Problem with VC gauge

Hi all;

I followed the directions on a tutorial by Darrinward777 on another forum regarding the placement of the C172's Nav/GPS Annunciator Gauge into the 2d panel on the Default DC-3.

It works perfectly,so I thought I could add it to the VC. All I got was a blank space.

Sorry about the way the picts showed up....first time I've tried to use images.

I can show how I inserted lines in the panel.cfg if anyone needs see them.

maybe the images will be a little better.

Thanks for taking a look.

Skip D

Are you aware that if you try to place it in the VC it would have to cover another gauge and be the same size as the gauge it covers.

In the 2D cockpit it can be placed anywhere convenient.

As an example I replaced the Suction Gauge in the DC-3 VC with the C-172 NAV/GPS annunciator.

[VCockpit01]

file=Panel_Decals_DC3_1.bmp

size_mm=512,512

pixel_size=512,512

texture=$Douglas_DC3

background_color=0,0,0

gauge00=Douglas_DC3!annunciator_vacuum, 347, 480, 21, 28

gauge01=Douglas_DC3!clock, 404, 155, 70, 71

gauge02=Douglas_DC3!oat, 401, 400, 72, 73

gauge03=Cessna!Nav_GPS_Annunciator, 326,154, 76,76 //Douglas_DC3!suction_gauge, 326, 154, 76, 76

Notice mrzippy used the same position for the new gauge as the old gauge had.

(the first two numbers after a gauge are the position of the gauge.)

in the vc the dashboard is not a panel that you "stick the gauges on top of".

It is more a dashboard with holes cut out. The gauges are "behind" the holes, and show through them.

If the gauge is in a spot without a hole, the gauge will not show. (it will be hidden "behind" the dashboard.)

Yes, can you post the panel.cfg VC section you modifies? And the original, unmodified version?

That way we can see the coordinates you gave the new gauge as opposed to the old one.

kinda like this:

[Vcockpit01]

Background_color=0,0,0

size_mm=400

visible=1

pixel_size=1024

texture=$P1

gauge00=Cessna172!Airspeed, 106,85,73,72

gauge01=cessna!Attitude, 179,85,73,72, 179,85,73,72

gauge02=Cessna!Altimeter, 252,85,73,72

gauge03=Cessna!VOR1, 328,85,70,72

gauge04=Cessna!ADF, 326,158,73,72

gauge05=Cessna!Vertical_Speed, 253,158,73,72

gauge06=cessna_182.directional_gyro, 180,158,73,72

gauge07=Cessna!Turn_Indicator, 107,158,73,72

gauge08=C195!Compass, 294,20,75,75

gauge09=Cessna172!Clock, 148,40,45,45

gauge10=Cessna!OMI_Lights, 196,69,44,14

gauge11=cessna!Tachometer, 31,122,73,72

gauge13=cessna_182.manifold_pressure_fuel_flow.1, 292,26,60,60

gauge14=cessna!Nav GPS Switch, 385, 23 ,10,14

gauge15=cessna182rg!Autopilot_Switch, 358,23,14

That's just an example, with the arrow, let us pretend, pointing at the actual NEW entry, and the same part of the Panel.cfg with the arrow pointing at the original gauge you replaced.

There IS a little trick to follow, and if you post the requested information, we can point it out to you :D

Pat☺

mr z.....I can vaguely see something yellowish on your lower left panel. Is this the gauge that allows you to land using the ILS. That's the reason I put it on the 2d,and hoped it would work in the VC. I think I can show you where the inserted items were placed in the panel .cfg....if you would care to look and comment. I'm just wandering around in the dark.

That is the same C-172 NAV/GPS annunciator that you installed by the 2 oil lights on your 2D panel.

I don't fly the DC-3 but looking over the instruments, I don't think it has the capability to use an ILS. This Sperry unit looks like, at best, it's used to hold a heading and adjust altitude.

If I wanted a fully operational Autopilot, I would create a popup window containing a 737-400 autopilot that's fully functional for ILS.

In the DC-3 panel.cfg I added the following.Gauge 12 which used to be the radio_compass.

I added Window 01=Bendix Radio stack. And I added a GPS/NAV switch. These were the changes I made to the 2D panel.

This made it possible to perform ILS landings using the 2D panel only. I hope it's possible to get it to work in the VC.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys !!

Ok, those are both part of the 2D panel. I thought you wanted the VC panel to change...?

I noticed, in the first picture, that under the [Window01] section, you left the DC3 Radio active, below the Bendix stack. You need to either comment it out by putting a // in front of it, delete the line, something. At worst, make it gauge07. I personally would have //commented it out. They way it sits now, because it's Gauge00, I am not sure how it will affect the Bendix stack. It might run ALSO, it might run instead of the first gauge00 in the section, I am just not sure. I have never tried doing that. I DO know that only 1 gauge00 will function in any [windowXX] section. At least that's how I've read the SDK...

Second, to get the ILS, not to mention the rest of the Bendix stack, to work, you need to make sure the [Radio] section of the aircraft.cfg file is correct. It should look something like this:

[Radios]

// Radio Type = available, standby frequency, has glide slope

Audio.1 = 1

Com.1 = 1, 1

Com.2 = 1, 1

Nav.1 = 1, 1, 1

Nav.2 = 1, 1, 1

Adf.1 = 1

Adf.2 = 1

Transponder.1 = 1

Marker.1 = 1

At least similar to something that looks like that...

Can you post the [VCockpit01] section of your Panel.cfg? That way we can help you troubleshoot the empty gauge hole on the panel. Which I thought was the whole thing about all this...? The 2D section is nice and all, but I was under the impression that it was the VC this was all about. I am frequently wrong, however, so if I am, let me know, and I'll shut up :)

Pat☺

In the vc.

The new gauge will have to have the same position and size as the one you replace.

If the gauge you replace is:

gauge08=dc3!dc3_suction, 168, 98, 70, 70

then

gauge08= is the gauge number,

dc3! Is the folder or .cab the gauge is in,

dc3_suction, is the specific gauge in that folder or .cab,

168, 98, is the gauge position,

70, 70 is the gauge size.

To replace it, for example with (made up) gauge:

cessna!cessna_hsi

first knock out the old gauge by putting // (two slashes) in front of the line. Anything on a line behind the slashes is not executed by fsx.

Like this:

//gauge08=dc3_dc3_suction, 168, 98, 70, 70

then add your new gauge below it, same gauge number and position and size. In this example that makes:

//gauge08=dc3!dc3_suction, 168, 98, 70, 70

gauge08=cessna!cessna_hsi, 168, 98, 70, 70

----

for this to work the cessna.cab file with those gauges needs to be available to the plane.

It can be in that planes panel folder, or in the main gauges folder.

Both are fine.

-----

this is just a made up example, to explain the principle of substituting a gauge in a VC. I'm not at the pc at the moment.

There are a few different ways to do gauges in the VC. One way has already been described, which is what I call the "cookie cutter" method. That is not how this VC was done. In this case each gauge is a polygon floating just forward of the main panel. Each of these polygons has a special material assigned to it in the design program that makes it act like a transparent screen onto which the gauge images are applied via the panel.cfg entries.

If you make a single polygon that mimics the entire panel then what you want to do is possible. In this instance it's like I described above. Each gauge has it's own screen, and there is no screen where you are trying to place your gauge. To fix it would require editing the .mdl file, which is not easily done.

Pat;

I'm sorry if I confused you about what I am trying to do with the DC-3.My wife tells me that all the time and blames it on me being a former Marine !!

I've got the 2D pit working perfectly with the mods I made to the panel.cfg.

What I attempted to do was replace the "radio_compass" gauge in the VC, with the Cessna Vor 1_Alpha gauge. I thought (mistakenly??) that by inserting the Cessna into the spot where the Radio_ compass was,it would allow me the capability of using the VC for ILS. Here's the pict. of the panel VC01.

Thanks

Pat;

Got so wrapped up with how to explain what I'm trying to do....forgot to add the mods. I made to the VC . The above pict. showing the empty area on the VC is the result of tha addition I made to gauge=11.

This is how gauge11 should look:

gauge11=CessnaWAlpha!VOR1_Alpha, 123, 2, 143, 144

That's right Zip. If you put the 'DC3!' in front of that line it, the 'Cessna...' gauge, would have to be in the 'DC3!' folder, which it isn't. Use Zip's line and Copy the 'Cesssna...' gauge to your panel folder and FSX will find it (it looks there first). But, it might not show as per explanation by Mr Kerr.

Chuck B

Napamule

Hiya Guys;

Well things just don't looktoo good for my VC to do Inst. landings. I copied Mr Z's mod into my panel.cfg and here are the results. Maybe I'm just doing something wrong,or maybe it just can't be done in th VC. I tried to contact the author on another forum,but he never answered. At least he got the ILS to work on the 2D.

As I explained in an earlier post you are wasting your time. Using a program that allows you to analyze .mdl files I grabbed this from the stock DC-3...

The areas that have the checkerboard patterns on them are the "screens" I described in my first post. Those areas are the only places you can bend, fold, spindle, or mutilate anything in the VC in terms of gauges.

The problem you are having is a result of trying to use the "Alpha" gauges.

Try...

gauge11=Cessna!VOR1, 123, 2, 143, 144

...and you should get...

peace,

the Bean

Hiya Bean;

Dag-gone....what are you doing that I seem incapable of??? Can you take a look at my panel.cfg and see if there's something I'm missing ?

Thanks..

Can you take a look at my panel.cfg and see if there's something I'm missing ?

You are not missing anything, what you have is too much.

Mine...

gauge11=Cessna!VOR1, 123, 2, 143, 144

Yours...

gauge11=Cessna!VOR 1, 123, 2, 143, 144

That space between the R and the 1 has FS looking for a gauge that does not exist.

peace,

the Bean

I can't get the

CessnaWAlpha!VOR1_Alpha

gauge to show,

(well, actually if you look closely at your own last image, a little bit is visible at the right edge and bottom edge of the hole. But that's just an edge.

The rest of the gauge is not hidden behind the dash somewhere, I tried moving it, and couldn't get more to show.)

but the

Cessna!Nav_GPS_Annunciator

shows up just fine.

----

This is with:

gauge11=Cessna!Vor1, 123, 2, 143, 144

(with the space between Vor and 1 taken out, (well spotted stringbean).)

---

AH-HAAH !!! Thank you for the "Peace" Mr. StringBean

It now works perfectly,and I can continue with the tedious landings on my Around-the -World trip with the DC3. It sure was difficult landing with the VC before !!

Thanks all you guys for the great help!!

Skip D