FS2002/CFS2 Gauge -- Programmable Sound Playback Switches MP3/WMA/WAV/MID -- By R.L. Clark 04/16/2002
The accompanying gauge files are Microsoft FS2k2/CFS2 style gauges that only work with those programs. They are not compatible with FS2k, CFS or FS98. The gauges are switches made programmable for sound file playback with controlled volume.
The sound files can be named however you want and can be a WMA, MP3, WAV, MID, etc. type files. The sound files MUST be put in your main FS \Sound folder to work. If you don't install the sound files right or if you use a wrong kind of sound files you may get a pop up message (but hopefully no crash).
The L (LOOPING) version gauges play sound files in a loop -- click off to stop the sound. The sound loops until you turn it off. The O (ONCE) version gauges play once -- you still need to click off and back on to restart. You can rename the switch files to whatever you want, allowing you to have multiple switches on one panel. To install, add your switch file to the FS \Gauges directory and reference the switch file and your sound file in your panel.cfg, e.g., like this:
The sound file name in this example is "songfile.mp3." The volume (e.g., the 90 required to be between straight brackets) is a number between 0 and 100, although numbers closer to 100 may be the ones really practical.
Note that in the panel.cfg the song/volume string is the 5th parameter in the gauge line after the gauge name. If you don't add numbers for all the parameters you should at least include the associated commas as delimiters. The following exemplary panel.cfg lines should work:
gauge45=switch_L!switch,0,70,35 , ,song0.mp3[90]
or
gauge45=switch_L!switch,0,70, , ,song0.mp3[90]
A mouseable "tooltip" tells you what sound file is loaded (e.g., if "Show Cockpit Tooltips" is checked under Options/General in fs2k2).
CREDIT
Credit goes to fellow simmer Roger Gaylor for concepts, bitmaps and testing efforts that led to the production of the accompanying switch files.
DISCLAIMER & COPYRIGHT
The accompanying files should not harm your computer in any way but, if you believe they have, I accept no liability. The files are released as "freeware" and are not to be used re-distributed in exchange for any payment, fee or other value.
