The black holes aren't really telling. They can make for a more realistic looking panel background.. but those details can be the gauges themselves. The bitmap for the panel itself IS the background. Then.. the gauges are actual, individual polygons... with the gauges "mapped" to them, inside of the modeling program. That's where the coordinate system gets thrown out the window. The gauges are mapped onto the polygons form a big "sheet" of gauges (a bitmap that isn't even needed after the mapping), and then that "sheet" is "cookie-cut" onto all of the individual (otherwise invisible) polygons.
For example.. if you try to move a gauge to the right (by coordinates).. it will partially disappear from THAT polygon, and most likely START to appear on one of the other polygons.. with no real rhyme or reason to it. Once a gauge is mapped to its polygon.. THEN the modeler need only move that polygon where he needs it to be. THat lends itself well to multiple panels at multiple angles (like overheads or center consoles).
I'd have to see copies of the panel.cfg files, before speculating on syntax.. else we just might trade a dozen posts trying to debug it.
