How to build gauges?

[Ivan]

Hi folks,

I am running into a problem with not being able to find the kinds of gauges I need for a project. Is there a nice concise tutorial on how to build a gauge from scratch? The specific thing I am trying to do is build fuel selector and multi-engine gauges.

Thanks.
- Ivan.

[Ivan]

Oh, I forgot to mention, this is intended for CFS 1.

Thanks.
- Ivan.

[Willy]

Ivan, FS98 gauges would work. MAPE has a series of them for multiengined aircraft. What ya building? I could probably see what I can find that would fit.

[ddawson]

Ivan,

To compile gauges for CFS1, you will need a C compiler - there was no such thing as XML in the flight simulation world when CFS first hit the market. Also, go to flightsim.com and download sd2gau06.zip - a tutorial by Dai Griffiths. The current version is sd2gau17.zip - much more comprehensive, but targeted at FS9.
I actually have a copy of the Microsoft Panels SDK for FS98. If you are interested, send me a PM and I can mail it to you. It's about 750KB.

Doug

[Ivan]

Thanks for the quick response!

Willy:
The project I am working on is the SBD Dauntless but this should also apply to the B-25. The problem is that I need a fuel switching gauge that will handle the tank arrangement of these planes and also that I figure I should learn how to build a gauge. That is why I would rather build it. I also prefer to do all my own work on something as small as a CFS 1 aircraft or if I borrow things, they should come from stock aircraft.

DDawson:
Thanks for the offer of SDK. My email is Ivan1GFP@yahoo.com.
I currently use the GNU C Compiler on my machines at home. C programming should not be too much of an issue. I did that professionally for about 15 years or so. I used the GNU compiler to build utilities for manipulating AF99 pieces.

- Ivan.

[Moparmike]

Actually, you can use the FS2000 SDK to build gauges for CFS1. CFS1 was the first sim to use the nested "muti-gauge" format that was finally SDKed for FS2000.
Most of my early gauges like the multi-engine series were tested in CFS1 while I still had that sim loaded and they worked just fine. Some of my later gauges (that added some CFS2 and FS2002-up specific tags like external tanks) won't work in CFS1 but if you stick with the pure FS2000 gauges.h tags you'll do just fine.

Be sure to use the FS2000 gauges.h from Dai's tutorial pack. It has many corrections by Arne Bartels and others that fix many problems with the guages.h file as it comes from Microsoft.

Another reason to use the FS2000 SDK...
Your gauge's mouse click functions will work even if the panel is 3D rendered (RENDER_3D_PANEL=1 in the panel.cfg...which speeds up view switching a lot.). This means that your mouse-click equipped gauges like fuel selectors or magneto switches can be used on the main panel instead of only on a non-3D-rendered pop-up panel.

Yet another reason to use the FS2000 SDK...
It includes the tags for the CFS1-newer engine (Section 505) instead of the old Section 500 FS98 airfile engine. Some FS98 engine gauges will not work with the Section 505 engine, and some just plain read incorrectly. I do realize that a lot of CFS1 builders include the Section 500 engine for AI use, but the Section 505 has more variables, allowing for a more accurate engine simulation...and there are more gauge tags available to monitor those variables.

Just browse through my thread in here titled "Get the good stuff" to locate what you need to start building your own gauges.

Good Luck Ivan! If you have any questions feel free to post em here and we'll try to get them answered.

[Ivan]

Thanks MoparMike,

I actually use the Section 505 quite a lot in custom AIR files. It is the only way to simulate superchargers (though they be only single stage) and a WW2 fighter without a supercharger is pretty much worthless. This is going to be yet another learning experience I hope.

- Ivan.