Hi all I would like to have a go at designing a gauge that would, have a series of lights that would start from empty to full, to simulate a fixed wing aircraft taking on water or crop-dusting aircraft taking on fertilizer and then using the smoke key (I) to drop the load , the lights on the panel would go from full back to empty, so when you landed and came to a full stop the gauge would then start to refill to simulate the load been applied I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of a good tutorial on gauge design, as I have never done this before, or is this type of gauge to advanced for a newbie Cheers Rhys Back to top

Firstly you will need to download the Software Development Kits (SDK) from Microsoft. As the FS2004 site is now archived its hard to find.. the best place to get the SDKs are from http://files.fsnordic.net/Flight_Simulator...cellaneous/SDK/ You'll specifically need the Panels & Gauges SDK. All the info is here but its not user-friendly. The best source to understand it is to download Dai Griffith's tutorial http://www.simviation.com/fsdesign_panels1.htm Look for Gauge Creation Tutorial Rev. 14 If you want to create XML based gauges then you will find tutorials at http://www.fs2x.com/ Good Luck Regards Jim

Start by reading the SDK, and then searching AVSIM for Dai's gauge tutorial.

>Firstly you will need to download the Software Development>Kits (SDK) from Microsoft. As the FS2004 site is now archived>its hard to find.. the best place to get the SDKs are from>http://files.fsnordic.net/Flight_Simulator...cellaneous/SDK/>> >You'll specifically need the Panels & Gauges SDK. > >>Good Luck > >Regards > >Jim >Hi JimI've been looking for the FS2004 SDK. Thanks for this tip. :)RegardsEberhard------------------------------------Eberhard Haberkornhttp://www.focusthink.com/~weather-maker/betatester.jpghttp://www.focusthink.com/~weather-maker/proudsupporter.jpg

Hi JimI think the tutorial's about 18 versions passed that one now :). I think sd2gau17.zip is the current one; new one due 'soon'.-Dai

Hi Dai,How are you doing? Look forward to any of your gauge design programs and tutorials.Have you looked at using MS Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition for compiling gauges. I know Fr. Bill has been using it.I have been mostly learning X-Plane and using above to test plugins.W. Sieffert

Hi BillMy apologies for the delayed reply - my time is stupidly tight ATM and has been for the last four years. Problem is due to end 'soon'!I haven't used the MSVC 2005 Express edition but I have moved up to VS2003 without problems because I needed to program DirectX9 - specifically DirectSound - as a gauge. Before the end of this project I will have moved some of it to VS2005 but based on the move from VS6a to VS2003, I don't anticipate any problems. There is a caveat though; I still write absolutely pure C code; I don't use any Microsoft extensions or overloading at all. I know that if I 'succumbed' :) I could make my life easier but for the last few years I've been working on an aviation-based cross-platform product that requires pure C, so it seemed easier to carry on where I was, so to speak.I've not been anywhere near X-Plane but I know it has good reports. Maybe one day - but I won't guarantee it!-Dai

>Have you looked at using MS Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition>for compiling gauges. I know Fr. Bill has been using it.I've been using it for some now. No problems thus far. :)Cheers, :-beerchugEtienne :-wave