SimConnect files

[MarioB]

Previously you could modify the SimConnect files so it could work with EZdok for FSX. Now, the minute you modify these files TrackIr is offline (RH light off) and does not communicate with FSX.

Any suggestions?

[Seth Steiling]

You shouldn't have to modify SimConnect to use EZdok, as far as I'm aware. I think it should be expected that modifying SimConnect might break TrackIR support, as that is how TrackIR is implemented in FSX.

Because EZdok has an atypical implementation, it's a bit off of the grid in terms of the standard TrackIR support pathway. I would recommend contacting its developer for resolution on this.

[MarioB]

Seth,

I am sorry if I wasn't clear; I am not touching any SimConnect files. They are the "simconnect.manifest and simconnectSP2.manifest files in the NaturalPoint folders that EZdok and now OpusFSX are instructing you to change in their manuals.

At this point I am at a standstill. TrackIr with 5.2 on its own works correctly. EZdok on its own works correctly. Installing Ezdok and changing the manifest files simply disables TrackIR.

Should I roll back to an earlier TrackIr driver?

[Seth Steiling]

Ah, I wasn't aware that modifying those manifest files was part of supporting those addons.

The unfortunate reality, because of how Microsoft implemented TrackIR many years ago, is that FSX addon devs that want to augment that TrackIR support in their own apps have to jump through some unusual hoops to do so. This sounds like one of those hoops. A byproduct of this is that they're not able to just employ the straightforward integration of our API that most game developers can. They have to go off the reservation a bit, to bypass the native support in FSX, which means that our ability to support their integration is significantly diminished. It's kind of on them to make sure that things work. We can't really anticipate how revs to our software are going to impact them. I made this clear to both dev teams when they requested our SDK, and they seemed OK with it.

What it means for you, though, is that you're going to have to have the addon devs troubleshoot this problem. We don't have the ability to do so, since they're forced to use a non-standard integration pathway because of Simconnect. I wish we could help, but our hands are tied.

[MarioB]

Thank you Seth for much insight. The AVSIM poll on TIR clearly indicates that they consider it to be an invaluable add-on to their hobby.

Regarding add-ons and modifying the manifest files, this is a quote I received from one of the devs: "Renaming the TrackIR files is the mandatory advise that comes direct from NaturalPoint so it is TrackIR that requires you to rename the manifest files otherwise it will not work." Interesting...

As a customer, TIR and their drivers work flawlessly on their own. The add-ons are indeed quite tricky to play with...

[Seth Steiling]

[quote=MarioB]"Renaming the TrackIR files is the mandatory advise that comes direct from NaturalPoint so it is TrackIR that requires you to rename the manifest files otherwise it will not work."[/quote]
As the dev contact here, that is news to me. I did explain that they would have to find a way to head off the TrackIR --> SimConnect connection if they wanted their app to access our API before FSX did. But I did not advise on how specifically to do that, as I'm generally not super comfortable with supporting FSX addons just because it is an unproven pipeline. Case in point, I guess.

I pretty much told the devs of both EZdok and OpusFSX that I wished them the best of luck, but it was on them to find a way around the SimConnect conflict, and whatever they elected to do wasn't something we could officially support.