I use one from Phawary Labs that connects to FSUIPC once FSX is running. I also mapped the drive FSX installed on to a network location that my laptop could access.

If you continue to have problems with Simconnect (I could never get it to work across a network) you should get a registered version of FSUIPC. It allows you to do so much with control assignments (multiple switchable functions for buttons, switches, throttle, creating macros and far more accurate calibration than FSX, and that's just the tip of the iceberg!) You can even write your own .Lua scripts that will allow you to customise any control the way you want to. That is, if someone hasn't already created it a script for the functionality you were looking for. It has a very active, productive userbase. You do need to read and learn some pretty technical stuff for the more advanced features, so it's not necessarily for everyone.
But it has also allowed me to stably connect to Plan-G on my laptop. You just need to download a tiny free server app that uses the FSUIPC inbuilt WideServer networking functionality when you start FSX. It's configured by simply entering an IP address and then putting the details it gives you (IP address, port number) into Plan-G and hit connect and it just works instantly for me. I have loads of add-on scenery but I still completely built my database in a couple of minutes. Plus you don't need to pay for WideFS or mess around with Simconnect.xml files. I don't mean to criticise anyone who has networking with Simconnect working, that's great for you, it is totally free! I still love FSUIPC though  as it just adds so many possibilities, especially if you have a controller(s) or any panels and switches. I have nothing to do with Pete Dowson (creator of FSUIPC), in fact I find that he can be quite rude and arrogant in his replies to paying customers, but he has created one hell of a piece of software! Just like Plan-G, which is just awesome, and teaching me so much about navigation in general, as well as the stuff specific to Flight Sims. And there is a lot to learn for the novice like me! But, it's just so interesting, interactive, visually appealing and exciting that you don't even realise all the knowledge you're absorbing. Congrats to the creators at TA Software for creating this wonderful program, and then sharing it for free. I can't praise you enough!

Anyway, enough excited rambling from me, time for my bed! G'night!

Quote from: tim arnot on July 31, 2015, 11:36:22 AM
It's pretty much never worth trying to build a database across a network - there's a 99.9% chance that the path mappings for scenery locations in your scenery.cfg won't work on the client machine. If you've already built a database on the P3D machine, just copy the Plan-G Files folder across to the client machine and you're done.

I've found it works pretty well when you map the drives containing the various scenery.cfg files on the FSX machine and set the appropriate permissions on the drives to allow whatever laptop user accounts you wish to provide access to. No problems yet, and I've done it twice after the initial import when I added new scenery add-ons. Your method is undoubtedly more reliable and foolproof though. I just like only having to import the database once. Cause I'm lazy like that  :)

Cheers,
Paul

if you don't already have it, you should download a freeware program for FSX called Scenery Config Editor. It allows you to add different groups which you can name. So, you could have one just for England, one for all of Europe, one for Europe & North America, etc. It all just depends on how much add-on scenery you have. When you have made your scenery choices there, you save it under whatever name you want so you can load it whenever you want. When you want to load particular groups of scenery, you first load one of your saved configs named something like europe.cfg and then resave it as the scenery.cfg (make a backup of the default scenery.cfg first or rename it to sceneryOld.cfg). This new scenery.cfg with your choices of scenery is what FSX will now load as it starts. It ignores all the other cfg files in that folder by default.

Let me know if I explained this properly or if you have any other questions.

Paul

Okay, I don't know if this is common knowledge, but after reading and re-reading the sections of the Plan-G that dealt with running Plan-G on a networked computer I was under the impression that you needed to buy WideFS which contains the WideClient.exe to connect over a network. I had already paid €29.52 for a registered version of FSUIPC4 and I certainly didn't want to have to pay the same amount for WideFS7. If people already know this, please disregard what follows.

So, after literally a full day of trying to connect (trying Simconnect, IPv4, IPv6) from my laptop where Plan-G was installed to my FSX Desktop I just figured I was one of those people it was never going to work properly before. I had installed it on my desktop in order to build the database and the next day I tried it locally and of course it worked fine. The only problem is that I only have two monitors and I like to use one for my VC and the other for 2d panels, controls, etc. I also always play in fullscreen mode, so the inability to play in this mode was very frustrating, even if I was to get a third monitor. But....I absolutely loved the software! It was my first proper flight planner with a moving maps with loads of customisation items, yet I found the UI and design very user-friendly and I soon realised that I wanted this big time.

However, the following day before I even properly investigating where the problem was, I noticed a server program on my FSX PC from Phawary Labs. It apparently had been left over from when I demoed an Android tablet radio stack app (I don't even remember if I ever actually tried it). Anyway....I opened it and was presented with an what was a FSUIPC server with an extremely simple interface. All I had to do I think was to enter the IP address of my Plan-G laptop (I would have to confirm it wasn't the IP address of where FSUIPC was located, ie my FSX machine but I'm not near my FSX machine where the server software is installed) and I left the port number at it's default. I then started FSX to interface with FSUIPC. I started Plan-G on my laptop and under FS connections I chose FSUIPC as the connection method, inserted my FSX machine's IP and the port number from the server program. So, not very optimistically I hit the connect button....and hey presto, it connected immediately. As a test I tried to build the scenery database by pointing Plan-G at the FSX.exe and my main FSX folder which I had mapped as a network drive. The whole transfer took a couple of minutes!

I then created a flightplan in FSX from Heathrow to London City I think and Plan-G immediately located me and imported the flight plan and proceeded to follow me. I continued to play around with everything for at least 3 hours, and I didn't experience a single crash of any of the multiple programs I was running (FSX, FSUIPC server, TrackIR5 software, EZDok, several 3rd party sceneries and aircraft and Plan-G on the laptop). I was extremely impressed by this because the FlightConnect software I use for the far more basic Android app, FlightMap, more often then I'm happy with.

So, I'm an extremely happy punter who can finally learn the art of flight planning and the different modes of navigation, and retain the use of both my desktop monitors, and both in FSX full-screen mode. I'm sure there are other FSUIPC server programs available, but this one is tiny, incredibly stable and simple to use.

Hope this helps someone! You will need a registered version of FSUIPC though, but at least you don't have to fork out for WideFS7 as well. All questions are welcome. Again I apologise if this common knowledge.

Paul