The A2A Simulations Community

Hi Andrew & Darryl
Andrew- I never get an 'OK' to click on. I click on a button to select FSX rather than FS9 and it throws up my Documents folder. FSX.EXE appears in a box in the bottom right corner. If I click on 'open', nothing happens. If I go looking for it, I'm not sure what I'm looking for. (Is it the FSX folder under Microsoft Games ??).

Darryl- I'm afraid skype and Team Speak are totally new concepts to an old git like me. (The only speaking hardware I have is a landline telephone.) You can email me direct if that's any easier.

I think I am almost 'up and running' (thanks to your patient efforts). I flew the Spitfire the other day and everything appears to work fine appart from external analogue control of elevator trim. (I even managed to blow up the engine !) I can select the elevator trim controller OK on the Configurator Panel. Moving the control varies the percentage displayed on the panel, so there is no problem with recognition of the control. The fact that I can't save the setting because it can't find the pathway to FSX seems very odd. I thought I had entered the correct pathway (Computer/C Drive/Programs/Microsoft Games/Flight Simulator X) .

Regards- Robert

Robert,

I have taken a copy of your email address and we will sort something out....but for now..PLEASE remove it from your post or the internet "bots" and trolls will harvest it and you will receive 5000 junk emails a day for the rest of your natural!!


I will email you tonight and we will see how we go. The configuator has given me the odd problem, as I said,..and I have a feeling that if I can "talk" you through it we can either solve the problem or at least establish that it IS the same problem I had with the radiator lever.


cheers


Darryl

_________________

...Some say he never blinks, and that he roams around the woods at night foraging for Merlin parts...

Hi Darryl
Took that address off (thanks for the warning). Except for the Configurator Panel issue, I can't fault the Spitfire now. All of the Accusim functions are working as well. (It makes for a really interesting flying experience when you have to think about all sorts of things you didn't have to worry about before!)
The presence of the Configurator Panel is obviously somehow blocking or overriding the normal FSX assignment of the elevator trim control for this aircraft, but it dosn't seem to have blocked any other control assignment. (It also seems to offer control assignments not normally available on FSX.) When I open it up, it starts out by asking me to define the path to the main FSX folder (which I do and I know it is correct). It then claims not to be able to find it when I try to save an assignment setting. I don't know where to begin to sort this one.
Regards- Robert

G'day Robert,

OK, first off I highly recommend you get:

http://secure.simmarket.com/pete-dowson-fsuipc4.phtml the best E28 you will ever spend.

I can help you get it set up (installation is easy!!) and then I am more than happy to make my LUA's etc available to you...which will allow you to control any of the cockpit functions from a switch, joystick button, pot, encoder etc.
What these do, by an interface under "other add-ons" in the FSX window, is allow you to allocate very specific functions to given buttons...like "put on oxygen mask", windscreen de-ice, generator switch, landing lamp dim..etc etc etc....there is also a way of making a pot axis send button presses at predetermined points..this is how I do my Radiator Shutter Lever, so if total travel of this axis is 16,462, then it will set "closed" at zero, switch press of "guns warm" at 1,500, switch press for "normal" at 3,500 and so on. A marvellously powerful programme.

These files were done for me by some great people (Gypsy Baron and Guenseli mainly) and cover "the lot".
What this will do is take you "outside" of the configurator and get around any problems it is causing.

If you have a network running FSX you will also need WideClient but this only applys if, for instance, you have weather running on one machine and the "flying window" on another.

The configurator is being looked at but I can't say when that may be identified and fixed.

I would love to see you up and going completely, it has been a long road!!


Darryl

_________________

...Some say he never blinks, and that he roams around the woods at night foraging for Merlin parts...

Hi Darryl
Your last post suggests that I may not be the only person having issues withe the Configurator Panel. Are there software problems with it ?
Meanwhile, I have FUSIPC installed and registered and ready to go. I am about to have a play around with it. (It looks, at first glance, like it may be possible to have different control assignments set for each aircraft simultaneously.)

Regards- Robert

Robert,

Yes, you are correct on all counts.


Read up on "L:Vars" and LUA scripting and email me, I'll send the files to you...they will give you a start from which you can customise your own settings easily. It is a simple (and yet powerful) programme.

cheers

Darryl

_________________

...Some say he never blinks, and that he roams around the woods at night foraging for Merlin parts...

Darryl
"Lua" appears to be a programming language which can be typed into "Notepad" and executed from there. I assume "L:Vars" must be something similar. (I've not heard of either of them before.) What level of competence would I need for this purpose and what is the best source of information ?

Meanwhile, I managed to assign the Spitfire Elevator Trimmer using FSUIPC. It now works but it has an exasperating problem. The cockpit control rotates in the same direction as my external control. Forward or clockwise movement should trim the nose DOWN and backward or anticlockwise movement should trim it UP. However, it has the opposite effect and nothing I try seems to remedy that.

I tried checking the 'Reverse' box under 'Joystick Calibration'. Also, under 'Miscellaneous' there's a check box for reversing the sense of the elevator trim control. Also tried reversing it under the FSX assignments and even unassigning it under FSX. Having poured through the Instruction Manual, I can't find anything that seems relevent.

Robert

Robert,

The best place to read up on LUA's is in the FSUIPC manual...and L:Vars are the variable which represent variables that can be manipulated, asigned or created. An example below, the section controlling Generator in my Spitfire..:

-- A2A Spitfire accusim

-- LUA Script V 1.1
-- updated: Sunday, 24th Oct
-- (C) Guenter Steiner/guenseli
-- Rev number bumped up to reflect changes- Paul D. Strogen

-- List of parameters
--

-- 1 Generator on
-- 2 Generator off
-- 3 Generator Toggle


-------------------------------------------------------------- GEN

-- Generator ON
if ipcPARAM == 1 then

LVarSet = "L:Eng1_GeneratorSwitch"

ipc.writeLvar(LVarSet, 1)

end

-- Generator off
if ipcPARAM == 2 then

LVarSet = "L:Eng1_GeneratorSwitch"

ipc.writeLvar(LVarSet, 0)

end

-- Generator toggle
if ipcPARAM == 3 then

LVarSet = "L:Eng1_GeneratorSwitch"
val = 0

if ipc.readLvar(LVarSet) == 0 then
val = 1
end

ipc.writeLvar(LVarSet, val)

end


The way you use the above is to have an LUA running (in my case SpitfireAcc.lua) that reads the switch state and sends the appropriate control input to the sim.
After setting up these (as said, I'll give you mine, they are very little of my work and a lot of Paul's and Guenter's) you go into FSUIPC and asign the control as you normally would to a joystic button.

BUT this time you tell it not to send the keypress in FSX for "Generator on" but instead to send parameter "1" which will then write the Lvar for Generator as "1" and force the sim to see the Generator as "on". When the switch is released, mine will set the Lvar for Generator to parameter "2" which in turn forces the Lvar to "0" and the sim sees the generator as off.

This is how a physical toggle switch operates...the last item is a "toggle" in the sim..used for momentary buttons (such as joystick buttons) In that case the first push sets "1" turning the generator "on" and a second push turns it "off".

Now, I have told you all that parrot fashion..it is not a lot harder than that to start fishing around getting your own setup done. And you can always email me for advice.

If you have a good read up before I send you the files, using the above as a guide, it will be easier when you try to implement...one disadvantage I had was that I was presented with most of it done (which was GREAT!!) but it did make me a bit lazy and I had trouble when I came to work it out for myself....but most of my trouble was with OUTPUTS to my gauges not INPUTS into the sim, which is all you should need. Once I DID sit down and force myself to understand, even the outputs became a bit easier...


Darryl

_________________

...Some say he never blinks, and that he roams around the woods at night foraging for Merlin parts...

Hi Darryl
I downloaded and installed 'Lua for Windows'. It all seems OK, but getting to grips with driving it seems pretty daunting and time consuming. I'll need to get my head around a lot of it's basics before I can comprehend the L:Vars function. If you send me pre-written programs, presumably they will need to be suitably modified to suit my set-up.

As far as flying the Spitfire goes, I only have the glitch I mentioned in my last post. It seems a very strange glitch. Under 'Miscellaneous' in FSUIPC, I can assign the elevator trim function to the mouse wheel. This works perfectly with the mouse wheel turning in the same direction as the cockpit control wheel and adjusting the trim in the correct sense. My external control wheel also matches the cockpit control wheel in its direction of movement. However, the sense of the trim adjustment is in reverse. There appears to be provision to change this both under 'Miscellaneous' and 'Joystick Calibration'. But nothing changes when I click either or both of these check boxes. If I reverse the electrical connections to my control, I suspect that this may change the control sense but have the control wheel turning in reverse.

No doubt a Lua program could sort all this out, but it should be fixable as it stands. I will certainly tackle Lua. It offers great scope to expand my external controllers and make them more functional and useful. In the mean time, it would be great to fly the Spitfire without any hitches with the existing controls.

Regards- Robert

Robert,

If I can understand it, anyone can!!

I've lost your email after our computer glitched the other day,if you can send an email to me at my user name here
@hotmail.com


ie killratio....

I will send you the files. they should not need much, if any updating/changing..just assign the parameters to the button press under FSUIPC. I can send you my FSUIPC Config file to look at as well.


Hold steady on the controller issue..the next update may well fix that.

regards

Darryl

_________________

...Some say he never blinks, and that he roams around the woods at night foraging for Merlin parts...

Hi Darryl
I sent you an email last Friday. Did you receive it ?

I'm having more issues flying the Spitfire. The propeller speed control suddenly quit working again. It worked for several flights during the session. This time I know it has a Rotol constant speed propeller on it. (The report sheet in the maintenance hangar says so.) It is correctly assigned on both FSX and FSUIPC. As before, the lever moves in the cockpit but nothing happens on the rev counter.

I don't know if I'm doing something wrong here, but the engine always overheats and wrecks itself after several minutes of flying, even if I never close the radiator flap. (Flying at 1500ft with 4lb of boost at 2400rpm.) At least that was what was happening when I could still reduce the rpm ! Can't find anything in the Pilot's Manual that would explain it.

Regards- Robert

Robert,

No, sorry I didn't get the email...I have PM'd you earlier and will do so again.

The overheating is normal..you need to read my radiator tutorial. I'll PM it to you.

"(Flying at 1500ft with 4lb of boost at 2400rpm.)" ...have a read of the tute...if I wwere going to demonstrate engine overheat to someone..those are pretty close to the settings I would use to get there!!

Basically the Spit was designed to get high, fast and any time you cruise at low altitude you will have problems.
The small radiator creates a high temp run at low alts and any spikes in temp need to be dealt with very quickly.
"Dealing with" in many cases is counter intuitive.... often you need to increase speed and close the radiator a bit to actually get cooler. The main thing is not to cruise at anything below 10,000 - 15,000ft until you get a handle on how to manage the temps.

The ideal settings are also not what one MAY expect...high boost and low rpm is the best way to cruise.

I am not sure about the prop RPM....what you are seeing usually means that the Watts is fitted..but you've checked that...you do say Throttle is correctly set in "both FSX and FSUIPC". This can cause problems...ideally you want to remove ALL axis settings from FSX and control it all through FSUIPC if that is installed.

Next, check that "auto mixture" is turned off in FSX..this can cause a few strange problems.

I would still like to catch up online and try to sort some of these problems.
Hang in there mate...we WILL beat this!!!


Darryl

_________________

...Some say he never blinks, and that he roams around the woods at night foraging for Merlin parts...