Pete Dowson

I've had one other report of that, but I've not been able to reproduce it here. For the other chap it didn't occur with my latest interim version (which should have become 3.30 by now but I can't see well enough to work on it yet). I'll email you the interim version to try. Regards, Pete

If they were available I would have provided FS controls for them long ago. PMDG play their cards close to their chest. They are proposing to release an SDK some time soon, but it may not be free. I am really not sure yet how this will pan out, but I am meeting one of the PMDG folks on Saturday. Maybe I will learn something useful then. Regards, Pete

FSUIPC doesn't connect to VATSIM. The full documentation for interfacing to FSUIPC in contained in the FSUIPC SDK on http://www.schiratti.com/dowson, but it sounds like that isn't what you want at all. It is Squawkbox which talks to ProController (I think that's what it is called) at the ATC end. But what protocol they use and so on, I have no idea. You'll have to ask the Squawkbox developers I think. Regards, Pete

Sorry, I don't really understand much of that. In JET models the mixture merely operates the fuel cut-off lever -- it is either "fuel on" (full rich) or "fuel off" (full lean"). In PROP models it operates the fuel mixture, as you'd expect. I don't know what this "idle release" control is I'm afraid. What is it supposed to do? Perhaps it isn't actually simulated in FS? Regards, Pete

I think this is a good idea for a separate application program. I will look at providing access in the FSUIPC interface to the values FSUIPC is using for the visibility control. Regards, Pete

There are two different things here. 1. Multiple views of outside scenery. 2. Decent instrumentation on its own screen, plus possibly ancillaries such as moving maps and so on. If you are a GA flyer then views of the scenery are probably quite important, but I think for airliner flying decent instrumentation is the priority. After all, at 35,000 feet there's not a lot to look at outside really. For multiple outside views there are two choices: 1.1 Multiple FS installations linked by WidevieW (by Luciano Napolitano). 1.2 Multiple monitors on one PC, via a dual head card or a triple head card, or possibly an AGP card and a seperate PCI card. The disadvantages of the WidevieW approach are that you need good fast PCs for each view, and each PC needs a full FS installation. Even then you will never quite get them exactly matching, especially in terms of AI Traffic and cloud positions and things like that. But there are a number of satisfied users and it can be a good solution. The multiple monitors solution should be better, but it looks like you need to avoid ATI video cards. nVidia provide good dual head operation, but the problem with two monitors tends to be that your centre of vision is on the "join". The only three monitor solution which works at present is with the Matrox Parhelia -- this is what I use. With all the instrumentation moved to other PCs and only the outside view on the three, this is very satisfactory -- but you do need a FAST PC (mine is a P4 3.2GHz). The Parhelia is nowhere near as fast as the faster cards available these days. I know of one person using a 7 monitor outside view, with a Parhelia centre PC and two PCs with dual heads linked with WidevieW. For external PC instrumentation you use WideFS. Investigate Project Magenta (not cheap, but very good), and other offerings such as FreeFD. See the FSUIPC user list on the right of the http://www.schiratti.com/dowson page. Hope this helpa. Regards, Pete

WideClient contains no sound code whatsoever. It isn't WideFS which is controlling the sound. It sounds like FDC needs the Focus to produce the sound -- why it regains focus when you give it to WideClient I couldn't say, but it sounds like FDC is making itself a "child" of WideFS (i.e. a "child" of the FS window). This is the same sort of thing that FS itself does -- its sounds stop when you transfer focus to other programs. This certainly isn't a necessary behaviour of programs making sounds, it is down to the way they are programmed. If there were an option for WideFS to keep focus, then with it enabled how would you ever be able to access your other programs? A facility to keep the window on top is not relevant, it is the focus which is needed. Sorry, but I think your only recourse is to ask the FDC author for an option for the sounds to be maintained even without focus. Regards, Pete

Ah, glad you managed to resolve it. But I wonder how it got like that in the first place? Regards, Pete

I don't know. It would be these sorts of questions I'd need to investigate if and when I started down that route too. Personally I don't think it is worth it with FS2004's level of ATC. I'd rather use Radar Contact, which is improving all of the time. If FS2006 shows a more sophisitcated and professional level of ATC I would consider making it a higher priority project to 'master' it! Regards, Pete

Well, I'll certainly put down an extra vote for it! But I think you will see from the next Release of FSUIPC that I have been working very hard for facilities that have been much more in demand so far. Regards, Pete

Thank you, for your appreciation! Regards, Pete

It will have a handle I think. Can't it even be undocked and moved? I've really not researched it that way, because I didn't just want to read the messages, I wanted to be able to stop the window altogether and divert the details so they could be handled elsewhere, whether for simple display on a client PC or for some sort of automatic processing. I will be taking a longer look at this sort of thing one of these days. It's just that I don't even seem to get time for flying at present. Regards, Pete

Well if someone has tried this Track IR and it causes the problem which FSUIPC fixes, then, yes I suppose FSUIPC fixes it. But my problem is simply that I don't know Track IR so I cannot advise you to buy it on an assumption that FSUIPC will fix any faults it creates. If I said it did and it didn't, who would be to blame for your then ill-advised purchase? I can only vouch for things that I have some knowledge of, sorry. Regards, Pete

Not explicitly. You need to re-register via FSUIPC's options. Use the same details as before. You can have FSUIPC on all your PCs with the one registration, but you do need to enter the details for each. Regards, Pete

Sorry, I've no idea whether the FSUIPC acceleration fix is relevant to this or not, because I don't know what it is doing. You'll need advice from an existing user I think. Regards, Pete

FSUIPC doesn't really control any joystick inputs whatsoever. it merely operates like a filter on the final values INSIDE FF -- before that they've been calibrated by Windows and mucked about by FS. Erratic turns whilst taxying could be due to asymmetric thrust, poorly calibrated toe brakes (are they sticking on?), or just winds. Just press "reset" on all the "set" buttons in FSUIPC's Joystick pages and FSUIPC won't touch any of them. Get them working correctly in Windows and FS. Apply only finishing touches with FSUIPC if still needed. Regards, Pete

Sorry, I've no idea. I have nothing really to do with that side of things. You need to contact them. Regards, Pete

I'd love to be able to do that, but haven't found a way yet. Sorry. Pete

Yes, indeed, they both sound useful. Can you provide links to where they may be found, please? Thanks & Regards, Pete

No. It means that either you haven't entered the correct registration code or the name of the program or other details are incorrect. This is the entry from the Freeware Keys list: SquawkBox.exe Product: "SquawkBox 2.3", Company: "None" KEY = LWVQ 7I2V 9GPB But this is what FSUIPC is seeing Windows report as the pathname for your Squawkbox: 100281 Client Application: "SQUAWK~1" (Id=2568) 100281 C:\PROGRA~1\SQUAWK~1\SQUAWK~1.EXE That's the reason! "SQUAWK~1" is not the same as "SquawkBox"! I think this must be something to do with how you've installed the Squawkbox program. It looks like it is being reported with DOS-type shortened 8-character names. I've not seen those since Windows 95 days and before. Programs in all supported versions of Windows should be reported using their proper full path names and filenames. Try downloading the SB ZIP again, creating a folder in C: called just "SB" or similar, and placing the files in there. If SB comes with its own installer, then, sorry, you need to ask whoever is supplying it as it is then the installer which is somehow doing this. BTW you don't need to enter registration Keys more than once, unless you get them wrong, as they are saved in the FSUIPC.KEY file. You can check in there yourself. The program registrations are listed in the [Programs] section. Regards, Pete

No, no, it's easy enough. :wink: Regards, Pete

Why not use FSUIPC? FS2004 is all a mass of C++ classes and derived classes, with private data allocated from the heap containing this stuff. It isn't in any global memory in modules, and the memory is released and reallocated every time you load a new aircraft or flight. If you want to locate things like this you'll need to disassemble SIM1.DLL, find the routines which supply the "this" pointers for the appropriate aircraft Classes, then try to follow the pointers to the correct data. There's a LOT of code involved and it gets very *very* complicated, especially trying to keep it up to date as it moves. I use a mixture of C and ASM code and have to do some weird tricks to make it work. Good luck! Regards, Pete

I'm doing it by having an optional and adjustable delay after weather is cleared, however that may be done. Yours is the first ever such complaint I've received in the near five years the visibility smoothing has been provided! :cry: Regards, Pete

Sorry, FSNavigator is an FS module and only runs in FS. It is not an FSUIPC client program (it doesn't even use FSUIPC), nor can it, as an FS DLL, be run as an external program. If you want something similar to run on a client PC look for Ted Wright's freeware "NAV" program. Regards, Pete

It looks like it. Under test at present, hopefully for a release later next week. Regards, Pete