:) hey thanks alot! I have some little experience in the code and modifications ect. so I'll give this a whirl and see what happens.
out of curiosity, I have some planes that have the effects for the vortex but its a on/off deal, either you see them or you don't. Is the smoke effect or whatever they use classified as a gauge??
-john
Hi
Yes and no
the gauge is a hidden controller gauge which in turn switchs on or off effects.effects can be add to an aircraft via the lights section(up to a max of 7 or

,smoke section (only 1) and there is also the effects section but these are pretty much predefined.
quickest way to work it all out

is to download one of the effects packages and have a look at the readme and the gauges included
cheers
Wozza