Customizing Panel/Gauge layouts in FSX

[Mark Hargrove]

Does anybody have any experience with panel building in FSX? I'm trying to figure out how to force particular gauges/instruments to always appear in a fixed location when I load a particular aircraft. I've tried arranging views myself and then saving the flight. When I load it again the views sometimes appear where I saved the, but not always; some of the instruments I want displayed in particular places don't have their own "views" (in the View menu, I mean); and none of the views seem to want to "stick" to my second monitor if I place them there. ...and what I'd really like to do is control the placement of individual gauges, like you'd need to do if you had a physical panel with cutouts over the screen.

I've started to read a bit about panel.cfg and what can be done with it, but I'd love to have an email exchange with anybody who has already gone through the learning curve on this topic.

Thanks!

-M

[twharrell]

Mark,

I assume that what you want is your 2D gauges to be visible whenever you start FSX. I'm no panel expert, but I know a little to hopefully be helpful and not dangerous. The panel.cfg file is definitely the way to go. I'll use a 2D popup panel window in the MilViz C310 as examples.

At the top of your panel.cfg file you have a list of 2D Windows that are present. Each window has separate gauges and are labelled to reflect that:

[Window Titles]
Window00=Main Panel
Window01=GPS
Window02=Throttle
Window03=Copilot
Window04=Engine Panel
Window05=Electrical Panel
Window06=C310 Prelight

Let's use Window01 above to focus in on specifics.

In my MilViz C310, my Window01 section looks like this:

[Window01]
Background_color=0,0,0
size_mm=1280,650
window_size_ratio=1.000
position=2
visible=0
ident=GPS_PANEL
window_size= 0.710, 0.552
window_pos= 0.290, 0.480

gauge00=MPI_GNS!GNS430, 640,0,640,268, 2:1:225
gauge01=C310_XMLGauges!KR 87 ADF, 640,268,640,134
gauge02=MPI_GNS!GNS530, 0,0,640,468, 1:1:225
gauge03=C310_XMLGauges!FBS_KAP140, 640,402,640,163
gauge04=C310_XMLGauges!FBS_GTX330, 0,468,640,170

For the sake of this discussion, we'll ignore the gauges at the bottom, as the principles I am about to share apply no matter what gauges are present. We'll focus on the 8 lines under [Window01], as those are the lines you'll need to tinker with.

The simplest change you can make is "visible=1". Changing the zero to 1 will automatically make the pop-up window visible when the aircraft is loaded (otherwise you'd have to press Shift+2 for the window to appear).

The 'position' parameter lets you place the gauge in a general location on your screen. Your choices are 1-9 (I think). The number 1 is top left, 2 top center, 3 top right, and so on (so, left to right, top to bottom, 3 rows each with 3 positions total). The number 9 is lower right. The 'winow_pos' parameter allows you to finely adjust the window position further.

Regarding window size: You can adjust that using the 'size_mm' parameter, where I think the first number is the window's horizontal measurement, and the second number is the window's vertical measurement. However, I find that adjusting the 'window_size_ratio' parameter is much easier. So, the number 1 is full size, 0.5 is reducing the window size to 50% of full size, and so on. I think this is easier because it preserves the dimensional aspect ratio of the window (i.e. the respective horizontal and vertical proportions are preserved).

There are other parameters, but I never mess with them.

Just remember to save a copy of your original panel.cfg file (goes without saying, I know). Hope this is what you are looking for.

Todd

[Mark Hargrove]

Todd,

Yep, 2D gauges -- and this was exactly what I was looking for to get me started -- thank you!

I'm not completely clear about the definition of what a "window" is in this context. When FSX starts, for example, there is what appears to be a single "window" visible (and here I'm using the term 'window' from the perspective of the operating system). I'm also ignoring "full screen" mode for a moment. If I have two monitors that I want to use to display 2D gauges only (i.e., no outside scenery), do I (or can I) define single extra-wide window (i.e., 3840 x 1080) within which I position all my gauges as desired? Or do I define two separate windows of 1920x1080 each, placing some gauges on the "left hand" window on the first monitor and some on the right on the second monitor? Or am I not getting this at all?

-M.

[twharrell]

Well, now we are getting beyond my level of expertise. I only use one monitor. By "window" I mean a 2D pop-up window of your MFD, PFD, GPS unit, etc. So, by setting visible=0 in the panel.cfg file, these 2D pop-up windows are hidden by default, until you bring them up using Shift+X or using a clickspot on a gauge face or a specified location in the VC. Setting visible=1 means when you load FSX, the 2D pop-up panel will already be visible. Setting the size and position of each "window" does not fix those windows into their respective positions. You can still click and drag said windows. I'm guessing in windowed mode of FSX you can drag the gauges to another monitor. Doesn't WideFS support multi-monitor setups?

Todd

[Donovan]

Mark, did you get this sorted out to your satisfaction?

I use two monitors for the 2D panels/gauges, with my my radio stack, autopilot, PE radios, and GPS pulled onto the second monitor. I have an Nvidia graphics care with multiple video output ports.

FSX does not do well with a single gauge panel pulled across multiple displays, it seems to knock the tar out of the sim performance. Is better to use the video card setup util, or Windows Display Config to configure the two monitors independently in "Dual View", with "Extend Desktop to second monitor" and choose one as the primary monitor for the main aircraft panel. Then you can open the custom gauge window and drag it onto the second monitor, position and resize the window to your preferences. Saving the flight will save the configuration so you don't have to go through the process every time you fire up the sim.

If you use payware gauges (such as Reality XP, et al) I would highly recommend FS Panel Studio for FSX, as its WYSIWYG interface provides an easy way to drag and drop your gauges exactly where you want them, and writes the changes to the appropriate window in the panel.cfg, and will resolve gauge DLL dependencies.

WideFS allows a networked computer to run other add-on programs including third party gauges such as Project Magenta, but also weather, AI traffic, and flight planning, and take the processing load off the main FS computer. From your questions I don't think that is what you're interested in at this point. I'm not an expert by any means, but I have had to trudge through some of the learning curve trenches, and would be glad to help where I can.

Don

[Mark Hargrove]

Don,

I already have FS Panel Studio, but it doesn't even vaguely seem to do what I want --or more properly I should say: the aircraft publishers I want to take gauges from don't seem to expose their gauges in a way that FS Panel Studio can use. Specifically, I'm trying to extract the gauges for the Carenado Cessna 337 "Skymaster" aircraft so I can eventually set them at fixed locations behind panel cutouts. When I load panel.cfg file into FS Panel Studio I see only a few of the gauges (like three or four of the probably 40 or so that make up the actual panel). I have a similar issue with other Carenado aircraft I've tried. Haven't explored non-Carenado aircraft yet, because I'm not interested in trying to make them into a more permanent cockpit.

I'm already running a multi-PC setup (I have 6 PCs running 7 monitors), using OpusFSX to synchronize views, weather, traffic, etc. Many of my controls are already implemented in hardware (via Saitek panels). It's the "six pack" panel layout (and another half-dozen or so gauges that I don't have hardware implementations for) that I just can't seem to sort out. I don't mean I can't sort out the multi-monitor part -- I mean I can't see how to extract the gauges from the Carenado 337 panel.cfg file to place them myself on a plain, black background at fixed locations.

-M.

[Donovan]

Hi Mark,

Ahhhhh! Now I understand what you want to do. I don't have any experience with Carenado planes, nor have one to experiment with. The 337 looks like a fun plane to fly. Sorry I wasn't able to help, but I will keep my eyes open in my travels for any info that might be of help for you.

Don

[Donovan]

I'm sure you've found a solution by now, but this has been nagging at me, because I HATE things I can't figure out solutions for.

From what I can tell, when Carenado discontinued 2D panels (after their Mooney release), almost all their VC panel gauges are modeled and tied to VC views only, hence cannot be simply used in the "flat" 2D panel.cfg.

From what I can glean on the topic, is that you still can create whatever 2D panel you want using standard 2D panel.cfg format and these will function in Carenado planes (again, I can't confirm this first hand), but you need to use 2D gauges, either from another plane's 2D panel, or 3rd party gauge suppliers. I saw some use of Cessna Caravan 2D gauges, etc.

I've looked at the VC screen shots of their C337 -- absolutely gorgeous modelling! -- no wonder you'd like to use those same gauges on the 2D panel!
From searching and viewing C337's for sale, the Carenado is truely "better than life" as most on the real market are much more your typical gauges and panels.

Anyway, as dissatisfying as it is, that's the conclusion I've been able to come come to.

Best,
Don

[Mark Hargrove]

Thanks Don! I've come to the same conclusion based upon what I've been able to find via Google searches. It looks like 2D gauges can be used in 3D panels, but not vice-versa. I've started to hunt around for panel/gauge "libraries" that would allow me to get to the functionality (if not the beauty) of the 337 panel, but I've been distracted with other things and not been chasing that very diligently yet.

-M.

[gr8guitar]

Hello Mark Hargrove (used to live south of Longmont, worked at Ft St. Vrain), now Indiana. Anyways, did you ever find a way to extract the VC gauges into 2D gauges from Carenado? I came across the C337 (it was free some time ago) but I don't know how to get or even where the gauges are stored/accessed.