sbclark

JD,Thanks for your quick response.Firstly, the error, or better yet, the message "Registry Key of FS-9 not found," occurs during the installation phase of RC, not when you run RC. I have gone thru the install many times now and it seems that I am asked to point to where the FS9 directory is every time, which I would expect. I would think once would be enough, but when the installer asks 3 more times, I begin to doubt that the install is progressing properly. So the place for you to look is in the installation SW code, not the RC code.Secondly, I will go ahead and complete the install, even though I have to answer this question 4 times in a row. I will then run the RC program to see if it runs properly. But reading thru this forum, there have been others who have encountered "run time" errors later if they experienced this same issue as I have.So you may want to check out the installation module code and associated files as to where and what the installer is looking for when it asks the question "Registry Key of FS-9 not found." Regards,Bill

JD,I

It is RC v4.3.Bill

I am currently running WideFS and RC on another PC and FS9 on a 2nd PC. Every time I install RC, I receive the following message twice during the install "Registry Key of FS-9 not found, please browse to your FS-9 directory, and press OK." So I tried two different ways I thought was the FS9 folder:1) Connect via the shared networked drive to

Hi,I just got an email from MegaScenery that mentions a new FSX patch to Southern California. Anyone know what issues they fixed? What other improvements did it make?There are no details about the fixes, or enhancemnts, if there are any, as there is no readme file.The link:http://www.megascenery.com/patches.htmBill

>check to see if you have the elevator trim mapped to a>joystick axis. this would prevent elevator trim changes via>other methods. i had my trim mapped to my joystick's throttle>axis, but this made the autopilot malfunction since the>autopilot adjusts pitch via the elevator trim.One more question:Have those of you using TouchBuddy software, been able to successfully implement the elevator trim feature (Numpad7 and Numpad1)?Thanks,Bill

>Sounds like a numlock issue of some kind... with numlock off>(or maybe on... cant remember which), the Num 1 and Num 7 keys>control trim, but when numlock is on, those keys control your>view (for example, Num 7 would be looking forward and left)>>Sounds like you have numlock set wrong, so it is trying to>control the view and not the trim.Todd,Thanks,I've tried it with NumLock On or Off, the results are the same.Something is clobbering the keystroke coming from TouchBuddy. BTW - it seems like all the Numpad keys behave the same under FS9, but work OK with Falcn 4.0.Bill

>check to see if you have the elevator trim mapped to a>joystick axis. this would prevent elevator trim changes via>other methods. i had my trim mapped to my joystick's throttle>axis, but this made the autopilot malfunction since the>autopilot adjusts pitch via the elevator trim.Ben74,I tried this but didn't help, I got the same result. For some reason, it wants to change the view, this is really wierd.But I gather, your FSX profile, at least elevator trim, works fine?Any other thoughts?Bill

Hi All,I thought I would re-open this thread again.I have set up TouchBuddy profiles for both FSX and FS9, but for some reason, I not able to implement the elevator trim feature, which requires using Numpad1 and Numpad7. I can make it move via the keyboard, but not via TouchBuddy using either client/server, or local mode. However, I can use all the Numpad keys when running my Falcon 4.0 AF profile.For whatever reason, it just dosn't move the trim wheel, but rather just flashes to another view and back again. I posted the details in the hardware section of AVSIM.Have those of you using TouchBuddy software, been able to successfully implement the elevator trim feature?I just don't know what is causing this, any ideas?Bill

Hi All,I thought I would query this forum to see if others, who have successfully used TouchBuddy software, happen to be experiencing similar issues regarding TouchBuddy with either FS9 or FSX.The crux of my problem is that I have been unable to send Elevator up/down trim commands to FS9 or FSX. When I do send a command, all that happens is that the view changes or flickers, but the trim wheel does not move at all (when viewed in the virtual mode with the view).To move the trim wheel in manual mode, via a standard keyboard, all that is necessary is to do the following:1) Turn off the Num Lock pressing Num Lock key (if Num Lock light is on)2) Press either Num Pad 1 or Num Pad 7 to cause the trim wheel movement.3) Turn on the Num Lock by pressing Num Lock key (if Num Lock light was previously on)I have tried the following TouchBuddy commands both in the Client-Server and Local modes without success:Example 1 (type = button)macro = rawkey:NUMPAD7, EXTENDEDKEYmacro = rawkey:NUMPAD7, EXTENDEDKEY | KEYEVENTF_KEYUPExample 2 (type = button)macro = predef:SHIFT, KEYDOWNmacro = predef:NUMPAD7macro = predef:SHIFT, KEYUPExample 3 (type = hold)macro_select = predef:SHIFT, KEYDOWNmacro_select = predef:NUMPAD7, KEYDOWNmacro_deselect = predef:NUMPAD7, KEYUPmacro_deselect = predef:SHIFT, KEYUPHere is what works, Num Pad keys work with Falcon 4.0 Allied ForceHere is what I think, if any of you have been able to make the trim function work, then I have to suspect there is a issue with my FS9 or FSX configuration or add-on causing this issue.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------So what I'm looking for from you as help:1) Have you experienced this before, if so, is there a solution or workaround?2) Any suggestions as to any other command sequence(s)?3) Any ideas on how else I can better troubleshoot this?Bill

Hi All,I'm continuing to work on develping a TouchBuddy profile for FSX, however, I have run in to a snag with LevelD 767. Below is a description of the problem I posted elsewhere in the forum and I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions to offer?"Like you I'm using TouchBuddy as an input device on all the sims I'm running, which are, Falcon 4.0 AF, IL-2 1946, FS9 and FSX. I'm also running LevelD under FS9.I love this device and I am in the process of developing a profile for FSX. So I would be more than happy to share it with you once I finish. I find it very easy to setup once you have created all the artwork, or modified the existing artwork others have put together.I'm running in the client-server mode on my setup. However, I'm having an issue with LevelD 767 in FS9 as it will not accept many of the keystrokes via TouchBuddy. What is interesting, these same key-press combinations do work with the default aircraft. So it appears that the LevelD SW is blocking some of these commands, but not all of them.Unfortunately, the TouchBuddy website has been down for several days now, so I hope the are not going off the air. I wanted to post this issue on their website, but will have to wait until they are back up.I believe TouchBuddy is the ideal tool for FS9 and FSX as it greatly simplifies the user interface. It will be especially helpful for the more complex add-on A/C being developed by PMG and LevelD that are becoming more popular these days. I'm surprised more people are not using this device."Bill

Blaster454,Like you I'm using TouchBuddy as an input device on all the sims I'm running, which are, Falcon 4.0 AF, IL-2 1946, FS9 and FSX. I'm also running LevelD under FS9.I love this device and I am in the process of developing a profile for FSX. So I would be more than happy to share it with you once I finish. I find it very easy to setup once you have created all the artwork, or modified the existing artwork others have put together.I'm running in the client-server mode on my setup. However, I'm having an issue with LevelD 767 in FS9 as it will not accept many of the keystrokes via TouchBuddy. What is interesting, these same key-press combinations do work with the default aircraft. So it appears that the LevelD SW is blocking some of these commands, but not all of them.Unfortunately, the TouchBuddy website has been down for several days now, so I hope the are not going off the air. I wanted to post this issue on their website, but will have to wait until they are back up.I believe TouchBuddy is the ideal tool for FS9 and FSX as it greatly simplifies the user interface. It will be especially helpful for the more complex add-on A/C being developed by PMG and LevelD that are becoming more popular these days. I'm surprised more people are not using this device.Bill

In an attempt to interface a Touch Screen with LevelD 767, I've discovered that it is not possible to send some key press commands. For example, I'm not able to turn on or off, the Flight Director by sending a "CTL F" when I have the LevelD 767 running under FS9. But, if I send a "CTL F" directly from the keyboard on the PC running FS9, it does toggle the Flight Director on and off. The second case is, if I load the default Boeing 737, I'm able to turn the flight director on or off using TouchBuddy SW via the touch screen. The TouchBuddy works great with IL-2, Falcon 4.0, and default planes in FS9 and FSX, although I have yet to complete all the FS9 and FSX profiles I'm building.It appears that either the LevelD 767 software is blocking or ignoring the TouchBuddy SW. I should also point out that I also have GoFlight SW running as well, but I believe I was able to disable this SW to rule out the possibility there may have been interference because of GoFlight.My goal was to develop a screen for the MCP (flight director) to show the feasibility of interfacing with a complex add-on like the LevelD 767.....a few of my friends are flying the particular A/C add-on. Configuration - I'm running the TouchBuddy SW over a network with the touch screen on the Client machine and FS9 as the server on the 2nd machine. Both PC's are running Windows XP. Anybody running into this issue on their systems?BTW - I love this SW and I believe there are many opportunities, maybe even more than the combat sims, for those using FS9 or FSX to simplify the User Interface via touch screen technology. Bill

Hi All,I have a 10.4 inch touch screen, but I'm using a freebee SW package called TouchBuddy. I have it working well with Falcon 4.0 and IL-2. Currently, I'm developing a profile for FSX, which I have a few screens developed and tested already. I must say that it is one of the best solutions I've seen to date for solving the User Interface problem encountered with these modern, very complex, simulators.I currently have Level D 767 running on FS9, but will upgrade to the FSX version soon. So my plans are to take the "generic" FSX profile, the one I'm creating now, and later create a custom profile just for the LevelD 767/757 add-on package. For example, you could create a tab (screen page) just to handle VNAV, LNAV, N1, FLCH, CMD, and other buttons on the MCP panel for example. Which means I will have two profiles, one for the default FSX A/C, and another for the LDS 767. You could create a profile for every special A/C you have installed on your system. The benefits, a profile for every special situation and won't have to use the mouse during critical phases of the flight.The TouchBuddy SW is really easy to use, once you create the buttons and other icons. The hard part is creating fancy artwork. So I've elected to keep it simple and reuse or modify buttons already developed by others.I really love this device and the SW as it finally solves the biggest issue of having to memorize 100 plus key presses. The TouchBuddy website can be found here:http://www.touch-buddy.com/Note: The site is in the process of moving to another server - so check it later.Bill

Hi,I've experienced the same issue.....it is all over the runway. Started a forum thread a few weeks back about it.....never got a good solution for it. The only workaround is to appy braking, and the second it starts to swerve right or left, release the brakes until you can straighten out with your rudders.I personally believe it is a flight model issue, although others have not experienced this problem.Your landing speed seems high, should be able to approach around 150 to 160 knots, and land around 140 knots.Bill

Hi All,For some reason, FSX got into a weird mode where the main 2D panel was tracking the same movement as my TrackIR motion. By this, I mean the 2D panel would pan around or go up and down as I viewed the scenery outside the cockpit, following my exact head movement.However, if I looked far enough to either my left or right (like looking out the side windows) the problem went away (panel was no longer visable in the view)For some reason, I'm unable to get out of this mode.Any suggestions on how to correct and get back to the normal 2D panel behavior so that it doesn't move around and is locked in place)?Bill

Hi All,I'm currently running Active Sky for FS9, however, I'm in the market for a weather package for FSX as I will be in the process of migrating to this newer flight sim version.Any recommendations?Bill

All,I also have a watch, but it is a cheap Casio, and is pretty light.....so maybe I need to get this heavier watch and make sure I put it on either the right or left hand to counter-balance the turn.....heh, heh.... Yes, I watched your video......and it landed straight as an arrow. Unfortunately, mine is all over the runway as I drop down to 100 knots airspeed. It is as if there is no rudder or nose gear control.I still have a hard time believing it is related to my stick/throttle/rudder combination, but rather could be due to FSX settings other than the input controls which I have already played with. But you never know, sometimes these issues are difficult to determine the root cause.What I would like to know, is there documentation provided by Microsoft developers, either in the SDK, or elsewhere, that describes how each parameter found in the aircraft.CFG file to see if I could tweak some items?Do you guys have any suggestions?Bill

Hi All,I'd like to address 3 individuals above specifically, but before I do, let me state something first.Basically, I have a high end joystick/throttle/rudder combination. The Cougar joystick and throttle combination is made by Thrust Master and has been modified by me by adding 3 Hall Sensors to the pitch and roll axis, plus the throttle axis. In addition, I have replaced the stock gimbals, with an Uber II Nxt mod that eliminates a lot of issues inherent in the original design. The rudder set, made by Simped, a company from Germany, is specifically designed for the Cougar and it comes with a built in Hall Sensor. So basically, I have a high-end device, with approximately $1,000 invested in it. Except for the FSX F-18, it works very well with two well know combat simulations (Falcon AF & IL-2 1946), plus all the aircraft in FS9 and FSX, with the one exception.1) fael 097 - you and I are in complete agreement. You have the same issue.2) fsxmissionguy - while you have not experienced issues with your Saitek X52, an excellent stick, I don't believe I have an issue with my input devices, given that it works for all aircraft in 4 very popular flight sims with the exception of the F-18. I just can't explain why.......which is the reason for posting my original message. It seems logical to me there is something fundamentally wrong with the F-18 flight/ground model because it behaves this way, unlike the other aircraft in FSX.3) jmiq - Since I don't have another set of pedals, and because my pedals work well with all other planes in all my sims, I see no reason to go further with other hardware as I'm very happy with my existing stick/throttle/rudder system.I will continue to look further into what tweaks that can be made. However, I do have one question, does the SDK that comes with the Deluxe version of FSX have a description of all the parameters in the aircrafts.CFG file as to what their definitions are?Thanks for you help,Bill

Phil & John,Thanks for your comments.Phil, did you modify the steering value in the following? point.0=1, -18.00, 0.00, -6.60, 1600, 0, 0.6349, 75.0, 0.2000, 3.5, 0.6100, 3.0, 3.0, 0, 0.0, 0.0I did comment out "//differential_braking_scale = 1.0" which didn't help out much.John, I did make the NULL change to the rudder setting, but didn't help either. As to spiking, my rudder pedals utilize a Hall Sensor, which unlike "pots," do not cause spikes.I may have to live with this issue, but it is too bad the ground handling during the landing phase is so sensitive. I've flown many real planes, including tail draggers and nose geared aircraft, and every Microsoft sim I have ever flow has always been way oversensitive with rudder and pitch axes compared to a real plane. Unless you have a cross wind, nose gear planes are a breeze to keep straight once you have touched down and you are below stall speed. Not so with the F-18, which is very unrealistic.Bill

Ron,You are right, there is no nose wheel steering in the CFG file. I also looked into other aircraft with nose wheel steering such as the CRJ and Lear. They didn't have entries that I could find either. I believe most military jets, at least the F-16 does, has a button you press to engage nose wheel steering. This feature is not implemented in FSX and I'm not sure how the real F-18 handles engaging nose wheel steering? It was suggested by others in this thread I use a drag chute. I don't believe the F-18 has one since it has a tail hook that can engage wires at either end of the runway incase of a brake failure or other problem. I've been to many air shows (Miramar and Reno) and watched many F-18 landings, but never a drag chute landing. The F-18 has excellent landing characteristics. When I experimented with the Lear and the CRJ, I noticed that all I had to do is initiate braking, and it tracked straight down the runway from touchdown until stopped, without having to use the rudder pedals at all. However, with the F-18, it tracks straight until the speed drops to approximately the 60 knot range. At this point, I absolutely have to get on the rudder pedals as it begins to veer either right or left, and it then becomes a wild ride until I finally stop, usually facing 180 degrees in the opposite direction, and sometimes off to the side of the runway. Of all the planes available to me in either IL-2 1946, Falcon 4.0 AF, FS9, and FSX, they range from excellent handling to at least manageable. Although the FSX F-18 is great to fly, unfortunately, the experience is spoiled by it's low speed steering and braking characteristics. BTW - I also tried a number of different values with the following parameters in the F-18 CFG file (braking section) to no avail.toe_brakes_scale = 1.7 //Brake scalardifferential_braking_scale = 1.0 //Delta on the amount of brake when the rudder pedals deflectedThe toe_brakes_scale parameter seems to affect the stopping distance. But I did find a combination of changes that reduced this problem somewhat, but at the expense of increasing the stopping distance significantly.My next step is to look at some other parameters, or hopefully someone will come forth with a solution that works. Thanks,Bill

John,I don't think I will modify the rudder settings as the rudders are probably ineffective below 60 or so knots, but nose gear steering and braking, I believe are the primary issue causing this behavior.Below is a copy of a portion of the F-18 CFG file relating to braking. I notice that differential braking comes on while braking, particularly when using the rudder pedals, and this is when the A/C starts to go erratic. The settings below are default, so I'm wondering if I change the differential_braking_scale setting from 1.0 to 0.0, this might help. In fact, I will try it later today and play around with different values.I did look for nose gear steering, but I didn't see it in the CFG file.......I'll look again.[brakes]parking_brake = 1 //Parking brake availabletoe_brakes_scale = 1.7 //Brake scalardifferential_braking_scale = 1.0 //Delta on the amount of brake when the rudder pedals deflectedauto_brakes = 0hydraulic_system_scalar = 1 //On brakes dependant on the hydraulic system, ratio hyd system to max brake hyd pressureIf you have any other ideas, please let me know?Thanks,Bill

Thanks for your responses.As to calibration, I have a Cougar Joystick with Hall sensors, so I have not had a need to calibrate for a very long time.......as it works great in Falcon 4.0, IL-2, and a little sensitive in FS9, and FSX, except for the F-18, which is hyper-sensitive. Compared to other sims, Microsoft sims always exhibit over sensitive flight models - which I can live with, except the F-18. All the tail draggers are less sensitive than the F-18.I was hoping for a suggestion that would permit me to just modify the F-18 characteristics, such as a cfg file found in the F-18 folder, so I don't have to "tweak" my joystic/throttle/rudder set for just one airplane. By the way, I have a separate set of rudder pedals, designed specifically for the Cougar that plug directly into it.Bill

I enjoy flying the F-18, but when I make a normal landing I find it extremely difficult to keep this jet steering properly after applying the brakes and the speed drops below where the rudders are no longer effective. I usually end up sliding sideways or end up backwards on the runway. I am an experienced sim pilot and have flown in the real world, but this behavior is very unrealistic for an A/C with nose gear steering. Of all the planes in FSX, this is the only one I can't keep straight upon landing.Have any of you experienced this? If so, is there a parameter in the A/C folder I can tweak, and what value should I set it to. Is there anything else I can do?Thanks,Bill

I primarily fly LevelD 767 in FS9. I will only fly airliners that have all the "bells and whistles", like FMC's.Bill