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FSXA Black panel in VC

OK folks, partial success
I renamed my panel background $Klondike.jpeg, and my material VCPanel.
Then, mapped the $Klondike as instructed above in my VCPanel material.

I can now see my gauges, but I can/t see the jpeg background.
I have tried keeping background file as .bmp and changing to .jpeg, and also moving either files to panel folder or texture folder.
I just can't see my background. at present I am not concern as the background is not the proper one, but when I do get the right picture I would like to see it.

I gather there is a difference between Gmax for FS 2004 and FSX. Maybe this is why I could not use "Milton's Tutorial" for my VC Panel material setup.

Thank you for your help. Any further suggestion to get my Jpeg to show up would be appreciated. I have tried the visible=1 and visible =0.
Maybe I am just missing the right combination between the panel.cfg, the jpeg file and model parameters.

Michel
 
If you want the texture used as a VC gauge background to show up without using a separate texture for the modeled panel, you must specify the texture name in the panel.cfg file, it must not start with $, it must be placed into the panel folder,and it must be in 24 bit format.

An excerpt from Bill's VC tutorial:

NOTE: If you decide to place the VC bitmaps in the \panel folder, they MUST be
24-bit format! The panel system will not load compressed images.

[Vcockpit01]
//-------------------------------------------------------[Vcockpit01]
file=pan1.bmp <<<<<<<<<<< this is the texture file that creates the panel background.
Background_color=0,0,0
size_mm=1024,1024
visible=1
pixel_size=1024,1024s
texture=$pan1
 
Thank you Tom
My background now appears behind my gauges. They don't match at the present, but at least I can see it.
One thing still puzzles me.
I need one file with a $xxx.jpeg(or .psd or .dds) and one file just xxx.bmp.
the xxx.bmp has the background for the panel.
What actually needs to me on the $xxx.jpeg?
From looking at the SDK under the "gauges" I am thinking right now that the $xxx.jpeg (or PSD or DDS) would actually contain the pictures of all the gauges I intend to use for my panel. Am I close? If so, would these be found under the "gauges" directory or Cab file from whichever plane gauge I want to copy?

Michel
 
Michel, you only need a "real" $pan.jpg in the modeling program, and that is only so there is a file name to put in the Diffuse Color slot of the Material!

You do not need a "real" $pan.xxx texture in the aircraft's ..\panel folder, because the $ prefix tells FS to create a "memory texture..."
 
Bill
When you say "real" $pan.jpeg are you saying the file must exist, but it can be in the Gmax directory same as the model?

At present i have created a new blank $Klondike.jpeg in the same directory as my Gmax file and everything works fine.
But with only that file, my gauges are on a plain background as shown on the upper panel shown below.
Once I add the Klondike.bmp in my panel directory and in the panel.cfg, then I get a panel background as shown in the lower panel.
(work in progress, just testing to make sure I can see a background picture behind my gauges)

Panel.jpg


Now I am getting another problem. The gauges that I am using are originally located on a vertical panel. My panel is sloping at about 30 degrees from vertical. I am pretty sure that is what is causing the numbers inside the gauge to be up into the gauge rather than centered in the gauge window. Is this something that can be fixed by changing some numbers in the "gauge",XML file?

Michel
 
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