Manuals

SquawkWin

A Pilot Client For Online Simulation (Based on DAFSIM Protocol)

One thing you need to know before : You can not run FS with several pilot clients installed, so if you want to try Squawkwin, you must disable the other clients.

First thing first is to open two TCP ports number 55008 and 55009 in ALL your firewalls, routers, NATs, Windows firewall and so on.
The full path to reach your software on these ports must be opened and cleared.

I. Installation

The pilot client is available as an auto-installer executable software.
Unzip the package somewhere is a temporary folder, launch SwInstal.exe, select your version of simulator ( FSX, FS2004, FS2002 or X-Plane 9.3 and above) then click OK.
After having installed Squawkwin, all you need to do is to run FS or X-Plane.

II. Quick connect

IMPORTANT: If you are flying with Flight Simulator 2002, you have to host manually a multiplayer session before launching SquawkWin.
You don’t need to perform this step if you are flying with FS2004 or FSX.
If you are using X-Plane then you must run X-Plane and then double click on the Icon on your desktop to launch XSquawkWin.exe

You will find a new entry in your FS2004 menu (no need in FSX). Select “SquawkWin” and click “Open”.
Hint : You may also press on your keyboard Shift + Tab keys to open (or show/hide) SquawkWin and specially if you don't see the menu at first installation or in FSX.

With FS2004, a multiplayer session will be launched automatically, with FSX, SquawkWin will create an internal multiplayer session.

A new window fully integrated in FS Window will appear. This is the SquawkWin user interface :
Hint : For X-Plane you must double click the Icon on your desktop to launch xSquawkWin.exe. The xSquawkWin.exe will link with the xSquawkWin.xpl module using 127.0.0.1:55007 TCP

Move your mouse cursor over the Squawkwin’s text window and click the right mouse button. The SquawkWin menu will appear.
Click "Options" then "Main setup"

then fill the name and homebase fields like this :

Click "Save" button.

Move your mouse cursor over the Squawkwin’s text window and click the right mouse button.
Click "Options" then "Main setup"
Fill the fields

IMPORTANT:
You should open 2 TCP ports on your router and firewall to use SquawkWin in the best conditions .

Note : Users with closed ports will also be accepted as the server will manage them using TCP Tunneling technique but this will consume much more bandwidth on the server.

Move your mouse cursor over the Squawkwin’s text window and click the right mouse button.

Select “Networks...”, then choose your favorite Network.

A new window will appear where you can enter your callsign and then connect.

If everything is ok, you should be connected to the network server.



If you are licensed to kick out "bad boys" , please refer to KICKING A PLAYER in the SquawkRadar section

III. Using the PTA ( Plane Type Assignator ) Please read carefully this manual

In odrer to let the other players to see you in the right plane when you join their multiplayer session, they need to know the ICAO type of your aircraft and also it's livery.
Your SquawkWin will send it to the others and you will receive theirs.
Unfortunately, the ICAO type of the aircrafts is not mandatory in our preferred flight simulators and there is no standard field defined in the aircraft.cfg (or acf files in XPlane) to be sure to get that code.
For this reason, SquawkWin will try to "guess" the ICAO type of your planes (the ones installed on your PC) in order to inform your neighbors about your aircraft.
This automatic "guess" process is not perfect because many times the aircraft designers do not put enough information in the aircraft.cfg files.
Here is an example of "hard to guess" entries in these files :

In such a case, SquawkWin can not guess the right ICAO code and will have 25% chances to select the right code.
Therefore, I have created a new tool to allow the teaching of SquawkWin to pick-up the right ICAO type and livery of your aircrafts in case it is wrong. This tool is called P.T.A ( Plane Type Assignator )

How does it work ? A rule will be created that associates a string (the plane name or a substring) to an ICAO type (and optionnally the Airlines ICAO code of three digits)
This rule will replace the ICAO codes found by SquawkWin

Let's have an example :

 

To open the PTA window, click the menu like this :

         You will get the following window :

Explanation about the fields :

  1. This field is where you enter free text that is the substring to search in the name of any local plane : In our example it should be "Dreamliner"
  2. Here you choose or enter the ICAO type of the corresponding plane, which is in our example B788
  3. Here you may choose or enter the ICAO code of the Airlines (Livery) of this plane, which is "DLH"
  4. This checkbox allows you to see only the planes that are affected by an active rule. In this case the line in the listbox number 5 will start with a star *
  5. This listbox contains the listing of all your locally installed (on your hard disk) planes, their names as found in the aircraft.cfg.
    Each line will start with the actual ICAO type corresponding to this plane and if a rule is active on this plane, then a star * is prepended at the beginning of the line
  6. This is the list of all the active rules you have created and it is stored in a local file called Rules.txt
  7. In this field, you will read an example of a plane name corresponding to the ICAO that you click in listbox 2 or 3

As you may see in the previous picture, SquawkWin has not "guessed" well the ICAO type of the Drealiner and has assigned B762 instead of B783 or B788 or B789

Now let's create a new rule as we said :

You should get this screen :

As you will see, we have a new rule that appears in field 6 and in field 5 all the Dreamliners have now ICAO type B788 and a star * is prepending the lines where a rule applies.
Now SquawkWin will send ICAO type B788 to the other players whenever you use the Dreamliner

Okay, now what about the livery ?
If I click on the first Lufthansa Dreamliner in the field 5, I will get DLH in field 3, this means that SquawkWin has well guessed the ICAO code of the Airlines ( livery ) as shown below :

But if I click on the next line with Lufthansa Cargo, SquawkWin will also believe it is DLH whereas it should be GEC, so let's create a rule for the ICAO Airlines code :

Now whenever a plane has "Lufthansa Cargo" in his title, SquawkWin will assign ICAO code GEC for this Airline ( Livery )

 

An advanced user or administrator can create a rules files ( Rules.txt ) and distribute it to all the pilots of his group.

You don't need to create rules if SquawkWin has found the right ICAO type and code !

 

IV. Using the PTO ( Plane Type Overrider ) Please read carefully this manual

Please read the PTA section before starting this one.

The PTO works like a LookUp Table : It is a "transposer".
I have developed the PTO for the next purposes :

  1. A standard Flight Simulator without addons, have by default a very few planes available, specially for XPlane there are no A.I. packages available like My Traffic or Ultimate Traffic and thus there is little chance to see the other pilots that join your multiplayer session in the right planes.
  2. To teach SquawkWin how to draw the right plane when a pilot joins your multiplayer session with an unknown (by SW) aircraft.
  3. To translate any external plane to any local one following your own needs, rules and mood.

To open the PTO window, click the menu like this :

     You will get the following window :

Explanation about the fields :

  1. This field is where you enter free text that is the string (or substring) to search for in the name of any remote plane that joins your multiplayer session.
  2. Here you choose the local plane that you want it to correspond to the previous string.
  3. In case the plane in the field 2 is not found on your PC ( uninstalled in the mean time for example ) then this will be the alternate one to use (here you should choose a default plane).
  4. This is the list of the active rules ( reflects the content of the Rules.txt file )
  5. This listbox contains the plane names of the pilots actually attending in your multiplayer session.
  6. These fields are the default choices for planes that does not match any of your local ones.
  7. and 8 These are free fields to assign your own plane types

When a pilot joins your multiplayer session, the PTO works with SquawkWin using THREE levels of hierarchy :

  1. The aircraft name of that pilot will be checked against the normal rules you have created ( Left half of the screen in fields 1, 2, 3 and 4 )
    then if none applies ...
  2. SquawkWin will try to do his normal job ( as before ) and "guess" the ICAO type of that airplane and his ICAO airline code.
    then if SquawkWin can't guess ...
  3. The default rules you have created ( Right half of the screen in fields 6, 7 and 8 )

Let's now have some examples :

Example 1
Assume you are using FS2004 or XPlane 9.3 with only the default planes ... And an FSX pilot joins your multiplayer session using a plane called Airbus A321 MyPaint05 ...

 

Example 2
Assume you are using a simulator with some addons installed but you don't have any 3 engines Jet like the DC10 or MD11... And another pilot joins your multiplayer session using a plane called Douglas DC10 Varig ...
When your SquawkWin receives this information, it receives also the type of that remote plane and thus SquawkWin knows the ICAO engines prefix is L3J which means Land 3engines Jet

Here are some useful links about these codes : http://www.icao.int/anb/ais/txtfiles/doc8643_31_0.txt and http://www.eais.com.pk/Aircraft%20Type%20Information/A/1.htm

 

Example 3
Assume that with some friends, you have built and want to test a new experimental plane called "XPER Private Labs" that is Amphibian, equipped with 9 Turbo prop engines ...Hmmmm interesting, huh ?

 

Recommendations for optimal use of SquawkWin :

And also informations :

SquawkRadar

An ATC Radar Client For Online Simulation (using DAFSIM Protocol)

How to setup and connect your SquawkRadar (SR) :

CAUTION : If you use SquawkRadar under Windows VISTA, then disable the AERO interface or SR would crash to desktop because of the 3D mode of AERO !

First thing first is to open TCP port number 55004 in ALL your firewalls, routers, NATs, Windows firewall and so on.
The full path to reach your software on TCP port 55004 must be open and cleared.

On your PC (running (c)Microsoft Windows) if you have not created the folder for SR, then create a folder called DAFSIM and in this folder create another folder called SR
This should looks like : C:\dafsim\SR

Copy and unzip in (C:\dafsim\SR) the SquawkRadar.zip file and double click to launch SquawkRadar.exe
Now there are two steps : One step should be done only ONCE to setup the installation and the second step is the normal and usual connecting step.

In SR, click "Setup" tab control then click "Network Setup" Button

FIRST STEP TO DO ONLY AT THE VERY FIRST INSTALLATION

In SR, click "Setup" tab control then click "Network Setup" Button

  1. Fill your first and last name, then use the login / Password that are registered in the Dafnode (or choose what you want and apply on the fly if the network owner is front of his PC to accept you)
  2. In the Radar TCP port enter 55004
  3. In the website line enter www.mywebsite.com (without http:// !!!) of course don't use mywebsite but your real website name !
  4. Third line should be like this /dafsim/servers.php
  5. Type a text in your ATIS
  6. Enter an URL to your voice channel (something like mywebsite.no-ip.org/KLAX_APP for example)
  7. Click "Save" button
  8. Click "Load Sector" button, select a sector file and then click "Save" button again

SECOND STEP (WHAT TO DO EACH TIME YOU LAUNCH YOUR RADAR)

  1. Click "Main controls" tab control, Click the "OFF --> on" to connect (to switch from OFF state to ON)
  2. That's ALL ! You should be connected on your network !

Hint : You may press F1 key to read a condensed HELP and find-out by your self...

KICKING A PLAYER
This may be done for a player that does not respond (not front of his PC) or a player that disturbs others.

  1. In the text field where you usually exchange messages or request weather using .WX commands, enter the following :
    !TARGETCALLSIGN! always type a free text to explain the reason of kicking this callsign
  2. No spaces between the target callsign and !
  3. The player who's callsign is TARGETCALLSIGN will be kicked out ONLY if you have been licensed to kick by the DAFNODE
  4. The target will receive a message saying why he has been kicked
  5. And a log of this action is written in a file (same folder than dafnode) called KickedOut_log.txt to let the network owner review the actions.

 

(your) Website

If you have some trouble to open/setup your modem, here is are some good helpfull links:
http://portforward.com/routers.htm
http://www.dslreports.com/faq/7074

If your flight simulation network is not a LAN, you need to setup your website like this :

Assume that you have a website called www.mywebsite.com, then you can create a flight simulation network called MYWEBSITE.
For the moment I have only written the tools for a PHP compatible website, but if you are ASP skilled, then you can help the community and contribute by converting my PHP to it's equivalent in ASP and I'll put it online with your name.

Now, in your website, create two folders like this:
www.mywebsite.com/dafsim
and
www.mywebsite.com/whazzup

Unzip somewhere on your hard disk, the file php_dafsim.zip

Choose a password for your flight simulation network

Edit the file password.php and replace "yourpassword" by your password.

Now upload all the files to the folder www.mywebsite.com/dafsim, and give PHP pages the execution and file creation rights (use chmod command).

To test that everything is up and running, open your browser and in enter the url http://www.mywebsite.com/dafsim/servers.php  (of course, replace mywebsite by the real name of your website ...)

You should read the following message:

Congratulations ! Your PHP code for dafsim is up and running.

 

Dafnode

There are two items to setup : One item is the website, the other one is the Dafnode server.

First thing first, setup your website as explained above.


Installing and running the Dafnode :

Next step is to open TCP port number 55000 in ALL your firewalls, routers, NATs, Windows firewall and so on.
The full path to reach your software on TCP port 55000 must be open and cleared.

On your hard disk (your own PC or any windows machine) create a folder called DAFSIM and then in this folder create a folder called dafnode.
This should looks like : C:\dafsim\dafnode

In the dafnode folder (C:\dafsim\dafnode) unzip the Dafnode.zip file and double click to launch Dafnode.exe
Now there are two steps : One step should be done only ONCE in order to setup at first the installation and the second step is the normal and usual connecting step.

FIRST STEP TO DO ONLY AT THE VERY FIRST INSTALLATION

    1. In the node TCP port enter 55000
    2. In the second line type www.mywebsite.com (without http:// !!!)
    3. Third line should be like this /dafsim/servers.php
    4. Enter or modify the Node name, Country, City and Comments as you wish.
    5. Click the "Save" button
    1. In the "Dynamic DNS" field, enter your password
    2. Click "Dynamic DNS Disabled" button and switch it to enabled state.
    1. Click the "OFF --> on" to connect (to switch from OFF state to ON)
    2. If everything is correct, you should see this message "...Main Hub   mode enabled."
    3. That's ALL ! Your server is now available for your network.
    1. Edit the text file called status.txt (should be found in your C:\dafsim\dafnode) and replace "mywebsite" by the real name of your website.
    2. Save it and then upload it to your website here www.mywebsite.com/whazzup and allow file creation in this folder (the file whazzup.txt will be automatically called at each minute when Dynamic DNS will occur)
    3. That's ALL !

SECOND STEP (WHAT TO DO EACH TIME YOU LAUNCH YOUR SERVER)

  1. After having launched Dafnode.exe, click "Setup and Database" tab control then click "Network Setup" Button.
  2. Enter your password and click "Dynamic DNS Disabled" button and let it be enabled.
  3. Click "Main controls" tab control, Click the "OFF --> on" to connect (to switch from OFF state to ON)
  4. If everything is correct, you should see this message "...Main Hub   mode enabled."
  5. That's ALL ! Your server is now available for your network.

 

You can create in advance accounts for members by clicking "Setup and Database" tab control then "Members Database" button ... I let you find out by yourself...
When a member is banned, then even if he tries to connect with a new name and new login, he will be refused. The only way to get accepted is to use another PC or reformat the Hard Drive, and this could take several hours or several PC's :-)

Take a look at the PHP code I've made to understand more... and don't forget to read the FAQ, there are some nice tricks !

 

DCS + DGI

The Dafnode has been split in two parts: A core part and the graphic (GUI) part.
The core part is called DCS (Dafnonode Core Server) and the graphic part is DGI (Dafnode Graphic Interface)

There are three items to setup : One item is the website, the other one is the core server (DCS) and the last one is the graphic interface DGI.

In this document, the term DCS will designate the file winDCS.exe under Windows, or linDCS under Linux

First thing first, setup your website as explained above.

Installing and running the DCS :

Next step is to open TCP port number 55000 in ALL your firewalls, routers, NATs, Windows firewall and so on.
The full path to reach your software on TCP port 55000 must be open and cleared.

On your hard disk, create a folder called DAFSIM and then in this folder create a folder called dafnode.
This should looks like : C:\dafsim\dafnode or any folder under Linux that ends with dafsim/dafnode

NOTA :

a) If you already have installed dafnode.exe, then you just need to copy there the DCS.exe ( dafnode.exe and DCS.exe do share the same database and config files )
b) It is NORMAL to create a folder called dafnode to install in it the DCS; DCS means ... Dafnode Core Server

In the DCS folder (C:\dafsim\dafnode) unzip the DCS.zip file and double click to launch DCS.exe
Now there are two steps : One step should be done only ONCE in order to setup the installation and the second step is the normal and usual connecting step.

FIRST STEP TO DO ONLY AT THE VERY FIRST INSTALLATION

    1. [GENERAL]
      NodeName=
      NodeCountry=
      NodeCity=
      NodeComments=

    2. [NETWORK]
      TcpPortNumber=55000
      ConnectWebSite=      <--- Here write your website's name (www.yourwebsite.xxx)
      ConnectPagePath=/dafsim/servers.php


      Here is an example :

      ; This file is used by the DAFNODE server ( www.dafsim.com )
      ;------------------------------------------------------------------
      [GENERAL]
      NodeName=BEN
      NodeCountry=FRANCE
      NodeCity=PARIS
      NodeComments=Bonjour les pilotes et les ATC !!!
      AddPilotRankWhazzup=Y
      ATCcanKickout=Y
      OnlyAtcCanKickout=N
      AnyAtcCanKickout=N
      PilotsCanNotPause=N
      PilotsCanNotSlew=N
      AddFsVersionWhazzup=Y
      ;------------------------------------------------------------------
      [NETWORK]
      TcpPortNumber=55000
      ConnectWebSite=www.dafsim.com
      ConnectPagePath=/dafsim/servers.php
      ConnectWebSiteFriend=
      ConnectPagePathFriend=
      LANmode=N
      ;------------------------------------------------------------------



    3. Save your DafNode.ini file and close it
    1. In the DCS window, press 'P' key then press 'Y' key and enter your password like this:



    2. Now press 'D' key to activate the Dynamic DNS and switch it to enabled state.

      When you do this, the dafnode ( or DCS ) will connect to your website calling the servers.php file and providing your password.
      The php code will compare the password it receives from the dafnode against the one inside the file password.php
      If they match, then your dafnode will be recognized as being the main hub of you network

    3. At this level, the IP address of the dafnode will be stored locally on the website (in the file dafsimhubslist.txt) and will be delivered to the clients that want to connect to the network.

    4. Now press 'O' key to switch from OFF state to ON state and activate the server.
      You should see the message "Main Hub mode enabled" like this :



    5. Now, in order to fully ( and remotely if need be ) manage your DCS, you need to connect a DGI ( Dafnode Graphic Interface ) to your DCS.

      On your hard disk open the DAFSIM folder and create there a new folder called DGI.
      This should looks like : C:\dafsim\DGI
      In the DCS folder (C:\dafsim\DGI) unzip the DGI.zip file and double click to launch DGI.exe      , this should look like this :



    6. Click the "Network setup" button and then enter a login (anyone you want, this is not meaningfull for now) and then in the password type the same password you used in the DCS ( in the example it was 'yourpassword' )

    7. If you have installed the DGI on the same PC than the DCS then fill the url field with 127.0.0.1:55000 otherwise enter your website's name like in this example :



      Click the "Save" button

      Now click the "CONNECT" button and you should be connected to the DCS like this example :



      Now enjoy and manage your DCS remotely using the DGI exactly ( or better than ) you did with the "old" dafnode.


SECOND STEP ( HOW TO MAKE YOUR SERVER START AUTOMATICALLY )

  1. Easy !

    Create a shortcut on the DCS and then make it automatically run at Windows (or Linux) Startup, just use in the "command line" these two commands separated by a space, Here is an example : C:\anyfolder\DCS.exe DELAY_TO_CONNECT_AT_STARTUP=3 PASSWORD_TO_WEBSITE=yourpassword

    This will automatically run the Dynamic DNS using your password and Connect Dafnode server after 3 seconds ...

    Here is an example for winDCS of how looks the shortcut under Windows ( My Windows is in French )




  2. Under Windows, you may also make the winDCS run as "service" at machine boot-up.

  3. Here is an example :

    How to set linDCS ( under Linux CentOS in this case )

    #!/bin/bash ./lindcs_x86_32 DELAY_TO_CONNECT_AT_STARTUP=5 PASSWORD_TO_WEBSITE=yourpassword &

    The & at the end allows the session window, such as putty, to be closed. This also allows for any crashes. It will automatically restart itself on a crash, not a full system restart or shut down.

 

 

 

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