Pete Dowson

It should do -- at least till the next corrupted WX file! ;-) Regards Pete

Strange. Can you please detail exactly what you are writing to where and i'll check again here. There are lots of add-ons using this facility, so if anything had happened to it I would have expected to hear by now. I haven't used FS9 for many years now, but i can still run it on one machine. I can't look at it further till tomorrow (Friday) now, though. Pete

No, other than the strange coincidence that it is almost identical to the one I found. Weird. Try deleting that section altogether so it gets a default size and position. The window used is the same one as used by FS's own ATIS and other notifications. Do you not see those either? That is, unless you are using a mult-line message? I think that might mbe a different one. are there any more similar sections? Pete

Enable event logging in FSUIPC Logging options. Please move to the Support Forum for Support questions, not this FAQ subforum which is for stockpiling useful information for everyone, not questions. Thanks. Pete

It's always worked okay in either mode. Are you sure it isn't there but sized wrongly or off-screen? FS keeps a record of the window size and position in the FLT files, so it could be different for each saved flight. See the section like [Message Window] Undocked=False ScreenUniCoords=64, 200, 8064, 435 UndocCoords=0, 0, 0, 0 Note that you can't normally have an Undocked window in full screen mode -- maybe that's your problem? Pete

There is certainly a separate taxi light switch and the others. Whether they are all implemented separately or at all on every aircraft is another matter. Here's the list from the List of FSX Controls installed in your FSUIPC Documents folder: TOGGLE_BEACON_LIGHTS 66239 TOGGLE_CABIN_LIGHTS 66579 TOGGLE_LOGO_LIGHTS 66376 TOGGLE_NAV_LIGHTS 66379 TOGGLE_RECOGNITION_LIGHTS 66377 TOGGLE_TAXI_LIGHTS 66240 TOGGLE_WING_LIGHTS 66378 LANDING_LIGHTS_OFF 66060 LANDING_LIGHTS_ON 66059 LANDING_LIGHTS_SET 66061 LANDING_LIGHTS_TOGGLE 65751 PANEL_LIGHTS_OFF 66057 PANEL_LIGHTS_ON 66056 PANEL_LIGHTS_SET 66058 PANEL_LIGHTS_TOGGLE 65750 If they are truly "ganged together" in the specific aircraft I suspect that'll be stuck in the code for that aircraft. Regards Pete

The Lua controls are assignable in the axis assignment section on the left. Select "FS control" not "direct to FSUIPC calibration" -- this isn't a control which is calibrated. Pete

In the FSUIPC SDK, the ZIP called "New Weather Interface for FS2004" -- NWI stands for "New Weather Interface", you see? I don't document that. you must be looking at the FSX SDK, not the FSUIPC one. Pete

Well, SimConnect stopped responding here: but as it shows, it was okay on re-connecting. The log isn't finished, so i assume FSX crashed at that point. I really don't know anything which would crash SimConnect specifically with an ALT+ENTER screen mode change. As I said, it's usually down to video drivers. Four things you can try: 1. Change vidfeo drivers -- later or earlier. 2. Remove all .WX files (weather) from your Documernts \ Flight simulator X files folder. A corrupted WX file can wreak havoc in SimConnect and it may only happen when FSUIPC is running as it is reading the weather from SimConnect regularly. 3. Try forcing FSUIPC to use an older version of SimConnect. see the notes below, quoted from the 4.731 release notes in "Download Links". 4. Try uninstalling just SP2 / Accelerator via the Windows menu, and re-testing. Then re-install that. Regards Pete

Best to use the normal message display facilities for "notices" -- i.e. via offset 32FA (control) and 3380 (text). Regards Pete

It seems you are misreading something? The Cxxx offsets are all concerned with the NWI (New Weather Interface) and use binary data not METAR strings. The METAR string capabilities are provided through B000-B7FF (writing a METAR) and B800-BFFF (reading a METAR). But for global weather you'd need to use the C8xx section to select global weather mode first. In normal local weather modes setting "GLOB" METAR strings for the global weather only sets the default weather for stations not otherwise set with local weather. Regards Pete

I have considered it before, but the work involved is far from trivial and i really don't think the demand and application warrants it. Very few people would want multiple windows spread over their FS views. What would those Windows give to the user? I can understand the need for such displays when debugging programs or checking things, but surely not as a permanent set of displays? Regards Pete

Hmm. Good question. Is any weather reliable in FSX? ;-) It tries to. But it's been years since I've known anyone using the FS98-dated global weather offsets, and without poring through the code I can't really say categorically. Why don't tyou try, possibly via FSInterrogate, and see what happens? If it doesn't look right, let me know with Weather logs (enabled in the Logging options), and i'll work out why. I don't think it matters. Each time you do a change to anything, FSUIPC has to read the weather (which arrives from SmConnect as a strange non-standard METAR string), decode it, change the bit you wrote about, then re-encode it (as an even more non-standard and different METAR string -- yes reads and writes use different formats, dammit!), and send it back. All that should work, but I can't recall off-hand which weather programs use that old system. The "advanced weather" interface was introduced for FS2002 (I think) then the more widely used New Weather interface in FS2004 (FS9). It isn't used in FSX. In FS9 and before it affects the cloud base -- letting some bits of cloud fall below. FSX does those things automagically. Regards Pete

FSUIPC allows assignment to any FSX control which is cataloged in its CONTROLS.DLL Whether there are any there which don't appear in its assignments dialogue I don't know. I've never done a comparison. The complete list is provided in the "List of FSX Controls" document installed in the FSUIPC Documents folder. There's TOGGLE_BEACON_LIGHTS, and TOGGLE_NAV_LIGHTS, standard FS controls also in FSX, certainly assignable in FSUIPC if not in FSX via the dialogues. Seems odd if they omitted those, however. Of course, as it is surely with FSX assignments directly? FSUIPC only uses standard FSX controls for such things so if it is possible at all in the sim it is possible with buttons. What do you use normally? (Check the controls list provided.) If you are talking about a sophisticated add-on aircraft which does its own systems, then it all depends on what provisions they have made. If they only allow such things to be operated by mouse clicks then you may have a problem. There are ways for many such add-ons, though -- mouse macros and local panel variables (L:Vars) are alternatives which work on different add-ons. Regards Pete

Odd. Generally problems like that, switching screen modes and so on, are caused by video driver problems. I've no idea how or why SimConnect is involved in such a switch, and FSUIPC neither knows nor cares about it. Nevertheless, it looks like it must be an FSX installation error or corruption. The FSUIPC4.LOG file, from the FSX Modules folder, might be helpful -- it may show an error with SimConnect too. Just paste it into a message here. When you say "reinstalling FSX .." was there an FSX previously on this same PC? If so, did you attempt to uninstall it or similar? Have you reformatted and reinstalled Windows since? If you have tried to uninstall FSX and then came to reinstall it, it is very likely that the SimConnect part is in a mess. The uninstaller does not properly uninstall the side-by-side libraries used by SimConnect, it just seems to destroy the links, and when you try to reinstall the whole area becomes an unrecoverable mess. I ended up having to completely start from scratch with a fresh install of Windows. Regards Pete

Brilliant! I didn't know about luacom. Do you think you could post something on these lines in the User Contributions sub-forum, as a more permanent reference? Messages here tend to scroll off out of sight very quickly! Thanks, Pete

It sounds like you are using FSUIPC4 and FSX? As documented in the FSUIPC4 Offsets Status dicument, which should be the reference you are using, thast facility isn't implemented for FSX. I have no way to implement it. Regards Pete

Sorry I know nothing at all about C#. It doesn't look anything like C to me! I hope some other C# programmer can help you. Regards Pete

Check the appropriate offsets list for your version of FS. They are all listed in the documents supplied in the FSUIPC SDK. Look initially at 32FA, the control word. Regards Pete

It appears to be "normal" for FSX, when the engines are running. It's been checked already with lots of different aircraft models. FSX doesn't actually supply the ZFW, so FSUIPC4 has to compute it from the total weight and the fuel weight -- 0x3BFC shows exactly 0x30C0 minus 0x126C. 0x30C0 , 8 , Current loaded weight in lbs in double floating point format. 0x3BFC , 4 , Zero Fuel Weight, lbs * 256. 0x126C , 4 , Fuel: total quantity weight in pounds (32-bit integer) It seems that with the engines running the total fuel weight will be decreasing. I suspect that the resulting total fuel weight is adjusted for this but that SimConnect is asynchronously supplying these changed values separately, at different times. So you get the little ups and down as one is changed before the other, then the other compensates. Typical changes are shown by monitoring the offset, thus: 6708168 Monitor IPC:3BFC (U32) = 30259288 6708901 Monitor IPC:3BFC (U32) = 30259136 6709494 Monitor IPC:3BFC (U32) = 30259392 6709899 Monitor IPC:3BFC (U32) = 30259240 6711397 Monitor IPC:3BFC (U32) = 30259084 6711397 Monitor IPC:3BFC (U32) = 30259340 6712317 Monitor IPC:3BFC (U32) = 30259188 6712489 Monitor IPC:3BFC (U32) = 30259444 6712910 Monitor IPC:3BFC (U32) = 30259292 6713940 Monitor IPC:3BFC (U32) = 30259140 6714501 Monitor IPC:3BFC (U32) = 30259396 6714938 Monitor IPC:3BFC (U32) = 30259240 6715937 Monitor IPC:3BFC (U32) = 30259088 6716498 Monitor IPC:3BFC (U32) = 30259344 6716951 Monitor IPC:3BFC (U32) = 30259192 6717465 Monitor IPC:3BFC (U32) = 30259448 6717949 Monitor IPC:3BFC (U32) = 30259296 6718947 Monitor IPC:3BFC (U32) = 30259144 6719478 Monitor IPC:3BFC (U32) = 30259400 6719961 Monitor IPC:3BFC (U32) = 30259248 You can see the changes are up and down by 256 (1 pound) max at intervals ranging for 150 to 1000 mSecs. If your application needs a stable value I suggest you either take the average of two of more values, or simply ignore single pounds. If you are using kilograms you shouldn't even notice a change. Regards Pete

Thanks! Incidentally, all the files I place on the Server here are in a "Beta" folder. It was allocated to me by the powers that be. It is a Beta in the sense that it doesn't become a full user release until documented properly and posted on the Schiratti site. In that sense all the Interim updates are 'Betas'. Thanks again, Pete

Download 4.731 from the Download Links subforum. Apart from the possible problems you might have from using Filtering (now fixed in 4.731), I suspect you also have multiple conflicting assignments. Try renaming your FSUIPC4.INI file so your settings don't get reloaded. If the throttles still do odd things you have assignments made in FSX itself still. You must NOT assign in both FSX and FSUIPC. One or the other. You can still calibrate in FSUIPC even if you don't assign there. Pete

Versions 4.729 and then 4.731 have been up since then (DLL only). The installer there is still 4.728b. No earlier version of FSUIPC4 is available at all -- in fact no sign of any earlier anywhere on the simFlight server. If your ISP isn't updating its files at all you should be complaining or changing ISPs. If it really never keeps its local cache up to date I'm surprised you could even get 4.728 -- the name of the main download ("FSUIPC4.ZIP") hasn't changed since first released in FSX Beta days years ago. Have you tried getting it from the main Schiratti site? I'll be working on the updated Prepar3D when that's released, probably next week, then putting together a complete new release, installer included. Pete

I think you must be in the wrong forum? Pete

Why not check the "repeat whilst in range" option provided, instead, and use the "Key Press and Release" control instead? Come to that, since the F2 keypress is assigned in FSX to "throttle_decr", why not assign to that with repeat action enabled? This would also allow separate reversers for each engine if you wished, using the throttle1_decr and throttle2_decr controls. (I've just tried that and it works okay on the NGX). Incidentally, I assume you've ruled out having a reverse zone on your throttle axes? That works okay too with the NGX -- I've tried it here using both direct assignments to FSUIPC and to the FS throttle controls. The NGX really doesn't seem very different in these respects to any other aircraft. Right. so it sounds like repeats are generated -- maybe I do that. I really can't tell without checking. but if so then the repeat rate should be the same as assigning a keypress from a button. Can you compare it please? If it's the same then I know where to look in my code. The repeat rate for your keyboard is set somewhere entirely outside anything FSUIPC has anything to do with, so you can't really compare it. The reverser axis built into FSUIPC uses direct control into the simulation engine, which is why it doesn't work on the NGX. But all of the normal FS throttle controls seem to work fine. You could also look at the User Contributions subforum, check out the thread entitled "Throttle Manager to Allow Axis Forward/Reverse Toggle". For a dedicated axis you could of course do something a lot simpler than that. The axis can be assigned directly to a small Lua plug-in which simply converts the axis value (the ipcPARAM value in the plug-in) from the +16384 to -16384 range into the 0 to -4096 range needed by the aircraft for reverse (i.e a simple newval = (ipcParam - 16384) / 8 ), then sends it on as the parameter to a throttleN_set control (for separate reversers N=1 or 2) or the throttle_set control for one reverser for both engines. Regards Pete