have zero experience in that realm.[/quote]

Why would messages internal to FS be sent via SimConnect? SimConnect is an interface for add-ons.

If you ever find a way to get to these messages, do let me know, please!

Regards
Pete

[Gypsy Baron]

Quote

Why would messages internal to FS be sent via SimConnect? SimConnect is an interface for add-ons.

I see the message content coming in from the Server in a particular packet using Ethersnoop.exe
so I assumed that SimConnect would be involved in the MultiPlayer Server-Client configuration.

I couldn't find anything identifiable in the simconnect.log file however.

I'll continue to dig around and let you know if I discover anything of use.

  Paul

[Pete Dowson]

Gypsy Baron, on 23 April 2012 - 01:50 AM, said:

I see the message content coming in from the Server in a particular packet using Ethersnoop.exe
so I assumed that SimConnect would be involved in the MultiPlayer Server-Client configuration.

Multiplayer facilities were incorporated into FS before SimConnect was thought of. I don't know of any MP facilities in SimConnect.  All the SimConnect  client/server activities are related to getting inforation to applications and events back. It's a different interface altogether.

Regards
Pete

[Gypsy Baron]

Pete Dowson, on 23 April 2012 - 08:26 AM, said:

Multiplayer facilities were incorporated into FS before SimConnect was thought of. I don't know of any MP facilities in SimConnect.  All the SimConnect  client/server activities are related to getting inforation to applications and events back. It's a different interface altogether.

Regards
Pete

Hummm...over at FSDeveloper, in the SimConnect forum, I see a good number of threads dealing with communicating to
a multiplayer server via sinconnect. Not having an SDK covering the FSX version of multiplayer seems to cause a lot of
difficulty, from what I read there, but the threads definitely indicate that simconnect is used to create objects in the
multiplayer server as well as remove them.

   Paul

[Pete Dowson]

Gypsy Baron, on 23 April 2012 - 11:50 PM, said:

threads definitely indicate that simconnect is used to create objects in the multiplayer server as well as remove them.

Yes, of course. Same as Ultimate Traffic 2 using SimConnect to create AI Traffic and GSX to create ground traffic. That's not a specific Multiplayer facility, it's an AI object interface. FSUIPC uses the same interface to get information on objects for TCAS tracking and to remove certain airport vehicles when AES is active.

If you want information on AI aircraft you can get that from SimConnect, or via FSUIPC if you like. If that's the only information you need t could use something ready-made like Super TrafficBoard, or evben my own freeware TrafficLook.

Pete