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

I'm making a piston-based chopper for FSX, and I'm trying to make an improved version of the default Robinson 22 rotor clutch - which leaves a little to be desired, to put it mildly. Here are its problems (you need to be looking at the VC version; in the 2D cockpit they use a totally different kind of switch)1.)If you click the switch to disengage the rotor, it takes a few minutes for the rotor to come to a stop (as it should) - and this can be observed both in the visual rotor model and in the rotor needle on the dual tachometer. But when you click it again - to engage the rotor - it magically spins up to full speed in less than a second. I'm not sure how long it takes i…

Anyone using multiple threads in their C gauge?Just wondering.

How do i get tacan beacons to be displayed on the gps map?I've done all the locations in xml and can get them to display as VOR's but i need the icon to be a tacan.Heres a code snippet for a tacan location: ThanksMatt

Does anyone know if it is possible in an XML gauge to send something to a remote server using http or another method?

Hello there,I have been considering for a while to make an aircraft for FS9 or X, and i was wondering what tools i would require to successfully complete a decent aircraft.At the moment i have 3ds Max 9, and thats bout it :(Im really keen on knowing how to make gauges like in the realair aircraft, they look spectacular.(also any tips or tutorials on modeling aircraft in 3ds Max would be greatly appreciated)Thankyou

Many FS add-on gauges (including mine) use GDI+ for graphic displays. I was trying to find out what version I have, so I searched the "gdiplus.dll" file, and... I couldn't find it. It is not in Windows directory, not in WindowsSystem32,...So I made a search and found it in Office and in another strange directory, but I don't think Window fetches it there. Do you know where this DLL is?As far as I know, Windows fetches in Windows, WindowsSystem32 and the application directory. How can it find GDI+ if the DLL is not in one of these directories?I have Windows XP, SP2.EDIT:Please forget my question, the dependancy walker helped me in locating it. On my system, it is here: C:W…

Hi,just a thought: I was thinking how to break the 4-engine-limit. Since this is hardcoded in the simulator, there seems to be no clean solution to this.It's not quite a problem to code a thrust-gauge that will split the engines power up into 2 or more "pieces". Let's say, lever 1 is at 35%, lever 2 is at 20%, and the "real" engine is set at 55%. I tried that, and it works. But it end up in very unrealistic engine-behavior,Could one code a gauge in C++ that can read an unused section from the airfile and then modulate power-output along a curve given there?And could that gauge also control the engine-sounds, giving each virtual engine its own sound?

I've got a plane where the CoG, as shown on the fuel and payload diagram is sitting on the nose. I've done tons of reading and at this point I'm guessing that the model reference point does not agree with the cfg reference datum or the empty Cg point (both set to 0, 0, 0) This is in FS9. How do I open up the mdl file to see where the model ref point is set. It's a non-gmax model? Or am I just going about this all wrong? Mike

Hi,once more, it's me with a neewbe-question. Sorry for that...With all the kind help, programming goes along quite well. Now I found a new problem I cannot solve and find no hints on:I want to trigger an event depending on conditions checked by a select-statement. The idea is to create a virtual "co-pilot" that will do certain things he would do in real life. Like operating the gear, flaps, spoilers, airbrake, thrust-reverses etc. based on simulator-conditions and a preselectedt mode like taxi, takeoff, climb, cruise, descent, approch, land etc...Looks like this:(A:AIRSPEED INDICATED, knots) (L:VCP_FLU1_SPEED, knots) ><-trigger event here->I Also tried:(A:AIRSPE…

I made some XML gauges by modifying some existing stock gauges. The main thing I did was replace the bitmaps, with little or no changes to the XML. I just assumed that the tooltip that comes up in the sim is the one that you enter into the gauge's XML file, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I can change the "Tooltip ID" entry in the gauge's XML file and it has no effect. Some of these gauges are displaying wacky tooltips in the sim that have nothing to do with either the words I specified in the XML or the original gauge that I'm modifying (my transmission oil pressure gauge claims to be a "throttle lever"!) Where do these tooltips come from, if not the gauge's XML fi…

In sound config you can have:[GYRO_SOUND]filename=GyroHowever, this seems to trigger the sound when you turn the battery on, no matter what gyro settings you have in aircraft.cfg (even if you turn all the gyros off!).I'm trying to be able to tie this sound to a switch for the gyro, but seem unable to control it at all.Anyone know if there is a way to do it? (Hoping to find a non-model solution, I know that one might be able to turn it into an .fx and tied it to the model to trigger it)

Do something for your Turn-Coordinators...The subject is not new, and indeed there have been alternative implementations of turn coordinators for MSFS because, as most of you know, the default aircraft, and many of the add-on GA fleet lack an accurate TC instrument. I was inspired by the gauge Tom Goodrick once designed and made available at the fs2004 forums.There are basicaly two sorts of TCs in MSFS - Turn Coordinators and Turn & Slip instruments, although both are based on the same pieces of code that make use in their calculations of a token variable: DELTA_HEADING_RATE.Just as mentioned in the FS SDK, this variable "Specifies heading change rate (pseudodegrees/s…

As you may know, you can create sustaining loops in sounds, as MS has which allow the spin up, sustaining part, and spin down of sounds to all be contained and played in a single sound file (at least using the FS sound system).However, when the FS sound system will not trigger sounds for us, and we have to do so ourselves with directX, I am wondering how we can do something similar, ie. trigger the sound which will play the clip with the sustaining part, and then trigger sometime later the "tail" of the sound.I'm searching the directX SDK as we speak, but if you can clue me in I thank you.

After reading the SDK about FSX effects, I am under the impression that the following is true: * Effects (.fx) can only be triggered either by being tied to a light circuit in aircraft.cfg for user control, or if attached to geometry in the model, randomly, continuously, or based on time or time of day. * Effects can not be triggered programatically (unless tied to a light circuit that is triggered)In other words, there is currently no way to turn an effect on/off programmatically without using a light circuit for this purpose.Anyone know different?

Hi,I had a nasty surprise earlier today: I can't any longer find FS2004 SDK on microsoft.com.Since the appearance of FSX, the FS2004 SDK was already difficult to find (I had to use "search") but now it seems worse: I get the search hits but then a "page not found".Was there any statement from Microsoft that the SDK is no longer supported (this would be strange, as they still sell the product)? Or is this some web site rearrangement?And, in the case the SDK no longer can be downloaded from Microsoft, are there any technical (and legal) alternatives?I am especially interested in the panel / gauge SDK (I can't be more precise, I should read first the published features on th…

Hi,I am trying to get info about my waypoint airport and all i can get is the ident. I use (@c:FlightPlanWaypointICAO) (>@c:WaypointAirportICAO) to set the airport but it doesn't seem to be working. here is the xml code for the airport.802" ident = "TSLK"> Thanks,Steve

I've just uploaded to the libray a simple application to convert infix (conventional) notation to reverse polish notation (RPN). The file rpn1.zip is in the FS2004 Utilities section.As always, this software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied warranty. In no event will I be liable for any damages arising from the use of it.

Hello there,I need to display a string row on a gauge.Each single character in the row can have 7 different colors, and each character can have 2 heights ("normal" and a little bigger).How can I do this?AFAIK the MAKE_STRING defines a single color and size for the string, so it seems impossible to achieve my goal...Maybe I need GDI+?ThanksStefanoP.S.: I'm developing for FSX using VC++ 2005

Hi I am after a g-max model of the 737-700 or similar for conversion into the Wedgetail AWACS (RAAF). If any of you fantastic modellers could let me have one it would be greatly appreciated. Im new to FS modelling so starting from scratch is a bit daunting.

Hello there,the FSX SDK shows the usage of the GAUGE_HEADER_FS700 macro, while the gauges.h shows that there is a GAUGE_HEADER_FS800 entry.Which one should I use?Thanks in advanceStefano

I've seen the post by (who else?) Bill on creating windsheild wiper animation for FS9 - at this link:http://www.aerodynamika.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=XMLCan this be made to work for FSX also?

Hi guys,I've made an airport with an 550 meter (1800ft) runway with somekind of a lukla appoach. But i would like to land there with my ATR. It already have inflight trust reverse but.... How can i make it more stronger, so i can dive and slow down speed.I hope you guys can help me!?!Best regards,Niels

Is there any way I can take a given aircraft's sound set and go through a sequence of startups, maneuvers, and shutdowns and capture the complete sequence of sounds into a high qualtity wav file? Because of the way these soundsets are combined when used by aircrafts during flight sim operation, you cannot just paste these together easily.

I have a really strange problem with some of the default aircraft in FSX. It seems like XML gauges that use the fs9 DTD, e.g. that start with instead of don't show up in the game.All I get in that case is the panel background.This happens for a number of aircraft that are holdovers from fs9, such as the 747, R22, Baron, Cub and the DC3. The Baron with the G1000 shows both behaviors: The G1000 displays fine, but the backup gauges on the right side of the panel don't. The fs9 GPS gauges don't work at all (the window flickers and then disappears when I press shift-3).I ran Microsoft's filemon tool to see if the gauges are even loaded correctly and it does load the XML file…

Hi all (A:AUTOPILOT HEADING LOCK DIR, degrees) d (G:Var1) - r (>G:Var1) 0 != 4 * (G:Var2) max -- 0 max d (>G:Var2) 0 != 0 > if{ 1 (>L:Hdgdisp, bool) (P:Absolute time, seconds) 4 + (>L:HDGdispSwitch disengage timer, seconds) } (P:Absolute time, seconds) (L:HDGdispSwitch disengage timer, seconds) > if{ 0 (>L:Hdgdisp, bool) } works OK but the visible tag needs @HDGtimer (L:Hdgdisp, bool) || Should it work with only the macro @HDGtimer.