Hello all,

Wondering whether anybody has come across some decent smooth-acting freeware gauges at all?

I'm in the process of putting together an instrument training course (delivered in shared cockpit) and although the default Baron gauges are OK, the movement of the artificial horizon in particular doesn't exactly lend itself to smooth and accurate flying!

If anybody is aware of anything I'd be interested to know. Obviously the RealityXP stuff is great, but they are payware and I can't expect/demand that all our students purchase them -- so I'm really looking for freeware, if such a thing exists.

Thanks in advance!

Havre you tried Just Flight's Freemium 757? The gauges seem pretty smooth on that, although it's somewhat larger and different to a Baron.. :(

Actually it would be nice to know if you are looking for mechanical gauges like you mentioned with

the default Baron 58 or something along the line of G1000 digital displays.  Artificial Horizon

only or all of the accompanying gauges?

9 minutes ago, charliearon said:

Actually it would be nice to know if you are looking for mechanical gauges like you mentioned with

the default Baron 58 or something along the line of G1000 digital displays.  Artificial Horizon

only or all of the accompanying gauges?

Sorry, yes, I should have been clearer!

I am ideally looking for something to replace/upgrade the gauges in the default Baron 58 as this is the aircraft we are using for the course (partially because it is a requirement of the VATSIM P5 rating that we use a light twin). Very much a fan of 'steam' gauges as I think they promote development of a much better scan compared to glass!

I'm particularly looking for an AH as this is especially ropey -- but certainly if there were smoother versions of the accompanying "big six" out there I would be very interested (an altimeter with hPa scale would be a bonus as well!).

45 minutes ago, HighBypass said:

Havre you tried Just Flight's Freemium 757? The gauges seem pretty smooth on that, although it's somewhat larger and different to a Baron.. :(

I have got it somewhere -- I will have to dig it out and have a play with it as you have mentioned it! As you say, not really suitable for this particular course but it may come in useful in the future.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Would you be using the Baron's 2D panel or the VC which is much more difficult swapping out gauges?

I suspect most of our students will be inclined to use the VC -- but saying that a 2D "IFR panel" that fills the screen would also work very well. Saying that, if suitable gauges can be found, swapping gauges in the VC is reasonably straightforward in my experience -- simply a case of an edit to the panel.cfg file in the [VCockpit] section, ensuring that the dimensions of the new gauge match (or are massaged to match). I have used this technique in the past to swap out the default Cessna altimeter gauge with one with a sub-scale graduated in hPa, and a glance at the default Baron's panel.cfg suggests that the main instruments all have their own separate entries so I would hope any edit would be reasonably straightforward there.

Personally, if it is FSX (non SE).. I would recommend RXP FLT gauges for ultimate fidelity.  Yes, they cost something, but the best things often are not free..

Any 2D gauge is limited to a maximum refresh rate of 18 Hz. No exceptions.

The only workaround is using a model with 3D modeled gauges in the virtual cockpit and flying it from there.

Not sure how RXP does it, but their FLT gauges are super smooth (and high resolution)..

http://reality-xp.com/flightsim/flt/features/index.html

17 hours ago, Bert Pieke said:

the best things often are not free..

Very true Bert!

Unfortunately it appears from a glance at the RXP forum that the FLT gauges don't currently play nicely with Windows 10 x64, otherwise I'd probably buy them for myself and encourage our students looking for greater fidelity to do the same (although would have to see whether they play nicely in shared cockpit). However I will keep an eye on future developments.

I shall keep looking! The default gauges are just about acceptable, but I was just looking to see whether there was anything out there that might enhance our students' experience.

Thanks for the suggestions thus far!

I might try some quick changes to the Baron.  The only thing I can think of is to try some of the

other default aircraft like the 208 Caravan or similar.  Most 3rd party freeware developers tend

to use default gauges as well.  I found very limited freeware gauges available.

I am missing the RXP gauges myself, as I take my first steps with P3DV4 where they are not supported..

The default Baron gauges are not that bad.. but for ultimate fidelity, several real pilot friends who wanted to recreate their personal airplane cockpit have followed my lead in installing the rxp flt/fln gauges, (mostly into a Carenado C182Q which has a lot of room for customization).  Windows 7 is still my OS of choice 

Well, after looking at all of the default piston prop aircraft panels I decided this was the best

choice for a replacement attitude indicator for the Baron.  It's from the King Air and yes, I know

it's not exactly a mechanical "steam gauge" but it operated very smoothly, which is what you were

looking  for.

Thanks Charlie, that's very helpful! I'll have an experiment.

No issue with a glass ADI -- what I didn't want was a G1000 style full glass cockpit with speed and altitude tapes etc. Having a smoother ADI however should provide for much more precise control 'under the hood', which is the main thing.

Thank you!