Saitek panels, FSUIPC and SPAD

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Saitek panels, FSUIPC and SPAD

Postby Alex-1968 » Wed Jun 15, 2016 3:37 am

Hello everyone,

I am actually running FSX Deluxe Ed. together with some Saitek panels, whose drivers I got from Saitek's site.

Brand: ASUS 850W 0db
Processor: Intel Core i7
RAM: 16 Gb
Video card GPU: Asus Nvidia GTX970 4Gb
HD SSD 240 Gb & DVD
3x Monitor Asus Gaming 24”
1x Monitor Asus 21,5”
OS: Windows 7 Home Ed. (64bit)

exclusively dedicated to FSX (I do not run any other game in this PC).

As add-ons I have installed all GEX textures (whole world), regulary purchased & licensed, and the Mooney M20J from Carenado, licensed too.

My layout is shown below:
Image

My problem is that Saitek drivers don't work well and they cause my game freezing after 10-15 minutes flight, randomly. Means that the game stops working, the panels stop working, only the audio keeps on coming out. I must make a Ctrl-Alt-Del reset to restart the game.

I am about to purchase FSUIPC4 and maybe also to use SPAD drivers, so I hope I will solve the problem.

Questions:
-Do I have to uninstall Saitek drivers before?
-FSUIPC4 will be able to controll all my panels/buttons/trim wheel/etc.?
-Any hints?

Thank you in advance to those who will want to help me ^-^
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Re: Saitek panels, FSUIPC and SPAD

Postby StargazerWoods » Wed Jun 15, 2016 1:22 pm

Hi,

Very nice setup you have going there. I too had problems with my Saitek panels using the official drivers. SPAD has cleared up a great many problems and FSX is a lot happier for it. I'd recommend nuking the Saitek drivers though you can keep the Profiler. While I'm confident that SPAD will take full control, a belt-and-braces approach can't hurt and if you don't need them for anything else, then they're totally surplus anyway.

FSUIPC and SPAD combined are an unstoppable force in this respect. I suspect you'll push them a little harder than I have done but with all the options for control ranges, assignments and customisation, I'd like to think someone would struggle to find too many boundaries.

As for tips and hints to make it easier? Hard to say. SPAD does most of it on its own. The settings in there are easily manipulated and anyone can find a sweet spot that will work for them. The only thing I will say, and this may be something you've discovered already, is that there are some aircraft that are not compatible with the Saitek panels. Not many, but a few, and I don't think this is something FSUIPC can over come either. Some developers did things in such a way that it simply can't procees anythign other than a physical mouse-click on a virtual cockpit control. Luckily, the significant majority of FS developers weren't bastards about it and you should have full panel control on your fleet.

Good luck getting it all sorted out.

Rob.
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Re: Saitek panels, FSUIPC and SPAD

Postby OldAirmail » Wed Jun 15, 2016 6:46 pm

Your setup is somewhat similar to mind.

I'll strongly agree with Rob - get rid of the Saitek drivers.

SPAD will work MUCH better. You'll be able to do many things that Saitek never thought of.

If you want to do more, and do it fairly easily, get FSUIPC too. It may look a little intimidating at first, but you'll soon learn how to go so far beyond Saitek, that you'll be surprised.


I use SPAD.neXt.

This gives you much more power than SPAD + FSUIPC, and is pretty much essential if you have high end aircraft such as PMDG etc. which don't behave well with Saitek or SPAD.

It's also easy to get great results with SPAD.neXt and no programming.

But there is a learning curve with both FSUIPC and SPAD.neXt. It's not as hard as learning to program, but it will be unfamiliar when you start using them.



I think that most people who want to get the most out of their Saitek equipment will be satisfied with SPAD, or SPAD & FSUIPC.

However, if you KNOW that you wasn't to do impressive things within FSX or Prepar3d, then save yourself some money and start right off with the paid version of SPAD.neXt.
.. .
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. . . . . .Any time, any plane, any weather.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . Prepar3d V4
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Re: Saitek panels, FSUIPC and SPAD

Postby OldAirmail » Wed Jun 15, 2016 7:17 pm

Questions:
-Do I have to uninstall Saitek drivers before?
-FSUIPC4 will be able to controll all my panels/buttons/trim wheel/etc.?
-Any hints?


"-Do I have to uninstall Saitek drivers before?" - It's best to uninstall the Saitek drivers. Otherwise strange problems can crop up.


"-FSUIPC4 will be able to controll all my panels/buttons/trim wheel/etc.?" - Yes, much more than you would suspect.

For example, you can use a lever to control how much the spoilers will deploy. You don't have to have them ALL in, or ALL out. The same with the cowling - You can use a lever to set 0, 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100%.


"-Any hints?" - That goes back to the last question. For some things, it's easier to mix it up a little.

Some things are so easy to do in FSX/P3d, that it's better to do it there. Other things can't be done within the flight sim.

I'm not a purist. I just want to do the most in the easiest way possible.


One hint - You can assign one command to a button in FSX/P3d. You can also assign ANOTHER command to that same button through FSUIPC. ALL WITHOUT PROGRAMMING.

Like what? Use your imagination. Just let the thought sit there and somethings will come to you.


I suppose that I should mention that you can do the same thing with SPAD.neXt. BUT you also have the ability to use conditional programming.

It's not real programing. It more like setting a condition that "if the aircraft is going more than 120knots the landing gear won't come down".

Then, no matter what you do, the landing gear isn't going to come down until you hit the speed that you set: 120, or less, in this case.
.. .
Get the most out of your controls - SPAD.neXt

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. . . . . .Any time, any plane, any weather.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . Prepar3d V4
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Re: Saitek panels, FSUIPC and SPAD

Postby Alex-1968 » Thu Jun 16, 2016 1:29 am

StargazerWoods wrote:I too had problems with my Saitek panels using the official drivers. SPAD has cleared up a great many problems and FSX is a lot happier for it.


OldAirmail wrote:I'll strongly agree with Rob - get rid of the Saitek drivers.


Stargazer & OldAirmail, thank you very much for your suggestions. They are very helpful and they also cleared a bit of that fog I have in my mind, 'cause my lack of experience.

I take advantage of you both a little more, because I have a couple of further questions:

1) Which SPAD do I have to use?

-The one called SPAD XIII
http://fstools.weebly.com/

-or the Spad.NEXT
https://www.fsgs.com/wiki/current_release

And is there a difference between them?

2) I read that SPAD needs FSUIPC to work (is it true?), so I will purchase it, no problem but:

- whileSPAD is able to replace drivers for the Saitek panels, do I need to keep the original drivers for the trim wheel & the TPM (or FSUIPC will do the job)?
-Is there a version of SPAD I can purchase or is it only free of charge?

3) Once I own both SPAD & FSUIPC, what physically do I have to do? In sequence:
a-uninstall Saitek drivers
b-install SPAD
c-install FSUIPC

Is this the right sequence?

@Stargazer: Since I upgraded Saitek drivers for theTPM panel, my Profiler stopped working, no clue why...
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Re: Saitek panels, FSUIPC and SPAD

Postby StargazerWoods » Thu Jun 16, 2016 12:17 pm

Hi,

1) Any SPAD will work. I use the original one as it is already far cleverer than me and I'm barely scratching the surface with it. The original SPAD team either decided their work was done or ran out of time to keep pumping into it which is why a new team (or a reformed one - typing without fact-checking) created a 'next-gen' SPAD which is even bigger and even better in many ways that I've never really investigated. My experience with Flight Sim has not been a smooth one so I'm loathe to switch to something new at times like these where it all seems to be going well. New SPAD might be right for you or it might not, but both will work. It's all about your preference at the end of the day.

2) I 'think' that SPAD will work without FSUIPC but that it's optimised to be used with it. I already had FSUIPC to help me with a number of other issues before I started with SPAD so it just seamlessly integrated in. Having both is still a godsend as I found having Airbrake assigned to lever on one of my throttle quads gave jittery results. Using FSUIPC, I've been able to figure out some dead-zones and make it a little less troublesome. But lose all the Saitek drivers. don't leave anything in that might cause a conflict. I still have the profiler, but as far as I know, any actual 'driver' stuff is gone. SPAD is complete suite of drivers for 'all' the panels so no extras needed. I don't know about the new SPAD, but the original was developed for the community so no purchase was necessary. Just because it's free doesn't mean it's any less serious a solution. Embrace this program. It will make you happy.

3) As stated above, I already had FSUIPC before SPAD. Even if one doesn't rely on the other, doing it this way round may be safest just tp make sure that everything is working before investing too heavily in config just to find that something borked early on. I'd recommend FSUIPC goes in first and then SPAD.


Regarding the profiler... Who can say? I still have respect for the peeps at Saitek for making these items and all my flight yokes that I've had through the years. Many critisize the quality but if you don't have thousands of pounds for the other stuff, these panels are decent compromise. That said, something about Saitek seems a little 'off'. Their handling of some of the software and a their support has been a little hit-and-miss. To hear that parts of it has broken after an update is sad but an indication that maybe they're not as ivested in their products as we'd like them to be... Or maybe it's just an environemental factor in your PC. like I said, 'who can say?' Give these aftermarket solutions a go and if you're still hitting a brick wall, there's many a clever soul in these forums who can point you to a fix. They've helped resolve a fair few of mine, that's for certain!
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Re: Saitek panels, FSUIPC and SPAD

Postby OldAirmail » Thu Jun 16, 2016 4:12 pm

For my two cents, I'd say try just plain ol' SPAD. It may very well fill all your needs. If you feel the need later for FSUIPC, you can always add it.
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Re: Saitek panels, FSUIPC and SPAD

Postby Alex-1968 » Fri Jun 17, 2016 2:21 am

Thank you guys. I will upgrade my system with the new drivers during the next weekend. I'll let you know if I still can fly on monday :mrgreen:
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Re: Saitek panels, FSUIPC and SPAD

Postby ermias » Fri Jun 17, 2016 10:56 pm

Hi,

Great setup there. As mentioned by other members get FSUIPC and SPAD. I personally advise you to stay away from SPAD.nex at least for the time being, you will spare yourself from endless headache. I can never ever understand why they felt complicating it would appeal to flight simmers and especially new users. FSUIPC is a great tool, as John Baymore once said it, "FSUIPC is the Swiss army knife of flightsim."

If you haven't already done it, grab REX weather engine to complement your scenery.

Thanks,
ermias
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Re: Saitek panels, FSUIPC and SPAD

Postby Alex-1968 » Tue Jun 21, 2016 9:21 am

ermias wrote:Hi,

Great setup there. As mentioned by other members get FSUIPC and SPAD. I personally advise you to stay away from SPAD.nex at least for the time being, you will spare yourself from endless headache. I can never ever understand why they felt complicating it would appeal to flight simmers and especially new users. FSUIPC is a great tool, as John Baymore once said it, "FSUIPC is the Swiss army knife of flightsim."

If you haven't already done it, grab REX weather engine to complement your scenery.

Thanks,
ermias


Thank's Ermias :)

Do you know if Spad can control also the Saitek trim wheel & TPM?
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Re: Saitek panels, FSUIPC and SPAD

Postby ermias » Fri Jul 01, 2016 3:46 pm

Alex-1968 wrote:
ermias wrote:Hi,

Great setup there. As mentioned by other members get FSUIPC and SPAD. I personally advise you to stay away from SPAD.nex at least for the time being, you will spare yourself from endless headache. I can never ever understand why they felt complicating it would appeal to flight simmers and especially new users. FSUIPC is a great tool, as John Baymore once said it, "FSUIPC is the Swiss army knife of flightsim."

If you haven't already done it, grab REX weather engine to complement your scenery.

Thanks,
ermias


Thank's Ermias :)

Do you know if Spad can control also the Saitek trim wheel & TPM?


Hello,

Sorry, I am out of country and haven't been online that much. Unless I forgot, the first SPAD doesn't control the stand alone trim wheel nor the TPM. I don't have TPM, but I don't remember using the trim wheel with SPAD. There is a discussion about the wheel below.
http://www.avsim.com/topic/423327-saite ... el-issues/

Thanks,
ermias
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