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Wing Vapor Gauge

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5
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us-massachusetts
I'm trying to add wing vapor effects to the acceleration fa-18 by adding a gauge that will trigger the effect at 4 G's and if the planes going over 150 knots. This is what I have in the gauge file.

<Gauge Name="Wing Vapor Controller"

<Element>
<Select>
<Value>
(A:AIRSPEED INDICATED,knots) 150 &gt; (A:G FORCE,Gforce) 4 &gt; (A:LIGHT WING,number) 0 == ; &amp;&amp; &amp;&amp; &amp;&amp; &amp;&amp; if{ (&gt;K:TOGGLE_WING_LIGHTS) }
</Value>
</Select>
</Element>

I just got that from looking at another plane that had that effect. I turned it into a cab file, put it in the panel folder, enter a new line for the effect in the lights section and in the panel's gauge list but I can never get it to work. Any ideas?
Just to let you know I'm new to all this stuff
 
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Any ideas?
Just to let you know I'm new to all this stuff

Yes, to begin with there are too many "&amp;"'s in the script, as well as an extraneous ";" that's just dangling there in the way... ;)

Secondly, you have no "background image" so the gauge will never load... You need at least a small .bmp file at least 4pix square and fully black (0,0,0), or you can simply draw a transparent "image" using vector graphics as I've shown below:
Code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Gauge Name="Wing Vapor Controller" Version="1.0">
<Element>
   <Position X="0" Y="0"/>
   <Polygon LineWidth="1" Color="#000000" Bright="No">
      <Point X="0" Y="0"/>
      <Point X="10" Y="0"/>
      <Point X="10" Y="10"/>
      <Point X="0" Y="10"/>
   </Polygon>
</Element>

<Element>
    <Select>
      <Value> 
         (A:AIRSPEED INDICATED,knots) 150 &gt; 
         (A:G FORCE,Gforce) 4 &gt;
         (A:LIGHT WING,number) 0 ==
         and
         and
         if{ (&gt;K:TOGGLE_WING_LIGHTS) } 
      </Value>
    </Select>
 </Element>
 
Secondly, you have no "background image" so the gauge will never load... You need at least a small .bmp file at least 4pix square and fully black (0,0,0), or you can simply draw a transparent "image" using vector graphics as I've shown below:

Hi Bill, I'd like to comment that in XML gauges there is no need for a background image if none is needed. Just by using <Size X="nn",Y="nn"/> the gauge will load.

Tom
 
Hang on a tic :) when did we have to start adding bmp's or extra tags to controller xml code ???
This works fine
Code:
<Gauge Name="ahhhh thats purty">
          <Element>
      <Select>
         <Value>(A:G FORCE,Gforce) abs 4.5 &gt; (A:AILERON RIGHT DEFLECTION,degrees) abs 3 &gt; &amp;&amp; if{ (A:LIGHT LOGO,number) 1 &lt; if{ (&gt;K:TOGGLE_LOGO_LIGHTS) } }
        els{ (A:LIGHT LOGO,number) 0 &gt; if{ (&gt;K:TOGGLE_LOGO_LIGHTS) } }
</Value>
    </Select>
  </Element>
</Gauge>
also fsx you dont need a controller gauge for wing or vapour trail as its already modeled,If you want to add a custom effect you just need to add these lines to the [effect] section of the aircraft.cfg

[effects]
wake = fx_wake
water = fx_spray
dirt = fx_tchdrt
concrete = fx_sparks
touchdown = fx_tchdwn_s, 1
startup = fx_engstrt
windshield_rain_effect_available = 1
EngineFire = fx_engfire
EngineOilLeak = fx_OilLeak
EngineDamage = fx_engsmoke
WetEngineWash = fx_WetEngineWash
vaportrail_l=fx_name <-------this
vaportrail_r=fx_name <-------this
r_wingtipvortice=fx_name <-------this
l_wingtipvortice=fxname <-------this

the default effects are
fx_vaportrail_r
fx_vaportrail_l
fx_wingtipvortice_r
fx_wingtipvortice_l
I think these use the wing dimensions in the [airplane_geometry] sections to place the effects,as I cant see anywhere else for the coords of the effects.If the above are not in the [effects] section it just defaults to the default effects

cheers
Wozza
 
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Hang on a tic :) when did we have to start adding bmp's or extra tags to controller xml code ???

You're right, code only XML gauges will load. Anyway,you still need to use a container reference (<Image> or <Size>) for any kind of display to show. I guess I'm much used to place at least a <Size> tag per routine :)

Tom
 
More to the point though, for us non-Luddites who actually use modern tools such as FS Panel Studio, any XML script without at least a vector drawn <Element> or transparent bitmap <Element> simply will not load in FSPS at all...

...and saving of the edited panel.cfg will strip out all reference to the non-loaded gauge...

...which in turn prevents using FSPS to manage the panel design process effectively. ;)
 
Au-MaV, I used your code for the gauge but it still doesn't work. For the vapor effect I used fx_vapor_fa18.fx which has both left and right vapor effects, and came with Team FS KBT FA18. Should I put anything different in the effects section because I'm confused on that part.
 
More to the point though, for us non-Luddites who actually use modern tools such as FS Panel Studio, any XML script without at least a vector drawn <Element> or transparent bitmap <Element> simply will not load in FSPS at all...

...and saving of the edited panel.cfg will strip out all reference to the non-loaded gauge...

...which in turn prevents using FSPS to manage the panel design process effectively. ;)
Hi Bill
Works fine here (fs panel studio yes I relented and brought it) the controller gauge's show up as a purple squares
which you can resize and move around in FSPS.You will get a bmp not found error when you load up the panel but just click dont show warnings box as it loads and it works fine,top right hand side of below pic;)
test.jpg

cheers
Wozza
 
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Au-MaV, I used your code for the gauge but it still doesn't work. For the vapor effect I used fx_vapor_fa18.fx which has both left and right vapor effects, and came with Team FS KBT FA18. Should I put anything different in the effects section because I'm confused on that part.
Hi
The code I posted uses logo lights so make sure the light section in the aircraft.cfg has the correct light channel
ie
light.2 = 9, -2.00, -17.9, 0, fx_name
light.3 = 9, -2.00, 17.9, 0, fx_name

But as I said all aircraft will show wing vorts in fsx if you pull over 5G
even if you dont have it in the effects section of the aircraft.cfg
if you want to use the fx_vapor_fa18.fx add this to the [effects] section of the aircraft.cfg (no gauge needed)
r_wingtipvortice=fx_vapor_fa18
l_wingtipvortice=fx_vapor_fa18
verify the effect is in the effects folder,
this should make them appear whenever you pull more than 5g in fsx
cheers
Wozza
 
Last edited:
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