Three questions about panels/cockpits in FSX

[brettt777]

How do you get rid of that stupid black band across the bottom of the screen that you get with some A/C?

Why does every F-16 I can find for FSX have none transparent canopies from the inside in VC? (except for a small area right in front where the HUD should be)

In a panel.cfg file, what determines where the various windows are positioned, i.e. window 1 is for the left MFD, window 2 is for the right MFD, etc. and then the gauge or HUD is positoned somewhere in that window according to the numbers after the gauge file. But what tells the window where to be?

[dhazelgrove]

1. Edit the panel.cfg in Notepad. At the bottom, you'll find this section:

[Default View]
X=0
Y=0
SIZE_X=8191
SIZE_Y=xxxx

Make sure that the SIZE_Y value is set to "6143".

2. Known issue with SP2/Accel. I've seen an explanation over at Iris, but have yet to see a cure.

3. Windows in a panel are positioned relative to the screen origin, which is set as the top left of your screen. The top left of the window is the origin, and individual gauges are then positioned in terms of X and Y axes from there. It's always the top left of the item (window or gauge) that's positioned.
You'll have seen that there are four numbers involved: The first is the X position relative to the window origin. The second is the Y position. The tird and fourth are the size of the item.
All numbers are in pixels.
Windows can also be positioned by screen percentage (so far across, so far down).

Hope this helps.

Dave

[brettt777]

1. Edit the panel.cfg in Notepad. At the bottom, you'll find this section:

[Default View]
X=0
Y=0
SIZE_X=8191
SIZE_Y=xxxx

Make sure that the SIZE_Y value is set to "6143".

2. Known issue with SP2/Accel. I've seen an explanation over at Iris, but have yet to see a cure.

3. Windows in a panel are positioned relative to the screen origin, which is set as the top left of your screen. The top left of the window is the origin, and individual gauges are then positioned in terms of X and Y axes from there. It's always the top left of the item (window or gauge) that's positioned.
You'll have seen that there are four numbers involved: The first is the X position relative to the window origin. The second is the Y position. The tird and fourth are the size of the item.
All numbers are in pixels.
Windows can also be positioned by screen percentage (so far across, so far down).

Hope this helps.

Dave

Well I found a different solution for the black band issue but I will keep yours in mind too.
I also seem to remember a texture file available somewhere that replaces the canopy glass texture and fixes that problem. Funny that it's only the F-16 that does it and it's any F-16 that I install.
On the position issue I am wondering about the window position (window00, window01, etc.) I know how the gauge file positions work. I have played with those many times. What I am wondering is what tells the actual window where to be.

[Milton Shupe]

The Position statement dictates where the window will be.

The SDK says this:

Specifies the relative position of a panel window to the main window. For example:
position = 7
A number from 0 to 8 (as shown below) designates the position of the panel window. If nothing is specified, 7 is the default.

0 = upper-left corner
1 = upper-middle side
2 = upper-right corner
3 = middle-left side
4 = middle
5 = middle-right side
6 = lower-left corner
7 = lower-middle side
8 = lower-right corner

[n4gix]

Alternatively, you can also use window_size= and window_pos= to override the position= entry.


Background_color=0,0,0
size_mm=430,400
window_size_ratio=1.000
position=0
visible=0
ident=80
window_size= 0.290, 0.409
window_pos= 0.710, 0.640

BTW, these number are actually mm not pixels, but that's really a distinction without a difference in practical terms, as long as window_size_ratio= remains at 1.000. FS will make the necessary translation from mm-to-pix as necessary when (re)scaling the values for the actual monitor's resolution.