Pete Dowson

There are no facilities for networked axis controls simply because it really isn't a good idea. Any network latency wrecks precise control. Best to always plug them into the main FS PC, even if you need to use a longer wire. Regards Pete

It's called the FSUIPC History document and is installed for you automatically in the FSUIPC Documents folder (see the Installation guide). Up until the formal release all changes are noted in the Download Links subforum. Those are collated and published in the History document when the full release is made. Thereafter the previous main release is unsupported. Regards Pete

It's labelled "REV" but if you change it you MUST re-calibrate. If they go -ve to +ve when pushing, then they are already operating in the correct direction, so don't change the reverse box. However, why that conflicts with what you see in FS itself defeats me. But in any case, from what you now tell me, it is plain that you are NOT following the steps to a good calibration! Please refer to the numbered steps in the User guide. That's why they are there, to help you calibrate correctly. To start with you should press the brakes somewhat BEFORE even selecting the minimum value, to ensure there is always a null zone free of brakes with pressure off or slight (as when using the rudder). Similarly set the maximum slightly before you reach the highest value to ensure you can always achieve maximum braking when needed. Please, please, please follow the instructions. I really shouldn't need to repeat them here when they are clearly published. :-( Pete

Is the device connected to a real COM port, on of those 9-pin or 25-pin D-types? You PC actually has one of those? I ask because COM1 is almost never available for a USB serial adapter, with COM1 and COM2 being BIOS-controlled hardware ports even if not actually mounted on most modern motherboards. Sorry, I don't fully understand that part. Is that connecting to the real COM1 port on the PC too? FSUIPC can use any port it can open. If it cannot open the port there will be a message saying so in the FSUIPC Log file. I think you can use a serial port utility like VSPE (http://www.eterlogic.com/Products.VSPE.html) to loop COM1 out back to a virtual port on the same PC, no cables needed. Or probably easier you can use the freeware PortMon utility from http://www.sysinternals.com to check what is going on on serial ports, or, better, the (payware) Advanced Serial Port Monitor from http://www.aggsoft.com -- you can use it free for a trial period. Regards Pete

You could do it by writing a Lua plug in. The Lua COM library provided in FSUIPC will allow you to read the data on a serial port, then you can convert it to the format required by FS and use the IPC library facilities for setting the position, altitude, pitch, bank, and heading. On FSX you can also set the speed at the same time. The example Luas for connecting a master and slave FS over the Network shows the way to use the IPC library for this. There are some supplied examples of COM use too, but currently not for reading position data. For GPS output you'd need to ascertain what format it is supplying the data, Possibly NMEA 0183, which is easy enough and well documented on the Internet. Note that most GPS's will only supply the data at something like one second intervals, which is good enough for the moving map type application it is really intended for. On FS one update per second will look really jerky, so you'd need to experiment with ways of smoothing it. On FSX you can set the airspeed as wel as the complete attitude of the aircraft, so it might continue well enough between updates, with a little 'jerk' of correction each time it receives a new value. But it would be better to try to extrapolate with extra values computed by the Lua program to give at least 10 updates per second. Better smoothing could be obtained by accepting a 1 or 2 second lag on the PC compared to the GPS, buffering two or three incoming values and computing the smooth 10 per second positions for FS. Regards Pete

Sounds exactly like you have calibrated them incorrectly. There is no way they will stay on if you've done it correctly. Note than many toe brake axes on pedals are reversed -- they provide their maximum value with feet off, minimum when fully pressed. Did you check the "REV" option before calibrating? BTW why Ctrl B? Have you reassigned keys for brakes. FS always uses the . (full stop) for brakes and parking brakes. Pete

There is a program called "AddonConverter" ( http://www.flightsimtools.com/adconvx/ ) which you might want to investigate. Good! Thanks for getting back on this. Regards Pete

I moved your post because you posted in the User Contributions sub-forum, and yours is not a "contribution" but a support request. Please always use this support forum for support. Your problem affected a few folks about 15-24 months ago when one of the Windows DLLs gets updated by a mismatched video driver. The work-around to fix this was made in FSUIPC way back then. Unfortunately it appears that you are using an old unsupported version of FSUIPC -- only 3.99 or later (for FS9 and before) or 4.70 and later (for FSX) are supported. Please update. Regards Pete

Sorry, I cannot advise without more information. Please show both the WideClient.INI file and the WideClient.LOG file from the PC which isn't loading your program. Regards Pete

Okay. I'll see if I can fit it in over the next couple of days. Look out for a version 4.701 (DLL only) update in the Download Links subforum probably before Monday. I'll put a note in this thread too if I can find it by then! ;-) Pete

Oh, I see. Well, I can't really help you to a decision, and I certainly can't guarantee that FSUIPC can fix your problem, not until I see the possible reasons. All I can undertake to do is support FSUIPC properly, and help you towards a solution should you want to try. If you don't see anything else in FSUIPC that would be of use to you, then I would say that the weight of reason is not to buy. But do review the various threads here and definitely visit the User Contributions sub-forum to see what folks are doing with FSUIPC to get a broader perspective first. Regards Pete

On the sensitive autopilot subject, now you've bought FSUIPC, try out the calibration settings, and as well as defining an accurate central zone, look at the "slopes" facility. If you can't find a way which stops the A/P kicking out, let me know and we'll do some logging of the axis values to see what is happening and work from there. Regards Pete

Ah, the replies to ATC or the calls made by the Pilot! I see. I thought it was related to some choice in which voice to use. Sorry, I don't know any way to change that "on the fly". It might be possible to hack into the FS code to find where it's implemented, but if so it would really be something I'd rather do on FSX than FS9. My FS9 days are well in the past, and all my tools are aimed at dissecting FSX . Regards Pete

Phew! Considering that appears to date back to 2006 (!!!) with version 3.71, then, yes, of course! Why resort to places like that? I assume there are lots of websites with old copies of FSUIPC and its documents around. i can't stop that. But the latest is always obtained by simply installing FSUIPC (which costs nothing) and referring to the many documents and examples which are then provided for you in the "FS Modules \ FSUIPC Documents" folder. Seems there's a bug in the implementation of the add-on aircraft if it is so sensitive. Autopilots should be able to ignore minor knocks on the yoke -- something easy enough to do accidentally in any case. Maybe the yoke doesn't have a well-defined central position, as the reply you got suggests. FSUIPC certainly allows you to define a central null zone, or simply a less sensitive central zone, or a combination as suits your usage. It is precise, and you can have different settings for each aircraft or aircraft type (via "profiles"), automatically changing when you load different aircraft. However, for a basic crude central null zone you can actually use the slider in FS. Did you try that? (Don't use that AND FSUIPC). What does it do when you turn it off, as opposed to on? Sorry, but FS's ATC is not something I know anything about -- I've always used Radar Contact, ever since FS98 days. I don't think there's anything accessible to FSUIPC or any other program which changes those options, but if i understood what you are wanting to achieve maybe I could think of a way. Regards Pete

4.53 is actually far less trolerant of SimConnect inconsistencies than 4.70. But both would work far more effectively with SP2 SimConnect. Why are you only at SP1 level in FSX? The main problem with SimConnect which can cause crashes during loading is an error which was known to Microsoft, and is related to the Trust mechanism. It's a timing problem which they tried to fix and failed to do so before disbanding Aces, but it was much improved in SP2. The reason you aren't having it happen in 4.53 is undoubtedly simply because it's already got past the "trust" checking on that one so doesn't run in to the timing clash. I believe there might be two ways around the problem, judging by other reports. (It's never happened to me or many others so it isn't easy to be definitive): 1. Persist: Keep re-running FSX and telling it to continue until it does. Thereafter it isn't a problem. 2. Find your DLL.XML file (in the same folder as the FSX.CFG file. If you have difficulty show me the FSUIPC install log and I'll point out the correct path), and temporarily re-name it, e.g. to DLL1.XML. Then re-run the FSUIPC 4.70 installer. It will make a new DLL.XML which loads only FSUIPC4. Run FSX. That should get past this glitch. Then you can delete the new DLL.XML and rename the older one back. Note that you might need to run Windows Explorer "as administrator" to achieve #2. Regards Pete

What "null zone problems" are they? I shouldn't think so. That's for SimMarket to say, but how do you expect them to stop you using it? I think it is explicitly against the policy stated on the sales pages. If you felt that way why didn't you research it first, or at least ask here? Er ... what does that do? Isn't it an FS menu item? What are you wanting to accomplish? Regards Pete

Generally there's no choice. Before FSX there was only WideFS offering such facilities, apart from one or two programs which had their own networking built in. FSX introduced SimConnect as the new interface into FS for applications -- FSUIPC uses it, in fact. The main use of FSUIPC + WideFS in FSX is for compatibility with all those add-ons written for FS9 and before. Many (but not all, because FS9 is still so popular) new programs are written to interface directly to SimConnect instead of to FSUIPC. Regards Pete

There's really no way anything stored and recognised on your hard disk will be lost on a re-boot unless you have a serious hardware problem. Sorry, what does this part mean? You never need to re-enter any registration information unless you move to a new PC, or reinstall Windows, or roll back to a restore point before you registered. The data is stored in the FSUIPC.KEY file in your FS Modules folder and also encoded in a Registry entry. If it is getting lost in the Registry then your system is restoring the registry to an older copy -- such an action will affect almost everything you ever install. Regards Pete

No, but there's really no frame rate hit on assignment unless you've got some sort of joystick driver problem. You can certainly reduce the axis polling rate if you wish to prove it to yourself one way or the other. You should not have changed the Delta on the joystick assignments -- the default should be fine. If you've reduced the Delta values you will be firing far too many requests per second. Regards Pete

Another addition to someone else's thread!!! Please start your own! If you want me to look at your problem you need to show me the Install log and the FSUIPC4 log. I cannot help without any information! Pete

A "text"? Like on a mobile phone, you mean? You've added to someone else's thread on a totally different subject. You should have created your own thread. Why "again"? If the registration is rejected you are entering something wrong. All three parts you enter must be correct. Uase cut and paste. Pete

As I said, i tried those controls and they DO operate the selector for exactly the same function on the radio stack. I don't think there are any FS controls for the one you want to operate, but by all means try the other DME controls. Bring up the radio stack (probably shift+2) and see what I mean. FSUIPC doesn't invent the FS controls, it only presents them to you for your use. If it is possible at all it might be by using the FSUIPC mouse macro facility. Otherwise it probably is not possible. [LATER] Okay, I loaded up the default FSX Caravan, and tried the DME 1 toggle and DME 2 toggle controls. DME 1 toggle selects "1" on the DME display on the main panel, and DME 2 toffle selects "2". so i do believe they work okay on that aircraft.. They don't on the panel known as "cockpit", nor "virtual cockpit", but they certainly do on "right seat" and "radios" views. I checked and the "mouse macro" facility won't work on that selector switch you mention. All of the code for that is routed through "panels.dll" and is dependent very much on the mouse position relative to the drawings. However, using the FSUIPC assignable facility to Log L:vars, and the Lua "Log LVars" example (provided in the Lua plugins ZIP), I can see that the switch is controllable by the Local Variable "L:Volts Gauge Selector", so all you need is a Macro to SET that, and call it with parameters 1,2,3,4 for each position. Or use INC, DEC or CYCLIC for a pair of buttons or a single one. L:Vars are described in the Advanced User's manual, in the macros section. Regards Pete

Okay. how long ago was that? That's a sure sign your Simconnect installation is in a mess. But this would certainly not have been as a result of trying to install 4.70 -- as it says, because it found no suitable SimConnect installation it made no changes whatsoever to your system. Of course it will be the same, because FSUIPC4, ever since the first version , 4.00, has checked for a supporting Simconnect installation. No, it is the last time you ran FSX with a working install of SimConnect and FSUIPC4!! At some time between 16th September last year and the next time you ran FSX, something happened, or you did something, which messed up your installation. Have you attempted to move it, or uninstall it, or have you had occasion to "roll back" your Windows settings after a driver install went wrong? Or maybe you had some sort of hard system crash which destroyed something in the system? FSUIPC version 4.70 is actually a lot more forgiving of SimConnect problems like this than was 4.60 or before, so you may get away with a partial re-install. If you installed the SDK from your FSX Gold DVDs, and updated it with the SP1 and SP2/Accel SDK updates, then in the Core Utilities section you will find the SimConnect installers, simconnect.msi. Find the latest one, the one for FSX Acceleration, and run that. If that doesn't fix it you'll need to try uninstalling Acceleration (via the Control Panel Add/Remove programs facility), then re-install it. Failing that it might be a complete re-install job. Luckily you have no other add-ons so that won't be too much of a job. However, in my case, when my SimConnect installation became corrupted after a system power outage, I had to reinstall Windows from scratch. (Mind you, it did my PC the world of good -- some folks reinstall Windows regularly to keep everything clean and efficient!). Regards Pete

Okay. Looks like I'm going to have to take the plunge --very very reluctantly! Thanks, Pete

Looking at the Lua code it seems you must set the Parameter to 1, 2 or 3 to select the specific function you want it to perform. Did you do that? If you don't enterr the parameter value when assigning the button it will default to 0, and there is no action defined in the Lua program for 0. Regards Pete