Pete Dowson

If by "KEY COMMAND" you mean a keystroke, then yes, for sure. Yes. Please review the Buttons section in the User Guide (you can read that whether you register FSUIPC or not! ;-) ). You'll see than any button can be assigned to a keystroke (or a separate one for "press" and for "release", or even a sequence of keystrokes (though this involves editing the INI file). The rotary knobs on GF units looks like 4 buttons to FSUIPC -- fast anticlockwise, slow anti-clockwise, slow clockwise, and fast clockwise. You can program them all the same or all different. Regards Pete

That is very misleading. There is no "GPSout program" for FSX. There was one for FS9 and before. For FSX the GPSout facility is built into FSUIPC, just like the button assignments facility, WideServer, and many other user facilities. Exactly as carefully documented. If you have put the FS9 GPSout.DLL package into your FSX Modules folder, please delete it. It is serving absolutely no function and could be misleading. Regards Pete

That doesn't seem very logical, when it is SP2 which is your latest installation, and as you will see if you read some of the FSX forums, many many folks are getting lots of crashes with SP2. FSUIPC is a SimConnect user. It does almost nothing directly itself any more. There is really no way at all it will be responsible for CTDs. Yes. None of those things involve or touch FSUIPC. The problems of CTDs when using menus has been discussed a lot in the FSX Forum here in Simflight. Why don't you go there and seek the solutions others have found? I know it is easy to blame FSUIPC. It always seems to get the brunt of these accusations even when it is completely innocent. I am getting used to it, but it is very tiresome. Regards Pete

3.70 is very very old and unsupported. you should be on 3.75 or later. There is no difference between 3.75 and 4.20 in that department. I could not say regarding such an old version as 3.70, but the main differences would be in FSX which is a completely different beast to FS. To start with the dialogues are managed via SimConnect in FSX, whereas FSUIPC3 uses the Windows features exclusively. Regards Pete

3.74 is out of date and unsupported. Please go get the current version (3.75) or the interim 3.768 available in the Announcements above above. The manual is included with the ZIP for every single release and is updated each time. Please delete that and use the manual in the ZIP for 3.75. Regards Pete

Really? I've never heard of any CH device not being recognised at all. Yoke? (A yolk is something different ;-) ). If you aren't seeing anything at all of anything you connect something very fishy indeed is going on with your system. FSUIPC4 uses the standard DirectInput facilities, same as FSX, but it will only recognise the first 16 joystick type devices lodged in the Windows registry. Is it possible you have more than that? See if the Buttons & Switches facility sees any of the buttons on your device -- if not then the device is out of the 0-15 joystick range FSUIPC can cope with and you really need to start uninstalling some of your older unwanted drivers. Also, please run the attached JoyView program, open up each of the 16 joysticks in turn and find out which number (1-16 I think) your Saitek device is detected under -- you'll need to move the axes or press some buttons. Ouch! FSUIPC 4.09 is very much out of date -- that was the version for the original release of FSX. Since then there have been several new major releases, a lot more counting interim updates. FSUIPC 4.10 was released for FSX+SP1, then, after several updates 4.20 for FSX+Acceleration or SP2. Why are you updating FSX but not FSUIPC? There's a version 4.208 available in the Announcements above, but first you need to get 4.20 from the main site and run its installer. I cannot support out of date versions at all. Please note the list of supported software versions in the Announcements. Pete joyview.zip

For airplane sound? That's a first. FSUIPC doesn't provide any sound facilities, so I've no idea what that one's doing! FSUIPC itself cannot cause FS to crash. Even if there were any nasty bugs left in FSUIPC, it traps them itself and Logs them, allowing FS to continue. There are only two possibilities: 1. There's a problem with drivers, maybe sound, or video, which is only triggered by a slight change in the timing of things when FSUIPC (or maybe other add-ons) is there. The fact that you had a sound problem before, with FSUIPC having nothing to do with sound, could indicate a sound driver problem, but video drivers are the more usual cause of outright crashes. 2. There's an add-on using FSUIPC which is crashing FS and which doesn't get that far if FSUIPC is not installed. The INI file only records the options you've set in FSUIPC. It doesn't tell us anything about any problems. If FSUIPC is detecting anything wrong it would be in the LOG file, FSUIPC.LOG. You are likely to get a better clue as to the cause if you click for more details in the Windows crash report -- the FS Module name in which it is crashing should be available, along with an offset. BTW if you've re-installed FS2004, did you also apply the 9.1 update? A lot of causes of FS crashes were fixed by that, so it should be regarded as essential. Check the version of the FS2004.EXE file (right-click, properties). Regards Pete

I'd go open your account and see if it's there already if I were you. SimMarket don't take that long -- it's pretty much all automated now -- and I'm not sure they actually send them out anyway these days. I think you have to go retrieve them. Regards Pete P.S. Checking here it looks like they did it by 18:35Z on Thursday!

Oh, good. What must have been happening, then, is that your memory arrangements or loading order are such that the Window.DLL (the part of FS which provides the assorted windowing facilities) isn't being loaded in time for the previous method I was using to insert the hooks. Even the 3 seconds delay you added wasn't enough. 3.768 keeps trying to apply the hooks if it doesn't succeed the first time. Odd that I've never found a need for such steps before. No, that is weird and worrying. There are 4 copies of 3.767a with added diagnostic logging floating about out there, somewhere! Regards Pete

ErI don't understand something here. Surely you have been to the GPSout options page, where you set the parameters for GPSout to use? If you've simply been editing the FSUIPC4.INI file then that won't work. The GPSout section in that file is produced by setting the options in FSUIPC's menu in FSX. Do NOT edit the INI file. Without paying for and registering FSUIPC4 you have no GPSout facility at all. Surely you've at least browsed the FSUIPC4 User Guide? Right near the beginning there's a section entitled What you get if you pay:. Best to go and read that now ... Regards Pete

After trying three times to one of your email addresses and, just today, a fourth time to another email address, I've now actually moved further on and released FSUIPC 3.768 (see the Other Downloads announcement above). Please download and install that. Try it as it is first of all (it won't log anything extra as it stands). It has a change in that it keeps trying to insert the message intercept if it doesn't succeed at first (though I have never seen the WINDOW.DLL loaded later in an FS session). If it still doesn't seem to work, please close FS and add the following two lines to the [General] section of FSUIPC.INI: Debug=Please LogExtras=4 Then run FS and make it produce those text lines which should have been removed. Show me the resulting FSUIPC.LOG file. Regards Pete

Fixed in 4.208, now available in the Downloads announcement. Interestingly, these was a bug in the same line in FSUIPC3 -- but in that case instead of stopping things appearing it allowed just-deleted entries to show up still as assigned. It seems that I tried to correct this in FSUIPC4 and instead changed the bug! Both are okay now. FSUIPC 3.768 is also available above. Thanks again, Regards Pete

I need to see the FSUIPC LOG file. But the symptom you are getting only occurs if one of the following is true: 1. The FSUIPC.DLL file is corrupt, or 2. The GlobalSign signatire is not valid (both of these are logged), or 3. The PC's system date is EARLIER than your registration purchase, or 4. One or both of the Keys you are using in an illegal pirated one. Never EVER post your KEY file openly like that! I have deleted it from open view and will now have to invalidate both FSUIPC and WideFS keys so that they cannot be used with your name by crooks and thieves! This is a shame because they do both appear to be legitimate. Check the first three points above. Show me the LOG file. NEVER show the KEY file -- if I ever want that I shall ask you to ZIP it and sent it to me privately. As it is your Keys will not work at all with the next FSUIPC update as I shall have to make them invalid. Write to me at petedowson@btconnect.com if you want to recover from this bad mistake. Regards Pete

Really? How odd -- the code for all that is (or was) the same in both versions. I will check here. [LATER] Yes, you are right! How very odd. I will investigate this and fix it in the next update. Keep an eye on the announcements above, and thank you for reporting this. Regards Pete

What do you actually mean by "Activate"? If you mean "Register", have you followed the instructions in the User Guide? Under Vista there are extra things to be aware of, as stated there. The FSUIPC.INI file has nothing to do with Registering it. That file contains all your settings of options and so on. No, of course not. The Acceleration package (and SP2, when released) installs a much better, more efficient version of SimConnect which helps FSUIPC perform even better -- and it also avoids any problems with firewalls which plagued earlier versions. Regards Pete

You mean the [GPSout] part of FSUIPC4.INI ...for the same device, connected to the same COM port, yes, because only the COM port, speed and Sentences really have any bearing. The 6 decimal place accuracy was a later facility. I don't think it affects the AV400 format, but you could try setting it to "No" just in case. The interval is not relevant really. 1000 means updates at one second intervals, 1500 is one and a half seconds. You can have it faster or slower, but some devices cannot cope with it too fast. That shouldn't matter at all. The most likely problem is that COM17 identification. It really seems very high. Are there entries in the Windows Device Manager for COM3 through to COM16? See if it changes if you unplug the USB cable and re-plug it into a different USB port -- it should do! Regards Pete

Assuming you mean the Traffic Toolbox, just add these lines before the final .. line: Traffic Toolbox False False ..\Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK\SDK\Environment Kit\Traffic Toolbox SDK\traffictoolbox.dll That is, assuming that's the correct path to the traffictoolbox.dll. Regards Pete

Okay. That's where the problem is. Looks like you installed the FSX SDK but something went wrong with the DLL.XML file creation. Your easiest solution is to delete that file and re-install FSUIPC so it will create a new one. If you want to try to fix it you need to make sure every opening tag <...> has a corresponding closing tag . Here's one sure error: There must be a at the end of that line. The rest looks okay, I think. Pete

The first gave an error from Vista "..... may not have installed properly, do you want to reinstall using recommended settings" - I answered NO to this one - benefit of hindsight I should probably have answered YES. I have since reinstalled a few times without such a message appearing. Hmm. Not heard of that one. It's rather worrying. In that case the problem must be in the DLL.XML file. It is that which instructs SimConnect to load the DLL add-ons. Can you find that and show it to me? And delete it and re-reun the FSUIPC4 install so it creates a new one. You are, I assume, running FSX as the same logged-on user as when you installed FSX and FSUIPC4? Regards Pete

Why several attempts? How did the earlier ones fail? These is very little difference in the SimConnect initialisation in FSUIPC between 4.12 and 4.20. There are lots of other updates and fixes, but they are all only applicable when it is running. Your installer log shows things are okay. I assume the date on that Log file shows it was created before you installed 4.20? If FSUIPC4 isn't getting loaded, then it is irrelevant which version it is -- it has to get loaded before any difference would be manifested. You could prove yourself if you still had 4.12's "FSUIPC4.DLL", by simply copying it into the FSX Modules folder. So, it seems likely something else has changed, or maybe some other add-on has been installed which has disturbed SimConnect in some way. Since FSUIPC4 is not even getting loaded, the first step is to get a SimConnect Log -- the FSX Help Announcement above tells you how to do that. Let me see the reslut. It may also help to show me the DLL.XML file, which you will find in the same folder as the FSX.CFG file (C:\Users\David\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX). Er, no, not FS9. There was no SimConnect in FS9 to get a log from! As the instructions say, the SimConnect.INI file does not go into the FSX.CFG folder, but into your documents "Flight Simulator X Files" folder, the same place that plans and flights are saved. Regards Pete

Assuming it is COM17 and the speed of 9600 is correct and it uses Aviation 400 format input, then, yes, those parameters are correct, as you can see for yourself. The others have little bearing on it in any case. I'm pretty sure at least one of those models has cropped up in success stories here in this Forum before. Try doing a search on "Garmin" or the numbers. There's a huge collection of stories in this forum (over 100 pages it says here) so browsing manually isn't feasible, but the Search works pretty well. Don't forget to select the Forum correctly or it'll be too wide. Regards Pete

I don't know them well really, but I think Saitek's build quality, the feel of the things, is generally a bit classier than CH. But there have been some initial problems in the firmware/driver implementation which have been reported here (do a search on "Saitek") and elesewhere. They have said they are fixing these so the ones being sold now may be fine. Regards Pete

Hats first: the right hat is operating as a true "POV", with only 4 not 8 positions. That's quite common. Obviously the other hat isn't a POV at all. The other buttons are doing the traditional CH-style encoding, programming up to 14 buttons by using assorted combinations of the 4 buttons lines which were available on an old style Game Port. So, it this a true USB device or a converted Game Port device? Does it have a Game Port connector on it? It sounds like a pretty old game port device to me. Your findings with the Games Controller applet in Windows also seem to confirm that the device is indeed an old-style CH game port one. You need a standard CH driver installed for it which will decode the assorted button number combinations and give you 6 separate buttons number for the buttons and 4 more for the left hand hat. Those 10 plus the 4 for the POV gives 14, the maximum for this style of encoding. I think you mean Game Port, not Serial? A serial port plug has 9 or 25 pins. Look at the adapter connection. I'm pretty sure it will have 15 pins. Note that I am not at all sure that even if you find the correct (antique by now) CH driver it will be able to handle the USB connection -- I think Game Port drivers only dealt directly with the fixed motherboard Game Ports. But it may be worth a try. Otherwise it may be time to ditch the thing and treat yourself to a new one. Regards Pete

Only for a genuine USB device. When using a USB serial port adapter the driver supplied for that emulates a COM port exactly. COM17 should be fine, though that does seem rather a high number. I would expect something more like COM6, 7 or 8. The problem is more likely to be the settings in the device which need sorting out. Unfortunately I can't help there as I have no GPS which accepts positional input (despite having three Garmin GPSs!). Regards Pete

Sorry, I really have no idea. When you say there are buttons sharing numbers, do you mean on separate joysticks, or duplicates on the one? Hats are only nmumbered in FSUIPC -- 32 to 39, abiding by old (FS98 & FS2000) FS conventions. I can't imagine any of those coinciding with any of the ordinary buttons which must be 0-31 (FSUIPC) or 1-32 (Windows Game Controllers) -- excepting of course that DirectInput does allow up to 64 buttons [FSUIPC doesn't use DirectInput for buttons, so won't see 32-63]. Pete