Pete Dowson

Why? In your last report you said it was good. I quote: So what on Earth do you mean by I've really got no plans to work on anything more with this stuff at present. I have a lot of documentation to update then I want to get a new proper User Release out. Why not explain a little of what you are talking about, as you seem to seriously contradict yourself. :-( Pete

Well, I think you ought to seriously look at improving your searching ability, or is it your eyes? ;-). I used the forum Search facility, specified "LevelD 767" and chose Pete Dowson's FS Modules forum only, and the correct thread was the third one in the list it found. viewtopic.php?f=54&t=66088 Be sure to read right to the end of the thread! Seems to be the same problem discussed back then, and fixed already. So why didn't you try the update available here before posting again? After all, I did suggest that already? Please ALWAYS when you have a problem, first try any update already available. After all it might have been fixed! It might even mention the fix in the list of changes. In fact the LevelD 767 problem does feature in that list. Regards Pete

No doubt. Well, I did say I didn't believe it, but it is simply the first in my list of three possibilities because it still ranks as the most common cause of this problem -- folks using keys generated by an illegal pirate Key Generator that was floating about. The other two causes of the same problem are comparatively rare! ;-) I'm glad it is all sorted now .. good flying! Regards Pete

Zero results? The LevelD was subject to a lot of discussion here some weeks back. You couldn't have searched back far enough. I have no idea (you don't say) what exactly your problems are ("one of two essential items" is hardly useful) -- and you don't even specify FS9 or FSX (surely not both?), but the recent ones are with FSX, due to the way LevelD handle their autopilot control. You also don't even say what version of FSUIPC you are using, so it is difficult for me to be very constructive, but either way please check the FSX Downloads Announcement above and try the latest version of FSUIPC4, if it is indeed FSX you are having problems with. If it is FS9, and you are using at least version 3.75 of FSUIPC3 (earlier versions are not supported in any case), then I would be pretty confident that it is a LevelD problem. However, there is a later version of FSUIPC3 here too, in the "Other Downloads" announcement so you could try that to be sure. Regards Pete

Well, the best I can do at present is limit the wind speed itself, rather than limit only the crosswind as I managed to in FS9 and before. Try version 4.231, now available in the FSX Downloads announcement above. I've not finished all the testing it really needs, but so far it works well -- it even graduates to/from the correct windspeed at the 1000' AGL point. Regards Pete

Version 4.231 is up now. ;-) Pete

Well, the log you posted was wrong. It was a Continuation log, not the log I asked for. You must have pressed the Start/Stop log buttons, which breaks up the log to keep files shorter when working on a long flight diagnosis. Because you did not show me the proper start-up log, the start-up checking is missing, so it is difficult to be precise. Nonetheless, these entries: 5051344 READ0 3304, 4 bytes: 02 00 00 00 5051344 READ0 3308, 4 bytes: 02 00 00 00 can indicate only one of three things: 1. The KEY for FSUIPC you were using was incorrect, possible counterfeit (and i don't believe that either). To test that just remove the KEY file from the Modules folder and see if the TRC program then connects okay. 2. The FSUIPC.DLL signature didn't check correctly -- apart from file corruption (FSUIPC.DLL is changed, eg by virus attack) this can happen on WinXP before SP1 and on older Windows versions because of a missing Windows Certificate. The fix is documented, with a file provided from GlobalSign to install the missing certificate. 3. The system date of your machine pre-dates the date of your FSUIPC KEY purchase. Keys cannot be used before they become valid. If you mean my model railway, no, not at present. I don't seem to find the time. I am hopeful though, one day;-) Regards Pete

No, the file is superseded by 4.224 which went up into the FSX Downloads announcement a couple of days back. Later today (maybe early hours of tomorrow) I'll be replacing that by 4.231 which fixes a few silly little errors (one of which could possible crash FSX! Ugh!) and makes the wind limiter for 1000' AGL work. Just doing final testing on all this now. Best to always check the Announcement first. Links in threads soon get outdated and I can't really go through them all to find and change them. Regards Pete

Okay. That isn't a message from FSUIPC, so unless you have something else using FSUIPC and not liking 3.75 for some reason, it has to be the TRC driver. The fact that it only happens when you start the TRC program seems to confirm that. Please run FS again, but before you run the TRC program, go to FSUIPC's options, Logging page, and enable IPC read and IPC write logging -- just check them on the left hand side. Then run the TRC link program, get the error message, close FS down completely. Look in the FS Modules folder, where FSUIPC is, and find the FSUIPC.LOG file. It's an ordinary text file. Show it to me - paste it in a message here is best, unless it is too big. Regards Pete

Good. Ah, I see. The Saitek extra switches. Glad you are getting it all sorted! ;-) Pete

Sorry, I've no idea what you are talking about. Could you please provide a little more information? What IS this "latest version" of FSUIPC you have? Note that there is no specific version for XP in any case. I always need to know the actual version number! Also, what version of FS are you talking about, please? FS98, CFS1, FS2000, CFS2, FS2002, FS2004 (which version FS9 or FS9.1), FSX, FSX+SP1, or FSX+SP2? Finally, please be more exact about this "request in flight sim to upgrade to a newer version". I really have no idea what is giving you this message nor what it means. What does it say, word for word, and when, exactly, does it occur? Pete

I am not sure exactly what you are doing here with the conditions, but the control numbers are correct in relation to your description. Have you tried using the Button and the Event logging facilities in FSUIPC's logging page to see what results you are getting? Have you tested the controls with a more ordinary assignment first, to make sure they do what you want them to do? FSUIPC merely lists all the FS controls that are tabulated in FS's "CONTROLS.DLL". I don't know what they all do nor if they all work. One way to find the right controls is to enable Event logging in FSUIPC then use the standard FS keyboard shortcuts to invoke them. You can then look up the control in the Log file. For instance, doing that in FSX I find that the "A" button operates the "NEXT_SUB_VIEW" control whilst Shift+A does "PREV_SUB_VIEW". However, the "S" key uses "VIEW_MODE" and the Shift+S uses "VIEW_MODE_REV". Maybe those are the ones you really wanted? Now I didn't know this till I just used the keyboard and event logging, so I continued. I programmed a couple of keys to do NEXT_VIEW and PREV_VIEW, and found that what they do is cycle through alternatively opened views -- i.e. the act as a selector when you have multiple (possibly overlapping) views open. So if you haven't opened any extra views they will not do anything. Again I only found this out using the facilities to hand. Regards Pete

The IAS is a result not an input I'm afraid. I don't know any easy way of presetting it, but you could try experimenting with the body or world axis velocities and accelerations. I know they've been put to use in the past for catapults and braking systems. Look at the values of offsets 3060-30B8 and 3178-31D0. Most if not all of them are writeable and some certainly do have an effect. Regards Pete

If you are comparing it with FS9's smoothing by FSUIPC3 you would need to suppress both, and the turbulence on the clouds page too. The smoothing I did then got rid of it all. :-( When you get these changes look at the wind reports for your altitude in WeatherSet2, see if there is a non-zero value against Gusts, Turbulence or Variance. Gusts changes only wind speed, not direction. Variance changes only direction, not speed Gusts changes both, but much faster and usually with a lot less amplitude -- i.e. a sort of twitchiness. I also make it change the vertical speed a bit, to make it "bumpy", though you'd need a motion base to feel it -- you might be able to see it from outside. The turbulence is currently arranged to have maximum amplitude of +/- 2 knots or 2 degrees per unit in the setting (which ranges from 0 for off to 4 for severe). The other two are set in their appropriate units, knots maximum gust speed and degrees variable direction. When you suppress turbulence I also suppress variance I think (or is it when you suppress gusts? Sorry, it's in the docs). Currently I haven't a way to control only the cross-wind. I think I'd have to limit the wind speed completely. Very unrealistic, but I'll put it in, probably tomorrow. Actually, by eliminating crosswind so much on landings you are missing out on one of the most fun things in flying -- crabbing to land, or (in a GA aircraft) using crossed controls. Mind you, if you have no rudder pedals both are a bit difficult (impossible in the latter case) I suppose. Regards Pete

No, sorry. FSUIPC4 is a new program. It had to be re-written for FSX, and needs purchasing as a new program. Regards Pete

Right. Another thing about Vista I'll need to remember! Well I can't explain that. It is evidently checking some proprty about itself. The real long term solution is to install FSX someplace else. Regards Pete

I just had a thought. I wonder if Vista protects Installers and such, i.e. programs with elevated administrator rights (the position you were in with FSX before) against "hacking", by not allowing other programs to invoke the shared memory facilities with them? The "memory mapped file" facilities used by the FSUIPC interface are partly identical to the procedures used by Debuggers to look inside and manipulate programs. If this is the case, I wonder if those restrictions are lifted if the requesting program (in your case an FSUIPC client application) is also running with such privileges. Perhaps you'd like to try just for our illumination? In other words, get FSX running "as administrator" again, then run one of the Apps as administrator too. Regards Pete

Not in that log! The line "1404 LogOptions=00000001" shows no additional logging, only the default stuff you can see. That value would be 0000000D if you had really enabled that logging. And if you change it whilst FSX is running you get an entry showing this, like: 111641 LogOptions changed, now 0000000D Vista protects all folders in "Program Files" from being written to by anything other than an installer. FSUIPC4's installer enables all read/write access to its Modules folder to get over this, but pre-Vista programs probably do nothing of the sort. Best always to install FS in a different place altogether. I hate those long filepaths in any case -- I always put FS in a simple folder such as "C:\FSX", or, better, on a drive well away from Windows and the fragmentation you get there. That's indeed very strange. No idea what is happening there then. Regards Pete

Yes, with a registered FSUIPC. It is covered in the User Guide. Easiest way is to assign your Engine 1 and Engine 2 throttles in FS, then go to FSUIPC's "Joystick Calibrations" options, find the page with 4 throttles (page 3), calibrate your #1 and #2 properly (following the steps in the user guide), and then check the option on the right saying "Map 1->12, 2->34". The mapping only applies when you have a 3 or 4 engined aircraft. For a 1 or 2 engined one you will still get the normal FS arrangement. The change is done automatically in FSUIPC which detects the number of engines. Note that calibration on this page gives you a reverse thrust zone on the axes. If you don't want that you will need to set the idle zone and the reverse value such that they share one of the joystick "INPUT" values, so that reverse can never be engaged. For example -16384 in the "Reverse" box, "-16384" and "-15234" in the pair of Idle values. The two idle values need to be different to give you a defined place for Idle, with no jitter. With one of those values the same as he Reverse value you get no reverse zone at all. Regards Pete

Currently the facility to limit the surface wind speed is simply trying to do this via the METAR settings at the nearby weather stations, the system which has proved fairly ineffective for wind smoothing. If the wind smoothing changes made recently look to be reasonably effective, and with no unwanted side effects, then I will continue and try to implement facilities such as that one. I would like to implement FS9 "taxi wind" facilities which operated by only limiting side wind, not head and tail wind, but I'm afraid the variables for that elude me in FSX. In other words, thank you for this feedback but it doesn't actually relate to the current changes being evaluated. Not yet. Can you tell me what sort of sudden wind changes you are getting, because this is contrary to other reports. Are you sure they are not caused by actual Wind Turbulence, Gusts and Variability, possibly set by the incoming METAR specifications? In FS9 my wind smoothing suppressed all of that, wrongly in my opinion. In FSX I simulate it. Possibly my simulation is excessive, but by all accounts so far not unreasonable. If you are getting big wind changes with the "Suppress" options set for turbulence (on Wind and Cloud pages) and gusts (on the Wind page), then I need some saves Flights (FLT + WX files) to find out why. They shouldn't happen ... ... though there is one exception. If the simulation stops for any reason, for instance you visit the menus to display the map or do something else, then I cannot smooth winds in this period, When you return to normal flight mode there may be sudden changes to whatever FSX thinks the winds should be by then. See the answer above. This is the same point. I'll get to that soon if it is easy, or else if and when I am reasonably happy that the current wind smoothing changes work well enough. They are a pretty awful "hack" into FSX code and I don't want to retian this if it isn't working, as you seem to think. If it doesn't work then it gets withdrawn completely. However, most feedback is opposite to yours, so I need to know why yours is different. Meanwhile, I will look at how to make the surface wind limit work using what I've learned so far. Regards Pete

How do you know they do not "connect", as opposed to simply don't receive any data? Your log is as before, it simply shows FSUIPC is working fine, and this time you have decent frame rates! The local interface is identical to the WideFS interface, so I cannot imagine what is preventing it on your system. Well there's really not much else it could be, but it is certainly odd as in this case the performance is okay anyway. But why not do as I asked, enable IPC read and write logging. Try that, briefly (just long enough to see the problem), then close FSX completely and show me the FSUIPC4 log. If any requests at all are arriving at FSUIPC this will show it. The FSUIPC interface doesn't use any Windows services as far as I'm aware. It uses "memory mapped files" for passing data, but that is a fundamental facility in Windows, not an optional service of any kind. Of course if you have FS2004 you could try that, with FSUIPC3, as the interface is identical. If something is preventing it working in the FSX case it should also do so with FS2004 and FSUIPC3. Either way, please do as I asked and get a log with extra information, if possible. Regards Pete

Well none of those would make any difference in any case -- if SimConnect were affected by that at all it would prevent the WideFS application and your joystick calibration. Since version 4.224 is a very very recent update, what were you using before, and did that work okay locally to FSX? Are you sure it isn't just a matter of processor time, that on the FSX PC the applications you are using are simply not getting enough time to run properly? You say "nothing happens", but what does that actually mean? The programs don't appear, or they appear and hang, or they appear and don't run correctly? To see if applications are managing to interact well with FSUIPC you can enable IPC read and write logging. Try that, briefly (just long enough to see the problem), then close FSX completely and show me the FSUIPC4 log. Please also tell me what FSUIPC application programs you are trying and what they are supposed to do (if that isn't obvious). You could also try a couple of programs I know work fine on the same PC, with FSX in windowed mode of course so you can see them. WeatherSet2 and TrafficLook. If you've not already got them, look in the FSX Downloads announcement. You'll need to scroll down a bit. Regards Pete

Hmmm. That is very strange. As far as I know ASX is just setting the weather via SimConnect, using the METAR setting facilities, effectively just like FSX's own download weather updating system. I think its superior weather effects come from clever massaging of the data before it is submitted, careful selection of the weather stations being updated, and the generation of interim increments between real world METAR changes, all things not done by the FSX simplistic downloads. When you say "unregistered version" I assume you mean the normal version but with the FSUIPC4.KEY file removed? There aren't separate versions. What about trying it with the current main user release, 4.20, before I added the new smoothing options? That might be more telling. Regards Pete

Well, you could enable IPC read and write logging (nothing else please), and let me see the log to find out what it is trying to do. But from the logs you supplied already it looks like FSUIPC4 is working fine. Do the suppliers of VAFS say it is compatible with FSX? Have they tested it? My guess is that this "VAFS" program is not getting much of a look-in on your rather overloaded PC and is simply timing out its responses from FSUIPC. The machine is obviously struggling to cope if your frame rate barely reaches 10fps. I wouldn't have thought it was flyable in any case. The processor speed is the limiting factor, not the video card (unless it is a pretty old unsuitable model). Try improving frame rates by moving a load of sliders to the left in the display settings. Regards Pete

First off, please turn off the extra logging. It isn't needed unless I ask for it. Second please note that 4.16 is too old and unsupported. 4.20 has been the current release for months, and there are later ones available from the FSX Downloads Announcement above. Third, I'm afraid I have no idea what "VAFS" is so you'll need to explain yourself rather more, please. [LATER] Your second posting at least shows you've turned the additional logging features off, but you are still using an out of date and unsupported version. It shows nothing wrong except for a prretty abysmal FSX frame rate. I tend to think you need to go back to wherever this "VAFS" is from and ask them why it doesn't work. Best to try with an up to date FSUIPC first, though. Regards Pete