Panel Guys Help

Devildog73

Devildog73

SOH Staff
Staff member
Could one of you panel guys take a look at the A-4 Skyhawk panel and let me know how to eliminate the conflict of gauges center bottom of the panel. The fuel tank selector switch is sitting over another jet type gauge as you can see in the photo.

I do not know how to deconflict that view.
Thanks
 
DD, looks like you've been trying your hand at panel editing -- lots of default gauges replaced with FSD gauges. That stock P38f fuel tank selector is sitting in front of what appears to be a fuel flow gauge. Open the panel.cfg file with notepad and look for "p38f_lightning!Fuel-Selector" in the main panel window. Copy and paste this over it: p38f_lightning!Fuel-Selector, 180,701,67,67

This will make the selector slightly smaller and place it to your far left bottom row next to the tachometer.
 
open panel.cfg with wordpad.
The begining of each section is headed in square brackets.
[Window00] should be your main panel.
The gauges are listed thus

gauge00=GaugeFileName!GaugeName, xoffset, yoffset, x_size , y_size

The offsets are from the top left of the window, the size entries are optional.
The gauges are not required to be in absolute order so it is easy to add comment symbols to stop a gauge from displaying. So take a look at how the DME gauge is deactivated in this example

Code: 
gauge00=Cessna!ADF,547,87
gauge01=Cessna!Airspeed,146,57
gauge02=Cessna!Altimeter,348,58
gauge03=Cessna!Attitude,247,58
gauge04=Cessna!Avionics Switch,243,286
gauge05=Cessna!Cowl_Flaps,380,287
//gauge06=Cessna!DME,540,48
gauge07=Cessna!Flaps,598,286
gauge08=Cessna!Fuel_Selector, 416, 286
gauge09=Cessna!Heading_Indicator, 246, 160

A final word though, CFGEdit will not like the gap in the gauge numbering and attempt to fix it.
I have known gauges to go missing from panels after the fix. So keep back ups.
 
PIGGYBACK HERE

If you don't mind, can I piggyback here? Ihave been tinkering and have a problem with SimIcons not showing. I have the SimIcons.cab (2 folders) in the gauge folder and they are called for in the cfg. as "Gauge##=SimIcons!Map,(ATC,Map,Kneeboard,etc) Icon, ##,###,##,## " (no paraenthesis in the call). However, when I use cfgedit. it tells me "SimIcons.gau" cannot be found. Am I missing something?
I am still reading through the cfgedit Help but am evidently missing out on something.:salute:
 
Those are MSFS-style cab-enclosed gauges that aren't compatible with MSCFS2 gauge programming. They won't show in CFS2. And because of their cab nature, they can't be displayed in Cfgedit either, which was originally written for compatibility with C++ programming of FS98, FS2000, CFS1 & 2.

MSFS-style cab-enclosed gauges are based on XML programming which was integrated into FS2002, FS2004 and FSX. As they are called up in MSFS sim play, they are extracted from their resident cab files to be displayed on screen in the player's panel. This extraction codex was not included in CFS2 or Cfgedit. However, this can be done with the program FS Panel Studio, the "updated" brother of Cfgedit. FSPS shares many of the basic features and tools of Cfgedit, but has additional features which support the newer MS sims.

Using Cfgedit, you can replace the Simicons with the icon click buttons bundled into the default concorde.gau file that comes with FS2002. This bundle is all C++ based and the icon buttons show and function well in CFS2. This bundle is used quite extensively in the panels of most CFS2 1% AVH models. The icon buttons are used to call up additional windows like Compass panel, GPS panel, Radio Stack panel and the common Fuel CG trim panel (which i'm very fond of and use in all of my add-on Allied fighters).
 
BEARCAT

Bearcat;
Thank you! I guess I can delete those SimIcon.cabs and one other one that I found in the Gauge Folder. I thought it was weird because I never saw those cabs before I started getting the message. Guess I put something there that they were included in. I have the concorde.gau so I guess it is a retype to redirect there for these. As I said I am trying to learn this the old fashioned way "bump,touch and ouch!!!". :icon_lol: Sort of like a blind person in a strip club!:icon_lol: (No offense to vision impaired individuals meant)
 
simonu said:
A final word though, CFGEdit will not like the gap in the gauge numbering and attempt to fix it.
I have known gauges to go missing from panels after the fix. So keep back ups.
Click to expand...

Great advice Simonu! I'm sure you found out the hard way.
 
Thanks guys!

I removed the P-38 fuel selector switch by // simonu's suggestion.
I then copied the fuel level gauge out of the F-15 Eagle for CFS2 and put it in place of the P-38 fuel level gauge.

The panel now looks modern and appropriate for an A-4 Skyhawk. I am also playing with getting the eastern and western Canadian ADF panel to properly display. I have it coming up instead of the throttle panel. That WW II thrust panel for prop aircraft just doesn't fit in an A-4. So, I replaced it with the Canadian ADF panel.

I still don't know exactly how the ADF panel works other than guiding me toward the destination airbase. I set the ADF to the proper freq. but don't notice anything different whether I set it on any number......

I will fire up the sim and show you a new screen shot of the panel now.
 
Here she is now.

Now all I need to do is get the glide path indicator left and low from the gunsight working like some of the other modern jets and I am cooking!
 
Looks good Devildog. The only problem i see with your fuel gauge is that it doesn't give you a reading on your main fuselage tank. The Skyhawk has 3 internal tanks -- center main and one in each wing. Your gauge will only give you 2/3 of your fuel state. BTW, the F-15 has 3 internals also. You should probably go with something that reads total fuel state in pounds. That way you can get a reading on all tanks at once, including external tanks. And if you use a tank switch, the needle on the content gauge will move to indicate the amount in whichever tank you switch to.

As for AOA glide path indicator, that one is a dud that doesn't work in this sim for some reason. Try the one attached below. It works fine for me. View attachment 25556
 
bearcat241 said:
Looks good Devildog. The only problem i see with your fuel gauge is that it doesn't give you a reading on your main fuselage tank. The Skyhawk has 3 internal tanks -- center main and one in each wing. Your gauge will only give you 2/3 of your fuel state. BTW, the F-15 has 3 internals also. You should probably go with something that reads total fuel state in pounds. That way you can get a reading on all tanks at once, including external tanks. And if you use a tank switch, the needle on the content gauge will move to indicate the amount in whichever tank you switch to.

As for AOA glide path indicator, that one is a dud that doesn't work in this sim for some reason. Try the one attached below. It works fine for me. View attachment 25556
Click to expand...

Got it bearcat. Thanks
 
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