Locating a panel from the VC to 2D

[slip-stream 5]

I have recently installed a payware aircraft that does not contain a 2D cockpit. Is it possible to have a panel/gauge that is present in the VC available as a 2D panel. This is required as I would like to undock the panel and drag it to a second monitor. Any help appreciated.

[Chock 17,769]

Yup, you can do that. Basically you could do it in a few ways...You could add a panel from another aircraft by opening the panel config file in a text editor and adding the relevant data from another aircraft's panel config file by copying and pasting it (note that you will have to add a panel 'window' and give it a number, open up the Cessna's panel config file and look at that to get a general idea of how it works, having added a window, you then have to specify what is in that window too - scroll down a panel config file and you will see that and it should then be apparent how it all works).Or, you could use a product such as Flight 1's FS Panel Studio, which is a program that allows you to design your own panels and add them to aircraft. If you want to do that, you will probably also need somethings such as Photoshop, Paint.net or Gimp in order to create the bitmap image of the panel itself, but that's not especially hard to do.Gauges themselves are capable of being displayed in either a VC or a 2D panel. The panel config file (found in the panel folder of your main aircraft folder inside the sim objects folder) is where you specify what gauges you want to display and where on the panel they will appear. So, the thing you need to do is look at the listing for gauges in the VC section of your aircraft's panel config file, note the name of that gauge, and then add that gauge to a location on a 2D panel. You will notice that in addition to the gauge name itself, there is also info concerning the size it will display at, plus a set of coordinates which determine where on the panel or VC that it appears. You can learn about all that by trial and error, or read the FS SDK notes (software development kit), or you can go the easy route and use FS Panel Studio. Note too that it is possible to alt tab out of FS, modify a panel config file, save it, alt-tab back to FS, reset the flight and see the changes to the panel you have made update in the sim without restarting FS or the flight, which does save time.Al

[slip-stream 5]

Sorry I meant GAUGE not Panel.Al, thank you very much indeed so far. If I could elaborate a little. The gauge that I require is the main avionics gauge in the image below. And below the image is the panel config that I have already edited (note Window4 is a copy that I have made of the Vcockpit panel that I assume is the one I am after). However, nothing is displayed in 2D mode, only a 2D HUD. Any idea where I am going wrong?//F-35A Panel configuration file[Window Titles]Window00=Main panelWindow01=HMDWindow02=Default Radio StackWindow03=Default GPSVIEW_FORWARD_DIR=-1.000, 0.000, 0.000//--------------------------------------------------------[Window00]Background_color=0,0,0 visible=1ident=MAIN_PANELalpha_blend=0.95position=8window_size= 1.000, 1.000size_mm=1024,1024 // Uncomment one of the lines below depending on your "WideViewAspect" setting in your fsx.CFG file.gauge00=F-35_HUD_VC!F-35_HUD_VC, 317, 211, 388, 691 // <--- F-35 2D HUD, conformal at zoom 0.9, aspect ratio 16:9 and WideViewAspect=False//gauge00=F-35_HUD_VC!F-35_HUD_VC, 330, 230, 364, 647 // <--- F-35 2D HUD, conformal at zoom 1.5, aspect ratio 16:9 and WideViewAspect=True//--------------------------------------------------------[Window01]Background_color=0,0,0 visible=1ident=MAIN_PANELalpha_blend=0.90position=5window_size= 1.000, 1.000size_mm=1024,1024 gauge00=F35!F35HMD, 0, 0, 1024, 1024 //--------------------------------------------------------// Default FSX Radio stack[Window02]BACKGROUND_COLOR=2,2,2size_mm=156,308position=8visible=0ident=RADIO_STACK_PANELzorder=3gauge00=Bendix_King_Radio!Bendix-King Radio Audio, 0, 0,156,31gauge01=Bendix_King_Radio!Bendix-King Radio Nav-Comm 1, 0, 29,156,59gauge02=Bendix_King_Radio!Bendix-King Radio Nav-Comm 2, 0, 86,156,59gauge03=Bendix_King_Radio!Bendix-King Radio ADF, 0,142,156,41gauge04=Bendix_King_Radio!Bendix-King Radio DME, 0,180,156,41gauge05=Bendix_King_Radio!Bendix-King Radio Xpndr, 0,217,156,49gauge06=Bendix_King_Radio!Bendix-King Radio AP, 0,262,156,48windowsize_ratio=1.000window_pos=0.756,0.358window_size=0.243,0.641//--------------------------------------------------------//DEFAULT FSX GPS//--------------------------------------------------------[Window03]Background_color=0,0,0 size_mm=456,378position=8visible=0ident=GPS_PANELwindow_size= 0.500no_luminous=1gauge00=fs9gps!gps_500, 0,0//--------------------------------------------------------[Window04] BACKGROUND_COLOR=2,2,2 size_mm=1024,512 position=7 visible=1 ident=12000 gauge00=f35!mfd1, 0,0,512,512 gauge01=f35!mfd2, 512,0,512,512//--------------------------------------------------------[Vcockpit01]Background_color=0,0,0 size_mm=1024,1024visible=1pixel_size=512,512texture=$F351gauge00=f35!pfd, 10,100,1024,1050//--------------------------------------------------------[Vcockpit02]Background_color=0,0,0 size_mm=1024,512visible=1pixel_size=2048,1024texture=$F35MFD1gauge01=f35!mfd1, 0,0,1024,512//--------------------------------------------------------[Vcockpit03]Background_color=0,0,0 size_mm=1024,512visible=1pixel_size=2048,1024texture=$F35MFD2gauge01=f35!mfd2, 0,0,1024,512//--------------------------------------------------------Day=255,255,255Night=223,255,255Luminous=246,115,119//--------------------------------------------------------[Vcockpit06]Background_color=0,0,0 size_mm=1024,1024visible=1pixel_size=1024,1024texture=$F353gauge00=f35!autopilot, 0,10,512,90gauge01=F35!flightdata, 0, 934, 425, 90gauge02=f35!mfdhsi3, 15,140,200,200gauge03=F35!MFDcontrol,406,941,143,76gauge04=F35!MFDSwap,555, 941,159,76//--------------------------------------------------------[Vcockpit07]Background_color=0,0,0 size_mm=128,128visible=1pixel_size=128,128texture=$F354gauge00=f35!HMDToggle, 0,10,512,90//--------------------------------------------------------[Vcockpit08]Background_color=0,0,0 size_mm=1024,1024visible=1pixel_size=1024,1024texture=$HMD3d2gauge00=F-35_HUD_VC!F-35_HUD_VC, 222, 267, 549, 549 //// <--- F-35 VC HUD//--------------------------------------------------------[Default View]X=0Y=0SIZE_X=8192SIZE_Y=8192

[BMG50 9]

Under [Window Titles],add "Window04"

[Chock 17,769]

Yup, as noted by Bmg50, you forgot to define a pop up window 04 in the top section of your config file. So what you should have right at the top bit is something like:[Window Titles]Window00=Main panelWindow01=HMDWindow02=Default Radio StackWindow03=Default GPSWindow04=MypanelthingymajigAl

[slip-stream 5]

Ah gotcha. That makes sense. I will try later (when kids are in bed) and report back. Thanks so much guy's.

[slip-stream 5]

Yes that did the trick, thanks, I managed to get the main 2 gauges as an undockable 2D popup. The only problem is I can't seem to do the same for this gauge (image below) which is the top section (autopilot). If I try and create a Window05=Autopilot FSX just crashes for some reason. Any ideas?

[Chock 17,769]

It could be a few things and without actually having the aeroplane myself, it's kind of hard to say. Generally speaking the autopilot in add-on aircraft is handled in one of two ways; either the default FS autopilot commands are used on a newly created panel with custom buttons but underneath all that it will be using the default FS autopilot, or if more complex autopilot functions are required the autopilot can sometimes be a custom xml gauge that runs outside of the normal FSX parameters. The latter tends to be more common on fancier payware aircraft as freebie ones and even 'lite' airliners invariably just use the default autopilot. An easy way to tell if this is the case is to use standard key presses for the autopilot and see if it functions, if it doesn't, then the chances are it will be a more specialised custom gauge/panel.Occasionally, the autopilot panel is a bitmap image with lots of little button gauges located on it rather than simply being one big gauge that does everything. this is when you might have to get into creating a custom panel and that's when FS Panel Studio comes in handy. There is a free demo of FSPS available incidentally, which can be found at the link below. It's a great little program by the way, easy to use (i.e. you can blag your way through it without having to study the manual too much) so it is fun if you like making your own cockpit parts:http://www.fspanelstudio.com/demoversion.htmFor investigative purposes when checking out and playing around with gauges, it can sometimes be useful to comment out gauges in the config file to determine what does what on your panel or VC, which can be achieved by adding a '//' at the start of a line of text, which will make FSX ignore that line.Al

[slip-stream 5]

Thanks Al. I will try panel studio as it may stop me going crazy.

[Crewecut 1]

Until you get that done, you can open new view, choose VC, zoom in on gauge, and shape the window to fit. You can keep it if you save flight, as far as I recall.Bjorn

[slip-stream 5]

Thanks bjorn. I did try that actually and it worked really well. I thought there would be a huge hit on the frames but I was wrong. This maybe the best method to be honest. I have also posed this issue over at the FS panel design forum to see what they think.