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reading/editing .gau files

B

brettt777

Messages
38
I have a .gau file for a gauge that is made for FS9but works well in FSX. I am wondering if there is a way to see exactly what is in these things besides the .bmp files. I would like to try to adjust some of the parameters of this gauge but when I look at the .gau file in the only editor I have (eXeSc650) I get most of the bmp files but not all of them, and very little other content that makes any sense. Doesn't a .gau file have to have some part of it that tells what to go where and how to work, like an .xml file does?
 
You can NOT "edit" a compiled gauge (.gau) file. Period.

There also is no way to "decompile" a .gau file. End of sentence.
 
So once someone builds or compiles one, that's it. You can't do anything with it. If you want something different, you have to start over, correct?
 
brettt777 said:
Why is this a good thing?
Click to expand...

Because it's the only guaranteed way that no one is going to rip off my hard work and creativity?

Honestly, if someone needs help learning to code in C, I'm more than willing to help in any way I can...

...but I certainly would not be happy if someone took my work, fiddled a few bits, and then tried to pass it off as their own work. :rolleyes:
 
umm...I might need some help learning C.

I want to create my own gauges etc but I have no clue in programming or anything along those lines
 
If you want to create your own gauges, perhaps the easier path (first) would be to learn the xml coding for gauges, as described in the FS-X SDK, which provides a decent starter tutorial. Once you create a simple gauge, then you can tackle more difficult ones.
 
n4gix said:
Because it's the only guaranteed way that no one is going to rip off my hard work and creativity?

Honestly, if someone needs help learning to code in C, I'm more than willing to help in any way I can...

...but I certainly would not be happy if someone took my work, fiddled a few bits, and then tried to pass it off as their own work. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Yes I can certainly understand that. But on the other hand I would NOT be upset if someone took my work and made it a bit better. But that's just my opinion. I don't have the knowledge and expertise to attempt such a feat that I would want to take credit for and therefore be upset if someone else tried to take credit for it.
 
If C gauge programmers are happy for others to continue development on their gauges, then they can release the source code with the .gau under GPL licence. If they don't, then it's fair to assume that they wish to retain proprietary control over their work.

The danger with improving things without permission is that if you screw something up without realising it, future users could end up going to the original author for support and they'd be unawares of what you've done. Their work could also get a bad reputation for being buggy when it's not their fault at all.

Writing C guages is not a good way of learning C. There are too many non-standard ways of doing things, such as massive use of macros which obscure the C underneath and will only serve to confuse a new C programmer. You're better off learning C in isolation and then turning your skills to gauges when you've got a firm understanding of the language. XML guages are the easiest entry into gauge programming for those with no previous experience, but even that's tricky until you get the hang of the reverse-polish notation.

Si
 
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