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Hi all, I've been trying to delve into the world of creating dynamic lights for aircraft. I know there's the FSLabs tool, but I want to make it more streamlined by making a basic light control gauge. Most other developers (FSLabs, Leonardo, PMDG, QW, etc) all reference some gauge in the panel.cfg, in the [Vcockpit] section. The gauge is also accompanied by a lua script for controlling the light, however it's usually not longer than 5 ~ 10 lines of code, usually referencing some string inside the gauge (at least thats what I see when i disassemble the gauge). However most of these gauges are in C++, and I know next to nothing when it comes to programming for P3D. I do know a small amount of C++ ( i can create a basic console application, maybe a scientific calculator or basic spreadsheet program; nothing fancy) however I've tried reading up on the P3D SDK's C++ gauge overview, and it was next to useless for me as it wasn't really pointing me in any direction.
So while I am trying to take a page out of other developers books, how would you code up a basic light gauge? I know it ties in with .FX files and .lua scripts, but that's about the extent of my knowledge. Some other developers like FlySimWare I noticed used .XML to create their lighting system. However, it's packed in (usually a cabinet file) and paired with bitmaps of the light's texture, which isn't what I intend for. I intend to maybe do a similar system of what JustFlight has on their BAe 146, a separate gauge for controlling lights. Any basic tips or tutorials will help greatly.
So while I am trying to take a page out of other developers books, how would you code up a basic light gauge? I know it ties in with .FX files and .lua scripts, but that's about the extent of my knowledge. Some other developers like FlySimWare I noticed used .XML to create their lighting system. However, it's packed in (usually a cabinet file) and paired with bitmaps of the light's texture, which isn't what I intend for. I intend to maybe do a similar system of what JustFlight has on their BAe 146, a separate gauge for controlling lights. Any basic tips or tutorials will help greatly.