Adding an Elevator Trim Indicator...

[Lysander77]

Is it possible to add an Elevator Trim Indicator - such as shows up when you click Views, Instrument Panel, and "trim display" with a DeHaviland Beaver - to an older aircraft where this does not now show up in the Views, Instrument Panel options?
Can something be copied from a .cfg file? Or is this feature governed by the FS2004 program files?
Thank you for any suggestions or insights....

[Mobius]

Usually you can see the actual position the trim wheel is in, but I don't know if that's true on all the aircraft.  Other than that, I don't know of anything else that would do that, someone might though.

By the way, this should go in the FS2004 forum next time, you would probably get better answers there.

[Fozzer]

I often add "missing" instruments to my panels...!
I do it the "long winded" way, but it works fine for me.

First I locate a suitable instrument from another Panel, and find it's Gauge in the Panel.cfg, file then copy it.

Then I paste the new Gauge details to the new aircraft Panel.cfg list of gauges, changing the gauge "number" to the next in sequence.

Next, I copy the "Instrument panel.bmp" of the "new" aircraft into Paintshop Pro.
I scroll round the panel with the mouse to locate an empty position, the note at the bottom left of the PSP screen the "X" and "Y" co-ordinates of the mouse and note them down.
Note that the mouse pointer points to the left-upper corner of the instrument's position...NOT the centre...!
( X = left to right. Y = top to bottom, of the screen)

At this stage it will have the wrong X-Y co-ordinates of the new Gauge in the Panel.cfg file...so change to first "two" numbers, xxx and yyy, to match the numbers you noted in Painshop Pro!

You will now have the following in your new aircraft Panel.cfg notepad...
beneath the last gauge in the list:
gaugeXX=whatever gauge youcopied,xxx,yyy,width,height

"Save" the Panel.cfg notepad file and select the aircraft in the Flight sim.
Note the position of your new instrument on the panel, and trim it's location, if necessary by increasing the X and Y co-ordinates slightly.
Increasing X will move it to the right, increasing Y will move it down, and vice-versa.
If the instrument is too large or too small, change the "width" and "height" size slightly. (Note: circular instruments will only have one number, eg; "diameter")..!

It involves a bit of "fiddling" around with the flight sim running and a constant swop between the Sim and the desktop by pressing the "Windows" key to modify the Panel.cfg file, but I've got used to it now, and of course the changes can be made, and observed in "real time"...!

I often add missing trim wheels, mixture controls, avionics switches, etc, even Bendix King radio stacks if there is enough room on the panel...!!

Don't forget to "SAVE" your changes in the Panel notepad file each time you make a change...!!

It's fun..trust me...!

I just wait now for someone to suggest using a complicated PANEL Design Program instead of my "simple?" little offering above...!

LOL...!

Cheers all..!

Paul The Panel Person.

[Lysander77]

Wonderful suggestions! Many thanks for the prompt and helpful responses.  Simviation members are always so knowledgeable and quick to help.  I'll have bags of fun playing with this problem....

[Fozzer]

Wonderful suggestions! Many thanks for the prompt and helpful responses.  Simviation members are always so knowledgeable and quick to help.  I'll have bags of fun playing with this problem....

Ta, Lysander... ...!

It's a lot of fiddling around, but I've got very used to it now and it works a treat for me... ... ...!

By the way, the "early" version of Paint Shop Pro 4  is now free....it's all you need for most things....google for it... ...!

Paul... ...!

[FS_Pilot]

There is an old progam around called cfgedit. it was designed to work with FS98, FS2000 & FS2002 and maybe hard to find but it is freeware and does work with some fs2004 panels.