Here is how to perform simple basic modification procedures with panels telling you
-1. how the panel folder works (giving you just the required basic knowledge about the structure of the folder and the panel.cfg) -2. how to alias a panel (that is tell FS to use an existing panel of another aircraft) -3. how to replace/install a panel -4. how to add existing pop up panels -5. how to keep a panel resized WITHOUT changeing the panel.cfg.
IT DOES NOT TELL YOU
- how to create a new panel nor new pop up panels
- how to create, replace or precisely resize single gauges
- how to precisely modify standard seize settings of a panel to be defined in the panel.cfg It is valid for both FS02 and FS04.
This is a grandmother and fool proof step by step do it yourself guide (well, I hope) for everybody, experienced or not. It has been successfully tested with my 12 years old sister. Unfortunally, my granny wasn't available. I couldn't persuade her to leave her grave for this...
What's the use of it?
You might desire these information
- when you want to replace/install a panel
- when you make the default AI planes flyable (will come seperately)
- when you want to use an existing default panel or an existing downloaded panel used by another plane
- when you like a downloaded panel, but miss a GPS, Radio Stack etc
- when you are tired of reseizing your panel with every single flight
You are allowed to do this:
Mark this tutorial with your mouse, rightclick and hit copy.
Open an ordinary text editor like notepad and create a new file.
Rightclick again and hit "fill in". Save the file to your desktop.
This will allow you to read the information while you perform the actions described. You don't need to know all. You just have to know where it is written...
If you pass the text to somebody, just leave the last line "The Rhythmosaur" untouched. I wrote it - who uses it shall know this.
Now in medias res:
1. - Panel basics
Find your FS02/FS04 main directory
This could be for example G:\Flightsim\FS2004. or, if you liked to appear the name Microsoft on your set more often then necessary, C:\programs\Microsoft games\FS2004.
- There you'll find a folder called aircraft. Open it up.
- Select now the folder of the aircraft wich you want to work with.
Let's take an example that fits for both FS02 and FS04: The Cessna 172.
Open the folder C172
Alongside a couple of folders you'll find a folder called panel there. Open it up.
Several files are grining at you: 4 of them have the extension ".bmp". They are bitmaps you probably could open up with a graphics program.
These are the files FS uses to build up the frame and background of panels and pop up panels (I further call them pups).
Number fife (no, not Mambo!) is called panel.cfg.
Click it. If you never opened up a file with the extension .cfg, a popup window will appear asking wich program your PC should use. Select your text editor (e.g. Notepad).
Now you will read:
// Panel Configuration file
// Cessna 172sp
// Copyright (c) 2001-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Every line beginning with // your CPU will ignore. It is the sign for the program to skip these lines for it does not contain values or commands.
Since you are no machine, the command to ignore it IS NOT VALID FOR YOU, just for your CPU.
Next section:
[Window Titles]
Window00=Hauptinstrumentenbrett (Main panel)
Window01=Funkgruppe (Now follow all pups: Radio Stack, GPS...)
Window02=GPS
Window03=Anzeigeleuchte
Window04=Kompass
Window05=Mini-Instrumentenbrett
See it like a list of content. Don't be confused by the german expressions here. The thing you should learn is the structure:
Window+Number+=+Name. NO spaces!
General structure
There is a somewhere predefined recognition: Window00 referes to the main panel, wich can be toggled with Shift+01. What stands behind the = is what you select it to be. This structure is the basis of all cfg. files.
Other example (from the aircraft.cfg):
description=This would be the text shown in the description window when you select an aircraft.
Description is the predefined marker that tells FS to insert the text following the = into the description window.
CAVE:
Markers are fix. They must be written absolutely correct in order to get recognized. FS does not care for capital letters.
The other side of the = is variable. You theoreticaly can write whatever you want.
This section is important for quick info, for shortcut and for listing panel windows in the in flight FS dropdown menue. It also creates a link to the corresponding part of the following section.
[Window00]
---Now follows the information for FS how to create the respective panels and pups. To explain how it works, I just show you the beginning of the main panel section indicated by the line above.
file=panel_background_640.bmp
-- Command: Use the file panel_background_640.bmp (the one you saw in the panel folder) to create the background in low resolution.
file_1024=panel_background_1024.bmp
--- Command: Use this file for higher resolutions
size_mm=640
--- self explanatory. I don't know how to modify it, so please don't ask me.
position=7
--- FS divides the screen in 8 sections: 4 High and 4 low. For a pup this command would tell to put the pup in the lower halfright position. I don't know why it is written for the main panel.
visible=1
no_luminous=1
ident=MAIN_PANEL
------Command: On startup, this panel is always to be shown. There are two arguments: 1 and 0. 0 Means no, so you will find it with the pups that usually are not visible on startup unless you reload a saved flight. It also tells not to apply panel lights on startup.
Command: Tells FS to add this gauge from the gauge folder (in the FS main directory), to place it at the given coordinates with the given size defined by the numbers.
That's it. The rest of the entries following the pups are uninteresting for now.
2. How to alias a panel.
Find your FS02/FS04 main directory
This could be for example G:\Flightsim\FS2004. or, if you liked to appear the name Microsoft on your set more often then necessary, C:\programs\Microsoft games\FS2004.
- There you'll find a folder called aircraft. Open it up.
- Select now the folder of the aircraft wich you want to work with.
As there is no example that fits for both FS02 and FS04, I show it not with the panel but with the sound. It works the same way.
Open the folder b777-400 for the default Boeing Triple Seven
Open the folder called sound.
Usually, you find a lot of .wav files here alongside with a file called sound.cfg. Since the sound is aliased, you find just the .cfg.
Click it. If you never opened up a file with the extension .cfg, a popup window will appear asking wich program your PC should use. Select your text editor (e.g. Notepad).
Now, you'll read this:
[fltsim]
alias=B737_400\sound
That's all.
It tells Fs to get the sound from the folder B737_400 in the aircraft folder - wich is the folder of the default Boeing 737-400- subdirectory sound.
So if you install an aircraft and want to use the 777 panel, create a file called panel.cfg (or overwrite the old if any) and type
[fltsim]
alias=B777_400\panel
Easy, isn't it?
3. How to install/replace a panel
If you read 1 and 2, it should be obvious how to do this, otherwise take my hand:
Unzip the downloaded panel to a temporary folder NO MATTER WHAT THE AUTHOR TELLS YOU. When you become more familiar with it, you could judge if things like set up by the author might be easier and if the author made no mistake. However, this way is the safest way if you are unexperienced.
IMPORTANT
First goto Fs main directory and make a backup copy of your gauges folder. It enables you to reverse things once FS crashes with the new panel for any reason. Otherwise, you might find yourself in real trouble, especially when you already have installed a hell of add ons and have to reinstall your gauges folder using the FS Install CDs.
Open the temp folder and look what you find.
Usually you find either a file called gauges.zip or a folder called gauges.
- If the last thing is true, just move the folder to your main directory. A pop up will tell you there's already a gauges folder. Tell it to overwrite all (you backed it up, didn't you?).
-If the first thing is true, then unzip the file to your temp folder.
Either you find then a folder called gauges. Proceed like written above
- Or you find a FS2002/FS2004 folder. This means the author wanted it to be easy for you and made a complete folder structure. Dig for a subfolder called gauges andd proceed like written above.
- Or you find a hell of files ending with .gau. Drag and drop them one by one into your gauges folder.
What might go wrong:
When the author tells you to unzip all gauges.zip directly into your gauge folder, you quite often end up with no gauges. The author made a folder called gauges you will find in your gauges folder. If the author did it right, he must have adviced you to unzip it into the main directory. That's why it is always safer to use a temp folder and check the structure. As we say in Germany, trust is good, controll is better.
Now look for eiter a panel.zip or a panel folder and proceed the same way - remember to back up!
The panel folder must be placed in ...FSmaindirectorywhereeveryouplacedit\aircraft\folderofthedesiredaircraft. Erase the old panel folder, if there are any files ending .bmp in it, otherwise simply overwrite all.
Ready, fin, finito...
4. How to add existing pop up panels (pups).
Please read the section 1 first if you don't know about the structure of a panel.cfg file, it is essential, otherwise you'll just understand station and baked potatoes, as we say in Germany!
Lets say you imported an aircraft that only features a main panel. This is often the case when you import warbirds or modern military aircraft. Sometimes the main panel features all necessary items, but they are to small to be read or tuned. If you got this problem often, you should proceed as follows:
- Go to the c172\panel folder
- Copy the panel.cfg to your desktop and rename it "Standardpanel.cfg"
- Open it up
- Erase the // section and the main panel section.
- Erase the section beneath the last pup section.
- Save it to your desktop.
- If you want to use an old autopilot (e.g. for warbirds) like the one of the default DC3 in FS04 or the Sperry, make another file like this and replace the respective radio stack section. Call this, for example, Warbirdpanel.cfg and save it to your desktop.
- Now open up the panel.cfg of your target aircraft and copy the respective sections you need.
IMPORTANT
The main panel is always window00, NOT window01!
- Don't forget to mention every new panel in the [Window titles] section.
- If the target aircraft has 2 or more panels you wish to hold, you have to renumber the sections you fill in. The default radio stack of the c172 is winow01. You have to make it window02 (or 03....) and all following one number higher in order to have no double titles!
Autopilot does not work?
If you insist on having an autopilot in a very old plane and installed the default Bendix King Radio Stack (the one you see in your default Cessna172), but AP refuses working (AP switch NOT lighted although clicked), you have to go to the aircraft.cfg. You will find it in the folder of your target aircraft.
Scroll till the mid - to lower part looking for the [Autopilot] section.
You find a line there like this:
autopilot_available=0
Change the 0 to 1 and you've got it.
5. How to keep reseized panel settings
This is quite easy. Let's say you find, the cessna main panels are to big and you want to see more of the ground, therefore reseized the main panel.
When you launch FS next time and create a new flight, settings will be standard again. Fed up with that?
Quite simple: Save your flights.
FS saves most of the panel and zoom settings, seizes, positions and if they are visible. Whenever you pick up that flight, it will be like you left it.
Hard work to read it all? What should I say, I WROTE it!
Any more questions concerning this or any more problems?
Just post here.
Good day. I"m writing to get some assisance in a problem I'm having in alias/configuring a panel in an AC. I downloaded SGA's MD9 and wish to use SGA's Super 80 panel. (Both should be compatible) I followed the instructions in the excellent tutorial about how to alias a panel but a default cessna pops up. Any ideas?
Thanks
The way it is written, the tutorial is instructing you to alias from one aircraft to another. If you are wishing to replace the supplied panel from the aircraft with another, you should rename the panel in the aircraft's folder, for example:
In Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator 9\Aircraft\(the name of the aircraft you are working with goes here)\Panel.........rename the panel folder to "OldPanel". In this way you will have preserved the original panel to go back to if there is trouble.
For the next step, you should create a folder some place handy, such as your desktop, to unzip to so you will not lose track of your files, and name it something like Flight Sim Temporary files or whatever suits you.
Then, after you unzip your replacement panel file into your temporary folder (there should be a folder named "Panel" as you should have "use folder names" turned on in your unzipping utility), simply move or copy the new panel folder to your aircraft's folder that you are working on. Some Panels will come with specific gauges that are needed for that particular panel. After unzipping if there is also a folder named "gauges", open it and copy the gauges to your main Flight Simulator 9\Gauges folder. Occasionally you will also see an effects folder provided, open it and copy the effects provided into your main Flight Simulator 9\Effects folder.
Be aware that some panel downloads are modifications of existing panels. So read the "readme" or instructions very carefully. Sometimes they have you use the .cfg from this and the .bmp's from that, or any number of combinations to arrive at the desired result.
Advanced users will place stand alone panels in the "fsfsconv" folder found in the main aircraft folder (being certain the panel folder has a unique and descriptive name) and alias to it from the panel.cfg in the aircraft they are modifying. For example, I could have a favorite panel that has a desired view point and gauges for my purposes. So I will have a folder inside the fsfsconv folder with my panel's name on it. Then I can go to whatever aircraft I wish to use it with and go into the aircraft's panel folder, rename the existing panel.cfg and create an alias such as "panel=fsfsconv\my panel"
Hope this helps, post back if you have any more questions.
The wisdom of squirrels can be shared by all, follow the directions to avoid a fall.
1. I don't know really , how you can insert bitmaps and gauges to views like up und left etc. like you do on the main panel. How is that down?
I have a great the great A340 Panel from Opensky and want to see the upper panel, if I "look" up. The same for downview panels like middle consoles, that you can lay on the backview key than.
2. Can I change the upview direction somehow. I tryed, but there is no effect. [/list]
Ich schlage vor, dafür fängst Du einen neuen Thread an, denn diese Fragen sind nicht im Tutorial abgedeckt (bewußt). Ich kann Dir diese Fragen im Augenblick auch nicht beantworten, aber z.B. Groundsquirrel kann es.
Posky's A340 panel is quite involved and requires the use of fixed panel configuration entries. What you are wanting to do is a process that involves a lot of work both in trial and error.
Suggest contacting the designer of the panel to see if they have an update or can impliment your requests. It's tough to do with just code writing. Also, are you referring to the 2D panel or the Virtual cockpit? Check on that one and again...contact the designer...they may be able to help you out.
Something I would advise is: buy FS Panel Studio by Ed Struzynski
Then you can manually edit any panel you ever desire to edit from your Aircraft folder. You can get it here:
www.fspanelstudio.com
By thw way, anyone here a prof in FS Panel Studio?? I have a few important questions to ask . Thanx a lot!
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. Thanx a lot!
