Pete Dowson

Not now it doesn't. I update the lists here as soon as I release the software. The release consists of an email to all the supporting websites, with the ZIP as attachment. The reason I tend to point folks at http://www.schiratti.com/dowson is that Enrico Schiratti is almost always the quickest to put the software up for downloading, but that doesn't mean it's immediate. He was probably asleep when I released it in any case -- not everyone works in the wee hours like me! :) Regards, Pete

Well, yes, I could do, but you shouldn't be seeing it generate a 4 more than once in a blue moon. The probability of a 4 is kept very low. Are you saying you are seeing FSUIPC generate it more often? I don't think I've ever seen it in the three or four years it's been implemented. I thought you and others were only noticing it with some new ActiveWeather release, so couldn't it be generated by that? Why not simply turn Anti-Icing on? I don't understand the problem. If you don't want FSUIPC generating ice at all, you can turn that off in any case. Pete

There's a little misunderstanding already. There is no such thing as freeware registering of FSUIPC. You either pay for a Key and have a fully registered FSUIPC, or you don't. The freeware access is separate altogether. All that means is that a freeware program has a free key for access into FSUIPC. It doesn't give you more use of FSUIPC in terms of user facilities. Which key given? Where in Squawkbox are you entering this key? If it is the free FSUIPC access key for Squawkbox, as listed up above in this Forum, then it needs to be entered in the Program Registration dialogue, not in Squawkbox. You run FS, get to FSUIPC options (ALT M F) then press the program registration button. Slow downall it says is "re-run add-on program". That's all you need to do. Your add-on program is Squawkbox. There's no need at all to close FS9 and restart your computer. FSUIPC doesn't need to register. It's presumably Squawkbox you want to register. Did you type "Squawkbox" as the program name, not "Squawkbox.exe"? Are you entering the Key shown in the list? Is the version of Squawkbox you are running the same one the key is for -- check the Version information, are the details the same? (Version information is obtained by right-clcking on the Program's EXE file, selecting Properties, then Version). Without more information I cannot help more. Please just slow down a bit, double check what you are doing, and be a little more precise in your description of what you are doing so that I can understand better, please. Pete

You might be better off posting this over in the FS2004 forum. I can tell you what I use, but it may not suit you. I fly airliners and use Project Magenta, so ALL my instrumentation is distributed to other computers and screens via WideFS. My FS PC just has three displays all connected to a Matrox Parhelia card, and currently I run this at 2400 x 600 x 32. It can go up to 3840 x 1024 on my screens, but the frame rate drop is too much then. This is a good arrangement if you have no need for any panel at all showing on the FS PC. The three screens on the Parhelia are dedicated to the ouside view, only. You have an Avionics stack, which saves some of the need for an on-screen FS panel, but you still need all the normal flight instrumentation, so maybe my approach isn't suited to you. One thing to be warned about. If you run FS2004 on a multi-monitor setup and want to move panel parts and windows onto different screens, many folks are reporting some difficulties in getting these arranged consistently so that they stay put. I'd advise you to do some research on this. Good luck! Pete

I don't think it was intentional, but a side effect of the different way DirectX is used now. There have been a lot of complaints about it. Regards, Pete

You should be able to reprogram them all via the Buttons page in FSUIPC, assuming you have a full registered copy. The FS GPS controls are all in the drop-down list. I've really been far too busy to even take a look -- it is only since FS2004 tthat there have been any controls provided for the GPS in the first place. If you can come up with good assignments which work well, through FSUIPC, let me see them and maybe I can make them a choice in the PFC driver itself. My trouble is that I do not use any GPS, as I'm a Project Magenta user with airliners, so any assignments I might make may not be the most useful. Regards, Pete

Have you tried making the window bigger so you can see more of it? Personally I find it so slow as to be rather annoying! I could put a simple "slow" (half speed), "normal" (as now) and "fast" (2x) option in I suppose. I'll take a look beofre I make the release I was planning., I didn't even know you lost the ATIS voice in multiplayer. Seems odd, I don't see why they turn that off. Sorry, it isn't an area I know much about. Regards, Pete

I've reproduced the symptom of the airspeed dropping to zero. I did this with no FSUIPC, no add-ins at all, on a completely virgin FS2004 installation I keep for such elimination tests. I set a thick cloud layer from 10000 to 15000 feet with severe icing set. I slewed up to 17000, then, with Engines idling, I started a slow descent. Unlike you I had to actually fly within the cloud for a while before it occurred -- but the difference there might be the cloud top variations. I expect FS considers you in the cloud layer if you are between the very top and the very bottom. I had Pitot Heat switched on, but I deliberately left Anti-Ice off. When I switched Anti-Ice on, the airspeed indication returned very quickly. I tried exactly the same test again but with Anti-Ice on initially, and couldn't reproduce it. So, my conclusion is that it is wing ice blocking the pitot entrances. Pitot heat alone is not enough for these extremes. Incidentally, I noticed a control called "toggle pitot blockage", which I thought might be interesting to try -- it appears in the drop down lists in FSUIPC's Keys and Buttons pages. However, I tried it and it appears to do nothing I'm afraid. Regards, Pete

For scrolling text you mean? I am emulating the same thing as the FS display, so it takes the scroll speed and display time from that, or at least I adjusted it to match as well as I could. Is it adjustable? I could make the scroll speed in AdvDisplay adjustable I suppose. Please clarify exactly what it is that is too fast and tell me how much slower you need it. If it is for ATIS messages, those are pretty long and the scroll speed is supposed to be timed so that the speech and text almost match. Best to make a bigger window to give more time to read it all. If it isn't the scroll speed, but only the time on display before being cleared or replaced, then I'm afraid that is completely under the caller's control. Regards, Pete

Can you show me the FSUIPC Log please? Which Tabs are there showing? What does it say about your registration on the first (About) options page? If all the other Tabs are there, then your registration is okay. There's really only one reason the Joysticks tab might not be there, and that is that FSUIPC cannot find the correct Joystick reading routines in CONTROLS.DLL, so could you right-click on the Controls.DLL (in the Modules folder), select "Properties" then "Version" and read the Version number please. One other (unlikely?) possibility is that it is there, but, as it is the right-most tab, its just not visible on your screen. In case this is it, could you tell me your screen resolution and Windows font size (normal, large, or have you set something specific?). If you cannot figure these out, maybe you could take a picture (ALT + PrtScr when the FSUIPC options have focus, then paste into the Windows Paint program and save as a BitMap). Thanks. Regards, Pete

At the end? Was it still in the [General] section? Otherwise it would have done nothing. Ouch. The only thing you can do there is report it to Microsoft. Sorry, there's nothing I can do with that. Even the little change with InitDelay=0 only changes timings slightly, nothing else, and I've found that doesn't work in all circumstances either. I'm hoping Microsoft will see fit to update something sometime, whether it's in DX9 or FS itself, I don't know, but I have certainly proven here that it isn't FSUIPC or any of my modules which are responsible. Just minor changes in timing affects it, and almost any of the modules can do that, as can a change in video driver, which was an earlier theory. Since it happens without any add-on modules, or with just certain ones (here, for instance, with *only* Lago's ViMaCore2004, or my AdvDisplay, or my PFC or my FSUIPC), and with a variety of different video card types, the only common factors left are DX9 and FS itself. When I managed to be able to reliably reproduce the black screen problem here, I was quite pleased because it afforded me the opportunity to do a detailed investigation. And it was doing that which I learned that, even making FSUIPC do nothing (i.e. cutting out all the code EXCEPT subclassing the FS window and doing nothing in there either) and making no difference, it was nothing I could correct. When I found the same with only the other modules I mentioned present, the common factor being the delayed subclass operation, I tried cutting that delay out, and with success -- but only in the sequence I was using. Since then I found a different sequence which still gives the black screen, and this time with no add-in modules too. Still, some improvement is better than nothing, so I will re-issue FSUIPC with "InitDelay" defaulting to 0, and also versions of AdvDisplay and PFC with no delayed subclass. But I will not (cannot) guarantee that it will be better I'm afraid. Just that it might be and is on at least mine and several other folks' systems. Regards, Pete

Does it only do it when WideClient has focus? Otherwise it won't even see you press scroll lock. Do you have the parameter set in your WideClient PC to transmit keys to the Server? ("SendKeyPresses=Yes"). If so, then any non=system key presses seen by WideClient (assuming it has focus) will certainly be sent to FS. However, "scroll lock" doesn't put my FS into Pause mode -- do you have that key re-programmed in FS or FSUIPC? If none of these things apply, then it is something to do with whatever program you are using on the Client. If must be picking up the key and setting Pause through the normal FSUIPC interface. You can check that by Logging IPC Writes in FSUIPC and seeing if something is writing to the Pause control (offset 0262). If so this certainly won't be WideFS of its own volition, it doesn't write anything that applications don't request. Regards, Pete

Unless the wind has suddenly changed direction that should not be possible whilst in the air, as the whole aircraft is moving with the air mass. I would give up Flight Simulator and try another program if I thought it was really that bad. There must surely be some other explanation for what you are experiencing. Pete

Do you mean the randomizer in FSUIPC? You had it on? Or is this something in ActiveWeather? The probability system for the random events in FSUIPC hasn't changed since FS2000 days. I've rarely if ever seen icing being set to more than 2, and it is usually 1 or 0. And no one has mentioned any such problem in the three or four yers it's been there. Certainly, it wouldn't be much of a randomiser if you didn't rarely get a 4. But you are implying you get it quite often. :? Regards, Pete

How come? Freeware has free access. I provide the keys free, by return, upon application. There would be no justification whatsoever, if that is what I did. I would have no leg to stand on. It is evident that you haven't actually bothered to read much of what I've published about this. Perhaps you would care to peruse the documentation, such as that in the Announcements and stickies in this Forum, and maybe look at some of the threads below in which this misunderstanding has been argued at length. I have no wish to ignore or delete messages which show legitimate concerns, and will gladly answer any such so that any others in doubt will also gain from the clarification. If you wish free keys for any of your freeware works, merely apply to me at petedowson@btconnect.com as so many others have done already. I will send you a full guide with details of what I need to make the keys. Regards, Pete

On a sudden change of wind direction, yet, but that's a passing thing, unless he's talking about a situation like a tornado or whirlwind, which would have the arcraft spinning for sure! Strange. Most all videos I've see of cross-wind landings at Kai-Tek where certainly crabbed. Regards, Pete

How odd. I've just discovered another way to make the video drivers give me that black screen, and that's by trying to change into full screen mode from a very small windowed screen, rather than, as I was before, a maximised or reasonably big screen. Obviously it is a timing problem in the relationship between FS. DX9 and video drivers, and all I'm doing messing with the Init delay is moving some times about. I don't think there's currently a real fix. Maybe different drivers help (they change the timings). Maybe, one day, we'll get a new version of DX9 which won't exhibit the problem. Regards, Pete

Ah, wind shear is something else. But that would mainly give a sudden change in airspeed, sometimes fatally so, more than a weather vaning, though obviously a light plane would get swung about a bit. But if it survived it, it would settle down again. Pete

Sorry, then. I've got no other theories. Maybe there's a bug in FS2004 where is doesn't realise the pitot heat is on? Have you checked whether there is icing set for the clouds? Can you tell me how "intense" it is? (I.e. what's the "icing" value shown by WeatherSet2?). I still think it must be something to do with that. I know of no other mechanism for a wrong airspeed reading, and since it seems to be associated with clouds it must have somerthing to do with icing, surely? Maybe FS2004 likes the Anti-Ice to be turned on too. did you try that? Regards, Pete

Right. That's probably why I've never seen them -- the lessons are written in ABL, and interpreted by the ABL script interpreter. I didn't know you could save and resume these -- you couldn't with the older APL based "adventures" and lessons. I'll change AutoSave to delete the old copies of these when it deletes the FLT and WX files. Thanks for telling me. Regards, Pete

Because I've never heard of any .ABL files being saved, and do nothing to delete any old ones. Can you tell me more? Why were ABL files being saved in any case? I only know about .FLT and .WX files. If .ABL files are also produced in certain circumstances then I can certainly change the program to delete those too, but I have never heard of them and no one else has reported this at all. Are they to do with pilot training exercises or something like that? You should understand that AutoSave does not actualy save any files itself, it only calls the routine in FS to do this, the same routine that you could call by using the Save Flight menu (or the ; key). If that saves new files in some circumstances then I need to know so I can delete them after the set number. Regards, Pete

Sounds exactly like icing. Switch on your pitot heat! I never leave the ground without it, neither should you! Regards, Pete

There's no such thing as weathervaning in the air. When flying, your aircraft is in the moving air. If there is a sidewind, you will drift to one side, but you never get blown around to face into wind, as there is no "pivot" operating as there is on the ground. You and the air mass are simply moving relative to the ground, but your nose is pointing where you tell it to, and your propellers or jets are pulling you though the air in that direction. Ignore the gound for now. That is sweeping by in another direction! :) To compensate for a cross-wind you can either crab to the runway -- i.e. turn towards the wind enough so that you stay in line with the extended runway centreline, or you can try fling "croos-controlled" -- that it you head towards the runway, but use the ailerons to turn into wind (dip the windward wing) and use OPPOSITE rudder to stop you actually turning as a result. Most airliner pilots seem to use crabbing, rather than risk any chance of a wing strike or one of the jet engine pods hitting ground. The strain then is placed on the landing gear, unless he can straighten up just before touch down. Some crabbed landings I've seen videos of at Kai Tek are frightening! Looks like the landing gear would be torn straight off at some of the touchdown angles! Both techiniques are possible in a light aircraft, and fun to practice. In fact, when my eyes were good enough for me to fly for real, the cross-controlled approach was really the most 'fun' in a Cessna 150. :) I don't think any of this is really any different in FS2004, by the way. Maybe a touch more realistic, if anything. Regards, Pete

The multiplayer interface is completely separate to the WideFS link, and it sounds like it is that part which you are having trouble with. I know that the multiplayer interface changed in FS between FS2002 and FS2004, but how you deal with that I have no idea I'm afraid. I don't use Multiplayer or Squawkbox. There are some SB and MP users who do pop in here now and then, so I hope they see your message and can help, but otherwise you may do better in a Squawkbox support place. Is there one? Sorry not to be able to help. Regards, Pete

I don't think you can limit the range of winds like that. As for how FS's dialogues work, I to find them quite confusing, but then I've not tried any of their "Help" text. Doesn't it explain anything there? Weathervaning still happens in FS2004, though I find it is much reduced compared to FS2002 and FS200 where it was ridiculous. In a light aircraft like the Cessna 172 or 182 any winds over a few knots have a noticeable affect. I think it isn't far of reality now though, compatring it with my experiences in a real Cessna 150 trainer years ago. With any winds over 10-15 knots it was a devil of a job to steer straight on the ground. Well I certainly thought that, and still do, but I gave in to requests for it and spent many hours trying to make one work, without success. I just can't get into the parts of FS2004 I would need to to implement it. Sorry. I may have another go when I get time, but I couldn't afford to let everything else slide. Regards, Pete