[Xbox controller gone on strike]

1 hour ago, greybeard said:

Hi Don, I don't have an Xbox controller but I see that you don't say

if you can see it listed in the MSFS controller settings.

If it doesn't show there then I can't suggest anything, but if it

shows in the list of controllers then MSFS might have thought

that you have nothing better to do and nuked all the settings for it.

Do hope you get to the bottom of this.

 

Kevin 

Hi Kevin

That is a very good point and one to check.

 

It is why I suggested typing Bluetooth in the search bar.  What I neglected to mention was that this brings up a dialogue box that

is not only all your blue tooth devices, but also any wired device that is connected and functioning .

So it tends to combine things like the Device manager connection checks into one place.

 

So if you just scroll down to the bottom of the dialogue it will show all audio devices, keyboards, mice, pen devices etc. and also other

controllers connected as well.

 

So for example it also shows my  Airbus joystick for MS2020 which is a USB connection, , but it shows it with the designation I used

within MS2020 so it makes it easy to see what it is. 

 

It is possible that it "nuked connections" as you said, but in my case when this happened once,  MS2020 simply reverted back to the

default XBox controller settings.

 

In fact, I usually don't start my XBox controller until I am running in MS2020 and actually need it (it is Bluetooth wireless). 

When I do that MS2020 asks if I want to usecustom settings or the XBox controller default settings.

 

I do hope that he gets to the bottom of this.  

 

IMHO, computers , or more properly the OS have just gotten much too complicated for their own good.  

I just like to use the technology to do what I want, not spend all my time with MS2020 fixing stuff.

And goodness knows I have spent my fair share of doing that since it came out.

 

But it goes with the territory. I was once told that the only software that doesn't have bugs, or user complaints is software

that is no longer used by anyone 

 

Cheers and thanks for the additional comment. It is a useful thing to remember.

 

Petge

[Xbox controller gone on strike]

Hi Don

One last thing to try. 

 

You didn't say how old/new your XBox controller is.

 

Two other things to try since it is wired.

 

1) Is the cable directly wired into the controller or is it connected using a micro usb cable type B

 

If it is the later, then unplug the cable and plug it in again.  If still no joy, then wiggle the cable gently to see if it will make contact.

It may be getting power, but not connecting fully.

 

On my old controller which used a micro cable I found that it was losing its connection because of mechanical strain from repeated use.  Usually , wiggling the cable

would restore it, but in the end it usually means either a new cable or controller.  

 

Also do not plug a micro USB type B cable into a USB 3.0 connection (has a blue section inside , rather than the black which is a USB 2.0) , as it will not work properly. It will show that it has power on a USB 3.0 connection, but It needs a USB 2.0 connection to work right.

 

2) If it is a permanent cable connection (i.e. wired directly into the controller with a USB connector on the end to connect to your computer.) then try running windows hardware troubleshooter.  Make doubly sure that this is connected to a USB 2.0 connection on your PC

 

To run the hardware troubleshooter.

 

In the windows search box, type troubleshoot.

 

Then click on troubleshoot settings.

 

Then go down to Power and click this,  Yes I know this is counterintuitive ,but Power also troubleshoots other hardware issues.

 

Now click Run the troubleshooter.  Hopefully this will fix it.

 

Lastly, the only other thing I can think of is the following. The reason I say this is the last windows update, which came out on the Tuesday of the WU10 update, updated

some controller drivers on the PC side on my version of Windows (21H2).  I had a popup when I turned my XBox controller on , to update the  XBox controller firmware to make it compatible .

 

This may be because it is the latest controller from MS  and is bluetooth, but it may be worth checking on yours.

 

Go to the Windows store and find the applications XBox Accessories from Microsoft and install it.

 

With your controller plugged in, start up the XBox Accessories app and check to see if it says there is a firmware update.

If there is , then run the firmware update .  It will take a few minutes.  When the update is done, then see if the controller works

 

When it updates firmware it also updates any drivers and I find is easier to use than the Device manager, because it will do both, rather than just updating drivers as the DM will do.

 

Sorry, beyond this I am fresh out of ideas 

 

It may just be that the controller has served a useful life and as you say has retired.

Cheers

Pete

 

[Xbox controller gone on strike]

Hi Don

 

Both excellent suggestions.

 

I have had similar issues  and this is what I have found on my system

 

1) You didn't say if the controller was wired or not.  If on the off chance it is, unplug it , wait about a minute and plug it back in again.

If window tells you that it is configuring a new device , then in the midst of windows updates , it lost the plot so to speak.

If it still isn't working , try plugging it into a usb 2.0 port, not the 3.0 ones that most machines have.

 

I have found that the controllers will work for a long time on 3.0 and then suddenly stop for an unknown reason.  They work very reliably on a usb 2.0 connection ,

so you may wish to try that.

 

2) If the controller is wireless or bluetooth connected.

 

 Bluetooth on my machine routinely drops its pairing to my older XBox controller. I replaced it with a Xbox Elite one , which so far has been ultra reliable, and it has rechargeable batteries which is what I wanted. 

 

Go to the windows search bar and type bluetooth.  Open the dialogue box.

Under mouse, keyboard & pen go down to where your XBox Wireless Controller is listed.  It should say paired , but even if it does, I have found that sometimes it

loses that pairing without giving any indication of doing so.

 

To remove a pairing and repair it.

 

Click on the  XBox Controller  and you will get a dialogue to remove device.  Do that.

This will remove any connection settings for that controller from your system.  Please note that this does not do anything to your settings for that device

in MS2020. This is simply the communication connection between your XBox controller and your computer.

 

Now go up to the top of the dialogue, where it says Add Bluetooth or other device. Click on this and you will be presented with a dialogue to Add a device.

At the bottom, there is an item called "Everything else" which as indicated is for XBox controllers with wireless adapters if you have a non bluetooth Controller.

 

If you have a blue tooth controller, firstly turn your controller on.  Then click Top item which says Bluetooth.  You will then go into pairing mode, and you then need to push the little button on the back of the XBox controller (it will usually have a little wireless symbol besides it).  

 

Your computer should recognize the XBox controller and pair it .

 

This should now get you back in working order.  As I mentioned , Bluetooth at times seems to loose connection to my XBox controller.  Sometimes its related to Windows updates, other times it just seems to be a random event.  I also have a bluetooth mouse and that has never lost its pairing or connection.

 

Go figure as they say  

 

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers

Pete

 

[Custom Camera Views]

Hi Rod

I'm really pleased to hear that it is working for you 

Happy simming!

Cheers

Pete

[Custom Camera Views]

Hope it works for you. I found the instructions on how to do it much more complicated than the actual application.

So once you have done it successfully, it actually is very quick 

 

In all the videos I watched, no one ever said, all you need to do is to reassign a new key combination to the existing camera view settings

and then you can use the keys that are convenient for you. 

 

This is the process for any option in the sim.  You just need to find the relative entry that

controls what you want to do , and then you can change it to something that is easy for you to use.

 

I agree that updates are a frustration. With respect to "ultra long loading times" you can control that to some extent using a free tool

called addons linker if you don't know about that.  

 

Here is a link :  MSFS Addons Linker » Microsoft Flight Simulator

 

The logic behind it is related to the way in which the community folder in MS2020 works.  In the MS Store version   it is a "semi protected

encrypted folder" which means that you can add or delete items from it, but you can't move or copy* .  You will see this if you get the message 

when Explorer interrupts the process and says  that " your organization does not allow you to place this file here"

 

Addons linker uses a windows feature called symbolic links (Orbx Central does the same) which is a little file that is placed into the

community folder.

 

The symbolic link then points to another location where your information is actually stored.  The process is transparent to windows - it simply

sees how to gain access to the information the link points to.  In fact , a great many of the files and folders in Win10 are actually stored in different areas of your drives than you think, because Win 10 makes very extensive use of links.

 

Addons linker is a very good program . It allows you to make presets of different groups of data i.e. scenery.  So if all you wanted to do is fly in Australia for example you could use Addons linker to create links to all the info you want to use.  Then you save this as a preset.  You can do

the same with all the other scenery you have, i.e. save it by geographical area for example.

 

Then when you want to fly there, you just use addons linker to delete the links for one area (you have it stored as a preset so its fine) and

you then just use one of your other presets to load the scenery where you want to fly.  You can do this aircraft, liveries , options such as

freeware points of interest etc. - virtually anything you want.

 

This will allow you to speed up your load times by quite a bit because you are loading a much smaller amount of data, rather than everything

you own.

 

* BTW here is a little tip if you actually have stored something into your community folder, but you don't have a copy of it anywhere else. 

Remember I mentioned that the community folder only allows you to add/delete and not copy or move which is what you need to do in this case.

 

So what works just fine is to Zip  the information into a zipped folder outside of the community folder. Once this has been done, you can unzip

it into another location  anywhere in your system.  Check that it is all OK.  Then delete the original file/folders from you community folder.

 

Now you can use Addons Linker to simply make a symbolic link from the location you are now using for this information back to the community folder and you are good to go.

 

For me , Addons linker should be a part of MS2020. It is the one addon that I would truly be lost without.

Yes, there are other ways to do this and also other products that are similar, but for a freeware product , it works seamlessly and reliably.

 

Here is a link to a good video on how to use it, if you want to take a look 

 

 

Any further questions just ask, there are lots of members here with expertise who are much more knowledgeable than I .

Cheers

Pete

[Custom Camera Views]

Hi Rod

 

This might be of help

 

Prepackaged camera views files for all aircraft in the MS2020 Premium Deluxe Package

This will do all the work for you as the author of the package has put together a full package of views for each aircraft

type.

 

All you then need to do is to replace the preassigned key combinations in MS2020 for the custom camera views with those that you want

to use i.e. crtl + numpad to save  and numpad to retrieve a view.

 

From flightsim.to 

 

Custom Camera Views » Microsoft Flight Simulator

 

I have looked at many videos on this as you have and finally found this one , which is straightforward.

Timestamp 3:28  should get you going on assigning keys. 

 

 

When you first bring up this section in MS2020 it will have predefined key combinations assigned to each of the custom views from 0 - 9.

It is very easy to redefine this, and that is what this part of the video explains. He doesn't clearly explain the steps to actually change an 

entry , so here is a little example.

 

Lets say you want to change the key combination for load custom camera 0, and replace it with numpad 0

 

1) click on the entry in the box

 

2) you will then get a popup that says you can:

    clear current input

    Cancel

    validate

 

3) press clear current input

 

4) you will then be presented with the option to begin scanning or to select a key.  I personally always use begin scanning, as then all I have to do is to press 

the key I want assigned and it will then show up in the entry. So I would press numpad 0 and it will show up in the entry box

 

5) Press validate and you have now assigned that key (numpad 0) to custom camera view 0

 

I have mine setup exactly in the way  you described  in your comment i.e  crtl + numpad to save a view and numpad to retrieve it.

The author of the package has preassigned views to the custom views 0 - 9 as shown below.  All you need to do is to define what keys  on your system

you want to assign to each of these custom views.

 

The views in the package are all defined in the same way for all the aircraft in the Premium Deluxe version which should cover the other versions as well.

 

Custom camera 0 and 7 - pilot view
Custom camera 9 - copilot
Custom camera 8 - panel view
Custom camera 4 - left wing or engine view in the middle of cabin
Custom camera 6 - right wing or engine view in the middle of cabin
Custom camera 5 - cabin view in the middle of cabin
Custom camera 1 - left wing view at the back of cabin
Custom camera 3 - right wing view at the back of cabin
Custom camera 2 - cabin view from the back of the cabin

 

So I set my custom views to correspond to numpad 0 - numpad 9.  That means for any aircraft in the package if I press numpad 2 , I will get the 

same viewpoint i.e. cabin view from the back of the cabin.

 

However you do have to go through the setup for  the custom views and the numpad numbers you want to use in the beginning . 

In fact with the package , all  you need to do is to assign numpad keys from 0 - 9 to the custom views 0 - 9 to use it .

 

Assuming that  you have no desire to ever make your own view(s)  or change one in the package you don't even need to assign a

key combination to save a custom view.

 

I have looked at a lot of videos on this and I found that his one is the most straightforward to follow.  He also has very clear instructions on how to make

your own custom views which I'm sure you will want to do at some point.

 

The important thing to remember in all of this, is that once you have set a key combination you want to use for each of the custom views, you can save any

view you want to that key .  There is nothing predefined about this. 

 

The process is also exactly the same if you want to preassign views to the external and drone cameras as well.

 

Cheers

Pete

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Happy birthday John Venema]

All the best birthday wishes John

Cheers

Pete

[Orbx KAVX for me is the clear winner ....]

The latest WU10 update now includes a custom KAVX.

 

But for me, KAVX by Ken Hall is in a class of its own.

 

Cheers

Pete

 

 

I love the feel in the early morning.  Every time I start up KAVX if reminds me of the first time I ever was in California 

 

and as the sun goes down  .... 

 

The golden hour is just perfect ....

  

[A Quick Partial fix for KAVX - Catalina after WU10 Update]

3 hours ago, flyinion said:

You don't need to edit the xml file to get rid of a default airport.  Just go to the content manager, search for KAVX, and uninstall the Asobo one.  I did that many many months ago with LOWI since I bought the Orbx version but have Premium Deluxe which included MS's version as well.

Yes that would work as well

It actually is easier for folks who aren't comfortable editing system files.

Thank you for making it

Cheers

Pete

 

[A Quick Partial fix for KAVX - Catalina after WU10 Update]

@Nick Cooper

@Jon Clarke

 

The latest MS2020 World Update 10 now contains a custom airport for KAVX Catalina.

 

Unfortunately this new update interferes with  the Orbx version in two areas:

 

1) The airport itself has a "double" scenery overlay effect in a great many places

2)  The Avalon harbour area is a bit of a mess due to what appears to be a mesh elevation change with the world update.

 

Please note that the following is a temporary fix for the airport itself , as the Avalon harbour area appears to have a compatibility issue with

the new default elevation mesh as a result of the world update that this suggestion does not address.

 

To provide a fix for the airport area one can do the following as shown on the following screenshot.

In the Content.xml file make and save the following change.  This will deactivate the Microsoft Catalina custom airport.

 

 

Please refer to the following link for information on the location of the Content.xml depending on whether you have the

Microsoft store or the Steam version of MS2020.

 

 

Nick or Jon will this note suffice to enable the developer to take a look at the Orbx version to bring it

up to date or would you like me to also file a separate bug report ?

 

Please let me know.

Thank you

Pete

 

 

[Life is good ....]

13 hours ago, Sniper31 said:

Great set of warm images here Pete  

 

Landon

Thanks Landon

I know exactly what you mean

Cheers

Pete

 

9 hours ago, John Mac said:

Yep on a day like that it’s good to be up and about!

John.

It was like that two days ago. Now its just steady rain ....

But the rain is what makes it so nice when the sun is out, so its okay.

Cheers

Pete

 

7 hours ago, Iain Emms said:

Great collection of shots Pete. 

cheers 

Iain 

Thank you Iain

Cheers

Pete

 

26 minutes ago, wain71 said:

great shots there Pete, summer is here....

Thanks Wayne

Finally !!!

Cheers

Pete

[A few at Melbourne ...]

13 hours ago, Sniper31 said:

What Avalanche are you referring to Pete? If you are talking about the NHL Avalanche, well, they are most certainly not my team. I do not like them. I do have a favorite NHL team (love hockey!) but it's not the Avs. 

 

Landon

Good to know

Cheers

Pete

 

9 hours ago, John Mac said:

Wonderful use of lighting in these gorgeous shots! Very soothing actually!

John.

 

Thanks John 

See you

Pete

 

 

 

 

[MSFS World Update X]

I don't know why it would be Canada

 

Most of the time it is like this -

 

          ..

 

That was a self portrait I took a month ago 

 

Cheers

Pete

 

PS - it would be nice if it was, very nice indeed

[seafront causing memory leek?]

10 hours ago, Jon Clarke said:

Many thanks for the feedback

Hi Jon

I was going to mention this as well , but I see that another member has already commented on it.

 

I just used Addons linker to deal with it until the fix and SU10 are available

 

I have 64 GB of Ram and noticed on Sunday that I was at 61.2 GB of usage when I shut MS2020 down.

It wasn't immediate though as it seemed to occur over several hours.

 

Cheers

Pete

[Orbx and Friends]

On 6/11/2022 at 4:11 PM, Sniper31 said:

Wonderful 'postcard' like images Pete. Nice and creative  

 

Landon

Thank you 

Cheers

Pete

 

On 6/12/2022 at 12:23 AM, John Mac said:

Really beautiful set of shots. Very imaginative!

Thanks JM

For various reasons, I haven't been "screenshotting " much lately

Kinda forgot a lot of the steps ... 

 

I am really pleased you enjoyed them. Thank you again for your kind words

All the best 

Pete

 

8 hours ago, wain71 said:

nice shots there Pete, well posted and thought out...

Thanks Wayne

Take care

Pete

[A few at Melbourne ...]

1 hour ago, Sniper31 said:

More great looking images of the Melbourne scenery Very nice Pete!

 

Landon

Thanks Landon

Glad you enjoyed them

Not too impressed with your Avalanche though....

But they're my pick for the winner 

Cheers and thank you

Pete

[Life is good ....]

Cheers!

Pete

 

It's just too good a day not to be flying

 

And some have thoughts on other things perhaps .... I sure she's enthralled with his impromptu helicopter instruction

 

It just doesn't get any better than this 

 

 

[A few at Melbourne ...]

19 minutes ago, flyingleaf said:

Very nice Pete.

Thanks! 

Cheers

Pete

[A few at Melbourne ...]

Cheers

Pete

 

 

[A few from Hong Kong]

Just stunning!!

It's hard to say if I have a favourite, so I'll just say I love them all 

Well  done sir!

Cheers

Pete

[Few changes to the screenshot contest .]

Hi Iain

I like this idea.

Could I make a small suggestion

Perhaps you could set a review in about 3 months time or so.

Ask folks if they liked how it is working and are there any suggestions to tweak it .

Cheers

Pete

[Orbx and Friends]

Just a few

Cheers

Pete

 

 

 

Arrived late... I'm sure you've done it too...  Just enough time to get the room sorted and a quick meal.

 

And maybe just a walk around the hotel afterwards to get the feel of the place ....

 

The next morning .... what a great place for a coffee and breakfast.

 

Wish I could have stayed longer  but ....

 

No more sightseeing.   We're all business here

 

I come here often.  And those two guys are always there.  Must be identical twins. They look very much alike.

 

 

 

And we're off.... 

I really enjoy this airport. It's a bit threadbare now, but it has that real life, seen it, done it, got the "T" shirt look to it.

The world is not a perfect place and YMEN feels very real because of the designer treatment.  BTW, looks like the Orbx folks

have finished up for the day too.

 

All I can say about the new Melbourne city scape is one word.  Superb !!!!! 

To all the staff who made this one a reality thank you.

 

 

[MSFS can't completely load]

On 6/8/2022 at 2:11 AM, Aussieflyer38 said:

 

Hi Pete, after further investigation today, I found the problem  to be something not right with the scenery - New Zealand Westport NZWS. I tried several aircraft and they all   did the same thing. I had of course flown them out of other airports no problem, and my Milviz C310 works faultlessly at other NZ  airports, Napier, Rotorua, Hobart, etc all by the same developer, so it's just NZWS. Really surprised me that it was scenery related. Tomorrow I'll delete it and reinstall it and see what happens. 

Thanks for your input.

 

Don

Hi Don

 

Unfortunately this is not an uncommon issue  with scenery in my experience. Asobo often makes small changes with each update & sometimes

other apps that you add can cause glitches  or things that were working right before now don't .  

 

It can be very time consuming and frustrating when this happens.

 

The other little tip I can add (from a friends experience) that whenever you experience the blue bar hanging on loading and all the standard things to

check look good is the following.

 

In his case he had purchased a program totally unrelated to anything to do with flight sim applications and he accepted all its defaults.

 

I found this out when after we had tried everything we could think of , I asked if he had done anything to his computer and he mentioned and showed

me his new graphics design program.

 

He said that he found it was absolutely excellent and liked it a lot, but , by the way, when we were done could be check his computer because he

had noticed that his dates seemed to be "screwy".  

 

So .... 

 

Go into Time, Region and check that the regional format is set to English and that Regional Format Data is set to correspond to the regional format

supported by the region.  Some English speaking countries use different date formats than the US default which is mm-dd-year.

This is an interesting reference   Date format by country - Wikipedia .  

 

Unfortunately the date format had been changed to something which didn't match the regional format and MS2020 was hanging on that. 

Why on earth would it do that is completely beyond me  .  It doesn't take much programming to add a little "popup" to a program

to simply say that date- time format is incompatible with regional selection.

 

Changing the date format back to the correct one and all was instantly good.  That one took us 4 1/2 days of sleuthing 

 

In fact, whenever I do a sim update, I now go into the Date time and check these two items as well as clicking sync time.

Windows automatically sync's its time, every week, but it doesn't hurt to manually do it before you start the update process.

 

I'm pleased to hear that you found the problem and all is good now

Great job

 

Cheers

Pete

[MSFS can't completely load]

Hi Don

As you wisely said "check everything"

Also if you are using Bijain Trees make sure that you have the latest version installed.

I had the blue bar just hanging , but when I updated BT all was good

 

Just a thought

Pete

[June 2022 Screenshot contest! Prize? Any Orbx product of your choice!]

Best of luck to all

Cheers

Pete