More questions on programming yoke & throttle

[vgbaron]

Can't determine if this is possible from th documentation but - I want to disable joysticks in FSX and handle all programming thru FSUIPC. I know how to set up the axis, buttons, etc. I've been reading up on profiles so that is clear.

However - there are many switches and axis that are common to all aircraft. So if I program those items with profile unchecked and then program remaining controls to a specific profile - will FSUIPC combine the "generic" with the specific or do I need to program ALL buttons, etc in a specific profile?

Hope this question makes sense - I'll continue to browse the forum and docs.

Thanx,

Vic

[Pete Dowson]

However - there are many switches and axis that are common to all aircraft. So if I program those items with profile unchecked and then program remaining controls to a specific profile - will FSUIPC combine the "generic" with the specific or do I need to program ALL buttons, etc in a specific profile?

Button assignments and Keypress assignments will use the non-specific settings where not actually overridden by profile-specific settings.

However, axis assignments and calibrations are not. The complete set for a profile must either be profile specific or general, not a mix. The reason is sanity. Whereas buttons and keypresses only matter when actually pressed or switched, axes are actively polled and values acted upon all the time. It not only makes no sense polling axes not intended to be used for a specific profile, but the general assignments may conflict with specific ones. It just gets too dodgy and difficult to work out what is going on if you have a mix for always-active controls.

The best bet is for you to do the general common axis assignments and calibrate them before assigning profiles, then you can use the settings already made each time before adding others.

An alternative is of course editing the INI file, block copying the relevant sections. But this is rarely necessary for axes.

Regards

Pete

[vgbaron]

Got it. Thanx Pete!

Vic

[vgbaron]

A little more clarification please, Pete - in reading the documentation, it states that to reset to fsx defaults, unplug and replug controller into USB port. I'm assuming this resets the GUID and mucks up the standard.xml file. What I cannot determine is how you get the FSUIPC setings back if you have to unplug and do not want to reset. possibly haven't gotten that far into the documentation yet. I see reference to ID'ing the controllers in the INI file. If I understand that correctly - assuming I've assigned an ID to the controller and the GUID gets reset, I just have to link the new GUID in the INI file with the "old" ID and FSUIPC will take care of the rest?

Sorry to be so dense...

Vic

[Pete Dowson]

... in reading the documentation, it states that to reset to fsx defaults, unplug and replug controller into USB port.

What? Where?

I'm assuming this resets the GUID and mucks up the standard.xml file.

No, neither. Sorry, I'm lost.

What I cannot determine is how you get the FSUIPC setings back if you have to unplug and do not want to reset

FSUIPC settings are saved in the INI file. They are never "lost".

If you want to unplug devices and plug them in differently or in a different order, then you need to use the Joy Letter methods in FSUIPC to identify the devices by name and GUID. Otherwise they will get mixed up.

But i've no idea what you mean by "reset" here.

possibly haven't gotten that far into the documentation yet. I see reference to ID'ing the controllers in the INI file. If I understand that correctly - assuming I've assigned an ID to the controller and the GUID gets reset, I just have to link the new GUID in the INI file with the "old" ID and FSUIPC will take care of the rest?

I can't begin to guess how you are getting so confused. The GUID is probably the only way of re-identifying a device if it moves. Where do you get all this misunderstanding from??

:sad:

Pete

[vgbaron]

Ah. I got it from the Sim Samurai Tutorial in your download links:

Restoring Default FS Control

To restore your default flight simulator control assignments for any device simply unplug the device from its

current USB port, wait a moment, and then re-plug the device in (while computer is on) into the same USB

port. Then start your simulator. If your controls are dead also look at the FS Options\ Controls\ Joystick

option and make sure you have your joystick enabled. If this doesn’t work then unplug/ re-plug the device

in again while the sim is running. Either method will most certainly get the USB device back to its default

I read that to imply that the FSUIPC settings are negated.

Regarding the GUID 'reset' - in the past, when I've unplugged a device and plugged it back in, possibly to another port, the GUID has changed and all the settings in the standard.xml do not work unless I manually edit the GUID.

So my logic was that in the above from Sim Samurai - the action would change the GUID and I would lose them but if you say they are not "lost" that's what I need to know.

I almost NEVER unplug my USB controls but in the few times I have, it's been a pain in the arse ( not relating to FSUIPC).

Think I misunderstood something. :)

Thanx!

device assignments provided by the simulator.

[Pete Dowson]

Ah. I got it from the Sim Samurai Tutorial in your download links

Weird advice, but his was a different point of view to mine and folks seem sometimes to understand him more than me.

Certainly if you've not actually disabled all controllers in FS, but only de-assigned their inputs, making FS think you've just connected a new device will make it do its default assignments to all the axes and buttons it finds. If that's what you mean by "reset", fine, but you'd still also need to delete anything for the device(s) you've done in FSUIPC -- eg by deleting the INI file.:

I read that to imply that the FSUIPC settings are negated.

Not without deleting the INI file or eidting all the settings.

Regarding the GUID 'reset' - in the past, when I've unplugged a device and plugged it back in, possibly to another port, the GUID has changed and all the settings in the standard.xml do not work unless I manually edit the GUID.

Ouch! I've never seen that here, at least not with Win7. But then I don't replug things differently often, if at all.

FSUIPC uses the GUID to distinguish between devices with the same name. So if they all have different names it may not matter.

Regards

Pete

[vgbaron]

that's why I don't unplug devices unless I must. So as long as the INI file is intact, FSUIPC will do it's thing. That's what I expected but the SimS docuemnt threw me a curve and haviong had the GUID issues in the past I made an erroneous connection. Now to get to the programming......

Thanx again Pete!

Vic

[Bob Church]

Hi Vic,

A couple of thoughts. Pete mentioned that it resets the default settings. You can control what the default settings are by editing them in the copy of standard.xml that's in your FS folder (not the smaller one that gets created as you make control assignments in FS. The "Generic" set only gets applied when there isn't a specific section in that file for a controller named as FS sees it. The file already has sections for the CH Yoke and Pedals. Those set the defaults for the named devices.

You can add a section to that file for the Throttle Quad and the X52, too. Look at the sections that are there, you'll see quickly enough what they need to look like. Make sure to do the "SLEW" sections, too. That way, clicking "Reset Defaults" will restore the settings to whatever you like with no programming at all. All of the standard FS Control Names seem to be recognized, you'll notice that Gear Up and Gear Down are used on the defaults for the CH Yoke even though all you can get to through FS itself is Gear Toggle. The commands are still there, FSX just chooses no to make them available. That's true of about 700 commands. FSUIPC does make them available though so, one way or the other, you can activate them.

Going back to your earlier post, you were talking about FSUIPC profiles and having buttons, axes, etc. which never change. It seems to me that if you made the section for the TQ and X52, and modified the existing settings for the CH Yoke and Pedals, you could make the invariant assignments on the basis of controller type in the standard.xml file. A "Reset Defaults" in the FS assignments dialog would put everything back to normal as far as those went.

If you then went to FSUIPC profiles, you could just make aircraft-specific assignments there. Clicking "Reset Defaults" would reset all the other "default" button and switch settings per the standard.xml file, and since your not going to program in FS but in FSUIPC, there'd be no reason for them to ever change except that you could override them with FSUIPC and they'd end up in the profile, which would really give you the best of both worlds. If it matters, except for where you go to calibrate it wouldn't matter whether you were running it over the standard Windows drivers or the CM drivers.

Best regards,

- Bob

The StickWorks

http://www.stickworks.com

[vgbaron]

Thanx for refreshing my memory on that Bob! That's what I did before (at your suggestion!) Now mixing the edited standard.xml with FSUIPC seems an interesting approach, I'll dig in to that some more.

BTW, thanx to FSUIPC I finally found a use for the paddles on the Ch Eclipse Yoke - programmed them for Zoom + and Zoom - for quick adjustments. Nice!

Vic