Networked PC's for FSX?

[kilo delta]

Anyone running multiple wireless networked PC's/notebooks in their FSX setup? Is it possible to offload,for example, the AI traffic to a separate PC? I do know that weather programs can.
I've four desktops and several notebooks laying about the house and it'd make sense to offload some of the cpu cycles from my main sim pc. The network itself should be fast enough (wireless n with dual band).

 

[txnetcop]

hmmmmmm now there's a thought! Might try this myself

 

[wiltzei]

I bought WideFS back in the day with FSUIPC to make it possible. Haven´t tried it yet, though.

Are there any other apps that can be run on a networked PC besides weather (Active Sky), moving map and AI injectors? Which AI programs can be run via network?

 

[kilo delta]

If it's not possible then maybe MS could incorporate this feature into the upcoming Flight?

 

[txnetcop]

If it's not possible then maybe MS could incorporate this feature into the upcoming Flight?

WideFS just might do it...I'll try it tomorrow

 

[kilo delta]

Let us know how it works out for you,Ted

 

[n4gix]

Absolutely nothing that runs as an in-process DLL can be "offloaded" to a separate computer, which includes everything that's native to FS.

Only standalone EXE (program) files can be run on a separate computer, providing they were designed to have network connectivity via one of the various protocols available.

 

[kilo delta]

That's what I was afraid of...thanks Bill. :salute:

No possibility of having a networked PC looking after the AI traffic then unless it was a stand alone program that could somehow interact with the main FS install's traffic dll file.

 

[txnetcop]

He's right I just tried it no way!!! I guess I knew that but I had hopes.

 

[paulb]

That was an interesting thought, as I have an old laptop that I could have linked up.

Out of interest, does anyone use a linked laptop for navigation and is there any benefit in doing so?

Cheers

Paul

 

[kilo delta]

You could run a moving map display on the laptop afaik,Paul.

 

[wiltzei]

Has anyone tried WideFS yet?

 

[IanP]

I've used WideFS for years, however it doesn't do what most people think it does - as Bill already pointed out - and nor does it do as much now as it used to, because a lot of applications run through Simconnect.

Right now, I have ActiveSkyX, Squawkbox, AES Remote and the latest addition, FS Commander, all running on this notebook. Of those, only FS Commander uses WideFS to talk to FSX, all the others use Simconnect. Back in FS9, all of those would have had to use WideFS to talk to the sim.

I find it really useful. It means I can watch the aircraft and track traffic on FS Commander, I can check the weather on ASX... AES Remote is a "because I can" more than "because it's useful" and Squawkbox, which I very rarely use, is just offloading cycles from the main PC.

If you use any external apps - weather injection programs being an excellent example - that you can offload onto another PC, I'd thoroughly recommend it, but I wouldn't suggest getting another PC just to do it. I use this one for surfing and nattering on IM programs during flight, as well.

Ian P.

 

[wiltzei]

Sounds great. The offloading of tasks you talk about will surely reduce stutters among other incomprehensible slowdowns.

I´m running currently running affinity mask 14, which utilizes the last two cores of my quadcore CPU fully, and sometimes the first core utilization goes haywire causing stutters in the sim. Probably because I´ve assigned every other application to it while running FSX.

When FS looses focus, the sounds are muted, which is really annoying. If there was an another workstation for browsing charts et cetera, that problem would be eliminated too.