Pete Dowson

It sounds like the previous copy of the DLL you had got corrupted. I could probably have deduced that from the Log and so on, and suggested you re-download, but there's no need now. :) I'm working on 3.08 at present, along with the SDK, and hope to release both within the next couple of days. Regards, Pete

Where did you enter the Key? Did you also enter your name and email address? Are they showing in the Registration dialogue? Except for a brief problem with accented characters way back in version 3.00 in August, and the early difficulty with Windows XP/2000 (where registration needs Admin rights), now notified correctly, every problem with registration so far has turned out to be incorrect entry of the details. Your name, email address and KEY must all be exactly correct, and as included in the email you got from SimMarket. If you believe you have entered them correctly, please send me a copy of the original email, plus the FSUIPC Log and Key files, ZIPPED, to petedowson@btconnect.com, and I'll check them out. That isn't an FSUIPC function. sounds like you have the power off or flat batteries. Whether FSUIPC is registered or not would make no difference, unless you get it registered correctly and use the "magic battery" facility to extend the battery life. Regards, Pete

I've not really got time to chase other threads. If I started doing that I'd get nowhere! I'm sure if anyone has anything important to ask or tell me they'd do it to here, otherwise it cannot be all that important. Very small occasional stutters are almost inevitable if there are any weather changes through the only interface I have for them. This is particularly noticeable if the 3D clouds are not set to 100%, as I note in my documentation, but they are substantially reduced with the latest weather updating facilities I provided and which are starting to be used in the weather programs. If default weather is used (no outside weather program), and the FSUIPC option to change FS weather is not checked, then FSUIPC is really doing very little except responding to external programs on request. Regards, Pete

Well you can use the FS2002 published lists for now. I'll make a new one as soon as I have the SDK done -- later this week maybe. Regards, Pete

Well, not necessarily. Yes if you want to use the facilities without paying, no if you see in any of the release details (which will be posted in the Announcements here) anything you want or need which may be added in Version 3, as time goes by. Regards, Pete

No. (A quick answer! :D ) Pete

Those facilities were added to deal with bugs in certain FS panels which were actually occasionally sending FS controls with full deflections. They so-called "spikes" are not transients in hardware, but single absolute maximum values being set by software. The elimination merely ignores any maximum values, and should ideally be used with calibration in FSUIPC, which sets the maximum to one less than the true possible maximum. This sort of spiking is very difficult to eliminate by software without destroying responsiveness. I have put some smoothing into the PFC driver, mainly to help a user in Myanmar with dreadful power supplies. But really the answer is to clean the pots or replace them, and to make sure that the power supply is good and that nothing is interfering with the drivers. I am surprised you have any trouble with USB devices which should be relatively immune, but it was always a problem with game ports used on sound cards -- the two functions often didn't live well together. I really think you should seek the advice of your supplier, who may well suggest replacement pots or some cleaning operation. There's are sprays which may help. Regards, Pete

It's just one view. The Parhelia surround mode works by making the 3 screens one wide window. That's why I quote the overall resolutions, like 2400 x 600 or 3840 x 1024. The view is just one view, which will be normally the forward view. But it is at Zoom 0.50, so you effectively get most of what on a 4:3 screen would be forward left and forward right as well. When I use a views button to look around, all three screens change, of course (it is one window), so when I look forward left I get some of which I already saw, but now on the right, and so on. Some Parhelia users have their zoom set as wide as 0.31, but I find that rather unnatural from where I sit, and you start getting a marked "fish eye" distortion at the edges then, which I don't like. It used to work on FS2000 as I had stuff like that saved when I used to use WidevieW. But I don't know if it applies now. I suppose it should. Try it. Yes, I would say so. But there are some panels where this may not be so true! :) No, but WideFS won't allow you to move FS panels. You'll need to look at Project Magenta or FreeFDS or some other type of external panel applications. FS panels need FS. WidevieW might let you when it is available, but with multiple copies of FS you really start needing similarly spec'd machines. Regards, Pete

Rightwith the further information you gave me I was able to reproduce this problem. It is a timing thing. What happens is that the "AlsoSave" file is getting saved immediately AutoSave is loaded. This is before any flight is actually loaded by FS, so the FLT file is bereft of important data, like aircraft, position, and so on -- everything in fact. FS then tries to load the default flight, which is this "empty" one just saved! That's what is giving your error. It only occurs with the AlsoSave method, which is why probably hardly any one else would notice. As to why it occurs with recent versions but not with 1.40 I can't say - I cannot see any code I've changed there, but maybe AutoSave starts off a bit earlier than it used to, for some reason. Ah, yesI think it might be because I made it independent of FSUIPC sometime recently! Before that it would probably have waited till FSUIPC was ready, and that was deliberately delayed by a few seconds. Anyway, the solution was to change the method of timing for the AlsoSave files, and make them only save AFTER the first interval -- which in your case would be 5 minutes. Try the attached version 1.491. It seems to work fine here, with your CFG file too. It's a bit of a shame I hadn't known about this a few days ago. I don't really want to make yet another release -- that would be three in a week. :( Ah well ... Thanks & Regards, Pete AutoSave1491.zip

I missed this in your original. The advantage is that FSUIPC 3 is supported and developed. As and when new facilities are added, if any are applicable to FS2002 (and undoubtedly some will be) they will be added to version 3, not 2. If any bugs are found they will be fixed in 3, not 2, and so on. Otherwise, at present there are no significant differences for FS2002. There are a few additional values mapped for applications -- one immediate example is in 3.08, to be released this week, where the Tail Hook position is now mapped for both FS2002 and FS2004. This would be useful for cable arrestor programs. There are others. But at present, no, there are no additional user facilities for FS2002. Regards, Pete

Ah, so AutoSave is not causing the crash -- the file which it gets FS to save is not liked by FS when re-loaded!? That is totally weird. AutoSave doesn't save the files. It merely calls upon the FS routine to do this. If this cal is resluting in a z.FLT files, then that must surely be the correct one. Okay, then what it needed is to find out what the difference is between the z.FLT saved by 1.49 and the one saved by 1.40 -- they are both saved by FS so they should both be okay. Can you load the flight saved as z.FLT, via the Flights menu? If so, then it is correctly saved. In that case I can only think it is some sort of timing problem. Perhaps the first "save" attempt made by AutoSave when you load FS is a bit earlier, and this is causing a problem? No. Please don't. FSUIPC won't make any difference in any case. Now that you've explained that the loading failure occurs when loading, and not when autosave is saving (which was my big puzzle with your first message), all we need to do is find out (a) whether the z.FLT file saved by 1.49 is okay -- i.e. will it load, and (b) if so, why won't it load initially? Is it maybe a timing matter. Please try loading a z flight explicitly. If it loads, then it is not (a). You could actually run version 1.40 to generate your z Flight. Then close FS down, install 1.49, then run FS. If it fails then, it must be something to do with a small difference in timing -- maybe AutoSave is saving when FS wants to load the same flight. I would need to check -- it probably shouldn't save for 5 minutes. Regards, Pete

Hmmm. Odd. No one else has reported such problems, and 1.46 was released some time ago. Autosave does not relate to loading of aircraft, so it seems very odd. Can you tell me WHEN this message occurs -- i.e. what are you doing, and exactly what it looks like? Thanks. Is that filename for the "AlsoSave" parameter correct? Just a "z"? Is that intended? I wonder if that is related? Do you still get a problem if you use the normal file cycling method (Files=1 instead of 0)? Version 1.40 is so old now I've no way of determining what might be different. This has to be treated as a specific system-related problem for the moment I'm afraid, theefore I need a lot more information. Regards, Pete

There's really no need to recompile. the only possible change to any of the source it to add FS2004 as another version with number 7. The main changes in the SDK will be some additional information in the Programmers Guide, details of the New Weather Interface, and details of the registration procedures -- how to build access keys into your application, for instance. I am working on the SDK update now, but if you want any information specifically on the extras, just ask. Your program should work without any recompilation, provided you either have a user registered copy of FSUIPC, or an access key for your program. The whole point of the FSUIPC interace, which is still based on FS98, is to keep compatibility, at least in the forward direction. :) Regards, Pete

I can't do that. I can't get at the current localised weather. I can influence what local weather is set by external programs, as that all has to come through FSUIPC's interface. If you really want to use all of FSUIPC's weather options you have to use an external weather program. The only FS weather I can get at is the "global" weather, which is only used for areas that have no local WX stations (as I already said). The only exceptions are the three visibility options marked ***, as I also said. I don't know any way at all to preserve any weather in FS2004, in any case. It seems to be a live thing, a proper simulation, not a fixed once-and-for-all setting. I have discussed this in some of the announcements above, and it is also discussed in the back of the current FSUIPC User Guide. It seems that, even with the dynamic changes turned off, the weather changes, just more slowly. Clouds blow away, things change. A bit like the real world, I suppose? :? Regards, Pete

Yes -- either you are not using the latest FSUIPC version (3.07 is current, version 3.08 will go out today or tomorrow), or you have checked an option on the Technical page which tells FSUIPC to affect FS's own global weather. All the details of these changes and their adverse effects are described in the permanent Announcements at the top of this forum. Please check the "Important" one, and also the details of recent changes. They will explain it all. Well, all FS2004 weather seems to change all the time in any case. There are no facilities in FSUIPC to change localised FS weather, so it hasn't changed any of that -- only FS does. The only part of FS weather which FSUIPC can reach is the "global" weather, which is what FS applies to any areas where it has no local werather station. The indication "user-defined" occurs whenever any little aspect of the weather is tweaked. The only exceptions are the three FSUIPC visibility options marked ***, which actually bypass all that stuff and go straight for the graphics. Regards, Pete

When a Beta expires it you get a message box telling you this, when FS is loading. When you click OK, FSUIPC will close. It tries to do this tidily and it does tell FS that it cannot run, but FS then usually decides to crash. This doesn't do any permanent harm, it is just annoying, which is why I advise folks of the Beta expiry and always make the life of a Beta generous enough to ensure a good overlap with a production version. Regards, Pete

Except for the additions FSUIPC makes, which are listed in the Advanced User's Guide, the drop-down list in FSUIPC is obtained directly from CONTROLS.DLL. For FS98, FS2000 and FS2002 I did extract this and print the list (see the Controls list documents on http://www.schiratti.com/dowson). Mostly those will still apply, but there are extras in FS2004. I will get around to extracting the list again, but after I've done the SDK, which I'm working on now. Meanwhile, if you have any editor which will show you the text strings in a DLL, you can get all the names from CONTROLS.DLL. Mostly, however, you should be able to use the existing lists for past FS versions. Do not expect them all to work, though. You have to try them and see what they do. Regards, Pete

There's your problem, then. You should be able to see it for yourself, surely? Clue: isn't the "w" on your keyboard working? :) Regards, Pete

FSUIPC doesn't know flaps from anything else. It's just another axis, and it has to be assigned first. You have to assign analogue axes in FS. Are you use FS2004 or FS2002 or what? In FS2004, for certain, you can assign your flaps axis in FS -- go to Options-Controls-Assignments and scroll through the joystick axes, assign your axis to "Flaps Set". Check that it works as well as you can get it in FS2004 without FSUIPC getting involved, use FSUIPC calibration to finalise, not to get it to work in the first place! In FS2002 it is a little more difficult. Assign your flaps to any spare axis in FS, and tell FSUIPC which one it is by editing the FSUIPC.INI file and giving it the control number -- see the Advanced Users guide for details. There's a section there called "Assignment of FLAPS_SET control". you should still get a good calibration first in FS/Windows. For FS2000 you can manually assign your axis to FLAPS_SET in the FS2000.CFG file, then calibrate in FSUIPC. Regards, Pete

There's was no access checking before version 3. It won't work. The first version of FSUIPC which works with FS2004 was 3.00. .But this is only because Squawkbox is not being allowed access to FSUIPC, and that is only because the name of the porgram, as it is being run, is not right. Just run it as Squawkbox, and make sure it has the correct Access Key entered, and it should work fine. I really don't know where you are getting those strange abbreviated names from. Regards, Pete

I suspect that the traffic files you are using were tuned to FS2002. The AI airspeeds and so on have been corrected in FS2004, and that and other changes will probably throw some such carefully timetabled operations into disarray. I'm waiting for the FS2004 edition of Ultimate Traffic, which I understand is currently in Beta. Regards, Pete

I think this one should certainly be fine with the access key correctly entered. Check the FSUIPC.KEY file. Does it have the Squawkbox entry listed? If you are getting the "not accredited" message then it simply means the access key hasn't been entered. You don't need to keep downloading FSUIPC and re-reading some readme, that won't really help. Let me see the [Programs] section from the FSUIPC.KEY file, please. For example, if you entered it as "Squakbox" it won't work. Regards, Pete

I've no idea. What do you actually type into Start-Run? "Squawkbox"? Is the program actually named "SquawkBox.exe" in its folder? Maybe it is actually named with the DOS shortcut -- maybe the folder as well? The folder name doesn't matter much to FSUIPC, but the program name is critical. If it is misnamed please just try renaming it to "SquawkBox.exe" (right click it, select Rename, and edit the name). Possibly some installer or unzipper used the DOS abbreviations? Maybe a very old DOS or Windows unzipper? It's described in the Advanced Users guide, but there's an easy way -- download Jose's "Run Options" program from http://www.schiratti.com/dowson. that does it for you. But it still won't work if the name is wrong. Check that first, and rename it to its correct name if it is wrong. Regards, Pete

There are two separate buttons, one for FSUIPC and the other for WideFS. The one for FSUIPC will be greyed out, the other will still be available if you've not yet registered WideFS. It too will grey out when you register. Check the labelling on the buttons. The other thing to be aware of is that the Name and Email must be identical in both cases -- those will be greyed out. If you bought both keys at the same time this will be no probkem in any case. Regards, Pete

There's no "-" characters in the Key, but it wouldn't have taken those in any case. The correct name according to the list published in the Forum is "SquawkBox". The capital B may be important (I'm not sure -- but it is always best to be accurate). The real problem is this: 78391 Client Application: "SQUAWK~1" (Id=2092) 78391 F:\FS2004\ADDONP~1\SQUAWK~1\SQUAWK~1.EXE 78391 Product="SquawkBox 2.3" 78391 Company="None" 78391Program not accredited for use with this unregistered FSUIPC The program actually running is appearing as "SQUAWK~1" not as SquawkBox, so the key will never match. How are you running the SquawkBox program? That sort of name is a DOS type 8-character abbreviation for it. In fact the whole path is a DOS abbreviated path: F:\FS2004\ADDONP~1\SQUAWK~1\SQUAWK~1.EXE Surely you are not running this from a DOS batch file or similar? What operating system are you using? It seems very odd to see this sort of abbreviation these days, and certainly none of the Keys will work with an abbreviated program name. Try using RunOptions and getting FSUIPC to load it for you, using its real name and path. BTW the log also shows you are not running an accredited version of Whazzup: 80485 Client Application: "WhazzUp" (Id=3076) 80485 F:\FS2004\ADDONP~1\WhazzUp\WhazzUp.exe 80485 Product="WhazzUp" 80485 Company="Enrico Schiratti" 80485Program not accredited for use with this unregistered FSUIPC You need to check with the Project Magenta site for an update with a correct access key. Regards, Pete