panels, panels, panels!!!

[captjim]

hello again fellow simmers, it's captjim once more.  so far my expierence with flightsim has been somewhat frustration.  I have, with the help of some of you, been able to download my aircraft.  however, I am still unable to get the gauges to work.  I just found the PANEL site and have downloaded some great panels.  They download onto my desktop and then I zip them into a file I call junk.  NOW the question is, how do I get the panels into the correct aircraft???? I need a very simple explaination on how to do this.  anyone care to tackel this problem????  thanks. captjim

[coppershot]

Hello sir! This is a very easy thing to do. Just go to the folder of the aircraft you would like to install the panel in. I.E your fs2002 aircraft folder, then the aircraft. Back up the existing panel, remove the existing panel out of that folder after backing up. Cut and paste the new panel to replace the old one. make certain that the gauges are compatible with fs2002 and also make certain that you are getting a panel completed with a gauge folder ect. start your sim and you should be ready to go. If you have any problems just write back.

[dave3cu]

The easiest way to explain it is to send you here....
http://www.simviation.com/paninstall.htm

Just one of many tutorials available from the 'Help' link on most Simviation download pages.

Only one suggestion I would make is, before copying or moving the new Panel folder to the appropriate aircraft folder go into the aircraft folder and rename the existing Panel folder to something like Oldpanel.

That way if you wish to restore the original panel its as simple as renaming folders.

[maskrider_01]

I tells ya what I do,

In my FS2002K Aircraft folder I have a folder named Aircraft Panels.

In addition to copies of all of the FS2K2 stock panels this folder also contains all of my favorite panels folders from add-on aircraft and separate generic add-on panels that I have downloaded.

This way instead of needing to copy entire panel folders over to the new planes or what not- I simply create a simple little aliased panel.cfg file for the new aircraft that reads:

[fltsim]
alias=Aircraft_Panels\Whatever_Panel

Where "Whatever_Panel" is the name of whatever panel folder I am aliasing to.

See this image of how the folder is set up:


I do the same with sounds, too.

This is kind of a neat way of doing thing because aliased panels never disappear when the aircraft do.

Anyway, its an idea!

Cheers,
Chris[img]URL[/img]

[Dan]

I had thought of systems similar to maskriders, but I have to say thats pretty impressive! How well does it work?
Dan

[Hagar]

Maskrider's system is an extension of the FSFS Converter folder used in FS98/CFS1/FS2000 & strangely enough FS9. It's fine if you understand the Aliasing principle.

Dave3cu's method is the easiest for a newbie to understand. IMHO

Basically the panel must be in a folder named Panel within the main folder of the aircraft that uses it. The Panel folder will contain a file named Panel.cfg + one or more BMP images. Look in the main folder of any default flyable aircraft to see how it's configured.

Included 3rd party gauges are installed by pasting them direct to the FS2002\Gauges folder. Do NOT overwrite files/folders if prompted.

[maskrider_01]

IHow well does it work?
Dan

Hi Dan

It works fine. I agree with Hagar though that it is best to learn it the "right" way before starting to cut corners and take short cuts.

I do the same thing with my CFS2 set up. A friend once sent me a wonderful collection of sounds that he had put together for WWII piston driven engines. So, that is when I started getting into the aliasing thing seriously- with the sounds- it was just too cumbersome to transfer all of those sound files into the aircraft sound folders.

Started doing it with panels shortly thereafter. Did it right away with FS2002 since good panels are so much more important in FS2002 than they are in CFS2. It works great- actually a very standard procedure.

Cheers,
Chris

[Hagar]

Glad you agree Chris. Aliasing can be very useful for saving HDD space once you get the hang of it but it's not so important now with the comparatively large hard drives fitted to the average PC. If anyone's interested in how it works check out my Aliasing article here. http://www.simviation.com/lair/aliasing1.htm

I wrote it over 5 years ago & it's one of the first tutes I had posted at SimV. It was originally intended mainly for CFS users. Although I've since updated it to cover FS it's possibly the most popular one I ever did.

[captjim]

hey guys,  I really appreciate all the comments on this problem.  I will try and make it work.  good luck to all, captjim

[maskrider_01]

... Aliasing can be very useful for saving HDD space...

Hi Hagar,

Actually, hard drive space was never an issue for me- it was more the fact that I was always adding and deleteing aircraft from my aircraft folder and losing sounds and panels that were aliased.... so, I figured why not just stick all of the panels into one folder that is totally uneffected by the comings and goings of aircraft.

Got the idea from the folks over at AeroSim. Their add ons have all plane panels and sounds aliased to centralized panel and sound folders.

Cheers,
Chris

[Hagar]

Hi Chris. We each have our own way of doing these things & this is purely my opinion. Aliasing was first introduced with FS98 & the idea is hardly new. It can be very useful & I was a big advocate of it for many years. I still use it myself when convenient. Any system has its drawbacks & aliasing can be confusing if you don't know exactly what you're doing.

That was then & this is now. Things have changed dramatically in a few short years. I find that nowadays with no worries about conserving HDD space it's generally easier & more convenient to install panels & sound to each aircraft separately. Then deleting the aircraft can't possibly cause a problem. Huge downloads of 3rd party aircraft including their own panel & sound files are very common & popular these days. I don't think too many people realise that many of these packages (that can take someone like me on dial-up hours to download) contain duplicates of files they might already have several times over. I'm not convinced they worry about it even if they do realise it.

I can't be bothered with these huge downloads myself even if it involves missing out on a superb aircraft. I often think the old system was better & modifying an aircraft yourself with separate panel & sound files, resulting in a custom-built model to your own preferences, was far more enjoyable - but that's purely my opinion. I seem to be outvoted.