The 'Unofficial' Tacx Forum

If you have the old Fortius trainer and want to use Zwift or Trainer Road, then you're in luck. A chap called Wouter has written a little applet that enables a USB-connected Tacx trainer to communicate with Zwift and Trainer Road.

Check out the applet on github:

https://github.com/WouterJD/FortiusANT

Thanks!

He works also to implement i-vortex tacx trainers! Might be helpful if there are other testers available...

Hi, I'm looking at how to connect the Fortius multiplayer in zwift and I see that this can be done but ... I don't quite understand how, it says that if you want to connect to zwift you need two "dongles" of Ant +
Has any of you got it? can you explain me exactly how?
(is to buy or not a USB Ant +)

thank you very much

This simply means you will need to connect two (2) USB ANT+ Antenna or dongle in order for your USB connected Fortius to work with an ANT+ app like Zwift. The first Antenna will transmit/receive data for the Tacx Fortius, while the second will transmit/receive data that is consumed by Zwift. Examples of ANT+ antenna/dongles include the Tacx T2028 or USB ANT+ Stick an Adapter for Zwift, Garmin, Suunto, TacX, Bkool, PerfPRO Studio, CycleOps, TrainerRoad to Upgrade Bike Trainer (with 3 Meters Extension Cable) .

I would not recommend the CYCPLUS ANT+ dongles. Up until February CYCPLUS were shipping buggy dongles that did not support continuous scanning and would frequently disconnect. I bought 2 of these dongles in March. There may be some suppliers still shipping the buggy version and it's impossible to tell as everyone uses the same stock images.

Wouter, I and others spent some time testing/debugging these dongles and working around the problem. FortiusANT 3.0 beta includes code to reconnect the dongle should it drop out like the CYCPLUS does. You'll lose a second or so each dropout. Zwift will then usually pick up again. However, in use I've had the dongle drop out on the Zwift side too so nothing Wouter can do there.

I sent mine back. I've now got Suunto Movestick Mini which work perfectly. Garmin should also work.I haven't tried them but Wiggle's Lifeline and Saris appear to be Garmin clones. ANSELF apparently work but even some of those are rebranded CYCPLUS so it's a bit pot-luck with the cheaper models flooding Amazon and eBay.

The two dongles can be on the same computer or two different computers. The first dongle and computer is essentially converting your Fortius into an ANT+ FE-C compatible wireless smart trainer. The second dongle is used by Zwift.

aegis wrote: ↑Fri May 15, 2020 2:12 pm
I sent mine back. I've now got Suunto Movestick Mini which work perfectly.

I have used the Suunto, but as I recall it has half the channels as a standard ANT+ stick. When I tried to use it with a bike that had more than 4 ANT+ sensors and devices, it would constantly drop connections with some of them. It has been a while since this happened.

mcorn wrote: ↑Fri May 15, 2020 2:25 pm I have used the Suunto, but as I recall it has half the channels as a standard ANT+ stick. When I tried to use it with a bike that had more than 4 ANT+ sensors and devices, it would constantly drop connections with some of them. It has been a while since this happened.

I think that might be the larger, earlier USB1 Movestick with 4 channels like the earlier larger Garmin sticks too. The Movestick Mini reports 8 channels. It's what Wouter has so I figured if it works for him, it'll work.

aegis wrote: ↑Fri May 15, 2020 3:14 pm

mcorn wrote: ↑Fri May 15, 2020 2:25 pm I have used the Suunto, but as I recall it has half the channels as a standard ANT+ stick. When I tried to use it with a bike that had more than 4 ANT+ sensors and devices, it would constantly drop connections with some of them. It has been a while since this happened.

I think that might be the larger, earlier USB1 Movestick with 4 channels like the earlier larger Garmin sticks too. The Movestick Mini reports 8 channels. It's what Wouter has so I figured if it works for him, it'll work.

No, it was not USB1, which stopped being used for Tacx stuff very early on as it did not have the bandwidth and horsepower. But, it may have been an earlier model of the mini.

Tacx i-Vortex is now also supported.
Check it out on github: https://github.com/WouterJD/FortiusANT

ZwiftWithTacxFortius wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 9:25 am Tacx i-Vortex is now also supported.
Check it out on github: https://github.com/WouterJD/FortiusANT

Excellent work Wouter

loaded FortiusAnt to try for a better Zwift connection than my very basic Tacx cycletrack. Got the 2 dongles etc and connected all Tacx cables but the FortiusAnt says no trainer detected

I have swapped headsets, and leads between brake and head set with no joy

How can is solate the issue, I am presuming power getting to brake from mains , as the socket are live but no way to tell if it gets to brake ?

Otherwise might as well use as dumb trainer for Zwift ?

Thanks

Hello, I discovered this forum just a few days ago. I have a mountain bike set up for training on my old Fortius trainer and I installed TTS 4.0 under Windows 10 in January 2019. As features of TTS4 were shut down by Tacx I wondered if I could use Zwift and other online training services to continue to get some use out my trainer. Then I found this recent announcement and I rushed out to buy a used Tacx Blacktrack with T2028 Ant and a Garmin USB 2 Ant+ dongle. I am ready to install the FortiusANT software and studying the installation notes so I don't mess up.

A few questions before I jump in with both feet in the installation:

1. Given I am running Windows 10 and the software seems to be 32 bit and intended for Windows 7 will it install properly for me?

2. Will I lose the ability to run my current TTS 4?

3. libusb-win32 doesn't specifically mention Windows 10. FortiusANT instructions seem to say I need to install this to reinstall my trainer. Do I still need this for Windows 10?

4. There is a warning DO NOT RUN TacxDriversSetup.exe but I think I did that long ago when I had help from Tacx to set up TTS4 on Windows 10. Is that going to be a problem now? (Back to question 2).

5. I see there was a software update a few hours ago so I am going to download the windows executable version but I will pause until I get a response from someone in this forum.

Thanks

ZwiftWithTacxFortius wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2020 9:25 am Tacx i-Vortex is now also supported.
Check it out on github: https://github.com/WouterJD/FortiusANT

If you could make this compatible with Bkool Connect and Go trainers (both ANT+ , not ANT+ FEC). I know two people who would love to test for you.

HI my name is Dan and i am new to this so i hope you can help. I am trying to get my fortius trainer to work with zwift.
i have followed all the information provided by this forum but i can't get it to pair. I am using a new computer with windows 10 along with 2 and dongles and a tacx ant antenna. This computer does not have the tacx software installed only because i read that windows 10 will not support it. Any suggestions?

The thread above may help

Cześć. Zakupiłem używanego FORTIUSA i nie mogę go uruchomić. Mam jedną płytę z trasami, ale nie uruchomię jej, bo nie mam kodu rejestracyjnego. POMOCY!!!

jano wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 6:18 pm Cześć. Zakupiłem używanego FORTIUSA i nie mogę go uruchomić. Mam jedną płytę z trasami, ale nie uruchomię jej, bo nie mam kodu rejestracyjnego. POMOCY!!!

Nie wskazałeś, jakie masz oprogramowanie, ale zakładam, że jest to jakaś wersja oprogramowania Tacx Trainer (TTS). Niestety tego oprogramowania nie można już aktywować, ponieważ jest przestarzałe, a firma zamknęła serwery. Jest wiele dyskusji na ten temat na forum, więc powinieneś przejrzeć, aby uzyskać więcej informacji.

(Courtesy of Google Translate.)