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

The Military AI Project (MAIP) has the goal of developing frame rate friendly AI packages to populate the MSFS skies with military aircraft, including tankers, cargo, training, VIP and combat types. The project will attempt to use existing models (and new ones as they are released) with many repaints to represent various units of the military. The current plan is to release packages for each major command (ACC, AETC, AMC, ANG, AFRES, USAFE, PACAF, generally in that order. The packages will include aircraft, repaints, AFCAD files and basic flights. MAIP does not attempt to recreate every unit nor every flight...rather, the goal is to provide representative flights and air…

Anyone ever have the problem of an invalid .x (MakeMDL's opinion) that goes away when you turn off texture export from Max with PandaSoft, or delete the offending texture?I'm trying to determine why MakeMDL chokes on some textures so I can avoid the problem.

Can anyone give a simple example of a resettable master caution light? I can make one that can be turned off easy enough, but having it re-illuminate if the original condition corrects itself and then reappears or another condition appears is where my knowledge level loses it. *grin?*

Hi, can't seem to get the tan of an angle with XML? Seems like it should be easy. Can someone enlighten me?Thanx, don

.. if someone could implement it, I sure don't have that skill :)Anyway, I started wonderin if there would be a way to lock throttles together in a multi-engine VC cockpit. As it is now, you can only "grab" and move one engine throttle lever at a time, which really renders the whole feature useless. Like what point would there be to first advance one throttle and the the next?Then another thought came to mind. What if there was a way to also lock the grab, so for example when you double-click on the throttles you could use the mouse as throttle - without having to hold down the mouse button. To release, just click again and the throttle would stay in the last set position…

Hi,I'm creating a more realistic Bell 206 Engine Transmission Oil Gauge, and have run into two problems.First, after looking through the SDK, and sd2gau17.zip, as well as the .dlls, I can't find the variable. It must exist in .c at least, as MS uses it for it's gauge. Anyone know the correct variable? I have found HELPID_BELL_XMISSION_PSI.Also, I'd like a custom tooltip that says, "Transmission Oil Pressure", and have tried this after doing a search and reading some posts and checking out existing MS gauges: <Mouse> <Area Right="125"> <Help ID="HELPID_BELL_XMISSION_PSI"/> <Tooltip><HELPID_BELL_XMISSION_PSI>(%((A:ENG1 TRANSMISSION PRESSU…

Hi all,I want to make an invisible knob in XML.I tried following but the knob is black.Any suggestions?Thanks(L:Color,enum) 11 == if{ 0 (>L:Color,enum) } els{ (L:Color,enum) ++ (>L:Color,enum) }

I am trying to build a panel to match the one in the 1973 Piper Challenger (Cherokee) 180 of which I am a partial owner. I am having trouble finding sources for GA Gauges, though. I have looked here on avsim.com and flightsim.com, FSDome.com and done searches on the web, but I can't find anyone who lists for download or sale of particular gauges. I have searched several planes, but that's like searching through a haystack for a needle.In particular I am looking for:Airmarc 288 Audio Switch PanelKX 155 TSO navcommKX 175B TSO navcommNorthstar M1 LoranBendix T-12C ADFNarco AT 150 TSO Separate Digital ADF Freq panelI am currently using Roger Austli and Ole Egholm's LN-ROG…

I am trying to develop a horse riding simulator using MSFS. I am not sure if this is really a flight simulator question though. I am researching a "cockpit" for a mechanical horse that I have access to. Do anyone of you know where an "aircraft" model of a horse might be, or how I can create one? I just need the horse on the screen when I use the automated horse. I am not looking for models of horses in scenery, I need an actual 3d model of a horse that you can see when you are in the "cockpit" of the horse, meaning you can see his head like you are sitting in the saddle. When you go to spot plane view, or tower, you can see all of his body. He will be controlled using re…

Does FS Panel Studio allow for editing of 3D cockpit gauge placement or is it limited to 2D panel work?PSB

i have posted a preliminary version of a land speed record game for fs9. it includes some bonneville salt flats scenery and two very different jet cars. i would appreciate feed back and will post upgraded versions which will be dated.the game explaination page is: http://66.49.163.218/landspeed.htmlthe download page is: http://possumkingdommunitions/fsdownload.htmli can be e-mailed at [email protected] fun....doc

I'm using Photoshop 7.0 to make gauge art, and running into problems.I seem to be unable to export with an alpha channel to a format that imagetool likes.I finally gave up, and tried exporting to an alpha-less .bmp which I then load into DXTBmp 4.00.79. I then import that same .bmp into the alpha channel, and get at least something that works.Problem is, when I try to use this same "method" on the needle .bmp file, DXTBmp screws up the image and it is unusable.What I'd like to do, is use Photoshop to export an image with the custom alpha channel, but this seems impossible.Any ideas?

I have a gauge that uses gdiplus.dll and for some reason, FS refuses to load the gauge, and will simply "disable it" for that session.I've installed Arne Bartels "test.gau" (which is a gdiplus test gauge), and it loads and displays just fine!Clearly, there's no issue with the XP gdiplus.dll so I'm at a loss to understand what's going on here... Any ideas?

I just recently started to really play with this XML thing with the 2D gauges where a thought came to mind. With the new custom animation stuff in the new makemdl I was wondering if what people thought of the idea of a fully 3D gauge. Essentially what I am thinking about is say have the gauge backround a simple texture and the needle would be a 3D animated object. And not only on needle gauges but also a 3D whiskey compass came to mind.I just started to mess with this and have had little success which is mostly due to a lack of expirience in this XML thing. If anybody is interested in this idea I am willing to explore the possibilities. I think if it would work it would o…

The analog gauges as well as the digital gauges are all too dim, while the panel itself lights up when it shouldn't...Is there a way to brighten them up without brightening the panels?Sorry if this has been asked - I did a search and got way too many hits.Thanks,Andrew

Hi all I have a copy of gmax 1.1 which I had registered on the discreet wed sit when 2002 came out. I have tried to upgrade to 1.2 but it won

A while ago, when I was programming gauges, I had a tool I could use to export/import resource bitmaps into a .gau/.exe file. Problem is that I can't remember the tools name and find it!If you can think of one, let me know.Thanks.

Here's the syntax:I've deleted the Tooltip tag's details for clarity. I'm confused on the left right part of the "area" command.In my Engine Oil gauge, the left side is the Pressure, yet that side is related to the top tag. I'm guessing the number is pixels.Anyone clarify this?

Hi Folks,My question is not specific to panels or aircraft, but I'm hoping someone will have the tidbit I'm looking for. Simply put, is there any way to kick off the execution of an ABL script other than to include it in a .FLT file? Even better, has anyone ever kicked off an abl script via a gauge? I might be grasping at straws on this one...but I'm routinely surprised by the things that our development community uncovers. Thanks for any info that anyone might have on the subject.Jordan Moore

Can anyone help me with using the Dreamfleet 737 panel in an FFX Boeing 737-300 aircraft, in FS2002. All works well except that the Heading Select has no effect when autopilot is engaged. Any help much appreciated.A321-231

Hi all,I noticed that new makemdl (from FS2004 SDK) makes .mdl file twice as big as older (FS2002) makemdl did. I also noticed that same model compiled with newest makemdl has more impact on FPS than the same model compiled with FS2002 makemdl.Can anybody explain why there is such a difference?Thanks

Is it possible to create an automatic gauge to zoom the view out one notch (to 75%) whenever the zoom reset key is hit? I have been unable to creat such a gauge to date utilizing my vast XML knowledge and background. (well, maybe not so vast, but I can spell XML 2 out of 3 times! *grin?*)

For a specific project as all of the other modellers are busy. I wont get too specific, but I have the station diagrams for this jet and an extremely helpful mechanic who can get whatever is needed. I realize that this is probably too vague, but I can't really help it. We can provide whatever support you need or whatever... If you have any questions, feel free to PM or MSN me (id in profile)Thanks in advance,John - http://apdg.net

Hi,Does anyone know of a way to get a series of xml commands to run once at startup?Thanks,

I'm following Tom Gibson's propliner tutorial. I've never modified a panel before but he said it's necessary:"To make use of intersections within the airways system we must use, (or create), a panel with both VOR1 and VOR2 as separate receivers. They can be placed on a separate window overlay."I've never done this before. How do I do this in the default DC3?John Franklin