Guide Balancing VC and 2D GTN screen brightness

[RXP 2,338]

@por930 it looks like you've got yourself a job LOL! I sincerely appreciate your help with this. We still have many things to get done before we can even start with this (G600 for example) but this is a good template I agree.

[fppilot 4,355]

Quote

I cannot explain why the slider in the Settings area is named Screen Brightness but instead controls Rheostat.Display.

 

On 2/21/2019 at 10:20 AM, RXP said:

Now taking the example of the Configuration Panel | Screen Brightness: try clicking the blue square to the left and see what the label changes to...?

I only recognized that previously as a slider and did not know about checking the box.  Where do I find a layman's explanation of what checking that box does as opposed to using the slider?

[Indy511 686]

If I were a new user I think I would now be confused by now after reading all this.

Keeping it short and simple.
Here is all I do when there is a difference of brightness levels between the popup/window gauge and the virtual cockpit gauge.

When adding a GTN to an aircraft:
Menu | Add-ons | Reality XP GTN
1. Check the box No Bezel option. The NO_BEZEL statement will be added automatically: gauge00=rxpGTN!GTN_750_1, 0, 0,667,794,NO_BEZEL. No need to open or edit the panel.cfg file.

Spoiler

2. Open RealityXP.GTN.ini in notepad scroll to the bottom and add the following 3 lines;

[GTN_750_1.NO_BEZEL]
; offset brightness (-100 to +100)
brightness.screen = -30

That's it.
 

-30 is the brightness level of the virtual cockpit gauge only. Change this to your preference. -100 very dark, 0 is default, +100 very bright.

If you are still confused, keep in mind:
[GTN_750_1.DEFAULT] This section in RealityXP.GTN.ini is only for the popup gauge settings.

[GTN_750_1.NO_BEZEL] This section is only for the virtual cockpit gauge settings.
You can copy and paste other items from the [GTN_750_1.DEFAULT] section to this section. Like popright =, tooltips =, etc.

Edited February 22, 2019 by BillS511

[fppilot 4,355]

10 minutes ago, BillS511 said:

If you are still confused, keep in mind:
[GTN_750_1.DEFAULT] This section in RealityXP.GTN.ini is only for the popup gauge settings.

[GTN_750_1.NO_BEZEL] This section is only for the virtual cockpit gauge settings.
You can copy and paste other items from the [GTN_750_1.DEFAULT] section to this section. Like popright =, tooltips =, etc.

How did you learn this?

[Indy511 686]

14 minutes ago, fppilot said:

How did you learn this?

I figured if you have to add the [GTN_750_1.NO_BEZEL] section to add settings for the VC gauge, then I assumed the [GTN_750_1.DEFAULT] section settings must be for the popup gauge.

Edited February 22, 2019 by BillS511

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

17 minutes ago, BillS511 said:

I figured if you have to add the [GTN_750_1.NO_BEZEL] section to add settings for the VC gauge, then I assumed the [GTN_750_1.DEFAULT] section settings must be for the popup gauge.

This depends on how you have defined the gauges in the panel.cfg file.

You can name the gauges any name you want, and supply a matching section in the ini file.

If you supply no name, the default section is used.

[Indy511 686]

9 minutes ago, Bert Pieke said:

This depends on how you have defined the gauges in the panel.cfg file.

You can name the gauges any name you want, and supply a matching section in the ini file.

If you supply no name, the default section is used.

Exactly. Trying to keep it simple for new users. Since the gauge installer already adds NO_BEZEL to the VC gauge line there is no reason to open or edit the panel.cfg file.

Edited February 22, 2019 by BillS511

[fppilot 4,355]

Sorry, you two are in a foursome ahead of my foursome, and there are a couple of foursomes in between!

[RXP 2,338]

Bert and Bill are correct. Let me try to sum this up:

• Without a 5th param a gauge uses the .DEFAULT section.
• With a 5th param (for example ANY_NAME_YOU_WANT), the gauge uses the .ANY_NAME_YOU_WANT section if any, otherwise it falls back to using the default.
• With a 5th param set to NO_BEZEL, the gauge uses the .DEFAULT section but overrides the nobezel setting (this shortcut saves from having to create a specific section just for this most popular setting in the VC)
• Whenever you want to change any 'instance' setting, you have to create a section for this, name it, and add the same name as the 5th parameter. Usually it is then easier to copy/paste the default section and change the DEFAULT name to something else.
• Any section setting (the main section or the instance(s) section(s)) are optional. The gauge has always assumed, since day 1, a default value for all keys. This allows the newly introduced 'Optimize Settings' which in fact removes any setting which is set to its default value from being saved to the file.

Edited February 24, 2019 by RXP

[jfwharton 50]

Thanks for the information in this thread.  It has partially solved the issue for me.  Now as how to adjust the brightness on those aircraft that have a Reality XP GTN installer but still have a very bright in panel GTN with a bezel and a  dim popup panel.

[jfwharton 50]

I would also ask the question to Reality XP as to why all of this is even necessary to begin with.  By that I am asking why the VC panel screen brightness is different from the Popup panel screen brightness?  Shouldn't they be set to be the same brightness to begin with?

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

16 minutes ago, jfwharton said:

I would also ask the question to Reality XP as to why all of this is even necessary to begin with.  By that I am asking why the VC panel screen brightness is different from the Popup panel screen brightness?  Shouldn't they be set to be the same brightness to begin with?

I think you have to ask this question of the aircraft creator/vendor

Edited April 18, 2021 by Bert Pieke

[Gary1124 181]

On 3/10/2018 at 7:32 PM, fppilot said:

Jean-Luc,
I was having a different issue.  I was having difficulty matching brightness levels between the 750 in the virtual cockpit and the associated 750 2D popup. There was a pronounced difference and when I would adjust one the other was equally affected.  The most pronounced brightness difference between the two was with the A2A C182.  Adding a value into my C182's [GTN_750_2.NO_BEZEL] section cured the issue.  I now have the VC and 2D brightness perfectly matched thanks to Bill.

Frank

For me the biggest difference was in the Golden Eagle. 

In the A2A Bonnie, it matches perfectly. Only noticed about the Golden Eagle screen difference in Prepar3d. Wasn't like that in FSX-SE. 

However, in FSX-SE I set up the default Baron with the Friendly Panels Aspen avionics and then I manually installed GTN 750 and tweaked the CFG to get everything right. There I did notice a brightness difference with the VC gauge being dim. 

I'm glad I saved my FSX-SE aircraft folder when I reinstalled windows. I would hate to have to recreate that panel.

[n116dh 4]

Hello Everyone,

Just purchased GTN750 (migrating from Flight1) and having same issues as dealt with in this post.  However, as it has been 1-1/2 years since the last posting, I thought I would resurrect it in hopes of getting some help as it seems that trying to do the suggestion here is not going anywhere for me.  I am very well versed in editing/modifiying .ini and .cfg files and have done so for the Flight1 GTN with the expert help of Bert and Jorge.

To keep things simple I will take my issues one at a time as there may have been changes in the versions in the past 1-1/2 years.

Fresh install of RXP (latest version checked in the config window) and of course the Trainer.

Initial unit has very bright screen as described in  this post and looks like this:

I open up the config screen and change the display setting to what should be fairly dark like this:

And the brightness changes accordingly

However, when I reload the aircraft the brightness reverts back to the original brightness.  [note also the the .ini file now has two new lines:]

Rheostat.Display = 27
Rheostat.Buttons = 17

So first off, I should think that the changing the display brightness in the Configuration Screen would "keep".  It appears that reloading the aircraft ignores the two new lines in the .ini file.

Am I missing something here?  I have read the user manual very extensively but it is a bit hazy on this (such as what is a Rheostat Source Index?)

Thanks for your interest  and input.

 

P.S. no "no-bezel" I like having that and no 2D popout just yet until I can get this issue resolved.  Then I'll move on.

Edited January 30, 2023 by n116dh