Pete Dowson

You most certainly don't want to use any curved slopes on throttles -- they are only useful for adjusting sensitivity on flight controls. The throttles need to be linear, slope 0. Having slower or faster bits in one section compared with another doesn't make any sense. Well, those values all look too "perfect" to be real! Have you actually been through the calibration process to get those? And have you calibrated in Windows first? I wouldn't expect any pair of potentiometer-based axes (assuming that's what they are) to give such exact and identical values, so it looks odd. Also, I hope you are not really expecting that for a 4-engined aircraft you get exactly the same thrust settings in all four engines when the throttles are lined up in exactly the same position? Have a look at a cockpit video some time -- you'll notice that the alignment is never perfect. They can't be really, though I supposde immediately after a full service and calibration they might be close. Regards Pete

The sinature check is failing on the FSUIPC4.DLL in your modules folder. That is why this error occurs: If it fails then and not when you do it, it sounds very much like you might have an intermittent problem with your hardware somewhere -- a faulty disk, disk controller or memory chip. The signature checks performed by the installer (and by SimConnect) use the exact same routines in Windows as you do when checking them via the file Properties, so if they don't give the same answer, one or the other is seeing them differently. Therefore the data looks different in memory or when read at different times. Regards Pete

Right. That's what you had originally with 4.25, but then you said you fixed it -- you didn't say how. This means, as I did actually before, that either the 4.25 file you downloaded is corrupt (go get it again), or that your unzipper somehow corrupted it, or it is just faulty on your disk or in your memory. It is probably because the 4.25 you have in the Modules folder is corrupted that SimConnect refuses to load it. It seems you never re-installed it correctly since when you first told me this. Did you bother to check the signatures on the Installer EXE file and the DLL file, as I asked you to way back? This is taking a long time, isn't it? We seem to have to repeat everything over and over! :-(. Looking back you appear to have ignored all this from my message of over four hours ago: Looks like you got a corrupted download. Please cross-check that: right-click on the Install FSUIPC4.exe program, check properties then digital signature - check that it says the signature is okay. Do the same on the installed FSUIPC4.DLL. If there's even one bit changed from when I issued it, it will fail in this way and the signatures won't work. If the Install signature checks out but not the DLL's then the problem is a corruption in your PC -- disk or memory mostly suspect. If the Install program is bad too, it is more likely to be a corruption on download or when unzipping. Sorry, I don't understand this bit. Could you expand upon that please? Pete

Erthis is still the Install log file for 4.20! I thought you'd said you'd installed 4.25!? Please run the 4.25 installer! THEN show me the log. We seem to be going backwards instead of forwards. I really cannot imagine what you are actually doing there. In fact you have installed 4.25, as it says here: so why have you now run the 4.20 version again? :-( Pete

One other possibility occurs to me. Do you think you might have, at some stage, told Windows not to trust me or my software? Because if so, that might well explain why SimConnect won't come near me. Please check the following: 1. Right-click on the FSUIPC4.DLL in the Modules folder, and select Properties, then the Digital Signatures tab. Go through to the details and make sure it does say the digital signature is okay. 2. Run Internet Explorer (not an alternative), select Tools -- Internet Options -- Content -- Publishers. You will see you can select tabs for "Trusted Publishers" and "Untrusted Publishers". See which one, if either, I am in ("Peter L. Dowson"). If I am in the "Untrusted" list then Remove me from there -- it means at some stage you've told Windows never to allow any of my programs to run. Regards Pete

I guess those '-' characters were inserted by Notepad or something, were they? They shouldn't be in the file itself. You don't want to open any DLL file! What are you trying to do? I need to see the most recent Install FSUIPC4 log now, please. You showed me one before I think. One question: there aren't any "SimConnect..." files in the Modules folder. other than the Logs, are there? Pete

So, it isn't reading the DLL.XML, or that's wrong in some way. :-( Please, let me again see the DLL.XML you used for this test, and also the latest Install FSUIPC4 log file. I'm really completely puzzled by all this. If it can see to load InstantScenery, why can't it see to load FSUIPC4? Pete

But this is with InstantSceneryFSX enabled again! Didn't you run a test with just FSUIPC4 enabled, as it would have been with the DLL.XML it installs? It sounds a little worrying if InstantScenery is doing so much continuously with SimConnect it produces a large file -- I thought only FSUIPC4 did that much! We need to determine if the reason FSUIPC4 isn't being loaded is because of something one of the other programs is doing, so for this to be tested you need to rename the DLL.XML file, re-run the FSUIPC4 Installer, then run FSX, and then show me the SimConnect log file. You never know, it might be InstantScenery which is somehow causing FSCopilot not to load, as well. Regards Pete

No, it won't -- you need the old DLL.XML file for that & copilot. That was why you renamed it. The DLL.XML created by FSUIPC4's installer is just for running FSUIPC4, nothing else, as a test. Ah. The problem there is that the path for the log has weird characters in it, "<" and ">". You were supposed to replace "" by the path to FSX -- the odd parentheses <> are there to show it's all got to be replaced! The Simconnect.ini file should be: [simConnect] level=Verbose console=Yes file=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\Modules\SimConnect%01u.Log file_max_index=9 The text after "file" has to be a valid filepath name, you see? You can put the logs where you like. I only suggest the Modules folder, next to the FSUIPC.Logs, because that sems natural when checking FSUIPC stuff. Regards Pete

No there's no setting for it, just as there wasn't for the FS9 feature. It was meant simply to "correct" the FSX omission by Microsoft. Regards Pete

I see you are loading FSCopilot and InstantSceneryFSX, before FSUIPC4. Are those two loading and working okay? Did you test without that DLL.XML present, to see if one of those two were wrecking SimConnect's sequencing? You shouldn't do that. There's never a need to remove FSUIPC to update it. Looks like you got a corrupted download. Please cross-check that: right-click on the Install FSUIPC4.exe program, check properties then digital signature - check that it says the signature is okay. Do the same on the installed FSUIPC4.DLL. If there's even one bit changed from when I issued it, it will fail in this way and the signatures won't work. If the Install signature checks out but not the DLL's then the problem is a corruption in your PC -- disk or memory mostly suspect. If the Install program is bad too, it is more likely to be a corruption on download or when unzipping. Sorry, I don't understand this bit. Could you expand upon that please? Did you try to get a SimConnect log for me, as I asked? If so and you mean you got nothing, show me the SimConnect.INI file you put into your "Flight Simulator X Files" folder. Regards Pete

Is that actually working on your system? Where is it savig it? FS9 and before always produced such a flight, automatically. It was very useful for those who liked to set it as the default flight for loading next time, so they could continue from where they left their aircraft (parked, hopefully) last. Sadly, Microsoft didn't do this in FSX -- though it does appear to save something in one of the Documents & Settings folders. Why would you want to disable it anyway? What harm is it doing? Regards Pete

No, I didn't know that at all. That sounds like the system on the GoFlight throttle quadrant. I must admist it doesn't sound like a good mathod to me. That's because you have the Throttle x Set axis control calibrated through FSUIPC with no reverse zone. If you are going to use an interim version of FSUIPC, please at least use the latest. That one is pretty old now. 3.783 is the current one. Your INI file shows you still have ThrottleN_Set controls going through the calibration: ExclThrottleSet=No Go to the 4-throttles tab in FSUIPC options and check the option at bottom right to make FSUIPC allow those controls through un-calibrated. BTW, the actual reverse range is only down to -4096 when the maximum reverse thrust is set to 25% in the aircraft's CFG file. It varies from aircraft to aircraft. Regards Pete

You don't really want to use a keypress. As I thought I explained, all keypresses do is activate FS events, and they can be re-assigned by the user in any case. Surely missions can send events? Else what use are they? No. There is absolutely nothing in FSUIPC related to mice or popups. I would have no idea how to even begin. Pete

4.25 is the current version, though I don't think it will make any difference to your problem, as FSUIPC isn't getting run in any case. The Install looks fine, so the next step is to get a SimConnect log, to see if it is picking up the DLL.XML file correctly. If you look in the FSX Help announcement above and follow the instructions to make a SimConnect log, then show that here. Also, show your DLL.XML file, which you will find here: C:\Documents and Settings\Dave\Application Data\Microsoft\FSX To speed things up you could also try renaming the DLL.XML file, temporarily, then running the FSUIPC4 installer again, to make a brand new DLL.XML file (it is that file which tells SimConnect what to load, you see). If you are going to re-install FSUIPC4 this was, best to first go and download the current version (4.25) from http://www.schiratti.com/dowson. Regards Pete

If there's no FSUIPC4.LOG file, then FSUIPC4 isn't even being loaded. Sounds like a SimConnect problem, or, possibly, a bad SimConnect configuration file. First please show me the Install Log which will be in the Modules folder. Pete

Sorry, I really don't know anything about missions. I'm not sure how this has to do with FSUIPC? The function which "comes with Shift P" is the FS control, or 'Key Event', normally assigned to it -- "Toggle Pushback". If FS events are available to Missions I'm sure you'll be able to figure out a way. Regards Pete

Yes. This is really an area I know little about I'm afraid. Incidentally, and off-topic too, it is "definitely" not "definately". You might want to correct your Explorer or Firefox spellchecker? ;-) Regards Pete

I suspect this is an area Microsoft will have to open up considerably for ESP. I don't even know what an ATR is! Regards Pete

Correct. I'll be addressing the gusts (and variance) too, in the same sort of way as the turbulence. I didn't mention it, because in the two weeks or so of beta testing before 4.25 was released, no one had any such problems. In fact only the PMDG 747 was adversely affected in any case. But I am not surprised that, with large gusts the same sort of problems can arise. In FS9 and before, if you enabled wind smoothing in FSUIPC3, you got no gusts or turbulence in any case, so this really will be a new feature and one which obviously still needs development. I am anxious not to rush into it and do something which whilst accurate and realistic hits FSX frame rates noticeably. That is really the problem i have. The current implemenmtation is crude but costs nothing in terms of performance. Regards Pete

If you have enabled FSUIPC's wind smoothing, for the time being you will also need to disable wind turbulence in both the Winds and Clouds tabs. (It does actually say this in the User Guide). PMDG inform me that this is because the turbulence emulation performed by FSUIPC4 at present is not very realistic, and it is too violent for the well-balanced and accurately computed flight characteristics incorporated into their aircraft. Alternatively, you might get a good flight, with turbulence still enabled, by turning the effect down somewhat. This is done by editing the FSUIPC4.INI file and adjusting the "TurbulenceRate" value. Currently it defaults to 1.0. Try values like 0.5 or even 0.2. I am working with PMDG to develop a more realistic form of turbulence for FSUIPC4, but I don't know when I'll be able to provide this at present. Regards Pete

Yes, of course. It is a facility for remote buttons operated on a touch-sensitive screen. I have two such screens, 7" ones, in my cockpit, one for pilot, the other for co-pilot, and they are used for things like pushback, doors and jetway control, Radar Contact menu selection, and saving and loading flights (there's no keyboard, other than the ones on the CDUs, in the cockpit). You can run WideClient on the same PC as FS, but you first have to change the ClassName used for the WideClient window -- otherwise it uses the same one as FS (naturally, it is pretending to be FS). Look in the WideFS documentation, it tells you how to do this in the Advanced guide. Hang on, I'll just try it here: Yes. Set "ClassInstance=1" in the [Config] part of the client's INI file. If you leave all the parameters to default, it connects locally immediately. Actually, that's quite a useful trick. It never occurred to me -- it means i can do WideFS testing using a single PC! ;-) Regards Pete

This is new to FSX? I have no idea how that manifests itself inside FSX. The only engine failure values SimConnect offers are, on a per-engine basis, a GENERAL ENG DAMAGE PERCENT value and GENERAL ENG FAILED boolean indicator. There are of course cylinder head temperatures, again per engine. Oil pressures and fuel pressures. I can get or have already got all these. Regards Pete

There's not actually an error saying that. Please be more precise when reporting the wording, or, better, show the Install Log. That's a bit drastic without consultation and checking what error you were getting. You could do more damage than good. And there are no "files" you should delete -- the three things listed are actually FOLDERS! If you deleted all three SimConnects, you would also first need to run the main FSX repair, from the original FSX DVD. That confirms it. You have no base (RTM) SimConnect installed, only the two installed by Acceleration. You need to do it all again but repir FSX before Acceleration! Pete

What's a "cylinder failure" and why would there be any offset for it? Can you explain anything in more detail at all? Pete