Pete Dowson

Sounds like a video driver problem. there are lots of niggles with Vista. I hate it. Try running FS in Windowed mode (ALT + ENTER to swap between each mode). Then look for better drivers. Regards Pete

As it is a demonstration of features provided by FSUIPC for all versions of FS, the one and only version provided previously is, of course, okay for FSX too. If it were not so FSUIPC4 would have failed in one of its main purposes! Regards Pete

There is no such message in FSUIPC. That is produced by a program which is trying to use FSUIPC. Yes. Either the system date of your PC is earlier than the date of your Key purchase, or the Key is in fact invalid. I've just checked the latter and it certainly appears to be okay, so could you please check the date on your PC? It needs to be 12 December 2007 or later. Regards Pete

I've sent you a special logging version of FSUIPC by email. Regards Pete

Please turn off your keyboard's "Caps Lock". Don't use my GPSout module with FSX. Delete that DLL from the FSX Modules folder. For FSX the GPSout functions are included in FSUIPC4. Okayso you did discover GPSout in the FSUIPC4 options. You have the COM port set to the default, COM1. It is very unlikely (impossible, I would say) that your USB to Serial adapter is set to use COM1 -- both COM1 and COM2 are normally fxed for motherboard ports. You need to find out what COM port the device is emulating. Look in the Windows device manager -- Control Panel -System-Device Manager. Or try each listed COM port in turn. And check that the speed (9600) is correct for your device. Regards Pete

Ah. It was you! The log is okay, everything is good. It won't contain anything about message interception -- I've not added any diagnostics for you yet. ;-) Pete

If the options are accessible, as they must be for you to set the single line suppression option, then it is most certainly "running". It runs as part of FS. It does create a few minor threads, but otherwise resides entirely within the normal cycle of FS event and message processing, and shares the same Windows Message queue. I will look to see what diagnostics I can add to delve further into the matter. This week, if not tomorrow. Regards Pete

Okay. Both of these are now available in the Download announcements above. Regards Pete

Not only FSUIPC. If you move devices around their ID changes in Windows. The only way anything can keep track is for you to keep each control in its respective USB port, or at least plug them back into the same ones if you do happen to remove them. Well, not really. The parameters will still be there in the FSUIPC INI file. If you have to move your devices around then you either need to change the Joystick Number (a value from 0 to 15) in each of the parameter lines, or reproduce the entire set 16 times each with a different joystick number so that there are parameters for whatever USB port you happen to use (FSUIPC cannot cope with the 17th device or beyond). Alternatively just remember which port you used and plug it back in there -- the parameters will then be active as originally. You've not lost anything. No. The only unique identity for any USB device is the port it is plugged into. Even if I detected the device's name, that is rarely unique. There are many folks with multiple identical USB devices each of which need to retain their specific assignments and so on. Regards Pete

After getting more deeply into the FSUIPC code on this I find that it really genuinely is a BUG! It is an error in the routine which checks whether to apply a "slope". Obviously slopes are not relevant to these axes, but the off-centre axis nevertheless resulted in the linear "slope" getting the output value wrong, mapping the whole upper portion to the 12k - 16k range. So, despite all the justification here for the jump to be there on turboprops, I am going to fix the error instead, making it a continuous axis for all purposes. as far as I can see this matches all the aircraft I've found and really canot do any harm. This fix will be in interim updates 4.207 and 3.767, this week. It will also then not even offer the slope option for 'centred' mixture axes Regards Pete

Okay, that's understandable. Those two options are defaulted OFF in any case. The first was only provided to deal with some odd FS behaviour which doesn't usually apply to good add-on aircraft, and the latter is only ever needed if you have an elevator trim joystick axis configured which interferes through jittering. Not many folks use analogue trimming. FSUIPC will only send throttle settings through to FS when they change. The way to deal with this without having to lose the ability to use the lower range would be to always park it someplace with no jitter when it isn't being used. alternatively, if the airbus you are using can accept keyboard or other controls to select the correct speed "gates" you could use the right-hand side of the axis assignments page to actually send those when the axis passes through the correct areas. There are all sorts of ways of doing all this of course. You shouldn't need to do that at all because the aircraft-specific options will swap axis assignments, calibration settings, and so on over for you automatically when you load the Airbus. Regards Pete

Very strange! That's a new one on me! I really don't know what to suggest. It sounds like your copy of SP1 may be broken in some way. Maybe downloading a fresh copy would do the trick? Regards Pete

Okay. there is one other possibility. The error can also be caused by having a SimConnect.dll (or a file ending with that name) in the FSX Modules folder or FSX main folder, or anywhere associated with other programs you use with SimConnect. Check for this and delete any such copies. Failing that I can only suggest going ahead with the reinstall or delete and reinstall of SP1. The repair suggested in my FSX Help announcement may help, though if FSUIPC4 is actually getting loaded it would seem that the base version of SimConnect is okay. Regards Pete

The first and original purpose of the message interception was for the long ATIS messages, to be able to redirect them. You get ATIS (an automated weather report) by tuning into an ATIS frequency -- many larger airports have such. FS will announce by voice and optionally by text. I'm surprised you've never used this facility. It's been around in FS for as long as I remember, certainly since FS2000 probably before. If it isn't intercepting any messages then something very strange is certainly going on. I'm not sure how to help at present. I may have to add some diagnostics to the logging to help you track it down. Regards Pete

And where is your request for help? [LATER] Oh, I see -- a different thread with the same title. You are the gentleman wh didn't look at the User Guide to learn how to install! ;-) Let me know if you still have questions AFTER looking at the documentation. The installation only consists of one simple step so you really shouldn't have any difficulties, especially with WindowsXP. It is Vista that can get confusing due to its over protection. Pete

I'll be fixing the "jump" in any case (making it optional) in an update shortly. Just got a couple of other things to do as well. Hope to make a little interim update, for both FSUIPC3 and FSUIPC4 before Christmas. Regards Pete

You have incorrect or multiple assignments in FSX then. My PFCFSX.DLL driver has nothing whatsoever to do with a standard Game controllers-driven joystick, which is presumably what your jetliner has become. It is now a joystick like any other. Make sure you disable the main aileron/elevator controls in the PFC options (Flight controls tab). I'm not actually sure why you are asking me, assuming you are not doing assignments in FSUIPC. If you are, try deleting your FSUIPC4.INI file and starting again. As far as FSX is concerned, you should be looking in the Controls-Assignments dialogues. Pete

Yes, that is what I understood from earlier in the thread. This is why I don't understand why the levers aren't notched just for those. And why has the "high idle" got a range of 12k to 16k (ie 25% of the available range) according to the way FSUIPC is programmed? Why not just 0, 8k and 16k? Ah, but the flaps are notched and you cannot actually set intervening values -- the flaps don't stay at any intermediate points, unlike the King Air's mixture lever and values. There are not really comparable, at least as implemented in FS. I'm not arguing about whether to change FSUIPC or not, I am only at a loss to understand (a) why I did what I did, and (b) why this hasn't already looked anomalous to someone even in the King Air. I mean, this isn't new, even to FS2004. It would have been like the way it is now since FS2000, some 7 years ago. Regards Pete

Hmm. I'm not sure how they are produced. Long ago I suppressed pretty much all of FS's messages so maybe I've never seen these. For FSUIPC's interception, probably the best test is to check the ATIS messages. Have you done so? [LATER] Okay, I found out how to get the "main exit opening/closing" and "exit open" message back -- restore the original LANGUAGE.DLL module in the main FS9 folder. Obviously I was using a patched version with such messages eliminated. ... and, yes, you are correct. FSUIPC does suppress those (at least the exits ones). Interesting. I didn't know that. They must use the same call into WINDOW.DLL Anyway, it does mean your current findings are indeed baffling. I can only think the explanation is one of three things: 1. The version of Window.DLL in your modules folder is not one which FSUIPC recognises, so it cannot insert the hook, or 2. Somehow the data area into which it inserts the hook is write-protected in memory, or 3. the Window.DLL is not, for some reason, actually available in memory during FSUIPC's initialisation. I'm not sure how to eliminate any of these. You could try adding the "InitDelay" parameter to the [General] section of FSUIPC.INI. Try InitDelay=3, to make it delay 3 seconds. If the reason for the problem is (3) that should help. you could even try longer. It's been defaluted to zero on FS9 but was 3 seconds on FS2002 and before. Reason (1) seems extremely unlikely. I'm not sure about (2). For some things FSUIPC does have to unprotect memory, do the changes, then re-protect it. But this hook is in a table which is filled in by other modules in FS too, so it seems unlikely. Regards Pete

You are failing to read the User Guide, one of the documents among those "14 icons", which explains clearly how to install in its first few pages. You most certainly couldn't have Registered it yet as it has to be installed first. Instructions for Registering are strangely also to be found in the User Guide. Why not try reading documentation first anyway? It is there for a purpose. ;-) Regards Pete

Well, I would tend to ascribe that to the likely fact that very few folks have enough joystick axes to assign multiple throttles, prop pitch controls and mixture levers. When there's only one the generic mixture lever is used for all engines, and that has no "idle" detente setting. If there only three settings, why are the levers showing continuous smooth changes with associated mixture values? Regards Pete

If FSUIPC is not configured to do anything, it is "turned off". Who exactly is "calling2 for this, and in what exact terms? I've never heard of anything like that before. For example, if you use FSUIPC for weather options, or to program some buttons, how is that possible impinging on ther aircraft? No, but all of your axis assignments, joystick calibrations and even buttons and switches can be made aircraft-specific. Though I fail to understand what could possibly be required here. What are they REALLY talking about? No one else has ever mentioned anything. What exact problems have you got? Without specifics there's no way to help you. Regards Pete

Why are you messing with the INI. Use the Options screen, in FS. Don't! Go to FSUIPC's "buttons and Switches" option, press that button, opt to program it for a control, not a key press. In the drop-down find "Offset Word Set" and assign it, set the offset to x4850 and the parameter to 5002. Confirm, exit, job done. Please do take a look at the FSUIPC User guide, which even has pictures and examples. Regards Pete

Thanks! It is so nice to receive the occasional note from someone without a problem attached! ;-) Regards Pete

No, not at all. That just complicates matters. If you don't need it, don't install it. What appears to be the problem is that you have the SP1 update installed, but the SimConnect for it is wrong. The base version of SimConnect is okay (it is that which is loading FSUIPC), but FSX doesn't want to use it as it believes the SP1 version is there. The version of the DLL in that second folder should match the version number on FSX.EXE. I think you have a mis-installed SP1 update. You need to try uninstalling SP1, checking again, and if things are then okay, re-install SP1. There is a possibility that this process won't actually re-construct the WinSxS stuff, so after doing it if it still doesn't work, i think you'll have to try deleting that second folder, above, and repeating the uninstall/re-install process. Please do send a note to tell_fs@microsoft.com about all this. I want to make sure they fully realise the extent of the problems their installation process creates. No doubt a lot of this is to do with windows rather than FS directly (Windows is responsible for the WinSxS system), but I think the FS team need to attend to it. The SP2 or Acceleration update avoids problems with firewalls for local use of SimConnect, and the installation process should have been improved too. Acceleration doesn't need SP1 (it will install it if it isn't there), but SP2 needs a good FSX + SP1 to start with. Regards Pete