FSX/FSX-SE Aircraft and Panel Design Forum - How To

I am interested in adding Virtual Cockpits to aircraft that do not have them (just for my own use). For instance, a number of 747s I have downloaded have no VC, so it would be logical to use the default 747 VC.Is this possible? I assumed I'd have to edit the panel.cfg file (no problem) and then the mdl file (problem!: I don't know which tool to use for this, or exactly what I'd need to add).Searched the forum for a solution, but I haven't been able to refine the serach enough to come up with an answer. I'm obvioulsy a newbie in this particular area, so any help appreciated.Thanks,Martin

I

I have a guage that has 2 elements in it.Its and Oil PSI and Temp gauge.On the top half is the PSIThe bottom is the temp.I am making the gauge in ACE XML and am using degrees to control the rotation.I want to clarify something:The needle bmp i made for the Temp part points south. or 180 degrees.the problem is moving it left and right, is it going to be all positive numbers?South = 180SE = 45SW = -45 ORSouht = 180SE = 250SW = 120?

HiIm trying to update a FS module i wrote in C++ for FS9, to work with FSX. What do i need to do to get it to work in FSX. I understand that i must add the dll to the dll.xml, right? Well, it seems that FSX loads the DLL without problems. FSX asks me when i start if i wanna load the dll, because it is not signed or something. How do i get FSX to load it without this notice?And, when FSX starts, i try to add my own menu, however, the menu won't draw in fsx. In FS9 i draw the menu like this. How should it be updated?#define MENU_ENTRY "System"LRESULT CALLBACK CallWndProc(HWND hwnd, UINT uMsg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam){switch (uMsg) {case WM_NCPAINT:{HMENU TestM;TestM = …

I've created an aircraft model in gmax which uses flaperons - i.e. combined flaps and ailerons. I need to define animations for these two functions but gmax can only define one animation. The animation manager allows me to define time limits for an animation though, so I've tried defining the aileron movement from time 0-100 and the flap movement from 101-201.The gmax animation does exactly what I want but when I export it to FSX it doesn't quite behave as expected. I can apply flaps as expected, but the ailerons will only move in one direction! The ailerons start off flush with the wing but for the left aileron this is the lower limit of movement and for the right ai…

I have tried copying and pasting the FSX default 737-800 overhead into other 3rd party panels cfg (e.g. PS737) and although it works quite well, I have found that in every case the fuel switches are inoperative - they only seem to work when the OH panel is used in the default aircraft. Does anyone know why this should be the case and whether there is someway to overcome this?Regards,Stuart Hyett

This will notify you whenever a key_event is triggered.void FSAPI EventHandler (ID32 event, UINT32 evdata, PVOID userdata){ if (event == KEY_SPOILERS_TOGGLE) { //user has toggled the spoilers }}In the gauge callback:register_key_event_handler((GAUGE_KEY_EVENT_HANDLER)EventHandler, 0);andunregister_key_event_handler((GAUGE_KEY_EVENT_HANDLER)EventHandler,0);Hope it'll be as useful to you as it's been to us. :-)

I may be missing something but it seems out of the 4 gauges I have made so far in ACE, FS Panel Studio does not find a background image.Even though the gauges work just fine in FSX. I have tried multiple things and can't seem to get the background image to show when working with the panel in FS Panel Studio

Hello guys,I hope this is the good place to post my message!I have noticed that when you are flying at your cruise altitude,and following your flight plan, the auto-thrust system increase/decrease the power during turns!The tighter the turn is, the greater the variation and this is really annoying!Can someone explain me if there is a parameter to adjust in the .conf or in the .air file to fix this problem?Thanks in advance!LFMNboy:)

Hi, I could use some help with an adjustment of the Prop adjustment in regards to RPM and MAP. I did a search for MAP and RPM and did not come up with much.To start with I have Lionhearts Bellanca Super Viking Turbo. I also have the 260. I changed the 260 to a turbo and the prop works very well there. In the Viking turbo the RPM just keeps building and moving the Prop lever does no good unless you move the throttle way down which lowers the MAP. I would like to keep the MAP up and move the RPM to less than red line.Can someone tell me what value in the config file would do this or what value I would change in FS edit?Thanks for any helpDan

Am I using the wrong variable or something?Basically this should show a digital display of the eng1 torque percentage. So far no matter what I do, I get 000 as the outputRIGHT77,31goldArial20%( (A:ENG1 TORQUE PERCENT) )%!03d!True

I would like to save my aircraft specific configuration information when user saves its flight and I would like to load it when user loads a saved file.How could I detect a file save and how could I know the actual FLT file name? Should I use the callback function defined by CHAIN_PROCESS_FILE_IO, or is it for something else?Can I save custom info in the FLT file itself, or should I introduce a parallel file? In the second case I would prefer using the same file name and a custom extension, but for that I shoul know the flight name.Any idea?Gabor

I need proper time measurement for various advanced navigation system components. For sake of simplicity let's say I need a good enough clock gauge that could measure time properly in FS. I am not interested in the synchronisation of FS time and system time. My FS clock should show the time that was used by FS for the simulation. I have a simulated equipment that is based on a Doppler radar. It measures speed in a gyro-based X-Y coordinate system and I read the raw values from FORWARD_GROUND_VELOCITY and SIDE_GROUND_VELOCITY. Based on these data the system is keeping track of aircraft position within the X-Y coordinate system. To simulate this correctly I need known time …

Took me forever to figure out the belts toggle id lol. The problem is when i click the switch, the game crashes on me. I have tried multiple ways to set this up. In the cases i have tried i got the sound to loop, play once, but then the switch picture resets, or just plain game crash. I thought I was close with using:(L:seatbelts, enum)But this way sets the picture back!(A:CABIN SEATBELTS ALERT SWITCH,bool) (A:CABIN_SEATBELTS_ALERT_SWITCH_TOGGLE) (L:seatbelts, enum) 1 ==

(A:FUEL TOTAL QUANTITY,gallon)"50">

I am attempting to get the infamous 5th parameter from a gauge line in the panel.cfg, for example: gauge00=B206!Button: Starter,48,66,39,,0x49The "0x49" represents hex 0x49 (the key value of the NUM PAD 9 key in this case for test purposes).I have tried this:// Relevant variables BYTE assignedKey = DIK_STARTER; // Default keystatic bool isStarterPushed; PCHAR pParams = NULL; // Here for testing PCHAR pStr = NULL;static void GetUserDefinedKey( PGAUGEHDR pgauge ){ if( NULL == pgauge ) return; // Pointer not valid pParams = pgauge->parameters; if( (pParams == NULL) || (strlen( pParams ) == 0) ) return; // Parameter not used, use default // Process 0x parameter i…

Here is my situation.I took it upon myself to update some of my VA's fleet. I have FSX, the fleet is 99.9% FS2k4. Which is not a biggy since most can switch right over with minor fixes needed.However the Saab 340 has been a thorn in my side since day one. The panel that came with it is almost an exact match to the real one, but due to a guage problem (FS98ish gauges), I have had to improvise.I have a nice working panel now with up to gauges that will work in FSX.I got my hands on some callout wav files.IE: Climbing past 10,000ftDescending past 10,000ftv1, v2, rotategearupgeardowncallouts wav files. I would like to incorperate these into the aircraft. The whole like I have…

HiJust figured it out by looking at the TextX max file in the SDK!!

I have tried to use the tutorial w/o any success. After 4 days of trying, I am almost ready to crash. At first I couldn't get the fuel pressure gauge to display in the Aces tool. Figured that out finally. Seems the designers forgot to mention setting the size of the gauge in the description. I next created the stopwatch xml file. Placed artwork in approp-riate directories. Made the cab file & placed in gauges dir. Edited panel config. Loaded c172 and tried to display gauges. The only gauge visible was airspeed indicator. I tried re-entering the data, this time by cut & pasting the formulas. Still could only display airspeed indicator. Searched the site a…

I made custom nav lights - which are basically self-illuminating objects that pop thru the fuselage and become visible when the user clicks the nav light switch. I completely bypassed the default "Close Encounters" nav lights, which are buggy and always looked really weird to me. The only thing missing now is the effect of light hitting the fuselage in the vacinity of these lights. I tried creating some light splotches by making a lightmap and putting it in the self-illumination slot, using "user controlled additive" as the emissive mode. But this effect turns on and off with the cockpit light, rather than the nav lights. Is there a way to tie a lightmap to a specific lig…

Hi Guys,I am new to designing aircraft for MSFS. I need some help with designing the aircraft, I'm sure I not the only one. If begginers can post on here with their problems, and the more experienced guys can help.Thanks Andy

I notice that in one of his sample codes (registration.c) Arne did this:extern PELEMENT_HEADER C_GAUGE(list);extern MOUSERECT C_GAUGE(mouse_rect)[];Now, I understand his use of the C_GAUGE macros (which are very cool to make things easy to template), although now there is a C_PLIST() macro that might be more appropriate for PLIST stuff, but I'm wondering why the heck he wanted/needed external linkage.Anyone have any idea why?

Hello Panel Experts I just installed Uwe Ingber's beautiful Embraer 170 panel. It looks great and I'm happy with it.. except, when using the left or right views, the wings are visible right outside my window as if they're sticking out of the cockpit. Haven't seen this before. What have I done wrong? Is there a way in the config file of the panel or the aircraft to move the wings back where they should be? Thank you for your help.Steve

Hi, Sorry if this has been asked before but I have searched and not found the answer. Could anyone help me by giving example code of how to share variables between C and XML gauges. This is to allow complex calcs to be performed in C code and the results used in an XML gaugeMany thanks

Arne,I notice that you do this:void FSAPI gauge_cb( PGAUGEHDR pgauge, int service_id, UINT32 extra_data ){ static HWND fswnd = NULL; switch(service_id) { CASE PANEL_SERVICE_PRE_INSTALL fswnd = FindWindow("FS98", NULL); StoreInstanceHandle( (HINSTANCE)extra_data ); InitDirectInput( fswnd ); SetAcquire( fswnd ); break; }}First, I notice that you can get the window handle like this: if ( FAILED( hr = InitDirectInput( GetModuleHandle(NULL) ) ) ) { return(0); }or SetAcquire( GetModuleHandle(NULL));when you make the calls, like above, so no need to base it on the "FS98", or even store it.But, I have a question... what the heck is …