Hi all,
A new version of UDPSpeed and my new high-res BF-109K gauges are available for download here .

For those unfamiliar with it, UDPSpeed is a program written by Hruks and Alezz which allows you to display working cockpit gauges on a second screen. For best results, the screen should be that of a second PC networked to the PC you play IL2 on, but it is also possible to run the program on the same PC as the sim (by replacing both the IP addresses in the instructions below with "127.0.0.1"). BTW if you are using a second PC, then it doesn't have to be very powerful - I've run UDPSpeed in the past on an old 460Mhz laptop with 60MB of RAM.

In addition to UDPSpeed itself, this zip also contains a complete 1280x1024 set of my BF-109K instruments, along with a selection of generic warning lights and indicators. N.B. You do not have to be flying a 109 to use the instruments - they'll work with any plane, Allied or Axis. The gauges will also work when you're viewing an NTRK, so you can watch the track from an exterior view on your main screen whilst still keeping an eye on all the instruments on your second screen.



From top left, the set consists of: speedometer, artificial horizon with slip and turn indicators, VSI, tachometer, altimeter, compass with nav beacon indicator, clock, manifold pressure gauge, coolant temperature gauge, oil temperature gauge, landing gear indicator, prop pitch indicator, fuel gauge, war emergency power light, supercharger light, magnetos indicator, aileron and rudder trim indicator, tail wheel lock light, arresting hook light, elevator trim & G-force indicator, flaps position indicator, air brake light, and finally a low fuel warning light. N.B. The image above has been scaled down.


QUICK START GUIDE
=================
1. Set up a network connecting the PC you play IL2:FB/AEP/PF on (the host) to the PC you want to display the gauges on (the client).

2. Create a folder called UDPSpeed anywhere on your client PC and unzip the files into it. Your UDPSpeed folder should now contain sub folders for each gauge along with the UDPSpeed initialization file and executable.

3. Open the file "UDPSpeed.ini" in your UDPSpeed folder with notepad and check the IP address at the top. It should match that of your host PC. If it doesn't, then amend it. (You can check your IP address by clicking Start, Run, typing "cmd" followed by Enter, then typing "ipconfig" followed by Enter).

3. Open your conf.ini file (in the FB/PF folder on your host PC) and paste the following text at the end of it:

[DeviceLink]
port=21100
host=192.168.0.1

This tells IL2 itself the IP address of the host PC and must therefore match the address you used in the previous step. Obviously if your host PC uses a different address, then amend your conf.ini accordingly.

4. Set the desktop on your client PC to 1280x1024 (This set of instruments is designed to be viewed at that resolution). If you're viewing the gauges on a CRT rather than a TFT then the aspect ratio will be slightly distorted. You can fix this by using a higher resolution, but obviously the gauges won't then cover the whole screen.

5. Double click the file "UDPSpeed.exe" in your UDPSpeed folder on your client PC. The gauges should appear.

6. Fire up IL2 on your host PC and load a mission. Once the mission has loaded and you're airborne, the gauges should be active. (If you use the autopilot during take-off, toggle it off and on again once you're off the ground).


LIMITATIONS
===========
1. 1C:Maddox have severely limited the variables which can be exported from a multiplayer game. Most of the main gauges will therefore only work when flying offline. If, like me, you'd like to see this restriction lifted then I suggest you contact 1C:Maddox and ask them to make the necessary changes to the sim (perhaps via a variable which a multiplayer server admin could edit e.g. AllowDevicelink=1).

2. The timing of the lights on the landing gear indicator is slightly wrong. This is because the current version of UDPSpeed doesn't have the ability to round up Devicelink key values.

3. FB/PF doesn't export a value for prop pitch for planes with automatic control (like the BF-109), so you won't see the needle move in this plane. When flying a plane with manual prop pitch control, however, you'll see the larger needle move (down for 100%, up for 0%).

4. FB/PF doesn't export a value for your radiator/cowl flap setting so it's not possible to make a gauge for that.


CREATING YOUR OWN GAUGES
========================
The beauty of UDPSpeed is that it enables you to make just about any type of gauge or indicator you want. You can model and render them in a program like 3D Studio Max (as I did) or use photos of real gauges. In either case you'll almost certainly also need to do some editing of the images with a program like Photoshop.


NEW FUNCTIONALITY IN THIS VERSION OF UDPSPEED
=============================================
The following new commands can be used to slide arrows (in addition to rotating them):

DataIndexSlide=X Devicelink key number to be used to control the sliding (like DataIndex).
SlideTo=X Direction in which to slide. Possible values are:
0 = Slide To None?
1 = Slide vertically
2 = Slide horizontally
3 = Slide along the X axis of the arrow
4 = Slide along the Y axis of the arrow
DataSlide1=X Equivalent to "Data1", but for sliding arrows.
Slide1=X Specifies the distance to be slid in pixels.

For examples of the new syntax in use, read the ini files in the artificial horizon or trim indicator folders.

Cheers,
DD

At last a decent use for my PII400! Thanks for the app.

S! pato

now if i had that second screen... this looks really cool, no more text to know the radiator, or wep, or tailhook position !!!

Okay, that's so slick as to be, um, mindbogglingly slick.

Yet another reason to upgrade to a whole 'nother computer!

Of course, if I were fantastically wealthy, I'd figure a way to rig it up to actual gauges and lights....or has somebody (outside of the military) already done that?

Anyone got a cheap laptop they can let me have?

Unfortunately your radiator setting is just about the only info it's not possible to get from the sim (wrt your own plane's settings) via Devicelink. I don't know why, I think they just forgot to include it when writing the Devicelink code. If it was available I'd have replaced my magentos indicator with a radiator one.

BTW You can still take advantage of the gauges if you only have one screen. You could fire up UDPSpeed and then hide the top three rows (by right clicking on each gauge in turn and choosing "Hide" from the pop-up). Then you can launch the sim and you'll still have the bottom row of warning lights and trim indicators visible along with the digital readouts of the gauges you hid (they'll all be drawn on top of the sim graphics).

The only drawback of this method is that FPS in the sim may suffer a bit (whereas when the gauges are running on a second PC there seems to be no FPS impact at all).
Cheers,
DD

I'm pretty sure that the number you would get is whatever the adjustment the pilot made is, not the actual pitch.

If UDPSpeed could filter inputs, it would know when you adjusted a control as long as your key and HOTAS assignments are included. That might not be possible at all though.

Yet another reason for me to want an old laptop...

What happens when the gauges are broken by damage?

Too bad for the radiator


Anyway i think i'll get a second monitor in my new home, so i may enjoy UDP speed