Pete Dowson

Well, not so sunny much of the time, but one can't complain about temperatures of 16-18C in November! ;-) There's a lot happened since you were herewe should catch up in Email some time. petedowson@btconnect.com. AhI didn't know the company allowed that. Thought y'all had to move to the PNW. Good to hear they think modern ;-) Best regards, Pete

All my hardware is now PFC (http://www.flypfc.com), with a couple of GoFlight button modules. I've only ever used ready-built stuff -- my hardware building capabilities are rudimentary. I only used EPIC with FS4, FS5, FS95 and FS98 in order to support more than the 4 axes and 4 switches, all that was then possible with a Game Port. I do have an EPIC USB, but only with a small button pad and a trim wheel connected to it. The EPL program merely sends button presses through its normal joystick interface and I program them in FSUIPC. I have two unused EPIC ISA (Rev D cards) stored away somewhere. I have been supporting EpicInfo, and did update it for a single USB EPIC. Ralph was going to talk to me about multiple EPICs a while back (years and years) but never got around to it. I've had only a couple of queries on EPICINFO, and none at all on EPIClink (which needs Win98 or earlier and the VxD-driven EPIC in any case) in the last three or four years. I don't think it needs support or development any more. My main work applied to DOS (for FS4, FS5, ATP) and, with EPIC95, to FS95 and FS98 on Windows 95/98. Surely there are better alternatives these days? What is wrong with FSComm and the like? Not sure it is of any use to him at all, given what I say above, but I've not heard from him for years. Perhaps he should talk to me? I have always responded to questions on EPICINFO but certainly EpicLink is dead now. EPIC USB has its own methods in any case, I believe. Regards, Pete

Hmmm. Glad you fixed it, but I wonder what it was? Next time, if there is one, save a copy of the old one please. It might be interesting to find out. ;-) Regards, Pete

Access to the FSUIPC interface for anything other than reading the FS and FSUIPC versions. Regards, Pete

There is no way possible to link the autopilot on the PMDG panel to anything in PM. You must choose to use one or the other. I wish this was not so, but it is due to the policies of PMDG to keep these things proprietary and secret. Regards, Pete

If FS is not seeing your axis, then neither will FSUIPC in any case, as FSUIPC only processes FS controls, not axes. You need to resolve the problem with your joystick first. Is it all working and calibrated in Windows' Game Controllers, or with whatever driver arrived with it? Also, note that if your have multiple joystick devices connected, FS will see them all -- you will need to select the correct one to assign, using the drop down in the assignments dialogue. Please use FS's own Help -- I'm sure this stuff is all there someplace. And folks over in the FS2004 forum are really there to helpo with general FS2004 questions like these. I am not so qualified as i use no standard joystick devices at all. Did you look at the assignments dialogue? I think there's a reverse checkbox there. If not it will be in the Sensitivities options in FS. Please check the FS help. Regards, Pete

1. I cannot support 3.48. Please update to 3.50 or later. 2. Report the problem to IVAO. Maybe it is something in their program. 3. Did you check the Technical page option? Or is your FSUIPC not user-registered? I shouldn't think so. FSUIPC doesn't use the registry, I don't know about IVaP. The reason your FS9 parameters are retained are probably that you didn't delete the FS9 files in your Documents & Settings folders. Regards, Pete

Any version of GPSout which was published before FS2004 has absolutely no chance of working on FS2004. Your version is so old that it probably might not even work on FS2002! The same goes for your FSUIPC and PFC modules. Whilst they are at least recent enough to work on the older version of FS2004 (i.e. FS9.0), they are both almost two years (and about 30 versions!) outdated! I cannot (and will not) support such old versions. Please go to http://www.schiratti/com/dowson and download and install new versions of all three. I would also advise you to update your FS9.0 to FS9.1. Next time, before asking for any support, please first check some of the announcements at the top of this forum -- especially the one about Supported Versions! Regards, Pete

It is one of the questions often asked, but usually over in the FS2004 Forum -- there's a reference to an FAQ there which you will find quite useful in any case. With WinXP the FS9.CFG file is in your system's Documents & Settings folder, under your name then Applications Data\Microsoft\FS9. You don't need FSUIPC to do this. In fact FSUIPC doesn't provide basic axis assignments. Just do it in FS. Go into FS's menu system, Options, Controls, Assignments. Click the tab to enter the axis assignments and re-assign them there. You don't need to be a programmer to use standard FS facilities. ;-) Regards, Pete

The key press gets sent to FS. There it operates just as if you pressed the keys on the FS computer! You don't!!! If you want FSUIPC to do something with the keypress, you do it in the Keys or HotKeys page of the FSUIPC options. Please look in the FSUIPC User Guide! Neither of the INI files need to be edited. Why are you trying to make it more complex than it is? BTW ALT combinations will invoke FS's Menu. You may not want to do that! (Try your Keys on the FS PC first!). Regards, Pete

Huh? An example of "SendKeyPresses"? You type "SendKeyPresses=Yes" into the WideClient.ini, of course. Then, provided your WideClient window receives keypresses on the client, they will be relayed to FS on the Server. If you mean for the virtual buttons, what don't you understand? Have you read the document? Pete

To get full access to FSUIPC, expecially for your language's debugger and so on, you really do need to register. If you are producing freeware for issue to others in due course then you can get a freeware access key at some stage, but this won't necessarily give your debugger access too. Regards, Pete

Sorry, I really cannot correct such silly version check bugs in other folks programs. I expect a patch will be forthcoming from PMDG if it hasn't already. Either way, it is they you need to address. Regards, Pete

Use the very same controls as used by joystick hats. Send them to documented offset 3110. The control numbers are listed in the FS2004 controls document supplied with FSUIPC. Regards, Pete

Every aircraft? Hmmm -- if this happened by default on all aircraft, FSUIPC would not be in use on many systems! It sounds like you have some other add-on interfering, and this is being disabled when FSUIPC isn't available to it. There is only one option in FSUIPC which allows it to change the sign of the V/S, and that is on the Technical options page. Check there, and disable it if it is enabled. However, it does sound unlikely that this is the real problem as it works fine on almost all aircraft -- it is just that it isn't required on the more sophisticated add-on panels which operate altitude capture correctly. Regards, Pete

Okay, Please work out roughly how much you need. Try not to be too wasteful -- for instance, for BOOLEAN flags use bits in a byte or word, not whole words and so on. Allow a little leeway for future changes, then write to me at petedowson@btconnect.com. I'll need a name for the project as well as your name so I can record it in my allocations. Regards, Pete

Inside FS, is there a Modules entry in the Menu? When selected is there an FSUIPC entry? When selected do you see details of the FSUIPC version? What does it say? If it looks okay, what does the FSUIPC.LOG file show (also in the FS Modules folder). Run everything, get the errors, close FS, ZIP up the FSUIPC.LOG and FSUIPC.KEY files and send them to me at petedowson@btconnect.com. Regards, Pete

Or, so you can process Widows messages too: Open FSUIPC Set a timer (SetTimer API) for 50 mSecs, say On timer: READ data from FSUIPC; USE data from FSUIPC EXIT. On Quit: KillTimer Close FSUIPC link. Regards, Pete

See the WideFS documentation -- look for "SendKeyPresses". Also check out the virtual button options, which are superior. Pete

The problem is clear --- the F16 module is initially accessing FSUIPC using an illegal method -- the method designed only for external applications. It is being identified as "FS9.EXE" which has no key. Only subsequently is it identifying itself correctly, but it is too late and it won't work using the incorrect interface. Check if there's a later version of the GAUge available. I'm sure the most recent versions don't use the wrong interface. Incidentally, this incorrect access method has been incorrect since FS98 days, i.e. many years. It isn't a new problem. Before there were access checks in FSUIPC 3 such gauges could cause other problems, crashes in FS and so on. Regards, Pete

Please don't use ALL CAPS. It makes it more difficult to read, and it comes across as shouting. F16.GAU is rather notorious for this. Something in its code clashes somehow with other things on a few folks systems. Mostly it is okay, but when it isn't then the only solution, on some systems, has been a Wnidows re-install. I can't help as it works fine with the issued freeware key on all my systems. It also works fine with a user-registered FSUIPC. There are other TCAS gauges which aren't so problematic -- for example, one by Lee Hetherington (ILH_TCAS I think). Meanwhile, be sure that you are entering the correct application key as an application key and not a user key. Regards, Pete

Sorry, I am of no help at all on EPIC these days. I don't even have FSComm. Regards, Pete

Neither of these messages are part of FSUIPC, so they must be from another program. What program or module or panel are you trying to use? What does the FSUIPC.LOG file show? (You will find it in the Modules folder). Pete

If GPSOUT.DLL is in the Modules file, and the Port specified in its INI file is definitely available, there is no way you can stop it sending data out. It is not dependent upon anything else. So if you see nothing it is because it cannot open the port you have specified. Show me the GPSOUT.INI file please. Also be sure you have the latest version. Pete

Inside FS, is there a Modules entry in the Menu? When selected is there an FSUIPC entry? When selected do you see details of the FSUIPC version? What does it say? If it looks okay, what does the FSUIPC.LOG file show (also in the FS Modules folder). Run everything, get the errors, close FS, ZIP up the FSUIPC.LOG and FSUIPC.KEY files and send them to me at petedowson@btconnect.com. Regards, Pete