Pete Dowson

Which website? I'll go look and confirm or deny! :wink: I worked for large corporations till the first PCs arrived. I started with a Commodore Pet 2001 and a little later an Apple II. I wrote a word processor called "Wordcraft" which sold well enough for me to leave the 'big corporation', and I've not worked for anyone else since then (about 1979). Along with two others I invented and named the "Dongle" -- my only regret is not having patented it back then! Oddly, when many software houses started using dongles we stopped and went to a registration system instead. :) Regards, Pete

Why must you reload FS9 because EPICMAPPER shuts down? This really is a problem for EPICMAPPER support. I do not know the program, sorry. Go to their support and show them the message. Maybe they have a fix already. If you think you have a WideFS problem, then please check the Logs. There will be both a WideServer.Log (in the FS Modules folder) and a WideClient.Log (in the folder from which you run WideClient). Whether these are relevant I have no idea. You don't say whether you are even running EPICMAPPER on a Client PC or not! Pete

Unless you are using FSMeteo or some other external program, the only Visibility options which are any use are those marked with ***. What is "most realistic" depends where you are. I live in and fly from England, and the default values I put in suit me fine. If I were you I'd just set the facilities to please yourself. Regards, Pete

You can re-program the PFC gear handle for something else in FSUIPC (assuming you are a registered user). Then it won't try to assert itself. Pete

The problem is that all of that code was written in FS2000 days when there was no COM2. I can add support for it, but it is a big job so I would need to schedule it for a quieter time. There's so much still to do in FSUIPC for FS2004 that I cannot see this happening before Christmas, I'm afraid. But it is on the list. Why? Surely, with a REAL stack you don't also display the FS panel stack? It is much more efficient for the PFC to keep and maintain its own standby frequencies, and these then apply to all FS aircraft including those without. I really would be very reluctant to reduce the PFC DLLs independence in that area. If there was good justification for it I would relent, but I don't see it really. The most I would consider is copying the PFC standby frequencies to the FS standbys, so they look the same if you were ever to look (why?). But changing the FS ones or using the FS "swap" button would then not update the PFC standby displays. If that is acceptable I'll add it to the list. Regards, Pete

Exceptional news! Thank you Pete. I'll be greatly looking forward to your next release. Actually I've decided to reverse the indication: 00 = ready to fly, FF = not ready. That way programs which use it to hold off before doing something won't be held off forever on previous versions of FSUIPC or FS. Regards, Pete

There's a picture somewhere? Where? Don't I look old? I've always looked old. I started going bald in my late twenties! :? Well, really the only change with the commercial side is that I charge for the additional facilities, the user facilities, not the actual interface into FSUIPC. That's free as it always was. I expect commercial developers to pay towards this mainly for the support and SDK they get, and for the right to publish their software with FSUIPC included. They negotiate with me about this. Looking at it like that the arrangement is almost identical to Adam Szofran's original FS5IPC and FS6IPC licences -- his offerings were free for users and feeware, but he charged the commercial guys. My change to "semi-payware" caused a ruckus purely because I was effectively generous enough not to charge anyone anything for four years, even though I was working full time on it. I didn't need the money then, so I didn't charge. Now I do, so I do. Microsoft is well aware of the "reverse engineering" which I and many others do. Take a look at some of the other excellent products -- scenery compilers, AI traffic developers, AFCAD, FSAssist and most of Lago's products. The list of programs using "reverse engineered" knowledge of FS innards is not quite endless, but there's a lot about. Some is out and out commercial, some is complete freeware, mine is a bit in-between. But the fact is that it all enriches the FS world and I'm sure Microsoft are pleased. No doubt if they had the staff and time and money to do it, they'd provide toolkits in a more timely fashion and with a depth of detail which would make them much more useful, but it isn't a commercial reality for them. And why, when there are so many folks doing this stuff for them? Regards, Pete

It didn't appear to. I was watching the list of windows in ProcExp whilst I loaded a flight. Do you want me to double-check? I have it working now for FS2004, but unfortunately there's no such code in FS2002 (so it isn't worth me looking at FS2000 either). So I've implemented it for FS2004 only. The BYTE at offset 0x3364 will be zero whilst things are loading, changing to 0xFF when the simulator is ready. Regards, Pete

Load the client programs using the WideClient parameters (see the WideFS documentation for starting programs). You can start up to three immediately and three when FS starts on the Server. The you only have to start WideClient. If your clients are dedicated for those programs, then you can put a shortcut to the WideClient program into Windows "startup" so that it all happens automatically when you switch the computers on. Regards, Pete

I started doing FS add-ons and overlays in FS4 days, when it was a DOS program. I use disassemblers and clever debuggers like NuMega's Soft-Ice to get inside the program. I have been a programmer since 1963, starting from the engineering side -- test programs, basic engineer's operating systems, and so on, working on mainframe computers before any development software was available for them. Machine level and assembly code programming was my speciality for years. It used to be relatively easy to get into FS. Most of the early code was either hand-coded in Assembly, or in straight C. The C language is nice for folks like me as there is a very straight-forward relationship between it and the computer assembly level. When FS was converted to work on Windows (FS5.1 to FSW95) most of the internal mechanisms remained the same, or very similar. Only gradually have parts been changed. FS98 wasn't too bad. But with FS2000 much of the code had started to be written in C++ and was using black-box type re-usable code classes and virtual functions, private data, all that stuff. Very convoluted. I started FSUIPC as a part-time hobby but by FS2002 it had become full-time, and it has been ever since. Luckily, with FS2004, I was invited to be on the Beta test team for Microsoft, so I actually started work on the changes between FS2002 and FS2004 long before FS2004 was released. But it was a close-run thing. Some of the most important areas -- including the Weather routines -- were completely re-written for FS2004 and I couldn't match any of it to what I'd done before (FS2002 was almsot the same in that area to FS2000). Not only that, but the Weather DLL changed immensely between each of the 3 Beta releases we saw. It was a horrible time, I was spending up to 18 hours a day for weeks at a time trying to make sense of it all. (And I'm still not happy with it). Reverse engineeering. Microsoft don't supply anything extra, only the SDKs. The FS2004 SDKs aren't out yet. They'll come, but they are always too late for me, even if I see them in Beta. Too late and too little for the job I need FSUIPC to do. Well, the monopoly is only because that's how it happened. I do nothing else but this. Others do other things. Now that FSUIPC isn't entirely free I see others are trying to do their own, and that's good. Maybe they will be so good by FS2006 that I can retire from this and do some flying for a change! I'll be 62 by then in any case and looking for a way out. :lol: Regards, Pete

I really don't know what the problem you are having is, but surely you can sort them out with the "management"? I just have shortcuts in my Favourites on IE6 and can enter any Forum from there directly. Or I just go to the Forum Index: http://www.forums.simflight.com/index.php and click on those that interest me. Even the links on the Schiratti download page and in my documents should work and bring your straight here. If you cannot find any such links, make a note of this: http://www.forums.simflight.com/dowson Regards, Pete

I don't have any such database. The whole system is handled by SimMarket. It was all arranged to leave me free to carry on programming. I would really hate to be involved in the sales loop. As it is, it carries on fine without me, and I get on and do the programming and support. If you cannot remember your name, email address or Key properly, you might be a bit stuck as they'd need your name and email to look you up. But try anyway. You'll need to go through customer services, check .Regards, Pete

I've tried to do this, and it works with some programs but not others. You can't actually "lock" the focus, but I try to put it back. Unfortunately there are timing problems and it doesn't work with some programs. I would like to solve it because it affects me too, but so far I've not found anything 100% effective. Pete

Yes. Program the Roger Wilco PTT controls as WideFS KeySends in FSUIPC's Buttons page, but use "fictitious" buttons at FSUIPC offsets 3340-336F. Regards, Pete

You must use the EXACT same name, email address and Key as originally. If it isn't accepted you are making an error. Just get every character correct. Regards, Pete

Further to my last message here, I traced FS to find out where it was updating the "Seconds" counter, and in the process I found a better way of determining when FS is actually "ready to fly". This involves adding more code to FSUIPC to check two locations in MAIN.DLL. I will also check FS2002 and FS2000 to see if I can apply it universally. I'll then add a flag to the offset list someplace which you can check. I'll also use it to regulate my "Run READY" facilities in both FSUIPC and WideFS. It actually provides me a safer way of telling when it is okay to access SIM1.DLL ariables too, so it was a worthwhile investigation. Thanks for prompting me to do it! :lol: :lol: :lol: Regards, Pete

Where you install them and where you run them is actually not necessarily the same thing. That's one of the benefits of networks. However, in general it is far more efficient to install them on the PC on which you wish to run them. Whether that's on the FS PC or on a WideClient PC is your choice. Some programs can only be run on the PC on which they are installed in any case. You are unable to run what programs where? And what is the error message? All WideClient is doing is "pretending" to be FS + FSUIPC so that an FSUIPC-aware utility program will recognise it. Some FS utilities actually also need access to FS itself, for things like airport data and so on. With Trafficboard, for instance, you'd have to run Trafficboard on the FS PC first, make it generate all its data files, then copy the database files to the Client PC. However, there aren't very many utilities like that. I think AFCAD may need to be run on the FS PC, although it is certainly WideFS-compatible, mainly because it will be looking for the airport files probably on the same PC. Without knowing what you are trying to do nor what the error says that's about as much help as I can be I'm afraid. Regards, Pete

Well, other that it seems that there are several gauges which are written to depend upon FSUIPC being installed and just bomb out if it isn't. Not very good programming really. Thanks for letting me know. Regards, Pete

Sorry, I don't recall the original problem. was it something you thought buying FSUIPC would fix? Sorry, I really don't know what SB is doing. Can you get SB support to help? You can of course check the weather you are actually getting in FS by using WeatherSet, or, for the wind, Shift+Z displays it on screen. And there's always ATIS and the FS weather dialogues. Having fixed winds of 160 kts and 40 kts showing (what's "och" BTW?) no matter what the wind is sounds like a fairly serios bug. Maybe it's been fixed in an update? How is it showing two different speeds on the same screen anyway? Regards, Pete

I've done some more checking here. I don't think your checking of that unnamed window is reliable enough. here it seems to be created right at the beginning and it exists unchanged throughout. I don't know what it is for, but it seems how it is treated may depend on some configuration option. The frame rate is no good either. That starts change after you select a flight and continues changing whilst the scenery and aircraft are being loaded. My idea of the frame rate chain calls being suspecnded doesn't work for the same reason. But what I find most promising is simply checking the time count. The seconds value at offset 023A does not change at all initially, nor whilst things are being loaded. When a new flight is being loaded, at some point the seconds value will possibly change to the value in the Flight file (depending on the file), but then it is again static til everything is running. So, I'd propose monitoring the Seconds value for 2 changes within, say, 4 seconds. The problem with this is that it won't work if the flight is paused, and is problematic if the sim rate is set low. You can of course check both of those things too. But so far it seems the most reliable indicator I've found. Regards, Pete

Odd. I'm fairly sure that was only for unregistered versions of FSUIPC. An application Ky for the gauges wouldn't work because, I think, they use an incorrect method of access. No, that's fine. I was assuming you weren't registered otherwise I do not understand why there was any difficulty with any panels. As it is, the only thing I knew that was wrong was the heading setting on the autopilot, which jumps in 10's unless you use the FSUIPC Technical option to fix it. This is a panel problem which also occurs with no FSUIPC loaded, due to the odd way the panel coding is done. :? Also, of course, they have a silly check for FS2002 which stops something or other working (not catastrophically though) -- that's the reason for the MakeItVersionFS2002 fiddle. Ugh! :cry: Sounds like you have something else instaled which is needing FSUIPC and which doesn't behave correctly when it doesn't find it. If I were you I'd delete the FS9.CFG file and let FS make a new one. At least that way it will not be trying to re-load the same default ile which is probably loading whatever it is which is doing such an awful thing. The only other possibility is another Add-In module in your Modules folder which is also doing this. Best check that first I suppose, because if you delete the FS9.CFG file you'll have to reset all the options the way you like them again. Please let us know when you find out what it is. Regards, Pete

I have now added bits 10, 11, 12 for World, Aircraft and Flights menus separately, leaving the others as they are. I don't have time to test right now. If I send you a Beta can you test and let me know? It should work fine, the code was pretty easy. Regards, Pete

They are described, as all changes are, in the History section of the documentation ("PFC User Guide") within the ZIP, and actually also in the details of releases at the top of this forum. Here, I'll reproduce the relevant notes for you, below. Regards, Pete --------------- In Version 1.63 ... the PFC driver will respond to a “restart PFC driver” Hot Key message by closing the serial port and both read and write threads, and restarting them. This may be useful if there are any problems on the COM port or the PFC power supply. The hot key is supported in FSUIPC version 3.09 or later. In Version 1.70 The ‘restart’ facility is operated automatically if no data is received from the PFC device within a specific time, defaulting to 3 seconds. The idea of this is to attempt automatic recovery from stoppages in COM port operation on some systems. So far, it seems these may be related to the Intel ICH5/ICH5R chipset, though this is simply based on the only similarities between the two machines on which it is known to have happened. ... A facility is provided to automatically restart the COM port operations soon after first initialisation. This has the benefit of synchronising most, if not all, of the PFC toggle and selector type switch settings in the simulation. This is enabled by default.

It should never be necessary to remove FSUIPC. I know of no reason to ever do so. But possibly, if you want full use of its facilities (including support, for instance), you should Register it? If FSUIPC.DLL is not in the Modules folder, then it is effectively "uninstalled" and it will not run when FS is started. However, do NOT move it into the main FS folder -- it seems that FS may actually still load it if you do, yet then it will not work correctly! I've not managed to make FS do this for me, but one user reported it. Maybe it was a misunderstanding, but I will be putting a check for that into the next version just in case. Also, if you leave it in place take care to make sure it cannot be mistaken for a DLL still. Best to move it to a special "Saved" sub-folder or similar. FS does not "need" FSUIPC.DLL (obviously, else it would be a Microsoft product). But FS does come with a User Interface module called "FSUI.DLL" Make sure you are not getting confused and deleting that! Incidentally, in your message to Peter you said something about "If I can find out how to contact Peter Dowson, I will ask him about this." This seems to imply you had difficulty getting here. There are links to this forum in my documents and on the main download page at http://www.schiratti.com. Were these not clear enough? It worries me that I started a Support Forum to keep folks informed and up to date, yet they cannot find it? Can I make it clearer somewhere? Regards, Pete

Strange. I have never had any other reports of the printing not working. It uses common print routines which apply to all my programs (and which are adapted direct from Microsoft examples). WeatherSet (not WeatherSet2) contains the same things, for instance. Not sure what you mean by "type+" -- unless you refer to the bug in FSUIPC whereby the airline+flight number could sometimes display overlong rubbish. That was an FSUIPC problem, not fixed in TrafficLook but in FSUIPC. TrafficLook has not been changed since June, well before FSUIPC 3.00 was even released. Every FSUIPC 3 ZIP has contained the same version, identically, I've simply not changed that entry in the ZIP. It is a bit odd. What operating system are you using BTW? If it isn't Me then I can re-try it here on the same version. I have WinXP Home and Pro, Win2000 Pro, and Win98SE. I won't go near WinMe, I did once and it was a disaster! Regards, Pete