"SWIFT" Transition for me is EXTREMELY time consuming.

[Mike Lehkamp]

First and foremost, I want to make it perfectly clear that I am in no way bashing SWIFT. This is my problem and I came here to the experts in hopes of getting helpful advice.

 

As a FS9'er (FS2004) I have for the last several months been using Squawkbox without any major issues. In fact, it was working great. You can pull up my flights (user 1396931) on VATSIM for the past 4-5 months and see I was flying almost daily in our homebuilt 757.

 

IT CHANGED during VATSIM's last server upgrade. Squawkbox no longer works. I spent 8-12 hours re-installing Squawkbox over and over thinking something may have become corrupted. Very time consuming.

 

On Sunday, I spent the entire day attempting to advance my system to SWIFT. I almost feel like you need a PHD to render SWIFT usable in FS9. After all day Sunday trying this, that, and the other, I finally gave up.

 

I'm hoping that someone knowledgeable on the matter can answer a few questions and hopefully steer me in the right direction.

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QUESTIONS:

 

1. Can someone in the software development team confirm that Squawkbox is no longer a workable interface to VATSIM?

 

and if Squawkbox is no longer usable,

 

2. Can someone in the software development team steer me in the right direction to get SWIFT to work in FS9. Back 6 months ago I tried to port over to SWIFT and today ran into the same problems I did 6 months ago. "NO MODEL STRING".

 

MY SYSTEM: I am running FS9 (FS2004) on one computer. On a second computer, a networked client, I am attempting to get SWIFT installed and functional on the networked client.

 

1. HOW DO I DO THIS?

2. Is WideFS required? I have a licensed copy.

3. Does the swift installer need to be loaded onto both PC's? I've tried this.

4. What in the heck is a "No model String" as I have been successful in pointing SWIFT to my models and even have been successful [Mod - Happy Thoughts]igning such. But at the end of the model wizard I consistently get only one error: "NO MODEL STRING".

 

Can someone please, in the know, send me a step by step instructional on how to set this up? I'm not totally ignorant. My friends my disagree LOL. But I built a Boeing 757 motion simulator over a 10 year period and have been contributing to the community over the past year with airport scenery upgrades. I'm teachable. I know in asking someone to provide me a "step by step instructional" is very time consuming and I'm willing to compensate you by paypal etc. PLEASE

 

Respectfully,

 

Michael Lehkamp

http://www.757simulator.com

Edited March 9, 2020 at 10:37 AM by Guest

[Andreas Fuchs]

Hi Mike,

 

first of all, in Squawkbox, go to the subdirectory "networks" and remove the file vatsim.dll. This has helped most people to get SB going again. Should it not help, continue using swift.

 

Have you watched my tutorial videos to get swift setup, including a small tour around its most important functions, including how to create a valid model set? If not: https://forums.vatsim.net/viewtopic.php?f=152&t=80107

 

Now, to your questions:

1. HOW DO I DO THIS? Have a look at my videos and you can use https://dev.swift-project.org/ to search for specific topics (top right corner of the page).

2. Is WideFS required? I have a licensed copy. If you would like to use swift on a computer different from FS9, then yes. https://dev.swift-project.org/w/help/installation/distributedswift/ tells you how to set swift up on a network.

3. Does the swift installer need to be loaded onto both PC's? I've tried this. See my answer in 2.)

4. What in the heck is a "No model String" as I have been successful in pointing SWIFT to my models and even have been successful [Mod - Happy Thoughts]igning such. But at the end of the model wizard I consistently get only one error: "NO MODEL STRING". I am not entirely sure, but this could be connected to swift not being able to access the directory where your models are saved, within FS9. Try following the steps to setup swift in "distributed mode" and see if it will work then.

 

We can also schedule a direct support session. Do you use Discord? Skype? TeamViewer? I live in UTC+1, you are probably in UTC-5. Let me know what time will suit you.

[Mike Lehkamp]

Andreas,

 

Thank you so much. That was the type of reply I was hoping for.

 

This evening I will attempt again to interface Swift using the very valuable links you provided.

 

I will do my best to get this working using the information you provided. In the case where I'm unsuccessful, I will make an appointment with you as I do use Discord.

 

Again, thank you so much for this response. By the way, while I live in the States, my wife's family is from, and still lives, in Coburg, Germany.

 

Thanks again,

 

Michael

[Andreas Fuchs]

Very good! Why not join our swift Discord server for direct help from the Developers, me and other members there?

 

https://dev.swift-project.org/w/contact/

[Mike Lehkamp]

Thank you. I joined.

[Mike Lehkamp]

Andreas!!!

 

Yes sir, deleting the vatsim.dll in Squawkbox did the trick! Thank you over and over.

 

Now onto integrating Swift so I can see other aircraft.

 

Thank you again my friend.

 

Michael

[Andreas Fuchs]

Great to hear that you are set!

 

Regarding swift, make sure that you create and optimize/filter your aircraft model set. I strongly suggest using my tutorial for when working with the Mapping Tool.