Pete Dowson

Check 3364 and 3365 (read both together as one 16-bit value). Pete

Show me the Log file from that attempt please. It sounds like the Signature isn't verifying correctly. Didn't you check, as advised? And which 'older version' were you trying? Pete

It tells you that your read is working and that 8320 does indeed provide zero. So evidently what I said previously doen't apply to your version of VB. So the next questions are: 1. What are you expecting to read in this Logged case, if not 00? 2. Which version of FSUIPC are you using? (Those offsets were not always supported!) 3. If you are using a version before 3.71 (and from that one Log line it looks like you are), have you purchased it and registered it as a user? Perhaps you should try the currently supported version of FSUIPC (3.73, or 3.731 from the Announcements above) before testing again, then check the Log again please. Regards Pete

FS only supports landing lights on or off. There's no separate switching for left, right (or, for airliners, retractable left and right). I expect it would be possible for a panel/model builder to add such things, but the extra lights would have to be controlled by invented controls, keystrokes, mouse clicks, or possibly private mapping into FSUIPC offsets. Regards Pete

Have you tried using FSUIPC's Logging to see what is going on? On the Logging tab in the Options set "IPC Read" logging and it will show what is happening. This is why Logging is provided, to help you solve such problems! In all likelihood, from my little knowledge of VB, your "&H8320" is being compiled as hex FFFF8320, which is an invalid offset in FSUIPC. It will probably convert that to 1F8320 or similar, which is still wrong. Why Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, decided to sign-extend 16-bit hex values is beyond me. Folks say that even if you specify &H00008320 it is still changed by the compiler to &HFFFF8320. Utterly awful in my opinion. I don't have any VB references here to look up, but check how to stop the sign extension. I think it is done by postpending another & character (&H8320&) but I am not sure. It's been quite a while since this silly problem last came up. Regards Pete

I couldn't even guess what that is. Doesn't the program's documentation or Help explain it? Regards Pete

I don't know if the FeelThere Airbus uses standard FS controls or not. Is there no documentation or help files with it to tell you? Try using one of the default aircraft first. The default autopilot does have FS controls for incrementing and decrementing the target altitude, which you can assign in FS or in FSUIPC. Whether they work with other add-on panels depends entirely upon the implementation of those panels. It is perfectly possible (and not uncommon, unfortunately) for panel designers to support mouse operations on switches without providing any assignable control or keyboard short-cut. If this turns out to be the case with your FeelThere panel I can only suggest using something like Luciano Napolitano's "Key2Mouse" which converts key presses to mouse clicks. Then at least you can program the keypress to your button. Well, yes, for FS controls. But add-on panels don't have to use those. Check by enabling the Event logging in FSUIPC (one of the check boxes on the left-hand part of the Logging options tab). Regards Pete

Yes, and select the NMEA sentences to suit the map program. Yes, exactly. This is the relevant section in the current WideFS user documentation: Regards Pete

Strange. I thought FS only did that for NEW controls, ones which appear as freshly connected via Windows. As long as you leave them plugged in and connected I thought they should remain with the settings, or lack of them, you have made. Is this with WinXP? And if so is it up to date (SP2)? I know Win98 and WinMe had some problems with USB devices being reassigned on each re-boot of the PC. Regards Pete

I don't think that is possible -- it is built into Windows XP and cannot be 'removed'. All you can do is disable it, via the Security Centre. Before the SP2 update it was defaulted "off" and ad to be enabled to be used, but SP2 changed that and defaulted it on. Regards Pete

Yes, it is okay. Microsoft try ty make it "easier" for you by calling CFG and INI files by fuller names. "config settings" means "configuration settings" which is another way of saying "option settings" or "initialisation settings". Hence .CFG and .INI. If you want to see the real filenames use the Folder Options to tell Explorer to show you them. Regards Pete

You'll need to reprogram everything I suspect, as PSS, like PMDG, program their own systems. FSUIPC can only provide settings for FS itself, not specific ones for aircraft which do their own thing. I'm sure there must be a PSS forum where you can get more information and advice. I'm afraid I don't use any PSS aircraft myself. Regards Pete

Yes, exactly as clearly documented -- also the KEY and LOG files, also as documented! Viz: If FS is installed in its default place in Program Files, Vista prevents FSUIPC from altering files even though it created them in the first place! So, if they are left there you get no settings saved, ever! Pete

Yes, if you've not yet run FS with FSUIPC installed. The INI file is only generated when you have used the program at least once. Ah, you are running windows in its default "confuse the user" mode. What you see as "config settings" are represented by files with filetypes ".INI" or "CFG". That's what ".INI" means as a filetype! Regards Pete

FSUIPC supports all of the FS built-in controls. PMDG do their own thing though, especially with the AutoPilot, which I think bears little relationship to the built in one. See if there's a keystroke assigned to the function. I'm pretty sure PMDG provided keyboard shortcuts for most things. If so you can program FSUIPC to send that keystroke when you press your button. Regards Pete

Okay, that's good. I'll do the same for FSUIPC4 and put both updates in the Download announcements at the top of the Forum. Thanks, Pete

Did you check the FSUIPC4.LOG (in the Modules folder)? Whether the Add-Ons menu appears or not is a function of SimConnect, not of the Install nor of Vista vs. XP. There have been many problems reported with bad SimConnect installs, and also with SimConnect reacting badly to assorted Security settings, Firewalls and the like. Please do refer to my Support forum, and check the assorted announcements and help there. The axis assignment problem in Vista was fixed in version 4.08, released last week. Please see the Support forum (as linked to by all my odcumentation, etc) and download updates when they are provided. If you visit the Support forum occasionally you will see these things. The Vista update was released last week. Regards Pete

In your first eport you said: but in fact in the INI file you had this: This was the same result I managed to obtain -- "Keys." being aircraft-specific but with an empty name. Anyway, I have found and fixed (I hope -- still testing) the problem with the Keys section, but I cannot make the Buttons, Axes or Calibrations sections fail. Can you please confirm that you really do have a problem with Buttons? If so I think I need even more information to work out why, as it seems pretty solid here. Meanwhile I will send you 3.731 to test the fix to the Keys section on your system, just to be sure. I think this affects the FSX version (FSUIPC4) as well, so I'd be grateful if you could let me know quite quickly, if possible, please. It is a great pity these things always seem to come to light just after a major new release, not just before when they could have been included so much more tidily. :-( Regards Pete

Oh dear. And you never thought to report it so it could be fixed in 3.72 (released in January), let alone before yet another major release? Please, things don't get fixed unless they are known about. Don't keep them to yourself! :-( I can reproduce a problem where the aircraft-specific Key presses seem to be saved in a section [Keys.] -- i.e. as if it is aircraft-specific but with the actual name missing. Weird. I can't make the same thing happen with Buttons, though. I'll investigate this more thoroughly over the next few days. It seems odd that an error like this could have occurred in, presumably three major releases (3.71 dating from way back in November) with only one report, so late. Seems the facility is hardly used at all. Please keep an eye on the Updates Announcements above. I'll make an interim release when I have it sorted out. Thanks, Pete

Both WideClient and WideServer create a Log file on their respective PCs so that they can log what is going on. Neither waits for any connection to be made before creating such a file -- otherwise how would they be able to log any errors, as in fact they do in your case? What makes you think WideFS on the server is receiving anything at all? There's no evidence of that. Since the Client cannot even get the Server name recognised by Windows, it has zero chance of sending anything whatsoever! WideClient does not need any access on the Client. It is not being allowed to connect to the Server, so it is permission on the Server which is needed. Please just try disabling that. I'm sure that must be where the problem lies. I suppose you have your firewalls set to be very protective. I have never had such a message, but, in any case, it will be the Server stopping WideClient I think. File and folder sharing is absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with WideFS or communication between one TCP/IP program and another. The sharing system is to do with Explorer and file access. There is no cross-Network filesharing needed or used by WideFS. This tells me that Wideclient received a Broadcast from WideServer telling it that WideServer is running on the PC called SERVERPC, and also that Windows will not let WideClient see the PC called "SERVERPC". It seems that it must be a firewall block, as I keep saying. The second one: merely says that no Boadcast was received from WideServer in the 16 seconds you allowed WideClient to run. It looks like, by then, you had stopped FS on the Server, or had it suspended in some way (e.g. in a menu). I don't blame you, but I do wish you would first just at least try disabling your firewalls. I don't see how it could be down to anything else. If it then works you will at least know that you need to somehow set your firewall options correctly. I really don't know of anyone else at all who has had such problems, but perhaps no one else has set such fierce protection. I don't know. Sorry. It just seems mighty odd that even after several years of Windows XP and its automatic default protection (at least since SP2), yours is the first firewall problem that appears to be intractable. Regards Pete

The should only be on FS Modules folder, and this should occur in the FS you are using and have installed. Any other such folder, sitting outside of FS, is not going to be used at all, at least not by FS or anything of mine. Nothing of mine creates such folders or places random copies of FSUIPC.DLL. It sounds very much like you have installed assorted add-ons which do install their own (outdated) copies of FSUIPC, and you have somehow pointed them to the incorrect place for FS. Regards Pete

That error in within FSX's WEATHER.DLL. This cannot be related to FSUIPC4 directly. It may be that, during initialisation FSX downloaded real weather which was corrupted, or possibly the weather saved in one of your Flights (the WX files) is corrupt. However, also check that you have not enabled the option in FSUIPC4 to affect FSX's own weather (it is on the Miscellaneous option tab), as this can rarely lead to a similar crash -- one which Microsoft is aware of and which will hopefully be fixed in the upcoming SP1 uipdate. Unless it happens again I wouldn't worry about itjust be sure to update your FSX when the Microsoft update becomes available. If it does occur again and become more consistent, you may need to look deleting some of your saved flight or weather files -- possibly change the default one. As a last resort, deleting all saved FLT and WX files and the FS9.CFG file so it builds a new one may solve it. Regards Pete

This is only just discovered in 3.71, a day or two after I released 3.73? You skipped 3.72? The facilities seem okay here, and they haven't been changed for some time (version 3.70 last July, in fact). I really need more information, please. What is the "ShortAircraftNameOk" parameter set to in the INI file, for example. Perhaps you could show me the FSUIPC.INI file in case there's something else specific in your settings? Regards Pete

How come you have an FS2004 folder as well as a Flight Simulator 9 folder? FS2004 *is* FS9! You only need FSUIPC.DLL in the Modules folder of the Flight simulators you actually use. Check the shortcut you use to run FS -- right-click on it and select Properties. See which copy of FS you are using. In the Modules folder there should also be an FSUIPC.INI file and an FSUIPC.LOG file (maybe also an FSUIPC.KEY file). See which copy has the most recent date. That will be the Flight Simulator you ran last. Regards Pete

See the Sticky thread above called READ THIS IF YOU LOSE YOUR FSUIPC or WIDEFS keys. Please do peruse the Announcements and Sticky Threads at the top of the Forum from time to time. They are designed to help and keep you informed. Regards Pete