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FSXA Black panel in VC

MEPaquette

MEPaquette

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ca-ontario
So I have looked at Milton's tutorials to create my panel.
This is where I am at:
I created a polygon just above my gauge console and named it "planar".
I have created a texture called $Klondike and applied it to my polygon "planar".
I created a .bmp file starting from the Ultra Lite bmp file and size it to fit my planar polygon size and applied it to my $Klondike texture.
Went to my panel CFG file and this is what I have for my VC entry:

[VCockpit01]
size_mm=610,275
pixel_size=610,275
texture=$Klondike
background_color=0,0,0
file=Klondike,bmp

gauge00=Aircreation_582SL!asi, 10,9,107,107

When I go to FSX, all I see on my gauge console is black square where my panel and 1 gauge should be

Where am I going wrong?

Michel E Paquette
 
Did you set the flag in the FSX Material that this "is virtual cockpit panel texture"?
Did you set the Framebuffer Blend to "Set Default Transparent"?
The $Klondike texture file doesn't exist in your aircraft's texture or panel folder. It is created by FS in memory as needed.

You don't need this either, but if you do have a file it must be 24bit, be stored in the ..\panel folder, and must use a decimal point (.) and not a comma (,) in the entry:
file=Klondike.bmp
 
Bill
I do realize that the "$Klondike" texture is not a file in FSX but a texture created in the Gmax model.
Since this is my first initiation at creating a "texture" I was expecting part of my problem to be in there.
I have gone back into my texture setup and found the "aircraft Material params" and checked the "is virtual cockpit panel texture" on, and found the "Frame Buffer Blend" and set to default transparent.transparent.

I have checked my Klondike.bmp file in my panel folder, and it is 24 bit. I have also corrected my typo in my panel.cfg file to read; file=Klondike.bmp.

I no longer see a black square, But I still don't see the gauge, that I have listed, or the BMP background.

Shawn, I don't see were I can set "power of 2" in texture setup

Michel
 
"Power of 2" pertains to the dimensions, set in the .cfg file. Each side distance must be a power of two...256,512,1024,2048. 610, 275 won't work.
 
Thank you
I just checked a few different planes and they do fallow that rule. But this is not explained in the SDK "Panel configuration" literature. I am assuming this only applies to VC windows, and not the other windows (windowXX).

I just tried changing widow size to either 256,256 or 512,512, and still don't see my gage.

Michel
 
No, the $Klondike texture you use in GMAX must be 1024 x 1024 pixels, etc. A power of 2. It does not have to be square, though. 1024 x 512 is fine.
 
Tom
I have gone to check my texture setup and I can't see what you are talking about, unless the texture file has to have a BMP file associated with in under the "detail map" entry under the "other texture information"
To get a clearer picture of where my problem might be, I am attaching a picture of what my texture file is at the present.

Texture-Screen-1.jpg

Texture-Screen-2.jpg


While writing this post, I went back and added a 512x256 size BMP file and it still does not show up in FSX

On a positive note off this subject, I successfully added animation for my steering wheel and rudder.

Michel
 
I copied it into my "Klondike" panel folder
Click to expand...
Perfect. So many times I find a missing gauge is caused by some kind of dumb typo or wrongly addressed location.
You might try adding visible=1 to the panel.cfg before gauge00
Roy
 
N2056
I gather that clicking this icon to "on", I should see my BMP file in that viewport above the texture name. Well!!! NO GO.

Michel
 
The material name does not need to have $ at the start. The texture (that has not been assigned yet) does. That is why you see nothing in that viewport. The SDK has a specific section in it that tells you how exactly how to set up a VC material. Have you read that yet?
 
I have been looking at the "SDK Overview" for any titles that might point me to VC material set up and I can't find anything.
I have looked at "FSX Materials" and could not see anything on VC material. I have looked under "Panel Configuration file" and can't find anything there also. If you could point me to the title of the of the section on VC material, I will gladly read it.
Up to know, the only place I found information on VC setup in in Milton's tutorials. And it does no go in detail as to how to set up the "texture" part.

Michel

PS:
I have just found a section entitles"Virtual Cockpit Specific Material" in the "New Aircraft Procedure". But it does not look like there is much to read,
that I need. Except for 4 "check the NO BASE MATERIAL SPECULAR part", witch I am going to try, but I am not holding my breath.
 
Last edited:
Here's the path. It's worth your time to go through the SDK to at least get a feel for what info is where. You will be needing to use it a lot to get that boat "shipshape". Don't get me wrong...it looks pretty good so far!

guide.jpg
 
N2056
I apologize if I seemed a bit rude earlier, but I was rushing trying to get a response out while in the middle of something else.
I have been going thru the SDK for quite a few things, and sometimes it seems to be written for the more experience modeler, not the first timers like me. Also, the screen shots shown do not look always look the same as what I have. For example, for material editor, I have one pop up titled "Gmax Material Navigator" which list all materials for my project(at the moment just 1) then another pop up fro the actual material editor. sometime=mes I can still follow
As for my problem at the moment, looking back at "VC Exercise 4" in "Miltons tutorials", it look like he is naming the "scene material" with a $. But I now look at the gauge section you pointed out, the $ is on another file in the "maps" section. This is confusing me.
This brings me to my next question; were do I find .psd files? the screen shots show a whole bunch of materials, which are mapped to the DC3, with a .psd extension. what are these files and where can I find them.
Since I started my project from nothing, my material editor is empty.

I am going to be looking thru the SDK to see if I can find any proper definition for "material" versus "Texture". But I have a feeling it will be hard to find

Michel
 
Those files are specific to the example model included in the SDK and do not get used by you for your project. It will help to understand that a "material" is applied to a given part, and is made up of at least one (sometimes several) texture(s). It also holds any special settings that could control many things. If you look the FSX Materials section of the SDK you will be able to see many examples of what can be done. What you need to do for your project is to take the texture you made, and ensure it is named with $ as the leading character. For simplicity's sake make it a .jpg file. Then you need to go into the material editor and click the circled button...

editor.jpg


You will have a window pop up. Select Bitmap.

editor2.jpg


At that point you will get a window where you will find and select the desired file ($Klondike.jpg).

After you get all that done see what you have in the sim and let us know how it looks.
 
It's also completely true the SDK is written for those who already know what they're doing... which keeps this forum busy.
 
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