Panel and Gauge Editing

Jamie4590 wrote:

Can anyone tell me how to install the FS2004 GPS in to an add-on aircraft and panel and gauge editing in general. Thanks.

Check out this tutorial Jamie ➡

http://www.simviation.com/lair/AddGPS.htm

I bet you a dollar it'll work in fs9 just as well. I would however use a panel.cfg out of fs9 such as the 737-400 just to be on the safe side.

For panel creating/editing check out the Demo version of FS Panel Studio ➡ http://www.fspanelstudio.com/

Thanks for the links Tailhook. I'll tackle it tonight and post the outcome!

Please do, I'd like to know how you're getting on.

I forgot to mention that I used to use the simvation tutorial extensively for the old FS2k2, but haven't found the need for it yet in fs9 as the inclusion of a GPS has become more and more routine.
I mentioned to use a panel.cfg out of fs9 so that you hopefully will get a Garmin instead of the old FS2k2 GPS.

Fantastic! It worked!

Even better was that the process was quite painless and involved just a few lines of editing. Now I am able to open and close the GPS (GARMIN 500) from a newly created GPS option in the instrument menu.

Thanks again Tailhook. 🍻

I would like to bind a specific key to toggle the GPS on and off because at present the only way I can open the GPS is through the instrument options menu. This would be straight forward if there was a listed command to open and close the GPS in the assignments menu but there isn't so any ideas how I can do this?

In the assignments menu under [views] there are 9 views of various aircraft panels which can be toggled on and off with shift + 1, 2, 3 etc. Is it possible to change the panel I want to open under these commands?

Thanks.

Jamie4590 wrote:

In the assignments menu under [views] there are 9 views of various aircraft panels which can be toggled on and off with shift + 1, 2, 3 etc. Is it possible to change the panel I want to open under these commands?

Thanks.

That's the only way I can think of at the moment. Make sure you try all the numbers from 1 to 9. If none of those pops up the GPS, I'll do a bit of tinkering and hopefully find the solution. 👍

Tailhook is correct if I remember correctly the first eight window corrispond with the Shift+1,etc. You can put the GPS on Shift+3 by resequencing the window numbers. The only down side is if all of the key are used up you would loose the ability to open the window that fall to the highter number without designating an icon and placing it on the panel.

To say the same as above again, but with a bit more focus on the panel.cfg file: What you describe, Shift+x combinations, is directly related to the window identifiers in the Panel.cfg file

The panel defined under [Window00] uses the first available Shift+x combination (Shift+1)
The panel defined under [Window01] uses the second available Shift+x combination (Shift+2)

...and so on 🙂

Glad you got it working, it's been a lot of fun to me, editing existing panels and tweak them to my liking; It's kept me busy for days.

Thanks to our fellow resident Elkinallen who gave me the first pointers on how to get started on editing panels, about a year or two ago 🙂

I'm off to the temple to worship the Gods

I was hoping that one of you Gentlemen lkw or ARD-DC would come to the rescue here and as it seems to be an auspicious day, you both materialised as if by magic.
My biggest worry was to find an a/c in my hangar that didn't already have a GPS.

Thank you both for your input.

Jamie keep us updated on your progress if you don't mind.

I've just downloaded the SSTSIM model from flight1 to replace the Altitude model.

I'll let you know later if I manage to re-bind the window keys.

You're a changed man ever since you moved to fs9.

The Concorde fast enough for you? I must say I've been tempted in the past - Flight1 publications have been treating me good so far.

Curious to hear your overall impressions of the bird if you find the time. Seeing that you're drooling already I might just go and splurge yet again

I only installed FS2004 a few days ago and I can't believe how good it is. The learning Centre itsself is worth the money. I love the new improved map which shows terrain detail and of course the ability to add on softweare such as FsP. There is also an abundance of John and Martha which is always a good thing.

Its renewed my interest in flight simming. 👍

I've added the GPS to SSTSIM Concorde by using the steps above and adding an extra [Window] called GPS, and allocating the GPS script with the appropriate window number. (look at the default aircrafts panel .CFG files to use as a template) The GPS gauge file needs to be present in the gauges folder as well but it will be anyway because its shared by the default aircraft. This method means I can only open it by using the instrument menu but I then tuck it in the corner so I don't have to keep opening it. When I'm a bit more confident with the editing I'll try to create a button for it on the main panel. The GPS is of course for my navigation training and I would never use it in a flight as that would be unrealistic as Concorde never had one. The INS analogue system is just fine.

Jamie4590 wrote:

When I'm a bit more confident with the editing I'll try to create a button for it on the main panel.

You may want to look in your gauge folder for a cpt_icon.cab file or somthing along those lines. In this cab is icon, xml for gps, radio stack, etc. They already point to the standard window ID so all you have to do is place them on your panel in the desired location. I am at work now so do not have file available at this time. I will append an example later.