Alphasim Lightning FSX upgrade

[sammach]

I am a complete novice but i would love to upgrade my Alphasim Lightnings, I would appreciate any help and suggestions to point me to tutorials on extracting the Cab files to get the Gauges to work.
I have all the F1 lightnings and the Trainers showing fine, I am haveing trouble with the F2, F3 and F6 texture convertion.
As for the Cab file extracton for all gauges three options are given, the easiest for me would be to put the cab files in the panel folders and create a directory, then amend the panel cfg, i am not sure how to do this, I would appreciate any advice.

[CheckSix]

Yeah I am getting into a right mucking fuddle with this too. Haven't managed to get it working at all, my apologies in advance, for my following statement, to those who spent their time & efforts to make the upgrades but the instructions are far from straight forward to a novice or old timer like myself.

Any help would be gratefully received.

[sammach]

3939439395

The story so far, I have the F1s i have all Gauges but all gauges are not working, same with all trainers, the upgrade readme also said that patience is also required, I am willing to give this challenge my full attention, but as I said before any advice would be welcome.
How far have you got Checksix !
I dont, suppose we are the only ones haveing trouble

[CavOk]

Yep same here. What we need is a simple upgrade in the form of modified folders that we can easily substitute. So far no luck and the thread is now so long and complex I've lost sight of what I'm trying to achieve.

[IanHenry]

Yep same here. What we need is a simple upgrade in the form of modified folders that we can easily substitute. So far no luck and the thread is now so long and complex I've lost sight of what I'm trying to achieve.

Yes, I agree, an idiots guide would be much appreciated!<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
Ian. <o:p></o:p>
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[sammach]

3940039401

Join the club gents, 4 of us so far there must be more, there are some very clever people on this forum but there must be more than 4 wrestling with this upgrade, the frustrating thing is that I am nearly there the shots show my T5 and I am doing an ILS landing in the F1, great models , I really would like to get my head round upgrade.
I have tried to follow the thread on EE lightnings confusing, at the begining one of the members sends a zip file of the Panel cfg, I have downloaded the file and my system will not open it as it is corrupt, the sender then posts that the file should be renamed to panel cfg removing the zip, for the life of me I cannot rename this file, does anyone know what is going on.
I would be very grateful to receive any comments.

[Lateral-G]

This is one of the reasons why I'm holding off on buying the AS Lightning. I would buy it if there was a concise "idiot's guide to make the AS Lightning work in FSX" published somewhere or at least an all inclusive download pack.

[WhiskeyEcho]

Try this

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?39889-EE-Lightning&highlight=lightning

[sammach]

Done that, been there, the thread of the topic is so long and confusing, it is no help,again I ask the question in answer to the instruction on one of the threads, how do you change the name on a ZIP file ?

[SkippyBing]

Done that, been there, the thread of the topic is so long and confusing, it is no help,again I ask the question in answer to the instruction on one of the threads, how do you change the name on a ZIP file ?

Right click -> Rename normally does it for me.

[sammach]

Thanks for your reply, I agree, however in the case in question, the file is invalid when you try to open it , the senders fix for this is to change the file to panel.cfg wereas when he sent the file it was called panel.cfg zip his comments were, " just remove the zip and it will be fine "
I will try to get a message to the Forum Member in question

[Rich]

Rename to panel.cfg by deleting .zip the icon should change and you have a panel.cfg which can be opened and edited with notepad.

It is not a zip file which is why it says it is corrupt, .zip is a extension acceptable for upload here, it could have been .txt or one of the other acceptable extensions

[sammach]

Thanks Rich, I have it, I learn something every day computers and Flightsim, facinating for an old guy like myself, thank you for your time and interest I will give the cfg. file a try later today i have to tear myself away from the PC and get on with other things.
I will update, for anyone interested

[Rich]

You are 3 years younger than me.

[sammach]

yes, I did notice, I was 3 years younger, I am however a late developer in Fltsim and PC's haveing been mechanical all my life and only owning a PC since I retired.

By the way, that panel.cfg did not work on my models, thanks for the short tutorial, now I know.

back to the drawing board

[paulb]

I am a complete novice but i would love to upgrade my Alphasim Lightnings, I would appreciate any help and suggestions to point me to tutorials on extracting the Cab files to get the Gauges to work.
I have all the F1 lightnings and the Trainers showing fine, I am haveing trouble with the F2, F3 and F6 texture convertion.
As for the Cab file extracton for all gauges three options are given, the easiest for me would be to put the cab files in the panel folders and create a directory, then amend the panel cfg, i am not sure how to do this, I would appreciate any advice.

Hi sammach,

I have just read this thread.

First of all - we should all hugely applaud Henk and Chris for taking the time, effort and great skills to show how the 'old' Lightning might be put into FSX.:applause:

Anyway, if you can let me know which Lightning pack you are having a problem with - and exactly what problem you are having, then I will try to help you.

Cheers

Paul

[sammach]

39589
Hi Paul thanks for contacting me, I have been trying to find out what exactly I have done to cause a no show on 4 Gauges. Originally I had all gauges showing all gauges showing this is on all F1's, this after I unpacked EELightning(3).Cab, to a folder named EELightning(3)then replaced EElightning (3).Cab with the unzipped folder. Then I copied the contents of the portoverkit cabfolderto the EELightning(3) folder, overwrite files.
I then placed the EELighning folder into the FSX Gauges folder.
I used WinRAR to open the cab files.
I have had my FS9 Alphasim Lightning download for some timebut as shown in previous posts I had a full show on all gauges.
I agree with you about the authors of this upgrade, I thank them for giving me the opportunity to have these superb models on my sim. if it has seemed that I have whinging at these people I apologise and assure you this was not my attention by raising the topic. I have found the thread EELightnings and am in the process of trying to take in all this information and fixes that have been posted. this is the biggest task I have attemped since I became hooked on fltsim. I would be very grateful to any suggestions and pointers to any fixes.
In the list requirements for this upgrade and I agree with author the most important is patience.
By the way I have a full show of all gauges on theTrainers

[wpthayer]

Is the original Alphasim Lighting still available anywhere? I would like to get this bird in my FSX. Thanks

[sammach]

Alphasim Lightning is now sold by Virtavia, can be purchased from the Pilot Shop on the Flight Sim site . That si the FS9 Lighning that you need for the FSX upgrade

[paulb]

39589
Hi Paul thanks for contacting me, I have been trying to find out what exactly I have done to cause a no show on 4 Gauges. Originally I had all gauges showing all gauges showing this is on all F1's, this after I unpacked EELightning(3).Cab, to a folder named EELightning(3)then replaced EElightning (3).Cab with the unzipped folder. Then I copied the contents of the portoverkit cabfolderto the EELightning(3) folder, overwrite files.
I then placed the EELighning folder into the FSX Gauges folder.
I used WinRAR to open the cab files.
I have had my FS9 Alphasim Lightning download for some timebut as shown in previous posts I had a full show on all gauges.
I agree with you about the authors of this upgrade, I thank them for giving me the opportunity to have these superb models on my sim. if it has seemed that I have whinging at these people I apologise and assure you this was not my attention by raising the topic. I have found the thread EELightnings and am in the process of trying to take in all this information and fixes that have been posted. this is the biggest task I have attemped since I became hooked on fltsim. I would be very grateful to any suggestions and pointers to any fixes.
In the list requirements for this upgrade and I agree with author the most important is patience.
By the way I have a full show of all gauges on theTrainers

No problem. I will have a look at this tomorrow for you.

Cheers

Paul

[usafvet]

I have basically got everything working except for the F.1 model, it won't show. I converted the .mdl file as stated but model is still a no-show. Any suggestions?

[paulb]

No problem. I will have a look at this tomorrow for you.

Cheers

Paul

OK, I have had a quick look.

I assume that you put Pack 1 into FSX and then used the Lightning Pack 1 FSX update - overwriting all files?

If so, then I assume that the F1 and the F1A are OK, but the panel issue is with the F2?

Can you confirm please before I look further.

Cheers

Paul

[sammach]

You wrote.

I assume that you put Pack 1 into FSX and then used the Lightning Pack 1 FSX update - overwriting all files?

yes, correct but the guage no show is on all models F1, F1A and F2, all textures and effects are OK

The trainers no problem

[paulb]

You wrote.

I assume that you put Pack 1 into FSX and then used the Lightning Pack 1 FSX update - overwriting all files?

yes, correct but the guage no show is on all models F1, F1A and F2, all textures and effects are OK

The trainers no problem

Hmmm................... I tried a fresh reinstall. The gauges were fine on the F1 and F1A for me, but a few were missing (as you suggested?) on the F2.

I don't really know why you are seeing something different. I am not sure what to suggest now. I assume that you have both pack 1 and pack 3 gauges (cab files) in your FSX gauges folder?

[sammach]

39685

:applause:
Done it! Many thanks Paul, I left out the Pack 1 Gauge cab. file, originally I had them in the gauges folder, thats why they all showed before, for some reaon don't ask why I removed them, I misunderstood the instructions.
Please anyone reading this for the first time, both Pack 1 and Pack 3 cab.files must be fitted to get a full show of Gauges on the F1's and Trainers. I also have a full show on the F2.
Thank you Paul for your time interest and above all patience I will now start doing afew queaks and check through the EELightning thread.
Can I ask one more question, Paul can you suggest an Image converter or whatever to convert the F3 and F6 textures
And again many thanks

[rcbarend]

Hi,

Although not specific for this addon, maybe the following helps in understanding how FSX deals with gauges.
This is just generic info, since (IHMO) "An idiots guide to ...." is never the solution.
Because even the slightest copy/paste/typing error leaves you scratching your head because it doesn't work, while you don't have a clue why.
So my suggestion is always to invest some time in grasping "how it works"; sounds complex, but once you get the hang of it, a next time you'll know ...:icon_lol:

Here it goes ... (info I posted a few times before)...

************************************************

23. About gauges in FSX: types, versions, locations, etc...
================================================== =========
Since there are many questions on gauge types, where to install a gauge, how to deal with gauge versions, etc. here's an explanation.
First of all, the word is spelled "gauge", not "guage" :-)
A very commonly made mistake, causing FSX not to recognise a gauge definition in the panel.cfg file...
Types of gauges
===============
FSX uses two types of gauges: "C/C++"-compiled gauges (.gau or .dll files) and XML-interpreted gauges (.xml files).

- .gau/.dll files may contain several sub-gauges, and also includes the bitmaps for these gauges.

- .xml files are pure text files using XML-syntax (interpreted by FSX) which refer to external bitmap (.bmp) files.
Multiple .xml gauges plus their bitmaps can be bundled into one .cab file by a MS-tool called Cabdir.exe.
Note that Winzip can extract files from a .cab file, but NOT pack them into a .cab file.

Examples (see the panel.cfg of the default FSX Boeing 737-800)
--------
gauge00=B737_800!pfd_screen, 189,548
This line refers to the gauge pfd_screen.xml in file B737_800.cab in folder 'FSX'/SimObjects/Airplanes/B737_800/Panel/

gauge00=737-400!Comm 1, 0,159, 68
This line refers to the sub-gauge "Comm 1" in file 737_400.dll in folder 'FSX'/Gauges/


Location of gauge files
=======================
If you specify in the panel.cfg

gauge00=aaa!bbb, ......

With this definition line, FSX tries to find the gauge in the following order of priority.
1. Gauge bbb.xml in folder "FSX"/SimObjects/Airplanes/"youraircraft"/panel/aaa/
2. Gauge bbb.xml inside a file aaa.cab in folder "FSX"/SimObjects/Airplanes/"youraircraft"/panel/
3. Sub-gauge bbb inside a file aaa.gau in folder "FSX"/SimObjects/Airplanes/"youraircraft"/panel/
4. Sub-gauge bbb inside a file aaa.dll in folder "FSX"/SimObjects/Airplanes/"youraircraft"/panel/
5. Gauge bbb.xml in folder "FSX"/Gauges/aaa/
6. Gauge bbb.xml inside a file aaa.cab in folder "FSX"/Gauges/aaa/
7. Sub-gauge bbb inside a file aaa.gau in folder "FSX"/Gauges/
8. Sub-gauge bbb inside a file aaa.dll in folder "FSX"/Gauges/

A few notes
===========
1. As you can see, with the same panel.cfg definition, you can choose to place your gaugefile either in the main ..\gauges\ or local panel folder.
Avantage of ../gauges/:
- Only one, shared gauge file (saves diskspace)
- Installing a newer version of the gauge, you only have to overwrite one file for all panels using it.
Advantages of the local panel folder:
- Allows for multiple versions of a gauge.
- You never (accidentally) overwrite a gauge with an older version.
- Easy maintenance if you decide to remove a plane with it's panel: you simply delete the whole .../"youraircraft"/ folder (and panel subfolder) without leaving (potentially unused gauges) in the ..\gauges folder; or accidentally delete a gauge that is still used by another aircraft panel.
- Faster loading of the panel, because of the seach order and the size of the gauge folders. Allthough you probably won't notice a difference, unless your main gauges folder contains 10000's of gauges.

So you can decide yourself which "strategy" best suites you.

2. For XML gauges, you can decided to unpack the .cab file (e.g. using WinZip) into a subfolder with the same name as the .cab filename.
Adavantage:
- Easy change/replacement of a single .xml or .bmp file, without bundling/replacing the whole .cab file.
- Much faster loading of the panel with very large .cab files (because the file needs not to be unpacked first)

And these are only the main options and advantages :-)
To name three other possibilities:

1. You can put gauge files into a subfolder of .../gauges/.
E.g.
gauge** = foldername/filename!gaugename, ..,..
when the gauge file is placed in folder ..../gauges/foldername/
Not very usefull given the other options, especially since if it's wasn't setup this way by the designer, you have to modify all gauge definitions in the panel.cfg.

2. Use panel aliasses, i.e. a common panel folder (with gauges) for more aircraft (or aircraft models).
The panel.cfg only needs to contain the line "alias=......", where ..... specifies the path of the actual panel folder (which can be anywhere in the FS tree)

3. Modify the bitmap of an xml gauge for a specific panel.
Suppose you want to adapt the bitmap of an XML gauge in a .cab file, for one specific panel.
What you do: Extract the .bmp file from the filename.cab file, eg. with Winzip, to folder "FSX"/SimObjects/Airplanes/"youraircraft"/panel/filename/ and modify it.
Now this particular panel will use the modified bitmap and NOT the bitmap from the .cab file.

**********************************

Hope this clarifies a few things.

:ernae: Rob

[paulb]

:applause:
Can I ask one more question, Paul can you suggest an Image converter or whatever to convert the F3 and F6 textures
And again many thanks

Good to hear that it is working for you now.

For textures I use two programmes - Paint Shop Pro 7 and Martin Wright's DXTbmp. DXTbmp is a good texture conversion programme.

Cheers

Paul

[sammach]

Many thanks for your info. Paul and Rob, it is appreciated, I will print out the info on gauges as reference, whenever I have to change any thing eg, F2a,F3 and F6.

I have Photoshop Elements I will check , now I am resonabley sure I know what I am doing, I will also invetigate the Martin Wright programme, no rush, patience, patience, patience, at the end of all this I will be a wiser man.

I have a problem, I have a 64 bit PC, Windows 7 FSX Acceleration , the F1's in VC cockpit on the front windscreen you cannot see through, the side views are fine, I believe there is a reference to a Tutorial In the SOH Library I did read it but did not understand what the readme was refering to, now I think I do, I will not bother you blokes again unless I am totally baffled, but I will post pictures in Triumph when I complete all the models, All my 32bit PC's I have three, all with FSX so far so good

[paulb]

Many thanks for your info. Paul and Rob, it is appreciated, I will print out the info on gauges as reference, whenever I have to change any thing eg, F2a,F3 and F6.

I have Photoshop Elements I will check , now I am resonabley sure I know what I am doing, I will also invetigate the Martin Wright programme, no rush, patience, patience, patience, at the end of all this I will be a wiser man.

I have a problem, I have a 64 bit PC, Windows 7 FSX Acceleration , the F1's in VC cockpit on the front windscreen you cannot see through, the side views are fine, I believe there is a reference to a Tutorial In the SOH Library I did read it but did not understand what the readme was refering to, now I think I do, I will not bother you blokes again unless I am totally baffled, but I will post pictures in Triumph when I complete all the models, All my 32bit PC's I have three, all with FSX so far so good

Just to let you know that W7 64 bit FSX Acceleration should not make any difference. I have that set up. No problems with the F1's in VC view.

[Josh Patterson]

I finally got this conversion to work. Here are the steps on how I did it.
1) Find, purchase and download the FS9 version of the Lightning. It is now bundled so F.1 through F.6 and the T.4 and T.5 are included. (Got mine from PCAviator.com.au. Seems to be the only store that still has it.
2) Use the installer as normal, but direct it to your FSX file. (Mine is in programs(86)/Microsoft Games/Microsoft FSX.) The models won't install in your FSX "Airplanes" folder. A new one called "Aircraft" will be in the root folder.
3)Download the three FSX fix packs from here. To keep it organized for myself, I put them in three folders on my desktop.
4)To do the conversion (let's use the "ALPHA EE Lightning F1_F1A_F2" from the first file as an example) open up the "aircraft" folder from you root directory and move the window off to the side. Open the pack one folder and find the file "ALPHA EE Lightning F1_F1A_F2" and open it. Copy the contents of this folder into the "Virtavia EE Lightning F1_F1A_F2" file in the "aircraft" folder in your root file that you moved off to the side. If it asks to overwrite, say yes.
5)Do the same thing with the F2A, F3 and F6 files from pack two. When you get to the CAB folder, copy the 640, 1024 folders and all the gauges into your "Gauges" folder in your FSX root directory.
6)Pack three is different. The T.5 folder is hidden in the T.5 Civilian file. That is where you will put the "ALPHA EE Lightning_T5" folder contents. Otherwise it's just copy, paste and overwrite like all the other files. Once again copy the contents of the CAB file into your gauges folder.
7)Once everything is set up, move the contents of the "Aircraft" folder to your FSX "Airplanes" folder. (Don't forget to pull the T.5 file out of the T.5_Civilian file and place it with the other planes.) To find the planes in your menu, the F.1 though T.4 and the T.55 are under "English Electric". The T.5s are under "Alpha" and the single T.5_Civilian is under "Virtavia". Hope this helps. I will also be doing an install on YouTube so others can follow along. (Wish I had a tutorial, as this took me a few tries to work it out!)

[Josh Patterson]

Just like to add a huge thank you to those who took the time to convert these files. I basically just wanted a T-bird to go with my Areosoft and JF Lightnings. Now I even have a 74 sq F.1 in the stable! That said, the T.4 is the better looking of the two T-birds. The AB effect looks amazing and the cockpit is nicer. (The T.5 has some gaps in the panel which will go opaque if you switch a light on.) Now if I can just find (or make) a texture for XS422!!!!