Pete Dowson

I'm afraid you still misunderstand! :( FSUIPC does not list any keyboard controls. In both the Keys and Buttons tabs you can find a drop-down list of FS controls, plus some additions by FSUIPC for things like Project Magenta and a few otherwise inaccessible operations. The only control which FS provides for the doors is the one I mentioned already to you, which is listed in FS's own Options-Controls-Assignments, as I said, so you can certainly reprogram it there. It does feature in the FSUIPC drop-down as well, as "Toggle aircraft exit" I think. There is really no advantage in using one method over the other. There really is nothing else which can be done. As I thought I carefully explained, the actual selection of the particular exit after using the control is done by the 1, 2, 3... keys, just as it is with the Engine selection and the Pushback direction selection. This is hard-coded into FS. Well, likewise, I hope that if you now re-read my last reply and the above repeated explanation it will be clearer to you. :wink: Regards, Pete

Sorry, I have no idea. You need to check with your suppliers, or PFC. The PFC devices supplied for use with Microsoft Flight Simulator most certainly do work splendidly with Flight Simulator, but PFC also make similar devices for other people who use their own protocols. Isn't "OnTop" a different flight simulator? For PFC FS devices you would install FSUIPC and my PFC.DLL driver, into FS. It takes care of all of the PFC devices that I know about and which use the standard PFC protocol. Regards, Pete

Well the global weather offsets or interface is the same for both FS2002 and FS2004, but you cannot set local weather in FS2002 and global weather doesn't work too well (read "doesn't work for long") in FS2004. Yes, the command is there: #define AW_CLRALL 0x050000 // Clear all weather It is used in WeatherSet.exe (not Weatherset2 which uses the NWI) -- see the menu entries. WeatherSet.exe uses the AWI, WeatherSet2 uses the NWI. This will depend upon the "automatic clear weather" option in FSUIPC -- see the parameter "AutoClearWeather" in the Advanced User's guide. It might be informative to read that section. There's no special order. The FS98 faciliries are limited though, compared to the capabilities of FS2002 and FS2004. They only deal with as much of the weather as was implemented by Microsoft in FS98 days -- i.e. two cloud layers (three if the lowest is a thunderstorm), no rain/snow, limited wind and temperature layers. I couldn't say why your wind, temperature and pressure values aren't setting -- check your work via FSUIPC IPC Write logging (FSUIPC logging page) and also use FSInterrogate and WeatherSet to view the changes. Regards, Pete

Sorry, you are seriously misunderstanding something here. FSUIPC does not "add keypresses". It provides a way of programming them from buttons, though mostly you are better off using the FS controls directly where possible.. The Shift+E combination will be re-programmable in FS -- use Options-Controls-Assignments, scroll down to find "Select Exit", and select something different. Most FS keyboard commands can be re-assigned there. Actually, of course, the RC commands can be reassigned, which is by far your best option. You will need to select something other than the plain 1-9 keys. I use Ctrl+Shift+ number instead. There is no way to re-assign the door selection key (your "2"). Like the Engine selection and Push back direction selection, it seems the way FS is programmed for these is to enter a mode where the program is looking for those keys being pressed (before any other control arrives) then actioning it based on the keycode, not on any re-assignment. I don't think there's any way at all around that. Regards, Pete

This is for FS2000 or FS2002, right? Not FS2004? All the advanced weather facilities are documented in the Advanced Weather Facilities package in the SDK (UIPCAWI.ZIP), which includes the clear weather commands and much more powerful weather commands than the old FS98-compatible ones you are considering. This interface operates with Global Weather only and works in FS2000 and FS2002. It will work to some extent in FS2004, but the localisation of weather takes over, so the results are not wat you might expect (see all the chat about this in this forum and in the FSUIPC documentation). For FS2004 only there is the "New Weather Interface" which is included in the SDK as "New Weather Interface for FS2004.ziip". This is much more sophisticated and allows local weather settings, needed really in FS2004. Please browse through the README.TXT file in the FSUIPC SDK which does mention the basic nature of all these parts of the complete package. Regards, Pete

Surely motion platforms are normally not designed to give the ACTUAL pitch/bank/yaw of the aircraft, but the feedback to the senses of the pilot. The pilot cannot sense ordinary constant velocity except visually, the body senses changes in velocity -- i.e. accelerations. You surely therefore need to read the 6 accelerations (XYZPBH), all available in FSUIPC offsets, and try to produce motions which emulate such accelerations without actually ever needing to achieve the real pitch/bank/yaw of the simulated aircraft. I am in no way an aircraft or motion engineer, but this part seems rather evident. I don't think you want that, you want accelerations only, surely? I think such an approach is seriously flawed. The movement of a joystick and effects on the aircraft are infinitely variable depending on many factors and can never give any realistic effects. This is precisely why the simple way some force feedback joysticks are so unrealistic. The feedback should relate to what the aircraft is doing, not what the control input is doing. Honestly, I think you need to look at acceleration values only. Steady movement is irrelevant, it is the changes that matter, and the six acceleration values give you good measures of those. Regards, Pete

Actually I think it does, but the change from using the standard Windows API to the DirectInput method, which occurred in FS2002, meant that Button controls are only recognised s buttons, Axis controls only as axes and POVs only as POVs. Sorry. It should work assigning any otherwise unwanted axes, but you need to assign them in the FS Options-Controls-Assignments, as well as giving the numbers in the FSUIPC.INI file. FSUIPC doesn't interface to the joystick drivers, it merely "steals" the controls inside FS when they are being sent to the Simulation Engine. The same was true in FS2000 but then it was easy to edit assignments to do whatever you wanted in the FS CFG file. I'll have to try to remember to update the User Guide on this matter. So much to do :wink: Regards, Pete

But he is the programmer. If you ask for the altitude in character format taking 5 gitis he might say, as the programmer, that is daft and he will instead provide is as an integer in 16 bits. I don't think anyone should dictate to him exactly what format to use for anything. Yes, you may list the information you need to access, but the format and therefore the space needed is surely part of the program design. Exactly. He should. But some folks seem to make the mistake nevertheless. Yes, if it is freeware then it can have a free key. That way he only need build one version. He can build the key into the program. Regards, Pete

Yes, that would be best. After all, it will be he who defines what he will write there. Of course he will need an access key unless this will only be done on systems owned by folks who have paid for a full user FSUIPC registration. He should also use the Module User's interface (the one using FSUIPC_Open2 not FSUIPC_Open). All the details he needs are in the FSUIPC SDK. If he wants to stay independent of FSUIPC for the majority of users he will need to make two versions or have some method of installing which can tell him the choice. Regards, Pete

Well, as I said, most completely separate A/Ps are completely separate. Not just the altitude, but most everything else too. However, in this specific case I thought that most implementations would climb if you change the altitude before the glideslope is captured. I always set up the GA after both GS and LOC are captured -- I thought such changes requested before that were to be obeyed in any case? If you suddenly realised that you were going below MDA before intercept (i.e. the 3000 was an error) would you disengage everything to climb? But it doesn't matter. I can allocate the space when confirmed. Regards, Pete

56xx is allocated to Project Magenta. If there's not enough information available in the PM website then you will have to ask PM support. However, I think that particular area is for use with pmSystems, which isn't even released yet. No doubt the documentation will be included with the software when it is released. Regards. Pete

Yes, I think this is why many implementations don't set the altitude hold until the climb or descent is to begin. Are you only wanting 2 bytes then? A 16-bit word for the altitude? Should I allow also for the 90 indicators you might be providing? I would be inclined just to allocate you 16 bytes and let you use them as you wish. Okay? Regards, Pete

POV hats either have 4 or 8 positions. If the POV is genuinely supported as a POV in Windows (see Game Controllers), then those 4 or 8 positions will be seen and encoded separately by FSUIPC. Like FS2000 used to do, FSUIPC encodes the 8 positions with button numbers ranging from 32 to 39. If the POV only has 4 positions you will get alternate numbers. It is only since FS changed to using Direct Input that it has restricted the assignment of POVs to a single function. Regards, Pete

Sorry, I don't know the PSS A320. Not many of the panel makers provide controls for use of their panel, they either only support mouse clicks or, possibly, keyboard short-cuts. You need to refer to the PSS documentation. FSUIPC can allow you to program FS and Project Magenta controls on buttons, or keystrokes. It does not do mouse clicks. But there is a program by Luciano Napolitano which can convert keystrokes to mouseclicks, so that's a possible solution. I think it is called Key2Mouse. Regards, Pete

Yes, but if you are Mr. McPhail I am at a complete loss to understand what the problem was in the first place. Your registration was only two weeks ago and the name and email address used seemed to be your own, so what was the real problem? Well, after the operations I am now long-sighted in my right eye, and need reading glasses for close work -- different ones for PC work to normal reading. The advantage of being short-sighted was that all you had to do to see things clearly was bring them closer. I could remove minute splinters by viewing my finger at 1 or 2 inches distance, for example. This takes some getting used to -- I always need now to have glasses with me, even if I don't have to wear them all the time. I cannot get prescription glasses till the sight settles down -- it looks like the right eye will be different from the left, so straight ready-made reading glasses won't do the job. I shall go for varifocals again I think. At present I've had to get cheap reading glasses from the local chemist shop, looking for identical frames but different strengths, and then swap lenses about so I have ones about 1.5 dioptre stronger for my right eye. The good part is that for outdoor activities, or watching TV, things like that, I don't need to wear glasses. And I really do like that! :) My main sight defect is the Retinitis Pigmentosa, which, in my case, is killing off all the rods (or is it the cones, I always mix them up) in the retina. Basically I've got no peripheral or night vision. My right eye has extreme tunnel vision effects, my left is catching up. No operation can (yet) fix this, unfortunately. Worse, at least two of my three children (now 39, 38 and 36) have the same condition, starting already. Ah, I don't remember ever not having short sight. There must have been a time before I got my first pair of glasses, but I don't remember it! :wink: Regards, Pete

I cannot really help much. There is no offcial documentation. The main thing to realise is that Gauges are also DLL's, and also load and interface in the same way as DLLs. The only real difference is that Gauges are loaded by Panels (by reference in the Panel.CFG files), and unloaded when they are, whilst DLLs in the Modules folder are loaded initially and stay loaded. I found this out by hacking into existing (FS) DLLs to see how they worked. You need a good disassembler (I recommend IDA) and a reasonable knowledge of Intel assembly code. A good debugger (I use Soft-Ice) is also very handy. So, you first step is to learn to write a Gauge in C or C++ (the MS SDKs should help there), and when you have that sussed, see how to make it run as a DLL in the Modules folder. There's another thread here somewhere which did contain a link to a sort of "module builder" kit, but, sorry, I can't find it offhand. It is still here though, I've not deleted anything. Regards, Pete

Sounds like an application of multiplayer, or possibly Luciano Napolitano's WidevieW. The latter in particular is designed to make any number of clients folow the motions of the server exactly. Joystick signals? I'm not sure what you are reading and writing, but the joystick values are just inputs to a very complex simulation. Any slight different in the initial timing, the setup, and then even milliseconds difference is feeding the signals, will gradually magnify in significance -- the errors will grow and grow until there is no resemblence whatsoever. This is chaos theory, also known as the butterfly effect. Don't forget that you cannot even achieve a "few milliseconds" delay -- the FSUIPC client programs will be forcing process changes which can take something in the order of 2-10 milliseconds in any case. The network delay will normally be 10-30 mSecs at best (I am assuming you use a Network, how else do you run two copies of FS?). Regards, Pete

Seems that there are some faulty AFCAD files about! Thanks for the feedback! Regards, Pete

If there's no error message in the log saying that something is attempting access when it isn't accredited, then the problem you have is nothing whatsoever to do with the access key for the gauge. It seems that you have been going down the wrong road. Something else is wrong with the way your panel is configured, which is nothing to do with FSUIPC. Sorry, I can only suggest that you contact the panel author for support. Regards, Pete

It's been reported before, and I contacted PMDG about it. It seems to be only since the 800/900 update -- this effectively updates the 600/700 too. I didn't have these aircraft at that time, and PMDG could not reproduce the problem with their current build. They then sent me the latest, and I cannot reproduce it either, so I am fairly sure that whatever it was it is fixed in the latest update -- I assume this is the Service Update 1 which was released at the end of July. Regards, Pete

I'm very sorry, but I am completely stumped. I've not even seen that error report before, let alone had a problem which only applied to an unadorned FS2004 installation. There is then really nothing to stop it. Can you explain the problem (especially the error message) to Katy over in the FS2004 forum? Maybe she has some ideas. Possibly there are some properties in the Network adaptor settings or in the TCP/IP protocol settings which, because of some difference in FS2004 compared to FS2002, prevent WideServer listening on any sockets? Something like the number of sockets being set too low, and FS2004 grabbing them all, perhaps? Did you check through all the possible problems outlined in the WideFS documentation (don't ignore them just because they are mainly applicable to IPX/SPX, try them all). Regards, Pete

Ah, right. For some reason the faster button scanning in versions 3.22 and 3.30 does seem to clash with something in Windows Me and 98. It's perfectly okay in Win XP. Very strange. I think it is something to do with the rather weaker USB support in the earlier Windows versions. This is the first time I've seen it reported when loading weather, though -- usually it has either simply stopped FS loading at all, or it has hung when entering the button programming options in FSUIPC. Really, for an unregistered copy, there's no need for me to scan buttons, since you cannot program them in FSUIPC in any case. However, the scanning involves a separate thread and I find the system is stabler and more efficient if all the threads I need are created on start up and killed on closing FS. Anyway, I will fix this in the next version so that that parameter is assumed if you are using WinMe, Win98, or even Win2000 (which I believe may also have weaker USB support). Sorry for the hassle, and thanks for confirming the fix. Regards, Pete

Does the Wideclient.LOG file show anything? Have you made sure the Win98 PC has permission to access the server? Just because it lists all the others as present in the Network doesn't mean it has permission. To be honest, the complicated permission system in WinXP took me ages to sort out, and I only succeeded by trial and error. I also have 4 WinXP PCs and just one left running Win98. When I run into Network problems I usually ask Katy Pluta for help. She seems to be an expert on most things Network-wise. Contact her on the FS2004 forum here, or, probably more appropriately, in the PM Newsgroup. Regards, Pete

I'd need to be able to reproduce this to know what is going on. There have been no other similar reports. Have you set any FSUIPC options? Try deleting your FSUIPC.INI file so that everything returns to default first. Also, please try adding this to the FSUIPC.INI file (before running FS): [buttons] PollInterval=60 If you are using Win98 or WinMe or earlier this could be the answer -- in the next version of FSUIPC I am doing this automatically on these operating systems. It may also be dependent upon other things -- aircraft panels (does it do it with all aircraft, or only some? Does it happen with any default aircraft?). The main likelihood is that with FSUIPC enabled some aspects of the weather are generating more load on the graphics and the graphics driver is failing, so another option is to try different video drivers. The most usual reason for solid hangs needing a hardware reset are drivers -- graphics or sound. In fact it is really impossible for an application level program like FSUIPC, which doesn't actually touch any drivers, to hang the system solid like that. Regards, Pete

Sorry, I don't know that term. And I'm not sure how you "negotiate" with SimMarket. They don't have any non-automated email services -- all the services you need will be tied to your account. All you need for your account is your name and email address, the same ones you used when you bought your goods. I am still not understanding your difficulty. Is it that you invent new and unrelated "user names" on the spur of the moment and therefore have no idea what you used when? This seems so unlikely! Surely you used one or other of a small selection of ways of writing your own name? If you want me to try to find a closest match with my contacts in SimMarket I can have a go, but I need your real name and email address, and an approximate date of purchase of the key. I'm afraid if you can't even supply those details then there is no way forward. What is that supposed to mean? Since then I have had operations on both eyes, so maybe now I wouldn't be wearing the glasses. Are you just trying to be nasty for some reason, despite my earnest attempts to help? [LATER] I found your email address from your details here. Now, are you Mr. McPhail? If not it is odd because you seem to have the same email address. If so, then as far as I can determine you first registered FSUIPC exactly 2 weeks ago using that name. (How can you have forgetten so quickly?) If you are Mr. McPhail go to http://www.simmarket.com, open your account there with your name and your email address, and retrieve your key, exactly as I said in the first place. Regards, Pete