FMS Forum

by **Lindsay** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 4:35 am

Really, really, frustrated here. Settiing up 8.5 FMS on an XP system with SPP. Using PPM via mobo sound card line-in. I have tried everything I can think of but I just can't get any signal to the calibration module. Absolutely no bar jiggle at all.

Winscope shows a good signal. RC Thermometer shows signals that change with stick movement. Digital sound comes from spkrs. SPP set to Line-In, PPM (generic). XP audio settings all look fine. FMS looks fine. SPP starts normally and looks OK.

Seemingly same as another XP system here and using same cable and TX's. Doesn't work with PCM Tx either.

Stumped!

by **shaul_eiz** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 12:54 pm

Hi Lindsay,
You? Of all people?
If the thermometer shows signals that change with stick movement while SPP is working then the SPP audio source is OK.
Now, perhaps it is the PPM shift that is not correctly detected? Try both positive and negative (manually).
If you got here, then I suspect PPJoy. Did you configure it correctly? Please compare its set-up with the previous one.
Let me know where we are. Thank you.
Shaul

by **Lindsay** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:16 pm

I know, I know!!

Tried the diff polarities. Thermometer shows activity WITH SPP running.

I thought PPJoy was only needed for parallel port attached gamepads?? There are no gamepad controllers shown in ctrl panel on my working version of FMS/SPP. I have not run PPJoy on the non-functioning machine.

Sorry to be a pest. I get the feeling I am going to be embarrassed :oops:

by **shaul_eiz** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:30 pm

My mistake. I switch between forums too much. SPP for FMS does not need PPJoy. Sorry for my silly remark.
Now, this really looks odd.
There is an option to turn-on the debug printout. It is done through the registry and creates 2 large files. By them we might have some insight. Please add the following registry entry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Flying-Model-Simulator\SmartPropoPlus\Debug-Level and set its value to 3. Now start FMS with the Tx already connected and on. You will have to click some OKs wait a minute and stop FMS.
The output files supposed to be in your TEMP directory. Take a look at them or just send them over to me.
Shaul

by **Lindsay** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 3:54 am

Thanks a lot, Shaul. The machine is not mine and is offsite so I will arrange to get the log files. I will get back to you later.

Cheers,
Lindsay.

Tested on the good machine, here, so have comparison logs.

by **shaul_eiz** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 6:22 am

Good. BTW, set the debug value to 0 when done.

by **Lindsay** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 11:01 am

Sounds like an excellent idea!!

by **Lindsay** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 2:50 am

Well, I finally got to have another go at the no-go system. Sad to say I am exactly where I was before.

I added the debug entry but it never got invoked. No logs and no windows coming up to click 'OK' on. Double checked the registry entry and cross checked the working one here at home - looks the same to me. I uninstalled FMS and re-installed it and checked the SPP 3.3 files. Still no calibration data, in spite of seeing the varying thermometer lines and seeing a great pulse pattern on winscope.

Totally stumped and I don't like to admit defeat with a computer problem!

by **shaul_eiz** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 7:57 am

This sounds really strange.
FMS should load the winmm.dll that is located in the FMS directory. Assuming you have switched debug level to 3, if this happens, you should at least get a message box.
One other way to test if FMS loaded winmm.dll (the local file) is to go Ressources (typo in the FMS) dialogue box and see if Joystick 1 is the SPP joystick. If it is not, then FMS has not loaded winmm.dll.
You can also try to figure out where FMS is looking for this DLL using the Dependency Walker (DEPENDS.EXE).
Now, if indeed the problem is here (FMS does not look for the DLL in the current directory) then you have some strange DLL search path on your computer. If it does look in the right place but fails to load it then the DLL might be locked (perhaps by a zomby FMS process). If, after all, the DLL was loaded, then it may have a problem loading the original winmm.dll located in directory system32.
What do you say?

by **Lindsay** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 2:10 am

Thanks, Shaul. I can confirm that the 'Ressources' tab states that Joystick 1 is SPP's so it must be loading your local winmm.dll. The system32 directory also has an XP copy of winmm.dll. This is being loaded as its absence causes error messages. If I sub the xp winmm.dll for yours in the FMS dir I get a similar response to the original problem, namely, no calibration response. But, of course, the Resources tab does not show SPP in the Joystick 1 position.

I again checked the registry settings (HKCU\Software\Flying-Model-Simulator\Smartpropoplus\Debug-Level = dword 3). It must be significant that this is not triggering the popups and logging action.

There seems to be something very strange with this newly installed XP but I can't fathom what. I don't often get beaten but this is looking like a win to the computer! Maybe we have to move on and get a USB cable? But I know it will be something small and 'obvious' that's wrong

by **shaul_eiz** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 5:38 pm

by **Lindsay** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 1:44 am

I have triple checked the registry entries - hope I still didn't miss something!

Long time since I did any serious coding and never used 'C'.

I am seriously thinking of doing an XP repair install in case there is something wrong with the original install. Long shot, I know, but it wouldn't be the first time I have seen problems caused by registry rights issues.

Many thanks for your continued support.

by **Lindsay** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 4:05 am

Still there, Shaul? Today I had another look at the problem system. I ran a registry rights re-assignment program and wasn't surprised when nothing was fixed. I updated the registry with an export of SPP from my good machine - no effect. I deleted both copies of the FMS entries in registry (HKCU and HKUsers) and was amazed to find it didn't seem to make any difference except that the screen size was reduced. I increased the size, closed FMS and re-started. The screen size was then the increased size. Wonder where this data was stored? There was also a model presented - where was this stored?

After getting back home I deleted both registry entries here. This seriously stuffed FMS up. There was no model on screen and I got programming errors like divide errors etc.

So, the bad machine's FMS and SPP don't seem to read the registry! We know SPP doesn't because it ignores the logging entry setting.

In my long acquaintance with computers, I struggle to remember a more weird set of symptoms! Anyway, I am going to try a USB connection for my Vista system and will try it on the rogue XP system as well.

Lindsay.

by **shaul_eiz** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 12:06 pm

Hi Lindsay,
Of course I'm here.
The copy of FMS data that really matters is the one in HKCU. The other one is just a copy.
We now have to try to understand why our programs do not read the registry. BTW, can SPP write to the registry? I understand it can since it managed to create the SPP entries.
How about me writing a little utility trying to read the Debug-Level entry - with detailed log? Could be interesting.
Will you play with it if I wrote it?

by **shaul_eiz** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:56 pm

Any chance that this is a 64-bit machine?

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