Pete Dowson

Not that I know of. IS there a nosewheel control in FS? I have never heard of one being implemented. Where have you seen one? Pete

This cannot be a conflict specifically with AdvDisp. AdvDisp has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with anything weatherwise or graphics. It is simply using standard Windows procedures to show or hide a window. What may be happening is that the extra load on the graphics drivers of having another window being displayed or hidden just at the same time as it is supposed to be making other changes is having adverse effects. Alternatively, there's a timing problem in FS itself in making these changes whilst FS is trying to change other things. Both possibilities were offset considerably in version 2 of AdvDisplay by locking it to FS's frame rate rather than allowing it to be asynchronous. Why so complicated? Why not just have it positioned in a place you like and Lock it, not Dock it? Then use the FSUIPC hotkey facility to show it and hide it. That's what all those new facilities were provided for, exactly to do what you are trying to do in a more complex fashion. Pete

Sorry, no. They are definitely updated. You can check that through FSInterrogate. Project Magnta EICAS displays show the values read from those locations and that works fine. I'm afraid you will need to use a debugger to find the error. Pete

No. If you want actual quantities you simply calculate quantities from capacities and levels. The levels are easier for gauges, representing the distance over for the needles. Regards, Pete

Ah, sorry, that's nothing to do with WideFS. I don't know anything about Multiplayer I'm afraid. I think you need to sort all that out in the FS multiplayer dialogues. Perhaps there are other Squawkbox users here who can help, otherwise maybe their Forum? Regards, Pete

Ah, you've got me there. I've not used that facility for several years. I'm pretty sure it did work, but maybe I've broken it. No one else uses it as far as I know. I'll see if I can find time to check it out within the next day or two. Pete

What's a "Session" in this context? I don't understand. There are no "sessions" in WideFS. Are you getting it mixed up with FS's multiplayer facilities, by any chance? BTW in WideFS you only need the ServerName in the Client ini. It is easier than trying IP addresses. Pete

You didn't need to include the whole logs! Since they are so repetitive an extract would have done. The server isn't receiving the messages from the clients so it times them out and they re-connect each time. The fact that the client sends are piling up may mean they are being blocked at the client end rather than simply getting lost or discarded at the server. I don't know what would do that except a bad Ethernet card (which I've certainly had on occasion). Or maybe the emulation software for WinSock2 on the Linux system isn't implementing all the options? The "no coalescing" one comes to mind -- you could try turning that off (add "TCPcoalesce=Yes" to the [Config] section of the WideClient.ini file -- it's an undocumented option. It introduces stutters in TCP/IP because of the Winsock action of waiting and coalescing small blocks into bigger ones). You could try IPX/SPX as well. It is a lot faster really, just more troublesome on WinNT/XP systems, but better on Win98. Good luck! Pete

Gauges can use FSUIPC. There's a special "module user" package provided in the SDK for this. I know of no way at present to "select a plane" from a program. FSUIPC does find the name of the currently selected plane (and even the AIR file, in FS2002 at least, though that looks doubtful in FS9). The other things can be done through FSUIPC, at least in FS2000 and FS2002. I cannot guarantee their support in future versions, that remains to be seen. The way FSUIPC does these things is by calling or intercepting or interfering with the innards of FS. Getting it to do these things has taken me many many hours of hacking into FS insides using Disassemblers like IDA and Debuggers like Soft-Ice. If there were easy methods provided in a nice easy interface by MS for these things I would not needed to have done this. If you want to do these things in a gauge without using FSUIPC I think you too will be faced with the same sort of work -- and like me, you will have to do it all again on each new version of FS. Microsoft do not build in all possible things into their ready-made interfaces for things like Gauges. The Gauges interface is meant for making aircraft gauges. There really aren't many real-life gauges that can do the things you want in a real aircraft, so they have not provided them. I don't think you can blame them for this, can you? . Regards, Pete

I think that's because the "" you are using are wrongly placed. These are only needed to stop the spaces in "Program Files" and "Microsoft Games" looking to the Command Line executor like the gap before the parameters. However, the space before the /CFG part IS supposed to be seen as the space before the parameters, as /CFGis a parameter, NOT part of the name of the program. The way you have it, Windows is looking for a program called "fs2002.exe /CFG:R172E.CFG". Try it with the second " after the .exe part, which is where the program name ends. Pete

Check the Log files -- both WideServer and WideClient produce logs. It sounds as if one end is disconnecting. If you don't run any applications at all the Server will reset every so often (adjustable) but it shouldn't be that often. It sounds like there's so other error -- but the log should tell you. Not a good choice to test with I think. I'm not sure about FSGarmin, but most certainly to get FlightMax working on WideFS you need to install it on the FS machine AND a remote version on the client. The remote version is a separate download and install. THEN the latter needs to access all the data in the FS installation in order to build its databases and so forth. It is pretty complicated -- there was a lot of instructions for this on the website. I'm sorry, but I don't have the details myself. I suspect FSGarmin is in a similar boat. All this is entirely indepedent of their dealings with WideFS by the way. Ahright. So you have found all that stuff. I think they still need to access FS folders directly and may even need their FS counterparts at least partly if not wholy installed. I hope someone who's got all this working can help you. Regards, Pete

I've no idea, I'm afraid. I hope someone else will be able to help, else I think you may need to try a more relevant forum. Sorry. Pete

That email address you used for me is now defunct. I'd rather deal with all questions, whether support or not, here, as then the answers benefit more folks and it saves me repeating things so much. Also, there is a better chance of someone else chipping in who may know more, or who can help when I'm away. So, yes, please do ask questions if you think I/we might know the answers. Well, up till recently I didn't need the money and preferred to keep things nice and easy, a pure "hobby", for fun. Things have changed rather dramatically. Don't worry, at least FSUIPC and WideFS will become shareware, or payware, with special arrangements for packaged and shareware applications. Regards, Pete

I explain it in words in the SDK programmers guide -- the recently elaborated explanation should surely be clear enough? I don't give expressions as how to do it would be different in each language. Pete

Sorry, there's nothing like that available at present. I'll try to get some stuff done on ATC, but it will have to wait till well after FS9 release. I did look way back, soon after FS2002 release, but I couldn't find anything. Pete

I just spent a little time looking through the stuff I've got on Autopilot values. Although the autopilot obviously keeps track of whether IAS or Mach is selected for Speed mode when the Auto Throttle is engaged, I don't think it knows or cares what the A/P gauge itself is displaying. It looks very much like the selection of IAS or Mach for display is purely a local thing to the Gauge code. FSUIPC cannot get local gauge data. Regards, Pete

FSUIPC itself does nothing unless you have selected options or are running a program, and certainly it doesn't have anything to do with graphics at all. Possibly you have the random cirrus additional cloud layer enabled and something has replaced your nice wispy cirrus clouds with some horrible dark graphic? The other possibility is that you have enabled the "Virtual Sky" option by mistake? That only works properly in conjunction with the correct installation of the application program which provides the graphics. Did you check the weather dialogue in FS to see what conditions were set when this occurred? I might help to know. Just select "minimum weather defaults" on the first page of FSUIPC's options. If that stops it then you have either got a video card driver problem which is rendering clouds badly, or have virtual sky enabled, or have somehow replaced your nice cirrus clouds with something horrible. You can check the cirrus clouds by adding some yourself, of course -- go to FS's weather dialogues and have a play. Always check the options you have set in FSUIPC whenever you suspect anything. It saves a lot of hassle. I hate having all those options, but they've all been put there at the requests of users, all of them. :-( Pete

You would have to ask Jeppesen to add such a feature. FliteMap has a facility to read position data from GPSs. GPSs connect via the COM port. This is what GPSout is emulating. Do you know any GPS devices which have an Ethernet port? If so then perhaps you can persuade Jeppesen to support them in a new version of FliteMap. If you do this, let me know (and which GPS has Ethernet) and I will consider adding Ethernet support to GPSout. I'd need to know how the NMEA 0183 specification has been extended to support this medium too. WideFS is nothing to do with it as it is merely an extension of the FSUIPC interface to Network computers. FliteMap is not an FSUIPC application and I don't think you could possibly persuade Jeppesen to make it one! Pete

You would have to ask Jeppesen to add such a feature. FliteMap has a facility to read position data from GPSs. GPSs connect via the COM port. This is what GPSout is emulating. Do you know any GPS devices which have an Ethernet port? If so then perhaps you can persuade Jeppesen to support them in a new version of FliteMap. If you do this, let me know (and which GPS has Ethernet) and I will consider adding Ethernet support to GPSout. I'd need to know how the NMEA 0183 specification has been extended to support this medium too. WideFS is nothing to do with it as it is merely an extension of the FSUIPC interface to Network computers. FliteMap is not an FSUIPC application and I don't think you could possibly persuade Jeppesen to make it one! Pete

What does, what positions? If you mean the increment shown in FSUIPC's Flaps section, then what you are reading is the increment -- the difference between each flap position. It is fixed for a fixed number of flap detentes. It only changes if you change to an aircraft with a different number! Sorry, you've lost me now. Where can you put 3 numbers as parameters? Where are you looking? The FS flaps control takes a SINGLE (1) number between 0 and 16383. 0 means "no flaps", 16383 means "full flaps". The other positions are spread equally between those two extremes. So for example if there were only 3 positios (0, half and full, say) the parameter values for those would be 0, 8191 and 16383, the increment being 8191. Just extend this for the number of positions you want. Pete

What does, what positions? If you mean the increment shown in FSUIPC's Flaps section, then what you are reading is the increment -- the difference between each flap position. It is fixed for a fixed number of flap detentes. It only changes if you change to an aircraft with a different number! Sorry, you've lost me now. Where can you put 3 numbers as parameters? Where are you looking? The FS flaps control takes a SINGLE (1) number between 0 and 16383. 0 means "no flaps", 16383 means "full flaps". The other positions are spread equally between those two extremes. So for example if there were only 3 positios (0, half and full, say) the parameter values for those would be 0, 8191 and 16383, the increment being 8191. Just extend this for the number of positions you want. Pete

FSUIPC can only list the controls provided by FS. In fact the list you see is extracted at run time from FS's "Controls.dll" -- the names are from there too. FSUIPC just adds things for PM and KeySend. In that case you have to use an axis input (Flaps Set is one such and suitable). See the Joystick section, and how to assign a Flaps control in the Advanced users guide. "FLAPS_SET" is not assignable in the FS CFG (at least not without patching CONTROLS.DLL as explained in my FS2002 controls document) so FSUIPC allows mapping from any assignable axis control. If you have no spare axis, only a set of buttons, then you could try assigning the Buttons to the Flaps Set axis, and setting the Parameter there to the correct values to ensure correct flap selection -- in the Flaps section of the Joystick page you will see the increment needed for your aircraft when it is loaded. If it says "2047" for instance you would set flap parameters 0, 2047, 4094, and so on, or something like that. You'll need to experiment to see if you can make this work, I've never tried it myself. Keep us informed. Regards, Pete

FSUIPC can only list the controls provided by FS. In fact the list you see is extracted at run time from FS's "Controls.dll" -- the names are from there too. FSUIPC just adds things for PM and KeySend. In that case you have to use an axis input (Flaps Set is one such and suitable). See the Joystick section, and how to assign a Flaps control in the Advanced users guide. "FLAPS_SET" is not assignable in the FS CFG (at least not without patching CONTROLS.DLL as explained in my FS2002 controls document) so FSUIPC allows mapping from any assignable axis control. If you have no spare axis, only a set of buttons, then you could try assigning the Buttons to the Flaps Set axis, and setting the Parameter there to the correct values to ensure correct flap selection -- in the Flaps section of the Joystick page you will see the increment needed for your aircraft when it is loaded. If it says "2047" for instance you would set flap parameters 0, 2047, 4094, and so on, or something like that. You'll need to experiment to see if you can make this work, I've never tried it myself. Keep us informed. Regards, Pete

Okay, thanks for that. If you do get any more information on the problem and want me to look at it (e.g. a DrWatson dump, as described in the FSUIPC User Guide under "If FS crashes ...") then Zip the data up and send it. Maybe an FSUIPC log too, plus a description of how you made it crash and a list of other add-ons being used. Please make sure you are using latest versions first, of course. Generally, however, now that most folks are using XP rather than WinMe or Win98 I'm not finding the DrWatson dumps at all useful. They seem to be completely obscure and unhelpful compared to those produced under Win98. [if there's any reader who knows how to interpret XP DrWatson's perhaps he would get in touch with me, please?]. Regards, Pete

Okay, thanks for that. If you do get any more information on the problem and want me to look at it (e.g. a DrWatson dump, as described in the FSUIPC User Guide under "If FS crashes ...") then Zip the data up and send it. Maybe an FSUIPC log too, plus a description of how you made it crash and a list of other add-ons being used. Please make sure you are using latest versions first, of course. Generally, however, now that most folks are using XP rather than WinMe or Win98 I'm not finding the DrWatson dumps at all useful. They seem to be completely obscure and unhelpful compared to those produced under Win98. [if there's any reader who knows how to interpret XP DrWatson's perhaps he would get in touch with me, please?]. Regards, Pete