Is hacking part of the Sim community ??? Read on :-)

[Guest]

Hi all.Yesterday I got the most amazing answer to a request for a software feature.Specially after all the hacking we have to do with scenery, terrain, aircraft, effects ... the list gets long... it stroke me kind of on the head. So I though that you should see this.I get the feeling that hacking is good after all. Even software copmanies recommend it !!!! for their own products !!!!!!Ah, and don't bother answering, they locked the thread.Don't you love democracy freedom of speech and all that ??Check the link :http://ftp.avsim.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboa...rum=DCForumID30And if you are quick you may get to reply here.... Locks just grow everywhere with no logical explanation these days :-)Times like this I wonder if Christian did the best thing.Cheers

[Guest]

I just checked my inbox and found a message from Johan informing me that the thread was not locked by him - a decent thing to do IMHO.I just felt it is fair to clarify it.George

[John_Cillis 2,406]

The short answer to your question is yes--hacking is a part of the sim community, and it's a pretty obvious answer. My app, Landclass Assistant, wouldn't have been possible without someone's reverse engineering of resample.exe and its output. Many people worked hard, and decided to share their discoveries with the freeware community, and in the case of scenery design, Landclass Assistant was the result.I'm not sure why the thread was locked--I'm not familiar with PSS' products, and being unfamiliar, I have no clue from your post what you were referring to. But I do know (being a programmer, as you are) that we're an odd bunch, and PSS or an overzealous Avsim moderator might have felt you were slighting them by your suggestion, feeling that you were publicly questioning their skill. Since your post appeared in the PSS support forum, I more than suspect this was the case.For what it's worth, without knowing the problem you were referencing, my Autoland 2001/2002 apps read the autopilot approx. 50-100 times per second, without any performance issues, using the FSUIPC interface. During landing, I'm writing to most of the A/P parameters, sometimes several times a second. But, if one thinks about it, even FSUIPC is a hack, isn't it? :)

[Guest]

Hi John !Well, yes to all...The whole fuss is about PSS's excellent A300 working with consoles.The only thing that really made me feel bad was the locking of the thread. Many people send me e-mails (I got almost 10) telling me this ! They tried to post for support and couldn't. Initially I thought it was due to the delay because of the censorship - oops - moderated forum I meant. Then I saw it was really locked.I'm glad it wasn't Johan (the PSS guy) cause although his reply was "firm" he didn't refuse help.Anyway, good to hear another programmer stating what the overhead of such a system would be - small. Ah, well it's all in the game and mostly that's what it is - a game.CheersGeorge

[Johan_Dees 84]

Hi, What I ment with the hack is not to break the code for reselling orlifting protections, but to read from it what the a/p state is.Like FSUIPC hacks into FS to read and write info.Recently I saw a new utility that can map keyspresses to mouse clicks and so on. I think you can use it to let your thingie work.Furthermore, the Airbus has a panel config utility where you can remap keys.Unfortunatly, there is no way to get data FROM the a/p. But you can read current speed, alt, vs and heading. You can set it with keypresses.But I am no expert in this, and PSS doesnt support it. Finally, PSS programmer decided not to bother with the issue, so at this time I cant help any further.Johan[A HREF=http://www.phoenix-simulation.co.uk]Phoenix Simulation Software[/A]Unofficial PSS website:www.people.zeelandnet.nl/johdMy help may not me much usefull, or usefull much..eh?