Changing panels

[JimVT 0]

I'm trying to change the panel in a Dash8 to make it easier to see some of the units.Can't find a quickie 'how to' or tutorial and I don't want to screw up my panel cfg.Any help appreciated.JimVT

[ronzie 21]

A payware utility called FS Panel Studio, about $25 via Flight1 (an 8 MB download), is a full graphical GUI editor. You can see most gauges in a format suitable to determine clarity. I've been using it for two years to mix and match gauges and panel bitmaps I download to insert, size, delete, drag into position, etc. It couples to my image editor to allow editing the gauge and panel bitmaps. This type of editor avoids reloading aircraft in FS to see your placement and scaling results. It is used stand-alone from FS other than searching its various folders to list aircraft and panels.There are other features described at www.fspanelstudio.com.Some people use the freeware cfgedit that I believe comes with the panel sdk from Microsoft, but this does not appear to give the same visual presentation.

[JP_Visser 3]

CgEdit does not come with the MS panel SDK,it's the predecessor of FSpanel studio.i believe both were the brainchild of the same person.tataJP.

[ronzie 21]

Thanks for straightening me out on that.

[bdenni 0]

In the Dash 8 aircraft folder, copy the panel folder and rename the copy "panel.2". Open the aircraft.cfg and change the entry as below:[fltsim.0]title=de Havilland Dash 8-100sim=DH_Dash8_100model=panel=2 <-----(This selects panel.2 for this aircraft)sound=texture=kb_checklists=DH_Dash8_100_checkkb_reference=DH_Dash8_100_refatc_id=N700MSatc_airline=Airwaveatc_flight_number=1123atc_parking_types=GATE,RAMPui_manufacturer=de Havillandui_type="Dash 8-100"ui_variation="Airwave Airlines"Then you can modify the panel.2 layout using one of the programs mentioned in the earlier posts. If it does not work like you want, you can change the aircraft.cfg back (panel= ) and the original panel will be used. In the case above, I only change the panel for the first aircraft listed. You need to make the same change for each additional plane in this config if you want them all to use your new panel.Good Luck!