P3D v3 - Can't init simconnect error! after FSDT installs **SOLVED**

[macwino]

I just installed P3D v3 and fsuipc and took a test flight and all was fine. I then added GSX, all my FSDT airports, and Flightbeam's KSFO HD. When I launched P3D after these installs I got a "Can't Init SimConnect error!" message on the splash screen but still was able to make it to the Scenario Screen. However, when I load a flight I don't have any of the airports I installed (there are just gates, no buildings) and there are none of the usual FSDT entries under the Add-on menu. Only fsuipc is listed.

I tried installing the 2 legacy simconnects from FSX SP1 and SP2 but this didn't alleviate the problem. I then uninstalled these 2 simconnects along with the ESP simconnect that comes with P3D and reinstalled all 3. But that didn't help either. I checked the exe and and dll xml files and they have the usual FSDT entries. Also, I can launch P3D v2.5 without getting this simconnect error. So this problem appears to be tied to the FSDT and Flightbeam airports that I just installed into a pristine version of P3D v3. I'm stumped on how to fix this and your help will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Robert

Update:  I decided to revert to my pre-FSDT install exe and dll xml files and to disable all the FSDT and Flightbeam airports in my Scenery Library. I am now able to launch P3d V3 without the simconnect error message. I hope this will help you in finding a solution for me.

[virtuali]

Update:  I decided to revert to my pre-FSDT install exe and dll xml files and to disable all the FSDT and Flightbeam airports in my Scenery Library. I am now able to launch P3d V3 without the simconnect error message. I hope this will help you in finding a solution for me.

This doesn't mean you don't still have a Simconnect problem. It only means you disabled one module that needs a working Simconnect (the Addon Manager) and informed you about a problem with it, but doing this, you haven't fixed anything, and if another product will require the SP2 version of the FSX Simconnect, it will not work too. FSUIPC works just because it load whatever Simconnect version it can find, while our products *require* the SP2 version, and won't work without it, because they need to call some functions that don't exists in previous versions.

Something is not right, because you say you can use P3D 2.5, but Simconnect it's not something installed in the sim: it's installed as a system library in Windows itself so, it will either work in all versions of the sim, or in none of them.

Note that, Simconnect itself requires the VC++ 2005 SP1 runtime libraries so, maybe, you are missing THOSE ones instead. Try to download them from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5638

Use the x86 version, (even on a 64 bit OS) or install both the 64 bit and the x86 versions, but be sure you install at least the x86 version.

[macwino]

Hi Umberto,

I first installed the X86 version of the file you linked to. I still got the error. I then installed the x64 version but still got the error. I reinstalled SimConnect from the FSX-SP2-XPACK folder but still got the error. Any further thoughts?

Thanks,
Robert

[virtuali]

I first installed the X86 version of the file you linked to. I still got the error. I then installed the x64 version but still got the error. I reinstalled SimConnect from the FSX-SP2-XPACK folder but still got the error. Any further thoughts?

When something goes wrong with Simconnect, sometimes it's easier to reinstall Windows than trying to fix it...try some suggestions discussed here:

http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=7579.0

Of course, in your case you might not have to repair the FSX install, but rather reinstall the Simconnect client, after removing the files manually as explained on that thread.

[macwino]

Hi Umberto,

I don't think this is a system issue because your programs work just fine in P3D v2.5 on this machine. The problem involves how your programs are working in P3D v3.0 on my machine. Can you tell me other programs that use SimConnect SP2 so I can check if they are also generating an error. If so, then the problem would appear to be with P3D v3, and not the FSDT programs.

Thanks,
Robert

[macwino]

Hi Umberto,

Just a note to let you know I solved the problem. It turns out I had failed to move over to v3 my simconnect.xml file. Once I did this all worked fine.

Sorry for all the trouble and thanks for your efforts to help me.

Robert

[virtuali]

Just a note to let you know I solved the problem. It turns out I had failed to move over to v3 my simconnect.xml file. Once I did this all worked fine.

This is not normal. The simconnect.xml file is not needed, if you just run P3D and some addons on the same machine.

The only time you need to worry about the simconnect .xml file, is if you need to setup a client-server connection, with P3D as a server running on one system, and some client addons running on another one.

Maybe you had also a Simconnect.cfg (which is also NOT needed when running the sim on a local install) that you HAVE moved to V3 ? That

would explain the problem: if you have a Simconnect.cfg (used by clients), you must also have a matching Simconnect.xml (which is the server), even if they are both the same machine. However, if they are both the same machine, BOTH files are NOT needed and they should BOTH removed.

Unless, you really have a need for a networked client-server configuration (if you use a 3rd party P3D client that connects over a network), and in that case, you need BOTH files correctly configured.

[macwino]

Umberto, thanks for the explanation of how these files work. Consistent with what you've said, here's what happened.

After giving up for the time being on the FSDT installs, I tried to setup OpusFSI and Active Sky Next. I run both off a client machine. When I couldn't get them to recognize P3D v3, I suddenly realized that I'd forgotten to place my simconnect.xml file, which is an integral part of their operation from a client, in P3D v3's app data folder. The simconnect.cfg file was already on the server machine because it lives in the server's Documents folder and was not affected by switching from v2.5. to v3. Once I copied over the simconnect.xml file from v2.5 to v3, both OpusFSI and ASN worked. Then, I immediately tried an FSDT install and I was no longer plagued with the simconnect error.

Your programs running on the server machine were not the only ones that got caught up in this mess. I also run MyTraffic 6 with My Traffic Manager on the server machine, and My Traffic Manager couldn't see P3D v3, but ran just fine when I ran it with P3D v2.5. The simconnect.xml file transfer fixed this problem as well.

Thanks again for your assistance.
Robert