FScloud cross-platform test flight

[Storm]

Rubber banding was rarely a problem, Mike. The main feature was simple lag: there was anything between 5 and 15 seconds before a reported event was seen, and that delay varied for different pilots. There were some very odd substitutions, even odder than we normally see. And I also had two crashes of FScloud when accessing the map tab.

Despite all this, it was a worthwhile test, one I'd like to see repeated. Simple lag, even of the magnitude observed, is only a problem at close quarters, on finals, around runways and on taxiways. Once airborne with some separation, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

I was also very happy that Plan-G worked perfectly, showing all aircraft as traffic.

[N404]

Thank You Storm for your report

Integration of all the Sims together is a huge advantage.
I believe the substitution problem is quite easily remedied in FScloud as you can change other participants aircraft in the settings "on the fly"
It is disappointing that the lag is even bigger then on Vatsim.
I was hoping for better results but we take what we can get.

[Karl]

We did notice that lag that we saw with Casey in Spain was less than average (5-6 seconds) and even lower with Lutz who is in Germany (3-4) seconds. So it seems that the distance from the user to the server will impact the lag that others see.

I experienced some difficulty with the substution process. If selected anything other than default a/c to be displayed the plane kept its previous assignment.

Using Steam and P3D and I experienced a complete system lock up each after 15-20 minutes of use. I did not experience any similar issues using FSX boxed (Classic).

[Storm]

Mike, I wonder if the developers of FScloud might be persuaded to have a US based server in addition to their European one. Perhaps that is something for the future, and I doubt the extra routing time across the Atlantic had that much of an effect on our lag figures.

On the other hand, server load may be more significant, and I did notice there were in excess of 120 pilots connected to FScloud overall during our test. If that were the case, a dedicated server per community would be advantageous.

[Travis]

Maybe if someone wanted to contact them into allowing us to use their software to host our own server with and test out. Probably would get denied, but may be worth a shot.

[ROBERT DUNN 2]

I am personally willing to create an experimental FSCloud server at my residence in Las Vegas on the computer currently used for P3D (BigBox). I can additionally continue to host P3D, dependent on the router port forwarding requirements of FSCloud. I appreciate your interest, 404Mike. I have personally pursued multiple sim platform "concurrency" since P3Dv2 was released.

I flew the test in P3D on a strong computer, fast hardwired connection and experienced similar lag as reported above. I had no crashes in P3D client nor FSCloud program. FSCloud buttons, map zooms etc were laggy but tolerable and intermittantly would not yield the change I clicked or mouse wheeled until multiple mouse clicks were performed.

[ROBERT DUNN 2]

Maybe if someone wanted to contact them into allowing us to use their software to host our own server with and test out. Probably would get denied, but may be worth a shot.

msFLIGHTS.net has established amicable relations with the programmers and members at Hippy Happy Germany and FSXTools.de since the early days of their effort (with Boston Virtual) formerly known as FSX Beyond Gamespy. Our community was the principal participant in FSXBG forums and we supported FSXTools.de efforts publicly and politically in the wider simming world. We assisted this group with experimental computer resources and attempted to strike a more specific interrelationship after a cross community flight. This is all one and two years ago.

They know us over at FSXTools. We have much to offer in return to their concurrency effort (like a hemisphere wide expansion of FSCloud server resources). From initial impressions, the number of pilots connecting to a FSXloud server needs to be thinned and spread out to improve lag.

[Travis]

Would be a good step in the right direction. Too time consuming of a project for me right now how ever, someone else that is more knowledgeable and has more dedicated time would have to pick this up.

[N404]

Using Steam and P3D and I experienced a complete system lock up each after 15-20 minutes of use. I did not experience any similar issues using FSX boxed (Classic).

I like to withdraw my comment
After reading "Using Steam and P3D and I experienced a complete system lock up each after 15-20 minutes" I became somewhat disappointed and I overreacted
sorry

[CaseyRyback53]

if we don't have dependable multi platform usability entire exercise has no point

I don't get it, we just try to bring all platforms together in some groupflights. that those multiconnect servers, even when they still in betaprocess, not give perfect performance at the moment, is a lil prob in relation what Fun over 20 pilots from 4 platforms had in this groupflight. you didn't tried it yet and and give us this pessimistic comment. and don't forget, we are talking about GA flying low and slow and not about 35000ft with 500kts G/Speed with tubeliners at Vatsim/FShost. futurewise we planning to test FShost and maybe Dafsim too, to see what might be the best for multiplatform groupflights.
COMMUNITY means ALL TOGETHER, and lets do MORE EXERCISES to raise the fun for everybody in this community.

[ROBERT DUNN 2]

if we don't have dependable multi platform usability entire exercise has no point

I disagree with your comment that experimentation that exposes problems which are not immediatly overcome has no point. We are pursuing cross-platform concurrency with these tests. That concurrency is a goal worth the effort we are expending. We are interested in making something work so we can all fly our flight simulator of choice (FSX classic, FSX Steam, P3D, X-Plane) together as a group. Those community members who are interested in this effort are participating in the analysis of FSCloud (and VATSIM and FSHost and DAFSIM). Those members who are not interested don't participate in the experiment.


Very few of our sims work perfectly all the time. FSX Steam has a history of server disconnection without explanation. FSX classic clients crash all the time. P3D is in continual development and each new update presents its own client side compatability problems. X-Plane multiplayer is...well, just X-Plane multiplayer, weak in its actually working. Windows 7, 8.1 and 10 all add their promise of increased features at the expense of legacy compability. Various Flight Control Systems freeze because of Windows USB power saving incompatabilities. But we as a community and as enthusiastic simmers continue to tweak and configure, to help one another when possible, to push the envelope in pursuit of enhanced simming experience.


404Mike, I realize that your text-to-speech conversion necessity may lose some of my points in this reply. I will pursue this topic verbally when you return home to your TeamSpeak.

[Travis]

No matter what our outcome, It is truly awesome we are all working towards bringing our community together via one server. I am sure we will find a solution, however it will take lots of time and testing, keep this in mind. We all know that special purpose use like formation flying and tacpac will always require a much more efficient server processing via IP or Steam hosting(Redbox, BigBox, etc.), unless we get incredibly lucky. Keep up the good work on trying to figure out ways to keep our community together with all these sim platforms!

[Karl]

No matter what our outcome, It is truly awesome we are all working towards bringing our community together via one server.

Well said!

[Storm]

Maybe I should host the new Midweek Mystery group flight series on FScloud? Or would we need permission? Or is it not reliable enough yet?

[Karl]

I think the interest in a multiplatform option of conducting our ops is great. I believe that with some testing we'll find another option might suit our community better. I feel that either FSHost or Vatsim would be better options than FSCloud.

Any of these third party clients is going to cause some lag issues as we saw with FSCloud. 3-4 seconds it a usual amount for that lag, not 12-15 seconds. That alone is my biggest concern with FSCloud. I also have some reservations about the stability of their software and the lack of control over users that might wish to be disruptive.

We have a staff meeting next weekend. Should we plan on adding a discussion about this to the agenda?