Saitek FIP - screen shifted

[Phyllo]

Hi,

I found your forum since you offer quite some neat gauges for the FIP and so I assume you know it pretty well.

I use win 10 (1511) 64bit with fsx gold, so the acceleration pack is installed. Other than that, I only installed FSUIPC4 and SPAD.
I just got a Saitek FIP and I downloaded and installed the drivers and software for win 10 64 bit. I was quite disappointed to see that it kept showing the advertising pics even while the fsx was running. Then I realized they seem to have changed their setup program (or I misread other posts on how to get it running) and found there is an additional download called plugin for fsx 64 bit. I installed that as well and then was asked by fsx if I'd trust this software which I confirmed.
Now, the FIP shows various gauges and I can click through them.
The problem is that the screen is shifted to the right and in some gauges also vertically. Meaning it says e.g. on the left side
Panel
s

4
5
and on the right side
Main
Radio
GPS
Panel
Panel
Map
and the gauge itself in the middle between the two columns of text.
If I'm not mistaken, Map would normally be on top and all the text would be on the left side next to the buttons, e.g. Main Panel instead of having that split and the gauge itself would be on the right side of the text.

Has anybody else experienced this problem yet and found a solution for it?

Thanks in advance!

[OldAirmail]

"I just got a Saitek FIP and...."

I've never heard of anything like you're describing happening to a FIP.

I only have one FIP and love it, but my advice is to send it back ASAP.


Problems like your describing can occur with poorly installed CCTV security systems, but the FIP is little more than an electronic picture frame.

You, as a user, have almost no control over it. You can push the buttons or turn the knobs but that's about it.

Basically all you need is SaiFlightSimX.exe and SimConnect. Everything else is out of your control, unless you use SPAD.neXt.

And xml programing, of course.

But even if you did something wrong with xml, I don't think that, that would cause the problems you describe.

More than likely it's just a bad unit that made it out of the factory.

Return it and get a new one.


BTW - You don't have this plugged into an unpowered USB hub, do you? That shouldn't cause your problem, but it wouldn't hurt to plug it directly into your computer.

[Phyllo]

No, the FIP was not plugged into a hub. My old laptop broke down recently and now I have a new one which only has three USB 3.0 ports, no 2.0 any more. So I thought they were all the same but apparently, they are not. Thanks to your idea I plugged it into another one of the three and now the problem is gone, the screen shows the gauges as it should. So thanks a lot for the hint.

When I start fsx now, the FIP displays what is called 9. "PFD" on http://saitek.com/uk/prod/fip.html . I find this quite useful since it shows the most important information at a glance.
However, when I try the built-in lesson 5 "approaching an airport" (not sure if that is the right name in English, I use a German version), the one where I land a Piper J-3C-65 Cub on Eagle Creek, the attitude indicator doesn't do anything. Probably since the Piper doesn't have one. When I test it with the next lesson, "flying in the mountains" where I take off and land a Cessna Skyhawk SP Model 172 at Lower Loon Creek, the attitude indicator works like a charm.
So my question is: Is it possible to get the attitude indicator to work even with aircrafts that do not have one in real life?
And a second question: The FIP displays all 12 of the setups shown on their page but in an odd order: advertising pic, 9, 12, 8, 10, 7, 11, 4, 3, 2, 1, 6, 5. Is there a way to change that order? I looked at the SaiFlightSimX.xml but I don't really see anything in there that would indicate the order in which the gauges appear when I push the up and down buttons on the FIP.

[OldAirmail]

"Thanks to your idea I plugged it into another one of the three and now the problem is gone, the screen shows the gauges as it should. So thanks a lot for the hint."

I'm very happy that it worked. Sometimes simple things work best.

I remember fixing a computer where the owner had bought & installed his own memory SIMMs. There was one tiny piece of plastic packaging caught between the SIMM and the SIMM socket. It was so small that I didn't see it until I removed the memory to re-seat it.

You might want to check your USB port just in case. If it's clean try the FIP in it again. That way you'll know for sure if its good or not.

If it's clean and the FIP doesn't work, then you may have a bad solder joint inside the laptop case.


As to the FIP order check out this link. Don't know if it'll help, but it's the first thing that comes to mind - Flight Instrument Panel Tweak – Part 1


BTW - if you want an easy & simple mod for your FIP read this - The poor mans sim pit



Good luck.

[Phyllo]

Yes, sometimes small things make a big change and it's always rewarding to see the effects then.
Unfortunately, there seems no easy fix for my port, it's all clean and still doesn't work. But I can use the joystick there and the FIP in the other and things work fine.

I checked the xml file again and here, the order in which the controls are shown does not correlate with the order they are in the xml file. That was what I thought first and why I looked at the file to fix the order. Maybe Saitek changed the behavior there or something else changed but with the drivers and software I just downloaded from their page, the order seems to be odd, at least for me.

Thanks for the great link, those are neat ideas, not just the knobs for the FIP. I'm all for DIY projects that give that little extra.

[OldAirmail]

So long as the FIP works in at least one USB3 port that's great.

Personally, the only thing that I have that needs a USB3 port is my backup drive.


Anyway.... Welcome to SimViation, Phyllo.