IOS Live Link VCAM help: no message bus source

Development Cinematics & Media Virtual Production
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Hey folks, I still cannot get UE vcam app on iOS to work with 5.1. Same situation as 5.0.

The iPad will not show up as a ‘message bus source’. Does anyone know the trick to getting this working?

Here’s my setup:

  • I’m using an internal (192.168.1.1) network.
  • UDP messaging is set up in project settings, IP of the Windows 10 box running UE 5.1 is set to 192.168.1.2. iPad is set to a DHCP IP, but still in the same subnet (192.168.1.70).
    * Unicast endpoint is set to the IP of my window’s box, via the dropdown.
    * Multicast Endpoint is set to default (230.0.0.1:6666)
  • Windows firewall is disabled.
    * The router does not prohibit any traffic internally, and I see nothing in the router log to suggest that something is being blocked.
  • I’m using a 5.1 virtual production blank file, all plugins (livelink, etc.) are enabled.
    * Rendering is set to 8bit, which some tutorials suggested
    * The vcam app, running on iOS 15.3.1 is up to date.
  • I’ve added a VCamActor to my scene. In the VCamActor → vcam properties, I have:
    * “Virtual Camera” checked “Enabled”
    * Under the “Output Providers” rollout, under “0” → “Output”; “Is Active” toggled
    * Vcam app on iOS has the correct IP for my windows PC.

In the Live Link window, nothing shows up under message bus source. I’ve tried running this BEFORE hitting connect and after. Vcam app reports the connection refused, which is not surprising as the iPad won’t show up under source. The vcam log is very unhelpful, it just repeats the dialog message. Is there a way to get more information from the app log?

I’ve also tried changing the network setting on the iPad named Private Wi-Fi Address on/off, to no avail. I’m not convinced that the UDP connection is hitting my PC.

So frustrating. I see many forum questions on this topic, but I’ve tried to provide as much information as I could. However, I appreciate the help, if anyone has any other ideas. Thanks!

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Some more information: I ended up doing some more troubleshooting with wireshark and discovered that I AM getting TCP connections from the iPad and the windows machine when setting the the Unicast Endpoint to 0.0.0.0, and I get some packets when hitting connect.

1.) I hit connect. I see a TCP packet being sent from the iPad to the windows box, inc port 49566, destination port 2049:

138 4.770959 192.168.1.70 192.168.1.10 TCP 78 49566 → 2049 [SYN] Seq=0 Win=65535 Len=0 MSS=1460 WS=64 TSval=1058697453 TSecr=0 SACK_PERM=1

2.) The windows box responds with a TCP RST ACK packet, source 2049 to 49566:

139 4.771003 192.168.1.10 192.168.1.70 TCP 54 2049 → 49566 [RST, ACK] Seq=1 Ack=1 Win=0 Len=0

After that nothing. Connection refused. So at least the conversation starts, but it looks like after the ACK, it’s shutdown.

3

I also captured a wireshark output. Lots of commuincation going on, but still get a connection refused when hitting connect, which I attempted in this packet capture.

If anyone has any ideas, please I’d love to hear them! Thank you!

Livelinkcapture.pcapng (82.3 KB)

4

@lxdengar did you manage to get it to work?

I am experiencing a similar issue. I was able to successfully set up the connection once, but the following day the iPad was no longer being recognized as a source despite my attempts to troubleshoot using various methods such as checking IP and port settings, ensuring an active WiFi connection, and more.

One potential solution you might try is setting up the live link v cam connection type as “Pixel Streaming.” This helped me resolve the issue the first time I encountered it.

I hope this information is helpful. It’s possible that there are still some bugs in the system causing unstable connections.

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