Large Alvin

True, this is Pete's forum. I got the FDR to work finally. I'll look into your software. I'm just an over the hill enthusiast and wouldn't really use it. Looks good though. Enjoy

Thanks Luke, Right now the demo file fails the download. It's probably a good thing you got going if you can get it work well. I'll help you out with the beta testing when I can.

Thanks Tom, Yes, I have contacted Aerosoft but unfortunately nothing has worked. Perhaps there is a standalone FDR that might work. It would be nice to import flights into google earth. I was hoping Pete may have integrated a FDR into fsuipc or something that I wasn't aware of. I haven't been in here for a long time. Thanks again.

Please ask Questions related to FSUIPC in the Main Forum ! Moved to Main Forum. I am having trouble with aerosofts flight data recorder in the twin otter extended plane. I am curious if fsuipc might remedy the problem. I want to record flights and import them into google earth. Any suggestions helpful.

Sounds like you had the same axes assigned to different functions in different places. If you assign axes in FSUIPC, make sure they are not assigned in FS. It is really best to use only one or the other -- if using FSUIPC, turn off joysticks in FS altogether. Otherwise, if you disconnect and reconnect, or even for no apparent reason, FS will decide to do its auto-assignment based on its "rules" in its Joystick look-up files. I don't think so, as for as I know that is. Fsx won't let you assign two controllers to the same thing, I haven't installed fsuipc4 so that rules that out, but you have a valid point there, I don't see how it's done though, whenever I assign a controll if one is already assigned you must remove or swap it with another but maybe I am wrong.

What sort of software would induce glitches to zero? That doesn't make sense. Well Pete, good question, I found out why, in reality the x, y and z axis are getting mixed up. I was seeing zero or close to it because the yoke was centered. During controller calibration I also discovered the other axes are also erratically displaying each others readings. LOL, so typical of what happens when the programmers don't "think of everything" during development. Doesn't seem likely. However, if so then the USB adapter should be okay because the AtoD part must surely be dealt with in the adapter. Ya, I don't really know what to think about it but I feel the same way you do, the converter has to be in the adapter. I haven't had time to research it yet but the adapters might be somewhat limited, they have a 4 way switch for different modes. I'll let ya know what happens if I get one, I kinda like the extra controls on the newer yoke. It's nice to have easy access to the prop pitch and mixture. Simming an aircraft is an adventure if not a disaster, lol. Today I flew a mission several times over until I got it without crashing. I was flying the Grumman p21a with a stuck flap and had to land the plane with two dead engines "one on fire" where the runway was located at the bottom of a very large hill. Gliding down to the runway while picking up speed heading into a short runway didn't seem too promising without flaps. After several crashes I successfully landed by lowering the usable flap which skewed the plane to the right then raised the flap while steering back to the left of the runway and repeated the procedure until it was slow enough to land. All I can say is, man I'd hate to have that happen in real life! I also found I could glide over the runway a while then circle around to almost a stall and touch down on the front of the runway. If I were faced with landing an aircraft in real life without practicing it in a simulator I'd probably grab a bag of potato chips and start praying... I wonder how a real pro would have handled that landing?

The Rockfire RM-203 usb might work, The glitches on the throttle are software related, I tried all the hardware tricks like cleaning the pots, I even strapped on some capacitors on the pot wiper with no results. My guess is the service interrupts in xp are too complex and the game port can't sync properly. It seems an adapter would work fine so long as it had its own micro scanning the controller and telling xp via usb what each controller is doing. End cost is about 25 dollars for a new one here in the US. The only one I found on amazon uk seems to be the obsolete version but thanks for bringing the usb adapter up, I almost forgot about the option. And yes, overcontrol seems more appropriate. I'm use to thinking electronic feedback, where the output of an op amp overshoots it voltage and then rings when a pulse is fed into it. Have you seen the plug in that integrates google maps with flight sim? real scenery, wow !

I see, A lagging Axis causes overshoot from the networked computer. It's hard to imagine that happening, glad I asked. I'm still using the original "analog" ch yoke I've had since the 90's, the throttle data erratically jumps to zero then quickly returns. You told me about 9 months ago that fsuipc4 could not average or RMS or ignore the unusual data. Guess I'll break down and get a USB yoke. Have you had any problems with fsuipc4 and the CH Products 200-615 Flight Sim Yoke? It seems ok from the reviews I've read at mypilotstore.com. Most of the complaints seem like they could easily be remedied with the calibration system integrated into fsuipc4. If I end up needing fsuipc4 to calibrate this thing is http://secure.simmarket.com/pete-dowson-fsuipc4.phtml the correct place to get a license? Are there any other outlets in the USA? Thanks Alan

I have windows 98 on one machine that runs my old ch yoke and pedals. I think Wide FS allows remote control from another computer to another and intend to read about it later on tonight. I was hoping Pete could give me some advise on this. I hope it works because I'd rather have fsuipc4 than having to purchase another yoke and pedals. From what I gather wide fs is bundled fsuipc4. I'm using FSX on windows XP pro. Do you need to install fsx on both machines or does wide fs work by itself as a remote controller. I have a router but can I use the 1394 ports or a crosslink cable between ethernet ports on the 2 machines? I'll read about it later but if it can't be done with win 98se, please let me know. Thanks Alan

It started working properly, god knows why.

Thanks for the link >>> http://www.flypfc.com. My brother in law works for a small airport and says he might be able to get me a daily route flying cargo from St. Louis down to Arkansas and back. He says it's a straightforward route about 2 hours long. I have some money for education in my work account and I've been trying to figure out how I can afford to get an instrument license. This website might be one avenue.

Wow Pete, the large aircraft like the 737 scare the 'you know what" out of me, lol. So many controls to deal with, however It is probably a good feeling to learn an aircraft that well. There are so many things to keep track of anyway while flying and knowing everything there is to know about an aircraft certainly clears the way for a succesful mission especially if something goes wrong. I watched pbs today about a flight where two 747's collided on the runway in the late 70's. What a disaster, they said the pilot took off on his own accord without clearance from atc. The fog was very thick and the airport was overcrowded from a bombing at a larger airport that had diverted its traffic to where the crash happened. I guess the pilot was stressed beyond comprehension, you have to be crazy to do something like that. This pilot was a seasoned veteran, I bet the bombing was on his mind, as just getting behind schedule and worried about having to stay there overnight would not have been enough. The mind can be very powerful when overloaded. This really shows the limits of the human mind. Personally if I get stressed with too many things on my mind at one time I start burping at which point my dog runs under the couch. I think pilots should have dogs with them to keep an eye on stress levels. It might have prevented such a terrible accident. Hope you get to attend school, as the kids say in the US, that'd be totally rad, lol Have fun

Well Pete, I got it fixed, I'm not sure what fixed it, but I used logmein again and it made fsx stop responding do to an incapable video card, like it did before I had this problem. Next I ended the FSX at which point it sent a message to MS telling them of the error. I figure since that's what started the problem then I might be able to toggle something and switch it back on. I turned logmein off and started FSX up and held down the alt key while the program started up thinking the alt key might be programmed as a toggle within the program and if I released it before pressing it , then it might free up the problem. One of the two fixed the problem, I got lucky on this one, I came to you for help because of your expertise hoping there was a config file or something I could reset . I tried reinstalling the mouse driver, no luck there. I'm creating a restore point right now while it still works. I assume the registry gets backed up with a restore point, don't see how it couldn't. Thanks for the tips. Have you ever flown the mission in the Amazon with the Grumman p21a, its a tough one to do. When you get into the Anaconda temple you can't get out. I figured you have to use the push back feature to back the plane out of there. I also successfully landed at the last airport 1 time at the end of the mission but haven't been able to do it since. haha, but I found out you can land in the water next to the airport and the mission logs as successful. It's a lot of fun. See ya and hope fsuipc4 is doing well for ya. I'll probaly pick it up when winter sets in. What controllers do you like best, CH or Saitek, I've been looking into the CH ellipse, or the ch yoke with pedals. I've read too many complaints about Saitek procudts falling apart.

How stange , the right mouse button will no longer bring up a menu, it does nothing, the button works out of fsx but if I try to assign it to something in fsx, the program acts like it doesn't exist, something happened in the software. Does anybody have any clues or tips. I also discovered the alt key will not bring up the menu either. I think its a menu problem now. Windows open but not any menus. This happended after I left it on and tried to remote control my computer using logmein and I got a message that my video card is not capable of running fsx.

As difficult as this problem is I probably can be no help. However try opening Msconfig from the run selection. Click START > RUN > type MSCONFIG > a window pops up. Click on startup (far right tab). Make a note of which items are checked, "normally everything is checked" then select disable all below. Don't worry you can re enable all later on or turn things on one at a time if you find that something in there is causing the problem. It's the old "divide and conquer" method. Pete may offer some assistance on necessary check marks if there are any for his program and fsx, I really don't know. I do know that after rebooting many things are not loaded. It is not as extreme as Windows safe mode and it may fix your problem. Reboot, acknowledge the diagnostic mode and see if fsx works. You might be missing sound but if your buttons start programming properly it might be a good start. Good luck

This looks like the real thing, thought I'd pass it on, a friend has a Piper and sent me the link. He says it makes a great study program for the FAA written exam. http://www.gleim.com/aviation/

my my my, thanks for the response. I thought I reset everything and still could not find the setting for it but I'll do it again. And yes, this is true, pressing shift+o locks the mouse wheel zoom so you don't have to hold the space bar down. I like to zoom when flying the helicopters or for getting a closer look at the runway on the final. Man, those helicopters are hard to handle, it took me 3 weeks to rescue the Rhino in one of the adventures. I think I landed upside down on a tree top when I first started. lol have fun

For some reason I can zoom out but can't find the assignment to zoom back in. I can reset the zoom by moving the wheel forward but cannot linearily control it. Don't know what happened. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Funny, I just assembled that new computer and don't want to have to spend any more. At least not for a while. Thanks for the guidance Pete, it's nice to be able to converse online with others fascinated with aviation. It's a good passtime for me and my old Athalon xp 1700 processor was overloaded all the time even with all scenery at a minimum. It just wasn't much fun like most of my other games so I forked out about 1500 for all the new gear, moaned and groaned, but do spend about 4 hours a day on it for something to do that's not so technical like work. The random problem with the controllers is something I didn't count on and 15 more dollars for a usb device is not so bad.

Yes, I am getting the picture, it all makes sense. It's good to know there is a way to program the buttons in fsuipc4, that would be perfect. If it's less cumbersome than doing assembly language on a Commode 64 I think I could handle it. Thanks for telling me about that!!! We are having freezing rain here in Missouri and the planes at Lambert airport seem to be coming in faster than usual and setting down closer to the center of the runway rather than the beginning by the papi. I can see how the extra speed could keep the airplane straight on the runway if it's iced up but just why they are not landing where they have more room to slow down is way beyond me. I'm sure they have their reasons. Gonna try the Rockfire RM-203. If all goes well I'll get fsuipc4 and work on it. Spending $300 dollars for something I already have is, well, ... Greatly appreciate the help. ty Alan P.'s I use Intels Q6600, Asus P5E, Msi's gts 8800, a pair of Striped Western Digital Raptors and get appx 30 frames per second of ultra high res fxs settings on a 21 inch monitor at full resolution. Nothing is overclocked. Rock solid except for the analog joystick problem. Amazing how fast this new stuff is. Really fun simming...

Thanks, Pete, I guess xp's shared interrupts cause this problem, I do have a laptop that I could install win98 on and use my controllers, they work fine on 98. If I understand things correctly, FSUIPC4 allows use of a different computer for the controllers. Can I interface my two computers with an ethernet crosslink cable? Is there a limited trial key code I can use to try things out? The usb adapter sounds good but I am not sure about their ability to fully support all the virtual pilot pros functions along with the 2 pedals. It seems that FSUIPC4 handles many usb devices. I assume you don't need any device drivers from any of the hardware manufacturers. This seems good because it allows me to pick and choose from different manufacturers without worry. Thanks a lot...

Well, I heard all kinds of complaints with these legacy game ports. Many people are complaining that they just don't work period. If you have not heard of this problem then I can only assume at best I am lucky to get this far with mine and that others did not even get that far. My other xp machine does the exact same thing, It has completely different chipsets. Maybe it is my CH VPP doing this. I'll try an old joy stick, maybe the port is working after all. Thanks for the help. Hope these USB adapters work....

Hello All I seem to have the same problem everyone else does with the old style 15 pin game port. When I do a controller calibration for my CH Virtual Pilot Pro with pedals the Z axis value (throttle) returns the Y axis value (elevator) randomly about 5-10 times per second for a very quick instance then returns back to the correct Z axis value. Likewise the Y value returns the Z axis value but not as often. Of course there is no interest in fixing this problem conventionally by any driver software engineer that I can find. So I am seeking help here! I read about a filter in the controller section in FSUIPC4 that is designed to smooth out the controllers response. However I am concerned that the filter won't suffice as it may simply average incorrect data with true data and ultimately changes the true value of the axis a bit after filtering. Has anyone found any real type of fix for this crazy problem so Windows XP doesn't do this? I know nothing about the filter in FSUIPC4 as it stands but perhaps using a filter correction scheme that simply excludes any values that are obviously not part of the average instantaneous data would suffice. A suggestion on my part but would be to implement a simple filter algorithm that aquires the RMS value of the controller data. The RMS method senses the "true power factor" of the data while short bursts of erroneous data have a minor influence. It's like bouncing a basketball against a heavy rudder, not much happens. I haven't purchased Pete's software yet and I am hoping someone else with a similar problem can verify that his current filter works for this type of problem. He mentioned it was not a perfected filter by any means but if it works I will probably purchase the software. If you know how to alert Pete to this post that would be great. Any help appreciated. Thanks Alan

Hello All I seem to have the same problem everyone else does with the old style 15 pin game port. When I do a controller calibration for my CH Virtual Pilot Pro with pedals the Z axis value (throttle) returns the Y axis value (elevator) randomly about 5-10 times per second for a very quick instance then returns back to the correct Z axis value. Likewise the Y value returns the Z axis value but not as often. Of course there is no interest in fixing this problem conventionally by any driver software engineer that I can find. So I am seeking help here! I read about a filter in the controller section in FSUIPC4 that is designed to smooth out the controllers response. However I am concerned that the filter won't suffice as it may simply average incorrect data with true data and ultimately changes the true value of the axis a bit after filtering. Has anyone found any real type of fix for this crazy problem so Windows XP doesn't do this? I know nothing about the filter in FSUIPC4 as it stands but perhaps using a filter correction scheme that simply excludes any values that are obviously not part of the average instantaneous data would suffice. A suggestion on my part but would be to implement a simple filter algorithm that aquires the RMS value of the controller data. The RMS method senses the "true power factor" of the data while short bursts of erroneous data have a minor influence. It's like bouncing a basketball against a heavy rudder, not much happens. I haven't purchased Pete's software yet and I am hoping someone else with a similar problem can verify that his current filter works for this type of problem. He mentioned it was not a perfected filter by any means but if it works I will probably purchase the software. If you know how to alert Pete to this post that would be great. Any help appreciated. Thanks Alan