VC Mystery

[KellyB]

Just installed a Lockheed Electra L10e and when I toggle between the 2D and VC panels, I see what looks like a VC with no gauges.

In the Panel.cfg, there is no specification for a Vcockpit whatsoever, so how is it one seems to appear???
I thought they had to be defined by the panel.cfg.

[Willy]

The panel.cfg defines where the gauges are located on both the 2d and in the VC.

[Milton Shupe]

Just installed a Lockheed Electra L10e and when I toggle between the 2D and VC panels, I see what looks like a VC with no gauges.

In the Panel.cfg, there is no specification for a Vcockpit whatsoever, so how is it one seems to appear???
I thought they had to be defined by the panel.cfg.

The exterior and interior (VC) models are of course designed as part of the model file.

It is possible that the interior model was created to simply provide wing views, etc. and not a VC.

I can usually identify whether the VC has been textured if I have the model file.

From where can I download this?

[KellyB]

The file is called l10eae01.zip and I got it from here:

http://www.fsdownload.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1497

Thanks for taking this trouble, Milton.

[Milton Shupe]

Well, exciting news! The model contains all the elements necessary for a VC. I have identified most of the components to construct the panels and gauges.

There will be 4 vcockpit sections. I'll try to get them constructed tonight to at least get gauges to show. The 3 planars on which the gauges display do cover the width of the VC panel but there are gaps. There is also an overhead panel.

I will will try to get it working and then maybe someone can come up with a better panel background to clean it up.

No promises, but we shall see.

EDIT: Okay, I have the panel background showing behind the 3 planars.

It is obvious that this background does not match the 2D panel. Maybe it was borrowed from another aircraft?

The gauges from the 2D side will not work with the shadowed areas of this background. The best I could do is maybe cover all the shaded areas and use the 2D panel gauges.

Otherwise, now that all that is needed is to plug in gauges and maybe redo the panel background.

The gauges do work here as you can see in the left hand corner.

Shall I proceed or would someone like to take it on now that I have the vcockpit sections set up?

[Hurricane91]

The l10eae01.zip is a customized version of Amelia Erhart's Electra based on the original L-10 by Arik Hohmeyer. It did not contain a VC, but
an update followed the initial release and can be found here...

http://library.avsim.net/search.php?SearchTerm=Virtual+Cockpit+For+Amelia+E arhart+Lockheed+L10E+Electra+&CatID=root&Go=Search

I also had some difficulty getting this all together when I first tried to install the aircraft.

[Milton Shupe]

Thanks; that works a treat!

[Hurricane91]

Thanks; that works a treat!

Now I am interested in how you got the original FSDB panel to work in
the Erhart L10E, time permitting of course. :o)

68342

[Milton Shupe]

I looked at the .mdl file and determined that the VC panels were in fact textured for gauges ($textures listed for gauge placement for 5 panels) and with those texture names, was able to ascertain the panel background name, the texture used for the 3 main panel planars and the overhead, and the overhead bmp name.

The panel background texture was in the texture folder.

Then it was just a matter of setting up the vcockpitnn sections, and test.

I thought at that point that the aircraft was all setup for a VC just not completed.
So, I am not surprised that you id'd the upgrade.

And, BTW, the panel bmp for the vc looks just like what you attached.

[KellyB]

Wow! What a response! Thank you.

However... When I downloaded the vc from AVSIM and installed it, I got an error saying it couldn't create an output file for a texture file called FSDB_LE_VC_overheadpanell.bmp, and this is what the vc looks like.
Something's amok, I'd say, but what?

68368

[Milton Shupe]

Wow! What a response! Thank you.

However... When I downloaded the vc from AVSIM and installed it, I got an error saying it couldn't create an output file for a texture file called FSDB_LE_VC_overheadpanell.bmp, and this is what the vc looks like.
Something's amok, I'd say, but what?

68368

Looks like none of the textures loaded. Try unzipping to a temp folder, or installing to a temp folder.

Then just copy the folder contents to their respective counterparts in your aircraft folders.

[KellyB]

Yep, that was it. Of course, by the time I tried that, I had mucked it up so as to require a re-install of the whole aircraft.

BUT IT WORKS!!

Thanks to all who helped. This is truly the best tech support bar none!

@Milton: Is there a "VCockpits for dummies" anywhere that would get me started mucking about with this? I can sort of do stuff with FSPanel Studio, but VC's are a real mystery. Following your thought on this one, I get to believing I see a glimmer of light into the fundamentals of how it works. I'm probably wrong, but even us old folks can learn new stuff, contrary to popular opninion.

I am always in awe of your work and that of others who make this all possible for folks like me.

[Milton Shupe]

You can use FS Panel Studio for VC panels. Just create another panel.cfg for each vcockpitnn section.
Name the new panel.cfgs like panelvc01.cfg, panelvc02.cfg, etc.

You will need the basic panel.cfg requirements, borrowing some things from window00 and the rest from the vcockpitnn section.

[Window Titles]
Window00=Main Panel



[Window00] -------------------------------from window00
file=vc01.bmp ----------------------------from vcockpitnn
Background_color=0,0,0 -----------------from vcockpitnn
size_mm=1024,1024 ---------------------from vcockpitnn
pixel_size=1024,1024 -------------------from vcockpitnn
texture=$VC01 ----------------------------from vcockpitnn
window_size_ratio=1.000 --------------from window00
position=7 ---------------------------------from window00
visible=1------------------------------------from window00
ident=0 ------------------------------------from window00
window_size= 1.000, 1.000 -------------from window00
window_pos= 0.000, 0.000 --------------from window00

---Add Gauges Here---
[Color]
Day=255,255,255
Night=30,15,5
Luminous=163,125,101
[Default View]
X=0
Y=0
SIZE_X=8191
SIZE_Y=6143

If you setup one of the above for each vcockpitnn section, changing the "file=" and the "texture=" parameters to add the appropriate bmp names for each one, you can open these panel.cfgs in FS Panel Studio and place your gauges. Of course, you may have to change the size_mm= to agree with the bmp sizes.

[KellyB]

Thanks, Milton.

But doesn't this leave me with multiple panel.cfg's?
Or do I import them into the main Panel.cfg under the Vcockpitnn headings?

[Milton Shupe]

Thanks, Milton.

But doesn't this leave me with multiple panel.cfg's?
Or do I import them into the main Panel.cfg under the Vcockpitnn headings?

Yes, after using FS Panel Studio, simply copy only the gauge entries to the main panel cfg in the appropriate vcockpit section.

Leaving the old panelvc01/02/03.cfg's in place causes no harm.

[KellyB]

Ok, I'll give it a whirl. What can go rongg?

Thanks, Milton.

[Hurricane91]

I looked at the .mdl file...

Milton, thank you for the lessons. I like both of these Electras. The original
gauges are very nice but some of the flight instruments are difficult to read
because of the control column. I intended to re-paint the original panel at
some point, and re-arrange the gauges. It did not occur to me that a simple
swap between the two texture folders would do the trick.

Also, did you notice anything in regards to the VC glass in the .mdl file? The
Erhart Electra has clear glass while the original FSDB Electra has an overly
tinted glass in my opinion. Removing the "FSDB_LE_glas" bmp in the texture
folder does not affect the "tint".

[Milton Shupe]

In the updated version that you posted, I have no tinted glass.

BTW, if you are interested, I tweaked the contact points to get the tires out of the tarmac, and tweaked the eyepoint to over the seat.

For both the Sperry and modern versions aircraft.cfgs:

point.0 = 1, -26.35, 0, -2.200, 1200, 0, 0.708, 40, 0.545, 2.5, 0.545, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
point.1 = 1, 1.65, -7, -8.50, 1600, 1, 1.467, 0, 0.686, 2.5, 0.686, 10, 11, 2, 132, 206
point.2 = 1, 1.65, 7, -8.50, 1600, 2, 1.467, 0, 0.686, 2.5, 0.686, 12, 10, 3, 132, 206


eyepoint=3.6, -1.3, 2

[Hurricane91]

Thank you Milton, I"ll check those out.