Saitek issue with FSX and P3D on same PC

[Richbro 3]

Hello gentlemen,

 

I wonder if anyone has a lifeline they can throw me regarding how to overcome a situation that I've just discovered using my Saitek Pro Yoke,pedals and panels.

Despite having no previous issues with FSX (plus Steve's Fixer) and Saitek, since installing P3D 3.4 on the same PC I now have the Saitek kit working on LM but when I use FSX,all seems to have gone awry.

I have the RealAir Duke Turbine V2 on both sims and all is fine on P3D in the cockpit. In FSX now, once engines are started and I switch stobe or nav. lights on, the engine generators flick off.

That, and the trim wheel is inop. on the panel, along with the flap going to full rather than incremental. In other words, all OK in P3D and not so in FSX, despite no previous problems.

I've downloaded the FSX driver from the Saitek site and installed it just to make sure but, I can't fathom why or where there is the conflict. Any help from the Hanger much appreciated.

 

I have to say I'm not too enamoured with P3D with respect that I seem to have the stutters as viewed from VC of the both the Duke and Q400. I've followed some guidance from forums re AffinityMask which I've set to 84 on my i7 3770@3.4Ghz 4 core CPU but with sliders banged over to the left there's still stutters galore. The EVGA GTX 660Ti installed was/is fine in FSX so I'm not inclined to have to splash out the cash for a GPU which may or may not stop the problem in P3D. The reason I've discovered the issue with Saitek in FSX is just that I wanted to do some flying in what had been previously a stable sim. Very frustrating really.

 

I might have discussed two problems here but my primary concern is why Saitek controls don't work correctly in both sims and so, once again, any clues most welcome.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

My system: W7 64bit, i7 3770@3.4Ghz, 16GB , EVGA GTX 660Ti 2GB, Asus P8268-V Mobo, 2x 24" monitors 60Hz

 

[mutley 4,487]

Hi Richard,

 

Welcome to the Hangar 

 

That sounds like a nightmare, I cannot see how installing P3D would cause a problem. However, I am sure Saitek uses simconnect and I wonder if there is a problem there? Included with P3D, in the Lockheed Martin/Prepar3D v3/redist/Interface folder, you can re-install all the previous versions of simconnect. There are 3 versions to install, find the Simconnect.msi file (right click and choose Install to load) in these locations:

... \Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v3\redist\Interface\FSX-RTM\retail\lib
... \Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v3\redist\Interface\FSX-SP1\retail\lib
... \Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v3\redist\Interface\FSX-SP2-XPACK\retail\lib 

 

Other that that you could try using the freeware SPAD drivers available here http://fstools.weebly.com/ it has helped a lot of people. Note, SPAD requires FSUIPC to work rather than simconnect.

 

As for your P3D performance issues, it sounds as as though you are getting near the maximum VAS memory. This is usually caused by third party scenery, complex aircraft or a combination of both. I have a similar problem flying over Orbx EGHI in heavy weather. The only way I can improve the performance is to switch off some of the eye candy in the airport control panels. The other thing to try is to turn the HDR lighting off, that may help.

 

All the best,

Joe

[Richbro 3]

Many thanks, Joe, sorry for late reply.

 

I appreciate the ideas and I'll take a look at the simconnect and see if the solution lies there. In either your forum or elsewhere I spotted something about the Trusted in the FSX cfg. I've never noticed this was part of the config. file, and there are 2 entries related to Saitek in that section, although they don't appear duplicated in their structure, After discovering this I had a look at the P3D cfg and there is no Trusted section there at all, which I thought was odd.

 

Yeah, the dreaded s-s-s-stutters. Actually, my scenery is GenX and UK2000 Extreme airports which I don't normally get any issues with other than EGLL, but then, the surrounding area contributes to that I think. I've fixed my P3D fps to 30 now and that seems to have improved things but things like runway signs lurch past as I look left throught the VC window of either the Duke or Q400. Just testing a theory I shoved all scenery sliders to the left and that proved pretty futile so, a 'pretty please' letter to Santa might be in order to update my EVGA GPU to something a bit more modern, if indeed that is the cause of the problem. Easy to get hang up about this sort of thing and not enjoy the flying.

 

Anyway, back to sorting the Saitek out. Thanks once again for the ideas and I'll report any seismic shift in the situation.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

 

 

 

 

[Richbro 3]

Further to my last, I've downloaded SPAD and applied it to my FSX folder. Despite switches and contacts on panels being accepted by Spad, once back in the cockpit the original issues still exist, namely, start the engines,click beacon, nav etc and the generators disconnect. Also, the trim wheel will only work with the mouse.

But, and that's a big but, all is OK in the newly installed P3D. Same aircraft, same scenario.

I've removed and refitted the USB's thinking that this might nudge something but it was just clutching at straws.Re run the Saitek installers to no avail.

 

But it works in P3D!

 

Dunno!

 

Richard.

 

 

 

[mutley 4,487]

Thanks for the update Richard, wow that is frustrating.

 

My final suggestion would be to (back up) and delete the FSX standard.xml then restart FSX so that it builds a new file. Of course, any changes previously made to button and axes mapping would be set back to default. If you are confident in doing this then the file can be found file in  C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft \Games\ Flight Simulator X \Controls .

 

Or just fly in P3D 

 

Cheers,

Joe

 

 

[Richbro 3]

Yeah, I know. Back the new horse I guess but, having said that, just had an OOM on P3D enroute from EGSS to EGJJ in the Duke!

 

Thanks for the heads up re the standard.xml as I've not tried that before. What I did try today, after thinking about it last night in bed, was copied the FSX cfg, deleted it and hoped that when FSX started up and created a new cfg. it might kick something in the right direction. Far from it, just like starting all over from years ago. Reinstated the original cfg. and we're back to square one

 

Anyway, the P3D OOM was probably due to, well, anything really. Not much scenery over the Channel near Alderney but a lot of weather driven by Opus and Rex Ess. Who knows.

 

Time to break out the G&T I think.

 

Thanks once again for your support,Joe.

 

Richard.

[Richbro 3]

Some good news and some not so good.

I discovered via a Google search that something similar happened to a simmer in 2013 (!) which then lead me to look at the exe.xml file in FSX. Lo and behold there were two drivers, one listed as SaiPanels FS9.exe and the other SailFlightSimX, both enabled. I took a chance and edited the file to leave just the SaiFlightSimX and, yes, you guessed it, all up and running again with no problems .

But, and another biggy, lots of CTD's for some reason . So. it looks like I'm going to dip my toes into SpadNext and see if this is the answer.

Anyway, should others be in the same situation at any time perhaps this will give them another idea worth investigating.

 

Regards,

Richard

[brett 2,285]

Thanks for the update Richard and glad you are closer to a fix. Did you try leaving that SaiPanels FS9 entry in and just disabling it instead? (<Disabled>False</Disabled>)

 

I am gathering you have installed the uiautomationcore.dll fix for win7 that fixed many a CTD?

[Richbro 3]

Actually,Brett, my first edit was to change disabled to true but I wasn't entirely sure this worked, hence I removed the FS9 entry.

Yes, Uiautomationcore is installed from way back. If all others fail I'll uninstall and reinstall just in case. As they say, whatever could go wrong.

 

First foray into Spad last night might actually have worked, judging from a test flight in the default Cessna. My goodness, that's hard work for a first timer!

 

Best wishes,

 

Richard.