Pete Dowson

DirectInput supports buttons 0-63, but the Windows joystick API which FSUIPC uses only supports 0-31. I don't know why your 5 and 7 aren't seen, though. Surely they wouldn't put them up into the DirectInput 32-63 range? There are quite a few other threads here about the X52 (try a Search), mainly about one of the axes not being supported. But in all those I've not seen anything about any missing buttons. I did notice someone pointing out that the Saitek numbering is from 1 whilst FSUIPC uses the underlying Windows numbering starting from 0, which would make your 5 and 7 look like 4 and 6. Anyway, please check it with the attached little "JoyView" program. It too uses the standard Windows joystick API. The buttons won't be numbered, but all shown as one decimal number with a bit for each, so 4 and 6 together would be 16+64 = 80 (0r 0x00000050 in hex mode). Regards Pete joyview.zip

It's not complicated to ordinary users who never need to know what is going on in the background. The most complex parts for add-on installation is getting those XML files correct, and really installer programs should do all that. This is why FSUIPC has, for the first time, got an installer. I've never made an installer for any of my add-ons before! I suspect the remote use of ASX has got slightly less attention in this respect as it would be seen as a minority interest, and the publishers hoped that the written instructions would suffice. Having looked at them I must say they seem clear enough. Maybe yours was a case of leaping in too quickly and not reading enough first? Also I suspect many add-on publishers are feeling their way here a bit, as it is all new for us all. I would expect installers and such to improve with time and feedback, such as your own. Because the two are different. Microsoft invented the Side-by-Side installation system so that their updates (to Windows, FS, or any system including add-ons) don't cause application compatibility problems as facilities change and evolve. The old method for ensuring compatibility was to always support all the old things whilst adding new ones. This grows into a right Royal mess as changes occur, and this is good for nobody, being inefficient, confusing, and very costly to maintain. With the Side-by-Side library system, old programs will still work as they use the older library, whilst newer ones, or later versions, will use the new one, and so on. FSUIPC4 actively checks the SimConnect versions available, and uses the latest one it recognises (SP1 at present). But it will still work when SP2 comes out, even without me changing anything, as it will still use the SP1 version. However, to actually get itself loaded -- and thus in a position where it can check versions -- it needs the Base version to also be there, as this is the only one always guaranteed. I hope this is clear. In summary, the side-by-side system is good as is provides ongoing compatibility in a most efficient manner without restricting changes for the better in future updates and versions. It's a way of having your cake and eating it. ;-) Regards Pete

But I am sure you can get little USB to GamePort adapters very cheaply, just as you can get USB to Serial Port adapters, and just about any other sort of adapter. Furthermore, I think you will find that, even if your current computer has a Game Port, using a USB one will be more efficient and give better results (it is certainly so for Serial Port adapters for USB). Google for "USB Game Port". Here's one in the UK from Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gembird-GameporB000K4QPYG Regards Pete

Please show me the FSUIPC4.LOG and Install FSUIPC4.LOG files. You will find them in the FSX Modules folder. There are two likely reasons and I need more information to help. No, there should be nothing in common between SimConnect loading FSUIPC and operating the Add-Ons menu, and the default provision of an aircraft list. If you have no aircraft installed you have something wrong with the FSX installation. I would try doing a repair from the original DVDs. Regards Pete

Has it? If it has then it is a bug. The old 180 degree shifts in FS2004 was a known bug and I seem to remember MS said they'd fixed it. Have you any way of reproducing the problems as I have never seen them? If I can reproduce them I can try to get it fixed for the update expected later this year (the one known as the "DX10 update"). There's no facility (yet) to allow direct control of wind, pressure or visibility effects at the aircraft. In FS2004 and before these smoothing options acted on the end results of the weather being imposed, not on the weather itself. I have had such facilities listed in the requirements for SimConnect, but they did not make it into the "final cut", presumably because MS thought they were of lesser priority with a better working weather system. I am still pressing, of course, because there are other uses for these things apart from bug workarounds. I will continue pressure on MS for all the facilities currently missing in SimConnect, and if, indeed, there are still bugs in the weather system that you describe I will raise the priority of this particular items. SimConnect is supposed to be a continually evolving interface and I do not want to subvert that effort by hacking directly into FS code in the way I used to with previous releases. The change in the attitude to such intimate manipulations in FS from the MS programmers is good to see and I want to encourage more of it, not less, as it bodes well for the future. The best bet at present would be to construct a reproducible problem in the winds -- a saved flight with a weather setup which will, when flown a short time, show unwanted abrupt wind changes. Please makes sure these are not intentional -- directional changes (Wind Variability) can be part of the reported METARs, as of course can Gusts (speed changes). If you enable the AutoSave facility (in FSUIPC4), then the one saved just before your observed problems should suffice. Set Autosave to save a little more often than you'd otherwise need. Regards Pete

Yes, that is where the original base edition of SimConnect.DLL is stored, and it is that which should be repaired by using the repair from the original DVDs. The "FSX Help" announcement above, which you insist on calling my "locked post" (most Announcements are locked) is exactly about this. Without that the base version of SimConnect FSUIPC will not load either. The FSUIPC log will show what version of SimConnect it is actually using. It is quite specific, actually identifying the SP1 version as SP1 May07. Ouch! You have the SP1 DLL installed in the folder for the base SimConnect (60905)? The SP1 DLL (61242) will be in its own folder if SP1 is installed correctly, namely: C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.FlightSimulator.SimConnect_67c7c14424d61b5b_10.0.61242.0_x-ww_35e8ee9a You should have both folders, each with their own SimConnect inside. But you should never have to create them manually. Repairing from the DVD will not only create the missing folder and contents but also tie it correctly into the Side-by-Side system (SxS). For the SP1 version you'd need to run the SimConnect.msi from the SDK. From what you are saying you have got the SimConnect system into a bit of a mess. May I ask how you got into this state in the first place? If FSUIPC and other SimConnect programs were running okay, SimConnect was obviously fine. Why mess it about so much? The trouble with a reinstall is that it still doesn't fix the SimConnect issues unless you also delete the relevant WinSxS folders, same as for a repair. On Vista it is actually not easy (read "almost impossible") to ever uninstall anything installed as SxS. No, you wouldn't. The EXE.XML most certainly is not needed at all for ASX -- all that does is get SimConnect to automatically load EXE programs, just to save you doing it (you could equally well use FSUIPC's facilities for running programs). I have ASX running and do not use any EXE.XML so I am rather surprised it mentions it. It sounds like that is only for loading the GoFlight EXE. The SimConnect.xml file is needed for running a remote SimConnect connection, but equally it can thereby stop the local connection -- that is the usual problem. Folks change "local" to "global" and this actually loses the local connection (stopping FSUIPC and GoFlight). Reinstalling FSUIPC4 normally fixes that as the installer I provide actually checks for this and tries to fix the SimConnect.XML file. But it should do. The newer version of SimConnect.dll goes into its own, newer, folder. None of that stuff is designed for human messing. It should be done by installers or repairers. I really don't know what the longer-term consequences of the mess yours in now in will be, I'm afraid. There is NO topic on my Forum which tells you to do that on its own, it is the first step in a repair process. Why would you take one step of a procedure and ignore the rest -- both are essential! And in any case there were no indications that the SimConnect system was in a mess. All you needed to do was find out how to enable to remote connection, and the ASX instructions should certainly have told you this. But that should have messed all local SimConnect programs up as well, including FSUIPC4. The only thing which would have stopped GF loading whilst still allowing FSUIPC to work is the missing or incorrect EXE.XML file. Well, I wish you well, but this is most certainly not a good example to post as a fix for anything, as you now appear to have 61242 SimConnect (from SP1) masquerading as 60905 SimConnect (the base version), even though both are supposed to be installed and usable side-by-side. I really think this will cause problems if any further FSX updates appear that you want, and it may cause problems with other add-ons. It may even be that FSUIPC, amongst others, is currently running with the original base restrictions, not the improvements offered by SP1. A look at the FSUIPC4.LOG will tell you one way or the other. In other words, I would seriously recommend that you fix the SimConnect installation. not by taking only the first step, but following up with the repair -- i.e. deleting any WinSxS folder mentioning SimConnect (one or two), running repair from the DVD (or the SimConnect.msi from it, if you can get to it), and then running the SimConnect.msi from the SP1 SDK. That should get you two correct folders, correctly tied up, and each with their own, correct version of SimConnect installed. Best Regards Pete

I notice it says: Is yours specially wired? If you previously used it with a Game Port I would think that it isn't supported via the Quadrant. Maybe you'd be better off using it via the Game Port after all? Either way, this is a question of PFC Support I'm afraid. I've never had any information about such a device. Sorry. Regards Pete

No, WideServer is not really involved. Yes. That is almost always a result of an illegally generated Key. Really? From where? I've never issued temporary licences. If this is from Project Magenta, then possibly it was one generated by an old version of the key generator which encoded the expiry wrong. You'd need to ask PM support for assistance. Please load FS with FSUIPC registered, let it settle then close FSX, and show me the FSUIPC LOG. Regards Pete

And what was the posted solution, please? This thread seems to indicate you still have problems? What was the reason for the GoFlight stuff not working which you identified and fixed? Note that if the base SimConnect WinSxS folder is deleted and not repaired then FSUIPC won't run either -- it needs the base SimConnect (the one from the DVD) to get loaded. It can run with or without the SP1 updated SimConnect -- it just provides slightly lesser facilities and performance. I don't know of any case where FSX needs reinstalling, and reinstalling doesn't create or mess with DLL.XML or EXE.XML files -- they are both up to installers to handle, or users under instructions (as, for instance, in the case of MyTrafficX). Regards Pete

The repair doesn't merely recreate the folder, it sets up all the other settings in the registry to make the contents of that folder work. The reason for deleting the folder is that the repair doesn't do anything if it is there as it thinks it must be okay! I'm not sure why you were trying the SimConnect repair solution just to get an EXE automatically loaded -- that's part of the EXE.XML file (in the same folder as the FSX.CFG). Doesn't GoFlight's installer see to that? Did you try to do a GoFlight re-install? Regards Pete

I've never heard of a Cirrus yoke with a throttle! Where does it fit? How does that work when the throttles are on the Throttle quadrant? I think you probably need to direct your question on this to PFC themselves - I should think the extra throttle is superfluous. Regards Pete

There's a section in the WideFS Technical document all about that. What you list as having done seems exactly what Lee Glover (the chap who contributed that answer) said, so I don't really know why it worked. Well, except that this worries me: I've never seen such an option mentioned before. Maybe TeamSpeak no longer accepts SendInput methods? Have you tried that option unchecked? I hope someone else using TeamSpeak can help here! Regards Pete

I think the only hope would be if they abandoned the use of TCP/IP protocols for communicating internally, which is very unlikely (though I still hope as it seems very inefficient to do in-process), and certainly impossible for the external and network operations SimConnect is also intended for. I use Norton Anti-Virus, and both its firewall and Windows XP firewalls without any problems ever occurring in FSX -- and I haven't had to take any special steps. Others have said AVG and Avast (?) are okay. I thought I read that Kaspersky had fixed their problems with FSX, but I couldn't swear to that. Maybe you should try making sure your software is up to date first. Regards Pete

I've no idea what you mean by "4 parts", but since all of the radio frequencies are only 16-bit (2 byte) values, and the maximum possible number in 16bits, treating it as unsigned, is 65535, the number you are getting obviously does NOT come from reading a 16-bit frequency or any other 16-bit value for that matter). Regards Pete

You have somehow lost the base version of SimConnect. You need to repair FSX from the original DVD. Please see the FSX Help announcement. Regards Pete

Please refer to the Advanced User's Guide for FSUIPC. Near the end there's a section called Multiple Joysticks. It deals exactly with what you want to do. For a long time now FSUIPC has supported dual controls -- actually triple and quadruple if desired! Regards Pete

FSUIPC4 is a complete product. I don't supply upgrades. The special rate "upgrade" price" is referring to recent purchasers of FSUIPC3 "upgrading" to FSX and FSUIPC4. It is you who is upgrading. The program is new. Well you are the first one who has any difficulty since FSUIPC4 is released last September. What is the problem? All of my FS programs are always available on the Schiratti site, and have been now for over ten years. FSUIPC4 is what you bought. The Server for WideFS7 is built into FSUIPC4, but it won't work unless you buy that too. Why not simply read the user guide which is included in the ZIP? 4.12 is merely the current version. It changes all the time. You can (and should) update your copy when new versions are available. The Announcements in this Forum tell you which version is current, and also often provides interim updates. I cannot understand why -- you are the only one I've ever heard from who cannot download FSUIPC4.ZIP from the link provided. Surely, in order to only pay the upgrade price, you must have downloaded FSUIPC3 (FSUIPC.ZIP) from the same place? It is no different a process! :-( I would, in any case, always advise you to download the programs FIRST, before paying for them. You can then read the documentation and decide what to do. The first few pages explain everything. Pete

Really? How strangeI'll look at that directly. If it does it is a bug. Ah, a contact in Level-D. Good. Can you tell me, please, how it is that merely my intercepting axis values and re-transmitting them, even with no change, is upsetting your A/P? It must be something odd with SimConnect, as all my control operations are 100% using standard SimConnect facilities, but I need to understand it if I'm going to ask MS to fix it, and find a work-around in the interim (other than removing the whole set of intercepts). Any relevant details would be very welcome please. Are all axes affected or only elevator, or elevator trim, or aileron or aileron trim, or what? Is it perhaps a priority problem where I trap them at one priority and re-transmit them at another, and you are trying to collect them in between? If we are both trying to collect them at maximum maskable priority, maybe it is an ordering problem -- in fact, maybe FSUIPC won't get them if SimConnect sends them to you first (unlikely as aircraft will be loaded later than DLLs). I don't know how SimConnect resolves equal priorities -- it should treat them equally. Regards Pete

FSUIPC3 does intercept axes as such. There is no comparison with FSX. Hasn't the FS2004 version of the LDS aircraft been available for a long time? I am not aware of any problems with FSUIPC and the Feelthere software, other that you may need to check the THROTTLES option centre bottom on the 4 throttles calibration page, if you use it. Regards Pete

If you are using Windows XP all round you should have no need to touch that INI file. What did you change? Well, the reason for the apparent increase in the number of connections is actually explained fairly clearly in the documentation. As to what it is trying to reconnect, let's see: OkayWideClient says it is timing out waiting for data from the Server. That is why it is trying to reconnect. What did the WideServer Log show? This is only half the story! There's no need for a photo. Why not just read the explanation in the documentation? Here, I'll reproduce it for you to save you all the bother: There. That was in the early section in the WideFS User Guide called "Running WideFS". Regards Pete

No idea, sorry, but if I wanted information like that I guess I'd do some measurements and work it out. You could, for example, find out what the numbers are on each GS mark on the AI, then just refer to an aircraft text to see what the marks actually indicate. I'm sure there's a direct and probably linear (angular linearality of course) relationship. Regards Pete

No idea why that is. Maybe FS is assigning both sets to the same FS axes and is alternating values from each? Where are you observing this "going bananas"? How were you using FSUIPC with your own throttle - via axis assignment is FSUIPC or in FS itself? A standard POV is treated as 4 or 8 buttons in FSUIPC3 -- check it in the Buttons page. There are examples in the user guide on how to make it a POV, or you can assign different functions. I've no idea -- if you mean FSUIPC *axis* assignments then the only possible conflict is dual assignments - i.e. the axes you assign in FSUIPC are also assigned in FS. The same may apply even if you are only using FSUIPC calibration, not assignment. Try taking FSUIPC out of the equation. It shouldn't make any difference in the latter case. Regards Pete

Please see my reply to your original question. Pete

I don't know of any way of doing that on FS2004 or before, at least not without loading the Flight which refers to it. SimConnect does provide such an option, however. So you could do it in FSX from a SimConnect application. I could possibly add a way of accessing this via FSUIPC4, but on the whole I am expecting most new applications for FSX to use SimConnect directly. Regards Pete

No, but by editing the FSUIPC INI file you could make one button send more than one keystroke. In fact you could do it by programming, on the FSUIPC Buttons screen, one keystroke for pressing and another for releasing the button. This will work provided the "unused" keystroke clicks the mouse on a screen position which doesn't do anything, or at least nothing of consequence. However, you seem to be taking a rather roundabout course here. Are you sure that the PSS baro knob doesn't respond to normal FS controls to increase or decrease that Kollsman value? I've never actually seen any add-on which replaces the default FS action for altimeter pressure settings, as it works perfectly well as it is. The controls are called Kohlsman Dec and Kohlsman Inc -- Microsoft misspelled the inventor's name! ;-) Regards Pete