Hello,I have a question for anybody out there who has any information to offer. I figured I would just throw this idea out, Im not sure if it is possible to do, but here goes.For a while I have been thinking of creating a program. Or maybe not a program, maybe a special gauge, or a "trainer", or whatever. What if this program could automatically use the VC from one aircraft with the exterior model of another one. It really cant be THAT hard to do, can it? I am thinking that when in spot view, you could use the aircraft model that you think has a great exterior model, but lacks a VC. But then, when you change the view to Virtual Cockpit, this program could kick in, and change the aircraft model to one that had a great VC for instance, thus allowing you to virtually "add" a VC to an aircraft exterior model without having the original source files.This must be possible. I am willing to help anybody who gives this a go in any way I can, even though I have limited Coding experience. Feel free to post your thoughts, suggestions, etc. :)Thanks all for reading!

It won't work.Doing something like this would mean either altering the FS9 source code to allow 2 aircraft to be generated upon loadup,one for the model and one for the VC.Needless to say that this would also have a direct affect upon FPS.John http://homepage.eircom.net/~eamonnmca/images/logo_ba.JPGwww.bavirtual.co.uk Senior Captain Simflight.com Staff Reviewer

i think it can work, but have no idea how to do it. I was thinking about this topic particularly, and i believe that it can be done. this program must internaly alter mdl files of an aircraft, and send them transparently to fs. Maybe it would be better idea to make program which would get vc info from one mdl file and insert it into another. But, since i'm doing mostly scenery, i have no idea how to do it, nor is it possible. if vc has specific section in mdl file, it can be done, by simply inserting that part from another aircraft, but if it is not so, it could be harder, maybe even impossible.

This is not possible - here's why:The VC (inside parts) is part of the aircraft visual model - that is the "outside parts" that we see. When we build the aircraft in GMAX, we create different models for different purposes, and then cram tham all together into one big model file. In addition to the "outside parts" and the VC, there are LOD models to change the aircrafts appearance at a distance (especially useful for AI or online flyinh). When you load up the aircraft into FS, this model gets loaded into FS, along with the 2D panel, textures, and flight model. We can't even choose not to see the VC if we want to - if the aircraft has it, it is always there.Now, if you had the GMAX files from both aircraft, you could mix and match parts to your hearts content. So you could thoretically take these parts and merge them and then recompile the aircraft... but you probably don't have the GMAX files for these aircraft, so this isn't really much of an option either.One thing you CAN do is change the layout of the gauges in the VC, since these are listed in the panel.cfg file. This is useful if you want to use different gauges than the ones included with the aircraft.- Martin

>One thing you CAN do is change the layout of the gauges in the>VC, since these are listed in the panel.cfg file. This is>useful if you want to use different gauges than the ones>included with the aircraft.That's not always possible either, especially since folks are beginning to catch on to the more efficient ways to cram stuff together on the $vc textures. Most of the new modelers are beginning to catch on to this technique, meaning that custom changes may soon be a thing of the past...

>That's not always possible either, especially since folks are>beginning to catch on to the more efficient ways to cram stuff>together on the $vc textures. Most of the new modelers are>beginning to catch on to this technique, meaning that custom>changes may soon be a thing of the past...I'm a little bit behind the curve on the Aircraft-Design process since I've been concentraing on scenery lately. Can you please explain to me what you mean by "more efficient ways to cram stuff...". This has caused me to think a little bit. Are you saying that in the VC, designers aren't always using gauges to depict instruments? From what you said, I started thinking of a high-detail texture that could be placed as an altimeter (for example), and then use a "needle" created in GMAX that would be animated? Is this along the lines of what you meant? Is this even possible? I seem to remember a limitation in GMAX/makemdl that was preventing desingers from creating detailed beveled edges on instruments since these would be welded together if they were too close, so I wonder if this prevent this sort of design from being possible.Thanks for the help,- Martin

I can't understand why is not possible. PIC A320 "disconnects and connects" on the fly the cabin. It should be possible I have no idea how to do it. From time to time I think the opositte. Dinamically add a pushback truck to the mdl.Jos

The answer to your question is simple. They have a "switch" programmed to make the cabin only when the "switch controller" is ON... :)