Pete Dowson

I am off-line from now for a few days -- guests and relatives to attend to. The phenomenon of multiple connections is fully explained in the documentation. Please take a look. Sorry, but I don't ever have time to go browsing in assorted websites. If you want to show me something do so here, or ask where to send attachments. but please don't bother for at least 3-4 days. Your best bet at present is to check the documentation. It does encompass just about everything I know about Networks. After that you need Network expert help, or do as I do -- trial and error, replacing things, reinstalling things, and so on. One thing is reasonably certain, you have a problem on a client PC. Regards, Pete

Calibration in FSUIPC allows setting any throttle position, not simply idle and max. Please simply calibrate for the maximum range you need, in any cirumstance, then have some notches or marks for intermediate positions. You don't really need FSUIPC just for this in any case. Regards, Pete

Which name is that? The Programmer's Guide, part of the FSUIPC SDK, lists a number of descriptive items for the user's aircraft. The title from the AIRCRAFT.CFG file is the one usually called the "aircraft name". These are from the Programmer's Guide (found by searching on "name"): offset use 3130 ATC flight number 313C ATC id (tail number) 3148 ATC airline name 3160 ATC aircraft type 3C00 path name of current AIR file 3D00 Name of current aircraft for Aircraft CFG "title" Regards, Pete

Thank you very much. Season's Greetings to you and yours too! Good flying! Pete

What are you asking for here? What do you mean by "throttle setup"? The facilities in FSUIPC are not aircraft specific, but general -- you can use them as you wish. Regards, Pete

Hmm, it seems unlikely, but possibly that Windows update didn't install correctly and has messed something up that FS2002 relies on. Even then, it is very very odd, because the chack it applies to the TRAFFIC.DLL which, if it fails generates that message, is the exact same check it applies to all of the modules in the Modules folder. It is simply a comparison of a value in the Linkage structure exported by the DLL, which needs to be 0x00000800 for FS2002 (and 0x00000900 for FS2004). All I can suggest is either going further -- install the SP2 update -- or rolling back to your XP state before you applied the 1a update (which, incidentally, I'd not heard of -- I went from 0 to SP1 and have SP2 ready to install but so far have only done this on one PC). Regards Pete

Hmm. When you said "recently I updated the system downloading the Service pack 1a from microsoft because it was necessary to do it for installing a new printer." originally, I thought this was some update for your Windows operating system. Surely it isn't an update for FS2002? Why would you need an update for FS2002 for a new printer? If it was an FS update (was there one for FS2002? I don't recall), then presumably the TRAFFIC.DLL I am using, and sent to you, is the wrong one for your update. Buton the other hand, you did say you uninstalled FS2002 and reinstalled it? The original, from the CDs? When you uninstalled it, did you also make sure you deleted the FS2002 folder and everything in it, completely? If not, possibly something was left behind. I really cannot think of any reason why a windows update would cause FS2002 to dislike one of its own modules. Please check the version number of the FS2002.EXE -- find it in the FS folder, right-click on it, select Properties then Version. Mine says 8.0.0.10919. The same should apply to the TRAFFIC.DLL (it does to the one I sent), but check it in any case. Incidentally, I have an FS2002 installation on two PCs, one running Windows XP Pro SP1, and the other Windows XP Home SP2, and it is fine on both. If things check out, all I can suggest is a really thorough uninstall, making sure every bit is deleted, followed perhaps by an install to a different folder altogether. Regards, Pete

I create my "base" flight, with everything set up exactly as I like it, including panel positions, everything switched off, etc, then save it. From then on, for that aircraft, I load up the same flight, use the World GoTo menu, and maybe the Weather and Time menus to change things, and save a new flight. This way all the flights for that aircraft are derived from the one which is properly set up. This is a practice I've used over the years since FS???, probably FS4. Actually, I also remember, back in FS4 days, there was a third party Flight Editor which had a facility to clone selected aspects of the Flight to any number of other selected flights. Very useful. Perhaps one day someone will do such a utility for the current type of Flight file. Meanwhile, Happy Seasonal Flying! :wink: Pete

Sounds like somehow you have a corrupt TRAFFIC.DLL in the FS Modules folder. However, completely un-installing and re-installing FS2002 should have replaced it with a good copy from your original FS2002 CDs. If the CD was bad you should have got an error, so it is a bit of a puzzle. All I can suggest it to try replacing the TRAFFIC.DLL in your Modules folder with someone else's. To this end I am emailing you the one from my own FS2002 installation. Regards, Pete

You have not installed the latest FSUIPC, then. That message doesn't even exist in that form now. Only versions 3.40 and later work with the FS2004 update. The current version of FSUIPC is 3.44. To check the version of FSUIPC.DLL, just find the module in the FS Modules folder, right click on it, and select Properties, then Version. Regards, Pete

Thank you very much Frank. And best wishes from me to you and yours, for a good Christmas and New Year. Oh, and many thanks for helping out with some very useful and sensible replies here, now and then! Best regards, Pete

WideFS doesn't really come into it. All WideFS clients are reading the FSUIPC offsets needed by whatever programs they are running, in any case. That part is automatic. If you mean the button or keypress is on the Client, wellFSUIPC can be programmed for button presses on a client PC, but it really isn't advisable to use Key Presses from a Client. Sorry, I don't understand this "specification". First, you seem to have two uses for offset 7B91 -- but one of zero size? How can any information be stored in anything with no size? I think you must have an error there. In the other cases, what is "size 1"? Is that 1 bit, 1 byte, 1 word, or what, please? The units are important. And what values have to be written to do what? Using the FSUIPC "Offset" controls (in the Buttons drop down list) you can set bits, bytes, words and double words, you can clear bits, you can increment and decrement values in bytes and words. Please take a look at the FSUIPC User Guide (and if you like the list in the Advanced Guide), but mainly just work out what you want to do. If you can say what you want to do and you still don't understand which control will do it, by all means come back. And have you checked for documentation or help from the author of the program you are trying to use? It seems odd for him to provide these facilities and not tell folks how to use them. Regards, Pete

But it would have to do so by editing the Flight or Panel.CFG file! I honestly don't see the point. FS already provides the facilities to save this stuff already, in the Flights you create. And it always has. I don't actually think changing panels is such a good idea as it makes them non-standard and less interchangeable. Flights are your records of how you want things to be. What is wrong with saving them? It is one keystroke (;) plus the entry of a name. There's a program already around for fiddling about with Aircraft.CFG files, I think there's a very good one for editing panels too, though I don't know if it is FS2004 compatible. This sort of thing really isn't an area I would want to extend FSUIPC into, not at all. The "preventing movement" thing is a simple in-line interception at run time. Like all the other FSUIPC things it makes no permanent changes to anything in FS. Regards, Pete

You don't need two Networks to run two protocols. And WideFS runs with either IPX/SPX or TCP/IP (the currently released version actually includes a Server which supports both at the same time). My PM software? You are mistaken, it is Enrico Schiratti who develops PM software. It means that FS is running on that PC, creating the "FS98Main" Window, so WideClient cannot run. As it clearly says in the documentation, WideClient is an FS replacement, running instead of FS on Networked PCs to support ancillary programs interfacing to FS on the Server. It is nothing to do with WidevieW. It is impossible to run Wideclient on the same PC as FS -- if it was running alongside FS, which FSUIPC interface would the programs you wish to run interface to? How can they distinguish between two identical interfaces? Did you miss this in the documentation? For example, the part which says There IS a way to override this, but it means changing the Window Class name used by WideClient. Here's the relevant part of the documentation: If you do this you will have to somehow get the programs you want to run to use the new Class name. For that you'd need to ask the author unless they have documented features for this, which some may well have. Regards, Pete

The AWI didn't change from FS2002 to FS2004, but it is only capable of dealing with the global weather, which, in FS2004, is no use -- global weather doesn's stay global, it gets localised, and then you lose control unless you constantly restart by clearing all weather so it will install new global weather to all localised weather stations. Yes, well. I never did those experiments. I suspect FS crashes because they made provision for extra cloud type graphics but never actually had time to implement them. I expect their use leads to pointers to graphics which aren't present. In FS2002 and before, the unallocated numbers actually just gave one of the others, so they were never of any separate use in any case. There are actually several references to the implemented types, which I believe date back at least to FS95, certainly FS98. Here is just one relevant extract from the FSUIPC Programmer's Guide: As far as I can check at present, FSUIPC has never imposed any restrictions on the cloud type setting. And until FS2004 it was never a problem -- bad values were defaulted to other meanings automatically, by FS. No one before has mentioned that bad values crash FS2004, but I suppose it doesn't surprise me. The complete weather system was discarded and written anew by different people for FS2004. I'm not sure, really, how far FSUIPC should check data and try to prevent daft things from happening in FS. With most offsets and values there's really no way I can tell. Adding development time to test all possible values for all possible inputs is really not feasible, and in any case much of what has been added has been found by experimentation such as by using "incorrect" values, so I could, if I'm not careful, be restricting progress if I do such things. Sorry, I don't know. No. You or I would have to experiment. This is how we learn things and develop new methods. Regards, Pete

No. Your registration covers all Versions 3.xxx. I don't want to discourage people from upgrading as I can only support the latest versions. I use Project Magenta, which has its own system and uses real satellite images. I don't really know much about any others. I think RealityXP do one which is supposed to be quite good -- but it certainly doesn't use any of my software -- and there's one that has just been released called SA_WXR, by AOG (http://members.chello.at/addongauges), which I might try myself. Thank you very much, you too! And Good Flying! Regards, Pete

There's been no changes in COM port handling in the PFC drivers, and 1.90 has been out for some time. The initialisation is via standard Windows APIs and work for all my programs using COM ports, and has done for many years. You need to check cables, and try swapping COM ports. If this has started recently you need to think what you changed in the system which could be messing things up. You may also need to contact PFC to see how to check the hardware. I find that, with most modern PCs, the USB port works better and is more reliable than the old COM ports which I think Microsoft want to forget. To use a USB port you would need to get a USB serial adapter. Regards, Pete

The version numbers are presumably 3.411 and 3.44, as version 4 won't exist for a while yet. If it works without your FSUIPC user key and doesn't with it, then it is almost certainly the fact that the key is not correct. There are a number of stolen and counterfeit keys around and so far every single report like this has turned out to be related to one such. If you believe you have a genuine key, properly purchased, that belongs to you, then there may be a problem in my checking on this. But so far no one has supplied any information for me to check it, despite my requests. Please rerun it registered, get the problem, then close FS. Find the FSUIPC.LOG and FSUIPC.KEY files in the FS modules folder, ZIP them up, and send them to me at petedowson@btconnect.com. I will check it out. Regards, Pete

You must enter all the details -- name, email and Key, exactly as provided in your notification. It isn't just the key which must be correct. It makes no difference. You can use FSUIPC on as many PCs of your own as you like. I do not restrict this. But the details you enter MUST be exacly correct, all of them. The only problems ever with this have all been due to incorrect details being entered. Regards, Pete

Almost any which interface to FS via FSUIPC. That's all WideFS really is -- an extension of the FSUIPC interface to other PCs on the Network. There's no way i can make a "list" -- there are programs interfacing to FSUIPC I've never heard of, and new ones appearing all the time. I think approaching your setup in this way is not really a good idea. You should first decide what programs you want to run THEN you find out if they will run on WideFS. Usially the author/supplier/documentation of the program itself is the most reliable source. Relieving the FS PC of any extra workload is going to be beneficial. Whether you would notice it particularly would depend on a lot of things, like how often and how busy the program(s) is/are and whether the PC is already struggling with FS as it is. Of those, ActiveSky, FDC and Squawkbox can be run via WideFS. ActiveCamera and FSNavigator certainly can't -- apart from the fact that they don't use FSUIPC anyway, they are, themselves, FS modules like FSUIPC. I don't know the others (except FSUIPC of course, which is an FS module). Regards, Pete

FSUIPC does not remember panel window positions, that is a job done by FS itself. FSUIPC's panel locking simply stops you moving them about by accident (as when trying to operate switches or drag levers with the mouse). Try saving a flight after moving things around, then loading that flight later. The details get saved in the FLT file, by FS. Regards, Pete

Hmmm. It is quite possible that, in all the enhancements made to GPSout over the years, that it is no longer compatible with FS98. I haven't had any dealings with FS98 for many years. Can you ask me again after Christmas some time (if it is still important then), please -- I would need to sort through my old disks and try re-installing it. Regards, Pete

Okay, it's correct then, it's "spoileron" operation. Full Flap? Quite honestly, I never get out of the plane when I'm flying it. Seems to rather spoil the illusion rather. :wink: Regards, Pete

There's really nothing in FSUIPC which will "stop" just because you go into a dialogue box. Certainly it will be less responsive whilst you are in a dialogue box, because Windows simply doesn't direct messages to it so often. Maybe the Elite driver gets a timeout on one of its requests and then never bothers to try again? I really couldn't say. It seems odd that they won't support you with this. If this is at all a general problem you'd think they'd be deluged with support requests. Assuming they are not, I can only think there's something specific going on in your system. If you'd like me to look at what it looks like from inside FSUIPC, you'll need to generate and send me some logs. Make sure you are using FSUIPC version 3.44. Switch on the IPC read/write logging (FSUIPC logging page), then close down and reload FS, and try to make this happen as soon as possible after FS starts, then close down FS. Try to keep the session as short as possible, else the Log will be very long and make it more difficult to see anything useful. Zip up the FSUIPC.LOG file (from the FS Modules folder) and send it to me at petedowson@btconnect.com. This is something Elite should be doing in any case -- they have written their interface to FSUIPC without any contact or consultation with me, and have never offered to take out any sort of license for accreditation, so I really don't owe them any support at all. If I do find out anything useful I will try to describe it to you, but then you'll have to fight with Elite yourself. Regards, Pete

No. Aircraft panels in FS come coded to work in FS only. The Gauge files which are used in the panels are built using an interface in FS specifically to handle the graphics, the updating, and the controls. The only way to have cockpit panel parts on other PCs is to use separate instrumentation designed for this. Project Magenta and FreeFD are two sets of glass cockpit instruments, both suitable for a 737NG, which come to mind. Project Magenta is very professional, but you pay, and FreeFD is, well, free, and pretty good for the price. Links are provided on the right hand side of the http://www.schiratti.com/dowson page. An alternative is to configure your FS PC to have more than one monitor. Then you can undock panel parts and move them over to those other monitors. Many video cards these days support up to 2 monitors (the Matrox Parhelia supports 3), and you can usually add a PCI video card to work alongside your AGP card for yet more monitors. But of course this all places a heavier load on the processor in the FS PC, so you need a good, fast PC to start with. Regards, Pete