i went to the <http://www heliguy.com/nexus/home.html> and built the interface.

i had some problems figureing out what he did and what it was to look like. i must have blown a resistor because the heat shrink was all melted aroung that area... so i figure ill just rebuild

i then was messing aroung with it and the npn transistor middle wire broke off on me. so we ran down to radio shack, but they were closed. so i took apart a little walky talky to get a transistor.

since i didn't have a buddy cord connector. i improviced, i sodered
some 1/16 peices of music wire to the ends of the cord(making sure the wire were the same on both sides) i also made a "short" useing some bent wire

i got it out sodered (sp?) it all togather for a preliminary test to see if it was working, and of corse it wasn't.

so i looked again and found that the wires where on the wrong poles. so i fixed that. now it looks just like the one on the web page

so i also checked to makes sure that the printer port is setup correctly and it is.

i then went to fms pluged the ground and the singnal in pushed the "short" in the radio turns on and it doesn't work! then the computer crashed
i really want to get this working, and really dont want to fry my comp or my futaba 8 channel so can some one melp me?

First, read posts on the official FMS forum:
http://cgi.ethz.ch/~mmoeller/cgi-bin.../ikonboard.cgi

Second, make sure that your TX is in PPM mode, your Windows isn't 2000 or XP, your ground is fired to both the cental pin and the body of the DIN connector, etc. Too long of a list of possible reasons why it may not work...

Boris

Oops, ground is "wired", not "fired".

all i have is windows 98 do i need 2000?

No, stay away from Win 2000--it doesn't allow to use simple (i.e., not a micro-chip based) interfaces. Win 98 is still the best OS for games.

well i finally got it working
i was doing some fine tuneing with the channels and trying a little flying and the computer crashed
then i un pluged the wires for the radio and waited for windows to finish loading
so i click on the fms icon, it loads up while it was loading i pluged the wires in, see the heli for like 1 second then it crashed again!
so i waited once more to load up windows clicked on fms, this time i didnt connect the wires to the radio and seen the heli and it crashed again!!!

im not sure what the problem is. its about 85 degs here and the comp has been on for a few hours, maybe it got too hot?
the original graphics card is still in my computer, do i need to upgrade so this doesn't happen again?

Probably not. Disconnect your cable and any joystick. If FMS runs fine without any cable or joystick (Computer won't crash using keyboard) It IS your cable that is faulty. If it behaves the same, your Operating System or FMS is faulty. This should hopefully steer you in the right direction. As a power user, I was never happy with Win98. It is completely unstable and insecure. That said, I must admit I know near nothing about my new favorite OS... Windows XP. I personally don't care to own an interface cable, but would LOVE to get FMS to work with Windows XP. Forget compatibility mode under properties! Maybe someone has a "trick" out there? Win2K.. No Comment.

Not to distract from this thread but If someone can can "enlighten" me. Computer specs are as follows:
Abit kd7 MB
Enough HD space
512 MB of RAM
AMD XP 2600+
8x AGP ATI Radeon 9500 PRO (One step under their flagship; better than the 9600 taking it's place, and going the way of the dodo). Incidentaly, Sapphire makes an OEM version (Same card) that could save you $50.

Yeah... I'm into overkill!
All habits included... At least none are illegal!

Outlawflier

I have installed FMS on many WinXP machines, and never had a problem. However, the Serial PIC or Joystick Interface is required for WinXP.

As a rule, I always update DirectX to the latest version, but in WinXP it's not required. This might help for Ifly. Have a look on my web for the DirectX link.

I'm using a Mocrosoft USB Sidewinder joystick. My problem is that when the aircraft is near the ground, the screen won't update. When FMS loads, all I see is the runway. Best framerate near the ground is 12 FPS. If I very carefully take off by sound and get only the sky behind the plane, it's 375 FPS. If I get too close to the ground again, 12 FPS and no plane!

Tried no Direct X update (From fresh XP install), Direct X 7.? (worked great on win 98), and Direct X 9.0 all have the same issues.

Ain't Direct X, ain't joystick, ain't an out dated anything. Has to be a video issue, but what? XP did the same thing with a Radeon 7500 pro. Does XP hate me? I know it is fussy, have never had it install quite the same. Bizzare yes?

Issue(s) source identified,

Newer ATI cards don't agree with any version of direct x when running FMS. I have heard that it is a direct x issue, and I've heard it is a driver issue for ATI cards. I think it is the latter. Regardless; the fact remains that only newer ATI cards (or on-board video by ATI) have this issue. First I must say that I think the ATI cards are superior. I must disclaim though... their drivers leave something to be desired; also be carefull with their newest generation of cards. Certain 9500 pro's blow first generation 9600 pro's away. OEM's are the better (bang for the buck). Educate yourself on anything that might be "new", or "improved"; might be neither. I see 475 fps (high enough) and love my card but would like to see a fix. (A takeoff or landing wold be nice also.)

P.S.

ATI PCI cards and any 1x and 2x AGP cards seem to be immune.

PLEASE!

Never forget that FMS is free... Even if it were a programming issue, CHANT: Don't look a gift horse in the mouth...