Can someone tell me how to determine which .gau files are compatible with FSX? I mean, which bytes in the .gau file indicate that it is an FS98 type gauge.George

The easiest difference to see between FS98 gauges and later gauges is the format of the gauge table, within the gauge. FS98 gauges don't really use the gauge table format and as a result have only one gauge element per gauge. As a user, you will see this in the way the gauge is described in the panel.cfg file. If the entry has an exclamation point (!) in it, you are OK, as the gauge is from CFS1 or later. If it does not, you are dealing with an FS98 gauge.For example, these are FS98 gauge entries (no ! in the entry):gauge31=pa31_FUELFLOW, 772,358,88,87gauge32=pa31_EGT, 679,358,88,87These are entries from CFS1 or later gauges:gauge34=Cessna!Altimeter, 368,382,102,100gauge35=Cessna!Vertical_Speed, 368,496,102,102Doug

Thanks Doug. That's exactly what I needed to know. George

This sadly is not a viable solution. It is easily possible to call on FS98 style gauges using the ! format, in that simply the gauge name is repeated after the exclamation mark:gauge20=hghb_bu_brake!hghb_bu_brake,770,320,51The easiest way is to let FSX determine if it is a FS98 gauge...The other one is to right-click on the gauge to be checked and select "Properties". Then select the "Version" card to see if there are any references in there to FS98, such asFlight Simulator 98 Modulein default FS98 gauges.

That's unfortunate Mathias, I was hoping to write a program to identify which (of my 1300) aircraft use FS98 style gauges.George

>This sadly is not a viable solution. It is easily possible to>call on FS98 style gauges using the ! format, in that simply>the gauge name is repeated after the exclamation mark:>gauge20=hghb_bu_brake!hghb_bu_brake,770,320,51Unfortunately that isn't viable either, consider:gauge00=gps!gps,0,0,150,250gps.gau is not FS98 type.Also, the properties of some gauges do not have reference to the FS version.George

>>This sadly is not a viable solution. It is easily possible>to>>call on FS98 style gauges using the ! format, in that simply>>the gauge name is repeated after the exclamation mark:>>gauge20=hghb_bu_brake!hghb_bu_brake,770,320,51>>Unfortunately that isn't viable either, consider:>>gauge00=gps!gps,0,0,150,250>>gps.gau is not FS98 type.That's precisely what I said, George. You cannot discern FS98 from later gauges by the way they are called upon in the panel.cfg.>Also, the properties of some gauges do not have reference to>the FS version.Indeed, only if the author of an addon gauge puts the reference to the FS version his gauge creation is intended for into his *.rc resource file will that reference also show up in the properties of the compiled gauge.However, it works on all of Microsoft's default FS98 gauges because it just so happens that they did not forget to put the reference info in them :)