Pete Dowson

Sorry, I'm not really into making applications programs. TrafficLook and WeatherSet are just basic programs, not clever at all, originally designed to let me test the facilities in FSUIPC. I release them as useful little things but that's about it really. The recent changes reflect changes in FSUIPC rather than any real developments in TrafficLook. There are of course a number of TCAS type graphical gauges and displays available, and the new TrafficBoard for FS2004 will show AI traffic around your selected airport. There will be an AI toolkit provided by Microsoft themselves soon (well, I hope it is soon -- I thought it was ready a long time ago, but it hasn't surfaced yet). I am not allowed to say much about it, I'm afraid, but suffice to say I don't think you'll be disappointed. :wink: Regards, Pete

Not that I know of, but then I'd never heard of exit controls till very recently. I wouldn't notice these things as I'm strictly a stay-in-the-cockpit pilot. :) I've looked through all the stuff I have about things I can read from FS, and there's nothing obviously connected with exits that I can see, so it would have to be located deep in some part of FS. I suspect aircraft modellers familiar with MDL files (the ones which have to obey the Exit controls) might be able to say more about how their status could be detected. Regards, Pete

[quote name="blave But' date=' effectively the on-off buttons acted as Active Radio Select buttons, and it worked perfectly in the FS2000 (or was it 98?) single COM radio world, and worked (past tense - see below) fine in 2002/2004 as well if one didn't need to access those versions' COM2 as a true second radio. I just got used to thinking of those buttons as the equivalent to what is found in a real aircraft's audio panel. Yes, this is why I've retained that same capability. Yes, it always did. Look back at the original documentation. It said this "On the separate stack, if both COM radios are in use then the On/Off button cycles between being a COM radio selector and on/off button, thus: Off -> On -> Selected -> Off In this mode only the COM receiver turns off, not the complete set. If both COMs are in use, the one currently operating FS’s single COM radio has a flashing decimal point in the active frequency display." I am only retaining that action and adding more. Hmmm. I don't think that was intentional, and it isn't documented that way. hold on, I'll try an old version ... ... Ouch! It was buggy too. The two radios can get out of phas and BOTH be de-selected (no flashing point)! Ugh. Seems in fixing it so it works as intended I've removed a facility I didn't even know was there! :) Sorry! I'll need to think about that. The old code was interacting wrongly and by coincidence gave you that capability. I'll need to work out how to do that properly. It means re-jigging the sequences so they are inter-dependent again. They aren't now, except that if one is off the other simply swaps functions as well as cycling to off. You must mean the Transponder IDENT, as the NAV ones operate the NAV radio switch. Ah, yes, you must mean the transponder IDENT! :) Yeah, most parameters to FS controls need experimentation to work out how they work. Frequencies and radio codes tend to be in BCD (binary-coded-decimal) internally, and the parameters USED to be quite sensible, but some are horrendous in FS2002/2004. No, you've got things backwards. The parameter you provide is DECIMAL. The decimal 10 value is binary 1010. Since the transponder only uses values 0-7 in each digit, only the lower 3 bits are used, hence 010 which is your 2. No 'huh?' about it. Decimal 100 is hexadecimal 64. Since both groups of 4 bits are valid (0-7), you see 64. Transponder 7777 would be 7777 in hexadecimal which is 30583 decimal. 1200 hexadecimal is needed, which is 4608 in decimal (1000 = 4096, 200 = 512). You might find the Programer's Guide in the FSUIPC SDK useful. It won't tell you what parameters things take, but once you get an inkling as to how FS sees things inside it makes these more obvious. Regards, Pete

Many folks have reported problems with minimising FS2004 and trying to re-maximise it. I think most of them got cleared up with video driver updates and similar, but I must confess that I still find FS2004 very precarious compared to previous releases. It seems very sensitive to a number of things. Ah. that's good to hear! Regards, Pete

Okay. This had me confused for quite a while. PFC.DLL has no knowledge of the "active xmit radio". It never has selected that or had a button allocated to it. There are none spare for what is basically a row of radio selector switches. As far as I can tell, with the option unchecked, there is absolutely no difference now to what happened before, except that now you can use the PFC COM2 radio as the FS COM2 radio. Before, COM2 just was not usable without checking the option. I think you are confusing it with the original (and still intended) action of the on/off button with the option checked. Before I added the support for COM2 you could, with the option checked, select either PFC COM1 or PFC COM2 into FS's COM1. With FS's COM1 as the "active xmit radio" it meant you could effectively have 4 frequencies for transmission. I didn't mean to take that away, and in fact it is correctly documented in the way I intended it. I did have it working, but it seems that fixes for the Jetliner (which has no COM2) messed things up. Sorry. In the corrected version, which I will send you to verify for me (please), if you ignore FS's COM2, the action should be the same as it was before. It's just that the inactive (non-flashing, not selected) PFC radio becomes FS's COM2. So this gives the best of both worlds, even if it does seem a little complicated to explain. Try it, play with it a bit, you'll see what I mean. It becomes second nature after a bit. The Jetliner Console operation is, of necessity, different, as it has no COM2. There, the on/off button changes the single COM radio to be FS's COM1 (flashes) or COM2 (no flashing). The avionics stack COM2 was confusing the issue there, so in the fixed version of the driver, if you select Jetliner (only) operation the stack's COM2 radio is permanently switched off. Anyway, I think it is okay now. Thanks for all your help -- you INI was useful as it enabled me to find it quicker. Starting with my settings it was more difficult to get it to play up. I'm sending 1.812 by email attachment for you to play with. Please see if you can break it! Now I'm back into PFC mode I'll look at adding the FS Avionics switch code before making a proper new release. Regards, Pete

Sorry, no. I think you will be much better off discussing this in the PM Newsgroup, as there are many there who have solved such problems with their Networks. And everyone there is both a PM and Network user, so it is the right place. There are so many variables. All the help I can give is already really embodied in the WideFS document. Whatever your problem is, it will either be sepcific to your Network, or something to do with the PFD INI parameters or video drivers. Regards, Pete

In Fs2002 and before wasn't it "ENGLISH.FLL" and so on? However, I think it was a different system. Sorry, I never really investigated this stuff back then. However, the menu has always been built as needed, not loaded by resource. Regards, Pete

I'm sorry, but I don't know the Jeppesen console. It is made by PFC? Does it use the PFC protocol? Do Jeppesen say it is compatible with FS? Even if it is made for them by PFC, it may be using the Elite protocol, which is a proprietary protocol not supported by PFC.DLL. You need to check these things with Jeppesen or PFC I'm afraid. Regards, Pete

By "AITrafficLook" do you mean the little example program called TrafficLook that i supply in the FSUIPC ZIP? If not, I'm afraid I do not know the program. However, maximising, minimising or re-shaping TrafficLook's windows, or indeed and FSUIPC application's windows, cannot actually crash FS. These programs are entirely separate processes. What is more likely happening is your swapping in and out of FS and its window being minimised and restored or its video mode changing from full screen to windowed or minimised or vice versa? There are some problems known and reported with FS changing video modes. Perhaps you could clarify (a) what program(s) you are talking about, and (b) exactly what is happening to FS windows and so on at the time. Regards, Pete

It's built up dynamically, not completely stored as a resource. The labels are stored in LANGUAGE.DLL which is only a resource DLL. Pete

Programs can use FSUIPC for many things. I think WidevieW only uses it (in FS2000/2002) for weather transfer. The other stuff it does itself. It's an FS module. Regards, Pete

It depends on your Operating System I think. Assuming you are using WinXP, go to Start-Settings-Control Panel-Network Connections, select your Network, then Properties. In the General tab, select the Internet Protocol, then press Properties. Where it says "Use the following IP address" click the radio button then enter your chosen IP address -- for instance 192.168.0.N where N is your choice of number in the range 1-254 (different for each PC). The Subnet mask beneath that needs to be 255.255.255.0. That's it. Okay your way out. I think it is similar on other operating systems. Not that I know of, though I have heard of difficulties with ICS (Internet Connection Sharing). You might be better off asking folks in the Project Magenta newsgroup as there is a wealth of Network experience there. Also the PM network expert Katy Pluta hangs out in the FS2004 Forum here. Regards, Pete

I found and fixed the problem. Version 4.22 is being released now and should appear on the Schiratti site later today or maybe tomorrow. Regards, Pete

I have no check version file. That looks like the Project Magenta check version program. You are appealing to the wrong site, you need to talk to the Project Magenta folks. This forum is for support of programs by myself, Peter Dowson. Sorry, Regards, Pete

You are welcome! Pete

Yes, you are right. None of the Engine RPM values are working! :( It's surprising no one found this before. It's because in FS2004 the values aren't provided by FS in the normal places -- in fact they are from different places depending on whether its a jet, turbo or prop -- and FSUIPC derives them, but to avoid conflicts it stores them differently. I forgot this when adapting EPICINFO for FS2004. :oops: Sorry. I'll get it fixed and release a new one today or tomorrow. Regards, Pete

Please check the release notices a little more often :) . Try 3.129, available from yesterday on AVSIM and this morning on the Schiratti site. Regards, Pete

Hmmm. How odd. Certainly the calibration in the software cannot just 'deteriorate' like that. The only things affecting the response from the potentiometers in joysticks are physical -- dirt, temperture, low voltages, poor contacts, et cetera. But re-installing FS won't make any difference to those. Cleaning the joystick insides and the plugs and sockets and things might, but not just re-installing FS. That doesn't make any sense to me, I'm afraid. I'm sorry, but not knowing why your joysticks are deteriorating in such an odd fashion I couldn't possibly say that FSUIPC can do anything. All it does it provide more exact full on and off settings (and centres where relevant). I wouldn't want you to pay for it just for that then be disappointed. I think you need to determine the cause of the problem and fix that. Sorry if this is a disappointment. Regards, Pete

I don't know the Elite driver, sorry (they've never contacted me about anything), but if they control the throttles by directly writing to the locations in FS, then this bypasses all FS and FSUIPC assignment and calibration processes. Sorry. You'd have to ask them to modify their driver. Regards, Pete

3.129 should fix it. Regards, Pete

This is a question for PMDG and PFC. PMDG say there will be an SDK to allow third party control over PMDG aircraft, but I don't think this will be free, so some licensing agreement will be needed between PFC and PMDG before I can do anything. Regards, Pete

Yes, thanks. since then I have had other reports and details (see appropriately entitled threads), and solved the issue, and I've actually released version 3.129 which I think will fix it. The anouncements tell the reason. I don't think it is quite on the Schiratti website yet, but I'm sure it will be by tomorrow. Thanks & Regards, Pete

I posted here about it too -- please see the announcement about version 3.129 above. Version 3.129 is released, it is just awaiting the kindness of Mr. Schiratti to put it on the website. Regards, Pete

It just says things may go wrong with 3.128 if you start FS with any complex panel or aircraft needing FSUIPC access. If you load FS with a default aircraft, then load your desired airc raft, it should be okay. Or wait for 3.129 as you say. It is nothing to do with programming, it is to do with how FS is being run. Pete

never any need to uninstall anything. Just copy FSUIPC.DLL into the modules folder. Sounds like there's a TCAS program trying to read data before anything is set up for it. Please check the Release notices above. I think it may cover your problem. Get 3.129 when it is on the Schiratti site. Sorry, Pete