Roy, i'm curious...what do you mean by "removed all things that point to the VC"? What exactly did you remove from the panel.cfg -- the entire VC section(s)? If so, you should restore everything again then remove only the gauges. If you removed the entire VC section(s), you inadvertently also removed the panel texture call that "paints" the vertical plane of the vc panel (example below in red):
[Vcockpit02]
Background_color=0,0,0
size_mm=512,512
visible=1
pixel_size=1024,1024
texture=$AH_P47_R1
gauge00=p47d!Attitude, 80,197,99,106
gauge01=p47d!Boost_Pressure, 83,313,69,69
gauge02=p47d!Engine_Temperature, 208,178,44,44
gauge03=p47d!Oil_Pressure, 201,234,73,72
gauge04=p47d!Tachometer, 161,312,69,69
gauge05=f86_compass, -9,303,93,97
gauge06=p47d!Fuel, 241,311,69,69
gauge07=F4u1a_Corsair!Hydraulic_Pressure_Warning, 50,426,24,23
gauge08=F4u1a_Corsair!Carb_Heat, 51,398,24,23
gauge09=F86_amps, -6,390,53,50
gauge10=b26!RLC_Hydraulic_Gauge, 239,385,69,69
gauge11=b26!RLC_Fuel_Pressure, 86,386,69,69
You should leave the entire top section (in bold print) and only delete the gauges from gauge00 down. Then you can replace them with your preferred gauges, if that's your intent. When modding an exisitng FS vc panel in a convert, as a rule i never delete the original FS vc gauges until i've positioned the CFS2 replacements over them. I use the locations of the existng gauges as a guide first for locating my replacements, then delete them with the panel edit program afterwards. Saves a LOT of work...
