Help!! Removing gauges

[Chris_CYWG 0]

I downloaded a panel, decided I liked a previous version better, so deleted, and ran gaugeclean V3... I am pretty well running a "stock" setup with the PSS panels... gaugeclean has come back with a PILE of gauge files, pretty well all relating to the MS aircraft.Example are:737-400.airspeed.gau737-400.flaps.gauSimilar entries also exist for the lear, and cessnas..in all it came back with 277 gauge files NOT being used...I am a little confused at this... can anyone confirm if this is accurate?? The panels all still "seem" to work the way they used to..Thanks in advance,Chris

[Guest crashing_pilot]

hi,i think it

[lcseale53 0]

Whoa there Chris,Some of these gauge cleaners tag only those gauges currently used by active panel config files. MS includes gauges from previous releases to accomodate the many aircraft out there that rely on default gauges (new and old). I would not delete anything you think may be one of these.There are other gauge cleaners that also recognize default gauges and give you the option to retain them. Proceed cautiously.Leon

[Guest Edam]

>Whoa there Chris, >>Some of these gauge cleaners tag only those gauges currently >used by active panel config files. MS includes gauges from >previous releases to accomodate the many aircraft out there >that rely on default gauges (new and old). I would not >delete anything you think may be one of these. >>There are other gauge cleaners that also recognize default >gauges and give you the option to retain them. Proceed >cautiously. >>Leon Indeed, be VERY careful with these gauge cleaners. I have yet to use one that is foolproof. Just be sure that the one you are using has the option to backup and restore any deleted gauges. Even so, backup your entire gauge folder first. Personally, I would never use one again.

[Chris_CYWG 0]

Hey guys,Thanks for the quick replies... luckily I am running a pretty well "stock" setup like I mentioned so there wasn't much to sift through on the backup (which I did choose to do). I ended up deleting everything and unzipped the MS files from the first CD back to the gauge directory overwriting anything it needed... I then ran through my aircraft quickly and everything seems cool...I think from now on I am going to take the extra time to edit any panel.cfg I download and point it at an alternative directory to spare myself the grief if I'm not happy.Thanks!Chris

[Guest Scott Campbell]

Chris,All those gauges you speak of are not used, and Gauge Clean does remove them. In FS2002 especially, all the default gauges are zipped, and the stand-alone gauges are left over from older FS versions, mostly FS98. I'm not entirely sure why MS leaves them in. If you're a panel designer and need to modify the gauges, then those are fine for that, but most people use the zipped default ones. If any panel you have still uses those stand-alone gauges, then they aren't deleted (or moved to whatever directory you specify in the program).Almost all panels come with the gauges you need, so delete or move as you wish. I have had a lot of e-mails regarding this, and I have to assure everyone that it may look like more gauges have been deleted than should have been, but it's okay. No one has reported gauges being deleted they ever needed.(Author of Gauge Clean)

[lcseale53 0]

Hi Scott,All you say is true. My only point is that many freeware panels are released that use the older default gauges, and the authors may elect not to include those, as they are bundled with the FS package (makes for smaller uploads and you're not distributing commercial property...which may not be an issue anyway). In any case I would just advise caution to those using this - or any other utility, as I'm sure you would as well.By the way, thanks for the gauge cleaner. I use it as well and do find it very handy. Leon

[Guest Scott Campbell]

Leon,Thanks. I'm glad you like it.I agree. Caution is always best, especially since once you delete gauges with Gauge Clean, they're gone forever. That's why I put that in the Quick Help. One of these days I'll update the program to move the gauges into the Recycle bin.But it's the only program I've written I don't have to think about. ;-)