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Posted

Hi Pete.

I'M using the PM Boeing setup with wideclient on a network with 3 computers.

On the server runs fs2004 @21 FPS.

On client 1 : the pfd

On client 2: the mcp and the cdu.

Problem stuttering on the clients they connect and disconnect all the time.

What can cause this problem?

If you give me your e-mail address I send you the log's and ini's.

Kind regards

Jan Geurtsen

Posted

Problem stuttering on the clients they connect and disconnect all the time.

What can cause this problem?

I don't know. I had another report with this recently. Are there no error messages, just disconnections every 11-12 seconds or so? If so, it is similar.

I don't know why this has started happening recently, with no changes at the Network level to either WideClient or WideServer. The only recent change was to Wideclient, to add the button polling. Can you see if it is better with that switched off (put ButtonScanInterval=0 into the Wideclient.ini file [config] section)?

Because of the other report, I already have this in my list to start looking at soon, but I am up to my (failing) eyes in other things for a couple of weeks. I would need to try to reproduce it here, or failing that, to get some diagnostics.

If you give me your e-mail address I send you the log's and ini's.

There's a little "email" button at the end of each of my messages. You can use that (but please don't make a habit of it! :wink: ). If you are sending logs and things, please Zip them up. I need both Server and Client ends -- please Close FS and the clients down first, as then I also get frame rates and performance summaries at the end.

For additional diagnostics you could try changing the Logging. Put "Log=Debug" into the [user] section of the WideServer.ini (replacing any other Log= there already), and "Log=DebugAll" into the [user] section of the WideClient.ini (replacing any other Log= there already).

This will make the logs very large, so please keep the session short -- long enough only to prove the problem still occurs -- and replace the original Log= lines after (probably "Log=Errors+").

I will then get to this when I can. Apologies now for any delay.

Regards,

Pete

Posted

Hi Jan,

I think I may have found a possible cause of the problems you've been having. Could you please try adding this line to your WideServer.INI (in the [Config] section):

RestartTime=0

If this helps, can you then try

RestartTime=30

I think it is the new default I set for this -- 10 seconds. This is shorter than the 20 seconds fixed timeout I use to declare a client dead, and I think under certain timing circumstances the two kinda get synchronized and WideServer kills the Clients wrongly.

If this is what is happening, both the above two settings should fix it. Let me know, please, and I will then be able to fix the code.

Regards,

Pete

Posted

Hi,

sorry I posted the same in the PM forum but I think it was not the right one, so here again....

I am not sure if I have the same problem with widefs like it was discribed. But one thing alerted me. I have a very fast server too (P4 @ 3,6 GHz and 1 GBit LAN) connected via a 100 Mbit switch to a client (Athlon 2000+ 100 Mbit LAN). WideFS Version 6.221.

What´s happening is:

If I start only the wideclient everything is OK. Just in the moment the client connects with the server (starting the FS) the client "blocks" (Prozessor load jumps to 90-100 %, can`t move or minimize the window). If I stop the server (stop FS) everything is OK on the client again. I tried everything (changing values in wide*.ini e.g. WaitForNewData, NetworkTiming, etc) it changed only a bit. When it ran "a bit" the Rx and wx counter runs "jerky" and the GC shows me 5 as data rate.

Looked in the log files (option debug) nothing special. What I could see is that the Server says that several clients are connected and the dataflow on the server is smooth and constant. If I start the client and server together you can see that the values for Rx and Tx are the same, but updated on the client only sometimes..

And now the interesting: If I am using a wide client version 5.20 everything is fine....(normal dataflow, GC running well,...)

Any ideas

Torsten

Posted

If I start only the wideclient everything is OK.

Until it connects to the Server it isn't doing anything, so it isn't exactly "ok", just idle.

Just in the moment the client connects with the server (starting the FS) the client "blocks" (Prozessor load jumps to 90-100 %, can`t move or minimize the window). If I stop the server (stop FS) everything is OK on the client again. I tried everything (changing values in wide*.ini e.g. WaitForNewData, NetworkTiming, etc) it changed only a bit. When it ran "a bit" the Rx and wx counter runs "jerky" and the GC shows me 5 as data rate.

There really are no parameters which you should change for any of that. When you say "blocks", is this WideClient only with no applications running? If so, all it will be doing is sending one short message every 2 seconds or so to maintain contact with FS.

If you only get problems when loading an application program, then it will be related to something that is doing.

Please do NOT mess about with parameters in WideClient or WideServer INI files unless advised. They have been carefully optimised for best results on most systems. The "RestartTime I mention above is an interim fix for the constant restarts which afflict one or two folks.

If your application is trying to send/receive data constantly and causing the machine to appear locked, then you can set a larger TimeOut parameter, as this holds off the application (slows it down) on each request, but in general it isn't recommended, and I don't know of any programs for which it is needed.

If you are running PM's PFD.EXE then try the UseTimer facility in its INI.

Otherwise the major suspect is probably going to be the OpenGL drivers.

And now the interesting: If I am using a wide client version 5.20 everything is fine....(normal dataflow, GC running well,...)

Hmm, with which WideServer?

Any ideas

Not enough information I'm afraid. I always need to see both client and server logs and INI files. I could also do with knowing what applications you are attempting to run.

Regards,

Pete

Torsten

Posted

Did what you said, restarttime=0 in the wideclient ini.

No luck. Not better not worst.

This may well be because there is no such parameter in Wideclient.ini! It will be ignored completely. Only the Server has the power to restart all clients. Please read my messages a little more slowly! :wink: I said:

Could you please try adding this line to your WideServer.INI (in the [Config] section):

I have a revised version of WideFS ready to release, with this fixed and a few other small improvements, but I really do need you to try this interim fix first, please. :?

Regards,

Pete

Posted

Sorry but I mean the server.ini.

The logs will be different then -- the timeout of 10 seconds set by the RestartTime parameter is the only one which could eplain the 10-12 second cycle shown in the original logs you sent. Either you've entered the parameter wrong -- e.g. added it to the end of the file instead of putting it in the [Config] section -- or adding it has changed what is happening and you have another problem which is not shown in the original logs.

Therefore, please double check, then send me both Logs and both INI files.

Regards,

Pete

Posted

Hi Peter,

thanks for your imediate answer.

I will make the logfiles on the weekend. But one thing:

I just reverted the client to 5.20, then it is fine. The server is still 6.221. The client also "blocks" or seems to be locked if there is no other application running.

I tried the user timer also, but no success.

Torsten

Posted

I just reverted the client to 5.20, then it is fine. The server is still 6.221.

I've got no records, no documentation, nothing, for 5.20. That is from 2002 and I only keep stuff for one year. 5.20 was the last one with minimal support for TCP//IP. The version after that, 5.40, was the first truly optimised for TCP/IP operations.

I really cannot derive anything from such a comparison, sorry. If you are happy with that mixed setup. continue with it, but I would have thought it better to find out what was wrong with your system.

Since 5.40 the Network code has been almost 100% stable and unchanging, right through to now, with 6.23 about to be released. The changes over these past 18 months have either been purely for FS2004 additions, or for button polling, improved logging, and little parameter tweaks.

The client also "blocks" or seems to be locked if there is no other application running.

Ouch. Something is really screwy on your system somewhere then, as it does nothing -- it has nothing to do -- till you run an application.

Old versions didn't use to connect when no applications are running, so there's not a comparison in that way.

Anyway, as I always say, I cannot even make a guess with no information.

Regards,

Pete

Posted
Pete,

Send you a e-mail with the log's and ini's.

Kind regards

Jan.

Thanks! They are perfect, so this proves that the problem you had in WideFS is avoided by the RestartTime=0 setting. This means I can go ahead with the 'proper' fix.

If you've still got some stutters I'm afraid you need to look elsewhere. There's not a single glitch shown in the WideFS logs, though, please, next time, be sure to close everythnig down -- the performance figures I get from the closing lines in each log often tell interesting stories! :wink:

Regards,

Pete

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