LockheedMartin.Prepar3d.Simconnect.dll Fails to Load

[aussibob]

G'day Tim

My Set-up:
Server with Prepar3D V4.2
Run as Admin
Antivirus and Firewall down
Sharing and Permissions set (includes "Everyone" with Full Control)
Fixed IP  /  IPv4  (fixed IP confirmed using ipconfig)
simconnect.xml (format, IP and Port 4506 checked) in proper roaming directory
dotNET 4.6.2 installed

Client with Plan-G v3.2.1.151
Run as Admin
Plan-G Data (P3D) updated
Plan-G Locations and FSConnection set in Options menu
FSConnection Parameters - Connect with Simconnect (P3D)         also IP, Port and IPv4 set in FSX Settings Section (Not sure whether they are needed)
Antivirus and Firewall down
Sharing and Permission set (includes "Everyone" with Full Control)
Fixed IP  /  IPv4 (IP confirmed using ipconfig)
simconnect.cfg (format, IP and Port checked) in main Plan-G Folder on C Drive
dotNET 4.6.2 installed

Everything looks good (Map and P3D Nav Data showing) until I hit "Connect" - then nothing (was expecting the little yellow airplane)

Plan-G log.txt shows Failure to load LockheedMartin.Prepar3d.Simconnect.dll:

14:03:28.7 Starting Plan-G (W7 edition), build 3.2.1.151
14:03:28.7 OS is Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1
14:03:28.7 Plan-G Files folder is: C:\Users\User\Documents\Plan-G Files
14:03:28.8 InitDataFolder
14:03:28.8 Data Source = C:\Users\User\Documents\Plan-G Files\Data\PlanG3_FSX.sdf
14:03:28.8 Data Source = C:\Users\User\Documents\Plan-G Files\Data\PlanG3_FS9.sdf
14:03:28.8 Data Source = C:\Users\User\Documents\Plan-G Files\Data\PlanG3_XPX.sdf
14:03:28.8 Data Source = C:\Users\User\Documents\Plan-G Files\Data\PlanG3_P3D.sdf
14:03:28.8 Data Source = C:\Users\User\Documents\Plan-G Files\Data\PlanG3_NAVI.sdf
14:03:28.8 Data Source = C:\Users\User\Documents\Plan-G Files\Data\UserWaypoints.sdf
14:03:28.8 Data Source = C:\Users\User\Documents\Plan-G Files\Data\MEF.sdf
14:03:29.9 Map tiles cache: C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\GMap.NET\
14:03:30.1 Program in: C:\Program Files (x86)\Plan-G v3.2.1
14:03:30.1 Data in: C:\Users\User\Documents\Plan-G Files
14:03:30.1 IsDataLoaded: FSX
14:03:30.1 Data Source = C:\Users\User\Documents\Plan-G Files\Data\PlanG3_FSX.sdf
14:03:30.2 IsDataLoaded: FS9
14:03:30.2 Data Source = C:\Users\User\Documents\Plan-G Files\Data\PlanG3_FS9.sdf
14:03:30.2 IsDataLoaded: XPlane
14:03:30.2 Data Source = C:\Users\User\Documents\Plan-G Files\Data\PlanG3_XPX.sdf
14:03:30.3 Starting timer
14:03:30.3 DownloadCurrentMetars thread started
14:03:30.3 Metar04Z.TXT started
14:03:30.3 Metar03Z.TXT started
14:03:30.8 IsDataLoaded: FSX
14:03:30.8 Data Source = C:\Users\User\Documents\Plan-G Files\Data\PlanG3_FSX.sdf
14:03:30.9 IsDataLoaded: FS9
14:03:30.9 Data Source = C:\Users\User\Documents\Plan-G Files\Data\PlanG3_FS9.sdf
14:03:30.9 IsDataLoaded: P3D
14:03:30.9 Data Source = C:\Users\User\Documents\Plan-G Files\Data\PlanG3_P3D.sdf
14:03:30.9 IsDataLoaded: XPlane
14:03:30.9 Data Source = C:\Users\User\Documents\Plan-G Files\Data\PlanG3_XPX.sdf
14:03:32.8 Stopping timer
14:03:32.8 StartMap
14:03:32.9 Connection string: metadata=res://*/Data.FSData.csdl|res://*/Data.FSData.ssdl|res://*/Data.FSData.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlServerCe.3.5;provider connection string='Data Source=|DataDirectory|\Data\PlanG3_P3D.sdf'
14:03:33.5 NdbsInBounds 2
14:03:33.5 VorsInBounds 0
14:03:33.8 AirportsInBounds 2
14:03:34.0 AirspaceInBounds 12
14:03:34.1 NdbsInBounds 2
14:03:34.1 VorsInBounds 0
14:03:34.1 AirportsInBounds 2
14:03:34.3 AirspaceInBounds 12
14:03:37.0 Metar04Z.TXT done
14:03:38.5 Initiating SimConnect P3D connection.
14:03:38.5 SetFSConnected: System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'LockheedMartin.Prepar3D.SimConnect.dll' or one of its dependencies. The specified module could not be found.
File name: 'LockheedMartin.Prepar3D.SimConnect.dll'
   at Plan_G3.Model.lm_SimConnect.Connect(IntPtr myWindow)
   at Plan_G3.ViewModel.MainViewModel.SetFSConnected(Boolean value)


14:03:44.3 SetFSConnected: System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'LockheedMartin.Prepar3D.SimConnect.dll' or one of its dependencies. The specified module could not be found.
File name: 'LockheedMartin.Prepar3D.SimConnect.dll'
   at Plan_G3.Model.lm_SimConnect.Disconnect()
   at Plan_G3.ViewModel.MainViewModel.SetFSConnected(Boolean value)


14:03:46.2 Metar03Z.TXT done
14:03:46.2 DownloadCurrentMetars done
14:03:46.8 Cleanup

A post on this issue in the forum suggested that replacing the LockheedMartin.Prepar3D.SimConnect.dll in the Plan-G folder with one from the P3D v2.5 SDK fixed the issue. 
Tried that but Plan-G log showed same "Fail to Load" error.
For the hell of it, tried the one from the P3D v4 SDK which produced a very long Plan-G log which indicated that the DLL was not in the expected format.

Where do I go from here?
Greetings from a cold and miserable (raining) Melbourne, Australia
Aussibob

[tim arnot]

Hmm. I haven't seen this before. Win 7 on the client? Where is the Plan-G program folder?

I very rarely recommend uninstalling & reinstalling Plan-G - normally it achieves nothing. But in this case, it might be worth trying a fresh install of Plan-G in a different location. There shouldn't be any way for it to not find that dll, cos it lives in its home folder. However it could also be a dependency rather than the actual dll itself. Not sure how to go about determining that.

[aussibob]

Hi Tim

Success!  Had a look at the LockheedMartin.Prepar3d.simconnect.dll with the free Dependency Walker which showed that about 10 modules needed by the dll were missing. As a bit of a long shot I installed every x86 and x64 version of the Visual C++ Redists from 2005 to 2017 and updated DirectX as well. Probably a bit of overkill but fired up P3D4 on the server and Plan-G on the client, connected - and there was the little yellow airplane. A quick flight showed that all was working.

Now all I have to figure out is why the Plan-G moving map shows part of the world I'm flying in, in Satellite and another part in Open Street Map. It's kind of seamless the yellow plane just moves from the Satellite part to the OSM part. OSM is not selected in Options > General and my Mapbox ID and Key should be OK.

Bob

PS Was wondering why you thought it odd that Win7 was on the client?

[tim arnot]

Glad you have it working :D

Maybe you're seeing old map data from the cache. You can try clearing the map cache from the Settings page.

Not odd, just confirming what the log said. ;)

[aussibob]

Clearing the cache did the trick

Bob