Newbie question about gauges for FSX

[iandmacp]

Hi

Can anyone please give me a couple of pointers to information on the following ...

1. How to modify ranges of coloured bands and range on the 172 (or any other) airspeed indicator (I'd like to use the instrument on a second monitor using panelmania but need to adjust the range)

2. How to change the flight model behaviour for a higher speed aircraft.

3. Do I need to purchase ESP SDK to do this? If so where can I go to do this, I cannot find it for sale via Microsoft's website.

Any help greatly appreciated ... I have read numerous posts on the topic but cannot see how to get started.

Cheers, Ian

[Jim Robinson]

1. How to modify ranges of coloured bands and range on the 172 (or any other) airspeed indicator (I'd like to use the instrument on a second monitor using panelmania but need to adjust the range)

The standard answer is "compiled gauges can't be modified" but: You need to figure out which gauge it is you want to modify (hint: it's Cessna172.dll found in the Gauges folder in this case) and use a resource hacker utility to extract the .bmp, manually change the range markings in PhotoShop or similar and then use the resource hacker to put the modified .bmp back into the .dll. Google "reshack", you need to find a download for ResHacker.exe by Angus Johnson.

2. How to change the flight model behaviour for a higher speed aircraft.

Open the aircraft.cfg in Notepad, you'll find dozens of parameters you can modify there, most have comments that briefly explain what they do, you're on your own to achieve the effect you want. Increase power or decrease drag somehow...

3. Do I need to purchase ESP SDK to do this? If so where can I go to do this, I cannot find it for sale via Microsoft's website.

Heck no. No SDK required for what you're trying to do here and the FSX SDKs are available free (on your install disks) anyway. I don't think ESP is even available anymore (?) since Lockheed licensed the code and I doubt the ESP SDK would work with FSX anyway.

Jim

[tvieno]

Hi

Can anyone please give me a couple of pointers to information on the following ...

2. How to change the flight model behaviour for a higher speed aircraft.

This usually involves modifying various components in the aircraft's cfg file. This site tells you about all the fields and values http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc526949.aspx

3. Do I need to purchase ESP SDK to do this? If so where can I go to do this, I cannot find it for sale via Microsoft's website.

You can get the SDK from FSX Gold or Deluxe versions. It is on the DVD and requires a separate install.

[n4gix]

Oddly enough, there are dedicated forums here (and elsewhere) that cover each of your questions in detail. Perhaps some time reading them might be of benefit...