A320 with a analog panel

riqsid wrote:

I downloaded a A320 aircraft and installed it as the read me file had instructed. But unfortunately when i select this particular aircraft for a flight, i do not get the cockpit instruments and gauges of a 320, but find an anologue display. Can anyone pls help me out ??

Thanks
Riqsid

Most likely the panel in your A320 is aliased to a MSFS default panel such as the b737. Open the panel folder - if all you can see is a panel.cfg (which is a text file and can be opened with Notepad) than you should Google for a proper A320 panel, download it and install it.
Ken Mitchell is a good author to begin with, he is known for his Airbus panels. Go to Avsim or Flightsim for your search - best file libraries. The panel you download should contain installation instructions. The procedure is very simple. Should you get stuck, post the installation instructions here and we'll figure it out.

The panel folder is found inside the Aircraft folder, Do you think that would be a problem ? Because inside the panel folder i find more than just a panel.cfg file, there are also a few pics of the 320 panel and a few .rar files such as A319 panelswitch, A319cpt.icons etc.

Sorry if this sounds stupid, but im very new to using MSFS.

Thanks
Riqsid

No need to apologise, you're asking concise, sensible questions, that's what counts.
Sounding good so far - the Panel folder inside the Aircraft folder, that's where it belongs. The panel.cfg is there - good.
The pictures you are mentioning are indeed the panel and to get your instruments etc. we'll need to 'unrar' those .rar files.

If you don't have WinRar go to: http://www.izarc.org/download.html and download IZArc version 4.1.6. It can handle many compressed file formats including .rar files. IZArc is very user friendly.

Once you've installed IZArc, point at a .rar file, right-click and from the drop-down menu select -> IZArc -> Extract to .\xxxx(name of .rar file). You'll find this to be a good option as IZArc will create a new folder containing all and only the contents of the .rar file you just extracted.
This way you won't get confused when you extract more than one .rar file within the same folder.

Now we have to find out where the contents of the extracted files go. The first step is always to look for and read ALL documentation, be it a Word- or Text-document or PDF... in short anything that can be read.
Often the instructions (where a panel is concerned) can be found inside the Panel folder.
If still no ReadMe files or instructions of any sort could be found, it's quite possible that the author has included the pertinent documentation within the .rar or .zip files etc.

Because we are dealing with a Panel here, at least one of the .rar files will contain Gauges... in most cases you will be told to place those gauges into the Gauges Directory.
I strongly suggest that you copy and paste each item (gauge) one by one until you've become more experienced... the reason: often a gauge you want to put into your gauges directory already resides there and a prompt will ask you whether you wish to exchange the existing file with the new one.
The rule of thumb here is that you choose the file (gauge) which is of a more recent date as it could be a better, improved version when compared to the older one.

The above principle also applies to Effects which are usually placed into the effects directory.

A final note on gauges: Some gauges use the symbol/icon of a filing cabinet and instead of .gau use the file extension .cab - many inexperienced flightsimmers make the mistake of extracting the contents of those .cab files and end up in trouble. .cab files must remain intact in order to function.

Let us know how you are getting on. If all else fails, you can make a .zip file using IZArc out of the panel folder just the way it is and upload it to http://www.sendspace.com/ - include the download link in your next post and I'll have a look at it. I'd only need the Panel folder as I can place the panel into any twin engine airliner for testing.

Wow, this is making so much sense to me now. I will try out what you said and get back to you again. Thankyou for such an informative reply

Hi, i actually got hold of a FSX which already a 321 and therefore solves my problem.

I gotta thaankyou though

Riqsid

And here's me thinking we're talking FS2004.