Downloading FS9 models into FSX

[boltie]

You were very helpful with my previous questions. Try to educate me here. I enjoy adapting FS9 models into FSX but the results are a bit varied.

The biggest problem is usually with gauges. I get messages saying a particular gauge is no longer supported, and of course when I look in the cockpit, there are a few (sometimes many) black holes. Is it possible to find these older gauges and install them somewhere? In FSX with an FS9 model, where should the gauges go; in the FSX Gauges file, the aircraft Panel file or the aircraft general Texture file?

Secondly, again for my education, in FSX which aircraft file contain the VC cockpit and which the 2D cockpit?

thanks again

boltie

[DaveB]

Hello Mate

The 'backward compatibility' issue has been rolling out for some time. I might be wrong but I think certain gauges started to be rejected from FS2002 but as you can appreciate, the code for these particular gauges was old and to expect them to work many years on (as we did) was never going to happen. The same has happened with FSX in that it's 'engine' is different enough for backward compatibility to be possible but to a lesser degree. Many old gauges still get through the net but I've seen an increasing number get rejected. Unless you can find a more up to date version or something similar.. you're gonna be left with holes.
Most XML files will work, some with reduced capability due to FSX parameters changing and a good many C++ gauges will still work so it should be possible for you to find an alternative to fill most holes
As a rule of thumb, I put cab files into the panel folder and .gau files in the gauges folder.. I'm never quite sure if .gau files are going to be seen if left in the panel folder

If an FSX model has a 2D panel, it will be listed in the panel.cfg within the panel folder. FS9 and before had 2D as the primary panel and this is always the first part of the panel.cfg. From what I can see, FSX still uses this convention.. first listings for 2D and VC under the VC section (the next one). This is definitely the case with the default 737 I just looked at

ATB

DaveB

[boltie]

Thanks Dave

Re finding gauges that might work, I presume the panel program is asking to find a particular gauge and if that is not there, or no longer supported, making available an alternative will not work unless the programme is altered so that it will call up the new gauge. How easy is it to alter the panel programme?

Are the gauges sized automatically to fit the holes or would I need to find one the exact size?

TYVM

John

[JimCooper]

You can place the Gauge file in either the Panel Folder or in the Gauges Folder. (The gauge file might be a .gau, .dll or .cab)
The advantage of putting them in the Gauges folder is that they are accessible to all aircraft. The disadvantage (thus putting them in Panel) is that the Gauges folder can become 'overcrowded' and it's difficult to know which gauge file is for which aircraft.
An advantage of placing the Gauges in the Panel folder is that when you come to move/copy an aircraft you know the gauges are coming too.

How easy is it to alter the panel programme?

Just open the Panel.cfg file with NOTEPAD and make the changes, remembering to re-save as a .cfg (rather than .txt)

Are the gauges sized automatically to fit the holes or would I need to find one the exact size?

The current Panel.cfg will have all the gauges in the correct position and correct size so it will be just a case of changing the gauge name.

Lets say you've got a missing Airspeed indicator in your aircraft (let's say it's a Meteor) and you want to replace it with the Airspeed indicator from your Vampire. And let's say the gauge file in the Meteor is called Meteor.gau and the gauge file from the Vampire is called Vamp.gau
The Panel.cfg entry will look something like this:
gauge04 = Meteor! Airspeed, 35,76, 150,150 (FileName!Gauge, x-coord, y-coord, width, height)
So you will need to replace that with
gauge04 = Vamp! Airspeed, 35,76, 150,150
ensuring that you place the Vamp.gau file in the Gauges folder or in the Meteor\Panel folder
(it might be Vamp.dll or Vamp.cab)


Jim

[boltie]

Thanks for that.

A couple of questions.

1.When I close the Panel file in Notebook it wants to save as a .txt file. You say to remember to save as a cfg file but the only other option I see is to save as "All Files" or to play with the coding: options on coding are ANSI, UNICODE, UNICODE big endian, and UTF-8. ????

2. In the Panel.cfg file I am playing with, the gauge code is laid out like this:

gauge00=BEAU_AIRSPEED, 208,551,72,71

it seems to use the symbol "_" instead of "!"

is there a reason?

John

[JimCooper]

1.When I close the Panel file in Notebook it wants to save as a .txt file. You say to remember to save as a cfg file but the only other option I see is to save as "All Files" or to play with the coding: options on coding are ANSI, UNICODE, UNICODE big endian, and UTF-8. ????

Use the 'All Files' option and save as 'panel' it will remember the .cfg suffix

In the Panel.cfg file I am playing with, the gauge code is laid out like this:

gauge00=BEAU_AIRSPEED, 208,551,72,71

it seems to use the symbol "_" instead of "!"

is there a reason?

I've not come across that but suspect that if the file contains only one gauge then it's possible to reference it that way.
I suspect the file is called BEAU_AIRSPEED.gau ??? Or is it called BEAU.gau ???

Most gauge files are 'multi-gauge' so in the Cessna.dll file you get

gauge00=Cessna!Altimeter, 346,167, 79, 79
gauge01=Cessna!Annunciator, 517,159, 62, 15
gauge02=Cessna!Avionics Switch, 288,426, 37, 47
gauge03=Cessna!Flaps, 467,415, 48, 64
gauge04=Cessna!Fuel_Selector, 556,415, 82, 62
gauge05=Cessna!Heading_Indicator, 264,247, 81, 81
etc etc

regards

Jim

[DaveB]

Hi John..

The underscore is there for a number of reasons though I suspect the main one was stop breaking a 'length of word' convention from many moons ago. Another reason.. it's not necessary to prefix each gauge 'Beaufighter' so BEAU will do. There are others but suffice to say, they're not important to the end user. Just make sure you put the correct name as typed into the panel.cfg.

Don't be afraid to 'save as'. All it will do is associate all .cfg files with notepad.. not all txt files. This has the added bonus that it makes the cfg's easily recognisable too

ATB

DaveB

[boltie]

Well guys, I thought I understood all that and had a go at modifying the gauges in a Halifax so that they would display. I used gauges that work in my Avro York and changed the coding for each gauge to the same as the York. I also gave the Halifax access to the York instrument file.

However!! I now get no 2D panel at all.

I did not think I altered any of the 2D features and the 2D panel BMP is still in the Panel file.

Don't spend too long on it but can anyone see what i have done wrong?

I left the old ALPHA RPM gauges as they had always displayed ok.

Code: Select all

[/code// Panel Configuration file
// Handley-Page HP.47 Halifax
// By Phil Perrott   6 Nov 04

// Version 2.0

[Window Titles]

window00=Main Panel
window01=Nav Instruments
window02=GPS
window03=Throttle

[VIEWS]
VIEW_FORWARD_WINDOWS=MAIN_PANEL,RADIO_STACK_PANEL,GPS_PANEL,THROTTLE_PANEL
VIEW_FORWARD_ZOOM=0.5
VIEW_FORWARD_DIR=5.0, 0.0, 0.0
VIEW_FORWARD_RIGHT_ZOOM=0.5
VIEW_RIGHT_ZOOM=0.5
VIEW_REAR_RIGHT_ZOOM=0.5
VIEW_REAR_ZOOM=0.5
VIEW_REAR_LEFT_ZOOM=0.5
VIEW_LEFT_ZOOM=0.5
VIEW_FORWARD_LEFT_ZOOM=0.5
VIEW_UP_ZOOM=0.5

[Window00]

file=HalfxV2pnl.bmp
position=7
size_mm=1024,768
window_pos=0.0,0.0
window_size=1.000,1.000
render_3d_window=1
sizeable=1
visible=1
ident=MAIN_PANEL

gauge00=York!asi,  208,551,72,71
gauge01=York!altimeter,  204,653,82,83
gauge02=York!ahi,  303,541,90,90
gauge03=York!vsi,  416,552,69,68
gauge04=York!turn_and_bank,  400,635,98,98
gauge05=ALPHA_Halifax!RPM_1,  555,521,73,73
gauge06=ALPHA_Halifax!RPM_2,  653,522,73,73
gauge07=ALPHA_Halifax!RPM_3,  526,612,73,73
gauge08=ALPHA_Halifax!RPM_4,  680,612,73,73
gauge09=York!Gear_Lights,  99,685,64,63
gauge10=York!gyro_compass,  318,655,58,57
gauge11=York!Flaps_gauge,  107,607,52,51
gauge12=ALPHA_Halifax!fuel_gauge,  779,703,50,50
gauge13=ALPHA_Halifax!BombDoors,  793,638,82,16
gauge14=ALPHA_Halifax!Landing Lights,  514,503,10,35
gauge15=ALPHA_Halifax!Nav Lights,  453,486,10,35
gauge16=ALPHA_Halifax!Cockpit Lights,  624,70,7,26

[Window01]
file=Navpanel.bmp 
Background_color=0,0,0 
size_mm=500
window_size_ratio=1.000  
position=7
visible=0
ident=RADIO_STACK_PANEL
window_size= 0.488, 0.332
window_pos= 0.256, 0.668

gauge00=Lear_45!radio stack,  171,65,162,176
gauge01=Lear_45!Autopilot,  50,15,400
gauge02=alpha_hsi,  346,75,140
gauge03=military_rmi,  16,90,150

[Window02]
Background_color=16,16,16 
size_mm=150,250
position=8
visible=0
ident=GPS_PANEL

gauge00=gps!gps,  0,0,150,250

[Window03]

file=Throt4pnl.bmp
size_mm=300
windowsize_ratio=1
position=8
visible=0
ident=THROTTLE_PANEL

gauge00=alpha_throttle4, 0, 15, 300

[Vcockpit01]
Background_color=0,0,0 
size_mm=1024,1024
visible=0
pixel_size=1024, 1024
texture=$vpanel

gauge00=York!asi,  122,59,74,67
gauge01=York!altimeter,  118,154,82,76
gauge02=York!ahi,  220,51,90,81
gauge03=York!vsi,  335,60,70,65
gauge04=York!turn_and_bank,  319,139,98,90
gauge05=ALPHA_Halifax!RPM_1,  477,31,73,69
gauge06=ALPHA_Halifax!RPM_2,  575,31,74,68
gauge07=ALPHA_Halifax!RPM_3,  448,116,74,68
gauge08=ALPHA_Halifax!RPM_4,  604,114,73,69
gauge09=York!gyro_compass,  235,156,58,52
gauge10=ALPHA_Halifax!BombDoors,  720,138,82,16
gauge11=ALPHA_Halifax!Landing Lights,  436,15,10,35
gauge12=ALPHA_Halifax!Nav Lights,  374,1,10,35

[Vcockpit02]
Background_color=0,0,0 
size_mm=1024,1024
visible=0
pixel_size=1024, 1024
texture=$vpanel2

gauge00=ALPHA_Halifax!Boost_eng1,  549,791,76,84
gauge01=ALPHA_Halifax!Boost_eng2,  651,791,76,84
gauge02=ALPHA_Halifax!Boost_eng3,  754,791,76,84
gauge03=ALPHA_Halifax!Boost_eng4,  857,791,76,84
gauge04=HUNTER_GEAR,  650,895,105,110
gauge05=military_rmi,  300,773,120,127

[Vcockpit03]
Background_color=0,0,0 
size_mm=512,512
visible=0
pixel_size=512,512
texture=$vpanel3

gauge00=well.comp,  66,86,350,400

[Vcockpit04]
Background_color=0,0,0 
size_mm=1024,1024
visible=0
pixel_size=1024, 1024
texture=$vpanel4

gauge00=ALPHA_Halifax!Cockpit Lights,  503,415,25,100

[8 bit colors]

color00= 8, 8, 8
color01= 33, 33, 33
color02= 49, 57, 41
color03= 57, 66, 49
color04= 66, 74, 57
color05= 41, 49, 41
color06= 74, 82, 66
color07= 33, 33, 24
color08= 57, 57, 49
color09= 49, 57, 49
color10= 41, 33, 41
color11= 57, 66, 57
color12= 41, 49, 33
color13= 41, 41, 33
color14= 24, 33, 24
color15= 49, 49, 49
color16= 66, 66, 57
color17= 74, 90, 66
color18= 8, 16, 8
color19= 82, 90, 66
color20= 57, 49, 57
color21= 57, 57, 41
color22= 82, 99, 74
color23= 16, 16, 8
color24= 82, 90, 74
color25= 90, 99, 74
color26= 99, 107, 90
color27= 66, 66, 66
color28= 16, 8, 8
color29= 24, 24, 16
color30= 24, 33, 33
color31= 0, 0, 8

[Default View]

X= 0
Y= 0
SIZE_X= 8191
SIZE_Y= 5250


Thanks

John :((

[DaveB]

Hi John..

These things can be bloody frustrating can't they.. I know only too well myself I'll drag the Halifax into FSX and see what pop's up (or doesn't as the case may be)

EDIT..
An easy one this John (if you know what to look for). Look for this line in Window00.. render_3d_window=1 and change the =1 to =0

ATB

DaveB

[boltie]

Dave

I have just tried that, but still no 2D cockpit.

The original panel had "=1" in that render line and I got the cockpit OK, but no instruments. Now I have modified the instrument lines to use the York instruments, I get no cockpit.

John