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Guest iholrf

Working on a detailed 727 panel. Need resources

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Guest funkycowboy63

Hi all. I am fairly new to this forum. I typically hang out on the simviation forum (easy to use) but that site is up for renewal currently and therefor offline. I am assembling a detailed 727 flight deck from a variety of sources. The basic source is a file named ip727 co,piled by Lonny Payne based on bitmaps by Richard Probst and Chris Arrington. It is intended for FS2002 but works well in FS9 and will work well in anyone's 727 model. What I've done so far is create a near photo realistic center pedistal using the center ped. bitmap included with George Carty's recent 707-420 release. I have that about as system detailed as possible, most of that sort of gauges are .gau easily workable in CFGEdit. Now, today I added a near photo realistic overhead panel which I edited from a 737-200 panel bitmap. The systems I desire to add to that are the hydraulic control surface valves IE rudder, aileron, elevator, auxiliary flaps, and the black dimmer knobs for the various panel lighting areas. All I have to work with is CFGEdit and a basic knowledge of .cfg syntax. What I need to find are non .xml or .cab gauges to use for the control surface hydraulic valves (the ones with the long black handles on the overhead) and the dimmer knobs. I need .gau guages with bitmap resources included that I can work with in cfgedit. All the comparible gauge files I have now are either .xml or .cab and aircraft specific. If anyone knows where I can find basic .gau versions of the afformentioned gauges I would be much obliged. Or, if anyone is feeling generous and would like to take a stab at it I could send what I've done already if he cares to download ip727.zip and give a crack at programing those items. Thanks a lot guys.

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Guest iholrf

Hey there,I am also new to this forum, but I would like to comment that everything you may need is very likely contained within many available XML freeware downloads. I suggest XML guages for a couple of reasons.1. Coming from the Linux world, XML gauges allow me to access the source. This is very important if I want to learn how to do something.2. XML is a human readable language, C is not (Unless you are an uber geek). XML is so easy to learn that I, with only a small effort, am able to modify or create the guages I need. Three months ago I did not even know what a CAB file was. :) XML is also called a "Runtime" language; its not pre-compiled but parsed by the sim on the fly. Therefor its a bit more "Gratus Instantanious" (I can see my results immediately). C is not at all like this in my experience. The only advantage C has is speed of execution and a smaller memory footprint (and perhaps a bit more robust, but I have not yet run into any limitations with XML - yet being the operative word.).As for guage faces, any decent paint program will allow me to generate or modify the gauge image files as I need. Again many gauge parts are actually rather simple. I use an old version (5.1) of Paint Shop Pro, but even the built in paint can do a decent job of it. The key here is simply patience.XML guages also have the nice ability to sit in their own folder within the panel folder in your aircraft's container. No CAB file needed. Simply name the folder the same as the cab (no extension) and play away. This keeps your guage folder nice and clutter free and eliminates the need to repeatedly re-cab. GAU files can also sit in the panel folder (not a sub folder) of your AC container. If you are like me and hate the mess all the addons create in your fs9 main folder this helps keep it under control. The only issue with this is the need to ensure there are no duplicate files within gauges.There are also many free resources available for painting and XML editing; so, in conclusion, given that C programmers make between 40-90 dollars an hour, it may be in your best interests to see what you can do with XML ;).CheersShad

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