Frank.O

Hi, I think you have to register squawkbox with FSUIPC. Referr to the doc's about how to do it and get the key from the sticky thread "keys for freeware" at the top of this forum. Regards, Frank

Hi Ryan, the freeware key only allows the panel to use FSUIPC's interface into FS. "Fix Control Acceleration" is an additional feature which is accessible for registered users only. Regards, Frank

Mike, I myself have actually never seen this issue except when flying in the mountains. But I remember that on the german FS newsgroup a few simmers reported that this moving white area below the plane had gone after installing BlueSphere. I can't imagine how FSUIPC should introduce this, but just to make sure, backup your FSUIPC.ini and let FSUIPC build a new one and check all the visibility options. Regards, Frank

Hi Mike, I may be wrong but I think what you are seeing here is the top of the visibility layer. It has been a major complaint about FS2002 that you had a clear vision of the ground as soon as you got above the vis layer, even if the visibility was very low within the layer. That's wy MS put a sort of thin cloud layer at the top of the vis layer which is meant to prevent the ground from being seen when above the vis layer. You can reduce this problem by using the BlueSphere textures by Gerrit Kranenbarg but it is a compromise. Have a look here: http://members.chello.nl/g.kranenbarg/gwkhome/BlueSphere.htm and here: http://www.flightsim-forum.com/flight-simulator/Blue_Sphere_textures__any_good_124416.html If you have Chris Willis' replacement clouds installed, reinstall them after BlueShpere installation because they are overwritten. Hope that helps, Frank

Hi Dave, I encountered not exactly the same but similar problems. I hadd assigned all the GPS buttons to operate the FS9 GPS via FSUIPC. It seems that the assignments in FSUIPC no longer override the standard settings in the PFC driver. Also I had assigned the com radio on/off buttons to "comX_transmit_select". When I press an on/off button the radio is activated on the audio panel but the unit on the avionics goes off. It seems that both commands, the one assigned in the PFC driver and the one assigned via FSUIPC, are being executed. I cleared all assignements in the PFC driver so the respective buttons worked again but those not assignable in the PFC driver cause problems. I also deleted all ini files and in the following session made all my assignments and calibrations from scratch (1 hour) and it worked for that session. Once FS9 was closed and relaunched the problems were back. I reverted back to FSUIPC 3.14 and PFC.dll 1.841 and this works as expected. Let Pete enjoy his hollidays and see what he comes up with when he's back. If you don't have a working set of files until then give me an email adress and I'll send them to you. Regards, Frank

Hi, I remember that the author of WidevieW offered to do this edit. But I looked at the page right now and couldn't find it anymore. If I recall right this is in a language specific file (english.fll for english FS). May be hex editing this file would do that, but I'm not familiar with that stuff. First thing I would try is (after making a proper backup of course) finding the word "slew" and replacing it by blanks. But again : this is just a guess of mine. I have also read about an option in FS9.cfg which would remove text messages from screen (brake, parking brake...) but I don't know if that affects the slew message too. Regards, Frank

Pete, You are right in what you're saying about the unreliability of the inputs and so on. Well, don't take this too seriously all together, it was just a thought of mine. It is very good as it is now and further changes are not really needed. It just felt a bit trickier to keep the Baron straight and maintain a proper taxi speed when taxiing in a moderate crosswind, so I thought I might ask. Stop working now and prepare for your holidays :) . Regards, Frank

Because it could replace the internal prop sync then. Engaging the prop sync when the engines are set very differently is not reasonable in my opinion. So this feature does exactly what prop sync is supposed to do. Beeing able to switch it off would also help on the ground when differential thrust is used to help with steering, because slightly different throttle settings are required here. I could then remove the prop sync switch from my panel and use this feature instead. Kind regards, Frank

Pete, I just received the interim version and tried it. I did 5 different tests and it allways worked like a charme, no matter how early I called up the PFC driver window. Thank you very much for this. I've also tested the "equalize" feature and I'm absoluteley amazed. It really works very well. The prop sync spinner on my panel for the first time didn't do any move for an entire one hour flight and the last remnants of that "snake dancing" are definitely gone. Great. Oh... if this could be made switchable via a button or key so I could turn it on and off with a switch on the cirrus (Alternate Air would be fine), then I could forget about the FS internal prop sync forever, because this one really works. :wink: :D All the best, Frank

No, no such thing. The only quadrant I ever used is the Twin Prop. Nine default quadrants are enabled but no one but the TwinProp was ever active. And automatic selection is not enabled. Hm..., as I said, I wait until FS has settled (no more hard disc access, clouds and vis loaded and aircraft sitting on the tarmac). But I can well wait a few moments more :) . Yes, I see. Thank you very much for this. Great support! :lol: :lol: :lol: Nice to see that you are keeping your sense of humor. Thanks again, regards, Frank

Hi Pete, I'm very sorry, but I'm afraid this is going to be still more strange. I cannot answer this in one sentence, so here is what I did. FSUIPC is 3.14. After experiencing the prob I reinstalled PFC 1.831. All pages were back but the driver window would allways come up with the single prop non-carbureted quadrant activated. I have never used that and I have made no assignments of quadrants to specific aircraft. I changed that but after the next launch it was back to single. I let PFC rebuild a new ini but still the same. I was not able to make my selection of the twin prop quadrant stay. After reading your reply I installed ver 1.84 again. And no comes the strangest of all: IT WORKED. I was really in doubt of my mental abilities for a moment. I shut down FS and relaunched it and the problem was there again. Repeated that procedure - same thing. Then I only closed the driver window and had a look at FSUIPC. I was able to access the controls drop down lists. After that I called up the PFC window again. All the pages were back! Within that same session! It seemed that if the problem occurs I have to close the driver window, wait a few seconds and then retry. Then all the pages were back. On some more tests I found that when I waited really long (1 min) after FS seemed to be fully loaded then all pages were there and also the quadrant I wanted was active. I think I didn't call up the driver window too early before. I allways waited till there was no more hard disc access. I'm pretty confused now. May be this is a timing problem or a problem with the order in which the modules are loaded? It may also be that it is related to my system only. I don't know. Kind regards, Frank p.s. Don't let that worry you, I can live with how it turned out now. Enjoy your holidays.

Hi Pete, just installed the new version to try out the "equalize" feature. When I called up the driver window in FS all the pages right of the console page were not visible. I seem to remember this was also there with one of the earlier version but can't exactly recall which one. Any ideas? Kind regards, Frank

Roger, you need to disable the function "show window content when moving" in the windows display properties. If enabled it prevents FSUIPC from doing it's job to stop sizing and moving. HTH, Frank

Pete, I just want to say: Don't let that bring you down. I'm not english so I may have missed something but I even didn't see what made the author of this thread think youn were unfriendly. I my opinion there was no such attitude in your reply. I have contacted you several times over the years, also by email before this forum existed, to seek some advice for my problems and I always received a friendly and helpful answer within a very short time. When you decided to make FSUIPC payware I well understood your reasons for doing so and I also know that you tried hard to avoid going payware. Keep up your work as long as you can (I would be very happy if there were versions of FSUIPC and PFC for FS10, and I would sureley buy them) but if sometime you have had enough of that all I can understand that as well. Friendly regards, Frank

Kenny, I don't know wether this works for jets too, but on the Baron I just tried the following: go into FSUIPC menu and display the Keys page. Open the scroll list with FS controls. Scroll down until you find "MagnetoX Start" (where X ranges from 1-4). Assign a key to this control (be careful that it is not already used in FS). If you just hit that key once the engine 1 starter will go to start until the engine starts and then go to "both". If you then create a voice command that issues this key to FS this should be what you're looking for. I didn't find any similar control for jet starters though, there's just one general control named "Jet Starter" but I don't know what that does. Hope this is of any use for you. Frank

Hi, I don't think this is really due to the GPS nor to PFC.dll. In my opinion it's a matter of FS's own method to control the airplane via AP. I've already seen that blinking with the AP set up to follow a radiaal of a VOR. It simply means that the airplane is still not exactly on the desired radial and the AP still has to work a bit to catch up. Once the airplane is exactly following the radial the blinking disappears. This behaviour varies with the distance from the VOR and can be improved somehow by increasing the effectiveness of the trim (all three) and thereby giving the AP more powerfull control over the airplane. Regards, Frank

It has arrived, thanks a lot. Frank

Hi again, that's absolutely right. After your first reply I made some more tests with standard panels and found the same (the good thoughts are allways a bit late :oops: ). No, please don't. As I said initially it's not a big deal. No work necessary here. BTW I've sorted it out on my own. Had a look at the XML code for the respective gauges on the 747 and found it pretty easy to make my own altitude pre selector. It's just a display of the values set and uses the same bitmap as in the Caravan but that's all I need and it works like a charm :) . Took me about two hours and was very funny without any knowledge about XML :lol: . I am pretty proud of myself :wink: Thanks for taking the time to look at it. Regards, Frank

Hi Ray, I don't have such pedals myself but I know that several simmers are using them. It should depend on the particular model. Rudder in FS is a single axis while brake and throttle on a car sim are two axes. If they can be switched from one setup to the other then it should be possible. Wether they are suitable for flightsim use is a bit of a matter of personal taste. These car pedals move independantly so if you push the right one forward the left won't be going back as it would be in a real airplane (and on the CH pro pedals also). I use the CH pro pedals and I wouldn't trade them in for car pedals :wink: . Regards, Frank

Good morning Pete, thanks for your reply. Hm..., can't be anything of that I think. The panel is the standard Baron panel from which I removed the panel DME and inserted the altitude pre selector of the Cessna Grand Caravan instead. That hasn't changed ever since I started to use PFC equipment (2 years). And the knob isn't reprogrammed also. I'm sure it was still good when I started to use FS9. Strange, isn't it? He he he, computers do have an inner life and a personality as well, don't they? May be I should go and learn XML so I can make my own altitude pre selector. Anyway, thank you Pete. Regards, Frank

Hi Pete, this is not a big thing and I can well live with it. I'm asking just out of curiosity. The altitude set by the altitude pre selector on the Digital Avionics can be increased or decreased in steps of 100 feet (1000 feet if you turn the knob faster). In former versions of PFC.dll this resulted in round values in the FS autopilot or the altitude pre selector on the panel (500, 2800 or 5000 for instance). This is now different. The FS values are always like 499, 2799 or 4999. I think this started with one of the 1.8X releases (can't say exactly when because I rarely use the AP). Where does this come from? Best regards, Frank

Hi all, there is a weather theme How To on flightsim.com . May be there's some useful information in there. The file name is wx_theme.zip. Since it is freely distributable freeware I tried to attach it here (36k) but for some reason I wasn't able to do so. Anything changed there? I've allways seen the "add an attachment" form before. Happy new year, Frank

Hi, I think the manual says that all of Pete's modules are to be found on http://www.schiratti.com/dowson.html Regards, Frank

Hi Gregory, I'm not shure if I understand your problem right but there is something you have to know about weather in FS2002. There are two types of weather: localized weather ( wich is set for every weather station worldwide when you download real world weather ) and global weather (wich you have to set manually since it is not set when you download real world weather). The global weather area is a distinct area with the same characteristics as all the the local weather areas around every station with one big difference: it covers the whole world. Every time you fly into the range of a weather station that has not provided weather data FS2002 will display the weather in the global area. If no weather is set there no weather will be displayed. I think this is the reason why the entire weather engine was changed in FS9. Global weather is not set by writing data into a global area anymore but by writing the same data into every weather station worldwide. Hope this is of any use for you. Regards, Frank

Good morning, Er, doesn't it do that? I'll check. I know it works the other way -- the Avionics switch on the Jetliner console blanks the avionics displays AND operates FS's avionics switch too. that's right Pete, the same applies to the Cirrus2. Dave is probably using a power quadrant cabinet wich doesn't have an avionics master. But if the Digital Avionics are synchronized to FS's own avionics master and radio stack then there should also be a check that forces FS's avionics master to be sync'ed with a hardware avionics master if one is present (certainly you're aware of that :) ). Regards, Frank