Pete Dowson

The broadcasting from the Server isn't working then. You never said whether both your systems are running WinXP. Pete

Okay. Thank you very much! Best Regards Pete

I'm afraid that you aren't reading it fully. In the Server parameters section it says There is no such parameter for Clients. As it says, the AutoShutdown simply tells WideServer to send the shut down notifications to all clients when FS closes, instead of only when you use the Hot Key. It doesn't force any shutdowns, it only sends the message. These notifications only have any effect on Clients (and the FS PC) if you ALLOW them to, using the AllowShutdown parameter. Using that parameter you can decide which ones to shut down and whether to shut the PC down or only the applications. The AllowShutdown parameter can be applied to Server and each Client, as you wish. It is a very flexible system, but you do need to read carefully, please. ;-) Regards Pete

Okay, I've fixed this in the next interim release, probably 4.084 tomorrow, in the FSX downloads above. The values are 0 for 0% and 16384 for 100%. It doesn't look like it has any other settable positions, like the Gear. The problem in the current version was in the scaling internally in FSUIPC4. Oddly it defaults to -16383 for aircraft like the 737-800 (-0.99% before scaling). Guess that's the same as "ain't got one, guv!" ;-) Good catch, that. However, you mean 3590/4/8/C not 3950/4/8/C which are assorted Engine 4 data. For 3590-C a typo in my code caused the section dealing with these (via FS controls) to be skipped! Fixed in 4.084. I need feedback like this to get everything fully working -- it's an almost impossible job testing every possible offset for read and write. I don't even know what they are all supposed to do myself even! ;-) Regards Pete

Sorry, I can only understand English, C and ASM. ;-) Hopefully someone will step in to help here. Regards Pete

It sounds exactly like you have not calibrated the throttle sufficiently well to guarantee you always have zero thrust set when you pull it right back. You will need to allow more "dead" space there. Alternatively, but more problematic, you can tell FSUIPC to let you set reverse thrust even when there is still forward thrust set. Check out the parameter MaxThrottleForReverser=n which goes into the relevant [JoystickCalibrations] section of the FSUIPC INI file. You can set any value there (up to max throttle, 16384) below which your reverser will still operate -- provided FS isn't seeing jittery changes if you have the throttle directly assigned in FS -- and that's another possibility: that your throttle is assigned in FS as well as direct in FSUIPC, and the FS value is interfering with the FSUIPC value. Regards Pete

This simply means the Client is not seeing the Broadcasts from the Server. Either you are not using WinXP or Vista on both PCs or the Network isn't working correctly. I think you need them to be in the same workgroup. You don't need to rely on the broadcasts if you provide the ServerName= and Protocol= parameters in the WideClient.INI file. The automatic connection system, which works fine for 99% of cases is quite a recent addition, but in the past you always had to tell Wideclient how to find the Server. That would stop it connecting to a different Server, assuming it ever saw any broadcasts at all, but it would still need to see UPS700's broadcast to determine the Protocol it should use. Try adding the Protocol parameter (e.g. Protocol=TCP). It may still not work -- if you are using WinXP or better on both PCs then the broadcasting would work fine if you had both PCs on the same subnet and in the same workgroup. If that sort of stuff is wrong they may not see each other in any case. That's not surprising considering the default INI is the same on every installation (how can it change if you don't change it?), and as it works in 99% of cases it is rarely changed. ;-) Regards Pete

Well, the values get written to FSX, but the current version probably converts them incorrectly. I'll take a look. As the error in the documentation indicates I falsely assumed it would be a BOOLEAN, not an extension amount. I've changed that here for the next version. In my original tests FSX doesn't raise an exception when this is written to, so really it should do something. Maybe it is really fussy about the values -- the FS2004 notes have quite odd values. Last time I tested those directly, writing gave SimConnect exceptions. FSUIPC4 should detect that then, thereafter, send TOGGLE_FUEL_VALVE_ENGn controls on your behalf (assuming the value you write is different from the value FSUIPC last read). Please use the Event logging to see if they are being sent. If they are and they don't do anything at all, that's another matter of course. Regards Pete

First, you look in FS's Options-Controls-Assignments, and see if what you want is there. If it is, assign it there. If not, then it MAY be assignable in a Registered copy of FSUIPC, but if it isn't listed by FS it may well be because it doesn't actually work. All FSUIPC does is list all of the controls tabulated in FS's "CONTROLS.DLL". Ah, you mean from a program, not from the keyboard or joystick buttons? You should have said. I think that's just a read-out -- the water rudder stuff was a late addition to the FS2004 offsets following a specific request. No one asked for it to be controlled via the offsets too, though I think I have implemented this for FSX (untested as yet). FSUIPC4? Not with FS2004 -- FSUIPC4 is for FSX. But either way, of course, all controls can be sent via offset 3110. That's been availble for nigh on 7 years. Hold on. You are now talking about FSX, whereas above you are referring to FS2004? Why on earth use the list of FS2004 controls for FSX when the list of FSX controls is installed in your FSX Modules folder? Anyway, are you actually confirming that writing to 2A88 does not operate the Water Rudder? No one has returned any information about this water stuff yet, as indicated by the yellow-shading against these in the FSUIPC4 Offsets Status document. Just checking, I think that, despite my current FSX document, that value should be a percentage not a BOOLEAN. However, judging from what was written for FS2004 is should be scaled so that 100% = 16384, or close. I don't think I'm doing that in FSX at present, so that needs fixing. Can you tell me what values you are seeing there, please? Also, according to my notes it should be writeable, but probably at present you'd need to write 100 (for 100% to get it activated -- that will be 16383 or 16384 when i've fixed it. What did you try writing to it? The definitive guide to offsets is the FSUIPC for Programmers document in the SDK, updated for FSX by the FSUIPC4 Offsets Status document. I'll check the FSUIPC.FSI file to see why there's a mistake there, but you need to always check the official documents, not some data file which everyone has had a go at. [LATER] Okay I see several errors in the issued FSI file. Even 2A50 is about a "folding wind", and the offsets for the left and right water rudder positions are omitted. Sorry. I'll fix that ready for the next SDK update (don't know when that will be though). But please please always use the official reference documents. It was a much younger me -- that film was made about 5 or more years ago. It was really rather off-base. The guy only wanted to know about my EPIC software -- by then I'd stopped developing it and wasn't using it. He was not all that interested in what I was doing then. My cockpit is the PFC 737NG (see http://www.flypfc.com), here now for nearly two years but under frequent enhancement and modification. I haven't built my own. I'm okay at programming and even electrical wiring with a bit of electronics, but anything I actually build looks awful. :-) Regards Pete

You don't need to refer to the Advanced User's Guide. The "Offset" controls are all listed in the drop-down list of FS controls in both the Keys and the Buttons assignment options!!! :-( :-( Please go back and read what I said. It'll be so easy if you just follow the instructions! Select the appropriate control, from the list, by name, then enter the offset, exactly as I said, and the parameters, as I worked out for you, and confirm. What is so hard about any of that? Sometimes I might as well not say anything, I think. I thought I was being so explicit. What was so wrong with what I said that you couldn't just find the controls and do the assignments?? :-( The Advanced User's guide is for advanced users who want to do clever things editing the INI file and so on. You do not need to touch any of that to do what I suggested! Regards Pete

It isn't just a "DLL type of program", it is an FS DLL which runs inside FS, just like FSUIPC. It doesn't use FSUIPC at all. It cannot be run anywhere but inside FS. This is why some folks prefer programs like FS Commander which can be run on a Client PC. Pete

Oh dear. FSX needs FSUIPC4. It is an entirely new version. Your FSUIPC3 key is not valid for FSUIPC4. Yes. FSX has necessitated a complete re-write. FSUIPC4 was not released until FSX was released. It is not the same program. Please do read some of the Announcements and follow some of the links in the documentation. After you purchase your new key, be sure to read the Installation and Registration sections of the FSUIPC4 user guide. For Vista you may have to do the registration in "Run As Administrator" mode, even if you are the Administrator. Regards Pete

All three parts you enter must be 100% right. Cut and paste all three -- name, email and Key -- from the Email to avoid errors. Many of these problems arise from folks never spelling their names the same twice in a row! ;-) Pete

Well, for programs like ActiveSky, surely you need to "dive into" the documentation to install and use it correctly? Are you someone who just runs the install EXE and that's it? I don't think that approach works with everything. Where that technique does work with programs using FSUIPC on the FS PC, it will work on the WideFS PC too -- assuming the program doesn't want access to FS's own files. If it does you would need to help it find them somehow, as it won't know where FS is from another machine. There's never going to be a "magic pill" which will make everything work just by wishing it so. I really don't know how you can expect that. But surely it's a scenery enhancer. How is it going to enhance scenery from a different PC? I really don't know how it can be used with WideFS -- if you know more please let me know. FSUIPC/WideFS most certainly cannot do anything with scenery, textures, buildings and so on. Well, the FS plans folder on the FS PC can be accessible to it on the laptop. If the program doesn't allow the use of Network UNC names (like \\MYPC\C\My Documents\.... ), which most programs do, then you can always map the relevant folder to a drive on the Laptop. It'll look local to the laptop then. Regards Pete

FS only provides toggle controls for many, many functions. However, FSUIPC does provide a set of "Offset" controls, which allow you to write values or change individual bits in FSUIPC's programmable offsets, which in turn operate FS via its innards. You really need a reference for this -- for FSUIPC3 it is the FSUIPC SDK from the Schiratti "Dowson" page. Inside there's a document "FSUIPC for Programmers". Just load that into Word or wordpad and search for "pump" (and "Master"). For FSX the replacement document is available in the FSX downloads above, but it is compatible for these things in any case. As an example, fuel pump offsets found are: 3104, 1 byte, set to 1 for ON, 0 for OFF. This is only Engine 1. More flexible: 3125, 1 byte, one bit for each engine, 2^0=1 up to 2^3 = 4. Assign the "Offset Byte Set" control for 3104, with x3104 as the offset and 1 (ON) or 0 (OFF) as the parameter. Assign the "Offset Byte Setbits" control for 3125 "ON" values, with parameters 1, 2, 4 and 8 for engines 1-4 respectively. Assign the "Offset Byte Clrbits" control for 3125 "OFF" values, with parameters 1, 2, 4 and 8 for engines 1-4 respectively. If you have less than 4 switches you can, of ocurse, combine values -- a parameter of 15 in both cases would switch them all at once. (15 = 1+2+4+8). You can, with thought and logic, extend this access method to almost anything accessible through FSUIPC. Regards Pete

I don't know all of those, but certainly ActiveSky runs well over WideFS. You need to follow the instructions carefully for the Cloud graphics installation and control, but the weather part is easy. I don't know FSInn -- isn't that an alternative to SB3. How are you using both? I do know folks configure SB3 on a client PC via WideFS. One of the advantages then is that you have a separate sound output for your headset. Ground Environment, LDS and PMDG aircraft are all FS add-ins, and cannot work except from within FS. I don't know FSBuild, Server Info, Team Speak and Delta Virtual ACARS so I can't say whether they are suitable. I would have thought all of those except FSBuild were more related to the SB3 or FSInn internet connection than to FS -- do they use FSUIPC at all? It seems unlikely. Does FSBuild use FSUIPC or is it a planner which integrates into FS and its scenery databases? If the latter it may not be suitable for client use either. You need to study the documentation of your applications, or check with their individual support. Of all those ActiveSky is the only one I have any experience of, and I just followed the instructions. I have a router and 12 PCs hanging off it, and I rely on the firewall capabilities of the router. If you do enable firewalls in Windows you will have to make exceptions on each PC to allow FS and WideClient to talk to each other. Exactly how you do that I'm not sure. If your firewall has a setting which allows all local PCs access but not Internet ones, that should be okay. I think that option may be in Vista, I don't know about XP. Windows Help for its firewall, is all I know. For applications it depends on the applications. Some need access to files in FS, some don't, some use FSUIPC, some don't. You need to refer to the documentation for the applications, or just try them on the clients, for the simpler ones that is usually enough. Regards Pete

I did not suggest any re-install! Your original installation was fine. I thought you said you couldn't register, that was all. That is nothing to do with the install file. As the instructions clearly state, you must run FSX and register in the Add-Ons options for FSUIPC. That was all a complete waste of time. The installer worked first time. It is NOT the installation that does the Registering! Please read the instructions, supplied with the program, which are very clear. After installing, you need to register INSIDE FSX! You need to run FSX as Administrator, not the installer (which worked in any case)! Please please please do read the instructions which are supplied to help you do these simple things. I have no idea what you were thinking of to play around with the installer! None of that is at all relevant except to confirm that FSUIPC4 is installed corectly, but not yet registered! Regards Pete

Well, the -4096 is perfect (for full feathered). The 16384 is perfect for high RPM, and I assume the -237 is something you get just before the detente? It certainly shouldn't be in or above as indicated by your order. I've just tried it here. and -4096 most certainly gives full feathered settings in the default King Air here. Where are you measuring this? The lowest position for those levers on the graphic is where the metal struts (not the knobs) are bang against the bottom of the slots. They cannot go any lower. Because of the curve on the levers, the knobs then appear almost level with the top of the striped area. I am 100% positive that sending the axis value -4096 on the individual prop axes (as mapping them does) gives you that fully feathered setting. It works perfectly here with the default. Regards Pete

I think so, for many things. As I said. I think this is what the hackers already did, and found some but not all. But I suspect PMDG may have changed to use encrypted values for some things when they found out, so it may be a lost cause. It may be cheaper and easier, in the long run, to discard the PMDG panel and get the Project Magenta system instead! ;-) Pete

All the PMDG aircraft implement their own Autopilot as well as many other subsystems. None of the standard FS facilities will touch them. Yes, they do for many things, but they keep them secret, and maybe even encrypt their contents. I think some were hacked for the 737 some time ago, but I cannot give any references I'm afraid. PMDG say they don't want hardware implementers to use the (expensively-developed) technology in their aircraft systems to make money which should rightfully (they say) be shared with them. I recall that they did promise, at one time, to sell an SDK for cockpit builders, but I don't think that ever materialised. They have entered agreements with one or two vendors though, like GoFlight (I think). I think you need to ask PMDG themselves what their current policy on this is. You don't need to register. Read the FSUIPC User Guide to see if you want the facilities it offers. Regards Pete

Er. Which "out values are 16384"? which do you mean by "min". Can you please just relate the IN values to the OUT values for each main position - min/far left, centre/middle pair, max/far right? Thank you. Else I cannot envisage what you see! Have you bothered to try the default King Air yet? (Third time of asking! ;-) ) Pete

I hope someone here can translate this for me ...? Regards Pete

OkayI've tested all three controls "PANEL ID OPEN", "PANEL ID CLOSE" and "PANEL ID TOGGLE" in FS2004. The parameter these take IS the ident value from the Panel.CFG file, and all three work well here. I don't know what you are doing wrong, but please first go to the Keys or Buttons assignments and check that you have indeed programmed them correctly. Then switch on the Button and Event logging in FSUIPC's logging page, and see the results of using your buttons or keys in the Log. Regards Pete

Thanks Frank. Just for clarification, for FSX it is PFCFSX.DLL, but it is in the same PFCDLL.ZIP package. Best Regards Pete

Hmmm. They are listed in CONTROLS.DLL but I've never tried them. Maybe they aren't actually hooked up in FS. If they don't work then I'm afraid the directly switchable panels available to you may be limited to the 1-9 supported by the PANEL_1 to PANEL_9 controls (normally Shift+1 to 9). I'll try the PANEL_ID controls here, see what happens. Possibly the "ID" in these is not the "ident" but the Window number (14 in your case). After all the 1 - 9 for the other controls do refer to the [Window ...] number, not the ID, don't they? Regards Pete