Very strange

[Ham]

Hello!

I have a problem which is not FsP related, but I hope somebody can help me.
I was flying from KIAD to EDDM and just above Iceland my plane (PSS 343) suddenly lost all fuel, started tumbling around, IAS dropped to
0 on the panel (While showing something odd like 65000 (no typo!!!) on the FS data screen (Shift-Z)). Altitude on the panel dropped to
negative values, while FS showed the correct value of FL 370. As I said, AC is tumbling around like mad, absolutely out of control, paxe
screaming and my FO is not very happy with "my" behaviour. AC even holds Altitude, well at least it climbs and descends very quickly in a
range of ~2'000 ft up and down.
Has anybody an idea what happened?
I have never encountered this before, although I have at least 1000 h on the PSS (320/330/340).

Thanks!

[Bronco]

Hi

Maybe is the fsuipc bug. Try the latest Version 3.52 i think.
The Version 3.51 has a bug.

Bronco

[Dutch64]

I had it once (though not exactly like that) after trying to use time acceleration 128X or so and, few seconds after i went back to normal time scale,
i was suddenly flying upside down and vs of -40000 or so

[snakeboy]

Had this happen once or twice as well with PSS but never pursued as I started with the Level-d 767 and not looked back since.

[Ham]

I'll try the FSUIPC update.
Can it be something with the real weather?
I don't use time acceleration, need all the points to get my promotions.
Thanks for replying so fast!

[samiranks]

Hey Ham I think its really a FSUIPC issue. It has happen to me also. And you should be okay once you do the update. Make sure you click
the appropriate settings for your winds and weather...

[savage]

Check on the AVSIM forums. There are a couple of problems with the PSS Airbus (320 and 340) AP. Fixes are out there, I just can't
remember them now.

[samiranks]

I dont think its just with the airbus though. Because it has happened to me and i dont have the PSS..

[pagir]

Are you sure it was over Island? It wasn't over the Bermuda triangle?

Pagir "In festive mode"

[samiranks]

pagir wrote:
Are you sure it was over Island? It wasn't over the Bermuda triangle?

Pagir "In festive mode"

[snakeboy]

Bronco wrote:
Hi

Maybe is the fsuipc bug. Try the latest Version 3.52 i think.
The Version 3.51 has a bug.

Bronco

What bug is that then?.

[JayKae]

The latest version is 3.53 released yesterday and as far as the changelog goes, here ya go

FSUIPC.DLL version 3.53

1. Extends registration capabilities into 2006. Previously new FSUIPC 3 and WideFS registrations were only valid up to the end of 2005,
based on the original expected life of Version 3.

2. Fixes a problem where flights being saved could not be set as 'default' at the time of saving.

Oddly, this problem has been present, on and off, in FSUIPC for at least five years, across three versions of FS, but was not actually
reported until the day 3.52 was released. It is due to the intercepted Save Flight routine in FS being a function, returning a value, whereas
it was defined as a procedure without a value in the header files used in FSUIPC.

3. Fixes an error in the facility to write the "tug speed" at offset 31FC. Also notes about these two tug controls are added in the next
Programmers Guide edition -- they appear to be related to glider aircraft towing, not to the pushback option as I originally thought when I
placed the offsets so carefully!

3. Provides the following new offsets, all read-only:

0300 2 VOR1 DME distance, 16-bit integer, nm * 10 [FS2002+]
0302 2 VOR1 DME speed, 16-bit integer, kts * 10 [FS2002+]
0304 2 VOR1 DME time to station, 16-bit integer, secs * 10 [FS2002+]
0306 2 VOR2 DME distance, 16-bit integer, nm * 10 [FS2002+]
0308 2 VOR2 DME speed, 16-bit integer, kts * 10 [FS2002+]
030A 2 VOR2 DME time to station, 16-bit integer, secs * 10 [FS2002+]
030C 4 Vertical speed, copy of offset 02C8 whilst airborne, not updated whilst the “on ground” flag (0366) is set. Can be used to check
hardness of touchdown (but watch out for bounces which may change this). [FS2002+]

The first six are provided just so that simple display systems, for instance those using my own GFdisplay program, can display the DME
values with ease. They will normally be the same as those in offsets 0C29 ff, but possibly with greater range.


FSUIPC release 3.52

1. The 3.51 fix in the wind smoothing algorithm was in error, making matters worse rather than better. In 3.52 the correct fix has been
found and applied. In this version the winds, when smoothed, still have the correct cross and head components, and the results when
the direct wind control option is exercised (as by ASV) are also good without the sudden swings in direction. Even better, the problem
with direct wind control on the ground has been fixed, so everything is now fully compatible.

2. In FS2004 the FSUIPC Wind options page now sports a new option, on the right-hand side, to limit the amount of wind variance which
can be applied by external weather programs. Wind variance is fluctuation in wind direction. It is suppressed completely in any case if
you suppress all gusts, but otherwise it isn't subject to smoothing.

The new option allows the user to enforce a limit on the wind variance being set by external weather programs. The limit placed on
variance is progressively lower as wind speed increases. Winds of 0–5 knots will be allowed to vary fully, but 100 knot winds will have the
variance limited to 10 degrees either way.

This option is off by default, and is saved in the INI as LimitWindVariance.

3. The facility to disconnect the joystick axis controls (offsets 310A and 310B in the FSUIPC interface) is extended to allow this
disconnection not to be applied to the older FS98-compatible axis controls, These are:

AILERON_SET
ELEVATOR_SET
ELEVATOR_TRIM_SET
RUDDER_SET
THROTTLE_SET
and the four THROTTLEn_SET controls.

This is intended to allow those add-on aircraft that implement their own Autopilot to use these controls to set the relevant values, instead
of writing them directly to the specific offsets.

To activate this facility the program/gauge/module must set the 2^1 bit in the byte at offset 3109, at the same time as setting the axis
connection override bits in 310A/310B. The setting expires in the same interval.

Note that if the users of such aircraft calibrate the four separate throttles in Page 3 of the FSUIPC options they will also need to check the
option at the bottom of that page, to prevent FSUIPC changing the THROTTLEn_SET values sent by the separate autopilot.


FSUIPC release 3.51

This is an important release, predominantly for the several little bugs fixed but also for the AI traffic control improvements (item 1 below).
Here's the complete list:

1. This version implements a much more efficient method for controlling AI aircraft in FS2004 (only). The relevant control facility is being
used by the latest version of Radar Contact, and also by programs such as AI Smooth and AI Separation. It looks like the new methods
used in FSUIPC have quite a beneficial effect on these programs.

For FS2002 some improvement has been achieved by increasing the command queue size for AI traffic control so that it doesn’t overflow
and possibly lose commands, and also by increasing the percentage of traffic processed per FS frame in proportion to the numbers of
traffic commands pending.

In the unlikely event that the new FS2004 AI traffic control method proves unstable (it has been fine in testing), it can be turned off by
changing the INI file parameter TrafficControlDirect from ‘Yes’ to ‘No’. Then FSUIPC will operate on FS2004 in the same way as it does
on FS2002—i.e. with a larger queue and dynamic processing.

2. The minimum visibility option now applies to all weather, including FS’s own local and global weather, on FS2002 and FS2004.
However, if it is being imposed on FS’s own weather the current visibility will not be reported correctly in weather reports such as those
read by external programs and ATIS in FS. This is because the only way of imposing the visibility minimum is by changing the effect at the
end stage, the rendering at the aircraft, and not in the weather system as such.


3. A facility to specify a minimum icing level in clouds set by external weather programs is provided, but this is only applicable by editing
the INI file. The parameter is MinIce and takes the same value range as MaxIce with zero and negative values turning it off.


4. Engine 1 Torque and Fuel Pressure offsets (08F4 and 08F8) are now working properly again for relevant aircraft as well as
helicopters.


5. Ground based aircraft showing as below sea level did not appear in the TCAS tables, even though they were legitimately at that altitude
(for instance at Amsterdam and Rotterdam). This is because FSUIPC filtered out aircraft below ground to remove some poorly behaved
AI which descend through the surface and continue to fly underground.

This didn't come to light until experimentation with putting individual AI aircraft into Slew mode sometimes led to them disappearing from
FSUIPC's list even though they were still clearly present in FS. Apparently the altitude for aircraft in Slew mode is measured from the
wheel touch points, whereas in normal mode it is from the central datum.

6. A long-standing bug is fixed in the wind smoothing algorithm which could occasionally make the actual wind effect at the aircraft 180
degrees opposite to that shown as the ambient wind (e.g. by Shift+Z). Additionally this fix makes the wind direction written to offset 2DE0
have the correct effect at the aircraft.


7. The slopes associated with axis calibration are now correctly saved to the FSUIPC.INI file even if nothing else in the Joysticks pages
has been changed.


8. If a slope is applied to a reverser axis in FSUIPC’s Joysticks facilities, the reverser would behave very weirdly. The slope facilities are
only intended to work for symmetrical axes, or only on the positive parts of asymmetric ones. Reversers have no positive parts, so the
application of slopes went wrong. In this version FSUIPC ignores slope application to reversers and, in fact, hides the slope buttons for
them.


9. A bug in the facilities for additional co-pilot controls (AileronB, ElevatorB, RudderB, and so on) is fixed. In recent versions merely adding
these would have prevented any joystick calibration inside FSUIPC, and thus failing to correctly apply the co-pilot values.


10. Wind gusts set through the New Weather Interface (NWI) are now limited to prevent outrageous variations. Any gust value specified
above 30 knots is limited to 8 times the layer’s wind speed.


11. The mapping tables are improved to prevent several previously possible accesses into parts of FS2004 which are not always
present, thus causing program crashes with ‘Access Violation".


12. The Engine 1 Rotor RPM value at offset 0908 is now working for helicopters which are made without using the actual helicopter
model type, such as the default Robinson R22.


13. For FS2004 only, the dew point at the aircraft is now provided at offset 0E8E, as a 16 bit value giving degrees C times 256. This is
calculated by FSUIPC, not provided by FS, by linear interpolation between the two nearest temperature levels defined for the location—or
the next two above when below the lowest, or two below when above the highest. Note that if FS does not use linear scaling for
temperature between the layers then this value will only be an approximation.


14. "Adventure" texts displayed in the FS screen using FSUIPC offsets 3380 and 32FA can now be forced to use the white text, even if the
user has not selected that option. This is done by adding 16384 to any zero or positive value written to 32FA, or subtracting 16384 from a
negative value. The effect only applies to the message written in this instance.

Note that this facility is only compatible with version 2.14 of AdvDisplay or later.

15. More precise values for the VOR glideslope and localiser needle offsets are now available, though they do not seem to be updates
much more often than the older FS98-compatible single byte approximations. They are all in 32-bit ‘float’ format as follows:

2AAC VOR1 LOC needle 4-byte FLOAT32
2AB0 VOR1 GS needle 4-byte FLOAT32
2AB4 VOR2 LOC needle 4-byte FLOAT32
2AB8 VOR2 GS needle 4-byte FLOAT32

[aristoteles]

I have been experimenting very weird and sudden wind changes with 3.51. Even if the wind was set to low values, my Caravan looked
like a piece of paper...happened to me with both ASV6 and Weather Maker Pro. Not to mention that my condition levers and throttle
controls go to Idle position whenever they like, they have their own criteria I guess...Thanx for the fix list JayKae, I think I found the source
of my headache in paragraph 1. and 10.

[Ham]

Updated fsuipc, finally made it home...
Thanks for helping me.

[aristoteles]

So did I.