Creating a purpose built radio for Helicopter cockpit for FSX se

[Reco01]

Hi all

I am wanting to create a one off radio panel for my helicopter cockpit. I have a MD500e sim with T shape instrument panel. The only items I don't have sorted is a radio panel.
The radio will sit on my main instrument panel and will be 17 cm long by 8 cm wide. The radio will incorporate com 1 & 2 Nav 1 & 2 and adf.

The controls To adjust the frequencies will be placed below the switch panel and are rotary encoders and switch to change active and standby.

The bitmap is the easy part but the actual coding is a little beyond me. I have no idea about coding and the radio will be xml based
Anyone able to point me in the right direction

Here is a pic and rough idea of what I am trying to achive



Rhys

 

[chris]

Here's the Bendix King Radio stack that I use...
It's actually a .CAB file but I can't upload it as that.
You should be able to dig the relevant bits out to suit your gauge.

 

[Reco01]

Cheers Chris

Rhys

 

[Reco01]

Cheers Chris

Rhys

Hi Chris

Could you please re upload the files I get an invalid error when I try to unzip

Cheers

Rhys

 

[chris]

You need to change the extension to .CAB

 

[Reco01]

Thanks Chris that did the trick

I also downloaded a Boeing radio but a little confused with elements in the command line
I opened the radio bmp in ms paint and placed the cursor to match the X and y positions for the LCD display
In the xml file under active frequency the element X=24 Y=19 refers to the LCD window

The text element X and Y don't match the position of the LED window

cheers

Rhys

 

[chris]

24, 19 is the top left corner of the active window and 111,19 is the top left corner of the standby window.
Unfortunately the screenshot only shows the numbers, the cursor is missing. Trust me, the cursor is in the top left corner...

 

[Reco01]

Thanks Chris

Hopefully I'm heading in the right direction
In the section for active and standby it mentions the text postion, size, font and colour, but what does the text element refer to

Rhys

 

[tgibson]

The text Element is the actual display of the frequency numbers in the windows.

 

[Reco01]

Thanks Tom

The Radio file I'm using have have 5 separate xml files.
1 for com 1
1 for com 2
1 for nav 1
1 for nav 2
1 for adf

I am trying to place them all on one single bmp file but I have only got the com1 to appear. My bitmap size is all wrong. I can't get the com 2 or nav to show up at all .

Cheers

Rhys

 

[chris]

Why would you want a single bitmap file?

 

[Reco01]

Hi Chris

The radio panel is going to be added to the 2d panel as a single gauge. So com 1,2, nav 1,2 and adf would be an all in one instrument as set as in my picture



Rhys

 

[WarpD]

Then the XML must also be contained in a single file.

 

[Reco01]

HI
Thanks WarpD. If I am combining Com 1 and Com 2 into a single xml file what part of the Com 2 file data do I need to copy so it will work. I managed to get the new bitmap to show and com 1 text shows up but when I copied the info from the second com2 xml file and saved that in the com1 xml file the bitmap was black. I understand that the data needs to be correct.

Cheers

Rhys

 

[tgibson]

You have to keep the gauge code structure the same.

1, Only one <Gauge> line at the top of the file.
2. Only one </Gauge> line at the bottom of the file.
3. Only one <Image> line under the <Gauge> line (as a separate line, outside of Element sections).
4. Only one <Mouse> section.
5. Each <Element> section closed by an </Element>.

So just add the Elements of the second gauge to the first one, and add the mouse section (if any) to the *existing* Mouse section.

 

[Reco01]

Hi Tom

Thanks for that, followed the instructions but managed the get it wrong somewhere

Could I possible ask for a help request
I have add the two files would you be able to combine the two into one. Once I have seen the structure of what is required I will be able to continue with the other parts of the radio

Cheers

Rhys

 

[tgibson]

Those two gauges cannot be combined, since they use the same bitmap for the background (Boeing Comm Radio.bmp), placing the components in identical locations. Each gauge can have only one background bitmap, and the combined gauge would need two. The only way to combine them would be to create a new bitmap with TWO of the units side by side (or stacked vertically) and place the COM1 and COM2 components onto that single bitmap.

And no, you cannot rename a copy of the bitmap since you still cannot have two background bitmaps.

Hope this helps,

 

[Reco01]

Thanks Tom

I created a new bitmap called MDradio which has the com radios staked . There is an image of it at the start of my post.
Just not sure what components from the com2 radio needs to be copied
Thanks for your advise

Rhys

 

[tgibson]

My initial advice still stands:

So just add the Elements of the second gauge to the first one, and add the mouse section (if any) to the *existing* Mouse section.

 

[Dannifly]

I have been looking at photos of the original panel and the systems are "Bendix-King".

It would be important to see the custom bitmap to know how to program the system. It can be analog (wheels that move) through Bitmaps or Totally Digital with "String" in line of text.

In turn, how would the frequencies change? with knobs or maybe a numpad + an "enter"...

The "swap" change between active/standby frequencies is programmed with the "mouse" over the frequency numbers...