FS Stutters every 13 seconds with Wideserver.dll installed

[GWNorris]

Hello Pete

I can usually figure things out with FS, but this one has me stumped.

I have been a long time user of both FSUIPC and WideFS. and never a problem. About a week ago I decided to install Service pack 2, for XP. After that I noticed my flight sim would stutter once every 13 seconds. It would happen with all aircraft, default and payware ( the common popular ones). At the time I was using FSUIPC 3.53 and Widefs 6.50. I tried everything to figure out what was causing it and finally decided to uninstall all things related to flight sim, including Flight Sim itself. Cleaned the registry, defragged, and then Reinstalled Flight Sim/ and 9.1 update.

Testing in between each step and all was fine, no stutters. smooth as glass ( no Add on, utilities or anything installed yet, Just Flight Sim and the 9.1 upgrade)

Then I installed a fresh version of FSUIPC 3.709 and Wideserver 6.70 and the Key file (which I had saved in MY Documents) and a fresh blank cfg file for widefs. I let FSUIPC make it's own new cfg file.

Well I started up the sim and guess what, the 13 second stutter was back.

every 13 seconds. ( my client PC was not even booted up), Only dealing with the flight sim PC. I have not even turned on my client PC since I decided to uninstall All FS stuff from the FS PC to find out what is causing this.

OK, 13 second stutter was back, so I deleted the FSUIPC and Widefs files and decided to try them one at a time. Reinstalled FSUIPC 3.709 and the Key file and cranked up the sim and all was well, no stutter and smooth as it was with the fresh Sim install.

That's where I stand at the moment. Am afraid to go any further untill I hear back from you.

Any Ideas would be helpful

Gary

[Pete Dowson]

Well I started up the sim and guess what, the 13 second stutter was back.

every 13 seconds.

There's nothing in any of my software with such a period. It sounds like something related to your network -- could the way you have the network configured be doing it? If you don't have specifically alssigned IP addresses, Win98/Me used to give regular stutters. I don't know if there's anything similar in XP, but it may be worth a try.

The other thnig XP SP2 seems to do automatically when you upgrade is enable its firewall. maybe you could check that?

also try disabling WideServer's broadcasts -- by default they are every second, so it doesn't sound like them. If you set the interval to 0 it won't send any.

Regards,

Pete

[GWNorris]

Pete

Thanks for the reply,

after I posted the topic and while waiting for your reply, I decided to try putting Wideserver back in to see if the problem returned and it did indeed return. So I figure it is something with widefs. since with just FSUIPC installed, everything is fine.

I see what you mean about the network settings, except that I haven't changed anything with my network ( other than upgrading to SP2 for XP) and my windows firewall is indeed disabled.

I did notice some differences in the config section of widefs, that are different than the config section of version 6.50 of widefs.

Version 6.50 had the AdvertiseService=Yes

Version 6.70 has it as =1

That is really the only difference that I can see

is that the line that turns off the Broadcasts in widefs?

would sending you a copy of all the cfg and log files help in determining the cause?

I feel confident that it is something that's interacting with widefs that's causing this, since other than FS and FSUIPC, theirs nothing else in the system, besides my computer and before upgrading to SP2, I never had any problems, even with alot of add ons

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Gary

[GWNorris]

Pete,

I noticed one other thing that was in the new wideserver.cfg file that's different also

a line that reads Port2=9002

and also I didn't have the ClientNames section in the new cfg file either. Yet I didn't have the client PC booted up either.

wonder if any of that makes a difference

Gary

[GWNorris]

Pete:

Well I believe I've found the culprit.

Wideserver cfg file line / RestartTime=

Mine was set to 10. which according to the documentation is every 10 seconds wideserver will restart itself if their is no client connection during that 10 seconds.

I was counting my FS stutters at anywhere from 10 to 13 seconds, using the one,one thousand method. and sometimes it would be on 10, sometimes on 12 or 13. I didn't use a stopwatch.

Anyway, I set the value in the RestartTime= line to 0 and now no stutter at all.

however I was wondering if that means that after wideserver dosen't see any clients connecting and then one tries , will I have to set up a Restart Key in order for the client to be able to connect.

I never had to do that before, but I don't remember ever having that value set at 0.

Thanks in advance for any replies

Gary

[Pete Dowson]

I haven't changed anything with my network ( other than upgrading to SP2 for XP

That in itself itr quite a change. However, all my systems are now on SP2 and I get no stutters.

Version 6.50 had the AdvertiseService=Yes

Version 6.70 has it as =1

That is really the only difference that I can see

is that the line that turns off the Broadcasts in widefs?

Yes. Did you see the documentation at all? It is called "WideFS.DOC". There's a PDF version too. It is all explained in there -- you will find documentation in the WideFS ZIP.

would sending you a copy of all the cfg and log files help in determining the cause?

Maybe, but unlikely if it happens with no Clients running, because then WideServer is doing little. But check the Log yourself and show me if there's anything suspicious.

Pete

[Pete Dowson]

I noticed one other thing that was in the new wideserver.cfg file that's different also

a line that reads Port2=9002

Yes, as described in the documentation. it's the Broadcast port.

and also I didn't have the ClientNames section in the new cfg file either. Yet I didn't have the client PC booted up either.

Until WideServer sees clients it won't have any Client names -- it isn't clairvoyant! ;-)

Pete

[Pete Dowson]

Well I believe I've found the culprit.

Wideserver cfg file line / RestartTime=

Mine was set to 10. which according to the documentation is every 10 seconds wideserver will restart itself if their is no client connection during that 10 seconds.

Ah! you found the documentation! Good. ;-)

Anyway, I set the value in the RestartTime= line to 0 and now no stutter at all.

Hmm. Never seen any stutters caused by that. Sounds like the drivers for your Network have a lot more to do than most -- I wonder what happened in the SP2 update.

Also, if that was the cause, the stutters should have disappeared as soon as you have an active client -- the restarts only apply whilst nothing is connecting.

however I was wondering if that means that after wideserver dosen't see any clients connecting and then one tries , will I have to set up a Restart Key in order for the client to be able to connect.

Well, only if it won't connect. If everything behaves itself you should have no problems. A lot of those "sledgehammer recovery" techniques date from times with Win98 and WinMe or mixed protocol networks, where clogging up seemed to be more common.

Maybe I'll assume systems are better behaved now -- in FSX I think I'll set the default for that to 0.

Regards,

Pete

[GWNorris]

Pete:

I'm sorry I bothered you with this problem, I sense a tone of sarcasm in your response.

Yes I knew about the documentation and have plenty of old and new versions printed and filed.

Have probably read them from front to back, numerous times in the 6 years I've been using your software.

How many times have I posted in this forum? you can probably count them on one hand.

Like I said at the beginning of this post " I can usually figure things out on my own" My network is a very small network. 2 computers. I've never had a problem with widefs or fsuipc that I couldn't figure out and just updating to SP2 induced this situation. How? I don't know!

My Widefs settings have always been left at default except for any keysends I might add. I have never messed with the network settings such as timing etc. I felt you knew the best all around settings and they have always worked for me.

I just put the new 6.70 wideclient files on my client PC and did a test run and all is OK, the only setting that is not default is the RestartTime in wideserver and that is set to 0.

On another note or should I say observation that's currently undetermined, I noticed that the DME distances on the default Cessna sitting at KSEA for the KSEA VOR reads 99M for 116.80 and that's with the new 3.709 fsuipc. But for fear of a sarcastic reply, I'll just leave it alone untill I get done installing all my other FS stuff ( 1 at a time with test in between). Then If the DME distances seem wrong, I'll just keep my mouth shut.

Sorry to have bothered you, with all due respect to you, thanks for all the years of providing the FS community with a great piece of software. FS would be dull without them.

Thanks again

Gary

[Pete Dowson]

I'm sorry I bothered you with this problem, I sense a tone of sarcasm in your response.

Sorry, where? None intended I assure you -- sorry if you mistake my English. I am glad you brought up the problem and found the cause. As i said, I think I will change the default value for the RestartTime as a consequence. So it has been useful, thanks.

I noticed that the DME distances on the default Cessna sitting at KSEA for the KSEA VOR reads 99M for 116.80 and that's with the new 3.709 fsuipc.

99M is provided when there's no reception as well as when too far away.

But for fear of a sarcastic reply, I'll just leave it alone untill I get done installing all my other FS stuff ( 1 at a time with test in between). Then If the DME distances seem wrong, I'll just keep my mouth shut.

I really don't understand where you are coming from with this attitude, but if you don't like the way I phrase things I am sorry. Have a good life and enjoy flying. Bye.

Pete

[GWNorris]

Pete

I apologise to you about my last reply. I guess I misunderstood where you were coming from. I do thank you for your help. I'm usually alot more calm concerning problems with my FS, probably because I try to solve things myself before yelling UNCLE.

Usually when I post for help, it's as a last resort. I know your a gentleman and I do apologise.

As for the DME thing. Since I never fly the Cessna and usually fly the payware heavies, I probably just didn't notice the 99 thing. Maybe in the payware aircraft when it's out of range there is just no distance displayed at all. It's the first time I have noticed the 99 reading.

Maybe the wideserver Restarttime setting has an effect on just some systems. Everything works fine with the client with it set to 0.

It's just that on my system with it set to anything but 0 , the sim hiccups every time wideserver reloads itself. All seems well now, I'll know for sure once I get all my FS add ons reinstalled. ( one at a time of course and testing in between).

I thank you once again,

Gary

[Pete Dowson]

As for the DME thing. Since I never fly the Cessna and usually fly the payware heavies, I probably just didn't notice the 99 thing. Maybe in the payware aircraft when it's out of range there is just no distance displayed at all. It's the first time I have noticed the 99 reading.

Er .. are you saying that these indications were in the FS panel DME display? Sorry, I thought as you were mentioning FSUIPC in this context you were talking about a Project Magenta DME display, or some other FSUIPC-fed one.

I'm afraid FSUIPC has nothing whatsoever to do with any of the displays in any of the standard FS panels, and only a few of the displays in some of the add-on aircraft --- mostly just the TCAS targets for AI aircraft.

Please confirm.

Regards,

Pete

[ghrasko]

I noticed my flight sim would stutter once every 13 seconds.

Gary,

I have the same problem. I also believed that it was wideFS and today I made several tests. I removed all nonstandard dlls from the modules directory and the problem still remained. I switched off all unneccesary Windows services - still remained.

I have Windows XP SP2 and I run two monitors (1 LCD, 1 CRT) from a single VGA card (not too strong card, ATI RADEON 9600 AGP 128Mb DDR). I am generally running undocked panels on the second screen. I closed, still no relief. Finally I went to Diplay Properties/Settings and I removed the Windows desktop spreading to the second monitor (I do not know the exact checkbox title in English as I have Hungarian Windows). The problem dissapeared.

I do not know what is causing the problem, it also occures if the second monitor is totally empty. Anyhow for me it was totally independent of WideFS.

Gabor

[Pete Dowson]

Maybe the wideserver Restarttime setting has an effect on just some systems. Everything works fine with the client with it set to 0.

I think it more likely that most folks who've purchased and installed WideFS generally run FS with client PCs running Wideclient too. Once you have at least one client happily connected and remaining connected the "RestartTime" parameter is irrelevant. Your 13-second periodic stutters wouldn't have occurred on systems actually using WideFS even if they would in the circumstances you are presumably flying -- i.e. with WideServer installed but no clients running.

Regards,

Pete