Pete Dowson

Really, it isn't something I'd want to do in an independent installer -- FSX is supposed to be "completely" working first! (!) However, if you do produce something I'd be glad to host it or provide a link to it. Yes, correct, you cannot include any MS files. You have to read them from the DVD. No, if you have an FSUIPC4 key you should not. Of course, if it is an FSUIPC3 key it will not work with FSUIPC4. Regards Pete

Yesdo you know, as far as I can fathom, those steps are pretty much EXACTLY what the Microsoft SimConnect installer (SimConnect.msi) is supposed to do? And that installer runs when you install FSX. XXXX knows what happens to make it go so wrong! Okay. But before you start one, make sure ALL THREE fields -- name, email, Key -- are exactly right! No, SDK installation doesn't install SimConnect, as it assumes FSX install installed that. But in the "Core Utilities" part of the installed SDK you should find "SimConnect.msi", which is the SimConnect installer. Regards Pete

Good. That's great news! Thanks! Pete

Well, your base SimConnect is most certainly not working, and that is part of the "microsoft stuff", nothing to do with FSUIPC. Most if not all SimConnect using add-ons will have the same problem. And it is not a "pristine" install of FSX -- quite a few folks report problems after installing the updates. SP1 does not have to be installed before Acceleration, BTW -- the latter includes it. I suspect doing both can sometimes aggravate the problem. If you want to try repairing it then, since you have the Deluxe FSX DVD, you can try to find the SimConnect.msi file and reinstall SimConnect. If you've already installed the SDK then it will be on your disk. Otherwise the only way I know is to follow the recommendations in my "FSX Help" Announcement. Just find and remove the base (60905) SimConnect and run the DVD. I think you should also complain to Microsoft via tell_fs@microsoft.com. If you cannot get further whatever you do I suggest you contact Microsoft's own support. It is getting really painful try to support such an error prone installation system, all of MS's own doing. :-( Regards Pete

Sorry, there's no way WideFS or FSUIPC can directly affect the top quarter of your screen, or any other part come to that. Are you sue it isn't a video driver problem? None of my software inter-relate to any graphics on screen whatsoever. Note that if you are using FSX with ASX, WideFS and FSUIPC are not involved in any case. ASX is a SimConnect program. If you are still using ASV6 with FSX I think you need to update. Regards Pete

What is on the WideFS client screen to blink? You mean the Windows wallpaper? Regards Pete

Hmm. Seems to confirm that the problem is due to the superfluous multiple wind and temperature layers, as the only real difference left is the rather stricter layer elimination used in 4.256. Thanks for these tests! It has been very useful. I think I know what defaults to use now -- did you notice any particular frame rate difference with any of these settings, BTW? Best Regards Pete

At which stage is your compiler converting the integer in "deger" to floating point? If this is AFTER the multiplication by 360 you are likely to lose most of the value though overflow! Try rDeger = deger; // Convert to floating ponit rDeger = (rDeger * 360.0) / (65536.0 * 65536.0); // convert to degrees Pete

Yes, ok! Thanks, Pete

I assume you have "OwnWeatherChanges=Yes"? Otherwise the test doesn't mean much. That would be okay unless you switched "allow changes to FS weather" off to have a 'fun' flight. Yes, please. I need to know whether it is just the time allowed to "phase in", or the frequency, or because I'm being more ruthless discarding extra layers. You can't really because you can't make it less aggressive in removing layers. With the WeatherReWriteSeconds at 10 and the WeatherReadFactor at 2 you otherwise have 4.255. Best Regards Pete

Depends on the aircraft -- the battery use varies, and of course it also depends how much stuff you've got switched on. There's an APU in FSX (wasn't in FS9) but I don't know if it works [-- you'd have to switch it on though, even it it is in the model you use. I use the pmSystems one. Some of the better add-on aircraft have one. Alternatively leave most things turned off till you are ready to start an engine and its generator. Pete

Sounds like your battery is running down. Have you got the engine(s) running and generator/alternator switched on? Or else got the APU running (if you are using PMsystems). If you don't want the battery to run down and haven't got the facilities to get power in time, look at using the "magic battery" facilities in FSUIPC (Miscellaneous page). Most of the things you ask here are PM related and you should be dealing with PM support. The MCP question was another one in point. I did say I'd see if I could corroborate it, but I've run out of time now till late March. Sorry. Pete

Correct. The main problem really is that the dialogues are "modal" -- that is, nothing else in the same process is being run when you are in a dialogue. The simulation is stopped, as is FSUIPC and everything else in FS. It really is a common thing to happen in most Windows programs. Those which do have activities continuing are using multi-threading and have taken special steps to get continued message processing. For most dialogues that makes sense when you think about what they tend to be for -- changing FS's video settings whilst the video actions are still happening would be a nonsense, for instance. Unless there are dialogue shortcuts available (often with the ALT key), dialogue buttons are often only usable with TAB to move from one to another, then Enter or something to action them. Regards Pete

Sorry, FSUIPC doesn't implement any of the FS controls 65536 onwards. It simply lists those that are tabulated in FS's "CONTROLS.DLL". These are also the same as the "KEY EVENTS" listed in the Gauge development SDK and assignable to buttons and keypresses in FS's CFG files as well as via FSUIPC. Whether they actually work or do anything is often questionable -- the only way to see is to try them. Many were invented back in FS98 days and quietly forgotten in later versions, and I suspect some were never actually implemented. If you know how to do it from keyboard or button in FS directly, then you can use FSUIPC's Logging to see what FS Control is being used, if any. Just enable Event logging and read the control name and number in the FSUIPC Log. That said, which "map" are you talking about? If this is the one in the Dialogue, showing the aircraft route, VORs, ATC zones etc? Or do you mean the top-down type view? If it is in the Dialogue then I'm afraid none of the FS controls apply to menu modes -- nothing of the simulation side is really active then, it is paused. You also really do need to state FS version as these things may change. Regards Pete

Go to http://www.schiratti.com/dowson. Click on the FSUIPC.ZIP labelled version 3.75 (scroll down abit -- it is under the "FS2004" heading). When it has downloaded, open up the Zip and read the User Guide you'll find inside, or at least the first few pages. Pete

By "as is" I mean exactly as you have it which you know causes the super fog. Obviously I am trying to make it work, so it needs testing in conditions you know causes the fog! For the first test, as it says, I wanted those left alone, to "default". That's what I meant by "as is". Sorry for my brevity. The other settings are additional tests, as it says -- small changes in those parameters, to see what effect they may have. I have two more small tricks up my sleeve. After that I must give up till late March as I'm running out of time before my holiday (visiting son in Spain). Pete

3.71 is too old and not supported in any case. The oldest supported version is 3.75. If it is satoisfactory why do you want to buy it? Go to SimMarket and search on FSUIPC. You'll soon find the sales page. Pete

You write the number corresponding to the FS control you want to execute to 3110, exactly as it says in the Programmers guide. The flight reset control is called "Situation reset" (flights used to be called situations, or .STN files). Pete

Not sure why you are asking here, still .. I have nothing to do with "VAFS", and in fact don't know what it is even. I thought you were just explaining a mistake you made asking about FSUIPC? Pete

Presumably a bad download then? Pete

No ideatell me exactly what they say. Which FSUIPC? Whick FS? Pete

Good. That's the second "good news only" message in one day! That beats all known records! ;-) Thank you! Pete

I'll cross-check here, hang on ... ... Oh, yes, you are right. How odd. Not sure when that crept in. I'll fix that for the next update, maybe over the weekend. Thank you! Did you actually get something in the visibility tab working? I've been struggling for months to control visibility, and all that stuff is so unpredictable I thought it was rather unfair on the user providing a tab which promises much yet doesn't deliver. What did you find worked? What weather source are you using? How did you do it? Did you download 4.256 without reading any of the Release notes for it? You should surely have seen this section: But please tell me all about what you got working properly and how! Regards Pete

The installation of FSUIPC is only "FSUIPC.DLL" sited in the FS Modules folder, so it isn't a big deal either way. You deleted the KEY file? No backup? I do advise you to backup your KEY file in the User Guide. If you are re-registering you must get all three parts exactly correct -- exactly as they were when you bought the Key, not necessarily as they are now. If you cannot remember the details, you may need to open your account at SimMarket to retrieve them. Regards Pete

Well, not quite, but I have done a lot more investigation today, and I am convinced that this "super-fog" is brought about by corruption in FSX's internal weather tables by the furious generation of multiple spurious wind and temperature gauges when it is interpolating and developing weather changes. I still have not generated your "super-fog" which obscures everything, even the virtual cockpit gauges (i.e. a true zero visibility), but I have managed to get "ZERO VIS" reports generated in the Log for surrounding WX stations, and a couple of times it has affected the weather at the aircraft -- down to 16 metres, though, not zero. I could still read the VC gauges and see vague building shadows in the gloom. Maybe the real zero you get is related also to the video driver's rendition. Anyway, it certainly seems to be harder to make happen if I speed up the spurious layer removal, and make it more severe. So this is what I've done, by default, in version 4.256, now downloadable. There are several tests you can make with that -- please see the Release notes in the Announcement. I'm expecting this to fail too, by the way. Well, I'm hoping it won't, but my hopes aren't too high. I have two more options I've thought of, to work out and build in, but I need to know the results of this first. The only remaining options would tend to lessen the abilities of FSUIPC to provide the weather filters it currently does. For instance, one would be for FSUIPC to detect "custom weather mode" -- i.e. weather controlled by an external SimConnect program, or by the user via the weather dialogues -- and butt out completely when this is happening. Best Regards Pete