EPICfan

Dear forum members, I am thinking whether it is worth buying FTX Global (without any vector or LC addon, just plain). I am mainly flying in the Gulf. Is there someone out there who could be so nice as to take a screenshot of Bahrain as it looks with FTX Global? Best regards, Holger

Problem solved - the cuplrit was the use of combinations that involved the ALT key.

Thanks, Jerry. I saw the keyboards, but did I miss the list? Best, Holger P.S.: I already have my hardware, controlled by EPIC.

Dear all, does anybody know a list of keyboard commands for the PMDG aircraft that does not conflict with FS or Windows shortcuts and that I can copy from somewhere? Best, Holger

It might be the combination with ALT keys. I will open a new thread and ask for a conflict-free list of commands.

Thanks. Any suggestions on how I could check this? With some knobs such as range or ND mode it is only one one key command that is being sent, and I still get the freeze.

Anybody in for some substance?

Aka FS9 ;-)

Dear all, I am using a home cockpit powered by EPIC modules. EPIC is a controller which, among other things, is able to send keyboard commands to a computer. I have set up my PMDG (744 for FS2004) keyboard commands for the MCP accordingly. When I send an input to FS (i.e. I turn a knob on my MCP hardware and EPIC sends the corresponding combination of keys to my PC), FS freezes. Note: It freezes, it does not crash. I am able to unfreeze FS by changing from the full screen mode into the windowed mode. Am I the first user to experience this? Best regards, Holger

I am trying to reinstall ASv6.5 to my laptop, but I cannot find installer files anywhere. Can you help? Hifisim just answered they are not supporting ASv&.5 anymore (I know that, I only want to download the installer ...). My original purchase was via Flight1. Best regards, Holger

Problem solved, although with a "duct-tape" method - I programmed joystick buttons and the assigned the swap functions via FSUIPC.

I found it: You have to put this under "VXD-Commands" #define BtnOn 0x001 // activation of buttons in WinXP Game Controller #define BtnOff 0x002 (no idea what 0x001 and 0x002 mean - they work for me) and then a typical operational code would look like this: void SPST.SWAP_NAV1.On (void) { nqw (BtnOn, 0x0100); // this makes Joystick Buttons work in WinXP Game Controller } // The format is: 0xjjbb (jj = joystick no. in hex, bb = button no. on this // joystick in hex). Example: 0x0311 is button 18 on joystick 4. void SPST.SWAP_NAV1.Off (void) // I use this, when I can not get offsets to work. Once the button works in { // Game Controller, it can be programed thru FSUIPC (even to send keypresses nqw (BtnOff, 0x0100); // over the network). } Explanatory lines are by Hans Krohn from whose Cockpit.epl I took these lines. Best regards, Holger

Dear forum members, I am looking for an offset or a keyboard shortcut to swap active and standby frequencies in COM and NAV radios, but no joy so far. Can anybody help me out? Best regards, Holger

I know how to let EPIC send keyboard emulated inputs and offsets to FS9. Now I want to teach EPIC how to behave like a joystick. I.e. input is going from the hardware to EPIC and then appears as if a joystick button would be pressed. This in order to use FSUIPC's button programming. Or can send EPIC offests directly to FSUIPC? Anyone still working with EPIC? Best regards, Holger

Hey folks, is there any kind of add-on to record the touchdown sinkrate? I know FS Passenger can do it, but all I need is the touchdown sinkrate. Best, shorthauler

I have all my traffic.bgls in the "world" folder, and after some checks, I can now positively confirm that ACA 2005 (at least in my setup) has flagged aircraft as not assigned to a flightplan. So I will stop deleting the duplicates unless they are obvious (such as "Northwest") and just leave everything the way it is. Best, Holger

I have played around a bit with ACA 2005, and I there is a setting which facilitates bulk (although not batch) removal of unused textures. You can list all aircraft in ATC mode, then expand all listed aircraft and go through them, looking at which one is assigned to a flightplan and which is not (be careful not to delete your "real" aircraft, i.e. the ones you fly). However, despite ACA 2005 frequently crashing on multiple deletes, I found something strange: My Gainjet 757 SX-RFA was listed as not assigned to a flightplan, and I knew it was assigned. I decompiled my flightplan of corporate 757s, checked the "title" section in the aircraft.cfg and it had been correctly assigned, indeed. Now I wanted to go back to ACA 2005 and recheck, but I did not remember under which callsign SX-RFA popped up in ACA 2005 (neither Gainjet nor Hercules Jet which would be correct). There So I did all kinds of searches for SX-RFA, and it did not show up, not even if you go by aircraft folder. Then, quite some of my AIG 757 are missing. Now I am very reluctant to continue deleting with ACA 2005. If it tells you, an aircraft is not assigned to a flightplan while it is, this is not good. Equally, if it "ignores" some aircraft, this is not good either. I want to make sure that I am not criticizing Peter, who has created a great tool. I could never do something similar. But I think there is still need for a fully fledged AI management tool that can both analyze and edit and runs like on rails. Best, Holger P.S.: Just for the sake of completeness, this is the entry for SX-RFA: [fltsim.x]title=AIG Boeing 757-200W RR Gainjet SX-RFAsim=aig_752model=RR_WLpanel=sound=texture=SX-RFAatc_airline=ui_manufacturer=Alpha Indiaui_type=Boeing 757-200Wui_variation=Gainje SX-RFAdescription=Alpha India Group Boeing 757-200W RR - Repaint by Daniel Fallprop_anim_ratio=1.59atc_parking_codes=BBJ0atc_parking_types=RAMP I meanwhile added atc_id= atc_heavy=0 but no change.

ACA is a great tool, but sometimes it crashes on me. And correct me, if I am wrong - I see no option to batch edit issue. For example to delete all folders of aircraft that are not referenced to in flight plans. I will probably leave it as it is. Enough work with missing textures ... Best, Holger

Thanks for the valuable input. I see I did something right by making manual additions (as opposed to WOAI) to the WOAI folder rather than a seperate folder for the same aircraft model. If I clean up, the number of aircraft.cfg files will not be reduced, only the number of texture folders. I have already hidden the AI aircraft from the selection menue with bbqhideai.zip . But my guess is that this only facilitates the visual aspect of the selection (less choice), loading time is still an issue (but one I can live with). ACA2005 is a great tool for analysis, but I wish one could directly edit files from within the program, i.e. delete texture folders, edit aicraft.cfg files or even traffic bgls. I would be willing to pay for such a program to manage my AI traffic, and I am surprised that with the high number of sophisticated add ons around, none of the big companies has yet released a comprehensive AI traffic managing tool. Thanks again for the input, I will leave my old texture files, Holger

Since I started installing AI Traffic in 2004 (mostly with WOAI), several airlines have folded, Delta and NW became one, American has a new livery etc. My *.bgl files were adapted accordingly, but I never deleted obsolete texture folders. So over time, the number of texture folders has grown considerably. I am considering a cleanup. The number of aircraft will remain the same, only the number of texture folders will be a bit lower. Is it worth it? Does - (1) the number of aircraft models (first subfolder in the aircraft folder, containing the *air file) and/or - (2) the number of texture folders have an impact on - (a) FS startup time - (b) frame rates? If not, I might just leave everything the way it is and save myself the work. Best, Holger

All right, I ordered the parts, and I am ready to experiment. As far as the wiring is concerned, woul 0.5 mm (0.02") stranded wire be ok? Or would this be too thick? Best, Holger

I have read up a bit on the topic and found this very helpful: http://www.jpfiles.com/hardware/uni_stick.pdf So if I understand the concept correctly, the sensor "reads" according to the variation in angle. Since I am planning to replace sliding pots - is there also a similar device which would read variation in distance? Best regards, Holger

Bob, would you believe that I have always dreamt of something like Hall Effekt Sensors, but did not know they existed (well, actually in my dreams I was thinking up something with infrared)? Can I acquire these sensors at the places you mention in the first line of your reply? And do I have to look for certain specifications like linear, certain amount of kOhm? Kind regards, Holger

I recently rewired my flight controls from parallel port to USB. For this, I cannibalized a USB-joystick and used 10 audio kOhm linear faders as pots (parallel was using 100 kOhm). Unfortunately, I am getting quite a lot of jitter from those pots, and I am thinking of changing all over again and going for a Leo Bodnar product such as this: http://www.leobodnar.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=67&products_id=180 However, Leo advises against using audio pots and makes some recommendations for suppliers. Unfortunately, these suppliers only offer rotary pots. I would be glad for any advice about where to buy linear sliding pots (faders) with good quality to eliminate jitter. If you can recommend a source for rotary pots, I will gladly take your advice, too. Best regards, Holger

Problem solved; I installed an old FS9.CFG, and the keyboard shortcuts came back. Just for the record: Those which were gone were native shortcuts, not self made ones. Sorry for the confusion, Holger