Virtual Cockpit High Resolution Setting

[Guest Milton]

I have created a VC with hi resolution textures of 2048X1024. It looks great of course, but only in Virtual Cockpit Resolution Quality LOW setting in FS/Options/Settings/Aircraft. Changing the resolution to HIGH causes the textures and gauges on the panel to disappear. Anyone know what the max texture size should be to be able to use the hi res setting? Milton

[Guest Milton]

bump :-)

[Guest Fabio Miguez]

Hey Milton.Sorry, no idea. but I got another question. Are you referring to the base texture, the one that covers the entire panel? Or do you mean to say each gauge is a huge texture, scaled down?If no one knows, I fear it will have to be a trial and error endeavour...

[Guest Milton]

Hello Fabio,Thank you for kicking in here ....I am referring to the background texture applied using the panel.cfg "file=" technique. Yes, I may have to just use the trial and error method, one that certainly none of us are unfamiliar with. :-)Milton

[PeterR 9]

Milton,Have you tried using a square bitmap (e.g. 2048x2048)? FS seems to like square bitmaps.Peter http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/PeterR.gifBFU Forums Moderator[table border=2 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=1][tr][td][table border=0 cellpadding=8 cellspacing=0][tr][td bgcolor=#540000]http://bfu.avsim.net/sigpics/logo75t.gif[/td][td align="center" bgcolor=#FFFFF6]Bush Flying Unlimited"At home in the wild"Looking for adventure? Come join us! * [link:bfu.avsim.net|Web Site] * [link:www.cafepress.com/bfu,bfu2,bfu3,bfu4|BFU Store] * [link:bfu.avsim.net/join.htm]Join!][/td][/tr][/table][/td][/tr][/table

[Guest]

>I have created a VC with hi resolution textures of >2048X1024. It looks great of course, but only in Virtual >Cockpit Resolution Quality LOW setting in >FS/Options/Settings/Aircraft. >>Changing the resolution to HIGH causes the textures and >gauges on the panel to disappear. >>Anyone know what the max texture size should be to be able >to use the hi res setting? Milton, as far as I'm aware, that IS the maximum resolution for a texture at the HIGH setting.Scale your .bmp to 1024x768, and give it a try. When FS2k2 switches to using the HIGH res setting, it will automatically scale the image up to the max.

[Guest Milton]

Thanks Bill, I shall give that a try (and let you all know if this resolves the issue).RegardsMilton

[Guest]

>Thanks Bill, I shall give that a try (and let you all know >if this resolves the issue). I assume, of course, that you are applying this texture the the large "panel" object, and not to the actual $texture.bmp objects... right?If so, I cannot see how the gauges would disappear entirely...

[Guest Milton]

Bill,The dummy texture is 2048X1024.The background bitmap (also 2048X1024) is applied by FS in the panel.cfg.The background and gauges disappear. It happens throughout our beta testers' systems except on LOW res. It seems that hi res cannot handle a texture that size.[Vcockpit01]file=vc520main.bmp Background_color=0,0,0 size_mm=2048,1024visible=0pixel_size=2048,1024texture=$vcpanelgauge00=ST_500!ST_520_Airspeed, 343,296,103,100etc.....Milton

[Guest]

>Bill, >>The dummy texture is 2048X1024. >>The background bitmap (also 2048X1024) is applied by FS in >the panel.cfg. >>The background and gauges disappear. It happens throughout >our beta testers' systems except on LOW res. It seems that >hi res cannot handle a texture that size. >>[Vcockpit01] >file=vc520main.bmp >Background_color=0,0,0 >size_mm=2048,1024 >visible=0 >pixel_size=2048,1024 >texture=$vcpanel >>gauge00=ST_500!ST_520_Airspeed, 343,296,103,100 >etc..... No, the problem is that VC panel textures must be square, and in powers of 2.In that case, all of the graphics applied to that part should be 256,256; 512,512; 1024,1024; or 2048,2048The lower portion of the image should be pure black (0,0,0).I'm astonished that you're able to get it to work at all!The 'rules' are:1) The gmax (or FSDS2) panel surface can be any size, any shape.2) The $dummytexture.bmp must be square, and a power of 23) Any other textures applied via the panel.cfg must be square, and a power of 2However, you can circumvent issue #3 by applying the panel's texture direcly to another panel object via the .mdl file, then place the 'projection panels' directly in front of, or behind the panel (assuming appropriate 'cutouts' are supplied for the gauges to show through).I prefer using the latter technique, because I can then apply an "alpha channel type" file to the panel background, to the "Self-Illumination" slot in the Material Editor. This allows me to use shades of 'grey' wherever I want the gauges to be backlighted in the VC... :)Furthermore, you can also supply an 'alpha channel' to the background.bmp, so that you can have cool spot/flood light effects on the VC panel itself! :):):)I hope this helps! That panel looks fantastic otherwise!

[Guest Milton]

hehe thanks Bill. A simple change, and I'll try it out.Funny, this worked straight away and I never had trouble with it until I realized I was running low cockpit resolution, then changed it. Wham! lolI'll let you know.Milton

[Guest Milton]

Okay, this is what I've learned.The 2048 pixels wide was negating the FS hi res textures from showing. Once I changed to 1024, they showed fine.The reason why this worked for me is that my $dummy texture was square and only the upper half of it covered the planar. The 2048X1024 background was simply using the upper half of the dummy texture.Changing everything to 1024X512 still works for me, but I'll change it to square to avoid future issues. :-)Thank you Bill and all for helping me through this issue.Milton

[Guest]

>Okay, this is what I've learned. >>The 2048 pixels wide was negating the FS hi res textures >from showing. Once I changed to 1024, they showed fine. >>The reason why this worked for me is that my $dummy texture >was square and only the upper half of it covered the planar. > The 2048X1024 background was simply using the upper half of >the dummy texture. >>Changing everything to 1024X512 still works for me, but I'll >change it to square to avoid future issues. :-) >>Thank you Bill and all for helping me through this issue. You are most welcome! Being the stingy person I am, I cannot abide a bunch of wasted space on a texture, so since I have my Socata's panel broken up into 7 separate VC 'panels,' I simply use the extra space (that otherwise would be 'transparent-black space' to store another panel's background image, and rely on the UVW mapping to chose which of the images on the background to use for each 'panel'... :)BTW, you can still use a self-illumination bitmap to provide gauge backlighting in the VC (which I strongly URGE you to do!) :)In my view, there's nothing that will render an otherwise beautiful VC ugly and useless is having dark, nearly invisible gauges at night... :(

[Guest Milton]

Yes, I saw your explanation in the other thread; well done.I haven't yet decided on the night illumination. I'm just now talking with Scott about that on Roger Wilco.I had not intended to do but a basic VC for the Commander, but we may play with the night lightning just for kicks. :-)What would happen if you made the background (non-gauge) areas a very dark gray, like 25,25,25 instead of black. Would the background show just a bit? or look funky?Or, use a very dim fx cockpit red light for just a hint of where other things are at night?Milton

[Guest]

>Yes, I saw your explanation in the other thread; well done. Thanks! I strive for clarity and cogency... :)>What would happen if you made the background (non-gauge) >areas a very dark gray, like 25,25,25 instead of black. >Would the background show just a bit? or look funky? As you already know, these entries in the panel.cfg control how the 2d pane appears:Day=255,255,255Night=20, 20, 20Luminous=0,0,0The Night= entry defines how much the panel will "glow" at night, and as you can see I use a very, very low RGB value here. After all, no panels in Real Life "glow in the dark!" :)The Luminous= entry determines the 2d gauge "backlighting." In this case, since I have programmed special lighting effects into the custom gauges themselves, I've set Luminous to pure black (i.e., no lighting!) I did it this way so that the exact same backlighting will appear on each gauge in both the 2d and VC modes, again, striving for continuity in transitions.What I strive for in the VC is to make the transition as smooth and seamless as possible, so that switching to VC isn't like jumping into a different plane! My suggestion would be to use very judicious use of shading in the self-illumination bitmap, so that you can achive a balance between the 2d and VC views. Using a very dark gray will provide just a 'hint' of illumination, without being overwhelming.>Or, use a very dim fx cockpit red light for just a hint of >where other things are at night? I avoid the fx lighting like the plague, since it is incongruent with my goal of seamless scene transitions (fx lighting only effects the VC view, leaving the 2d panel difficult to 'tweak' for similarity).