p3d Simconnect stall and re-connecting

[Hoang]

Hi,

I am having a big issue with my simulator, everytime I save a flight in P3D menu or Pro-ATC/X, it freezes around 30 seconds to 1 minute which is very unusual. I found in FSUIPC.log there are 2 lines that I think can do something with it:

"**** No SimConnect events or states being received! Re-connecting now ... ****"

" **** SimConnect Data Stalled! Re-connecting now ... ****"

 

My Pro-ATC/X is set to autosave every 5 minutes and it has been working flawlessly without issue, now every 5 minutes I get hang up for 1 minute.

I open ProcessMonitor and see P3D keeps loading these 2 when I save the flight, usually it does it very fast, now it keeps continuously for around a minute

"D:\Game\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v3\FSLabs\A320\PanelState\LastProATCX.fxml.sav"

"C:\Users\******\Documents\Prepar3D v3 Files\KLAXKSLC_20170410-0901_RTE-EnRoute_142.fxml"

It happens to PMDG aircrafts too so I believed it does not relate to FSLabs.

I have reinstall the Simconnect in P3D/redist and also the P3D SDK but does not fix the problem. I don't know if this relates anything to FSUIPC but FSUIPC might point out something wrong in my simulator.
Thank you,
Hoang Le

EDIT: Is this the correct version of Simconnect?  "Running in "Lockheed Martin® Prepar3D® v3", Version: 3.4.22.19868 (SimConnect: 3.4.0.0)"

Found out in FSUIPC.ini "SimConnectStallTime=20" which default should be =1? I never edit this line.

[Pete Dowson]

38 minutes ago, hoang said:

My Pro-ATC/X is set to autosave every 5 minutes and it has been working flawlessly without issue, now every 5 minutes I get hang up for 1 minute.

I open ProcessMonitor and see P3D keeps loading these 2 when I save the flight, usually it does it very fast, now it keeps continuously for around a minute

"D:\Game\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v3\FSLabs\A320\PanelState\LastProATCX.fxml.sav"

"C:\Users\******\Documents\Prepar3D v3 Files\KLAXKSLC_20170410-0901_RTE-EnRoute_142.fxml"

It happens to PMDG aircrafts too so I believed it does not relate to FSLabs.

FSUIPC is timing out the connection to SimConnect because the AutoSave is taking so long. When using sophisticated aircraft like PMDG and FSX, whenever a flight is saved they effectively freeze the sim whilst they collect and save the state of every system and gauge. Even if SimConnect didn't time-out, there would certainly be a very noticeable pause. Most folks advice against using an AutoSave of any sort when using these aircraft.

the fact that SimConnect connections timeout will certainly make the pauses longer, because FSUIPC then has to completely reinitialise. You can make FSUIPC more tolerant by increasing the SimConnectStallTime parameter in the FSUIPC4.INI file. The default of 1 second is normally much more thasn adequate because it should be receiving updates every single FS frame!

Now you say about autosave that "it has been working flawlessly". So what have you changed? Have you only just started using these aircraft?

The files are what the A320 and PrtoATC/X are using/saving/loading, whatever. FSUIPC isn't involved. Maybe your disk is becoming full or needs a thorough defragmentation. That would certainly slow file read/writes down.

Pete

 

[Hoang]

2 minutes ago, Pete Dowson said:

FSUIPC is timing out the connection to SimConnect because the AutoSave is taking so long. When using sophisticated aircraft like PMDG and FSX, whenever a flight is saved they effectively freeze the sim whilst they collect and save the state of every system and gauge. Even if SimConnect didn't time-out, there would certainly be a very noticeable pause. Most folks advice against using an AutoSave of any sort when using these aircraft.

the fact that SimConnect connections timeout will certainly make the pauses longer, because FSUIPC then has to completely reinitialise. You can make FSUIPC more tolerant by increasing the SimConnectStallTime parameter in the FSUIPC4.INI file. The default of 1 second is normally much more thasn adequate because it should be receiving updates every single FS frame!

Now you say about autosave that "it has been working flawlessly". So what have you changed? Have you only just started using these aircraft?

The files are what the A320 and PrtoATC/X are using/saving/loading, whatever. FSUIPC isn't involved. Maybe your disk is becoming full or needs a thorough defragmentation. That would certainly slow file read/writes down.

Pete

 

Hi,

I just look over my FSUIPC.ini and SimConnectStallTime is set to 20, which default is 1, I never touch or edit it. Is there a reason why it automatically goes up to 20?

I have been using FSlabs A320x for a while and if I manually save the flight in P3D menu or Pro-ATC/X menu, there will be slight pause. But Pro-ATC/X automatically saving pause is barely recognizable. Now it hangs up for 1 minute when saving manually or automatically which is very unusual.

For the past few days there have been enormous changes to my simulator setup. I uninstall almost every addon in my FSX:SE (which now I am hoping it does not relate to this problem), and adding many airports into P3D + PMDG 777. However all of these are done after the problem occur in my P3D.

IIRC, 2 days ago I had a flight from Flightbeam San Francisco KSFO to PACSIM Salt Lake in FSLabs A320x (using Pro-ATC/X with automatic saving function). The flight went smoothly until reaching TOD where I had to pause and go out. When I get back, I unpause and decend to the destination airport where it started to hang up very often. I did not know why back then but now I can certainly confirm it is the pause from Pro-ATC/X automatic saving. And it has been happening until now.

I am using a  SSD 480GB for my FSX:SE and P3D and it has around 100GB free.

Thank you for your help so far,
Hoang Le

[Hoang]

Actually, I have just installed PMDG 777 yesterday and it would not load into the simulator. I open a ticket over at PMDG and they say it relates to Simconnect problem (which P3D keep running "777X_debug_log.txt" in "Prepar3D v3\PMDG\PMDG 777X" and P3D can not start. So it could be my Simconnect somehow broke and fail before I purchase and install PMDG.

My original topic over at PMDG https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/508261-p3d-pmdg-777-cannot-load/

 

[Pete Dowson]

2 minutes ago, hoang said:

I just look over my FSUIPC.ini and SimConnectStallTime is set to 20, which default is 1, I never touch or edit it. Is there a reason why it automatically goes up to 20?

No, it cannot. If there's no such line FSUIPC sets 1.  20 is the maximum I think. If you didn't change it then somethnig else you have run did.

With a stall time of 20 then FSUIPC won't reconnect to SimConnect until it has received no updates for 20 seconds. That's a mighty long time!

5 minutes ago, hoang said:

I have been using FSlabs A320x for a while and if I manually save the flight in P3D menu or Pro-ATC/X menu, there will be slight pause.

Okay. That sounds better. So it must be something else, maybe something ProATC/X is doing? I've never used its AutoSave. There's no point in my case because I fly a cockpit with loads of other drivers, and you just can't start a flight in the air. I almost always start from cold and dark. The nearest to flight I can start with is on the runway ready for takoff, but it's so complicated to get that set that it simply isn't worth it. Anyway, a lot of the fun is in the pre from cold and dark, taxiing and so on. Especially at the sort of busy airports I like.

I use ProSim for my cockpit and, like you ProATC for ATC. No complex aircraft cockpit with its own systems though, of course.

Sorry, but I really can't help much further. The SimConnect restarting WILL be adding to the time you are seeing, but it means it has already been 20 seconds with the sim frozen. I can't really do much about that -- my software isn't involved.

Pete

 

[Pete Dowson]

9 minutes ago, hoang said:

Actually, I have just installed PMDG 777 yesterday and it would not load into the simulator. I open a ticket over at PMDG and they say it relates to Simconnect problem (which P3D keep running "777X_debug_log.txt" in "Prepar3D v3\PMDG\PMDG 777X" and P3D can not start. So it could be my Simconnect somehow broke and fail before I purchase and install PMDG.

Hmm. Well, in that case you can really only try uninstalling and reinstalling P3D and (presumably) the FSX-type SimConnect's that the add-on programs may need.

Pete

 

[Hoang]

1 minute ago, Pete Dowson said:

No, it cannot. If there's no such line FSUIPC sets 1.  20 is the maximum I think. If you didn't change it then somethnig else you have run did.

With a stall time of 20 then FSUIPC won't reconnect to SimConnect until it has received no updates for 20 seconds. That's a mighty long time!

Okay. That sounds better. So it must be something else, maybe something ProATC/X is doing? I've never used its AutoSave. There's no point in my case because I fly a cockpit with loads of other drivers, and you just can't start a flight in the air. I almost always start from cold and dark. The nearest to flight I can start with is on the runway ready for takoff, but it's so complicated to get that set that it simply isn't worth it. Anyway, a lot of the fun is in the pre from cold and dark, taxiing and so on. Especially at the sort of busy airports I like.

I use ProSim for my cockpit and, like you ProATC for ATC. No complex aircraft cockpit with its own systems though, of course.

Sorry, but I really can't help much further. The SimConnect restarting WILL be adding to the time you are seeing, but it means it has already been 20 seconds with the sim frozen. I can't really do much about that -- my software isn't involved.

Pete

 

Hi,

I use the auto save in case my system crash or suddenly get VAS leak that I can not continue the flight. Most of the time I don't need it. But now saving manually under P3D menu, my simulator also freeze for a very long time, which is not related to Pro-ATC/X. Pro-ATC, along with PMDG 777, is just being affected by whatever causing this problem.

I will dig deeper, or else I have to do a full reinstall of P3D, which took me almost a week to install things I needed.

Thank you so much for your help, I really appreciated it, as I said I believed it does not relates to your software but FSUIPC.log is one of the only source that tell me what is happening to my P3D.
Have a nice day,
Hoang Le

[Thomas Richter]

Hi,

1 hour ago, hoang said:

I just look over my FSUIPC.ini and SimConnectStallTime is set to 20, which default is 1, I never touch or edit it. Is there a reason why it automatically goes up to 20?

the only reason that this happens is that you actually are not using latest FSUIPC4, make sure you install latest version 4.965.

Thomas

[Hoang]

4 minutes ago, Thomas Richter said:

Hi,

the only reason that this happens is that you actually are not using latest FSUIPC4, make sure you install latest version 4.965.

Thomas

Thank you, I just downloaded the newest version. Currently testing.

Hoang Le

[Thomas Richter]

Hi,

you need to set the SimConnectStallTime= value to your needs of course because it will stay as it was saved last, max 20.

Thomas

[Pete Dowson]

5 hours ago, Hoang said:

I use the auto save in case my system crash or suddenly get VAS leak that I can not continue the flight.

I understand the reasons for an autosave. I was thevfirst to implement such a facility a long long time ago. But I don't think it is a good idea for some of these aircraft which do freeze simulation in order to take copies of all the information to create the files. The larger number of files also is a factor, especially if you don't use fast SSDs or have a crowded disk.

5 hours ago, Hoang said:

I will dig deeper, or else I have to do a full reinstall of P3D, which took me almost a week to install things I needed.

I hate having to do that too. I maintain both FSX-SE and P3D systems with many addons, and I dread ever having to do a complete re-install. Worse still is having to reinstall all of Windows. I bought a new PC last November and it took me well over a week just to get it fully set up the way I liked things with my utilities and support and diagnostic programs, even before starting on FSX-SE and P3D. This is why I put off upgrading machines for years after they are well superseded by better and faster tech -- and unfortunately I demand more and more performance!

Pete

 

 

[Hoang]

3 hours ago, Thomas Richter said:

Hi,

you need to set the SimConnectStallTime= value to your needs of course because it will stay as it was saved last, max 20.

Thomas

Thank you, I have changed it back to 1 and it seems to stay there now. Still don't know why it goes up to 20 but could be I was using the older version of FSUIPC. So far, it works!

2 hours ago, Pete Dowson said:

I understand the reasons for an autosave. I was thevfirst to implement such a facility a long long time ago. But I don't think it is a good idea for some of these aircraft which do freeze simulation in order to take copies of all the information to create the files. The larger number of files also is a factor, especially if you don't use fast SSDs or have a crowded disk.

I hate having to do that too. I maintain both FSX-SE and P3D systems with many addons, and I dread ever having to do a complete re-install. Worse still is having to reinstall all of Windows. I bought a new PC last November and it took me well over a week just to get it fully set up the way I liked things with my utilities and support and diagnostic programs, even before starting on FSX-SE and P3D. This is why I put off upgrading machines for years after they are well superseded by better and faster tech -- and unfortunately I demand more and more performance!

Pete

 

 

Hi Pete,

I used the autosave function in your software for a very long time until I change to using Pro-ATC/X. Very handy.

Earlier today after digging, I install the newest FSUIPC version and change SimConnectStallTime from 20 to 1 as suggested. I found out that this problem also happen to my FSX setup. So it must be something outside the simulator. What I did after was very traditional, restart my window. To my surprise, the problem suddenly disappear. No more Simconnect errors, no more long pause during saving flight. I can load PMDG 777 normally now.

Been going back and forth P3D and FSX today I clearly see how poor the performance FSX is compare to P3D in my system.

Thank you so much for all your help, Pete and Thomas, I was so desperate that I almost getting ready to reinstall my Window.

Just one more challenge, reinstall or FSDT products to see if they conflict with PMDG again or not.

Cheers,
Hoang Le

 

[Pete Dowson]

7 hours ago, Hoang said:

Been going back and forth P3D and FSX today I clearly see how poor the performance FSX is compare to P3D in my system.

On my system, with no complex aircraft but a large amount of AI Traffic and very busy airports like Heathrow, FSX-SE is a clearly better performer. But probably not the original FSX-ACC -- I found FSX-SE far better than FSX and switched pretty quickly.

However, P3D is better looking and CAN be smoother if set correctly. I've recently made some substantial changes to my system and will be doing the comparisons again. with the 200 degree FOV screen I now have (by NatVis), the superiority of the P3D visuals is very desirable.

Pete

 

[Hoang]

9 hours ago, Pete Dowson said:

On my system, with no complex aircraft but a large amount of AI Traffic and very busy airports like Heathrow, FSX-SE is a clearly better performer. But probably not the original FSX-ACC -- I found FSX-SE far better than FSX and switched pretty quickly.

However, P3D is better looking and CAN be smoother if set correctly. I've recently made some substantial changes to my system and will be doing the comparisons again. with the 200 degree FOV screen I now have (by NatVis), the superiority of the P3D visuals is very desirable.

Pete

 

That is what so mystery about the simulator, it varies with different system. At Uk2000 Heathrow with FSX:SE, limit 10 AI, using PMDG 777 I can get barely 20FPS in the VC, most of the time ~15 but stutter here and there. With P3D + higher graphic settings, 30AI, I still can get at least 25FPS if I view straight to the dense area in the airport. If not it will always stay around 30FPS and more. No stutter whatsoever, I was amazed. Maybe I did not tweak/config my FSX:SE good enough.

Just to update, I have been flying since yesterday without any issue so far besides ntdll.dll crash which I am troubleshooting. Found out there are many unnecessary and duplicate C++ in my window.

Safe flight,
Hoang Le