Pete Dowson

Go to the throttle quadrants pages, where you go to calibrate (you HAVE calibrated there, surely?). Page past all the pre-defined quadrants and you'll come to a whole set of vacant user-definable sets. Just use one of those. Full instructions are in the documentation, with an example even! Pete P.S. Why don't you get the hardware fixed? It sounds like there's certainly something very wrong. After all, the equalisation option, which you say you have enabled, always sends to FS the average of the two throttles for both engines whilst their difference is within a certain value (512 FS units by default). If you aren't getting them equalised even with larger values in PFC.INI, as I suggested, then the throttle lever must be truly broken. You shouldn't really try using software fiddles to get around broken hardware. Much better to get it fixed. =============

Same in a 737, The value is x1000 psi. It's the accumulator precharge plus residual pressure. The latter. It should display around 3 (3000 psi) normally -- it will presumably dip when brakes are applied and some pressure is released. The system simulation in FS isn't sophisticated enough to have separate hydraulics for the brakes. I suggest you use the appropriate Engine hydraulics pressure value, unless you want to simulate the entire subsystem. Regards, Pete

I'm afraid I don't fully understand your question. You say "I have the Aerosoft MCP 747 panel and connected over an expansion port rotary switches.". How does this get programmed? Have you got information from Aerosoft on how to replace their driver, or is there some other method? If you are after writing a program to interface the Aerosoft MCP, then it is a big and complex task. I really cannot give programming tutorials nor do the programming for people -- most especially not in languages I don't know, like VB. It takes all the time I have to do what I do already, and I am definitely NOT a good teacher. I can answer specific questions, but you have to work at solving the problems first. If you are new to programming I would really advise learning programming some other way, first. If, on the other hand, it isn't FSUIPC programming you need, but some way of setting values in Aerosoft MCP control program to do what you need with FSUIPC, then this sounds easier, if you have the details. If not then maybe it's a question for the Aerosoft MCP forum. Do you have any documentation for the Aerosoft MCP to tell you how to program your switches? I do have an Aerosoft MCP, and EFIS panels and EICAS button panel, but these are all handled by Aerosoft's own control program. I'm not really sure how you get home-made bits working through it. Certainly, if the Aerosoft program allows you to specify FS controls then that should be easy enough without any programming. On the other hand if it allows you change bits at specified offsets, then you could make your switches into "virtual buttons" using the FSUIPC offsets at 3340. In fact I think I allocated enough bits there to cover every possible button you could connect to the MCP. Once all your switches and buttons are flagged through different bits in those offsets, they will be recognised by FSUIPC when pressed, and shown in the FSUIPC "Buttons" page. You can then program them there to action whatever FS controls you like. Regards, Pete

Yes, I know. It has been suggested before, as long ago as FS2000, but as far as I know even the real air file experts of the time -- Ian Donohoe for one (he found many more aircraft related innards in FS than I ever did) -- have never found a way of changing basic characteristics "on the fly". I think FS's sim engine does so much with so many of the values, deriving other values, setting up tables, and so on, that it really does need a reload and a re-calc. Regards, Pete

It sounds like there is something seriously wrong with your throttle hardware. No way should values change noticeably over time like that. Have you checked back with your supplier? The throttle equalisation option added recently can be used (do you have that enabled?) to make close readings identical, and since version 1.844 you can adjust the difference that it acts upon by editing the parameters in the PFC.INI. In fact you can be so brutal there that you can never get differential thrust at all -- the thrust actually set always being the average of the two levers. So, sure, there's a way of overcoming your problem. BUT the main thing to do, to be reasonable, is to get the throttles properly calibrated and working in the first place. I've got three PFC systems with throttle quadrants -- the basic Throttle Quadrant System, a Cirrus II, and a Jetliner console, and I've never seen any drift or jitter more than the 3 units either way, which are dealt with by the driver at present. Something is wrong somewhere otherwise. As a process of elimination, try using one of the PFC User Configurations to assign the throttles to different levers -- maybe you can specifically identify a lever which is behaving badly and therefore has a suspect pot or connection. Getting replacement parts or repairs for identified and specific problems should be a lot easier than just complaining of jitter, so it is worth the effort. Well, try that too. But it sounds like you aren't using the equalisation? Try that first, not the throttle sync. See the Main options page, it's the option at bottom right. It needs fixing then. You should expect quality behaviour from expensive quality equipment. Sorry, to do what? Set throttle 2 as the reference for throttle sync? Just edit the PFC.INI file (before loading FS) so that there's a line reading "ThrottleSyncEngine2=Yes" in the [General] section (see the PFC User Guide, near the end). Regards, Pete

Sorry, as far as I know most of the AIR file parameters don't exist in the same form in FS's memory after loading. Also, many of them these days are overridden by the parameters in the Aircraft.CFG file. There are some, like the gross weight and the loading values that you should be able to alter via FSUIPC, but I wouldn't swear to it. Changing the AIR and CFG files and relading the aircraft may work, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of the stuff is cached anyway. Certainly, in Fs2004, changing scenery and calling the "reload scenery" control doesn't usually get the change drawn as far as I have found. Maybe the aircraft side is a bit different. Regards, Pete

The value in 3BE1 isn't really unspecified. it's a flag. it's either true (non-zero) or false (zero). Just use 1 for true. Regards, Pete

Sorry, I don't know. I have no deLorme Mapping software to try it with. Check the documentation that DeLorme supply. If it accepts input from a GPS in standard NMEA 0183 format, then it should work. You just need to find out what sentences it needs, and what serial speed to use. Regards, Pete

If you have registered FSUIPC successfully as a User, you do not need to register any applications at all -- they will all work anyway. That is why the Application Registration button disappears -- it has no use for you! Also, when FSUIPC and/or WideFS is user-registered, the button labels change to say so and grey out to indicate that they are disabled and don't need to be pressed. You never need to bother about any of that. Just run your programs. Regards, Pete

Have you downloaded the FSUIPC SDK from http://www.schiratti.com/dowson? Inside there is a programmer's guide which lists everything you need to do whatever you like with NAV1, NAV2, COM1, COM2, ADF1. ADF2 and the Transponder. Regards, Pete

Ahwell, I'm glad things are coming together again. I think we all go through these horrible experiences once in a while. Good flying! Pete

Yes, of course. Several programs use that facility already -- Radar contact and Flight Deck Companion, to name two. FSUIPC's user facilities include both special FSUIPC-implemented HotKeys (on the Hotkeys page), and the facility for FSUIPC to assign keystrokes to a larger list of FS controls than FS's own facility, as well as special controls for Project Magenta and WideFS (on the Keys page), but both of these facilities are end user facilities used via the Options dialogue, not facilities for programs. Please download the FSUIPC SDK which you will find on http://www.schiratti.com/dowson. The programmable hot key facilities are explained in a section entitled HOT KEYs for Applications and involves the setting of parameters into a table at offset 3210. Regards, Pete

64-bit number, you mean, not string. In FS interrogator you get the high part converted and this gives a good approximation. You can do the same in the lower part and add the two together. The only thing to be careful of is the sign -- the lower part is unsigned, so you add it to the high part if the high part is positive, subtract it if negative. Depending on what language and compiler you are using it may support 64-bit integers in any case. They may be called "long long", for example. Check the data types in your language reference. It would be easier for you to show us what you are doing, then someone familiar with the language you are using can help. You haven't even mentioned it. :) Regards, Pete

If you download the FSUIPC SDK from http://www.schiratti.com/dowson you will find a Programmaer's Guide which lists all the information which can be obtained. You could write a program to do something of the sort, via FSUIPC, but I don't know how smooth you could make it. Certainly you'd need some sophisticated code to interpolate values between GPS readouts, which are typically once a second or so. Regards, Pete

Ah, good! One more item to tick off on my long list! Thanks, Pete

If the Network driver doesn't tell the server that the connection has closed (as it really should do, but I have noticed times when it doesn't), then WideServer will only notice after a timeout period -- I think it is set to something like 20 seconds by default. It does no harm, I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. There are other causes of the multiple connection indications too -- these are described in the WideFS documentation. Regards, Pete

No, it does use the program name as well -- there are three elements: program name, and two parts of the Version Info (which are normally Product Name and Company Name). If any of this is changed, the Key won't work. One can of course get around this by registering FSUIPC as a User. Regards, Pete

That looks like a really neat setup! Must be real fun to fly! What do you do about the display of the scenery -- is that projected or do you have a big plasma screen? Regards, Pete

Yes, something has evidently been corrupted, but identifying what can be a very difficult process. When you do re-install, after uninstalling FS, don't forget to delete the stuff it leaves -- all your add-ons, created flights, and so on. It only uninstalls what it installed, but your corrupted data MAY be in one of the files created or added later. Regards, Pete

Well I suppose you can read/write the .PLN file. I think that's what most programs do. What Flight Navigation software? If you mean the Microsoft FS team, then, yes, but only as a Beta tester. If you want to make suggestions for future versions of FS, then now is the time to do it. The feature lists for each new version tend to get frozen a good 18 months before scheduled release. Check the Microsoft FS web site(s), there should be a way of sending messages to them someplace. I looked at a much earlier version, hoping to adapt it to my cockpit requirements, but found it too inflexible at that time. And as a Windows developer I ran into something of a brick wall with Austin, who was determinedly Apple-centric back then. I expect it has all changed considerably now, but I have too much invested in MSFS to change horses now, and not enough time to ride more than one. :wink: Good luck! Regards, Pete

It isn't the panel but the Gauge that needs the key. Please check the FSUIPC.LOG to see which gauge needs it. Most existing freeware TCAS gauges are already listed as far as I know. Regards, Pete

It sounds like something else has got corrupted. Possibly your FS9.CFG file, or a weather-related file. Try, as an experiment, removing the FS9.CFG file (or renaming it), so that FS makes another. Then, in the initial menu do NOT select an existing Flight but make a new one. If that fixes it then one or more of your Flight or Weather files are corrupted, or the FS9.CFG file contains something suspicious, or both. If it makes no difference then it gets more complicated. It could be something in the Scenery files, the Sounds files, or the Aircraft files -- but really selecting a complete new flight and starting with a complete new CFG file should eliminate most of those as possibilities. In the end a re-install of FS may actually be quicker than trying to find the specific cause. Regards, Pete

The IAS there is in 1/128ths of a Knot. In C or C++ you can simply read the 4 bytes into an int then convert it to a double (same as FS's FLOAT64) by dividing by 128.0. e.g. assuming you read it into nIAS, then simply: double dIAS = nIAS / 128.0; In C/C++ experessing the number 128 as 128.0 automatically makes it a double. Pete

No, sorry. All I managed to find is the GPS stuff mapped to offsets 6000 onwards -- you get the previous and next waypoints only there. No, they don't help at all. The data is found by hacking through the code. I use a disassembler (IDA Pro) and a powerful debugger (Soft-Ice) to track things down. It takes many many hours and often leads nowhere. By the way, the "offsets" are mostly not memory offsets into FS at all. Regard them more as tokens for the data. FSUIPC maintains the illusion that these things are all in memory ready to read and write simply to keep faith to the original interface which was actually like that in FS98. Since FS2000 things have been moved all over the place, and often FSUIPC has to call procedures or follow pointer chains to get the data. It tends more and more to be private data in C++ type class objects. This is even more the case when you write -- most writes are really just commands for FSUIPC to do something to something somewhere deep in FS. Regards, Pete

Check that it works using a Shutdown Hotkey in WideServer. For instance, I assign Shift+Ctrl+E there. Pressing this key combination in FS then shuts down all the Clients. All it does is write a special value to an FSUIPC offset, which is exactly what PM's CDU facility should do. I don't value the MCDU, only the Boeing CDU, and that certainly works fine. As far as FSUIPC and WideFS are concerned, you only need the parameter you've mentioned in the WideServer.INI and each WideClient.INI files. This goes into the [user] section -- check that. Then check that it works by assigning a HotKey for it in wideServer's INI. If that's okay but the MCDU still doesn't do it you will need to contact PM support. Regards, Pete