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Does anyone know if it is possible to force a rebuild of the scenery database for FS2004 whilst the sim is running, using FSUIPC or any other tool? Thanks, Richard

Pete, Just tried out writing the zulu and local times using your new version 3.22 and I am not getting the frame rate drops experienced before. Thanks for the update, Richard

Pete, Just wrote the FLT file path and forced a reload with offsets 3F04 and 3F00 respectively, so that FS9 now loads the correct zulu time (as written into the FLT file after the correct offset has been determined) and there is no frame rate drop. So obviously, reloading an FLT file sends the appropriate broadcast message through the chain system as expected, which you describe, avoiding any loose, unwanted processes still working. Thanks for making the adjustment in 3.22 - will try writing the zulu and local times, as before, when you release it and see if the frame rate issue still exists. The effect was probably more pronounced when starting off with low frame rates such as in my Simflyers/UT/full sliders scenario. Thanks for all your support Pete, Richard

Hi Pete, I don't want to start the sim with system time e.g. my system time now here in Hamburg is 19h15 or 17h15 zulu. Say I start a flight now in Memphis, I want the situation to load with the local time there now i.e. some time after noon (I don't know the time difference offhand) and not at 19h15. The only way to do this with FS9 at the moment (assuming I load a situation file where I am in Memphis) is to go into the World-Time menu and change the zulu time to 17h15 (as the sim either would start at system time i.e. 19h15 or at the flight time when the FLT file was created). Your tip to write the local Memphis time into the FLT file and then load FS9 is very useful - however, unless I have a table of time differences telling me the offset of Memphis time from zulu time, I won't know how (what time offset) to calculate the local Memphis time. Hence, in order to obtain this offset, I load FS9, it starts in Memphis with my system time at 19h15. I can then through FSUIPC (or of course World-Time menu) read the zulu time which would be some time in the morning and calculate the offset. This all works fine. I then want to start the process of writing new times and refreshing the sim environment so as to reflect the correct local time in Memphis and to have the sim running with the correct zulu time i.e. 17h15. Instead of using FSUIPC to write the updated times, I could, using your suggestion, then write a new FLT file with the correct Memphis time (now that I have the time offset) and reload/refresh the sim - can I force a reload of a FLT file using FSUIPC? To answer your question about the "loading" - yes, that's right - reloading of textures. This happens automatically when using FSUIPC to write the zulu time (followed by FSUIPC_Process() of course) - but is accompanied by a permanent frame rate drop. When only writing and processing the local time with FSUIPC, no automatic reload occurs and one must make it reload by going into the World-Time menu-after reloading, no frame rate drop is noticed! When writing and processing both local and zulu time, one has the same scenario as when only writing/processing zulu time i.e. automatic reload but the mysterious (permanent) frame rate drop. This I have also noticed when using FSRealTime. So to avoid the frame rate drop, the compromise is to only write the local time and make the sim reload (i.e. through World-Time menu or the quick "ALT W T ENTER" keypress). But, I would like to try the option of using FSUIPC to force a reload of the FLT file - which offset do I use for this? (I see there is 3F00 for reload flight and 3F04 for path select - will try this) It's been a good week so far - thanks for the chat Pete. Richard

Hi Pete, Thanks for checking my post again. Apologies for not explaining clearly. When I talk about loading FS9, I have a DOS compiled C++ executable which I use to set things up for me before loading FS9 e.g. it writes out a fs9.cfg file with the correct situation I want to load. It also calls the fs9.exe file once I am ready to start and once FS9 has loaded, it also writes the correct zulu time based on my system time. The idea behind this is that I don't have to load/set things time etc. once FS9 has started which I find is more time consuming. Furthermore, I want to eventually expand on this front end e.g. to build a world map from which to select situation files etc. Re the frame rates, well I normally have well over 20fps (3.2 GHz, ATI 9800Pro, 1GM DDR500 RAM) but I have all sliders full, am using UT at 100% AI aircraft and Simflyers scenery in this particular case. I found that scenery reload (to which I have assigned the TAB key) does not have the same effect as going into the World-Time menu and then "OK" to get out - surprised me as I tried this to avoid going into the World-Time menu seeing as I want to avoid setting things in the sim in the first place, but a quick "ALT W T ENTER" keypress takes an instant - hence the satisfactory compromise for me. To come back to the frame rate drop, indeed it is permanent i.e. when using FSUIPC to write only the zulu time and then to process it with FSUIPC_Process(&dwResult), the sim automatically reloads - once the sim has reloaded I realise there is a permanent frame rate drop. This is not however the case when writing only the local time and processing it with FSUIPC_Process(&dwResult). In the latter case, the sim does not automatically reload and one has to go into the World-Time menu (where one notices the updated local time) and then press OK to make it reload. After this reload, no frame rate drop is noticed. I was surprised by this as it tells me that irrespective of the time textures and AI traffic that are loaded for a given time, the resulting frame rate differs between writing & processing only the zulu time as opposed to only the local time. Pete, I appreciate you taking the time to read through this long post. Regards, Richard

Pete, I appreciate you responding as your suggestions have already helped me find a compromise. Test 1 : No use of FSUIPC and manually changing the time within FS9 Result : LITTLE CHANGE IN FRAME RATES. FPS=12 Test 2 : Only change the local hour using FSUIPC i.e. FSUIPC_Write(0x238, 1, &upHour, &dwResult) followed by FSUIPC_Process(&dwResult) Result : The environment time is not updated but going into the World-Time menu, it can be seen that a new local time has been written. Only when pressing "OK" are new scenery objects etc. loaded and the environment time is updated to reflect the FSUIPC written local time. (Going back into the World-Time menu, it can be seen that a new Zulu time was also calculated to reflect the FSUIPC written local time.). LITTLE CHANGE IN FRAME RATES. FPS=12 Test 3 : Only change the zulu hour using FSUIPC i.e. FSUIPC_Write(0x23B, 1, &upZulu, &dwResult) FSUIPC_Process(&dwResult) Result : Unlike in test 2, the environment time is automatically updated on loading FS9 to reflect the FSUIPC written zulu time. IT IS HERE WHERE THE FRAME RATE DROP OCCURS. FPS=4.5. Changing the time back manually in the World-Time menu resolves the frame rate problem which returns back to around FPS=12 Conclusion : I will adopt the result from test 2, i.e. use FSUIPC to write in a local time (based on a calculated zulu time) and then manually refresh the environment time within FS9 by going into the World-Time menu and pressing OK. I was previously writing local time, zulu time and the date which produced the same result as in test 3 i.e. a frame rate drop. The advantage of writing in zulu time with FSUIPC is that the environment automatically refreshes on FS9 startup but with the frame rate drop. Note : I installed FSRealTime to check its effect and realised it was also causing the frame rate drop, so it must be writing in zulu time (followed by the automatic FS9 refreshing). I do not think that writing the zulu time is causing the frame rate drop (as simply performing FSUIPC_Write(0x23B, 1, &upZulu, &dwResult) with no FSUIPC_Process(&dwResult) has no effect) but rather that the frame rate drop is due to the effect that writing the zulu time has on causing the sim to automatically reload the environment.

I have written a small application (using Borland C++) that uses FSUIPC to write the following parameters into FS9 : FSUIPC_Write(0x238, 1, &upHour, &dwResult) FSUIPC_Write(0x23B, 1, &upZulu, &dwResult) FSUIPC_Write(0x23E, 2, &upDay, &dwResult) I then call : FSUIPC_Process(&dwResult) to update the sim with the parameters. This all works okay, however, I am finding that after the Process call, the frame rates drop significantly (1-3fps in some cases, but in general to about 30% of value prior to calling FSUIPC_Process). As a newbie, I fear that I may be forgetting something, but even after killing my application, the frame rates do not improve. Does anyone have any ideas or experience of this? Thanks, Richard

Hi Pete, Thanks for your quick response - I tried writing both the local (0x238) and Zulu (0x23B) times as well as writing the offset between the two (0x246) using the correct sign, but the simulator environment still did not automatically update. I then tried using FSUIPC_Write with a FS control entry i.e. (FSUIPC_Write(0x3110, 8, upLocal, &dwResult), where upLocal only provides a new local time (control entry 66044 and local time parameter) that is offset from the correct Zulu time, and this automatically refreshes the simulator with the new local time as well as the corresponding correct system Zulu time. Richard

I would like to start up my FS2004 situation files in Zulu time - as I believe FS2004 does not provide a facility to start in Zulu time, I am using the FSUIPC_Write/FSUIPC_Process functions to write in the Zulu time automatically upon start up. However, I am finding that although within the World->Time menu, the new Zulu time has been set, the simulator is not actually refreshed to the new time and requires me to go into the World->Time menu first and select OK in order to reload the set time. Can I use FSUIPC_Write/FSUIPC_Process to force the simulator to reload/refresh with the new set Zulu time? FSRealTime implements a similar functionality, but I would like to do this myself with my start up scripts. Thank you, Richard