Pete Dowson

ErI don't really understand this question. FSUIPC does not come with FS, it is a separate module which I produced originally for FS2000 but continuously enganced for years to keep it useful with each FS version. It is not installed when you install FS, and there's not a different version for each FS. I don't actually have a site -- this Forum is the closest. My FS programs are distributed to over 50 websites, but not all of them put them all up -- the one I refer folks to most is Enrico Schiratti's website as he puts all of my programs on one web page. Where did you get that message? FSUIPC doesn't issue any such message. An unregistered message may warn you if you try to use an unaccredited program with it, but nothing more. Perhaps you simply mean the text on the firsdt page of the Options? None of the programs you need to run for Vatsim need you to register FSUIPC. They are all free and all have a free access key for access to FSUIPC. Paying for and registering FSUIPC will make no difference to any of that. You only need to pay if you want to use the extra facilities in FSUIPC shown in the documentation. Yes, that is best. I have no idea, sorry. I don't fly on-line. Some installers do install FSUIPC but the better ones should check whether you already have a later version installed. The docs that come with SB3 should tell you, because if it doesn't install FSUIPC it would tell you to do so. No. You can't have two files with the same name in the same folder. Windows doesn't allow that. Do not rename FSUIPC at all. But all recent versions of FSUIPC check for duplicates even with renaming and you would get an error telling you this. The only thing which can go wrong is if any add-on DLL gets placed in the main FS folder as well as or instead of the Modules folder. It seems FS can sometimes load those too. Okay. Yes, do let me know if you do find anything, or, better, sort it out. There's nothing I can think of adding because it isn't a symptom that anyone else has ever reported that I can remember at all. Regards, Pete

If they ONLY act up with one particular aircraft, then it probably won't really be anything to do with the actual joysticks or drivers. If they act up with all aircraft then it seems more likely that either the joysticks are playing up, or the driver is. But all you've described is that you can't calibrate them? Have you checked the USB side of things? I seem to remember that some folks have had trouble with USB devices losing connection because Windows is set to "save power" by switching off the USB devices if they are not active for a while. You might just need to switch the power saving option off somewhere in Windows. Regards, Pete

Okay. One thing you should be sure to check is the setting in FS of the sensitivity and null zone sliders -- Options-Controls-Sensitivities. It seems FS has a rather nasty habit of setting sensitivities to zero when it sees new joysticks! With zero sensitivity you'll get no response. If you do wish to calibrate the axes in FS you are best setting all sensitivities to maximum (slider furthest right) and all null zones to minimum (slider furthest left). Regards, Pete

WHY on Earth do you think this? What possible cause have you to believe that? FSUIPC does not calibrate joysticks! It can optionally (upon your instructions only) do final tweaking of the internal FS controls that result from joystick inputs, but to calibrate a joystick you need to use Windows Game Controllers. FSUIPC actually knows nothing whatsoever about joystick axes, and doesn't even touch any of the internal axis values unless you tell it to. If you've been messing about in the Joysticks tabs of FSUIPC options and don't know what you've done, and you don't understand the documentation, simply delete the Joystick Calibration sections from the FSUIPC.INI file (or delete the whole INI file) so that FSUIPC has nothing whatsoever to do with it. Regards, Pete

Since FSUIPC is a freestanding DLL that interferes with absolutely nothing else in FS, or even in your Windows system, you have something else going on there. Maybe whatever is using FSUIPC? Why did you install it? What is using it? You need to look at such things. There is absolutely no way simply having FSUIPC in the FS Modules folder will stop uninstallation -- all that will happen is that, as with any add-ons, the uninstaller will tell you it couldn't remove everything, so you just then delete the add-ons separately. With the default settings FSUIPC makes FS2002 actually run faster. On FS2004 there is no measurable effect of having it installed. I'm sorry, I don't know what you've done. Either something you've installed is using FSUIPC and it is that which runs slower when enabled, or you have something badly corrupted somewhere. Is there anything in the FSUIPC.LOG file? Have you looked? See the FS Modules folder. Als just delete your FSUIPC.INI file so it makes a new one -- maybe you have something scrambling it. You haven't got any add-in DLLs in the main FS folder too, have you? Not another copy of FSUIPC there too? Why did you buy it? Was it installed before you bought it? Did it make a difference just registering it? Why automatically assume it is all FSUIPC's fault? But FSUIPC is not doing anything then. In fact it never really does anything until it is asked to do so. It really sounds like you have something else installed which is responsible for these things. Please show me the FSUIPC log. You should try uninstalling each add-on you have, on at a time, till you find the problem. Merely uninstalling FSUIPC will tell you nothing as that will simply stop absolutely everything that uses FSUIPC from operating correctly -- so you will still be none the wiser. There is only ever one currently released and supported version of FSUIPC, and that is 3.48 at present. There is a Beta version available above, and this will be released as 3.50 shortly. But SB3 will work with 3.48 fine. Many are using it. Regards, Pete

That needs a complaint to PFC. Please write to them. No, but the extract I quoted above is right near the beginning. I'd hope folks would at least look at the first page or so -- the rest is only for reference. Should I split it into a one-page "read this first" and then have all the rest separate? This has certainly not been necessary so far, in the four or five years it has been published. Please just delete the PFC.DLL and its PFC.INI file, and discard the documentation and be done with it. ;-) Regards, Pete

Moved here from private message area, for continuity: The only time you'll get a PFC tab from anything I've written is if you install my PFC.DLL into the FS modules folder. This is a driver for a serial port connected digital control system made by PFC. It is not a standard joystick driver. Please refer to the documentation for the PFC.DLL. Right near the beginning you will find this clearly stated: A free-standing USB yoke is a standard joystick as far as Wnidows and FS are concerned. The driver for that is accessed via Game Controllers in Windows. Assignments in FS are handled by going to FS's "Options-Controls-Assignments". Didn't it come with any instructions at all? What made you install my PFC.DLL? Regards, Pete

Can you tell me any more? When you say "yoke buttons work with FS", where are these shown where are they assigned? I believe the PFC yoke, as a freestanding purchase, can be connected via game port or USB as a standard joystick connection, in which case nothing of mine has anything to do with it. Is your yoke connected via a digital throttle control system or Cirrus console or Jetliner console, and thence to the PC via a serial cable? If not then my PFC.DLL driver has nothing to do with it. Please clarify. Not everything made by PFC is connected to FS through my program! Regards, Pete

I didn't think so -- both gusts and variance (fluctuations in wind direction) should be operating normally, I *think*. The smoothing for FS2004 is different to that provided in previous versions, but it has remained unchanged for the (more than) two years since FS2004 was released. It is a little strange to be thining of changing it now -- I will consider what may need doing for FS200x as and when. Regards, Pete

I don't think it does. You should face the aircraft into the wind and read the fluctuations on the airspeed indicator. Regards, Pete

The problem was only in one or two versions (3.45/3.46), where the classification of landing AI aircraft was incorrect -- they were still in the Airborne table after touchdown, until they finished "landing" mode. This was fixed in version 3.47, as described in this item of the release details (above and in the History document): It's been okay since then -- i.e. in both 3.47 and 3.48. The classification of a "Landing" aircraft is now decided according to the "On Ground" flag operated by FS. When the state changes to "Rolling out" they are always in the Ground table. The earlier problem with FSHotSeat was because it only checks the Ground aircraft so didn't see Landing aircraft till the "rolling out" phase, which is either too short for it to see or which it doesn't look for in any case. If you are still having a problem with FSHotSeat you should ask their support. I'm afraid I don't have the program and I really don't know what it is doing. I fixed the original problem as soon as I was notified of it (it didn't affect any other program, as the effect of being in the "wrong table" is so transitionary). Regards, Pete

Ah, yes. Some programs do use features added to new versions of FSUIPC from time to time. Good. Glad everything is okay. Regards, Pete

No. As you can see from the Announcements at the top of the Forum, version 3.48 is still the current and supported official user release. There is a later Beta version there available for testing, and this will become released formally as 3.50 in due course. Why? What is concerning you that you want an new version? Regards, Pete

Well, if you have a user-registered FSUIPC then you could try doing it via FSUIPC -- it is certainly possible to assign keystrokes for alternate presses, but as I said it isn't part of the "normal" assignment facilities and you'd need to refer to documentation. Regards, Pete

I don't know. I don't think anyone else has ever used those facilities. I thought they were okay, but I have no programs which use them so a thorough test hasn't been possible. If you have a small program which I can use to test it, I'll trace through the code. Possibly the direction in the variable I'm setting is the "to" direction not the "From" for some reason. If so, I'll fix it in the forthcoming version 3.50. Regards, Pete

Default FS aircraft don't have both modes on the default MCP. Is the GoFlight MCP able to control the LDS767? Sorry, I don't know GFKeys -- it is a product of GoFlight I think. Have you tried GoFlight support? If you want to use FSUIPC button programming instead the two keypresses could be programmed for alternate button presses by using FSUIPC's button flags to switch between them. This would need editing in the FSUIPC.INI file and it uses faclilities described in the Advanced User's guide. Regards, Pete

Where are you getting "horrible windshear"? All FSUIPC is doing is preventing the prevailing wind speed and wind direction changing faster than to specified (user controlled) amounts. There's a separate weather setting each for gusts (wind speed changes) and variance (wind direction changes) which FSUIPC doesn't touch -- they are the prerogative of the weather source, part of the parameters, just like prevailing wind direction and speed. Well, I think you misunderstand the function of smoothing. The idea of the smoothing is to ease transitions between CHANGES in the weather, eg over time or over distance, which arise incorrectly simply because there are some errors in the way FS blends weather from difference sources. Simply not having smoothing enabled, or set "less" will not actually generate gusting or variations. What you want is really part of any weather control program's function. The sort of conditions you want should be easily possible with the correct weather settings, controlled by gust and variance settings for each level. I think programs like Active Weather and FS Meteo do a pretty good job on these. I don't know how much such detail the FS downloaded weather achieves. Regards, Pete

No idea, sorry. Do you have a protocol specification? I've never heard of it. All the stuff I have is for NMEA 0183. Regards, Pete

If the panel is not on screen, there are no mouse hotspots to be detected by the panel code, and therefore no way to activate the function. I am using the PMDG 737NG, but only for its flight and visual models. I have no panel and no PMDG DLL running. The cockpit functions are provided by Project Magenta (including pmSystems for APU, Fuel Pumps, Air Conditioning and so on), and the panels themselves are of course the hardware of the cockpit. There is a chance that some of the relevant parts of the PMDG panels may actually communicate via FSUIPC offsets. I know that some areas (mainly the MCP values I believe) have been "hacked" and published somewhere on the Internet. Maybe areas you are interested in are covered in that way. I'm afraid that I do not know any more and even if I did I couldn't publish it without PMDGs permission. They do not seem to favour cockpit builders using their programming and so do not publish details themselves. If you cannot find adequate details I really see so solution for you going down the path you have chosen. Sorry. Possibly more appeals to PMDG might sway them one day -- I have tried several times to no avail. Regards, Pete

I would think there was absolutely no relationship between any aircraft and FSUIPC for NavData, bacause FSUIPC doesn't provide any. I suspect the same would apply to both aircraft without FSUIPC installed at all. FS gauges are well capable of obtaining radio settings directly, and always do, whilst for NavData they are usually dependent upon their own databases, installed with the aircraft. I'm afraid I know nothing at all about any PSS Airbus aircraft and I don't think they use FSUIPC for much at all -- probably only the TCAS display. Regards, Pete

You won't find it anywhere, it's not released. I provided it only to two folks so far to make their databases. I'll send you a copy, but it is undocumented and unsupported. Just place it in your main FS folder and run it. It makes several files -- a very large text file listing airports and runways, and several database files -- .rws in binary and some .csv (comma separated values) format files. Regards, Pete

Seems you are getting yourself rather confused. User registration of FSUIPC, so you can access all the facilities, is only posible if you purchase a Key. It is that registration you perform with your own name and email address. Registering an application manually is only necessary if two things are true: 1. You haven't registered FSUIPC as a paid-up user and 2. The application programmer hasn't bothered to make it easy for you by programming in the application key into his program. Most all commercial programs do this properly, and many freeware ones too. If both of hese are true then you would certainly need to enter the key manually. The button to do that with is the one bottom right on the first FSUIPC options screen. In the dialogue that brings up you'd have to enter the program name and the Key. Where did you get an FSUIPC.KEY file from? That's generated by FSUIPC when you register. It surprises me greatly that the author of the FS2ATCS program has not programmed this properly. It is his job to support his program, not mine. He was issued with a key back in April. The program name to enter is just "FS2ATCS" and the Key is QX6U CM36 PYQQ. Regards, Pete

Well, the known safe ones are those which were supported in FS2002 and FS2000 -- cirrus=1, stratus=8, cumulus=9. I think these are even the same codes as used in FS95 and FS98! ;-). Oh, yes, there's storm clouds too, 10 I think (cumulonimbus). I think, then, you get graphics variations based on things like altitude, thickness (top - base), cloud top shape (maybe?) and deviation. I don't know a lot about it but folks like Chris Willis who've done a lot of work on cloud types do know a lot about this stuff and what you can do. That's why the weather produced by programs like ASV looks so good. Regards Pete

Well, what programs which need such data do is ask the user to run a database update (either a separate program or one built into the application) each time they update their scenery. It doesn't need changing otherwise. Regards, Pete

I think the only way is to build a database of runway positions and sizes and check against that. The data for this is contained in the airport facilities data part of the scenery BGLs (AFD files). I have a program ("MakeRunways") which compiles a database by scanning all the active BGLs in your particular FS installation -- it scans those sceneries marked as active in your SCENERY.CFG file. This produces the sort of file you will find in my FStarRC package (the .rws file is made that way). Programs such as Trafficboard and Flight Keeper make their own databases the same sort of way, but retain more of the data in the AFD files. Regards, Pete