Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Herbie63

Panel.cfg For Widescreens

Recommended Posts

A Happy New Year!I'm working on a wide screen panel but have problems to find the right settings for the panel.cfg.Maybe it's too obvious? Anyways, I hope someone will give me a helping hand:The main panel bitmap is 1680 x 1050 so fitting to most 22'' widescreen monitors.In the panel.cfg I use "size_mm=1680,1280" and the bitmap shows up correctly.But the gauges don't! Their height is compressed so they need corrected height-values to show up correctly.For example a square gauge of 100 x 100 px would need to be assigned x,y,100,125 to appear as a square.That's annoying - there must be a better solution but I allredy spent hours without success...Ah, I tested things in FS9, but I guess this will be the same in FS-X.Thanks,Herbert

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You can't just take the 4:3 panel image and resize it to 16:10.The easiest method is as follows:Assuming your default panel size is 1600x1200, resize it in the vertical to 1050, telling it to maintain the aspect ratio. Now... increase the image's canvas (that means not the image itself but add to the area of the image) so that it's width is now 1680. Then shift the existing image to the left side... fill in the right side with extended panel image. Adjust all gauges to the new panel.


Ed Wilson

Mindstar Aviation
My Playland - I69

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

After doing what Ed has instructed, use a panel.cfg entry such as this for your main panel window:

//--------------------------------------------------------[Window00]file_1024=CitationII_Main_WS.bmp file_1024_night=CitationII_Main_WS_night.bmp size_mm=1680,1050window_size_ratio=1.000  position=7visible=1ident=0window_size= 1.000, 1.000window_pos= 0.000, 0.000

Note that you want to set the size_mm=1080,1050, and window_size_ratio=1.000 to permit the gauges to display in their native aspect ratio.


Fr. Bill    

AOPA Member: 07141481 AARP Member: 3209010556


     Avsim Board of Directors | Avsim Forums Moderator

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
You can't just take the 4:3 panel image and resize it to 16:10.The easiest method is as follows:Assuming your default panel size is 1600x1200, resize it in the vertical to 1050, telling it to maintain the aspect ratio. Now... increase the image's canvas (that means not the image itself but add to the area of the image) so that it's width is now 1680. Then shift the existing image to the left side... fill in the right side with extended panel image. Adjust all gauges to the new panel.
Thanks for thinking about my problem, Ed.But the panel bitmap isn't the problem. I made it in 1680 x 1050 (actually in 3360 x 2100, but I scaled it down for useage in the sim) and using "size_mm=1680,1260" in the panel.cfg makes it show up perfectly in size and shape. My problem are the gauges, or better said the necessary values for the y-position and height (x-position and width works as usual)I get them at the right place and in the right shape when multiplying the expexted paramerters with 1.2 (1260 / 1050 = 1.2)What I simply don't understand is the fact, that the panel bitmap shows up correctly but the gauges don't. I know about the 4:3 ratio, but I thought that would be "healed" when telling the panel system that you are using a 1680,1260 size ratio. And as mentioned it works perfectly with the panel bitmap.Anyways, multiplying those values with a fixed factor is not convenient, but no big problem either. I just thought there would exist a better way using a special setting in the panel.cfg.EDIT: Thanks, Bill. But using the 1680,1260 works fine as long as the real bitmap is in 1680,1050. And this way I can paint the main panel bitmap in correct shape so that a circle looks like a circle...Best regards,Herbert

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Ok, I gave you the correct approach... whatever you did, isn't going to result in what you're seeking. Which would be apparent, since it's not giving you the results you expect. :(


Ed Wilson

Mindstar Aviation
My Playland - I69

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Ok, I gave you the correct approach... whatever you did, isn't going to result in what you're seeking. Which would be apparent, since it's not giving you the results you expect. :(
Your approach probably is the best when converting a 4:3 panel to a 16:10. But when doing things from scratch, I find my approach to paint the panel in 1680 x 1050 (or a multiplier of that) much more convenient. As allredy said, the panel bitmaps shows up as expected when "size_mm=1680,1260". And after having thought about things some more time it is logical that with this configuration in the panel.cfg the y-position and height of the gauges have to be multiplied with 1.2.I'll stick with this as it lets me create the panel and gauge bitmaps in a "native" size where a circle looks like a circle and a gauge fits in the whole of the panel bitmap.Maybe MS offers a more convenient solution in FS11/12/13...Anyways, thanks for your help!Best regards,Herbert

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Your approach probably is the best when converting a 4:3 panel to a 16:10. But when doing things from scratch, I find my approach to paint the panel in 1680 x 1050 (or a multiplier of that) much more convenient. As allredy said, the panel bitmaps shows up as expected when "size_mm=1680,1260". And after having thought about things some more time it is logical that with this configuration in the panel.cfg the y-position and height of the gauges have to be multiplied with 1.2.I'll stick with this as it lets me create the panel and gauge bitmaps in a "native" size where a circle looks like a circle and a gauge fits in the whole of the panel bitmap.Maybe MS offers a more convenient solution in FS11/12/13...Anyways, thanks for your help!Best regards,Herbert
Herbert, the reason your gauges are going oval shaped is because you insist on doing things "your way" instead of the way those who've already achived success suggest. The size_mm= entry is what controls the gauge's scaling. By using your entry of size_mm=1680x1260 you are screwing up the math FSX panel system uses to scale the gauges... :( Belive me when I tell you that if you use a 1680x1050 bitmap, you must set the size_mm= entry to match... :(

Fr. Bill    

AOPA Member: 07141481 AARP Member: 3209010556


     Avsim Board of Directors | Avsim Forums Moderator

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Herbert, the reason your gauges are going oval shaped is because you insist on doing things "your way" instead of the way those who've already achived success suggest. The size_mm= entry is what controls the gauge's scaling. By using your entry of size_mm=1680x1260 you are screwing up the math FSX panel system uses to scale the gauges... :( Belive me when I tell you that if you use a 1680x1050 bitmap, you must set the size_mm= entry to match... :(
Hi Bill,No I don't insist on doing it my way and usually accept suggestions. In deed I allready learned a lot this way...But sometimes (like this time) I simply find my way better and so try to find a good working solution to keep on doing it that way... It's not that your solution is worse - I just like mine better, which of course is a very personal pov.But after trying out dozens of other settings in the panel.cfg I finally found the one working as I want it to work - maybe you'll also want to give it a try:file=Concorde_Main_Panel.bmp size_mm=1680window_size=1.0,1.0position=0visible=1ident=MAIN_PANELPay attention to the size_mm = 1680 only and the window_size = 1.0, 1.0 and no additional settings!With these settings a 1680 x 1050 bitmap and also all gauges show up in the correct way (full screen, correct aspect ratios). Also the positioning of the gauges works as usual - no need for any math!The window_size=1.0,1.0 made the difference - don't ask me why. It works in FS9 and FS10BTW, I do the gauge positioning in Photoshop but FS Panel Studio also works correctly with those settings.Best regards,HerbertEdit: I just notice, that those settings basicly ere the same you use. But it did not work yesterday...Maybe the insrtuctions of how to convert a panel bitmap confused me... Thanks once again both of you!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Edit: I just notice, that those settings basicly ere the same you use. But it did not work yesterday...Maybe the insrtuctions of how to convert a panel bitmap confused me... Thanks once again both of you!
They are in fact identical. When you use only:size_mm=1680The panel system will scale the gauges to the same ratio as the background bitmap, which is of course 1680x1050... :(I simply prefer using the "full specification" so there's no ambiguity about what I want.I also use the tags:file_1024=CitationII_Main_WS.bmpfile_1024_night=CitationII_Main_WS_night.bmp so they will work for both FS9 and FSX. In the FS9 version I don't bother including the actual _night bitmap of course.window_pos= 0.000, 0.000is functionally the same asposition=0In any case, I'm glad you got it sorted out. Making major config changes to the panel.cfg file often requires loading another a/c and then coming back before you'll see the changes... :(

Fr. Bill    

AOPA Member: 07141481 AARP Member: 3209010556


     Avsim Board of Directors | Avsim Forums Moderator

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

  • Tom Allensworth,
    Founder of AVSIM Online


  • Flight Simulation's Premier Resource!

    AVSIM is a free service to the flight simulation community. AVSIM is staffed completely by volunteers and all funds donated to AVSIM go directly back to supporting the community. Your donation here helps to pay our bandwidth costs, emergency funding, and other general costs that crop up from time to time. Thank you for your support!

    Click here for more information and to see all donations year to date.
×
×
  • Create New...