Simviation Forum - How to create a simicon?

Sep 11^th, 2003 at 4:07am

BFMF Offline
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The default panels have little simicons for Radio stack, GPS, throttle quadrants, ect.

What does it take to program my own icon which can open up my own gauges???

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Reply #1 - Sep 11^th, 2003 at 5:15am

Hagar Offline
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Hi Andrew. The simicons are XML gauges. You might be able to repaint the existing BMPs to create your own. I've not done this but it's worth a try. Open simicons.cab with WinZip & edit the image in your graphics editor. Save the image in the same size & format (8 bit BMP). WinZip should ask if you wish to update the CAB file with the modified image.

PS. I suggest taking a copy of the gauge & renaming it before attempting to modify it. Then edit individual Panel.cfg files to recognise the new gauge.

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Reply #2 - Sep 11^th, 2003 at 6:53am

BFMF Offline
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ok, I extracted a couple of the default simicons, and opened them up, and here's all the text for the GPSIcon.xml

[quote]<Gauge Name="GPS Icon" Version="1.0">
<Image Name="Icon_GPS.bmp" ImageSizes="12,12,19,19"/>
<Mouse>
<Help ID="HELPID_GAUGE_TOGGLE_GPS_WINDOW"/>
<Cursor Type="Hand"/>
<Click>225 (>K:PANEL_ID_TOGGLE)</Click>
</Mouse>
</Gauge>[/quote]

This doesn't look like it's gonna be an easy task

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Reply #3 - Sep 11^th, 2003 at 7:17am

Hagar Offline
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You're missing my point. No need to reconfigure or modify the xml code for the gauge itself. Simply repaint the BMPs. If you use a new name for the gauge, for example simiconsAE.cab, it should not conflict with the original.

Another way would be to rename the modified BMPs & edit the xml code to recognise them.

<Image Name="Icon_xxxx.bmp" ImageSizes="12,12,19,19"/>

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Reply #4 - Sep 11^th, 2003 at 8:08am

BFMF Offline
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Ok, I understand that, but what do I need to do to make it open up a fuelgauge window instead of the GPS window???

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Reply #5 - Sep 11^th, 2003 at 8:19am

BFMF Offline
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What I really want is to create a simicon to open up a fuel status gauge I have.

So besides renaming this text into a 'FUEL icon.xml' file & having a little icon bmp in a seperate folder, what will actually cause the icon to bring up my fuel gauge instead of the gps after being clicked?

[quote]<Gauge Name="FUEL Icon" Version="1.0">
<Image Name="Icon_FUEL.bmp" ImageSizes="12,12,19,19"/>
<Mouse>
<Help ID="HELPID_GAUGE_TOGGLE_FUEL_WINDOW"/>
<Cursor Type="Hand"/>
<Click>225 (>K:PANEL_ID_TOGGLE)</Click>
</Mouse>
</Gauge>[/quote]

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Reply #6 - Sep 11^th, 2003 at 8:41am

Hagar Offline
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Ah OK sorry. I'm only a tweaker, not a gauge designer. Wink

The Panel & Gauges SDK might help. http://zone.msn.com/flightsim/FS02DevDeskSDK00.asp

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Reply #7 - Sep 11^th, 2003 at 9:00am

BFMF Offline
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Thanks Doug

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Reply #8 - Sep 11^th, 2003 at 11:12am

TJ_Gumby Offline
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Fred Banting (DHC-2 Beaver designer) has been very helpfull to me with airfile tweaking and is also a well known gauge designer. I'm sure he would be more than happy to help you out. Wink

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Reply #9 - Sep 11^th, 2003 at 12:53pm

Travis Offline
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[quote]<Click>225 (>K:PANEL_ID_TOGGLE)</Click>[/quote]

Okay, since I know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about gauge design, I'm gonna take a wild stab in the dark and say that this line might be what changes the function, specifically, the number "225", and then the (&gt . . .) means "and go to". Try putting in different identifiers from the window that contains the gauge you are trying to display and see what happens. Just make sure you backup before trying anything . . .

Remember, just a wild stab in the dark, so if I'm wrong, don't berate!

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