Pete Dowson

The 6 PC's under the hood in the cockpit come as part of the cockpit. They are very small, and probably only 1-2 GHz Pentium 4's (I don't recall off-hand). The software loading is pretty much auomatic, including updates, using facilities which are part of Project Magenta. PM is designed specifically to work in this way for smoothness of operation. It is used in major professional training cockpits for just that reason. Yes, and a higher cost and more complexity and even then probably not with the smoothness. If I don't limit it it ranges from 40 to 160 most of the time, excepting at places like my UK2000 Heathrow with UT2 and MyTrafficX traffic both enabled -- I like a realistic amount of traffic! ;-) -- there it can drop to 20-25, or even a little less when AES is in full swing (but I am parked then, of course, so it doesn't matter). I have the FPS Limiter set to limit the rate to 30 fps, though, and that's fine. If I use DX10 mode instead of DX9 I can get nearly double the frame rates, including at Heathrow, but there are still too many airports I like to use which are not DX10 compatible, even when using the AddOn converter which is available to convert textures on-the-fly. "Barely get over 30-40"? Why on Earth would they want to? Unlike FS9, FSX is pretty smooth at anything over 20, and over 30 is indistinguishable from over 100. Yes, that's the big problem with multiple FS windows, whether on separate screens or not. I've got just the one 10 foot screen and that doesn't even show any panels, nothing but the outside world. That's what it is for. If I had room for three screens with three projectors I would use a Matrox triplehead2go (which I have on a test machine in a different room), but as far as FSX is concerned that would make it still one display at something like 4200 x 1050, not three displays with three scenery windows. A similar argument really applies trying to put all of Project Magenta's smooth-operating glass cockpit screens on one PC, even an i7, as you suggested. You just won't get the same smoothness. When you enlarge your PFD and ND each to their correct full sizes of 8-10" any lack of smoothness is exaggerated. PM uses OpenGL, not DirectX, because at the time PM was first written (some 10 years ago), DirectX just could not compete for smoothness -- it can now I think, but it probably takes a lot more software design thoughtfulness. On my Piper Arrow III cockpit I have a Core i7-920 overclocked to 4.0 GHz, again driving one screen -- a 32". I limit that to 30 fps too, but otherwise it varies 30-80. But I don't visit places like Heathrow in my Piper. Only small airfields, and with photographic scenery. Okay, good. So the only question left really is whether it will run on a Networked PC with nothing overlaying the FSX screen. If not I shall have to wait for the Squawkbox folks to improve their Transponder handling facilities. Thanks! I think a lot of folks have everything through FSUIPC except the POV. You can do that. You need to take care that FS doesn't automatically re-configure your disabled axes and buttons though. It tends to do this if it thinks you've just connected a new joystick. Providing the system remains stable and you don't reconnect things it should be okay. And you can probably prevent any unwanted automatic assignments by editing the entries corresponding to your devices in the FS "devices.cfg" (or maybe "devices2.cfg"?) which appear to supply it with default settings for when it sees a new controller. Regards Pete

An install is the same as a "total re-install". The log still shows something wrong. All three SimConnect versions should be listed: As Ulfb mentioned, have you not obtained a SimConnect log yet? I think we discussed that a long time ago and I said I'd examine it if you emailed it as an attachment. It is looking as if nothing short of a full FSX reinstall will fix this, but the SimConnect log might help narrow it down still. Regards Pete

You posted in the wrong Forum! Lucky I saw it! You must put the ServerName and Protocol parameters INSIDE the [Config] section, not outside any section at all where nothing can read them! Please re-check the documentation supplied. BTW Windows 7 is nothing to do with it -- I use Windows 7 with no problems at all. Regards Pete

I don't know. It might be. 18Hz is the normal windows timer "tick" (55 mSecs). You should be able to get updated values from FS directly (from the gauge token variables interface, or via FSUIPC, at least as fast as the frame rate, so i suppose you can. I'm afraid I've never written a gauge and don't know the gauge SDK at all. You'd need to write it in C or C++, not in XML like the more recent ones. Regards Pete

I'm not clear on why it even persists in asking if you want to load FSUIPC. That is not normal to start with. Your "initial problem" was this: Is that the same now? I highlighted "all of a sudden" because that is really what needs examining. Things don't happen of their own accord "all of a sudden". Something must have been changed to do this. And it is that something you need to find igf you want to avoid a complete reinstallation. They might be there, but are they installed correctly. What does the Install log from FSUIPC4 show? You have reinstalled FSUIPC4 since then, I hope? No, there really won't be any difference, believe me. Regards Pete

Ahas I said, the fix is in 4.546. I saw that my updated Announcement (dated 25th not 23rd) didn't get uploaded! Strange. It should be okay now. Regards Pete

Ok, the new version is up. this is the description of the change: The way Lua plug-ins are started and terminated has been changed a little, to avoid problems with repeating controls (buttons and keypresses set to repeat whilst held). Whereas previously each repeated call to execute a plug-in would actively try to "kill" the previous incarnation then load and run a new one, the current repeat of the control is now discarded if the plug-in is still running. A repeated control only manages to load and run the plug-in if the previous incarnation has by then terminated. This effectively makes such plug-ins run at their own speed, and not even attempt to repeat at the set repeat speed. Short fast Lua programs will repeat quickly, while longer more complex ones wil repeat only slowly -- and non-terminating ones cannot be killed or restarted by a repeated control, only by a fresh one or an explicit "Kill" control. This makes assignment of Lua plug-ins to repeating buttons or keypresses more reliable. it was quite easy to crash FS before, due to a continuous build-up of pending thread terminations and creations. Note that, if a Lua plug-in is really intended to be used repetitively, it may be much more efficient to actually program it with a loop in the Lua code and have it checking the state of the relevant button or key itself. Have fun! ;-) Regards Pete

What about the transponder mode? ATC normally requires that your transponder be on standby until near takeoff under Tower control, as otherwise, on the ground, there are too many blips. Squawkbox requires you to be able to switch between standby and mode C or whatever (on with alt encoding). I have those switches but currently they only affect the offsets which the old Squawkbox 3 was using. No need to just hope. That's the whole point of the left-hand side of the Buttons and Switches tab in the options. I've not been investigating FSInn because all my friends who fly on-line use Squawkbox, and so that was what I had intended to use. That allows inter-user chats too on the Private connection (a separate PTT). Unfortunately my pleas for the authors to provide a way of operating the transponder, to batch what they did with SB3, seemed to fall on deaf ears. Okay, thanks, but keep it relatively separate, please. That's very kind of you! Thanks. Please email me (petedowson@btconnect.com) and I will give you my address. I'm using Windows 7 RC Ultimate 64-bit -- and before that the final Beta. It's been really excellent. I have in on my two main simulation PCs (the 737 cockpit and my GA28R Piper Arrow), and also now on my main program development PC. Although I am okay at programming and even at wiring and soldering, my metal and woodworking skills are non-existent, and anything I try to build looks a mess. So I waited till I could afford a ready-built cockpit. Mine is the PFC 737NG cockpit (http://www.flypfc.com ) with a few modifications. I do the FS drivers for PFC equipment so I got a good discount, of course . That on its own houses 6 little PCs under its hood (PFD/ND pilot, EICAS, MCP, PFD/ND copilot, Left CDU, Right CDU all under Project Magenta control), then FSX runs on an external PC (Core i7-975 water-cooled at 4.5GHz), and there's another PC running ASA, Radar Contact, Its Your Plane, pmSystems, pmSounds, FSRealTime, AISmooth, AESremote and SA_WXR. So that's (at least) 8 PCs used for the one simulation. There's no panel in the FSX aircraft (just the basic flight model and body from the FS9 PMDG 737NG). The screen is 10 feet wide with a 2000 Lumens LCD projector, running at its natural resolution of 1400 x 1050 but compressed to 16x9 widescreen. I would have used a Matrox Triplehead2Go for two more projectors for the side views, but the room is just not big enough, and it really isn't so important for me as I have severe tunnel vision out of my left eye and hardly any vision at all out of my right (deteriorating hereditary Retinitis Pigmentosa). There's no keyboard or mouse accessible from within the cockpit, though I do use the ButtonScreen facility in Wideclient (part of WideFS) on two 7" touchscreens inside for selecting options in the various ancillary programs. They are duplicates via a VGA splitter and mounted to the sides, beneath the side windows. The Piper Arrow III is an Aerosoft (Australia) complete analogue instrument cockpit (one of only 5 they made, apparently), driven by my own special driver, with an ordinary 32" LCD screen behind it. I use TrackIR5 with that one, for relaxing pottering about over VFR UK. Okay, I will! Thanks. Pete

Actually, forget that -- I was too hasty. I think I've found a neat way around the problem. I will upload new version (4.546 and 3.942) tomorrow (Sunday). Please try again and see if you can still break it! ;-) Regards Pete

The version and freeness of FSUIPC is completely irrelevant since it is not controlling your weather. Active Sky comes with instructions. Regards Pete

You are not reading my replies! If you look again you will see I added a bit called [LATER]. after I tried it. you've no need to explain when I said that! I did, AND I replied accordingly!!! I said Please do read ALL of my reply in future. It will save both of us wasting time! Regards Pete

Sorry, I don't understand. What IS this "look using the mouse"? What control is Shift+O? And how is anything using the keyboard or mouse related at all to the joystick assignments? FSUIPC most certainly does not interfere with normal FS keyboard assignments, unless you reassign them IN FSUIPC, and FSUIPC has no mouse handling at all except an optional mousewheel trim facility. Incidentally, your title doesn't seem to relate at all to your text. Your title talks about Zoom with the mousewheel, nothing about joysticks being assigned or mnot, nor shift+0 or Shift+O (are they two different ways of doing something?). Can you expand please? [LATER] Okay .. I've just loaded FSX and checked this facility (never tried it before). When you disabled "all control of the joystick", you presumably clicked on "disable controllers", which in FSX seems to disable everything. Not very friendly, for sure! In FS9 and before there was a specific option to diable or enable joysticks. I'm afraid the only answer if you need to retain those mouse facilities is to either assign your joystick axes and buttons through FS (you can still calibrate in FSUIPC if you want) or explicitly de-assign in FS anything you assign in FSUIPC. Regards Pete

I am not at all surprised! You presumably have "repeat"set for that button. Each time it is repeated (20 times per second), the previous thread has to be killed and another Lua thread started, probably before the other has truly finished and completely terminated. After a few seconds, there could be so many threads in the process of being killed that the system is overloaded. If people are going to do such crazy things I will have to put a BIG delay on obeying the next instigation of the same Lua thread! That will be unfortunate for those who use the facility properly. I don't understand why you would even try such a thing! Can you explain, please? :-( Pete

Why have you sent the same message FOUR times, twice quoted? My reply has become sandwiched between your repeats!!! Pete

I'm afraid, though I don't know VB at all, I do know that the 64-bit integer value you are reading is none of those types. In C/C++ it would be either an _int64 or a "long long" according to which compiler you were using. Of course using a 64-bit compiler it would simply be an "int" (integer), but mostly folks are still compiling for 32-bits. Maybe someone who knows VB can help, or possibly you can find a book on the subject? BTW I am pretty sure that dimensioning an array of, for example, 8 doubles will reserve space for 8 x 8 = 64 bytes of data. Similarly 8 Integers will be 8 x 4 = 32 bytes. P.S. I see you quoted verbatim my own text on the offset, and there you will read a potential solution, should your VB compile not support 64-bit integers at all. Read this part again: So, try that. Dimension an array of two integers to read the 64 bits into, and follow the documented procedure. The Hight part will be in the second element, the Low part in the first. Regards Pete

Sounds like whatever is setting your weather is setting it incorrectly. I don't provide any weather setting programs. Try ActiveSky, it seems to be the most popular. Regards Pete

Sorry, I've really no idea. I've got a vague memory of someone talking about aircraft jumping up and down, a long time ago, but I seem to also recall that it was due to some conflict between scenery and mesh data. Does it occur everywhere, or only at one airport? I hope someone else can help -- if it is definitely related to SB connections I'm sure you are more likely to get some advice on Forums concerned with on-line flying. Regards Pete

Sorry, what issues were they? There was some exchange I had with the authors or publishers quite a while back, helping them with something, but I don't recall the details. Well, it needs to be somewhere where it is accessible to FSUIPC. You can't put it in with FSUIPC, because if it is there FS will try to load it. If you've installed the GoFlight software for your devices, it should already be installed and accessible in the same folder as the GFConfig program, the one you use to configure the GoFlight drivers. There should then also be a registry link to GFConfig, and FSUIPC uses that to find the DLL. But if you've been in FSUIPC's Buttons & Switches options, and operated any of the GoFlight switches without them being detected by FSUIPC, then possibly GF have changed what they install for you. Have you tried at all? If not, do so first. I'd only be interested in FSInn if they have a method of driving things like PTT, Transponder mode and ident without mouse use and without Windows coming on top of FS -- I only have the scenery projected on a 10 foot screen viewed out of the cockpit windows and I don't want any unrealistic displays there. I'd also want FSInn running on a separate PC (to my extreme left, out of normal eyeshot), just as Squawkbox can be run, because that's where my cockpit headset intercom is connected (currently for Radar Contact and Its Your Plane). There are three separate sound systems in my cockpit. Thanks. I might be interested if it can be used with no window or gauge on FS, and can be run on a networked PC. Regards Pete

No, not without blocking everything else too. Best to run it on a PC without FS or WideFS. Regards Pete

And what about FSUIPC have you changed? Just registering it? If so there are only two possible explanations: 1. Either your registration key is a forgery, one made by a pirate key generator or, perhaps more likely: 2. The key was made on a later date than your system date, making it look invalid. If you've just bought the key this evening and you live in America then it is possible it won't be valid until tomorrow (Saturday) arrives there. In the very latest updates available in this Forum I've changed this so that the registration is valid for one day before the registration date, but the main Installer versions haven't been updated yet. Oddly this problem has only cropped up a few times, and all just recently -- Americans are making purchases later in the day than they used to, perhaps? ;-) Regards Pete

Button, switch and dial support for Goflight is built into FSUIPC, provided you have the GoFlight driver, GFDev.dll, installed or accessible to FSUIPC. If you installed their drivers it should be automatically accessible, unless they've changed things. If not, there's a copy in the "Updates and Goodies" Announcement above. If you are using FSX you can put it into the FSX Modules folder. For FS9 you must not do that -- put it in the Windows folder. The only utility i did for GF devices was "GFdisplay", for switching the LEDs on or off and displaying values on the digital displays. But that certainly isn't user-friendly I'm afraid, it involves some programming type work by the user. The NAV/GPS switch is in the drop-down for sure. As I think I mentioned, yuo can find the names of these things by using the logging -- that's how I find them. Alternatively just do a word search on the List of controls documents I supply. From memory I think it's called TOGGLE GPS DRIVES NAV1, and a search on "GPS" would certainly find it anyway. The transponder isn't well supported in FS -- you can only set and change its number. There's no IDENT nor MODE controls as FS doesn't simulate them. The on-line programs do their own thing with those -- you'll need to find out how to operate them in FSInn. It's really the only thing that has stopped me on-line flying, because Squawkbox 4, the version for FSX, doesn't provide any way for a hardware transponder with mode and ident switches to be used -- not even keyboard shortcuts. If FSInn has a keyboard shortcut for it, you can assign that in FSUIPC of course. Regards Pete

Ah, I am not best placed to answer that. Sorry. I don't know the aircraft. And in any case, really you are mostly governed by the controls you use. And the aircraft should be properly responsive to your controls in any case. Regards Pete

Well this might be to another add-in DLL. Do you have others installed? However, usually they simply cause a hang. The only black screen events I've heard of have always been due to video driver problems -- possibly the driver you are using is not fully Vista compatible? Please see if it still occurs in normal Windowed mode (ALT + ENTER swaps between full screen and windowed mode). If it doesn't, then it is a driver problem. Regards Pete

Well, the "DontResetAxes" cannot and does not stop the closing/reopening of the DirectInput devices, all it does is stop the previous values being set to impossible values so that on return to flight mode the first value read is seen as a change and causes an action. I added the facility before we diagnosed your problem, which is the drivers providing zero when re-opened, instead of the true axis value. That doesn't happen to everyone, and really I cannot think of a way around it which would not ruin the way FSUIPC works, the way it is able to pick up devices as they are plugged in. I left the facility in, just in case it might prove useful to someone, that was all. Regards Pete

I have now looked at this, and there is a "TAB" property on all of the Reload buttons. To get to the button you would have to send a number of tabs. Count them by doing it manually. For the "buttons" dialogue in FSX I count 4 tabs to get to "Reload all buttons" from opening the page. For the "keys" dialogue in FSX I count 13 tabs (phew!) to get to "Reload all keys" from opening the page. As far as I can tell, ALL buttons in ALL pages can be reached by TABs. Regards Pete