"Wrong version" error with FSUIPC 3.72

[airforce2]

Pete;

When using FSUIPC 3.72 and FSLook from the v27 SDK, I am getting intermittent errors from FSLook complaining about the version number of FSUIPC. It's a sporadic thing, but almost always comes up, especially with more complex aircraft.

I recently saw a post on AVSIM with another guy using 3.72 seeing a version error reported by the PMDG 737 panel.

Reverting to V3.70 stops the behavior.

Cheers

[Pete Dowson]

When using FSUIPC 3.72 and FSLook from the v27 SDK, I am getting intermittent errors from FSLook complaining about the version number of FSUIPC. It's a sporadic thing, but almost always comes up, especially with more complex aircraft.

I'd need to see logs. There's no possible reason for such behaviour being "sporadic" -- either the version number (and all the data) will always be wrong, indicate a corrupted DLL or a failure to verify the signature (Win2000 and Win98 may get this, and it is possible on WinXP if the Cryptogtraphic Services are stopped or broken). But that check is done at load time and thereafter the behaviour should be absolutely consistent. The version number is only established in the offsets once.

I recently saw a post on AVSIM with another guy using 3.72 seeing a version error reported by the PMDG 737 panel.

Reverting to V3.70 stops the behavior.

That's even more an indication that there's a signature checking problem as that check was added in a late version of 3.71x. There is an IMPORTANT note in the 3.72 user guide, at the head of the Installation section, about how to check this and rectify it, and it also appears in the Other Downloads announcement above.

Regards

Pete

[airforce2]

OK, thanks Pete. I did previously check the .dll digital sig per the docs. However, before I run FS I use always Ken Salter's FSAutoStart utility, as many others do. In FS AutoStart I discovered that I had the Cryptographic Service selected to be stopped per the program's recommendation. FYI for the future...may be a good idea to test that the service is running and throw an error code if not, given the wide usage of FSAutoStart and the fact that it explicitly recommends people stop the crypto service. Your call, of course.

But...the problem was indeed intermittent...however that error was coming from FSLook, not from FSUIPC directly.

Cheers

[Pete Dowson]

... may be a good idea to test that the service is running and throw an error code if not

I'm not sure how to do that, but I'll check. An Error is "thrown" (but in the Log) when the signature verification fails -- which is what it causes. Are you saying that a message box with option to Abort FS or Continue Regardless should appear? There are problems implementing those properly in full screen mode as they can appear behind FS and make it look like a hang, though I could possibly work something out via the Menu system, like the PFC verification screen.

In the case of FSX, the lack of the cryptographic services may well affect the SimConnect interface too, possibly making pretty much all add-ons, FSUIPC-using or not, appear to not work. I'll need to check whether it actually stops the DLLs being loaded, but if not maybe I should add the same explicit warning messages there.

But...the problem was indeed intermittent...however that error was coming from FSLook, not from FSUIPC directly.

Not sure why that should behow does it report that? It does use a separate interface to FS, to read Gauge variables (very inefficientlly, I might add -- it was designed specifically just to show the Gauge variables for comparison/testing of the FSUIPC offset values as shown by FSInterrogate and FSLook2).

Regards

Pete