I thought you might like to see what the new OEP (Overhead Electrical Panel) for the all-new Gmax R4D looks like. I have just finished the graphics and uploaded the, for Fred to code.Here is a reduced-size shot of the entire panel...http://www.fssupport.com/maam_sim/oep_small.gifThere are 117 separate bitmaps, or parts, in this panel.Now here's a full size chunk of the panel, so you can judge the readability of the radios and labels...http://www.fssupport.com/maam_sim/oep_part.gifThis should do away with the complaints - justified, I might add - about the hard-to-read radios in the old R4D. The new OEP replicates the actual one in #50819 faithfully, except for one compromise that I'll let you guess about ;-) ...unless you are Russ Strine or another old Gooney Bird man, in which case you'll pick it up immediately.What you see above is from the "demo shot", where I have assembled all of the bitmaps in proper alignment to test their positioning and assist Fred when he codes the gauge. If you look closely, you'll see single yellow pixels on all the moving parts. These are the temporary registration marks for each switch that are aligned with corresponding pixels on the background bitmap. The coordinates of these registration pixels allow Fred to more easily place them in the finished gauge - at least I hope so! That coding mumbo-jumbo gives me a a migraine just contemplating it. That's why I try to keep Fred happy! :-)There are two more demo shots, one with all the switches in their up positions, and the other with the three-way switches in their center positions. By using my mouse wheel to switch back and forth between the three demos in a graphics program, I can see that the switch "movement" appears natural and that everything is lined up properly. I also made a separate set of seven demo shots to adjust and test the various magneto lever positions in the same manner.Work continues in all phases of construction on the R4D. We'll occasionally give you glimpses like this so you can see we are not asleep at the yoke. ;-)Bill Rambow MAAM-SIM - Rambow, Visser, Banting, and Younghttp://www.fssupport.com/maam_sim/maamsim_logo.gif

You're killing Bill...Wow. Can I make one observation regarding the ADF in BT? I find the tuning hot spots extremely hard to find for the second digit. If the same size "zone" is used in the R4D and chance you might increase the area a "bit" for us mouse challenged seniors?? Bring it on. I live near Long Beach Airport, home of Catalina Air Frieght which serves Catalina Island with Beach 18's and DC3's. I got tons of virtual frieght stacking up that needs moving. Chop chop guys, they're getting hungry over there... Mike B.

Top stuff! This one sit's at the top of my most wanted. Can't wait to see it parked on my hard drive alongide BT!! Great stuff on those new overheads, Bill - Can't wait!Sir John :-sword The Flying Knight

I thought this sounded like a good idea and ran it past Fred. So did he. :-)Thanks for the input. Bill Rambow MAAM-SIM - Rambow, Visser, Banting, and Younghttp://www.fssupport.com/maam_sim/maamsim_logo.gif

Rambow, Visser, Banting, and Young,Ya guys gotta quit teasing me! I am very tickelish and I can't take this!Anyway, I have a request.One of our users, Wallace 'wkzzo' Kazzar has been supplying us one-on-one with 2D guages for Briefing Time we can use in dual monitor setups as those supplied with Briefing Time are not 'clipped' for multiple 2D guages on the same screen (I know this is not correct terminology some how). Could you code the guages in your upcoming projects already clipped and undockable like you use for default FS2002 guages?Thanks,Don Smith

You mean you want us to "fragment 'em"? ;-) I'll refer this question to Fred to answer. I have a feeling there are very good reasons not to do this for the benefit of the 99% of flight simmers who plod along with only one monitor. But I'll let the team's programming expert expound on that.Bill Rambow MAAM-SIM - Rambow, Visser, Banting, and Younghttp://www.fssupport.com/maam_sim/maamsim_logo.gif

Don,Unlike the FS default planes the individual popup windows (quadrant, radios, etc)in Briefing Time and the upcoming R4D are created as full screen images. This was done to ensure that they are displayed properly positioned against the instrument panel because a smaller window proved to be impossible to position correctly at different screen resoultions. This also helps prevent users from accidentally dragging them out of position with a miss-mouse. What Wally has done is resize the backgrounds of these windows to make a smaller image so they can be displayed and positioned at will on separate monitors but this shoots down the original design concept for single monitor use.Unfortunately we can't have it both ways without providing two distinct installations so it looks like we won't be providing dual monitor support. There has not been any demand for this beyond what I have seen in this forum so maybe Wally can set you up again for the R4D :()Fred

Fred,Thanks for your explanation. Makes sense to me...Don

Absolutely Top banana - this is my most wanted!A quick note about clickspots and "keeping it simple"I personally am a big fan of the DF system of clickspots. For example, a rocker switch with 2 positions has not two clickspots but one, and either a left or right mouse click is sufficient to flip the switch. This means the clickspot can be bigger - and therefore easier to click.Take for example the mag switches in the present R4D. It is basically a rotating switch with 4 positions. I find it very difficult to work out where to put my mouse to select the appropriate position. What I think would be better is if the switch had one square clickbox in the middle, and use a left click to move the mags one way and a right click to move the switch the other. Likewise with the feathering buttons - only one click spot to move it one way or the other.Can't wait for the finished article!