Issues with SimConnect and motion/rumble

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I have some hardware that uses SimConnect for telemetry, and I’m having a lot of issues, I wonder if anyone else experiences it, or can help.

I have (among other things) the Next Level Racing v3 Motion Platform, and the telemetry seems to cut in/out pretty much all the time - i.e. the platform just stops moving for a few seconds, and then restarts. I would say it happens every 10 seconds or so. I also have a ButtKicker which is handled by the same application as the motion platform, and that too cuts in/out in sync with the motion platform.

I emailed NLR about it, and they said:
SimConnect (Flight Simulator API) works very poorly in FS2020 unfortunately, there is alot of problems with getting telemetry data correct even after a recent patch is installed. The API some point starts returning errors and we have to restart the API. This causes the cut in/out effect.

I have no particular reason to doubt what they say, but does anyone know is their response is reasonable? Are there issues with SimConnect in MSFS 2020? I seem to have installed v1.0.61259.0 of SimConnect, is this the latest? (How) can I update it if it’s not?

It’s worth pointing out that I have a number of other APIs/connections to/from MSFS 2020. I use Spad.next for my Saitek flight instrument panels, and I also have iPads running the Simionic G1000 apps connecting over the G1000 Bridge connector. I don’t think these are the culprit however, since the issue existed before I even got those, and indeed the issue persists when I’m not even using them.

Any help appreciated on this, as when the motion (and especially the rumble from the ButtKicker) works it’s very immersive, but as it stands it’s bad enough to be worth turning off the motion/rumble.

1 Like
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I can’t even get it to find the .exe file, how did you do that? I’m using the Microsoft store version.

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What do you mean ‘find the exe’?

How do you get what to find what exe?

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I have the same problem… new NLR V3 + Buttkicker, and then constantly these annoying dropouts. Hope they fix it soon… I would also be happy if weather effects (turbulence) were more noticeable

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I was trying to launch MSFS from the motion app. Instead, I can just load the profile and then launch it separately.

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The restarts are apparently an issue with the data stream from MSFS (according to Next Level). I guess they are waiting for a fix.

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exactly what happens to me with my nlv3 and buttkickers. In/out in/out. Still doing it.
New wrinkle, Bought a vive pro 2 vr full setup to replace my reverb g2. Now if I turn on my buttkickers and touch the front of the headset it goes blank till i turn off the buttkickers. Im told its EMI causing the problem but I dont know how to fix it.

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If it’s EMI, you’ll want some ferrite cores, something like:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ferrite-DOKEI-Anti-Interference-Suppressor-High-frequency/dp/B095HJZFVB/ref=sr_1_4

When putting my rig together, I bought a couple packs of these, and put them on basically every cable (all power, and all USB cables), as I’d heard my direct drive wheel base was susceptible to EMI. It’s a bit of a chore, but shouldn’t be too bad.

Thinking about it, it is possible (but seemingly debatable) that you don’t want these on audio cables, which would include the cable going directly into the buttkicker, since that’s essentially just a speaker level audio cable. I don’t think it should actually be a problem, but do all the power cables first, and see if that fixes the issue. For what it’s worth, I didn’t put them on any audio cables, and I’ve never had an issue … albeit I have the G2, which you didn’t have an issue with either. Good luck.

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Thanks a lot. Ive sent for the cores. If that doesnt work I`ll flog the vive pro2 and go back to my reverb g2 for now. Funny thing is if I disconnect the buttkicker cables from the Earthquake Amp I can turn on the Amp with no effect on the vive. Soon as I connect the cables to the amp and touch the front of the vive, out goes the display. Go figure.

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This is a known issue with SimConnect and MSFS. I have the same problem with my SFX-100 rig and it’s super annoying. It’s been this way since release, and considering how few of us are on motion rigs, I’m not holding out hope for a fix from Microsoft.

There’s a little info on the xsimulator forum, but seems like very few guys there use motion in MSFS.

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Have same problem with Thanos driven 4 actuator setup ran by SRS.

SRS can be set up to record the raw telemetry it receives, and it drops out (meaning: all telemetry variables are set to 0) a few times every minute. I have found out that it gets worse when running CPU intensive takes inside MSFS. If I open Navigraph in-game panel, telemetry will drop for several seconds and cut in and out. It I quickly zoom in and out on the G1000 map I can force a telemetry loss. So this looks like some CPU prioritizing issue.

Hope others with the same issue can pipe in so maybe this issue can get some traction…