Reverting to older version of FSUIPC for FSX

[dfournie]

Is there a library kept of all the older builds of FSUIPC. Specifically I'm looking to revert back to 4.30 from the latest November 2008 release of 4.40. I'm getting many crash to desktops with the cause being that Data Execution Prevention is stopping a program that could harm windows, etc.. I'm also experiencing some unusual problems with the GPSOut portion of FSUIPC.

[Pete Dowson]

Is there a library kept of all the older builds of FSUIPC. Specifically I'm looking to revert back to 4.30 from the latest November 2008 release of 4.40.

No, there's no such library. Someone may be able to help out, but i don't think you'll find your problems relate to FSUIPC in any case. Have you got no better identification other than "a program"?

I'm also experiencing some unusual problems with the GPSOut portion of FSUIPC.

That's not actually been changed, though I have found a long-standing oddity with GPSout which I've fixed in an internal version since 4.40. It only occurs if you have set it to operate via a serial or USB port but for some reason it cannot open it. It still starts the GPSout thread, but doesn't flag this as running, so when you terminate FSX that thread is left running and then crashes. You don't get a tidy finish. It does no harm other than this, though of course it is annoying because FSX then doesn't get to save any CFG file changes (it only does so on correct termination), but, again, it only occurs when you tell GPSout to operate on a COM or USB port it cannot open. And it is a long-standing error.

What GPSout problems, specifically?

Regards

Pete

[dfournie]

That's not actually been changed, though I have found a long-standing oddity with GPSout which I've fixed in an internal version since 4.40. It only occurs if you have set it to operate via a serial or USB port but for some reason it cannot open it. It still starts the GPSout thread, but doesn't flag this as running, so when you terminate FSX that thread is left running and then crashes. You don't get a tidy finish. It does no harm other than this, though of course it is annoying because FSX then doesn't get to save any CFG file changes (it only does so on correct termination), but, again, it only occurs when you tell GPSout to operate on a COM or USB port it cannot open. And it is a long-standing error.

This is exactly what I've been seeing. The port isn't opened and GPSOut is not flagged as running. For some reason the virtual COM port is not being opened, and GPSOut is trying to send data. If I go to the program I am using (GPS Gate) and do a manual close of the virtual com port and then open the virtual com port, it then "sees" the data coming out of FSX on that virtual port and routes it where I need it. 4.30 and earlier did not require me to minimize FSX, manually close and open the virtual com port and then maximize FSX. In the end it still sends the NMEA around where it needs to go, but it's annoying all of a sudden that I have to perform manual open and closes of the virtual port. It is probably not a problem in FSUIPC, but in how GPS Gate is looking for data to be sent over the virtual com port and realize it's seeing "good" positional NMEA data.

[dfournie]

Pete,

I found a copy of 4.30 and re-installed it and my problems seemed to have gone away. I've run and shutdown FSX half a dozen times with good NMEA connects and no crashing. I can't explain it. Perhaps something with how my third party GPS Gate program creates virtual com ports and how FSUIPC knows when the virtual com port has been created.

[Pete Dowson]

Perhaps something with how my third party GPS Gate program creates virtual com ports and how FSUIPC knows when the virtual com port has been created.

Hmm. In case it is that GPSout problem I fixed, please do try my as-yet unreleased interim version, 4.402, and let me know. Here's the link:

http://fsuipc.simflight.com/beta/FSUIPC4402.zip

Thanks,

Pete

[dfournie]

Very good Pete. Version 4.402 indeed seems to fix the issue I saw in 4.40. I've done numerous starts and stops of FSX with good (and constant) NMEA connects. No other problems noted. Thank you, once again for your help.

[Pete Dowson]

Very good Pete. Version 4.402 indeed seems to fix the issue I saw in 4.40. I've done numerous starts and stops of FSX with good (and constant) NMEA connects. No other problems noted. Thank you, once again for your help.

Okay, good. Thanks for letting me know. I'd never have thought that error would have had such serious consequences. I use GPSout a lot here and had no trouble -- I only found out about it when my COM port got changed and the result was the FSX crash on termination.

4.402 has some partially implemented future facilities so I don't want to make even an announced interim release yet. In fact I'm already up to 4.403. Please, do look out for an proper interim version in the Announcements above and replace your 4.402 when I've put one there. Maybe next week.

Regards

Pete

[dfournie]

No worries Pete. My application is a bit different than a normal user, so I wouldn't think others would see this issue. Neverthless, I will be on the lookout for the future released version.

[Rabbs]

Strangely I have been suffering from the same issue recently. I believe it started after I installed fsrecorder, but I cannot be certain.

FSX would shut down with a Data Exception Protection error, when looking in the Vista event Viewer it tied this to FSUIPC. After I received this error unless I rebooted I couldn't get my GPS talking through FSUIPC again, it seems that COM1 was being held open. I reinstalled FSUIPC several times, uninstalled fsrecorder but still had the same issues.

Happy to report that I just installed the latest Beta .dll and the issue is resolved

Many thanks

John