Ok, now bear with me because it is the first I am time writing this. ;) --------------------------------------------------------------------All of my addon panels and sounds reside in their own folders within the Aircraft directory of Flight Simulator.My addon panels are located in FS9AircraftPANELSMy addon sounds are locared in FS9AircraftSOUNDSThis goes for all planes EXCEPT project ERJ (and maybe some others) who's panel by default installs into the AircraftFSFSCONVfolderThis has extreme as well as terrific advantages. For one, it cuts down on HDD space by installing the panels and sounds onlyone time for many planes, while increasing loadtimes of the simulator dramatically. I will explainhow to do this as best I can.Lets say you installed POSKY's 757 and want to use additional panels other than the default.You just downloaded a rocking 757 panel and want to use it on the POSKY as well as an IFDG 757 model1: Instead of installing the panel directly into a specific aircraft folder, unzip it to a default temporary folder.2: Move all the .gau files to the "gauges" folder and any .dll files to the "modules" directory3: Take what remains of the panel (should only be some bitmap files and a panel.cfg file) and cut them4: Go into your FS9/Aircraft folder and create a new folder and name it "PANELS"5: Now within the new "PANELS" folder, create a new folder called "757" for instance (naming of folders is based on preference and in this example for the panel you still have cut, since it was a 757 panel to be used with the POSKY and IFDG 757)6: Paste all the bitmaps and panel.cfg files into this new "757" Folder7: Your addon panel should now reside in the AircraftPanels757 folderNow locate the POSKY 757 plane (or any plane for that matter that you want to use this panel with).1: Go into the plane's panel folder. IE: FS9AircraftPOSKY 757-200 Americanpanel2: Open the panel.cfg with "notepad.exe"3: You will see that by default, the plane is aliased to the B737-400 Panel4: Erase the B737-400 alias and replace it with PANELS757 so that it reads as following:fltsim (Do NOT remove brackets)alias=PANELS7575: Save and load the sim, you should now see the 757 panel properly on the POSKY 757 model You can do this numerous times and with every plane. The same concept I described above works exactly the same for sounds. Just create a "SOUNDS" folder within the aircraft directory, place folders within the SOUNDS directory according to the plane(s) thesounds were made for, and alias your installed planes to that directory.A quick example:I downloaded and installed a 777 soundset into AircraftSounds777 (i made the 777 folder)To use them with 777's planes (or any planes for that matter), I just go into the specific aircraft folder, open the sounds folder, edit the sound.cfgusing notpad.exe, and change the alias to read the following:fltsim (Do NOT remove brackets)alias=SOUNDS777Easy as pie, and saves tremendous space! Even using this method, my flight simulator directory is over 20gb! Imagine if I installed those panels andsounds into individual plane folders! The space taken up on my hard drive might be 3x as much! This method also lets you change panels and sounds QUICKLY and EFFORTLESSLY by just changing one line in both the panel.cfg and sound.cfg files of individual aircraft. If anyone has any questions, or needs further explanation/additions, please do not hesitate to contact me. I will do my best to help anyone who needs further help. Feedback always welcome!Michael:-waveP4 2.4C @3.44 285FSBAsus P4C800 Deluxe Rev 10161gb Corsair XMS PC3500 2-3-3-6 @2.75vAsus V9950 FX5950 Ultra 256mb 540/960 "soft modded from a 5900Ultra"SB Audigy2 Platinum ExSony CPD-G520 21' MonitorLiquid Cooled GoodnessPics: http://community.webshots.com/user/chksix2002

You can do the same with gauges Michael but then you have to change each gauge line in the panel.cfg file to point to the new directory.

This belongs in the tips and tricks forum because it is so useful :)

Thanks guys. Yeah Vulcan, the .gau one is a little more tricky. I never personally done that, but thanks for the tip (I might have to try this now). I figured this might be good for the new user to the FS series since it doesn't require a lot of changing on their end. Mike :-waveP4 2.4C @3.44 285FSBAsus P4C800 Deluxe Rev 10161gb Corsair XMS PC3500 2-3-3-6 @2.75vAsus V9950 FX5950 Ultra 256mb 540/960 "soft modded from a 5900Ultra"SB Audigy2 Platinum ExSony CPD-G520 21' MonitorLiquid Cooled GoodnessPics: http://community.webshots.com/user/chksix2002

Good stuff there Michael. Thanks for sharing. I use a similar system with a few tweaks. I put all my favorite sound sets and frequently used panels in the FSFSCONV folder since it made a reappearance in FS9. When I download a plane I will alias the sound and panel to one of my preferences. If the plane has it's own panel I want to use, I will dump the gauges in with it's panel files. I then compress the aircraft folder and burn them on a CD when I have enough. That way I can remove all non-default aircraft and save disc space. When I want to fly a particular plane, all I have to do is look on my archive list and copy the aircraft back into the FS aircraft folder, and I'm done. Oh, I also archive any effects files and Active Camera preset views with the aircraft, so I have it all together.Cheers,Todd

Thanks Todd. I like your methods as well. I didn't know I can preset Active Camera for individual aircraft. That's awesome! Sharing thoughts like this for everyone to see is just terrific. Thanks for the tips!Michael :-waveP4 2.4C @3.44 285FSBAsus P4C800 Deluxe Rev 10161gb Corsair XMS PC3500 2-3-3-6 @2.75vAsus V9950 FX5950 Ultra 256mb 540/960 "soft modded from a 5900Ultra"SB Audigy2 Platinum ExSony CPD-G520 21' MonitorLiquid Cooled GoodnessPics: http://community.webshots.com/user/chksix2002

Good stuff there Michael.....Thanks! :)I've just started what will be a lengthy process of transfering all my panels to one shared folder. Your 'idea' works a treat!!So simple, one wonders why one never thought of it before!! Or even why Microsoft didn't do it this way originaly....how true it is that it's often the simplest of ideas that are the best :)

....So simple, one wonders why one never thought of it before!! Or even why Microsoft didn't do it this way originaly....Actually it has already been thought of and discussed many times on these forums. But Michael has done a superb job of organizing the process in a very clear coherent manner.I've been using fsfsconv ever since FS2000 first came out and manage all my panels and sounds that way, By default if ya use the panels in a common pool the gauges are not duplicated either. Gauges don't consume much space, but the quantity can quickly get out of hand.And if you keep ya "excess" planes zipped up off-line, the "pool" approach for sounds is great because wav files don't compress worth a hoot.One of the neatest things about keeping the panels separate is it gives ya the ability to fiddle around with them to your hearts content and come up with several variations of the same one with different gauges added, relocated, or removed and with a quick entry in the aircraft file, introduce a new setup.Finally if y'all have Alain Capt's awesome MD-11 panel installed, ya already know his panel is kept separate from the birds. Ya just run the auto installer to associate each new MD-11 with the panel and off ya go.-------------------Racartronit means something, but I just can't remember what

Thanks everyone! Maybe the Moderator(s) can sticky this or something so it doesn't lose it's place. I'm sure that those new to Flight Simulator will benefit most by this approach (and even some veterans). I have a friend in California brand new to the flight simming world, and he was needing help with installation, so I originally wrote this for him, but I said, heck others can benefit from it as well. There is nothing better than sharing love and knowledge with the world. Mike :-waveP4 2.4C @3.44 285FSBAsus P4C800 Deluxe Rev 10161gb Corsair XMS PC3500 2-3-3-6 @2.75vAsus V9950 FX5950 Ultra 256mb 540/960 "soft modded from a 5900Ultra"SB Audigy2 Platinum ExSony CPD-G520 21' MonitorLiquid Cooled GoodnessPics: http://community.webshots.com/user/chksix2002