sharpcap4 with Mgen3

[wolfgangh]

Hello
This is probably not a bug.
I am using sharpcap 4 pro with MGEN 3. Unfortunately I am only able to connect sharpcap directly via USB to the MGEN and dithering works very well.
At same time I have no remote access to the MGEN device. MGEN offers a server app which allows to connect more than one application to the MGen device but sharpcap is not able to connect to this server.
Is there any possibility to have remote access to the MGEN 3 at the same time when Sharpcap is connected too.
Kind regards wolfgang

[admin]

Hi,

do you have a link where I can find the mgen 'server app' - I'm not familiar with that and I suspect I should investigate to see if I can work with it easily or not.

thanks,

Robin

[wolfgangh]

Hi,
the link is on the MGEN-site. It is called MG 3 PC-APP
https://support.mgen-autoguider.com/upl ... c_v1.1.zip
The zip-file contains the exe-file and the dokumentation
Kind regards
Wolfgang

[admin]

Hi Wolfgang,

thanks for the link - I can see now that I need to update the MGEN DLLs in SharpCap to a newer version and probably change some of the SharpCap code too in order to support this. I will put it on the TODO list.

thanks,

Robin

[sharky1961]

So I have found out that MGEN3 isn't working in sharpcap 4.0 64 bit. It only works in sharpcap 4.0 32 bit. Is that correct?
when I trie in 32bit i have to "choose the right ascom camera driver for your camera"
where can I find the right ascom camera driver?
Rob

[admin]

Hi,

if you are using the MGEN.APP Ascom driver then you are correct - that driver only comes with a 32-bit version, so it cannot be used with 64 bit SharpCap (at least the version I have installed only has a 32 bit version, anyway). This is something that could potentially be fixed in the future by the author of MGEN.APP.

There is no need to use MGEN.APP any more in SharpCap 4 - SC4 can talk directly to your MGEN3 and monitor guiding and trigger dithering in the same way that it can with PHD2 - see https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/4.0/#!2!Guiding%20Tab and https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/4.0/#Guiding%20Tab (and also https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/4.0/#Guiding)

cheers,

Robin

[wolfgangh]

Thank you Robin
Kind regards
Wolfgang

[sharky1961]

Thank you very much Robin.
will try
Rob

[markuspaul]

Hello Robin, I have tried as you suggested connecting SharpCap to MGEN3. I simply receive a message connection to MGEN3 has failed. (see screenshot). I have also tried using the MGEN.App but also get error messages. See second screenshot.

FTDI drivers are installed. Any idea of what might be going on?

Markus

[admin]

Hi,

The MGEN.APP issue looks like it is a missing DLL problem. MGEN.App should install the MG3lib.dll at this location

Code: Select all

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\ASCOM\Camera\MGEN.APP\MG3lib

So either the file is not there, or it is looking in the wrong place for some reason. It may be worth trying an uninstall and reinstall of MGEN.App to see if that resolves the issue.


As for the other problem using the MGEN directly, I would suggest that the first thing to check is that the MGEN is actually showing up as a 'USB Serial Port' in the Windows device manage. It should appear when you plug in the MGEN and vanish when you unplug it.

It's also worth looking in the SharpCap log to see what is added when you tick the 'monitor guiding application' box.

Code: Select all

Failed to connect to MGEN3 device, but apparently one is present

means that the MGEN is connected but turned off.

Code: Select all

Could not connect to MGEN3 device

means that the device is not detected at all.

cheers,

Robin