1. Do not share user accounts! Any account that is shared by another person will be blocked and closed. This means: we will close not only the account that is shared, but also the main account of the user who uses another person's account. We have the ability to detect account sharing, so please do not try to cheat the system. This action will take place on 04/18/2023. Read all forum rules.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. For downloading SimTools plugins you need a Download Package. Get it with virtual coins that you receive for forum activity or Buy Download Package - We have a zero Spam tolerance so read our forum rules first.

    Buy Now a Download Plan!
  3. Do not try to cheat our system and do not post an unnecessary amount of useless posts only to earn credits here. We have a zero spam tolerance policy and this will cause a ban of your user account. Otherwise we wish you a pleasant stay here! Read the forum rules
  4. We have a few rules which you need to read and accept before posting anything here! Following these rules will keep the forum clean and your stay pleasant. Do not follow these rules can lead to permanent exclusion from this website: Read the forum rules.
    Are you a company? Read our company rules
Shared accounts will be removed Plugin Downloads Zero spam policy Forum Rules

Consoles

Consoles

Category

How to connect the SimTools PC to Xbox One X via Crossover cable to play FH4

How to connect the SimTools PC to Xbox One X via Crossover cable to play FH4 by @Sam MAHENDRA: https://www.xsimulator.net/communit...-one-x-via-crossover-cable-to-play-fh4.14548/

This guideline explains how you can connect the SimTools PC to Xbox One X via a Crossover cable to play Forza Horizon on Xbox One X.

You can either buy a Crossover cable or have fun making it yourself.

I converted a standard Ethernet cable (one should have a spare cable lying around in the drawer!) into a Crossover cable by this method.
[​IMG]

Carefully slit open the sheath in the middle of the cable and pull apart the following four wires.
  1. Orange and Orange/white;
  2. Green and Green/white;
  3. Cut and strip these four wires;
  4. Now solder the Orange/white wire from Connector 1 to the Green/white wire from Connector 2 and cover it with heat shrink tube;
  5. Ditto for the Orange wire from Connector 1 to the Green wire from Connector 2;
  6. Ditto for the Green/white wire from Connector 1 to the Orange/white from Connector 2;
  7. Ditto for the Green wire from Connector 1 to the Orange wire from Connector 2;
  8. Leave other cables alone;
  9. Cover these connections with a tape or heat shrink tube.
In order to test the cable, I used the UDP Sender/Receiver App from Microsoft/Google store.
Download this app to the PC and the Xbox One X.
Launch the UDP Sender/Receiver App in both devices.
[​IMG]
Note the local addresses (say on the PC 192.168.0.101, and on the Xbox One X 192.168.12.10)
Enter the PC address 192.168.0.101 as the Remote IP on the Xbox One X and vice versa.
On both devices enter 4123 as the Remote and Local Port

Now click the Connect button. You should see the following dialogue box.
[​IMG]
Enter a test message, say "From the Game PC" on the PC and "From the Xbox One X "on the Xbox One X.
Click send and you should see the messages appear in green (Local)/red (Remote) under the Logs.
This proves that your CrossOver cable is ok.

The second test is to confirm that the FH4 in Xbox One X is correctly set up.
In FH4, under HUD and Gameplay, Turn DATA OUT "ON", DATA OUT IP ADDRESS " (192.168.0.101), DATA OUT IP PORT "4123" and Accept.
[​IMG]
When you run FH4, you should see the motion data from FH4 on the UDP Logs.
[​IMG]
Now launch the SimTools PluginUpdater, Drag and Drop ForzaHorizon4_GamePlugin.V2.0.0.2.zip

Launch SimTools, change the IP addresses on both the Game Manager and Game Engine to 192.168.0.101. This is your PC address as per the UDP Sender/Receiver.

Once you have ensured that FH4 is patched and the Axis etc are correctly set up, when you run FH4 on Xbox, you should see the motions.

If not click the manual start button
[​IMG]
Few things to note.

  • Xbox One X has only one Ethernet port and it's being used to connect to the PC. You need to set up the Xbox One X WiFi connection via your Modem to the Xbox Server to keep the game progress up to date.
  • On the PC, either you can use a second NIC or a USB WiFi dongle to connect to the internet, if required.
  • If you want to play SimTools on the PC afterwards, without connecting to the Xbox, you may need to change the IP addresses on the SimTools Game Engine and Game Manager to the default 127.0.0.1
  • Every time you want to connect the PC and the Xbox, you need to launch the UDP app to get the correct IP addresses.
  • The ForzaHorizon4_GamePlugin.V2.0.0.0 didn't work on the PC-Xbox mode.
  • But it did work on the PC running FH4 (No Xbox One X).
  • You should be able to establish the connection (without the Crossover cable) via the Port forwarding facility on the Router, but it wasn't successful in my case.
Hope I have covered every aspect of how to connect the SimTools PC to XboxOne X.
#359

Theory and background info

As describded in some other FAQs and threads, SimTools can get data from game memory but this assumes that SimTools GameEngine is running on the same hardware (PC) as the game. Obviously, Sony/Microsoft will not provide a PS4/XBox version of GameEngine :)
So for the consoles, the only option is that the game provides telemetry through network data. Generally the telemetry is sent using UDP protocol which is lightweight as it doesn't require handshaking on network level. In case your favorite game doesn't provide telemetry data, I suggest you harrass the editor on forums/social media so they support it.

Three families of UDP telemetry can be observed : broadcasted, targeted, specific.
  • In broadcasted mode, the app sends the telemetry data to ALL devices on the same network. In that case, any device on your LAN (PC, tablet, phone,...) will receive the data from the app. This avoid to specify the target within the game but this has several disadvantages like network pollution and filtering : imagine you have the game running several times on your LAN because you are playing with friends who brought their console. If you do not filter, then SimTools will receive UDP telemetry from all simracers at the same time. What a mess ! But this behavior can also be usefull as you can use apps on tablets, in parallel to simtools and other apps on other devices without any configuration to do on the game. Project Cars 1/2 are games that broadcast data on the network.
  • The targeted approach requires you to select on the game through the UI the destination of the stream by giving the IP address where GameEngine is running. This implies only one target will receive the data, making tablet/simtools coexistence more complicated. Should you need to replicate the telemetry data to feed several apps/tools you will have to find a way to do that yourself. CodeMasters games follow that principle for the F1 series (unfortunately, not for DiRT series :()
  • A third hybrid mode exists where the game requires a complex handshake dialog to subscribe to telemetry data, like a data bus. This requires some more intelligence both on clietn and server, but allows more flexibility. Assetto Corsa is one of those.

Practical info

Console games in SimTools follow the same process as PC games. There are two things to note however:
  • Patching : SimTools require you to go through patching anyway. As you can't patch anything on the console, just patch using the Game Manager as you would with a normal game but you will not supply any path/file to patch. Thats it. Activate also dash and vibe as needed.
  • SimTools start: As SimTools cant detect the game is running as it does when looking for in memory processes, you just have to start the game manually.
Beside this, everyhting is the same : max/min values , axes, presets, etc.
The console UDP plugins can also be used for PC version of the games, only the start will be manual. Generally I provide a PC version which adds automatic start and patching when I have time and the game to validate it.

For optimal behavior, wifi should be avoided : wifi can filter-out broadcast and add latency. Always use wired ethernet.
#329