One thing that is frustrating for my old eyes is that I cannot see "own plane" in terrain view because the white does not work for me,

Also in the forward view "own plane" is obscured halfway by terrain colors

 

 

So I added another Black bitmap and adjusted the code to show a black little plane when terrain has been selected, and I move the map up a bit as well as the plane, so that it is not so much obscured anymore and better in terrain view. At least my eye catch it quicker.

 

 

 

 

 

Config changes

 

 

For those that want to have the avidene start up always with brightness dimmed so that the Aviden GPS is not so much overexposed, (I do because 90% of time I

fly in daylight) can change the config xml file

 

NB: Make sure you have proper backups of the files you about to change:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

(some people might already have done step 1 and 2)

 

 

1. Create a new subfolder to your FSX Gauges folder and call it EX500_C90

 

2. Unzip the Gauge "EX500_C90.cab" file from your Gauges folder into this folder

 

3) Now find the XML file called "EX500_config.xml" (2D view) in your new folder and open the file with Notepad.

 

Add another entry under MAP PAGES DEFAULTS section

 

1 (>L:EX500_Dimmer, enum) //brightness [0-very bright, 1-Dimmed]

 

this is what my config MAP PAGES DEFAULTS setting has been changed to

 

  //-------------MAP PAGES DEFAULTS------------------------//
  5 (>L:EX500_MapRange, enum)   //Startup Map Range [0-1nm, ... 5-20nm, ... 10-100nm, ... 15-500nm, ... 18-1500nm]
  2 (>L:EX500_MapTraffic, enum)   //Traffic Displayed [0-Off, 1-Above, 2-Normal, 3-Unlimited, 4-Below]
  1 (>L:EX500_MapOrientation, enum)  //Map Orientation [0-North Up, 1-Forward, 2-Center]
  3 (>L:EX500_MapDeclutter, enum)   //Declutter Setting [0-Off, 1-Low, 2-Medium, 3-High]
  1 (>L:EX500_MapBase, enum)   //Base Map [0-None, 1-Terrain, 2-Base]

  1 (>L:EX500_Dimmer, enum)   //brightness [0-very bright, 1-Dimmed]

the last line is the one added to have brighness turned down.

 

 

SAVE the XML

start FSX and enjoy your new startup setup.

 

My settings above basically start avidene (according to top settings)

at range 20NM

with traffic normal

with map facing forward

displaying everying (nothing decluttered)

with Terrain always automatically ON

and the dimmer brightness turned down

PROBLEM NUMBER 4 FIXED..

 

WE ARE MAKING GOOD PACE BETWEEN BERT AND BLIK....

Most useful and much improved. Can you provide the data and procedure so we can make this change?

 

Russ

Give me a moment and I will type it up for you in a while

Ok what I have done is create one bitmap consisting white and black that can be used that will work both in base and terrain view and will save a LOT of additional code, so lets try and keep this as simple as we can. Not everybody is comfortable changing code.

 

 

 

You can download the bitmap here.

 

http://www.mediafire...mf6zj57hxf0hk56

 

 

To make the change to MAP move up and Plane move up so that it is not partly hidden in forward view.

 

NB: Make sure you have proper backups of the files you about to change:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

(some people might already have done step 1 and 2)

 

 

1. Create a new subfolder to your FSX Gauges folder and call it EX500_C90

 

2. Unzip the Gauge "EX500_C90.cab" file from your Gauges folder into this folder

 

2a) find the file "airplane_icon.bmp" and rename the file to "airplane_icon_original.bmp", so that you still ahve your original bitmap

 

2b) now download the file mentioned above.

Unzip the file to a folder of your choice and add the bitmap called "airplane_icon.bmp" to your folder you just created in step 1.

 

3 Now find the XML file called "EX500.xml" (2D view) in your new folder and open the file with Notepad.

 

NB NB Make sure you first click on the first line of the code so that when you use find function you search from beginning of page.

 

Now use find function and search for.

 

<Element id="Map Page">

 

 

from this marker, about half a page down is a customdraw section

 

 

<CustomDrawParam id="CenterY" Name="CenterY">
	<Value>(L:EX500_MapOrientation, enum) 1 ==
if{ 310 }
els{ 185 }</Value>
</CustomDrawParam>

 

 

Change the if{ 310 } to if{ 290 } so that it look like this

 

 

<CustomDrawParam id="CenterY" Name="CenterY">
	<Value>(L:EX500_MapOrientation, enum) 1 ==
if{ 290 }
els{ 185 }</Value>
</CustomDrawParam>

 

 

 

 

 

4) Now scroll up to the top and click on very first line because we need to do another search

 

this time use find and search for

 

<Element id="Airplane Shifted">

 

You will get to the following section

 

 

<Element id="Airplane Shifted">
	<FloatPosition>308.000,310.000</FloatPosition>
	<Visibility>(L:EX500_MapOrientation, enum) 1 == </Visibility>
		<Image id="airplane_icon.bmp" Name="airplane_icon.bmp">
		<Transparent>True</Transparent>
			<Axis>10.000,10.000</Axis>
			<Bright>True</Bright>
		</Image>
</Element>

 

 

now change the second line 310 to 290 like below

 

 

<Element id="Airplane Shifted">
	<FloatPosition>308.000,290.000</FloatPosition>
	<Visibility>(L:EX500_MapOrientation, enum) 1 == </Visibility>
		<Image id="airplane_icon.bmp" Name="airplane_icon.bmp">
		<Transparent>True</Transparent>
			<Axis>10.000,10.000</Axis>
			<Bright>True</Bright>
		</Image>
</Element>

 

 

Please NOTE there is another section with

 

<Element id="Airplane Shifted">

 

DO NOT CHANGE this one. You only need to change the first one and that is why you have to search from the beginning of the code to make sure you catch the first entry.

 

That is it.

 

SAVE the XML

 

Repeat for EX500_3D.xml (the 3D one in the VC)

My thanks, bliksimpie, your work and talent is most appreciated.

 

Russ

Wow, looks like another neat enhanchement for that neat little plane! The download link for the changed bitmap wasn´t working anymore, so I made one myselve: Took the airplane_icon.bmp and changed the colors via Photoshop, black plane and white surrounding.