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 Many of the support documents to the right are in pdf format.
| RCFS 2001 Frequently Asked Questions Updated 4/25/2001, 12:00 p.m. EST What are the system requirements to effectively run RCFS 2001? The recommended system configuration is a Pentium II-400 (or equivalent), 64 MB RAM, 16 MB 3D graphics card w/DirectX 7.0 compatibility, 100 MB hard disk space available, CD-ROM drive, sound card, game port, mouse. The exact system requirements are very difficult to determine because systems vary so widely. For example, a machine with the latest and greatest 3D graphics card will relax the CPU requirement. We believe that it may be possible to adequately run the program on a Pentium 200MMX system if that system is configured with a GeForce 2 or 3 card, all other requirements remaining the same. It is impossible for us to test all the permutations so we make an educated guess when determining system requirements. What aircraft are included with RCFS 2001?
Will RCFS 2001 work in Windows 2000 or XP? Yes. RCFS 2001 will work with Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, or XP. Will the old Hangar aircraft work with RCFS 2001? No. The airplanes in the Hangar are not compatible with RCFS 2001. I recently purchased a new copy (non-upgrade) of RCFS 2001. How do I install the program? Insert the RCFS 2001 CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive and close the drive drawer. If you have Autoplay enabled on your computer, in about 10-15 seconds a window will appear asking you to choose the type of installation you would like to do. You should select New/First-Time Installation. You will be prompted for your serial number, which is printed on a label attached to the CD-ROM jewel case. Enter the serial number then click OK. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen and accept all default settings unless you have a reason not to do so. When the installation is complete you will be prompted to reboot your computer. You should reboot. When your computer restarts you will notice 2 new icons on your desktop - one for the airplane simulator and one for the helicopter simulator. Double-click either icon to start the program. In the case Autoplay does not work, start the installation program by clicking Start, click Run, type in D:\rcsetup.exe (where D is the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive.) How do I upgrade my existing RCFS program to RCFS 2001? Make sure that A) you have a previous installation of RCFS installed on your hard drive, or B) you have the floppy disk for your old version of RCFS. Insert the RCFS 2001 CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive and close the drive drawer. If you have Autoplay enabled on your computer, in about 10-15 seconds a window will appear asking you to choose the type of installation you would like to do. Select the option to do an upgrade installation. When you click "OK", the installation program will search your hard drive for an installation of an older version of RCFS. If it doesn't find a previous installation, the program will prompt you to place your old RCFS floppy disk into your floppy drive. The installation program will validate the serial number file and carry your serial number forward to the new installation. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen and accept all default settings unless you have a reason not to do so. When the installation is complete you will be prompted to reboot your computer. You should reboot. When your computer restarts you will notice 2 new icons on your desktop - one for the airplane simulator and one for the helicopter simulator. Double-click either icon to start the program. In the case Autoplay does not work, start the installation program by clicking Start, click Run, type in D:\rcsetup.exe (where D is the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive.) I own an older version of RCFS but have lost my floppy disk. Can I still upgrade to RCFS 2001? You must be able to prove that you own an older version before we can provide you with a new serial number. You will need to contact us at (513) 738-1576 in this situation. How do I calibrate my joystick? The calibration process changed in version 1.1.01 of RCFS 2001. In this version, the calibration process is handled within the RCFS 2001 program. From the main RCFS 2001 windos, click the button titled "Calibrate Joystick..." IMPORTANT: You must add SimStar to the Gaming Options in the Windows Control Panel and its status must be "OK" before you can calibrate. Center both sticks in both the x and y axes. Click "Calibrate." Move both sticks in complete circles several times. (You should notice the numbers in the blue boxes changing as you do this.) Click "Apply." Test the calibration by moving both sticks and making sure that the blue dots in the white boxes roughly correspond to your actual stick positions. When you are satisfied, click OK to return to the main RCFS 2001 window. Versions prior to 1.1.01 relied on the calibration data stored by Windows in the Control Panel. Click Start | Settings | Control Panel. Then go into the Gaming Options/Game Controllers applet. Highlight "SimStar" and click "Properties." Click the Settings tab. Click the "Calibrate..." button. Follow the instructions for each screen. When you are instructed to push a button on your controller, if you have the SimStar controller with toggle switches, the equivalent of pushing a button is to click the switch one wan then back the other way. Make sure you use this procedure to go from screen to screen in the calibration instead of clicking "Next>" with the mouse. When you have completed calibration, be sure to click "Apply" then click OK. My joystick status is "Not Connected" in the Game Controllers/Gaming Options in Windows Control Panel. What is the problem? This message is not indicative that your joystick is problematic. In 99.9% of the cases, the game port is not configured correctly. Refer to the documentation that came with your sound card or game card. Most people do not understand that the game port is an integral component when it comes to joystick capability. SimStar is a standard, analog joystick. As such, it is a relatively unintelligent device. The intelligence lies within the game port and its drivers. In some cases, it is necessary to remove the "Gameport Joystick" entry from the Windows Device Manager, then add it back to get it working properly. We cannot provide support for properly setting up your game port. Consult the manufacturer of your computer system, sound card, or game card. Another problem that we have found is that other joystick drivers will interfere with the proper operation of the SimStar joystick. For example, let's say that you have two joysticks listed in the Control Panel. The first joystick listed is the Microsoft Sidewinder 3D Pro. The second joystick listed is SimStar. Even if the SimStar is the joystick physically connected to your game port, the status of SimStar will likely be "Not Connected" and the Sidewinder will likely read "Not Connected." This is because the Sidewinder is interfering with SimStar. Two solutions exist. First, you can just remove the Sidewinder and add it back later when you need it. Second, you can change the controller IDs of the joysticks. Assign SimStar a controller ID lower than the Sidewinder. This will force SimStar to the top of the list and should change the status to "OK." You may need to reboot your PC after making the changes before they take effect. I am running version 1.1.01 or 1.1.02. My SimStar joystick has a status of "OK" in the Windows Control Panel but the RCFS 2001 calibration screen does not recognize the joystick. When I try to calibrate, nothing happens. This is a bug in these versions of the program. Download the latest version from our website to correct this problem. When I go into Gaming Options/Game Controllers in the Control Panel, the system automatically jumps to the test screen. When I click OK, the system exits the test window and bumps me right back into the test window repeatedly. Before going into Gaming Options/Game Controllers, make sure that all toggle switches on your SimStar controller are in their up (away from you) position. Can I use my own transmitter with RCFS 2001? Maybe. If you find a converter that allows your transmitter to plug into the game port of your computer and act as a standard, analog joystick in Windows, then you should be able to use your transmitter in RCFS 2001. You do so at your own risk. This option is not supported. Do not call us for technical support if you have problems arising from such an arrangement. Can I use my RealFlight joystick with RCFS 2001? Probably. We have not tested the RealFlight joystick. The only joystick that we support is the SimStar joystick that we manufacture. My computer does not have a game port but has a USB port. Can I still use the SimStar controller that comes with RCFS 2001? Yes. In version 1.1.01 of RCFS 2001 we provide support for game port to USB converters. We have successfully tested the Radio Shack 26-164 converter and the Rockfire USB Nest convereter. These adapters will be automatically recognized and you do not need to install the SimStar controller into "Gaming Options/Controllers" in the Windows control panel. I have an older version of RCFS and would like to upgrade to RCFS 2001. Will my old, tan joystick work? If your old box has three push-buttons then it should function properly in RCFS 2001. You will need to notify RCFS 2001 that you are using the old-style box. You can do this by going into Options, click the Joystick button, then select the push-button style joystick instead of the toggle switch type controller. What is DirectX and why do I need it? It is difficult to describe DirectX in non-technical terms. DirectX is a set of software libraries that allow RCFS to gain high-performance access to your hardware, such as your graphics card, sound card and game port. DirectX helps standardize game programming for Windows. Several games and simulations are written to run on DirectX today. DirectX is written, maintained and provided by Microsoft. What version of DirectX does RCFS 2001 use? RCFS 2001 was compiled with DirectX 7.0a. The runtime libraries for DirectX 7.0a are included on the RCFS 2001 CD-ROM and are automatically installed if your system does not already have DirectX 7.0 installed. How do I update the drivers for my graphics card? Each graphics card manufacturer goes about updates differently. You must rely on the documentation provided by your graphics card manufacturer to update your drivers. We cannot assume any responsibility for driver updates as they are not related to RCFS 2001. Please do not call technical support for help updating your graphics card drivers. If you need help, contact the manufacturer of your graphics card or your computer vendor. Whenever I exit RCFS 2001, I get an error message that refers to a problem with ddhelp.exe. Then when I try to run the program again, it will not run until I reboot my computer. This is always indicative that your graphics card drivers are not fully compatible with DirectX 7.0. Get the latest drivers from your graphics card manufacturer. We cannot assume any responsibility for driver updates as they are not related to RCFS 2001. Please do not call technical support for help updating your graphics card drivers. If you need help, contact the manufacturer of your graphics card or your computer vendor. The simulator runs very "choppy" or "jerky." Make sure that you have selected "Direct3D HAL" as your 3D device in RCFS 2001 Options. Then select 800 x 600 x 16 as the video mode for starters. Do not use "RGB Emulation" as your 3D Device as this device does not take advantage of the hardware acceleration that your 3D graphics card provides. Also make sure that you have disabled any virus protection programs and any other "background" programs that might consume CPU. Also make sure that your system meets the recommended hardware requirements. What is "RGB Emulation" and "Direct3D HAL?" These are Direct3D devices. Direct3D is a component of DirectX. RGB Emulation is a method by which DirectX provides 3D capabilities by using software emulation instead of hardware acceleration. Simply stated, it does not take advantage of all the performance a 3D graphics card has to offer. Direct3D HAL stands for "Direct3D Hardware Abstraction Layer." This Direct3D device provides the highest level of graphics acceleration available, as does the "Direct3D T&L HAL Device." How do I find out which version of RCFS 2001 I am running? From the main RCFS 2001 window, click on the "About..." menu item. Then click "About". I did not receive a printed User's Guide with my purchase of RCFS 2001. Was I supposed to receive printed documentation? The User's Guide is not provided in printed form. The User's Guide exists on the RCFS 2001 CD-ROM (ver. 1.1.01) in HTML format and PDF format. The HTML document may be viewed in your web browser and the PDF document can be viewed with Adobe Acrobat Reader. The Acrobat Reader is provided on the RCFS 2001 CD-ROM in the \Acrobat folder. Finally, the User's Guide is provided in Windows Help Format and may be accessed from the RCFS 2001 main program window by clicking the button titled "Help." How do I access the User's Guide file on the CD? You are given an option to view the User's Guide during program installation at the time you are prompted for the type of installation you intend to do. You may access the User's Guide on the CD-ROM by going in to "My Computer", right-click on the icon representing your CD-ROM drive, click "Open" on the pop-up menu, the double-click the file called "User's Guide.htm". You can also double-click the file called "User's Guide.pdf" if you have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. The Acrobat Reader is provided on the RCFS 2001 CD-ROM in the \Acrobat folder. Can I access the User's Guide without inserting my CD into my CD-ROM drive? Yes. During the RCFS 2001 installation an RCFS 2001 program group was created and a shortcut was added to the HTML version of the User's Guide. Click Start | Programs | RCFS 2001 | User's Guide. You may also access the User's Guide from the RCFS 2001 main program window by clicking the button titled "Help." Does the RCFS 2001 CD need to be in the CD-ROM drive in order for RCFS 2001 to run? No. The entire program is installed to your hard drive. What do the buttons do on my SimStar joystick? For the airplane simulator, the top left button controls retracts. The bottom left button controls elevator rate. The right button controls aileron rate. For the Helicopter simulator, the top left button controls throttle hold. The bottom left button controls throttle/pitch curve selection. The right button controls heading hold. Are there any plans to release aircraft add-ons? Yes. Keep your eye on our website for the availability of new aircraft. Is there a USB version of the SimStar game controller? No. However, version 1.1.01 of RCFS 2001 does have support for generic "game port USB converters." We have tested the Radio Shack device and the Rockfire USB Nest device. Can I use the game port USB adapter that came with a different joystick to connect SimStar to a USB port? No. Converters that come with other joysticks are designed only for the joystick they come with. What is the default joystick mode? The joystick is configured a a mode 2 controller. When I fly the Cub, the left stick does not control the rudder. What's going on? The Cub is configured by default as a 3-channel setup. This means that the throttle is on the left stick and the elevator and rudder are controlled by the right stick. To change the Cub to a 4-channel setup, edit the Aircraft Setup and clear the 3-Channel check box and change the aileron sensitivity to 40. What are the keyboard functions while in the simulator? A printed keyboard shortcut reference sheet is provided in the CD booklet. The shortcuts are also listed in the User's Guide. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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