Pete Dowson

So FSX won't accept any keyboard commands then? Why would you click on the overhead in that case? You'd need to use the FS controls instead, via keyboard or button assignment. Regards Pete

No, it shouldn't be. Actually i only have the scenery view on the main PC. RC runs on the Network, but it still gets its key strokes through FS. Hmm. Strange. It sounds like the undocked Windows aren't actually owned by FS. If that is the case you'd certainly not want to click on any of them. Why are you losing focus from the main Window in any case? Well, ShowText has font and colour options, but making things part of a panel is where the problem lies. It is very difficult to get it working correctly with both Windowed and full screen modes, and the variety of special panels appearing. It really was too much of a pain to maintain. Regards Pete

Good. Thanks. Pete

The FSUIPC display window is just that, a display window. It does not receive keystrokes at all. No, that is not true if all the Windows and panels are part of FS. It is the PROCESS which receives the keystrokes -- in this case FS. Radar Contact uses a facility in FSUIPC to capture keys as they arrive to FS. If FS loses the keyboard focus, it also loses the sound. Are you losing FS sound too? If not, then you don't lose keystrokes either. There's no difference in this between FS9 and FSX. You have something else going on there. Not when it was always so problematic in FS9 and before and almost impossible to implement properly for FSX in full screen modes. And not when the built-in FS window facility now used is so good. Why would you prefer AdvDisp? If you want a separate program altogether for the display you can use ShowText. That's what is used on a Networked PC (it is freeware included in the WideFS ZIP). Regards Pete

Neither have arrived yet. Pete

I cannot support old versions I'm afraid. 4.12 seems okay here. Can you check and get back to me if you still think there's a problem? I'd need to report it to Microsoft if so. If there is it is going to be a SimConnect/FSX problem, as FSUIPC4 uses SimConnect 100% in this area. There are no intercepts in FSX code as there were in FS9 for FSUIPC3. There is nothing in FSUIPC4 to make any of FSX's menu options go wrong. Regards Pete

Yes, or more simply 33 degrees and 56.33/60. ;-) Pete

I hope you Zipped it, or it won't get through. Looking again at the Log, you have two things wrong: You have a bad FSUIPC key AND your WideFS is not licensed at all, or is expired. Not connected by WideFS, because there was no valid Key. See the WideServer Log. No, I don't do temporary licenses. Sorry. And how did you get one from PM if you are not even using PM? Regards Pete

No. there are no hours! And the format is user selectable, I think -- probably via unpublished options in the CFG file. But you can always tell from the way it is presented. You actually showed them in the Degrees and Minutes format: See that little sign, ' ? That means "minutes". There's a seconds sign, ". If the format is degrees/minutes/seconds it looks like this: N33* 56' 33" When only minutes, no seconds, are given you get the decimal point indicating that the following digits are decimal fractions. And of course you can also have just degrees with a longer fractional part for similar accuracy. Pete

I'll have to work out some extra logging to see what is happening. I'll get back to you -- it'll be this week, just not sure when as present. Pete

No it isn't. It's 33.938833 and 118.404833. I think you are mixing up minutes (56.33') with minutes and seconds (56' 33"). It isn't, it is identical. They come from the same place in FS. You need to understand the units. Regards Pete

It is a bad key -- or it has expired a little earlier than you said. If you'd like to ZIP up your FSUIPC.KEY file and send it to petedowson@btconnect.com I can check why. You won't get that working with a bad key, so that needs sorting first. Regards Pete

Thanks for the files. As far as I can see, the Registry is exactly the way I expect it to be, so the mystery deepens. I'll have to think about this. I may add some more logging and ask you to run some tests for me. Okay? Regards Pete

I've already added the SteeringTillerControl=n parameter and will test it tomorrow. No. The only thing I can think of is that the way it is added to the Registry is different. For DirectInput devices I have to get an ID (a "GUID", and I search certain parts of the Registry for these. Maybe my method isn't general enough. Perhaps, if you don't mind using RegEdit, you could export me the registry entries for your joysticks. Run Regedit from the Run option (Start -- Run). This is the area I look in: WinXP: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MediaProperties\PrivateProperties\DirectInput Vista: Same but in HKCU instead of HKLM. If you could export that section (to a REG file) then ZIP it up and send it to me at petedowson@btconnect.com, maybe I'll find out what is wrong. In case you are interested, within that section I look deeper, to VID_xxxx&PID_yyyy\Calibration (where xxxx is the Mid and yyyy is the Pid of the device (in hex), from the normal Joy interface). Inside there I check that the "Joystick Id" parameter matches the "joy" interface ID, and if so read the "GUID" value, which, at last, enables me to use the device. Maybe you could also run the attached JoyView program, please. Find the right device (out of the 16 listed), and tell me which it is (1-16), and the Mid and Pid (in the joyGetDevCaps section). Regards Pete joyview.zip

If you had a Simconnect problem before and just tried to reinstall or rapir it without deleting that specific folder then Simconnect would not have been repaired. It seems that the installer checks for the presence of the folder and if it is there wrongly assumes all is well. You don't need to un-install and re-install anything. Just follw the instructions in the FSX Help announcement above to repair the base SimConnect installation. Something "not working" shouldn't mean you have to reinstall FSX. Just un-install whatever it is you no longer want. Regards Pete

What does the Install log show? It sounds like you have a BAD install of the base FSX, after which you installed the SP1 update. You need to repair/reinstall the essential base version of SimConnect, which you can do by following the instructions in the FSX Help announcement above. I'm afraid there is no way I can provide code which repairs SimConnect if that is installed incorrectly or gets corrupted. SimConnect is by Microsoft. I would love to include the SimConnect.MSI in my installer so that I could ensure a good installation, but Microsoft will not allow this (and yes, I have asked). You have to use the Microsoft DVD to repair, there's no choice. Your "clean" installation couldn't be that clean if it has the SP1 Simconnect installed -- you must surely have installed SP1 too? And was your so-called "clean" install actually a re-install? If so, even if you un-installed first, this will not affect a bad SimConnect installation because the Windows Side-by-Side system for libraries like SimConnect won't un-install that easily, and, unfortunately, won't repair either unless the folder is actually missing -- please see the FSX Help for how to deal with it. I have been complaining to Microsoft about the FSX repair simply not being thorough enough, to no end thus far. I just hope they can do something about it in a future update. Regards Pete

I think that pretty much proves it is a driver problem. Stick to maximised Windowed mode until new drivers are available. If you run the screen at a high resolution, the title bar isn't really a problem in any case. Regards Pete

Was this in another thread? Since I had never heard of this card I most certainly would note simply state such a thing as I wouldn't know. didn't you say it worked with FSUIPC3 but not FSUIPC4? The only difference between FSUIPC3 and 4 as far as Axis Assignments goes is that FSUIPC4 uses DirectInput, just like FS does, whereas FSUIPC3 uses the old Windows "joy" interface. For buttons, rather than axes, they both use the old joy interface. Well, that implies that the card looks like a standard DirectInput joystick to Windows -- it actually says "THE USBAXES CARD CONNECTS TO THE USB PORT AND IT'S AUTOMATICALLY DETECTED BY THE OPERATIVE SYSTEM AS A 5 AXLES AND 24 KEYS JOYSTICK." So it should work fine. I'd like to know why you cannot use FSUIPC4's Axis Assignments. Something is wrong somewhere. It recognises all standard DirectInput devices. Mind you, it only recognises the first 16 DirectInput devices. Might you have more than 16 already connected? Not at present. There is a built-in nose wheel steering facility in FSX, but it doesn't appear to be exported to the Control Assignments dialogue at present. For the other additional axes supported by FSUIPC, there are parameters in the INI file for assigning FS control numbers, so you can use an axis which is otherwise used for something else (that you don't need) in FSX. If you look in the FSUIPC4.INI file you will see them, looking like this: FlapsSetControl=0 ReverserControl=66292 Reverser1Control=66422 Reverser2Control=66425 Reverser3Control=66428 Reverser4Control=66431 AileronTrimControl=66731 RudderTrimControl=66732 CowlFlaps1Control=66162 CowlFlaps2Control=66163 CowlFlaps3Control=66164 CowlFlaps4Control=66165 I could, perhaps add a "SteeringTillerControl" here as well. I'll have a look, see how easy it is to fit in now. Regards Pete

Must be. Good point, I never thought of that. Maybe, for such non-Serial Serial ports it's actually the setting of the CommState which needs that part of the name. as well. Maybe I am opening COM19 correctly with the CreateFile, but the settings are then all wrong. I'll tell you whatI'll try including the \\.\ in the name for the setting of the COMM state for ordinary ports. If that works, then you can try COM19 without the \\.\. Give me a few days. I'm in the middle of something else at present. Regards Pete

That's extremely odd, then, because I add the \\.\ part to ALL names before using them in the CreateFile call -- I'm sure I said this earlier. You need it for all COM ports. If you are also adding this it means two things: 1. The name in the CreateFile call is now "\\.\\\.\COM19" 2. The name when setting the COM state (parameters like speed and bits per character) is \\.\COM19. With 'normal' COM ports this isn't used, only the COMn part is used -- including COM9 and above. As long as it works and you are happy, that's fine, but I don't understand and your explanation doesn't help me to, unfortunately. It must have something to do with the way that particular application is coded. MixW manages to make virtual ports which look like real ones, so I don't know why that program cannot too. Ah well. Regards Pete

That's easy to say, but how? What IS the port name? It is obviously not COM19. Is it "bizVCOM19"? They say the standard API can be used, but first the port has to be opened, and that needs a name! There's nothing I can do without it, and none of the information you are posting tells me that. Regards Pete

Sounds like the Port isn't really called "COM19". If it were it would certainly be found in my enumeration attempts in any case and listed, as I try CreateFile on all COM ports 1 to 254 when building the list. The fact that it isn't really "COMn" seems to be supported by the fact that it doesn't appear in the COM port list in Device manager either. You need to find the "true" name. Maybe FileMon (from http://www.sysinternals.com) will show what it is when you run "XConn", whatever that is, though I think that only monitors true disk files. Regards Pete

In GPSout, I read the Port parameter from the INI file and use it directly in the form "\\.\" in the CreateFile call. That's it. The only check on the name is that it isn't "WideFS" because if it is obviously I do something different. In FSUIPC4 (as opposed to GPSout.dll) I also check for "" because that will appear if none is set. Only FSUIPC4 ennumerates the *unused* ports, but it does this by trying to open COM1 through to COM254 in turn. This is only to populate the drop down selection list, as an aid. There is a facility to enter any port name you wish (that's how the USB devices are specified). Or you can simply edit the INI file directly, as you had to with GPSout.dll. Haven't you tried this? Both GPSout and FSUIPC4 allow any names. Regards Pete

Hi again Daryl, I've checked into this and can in no wy reproduce the problem. I think what may be confusing you is this: On UNREGISTERED installations of FSUIPC, the Axes are, by default NOT intercepted. There's a parameter "AxisIntercepts=No" by default, which can be changed to "Yes" if needed, but as the program is not registered and the calibrations cannot be used, there is little point. On REGISTERED installations, that parameter is replaced by "NoAxisIntercepts=No" by default, but that can certainly by manually changed to "Yes" (when FSX isn't running of course), and it certainly then stays that way. The only thing I can think happened to give rise to your report is that someone with an unregistered FSUIPC4 added it "just in case" it was responsible for some problem he had, and, of course, it would have been replaced by the "AxisIntercepts=No" parameter instead. Regards Pete

Might be due to FSX deficiencies in weather control stillit isn't all there yet. We are hoping for more improvements in the DX10 update later this year. But do report concerns with ASX to HiFi too -- Damian is more of an expert in FSX weather control than I now, it is his speciality. Regards Pete