EMB-120 panel - FS2002 Revision of Bill Grabowski's FS98/2000 Original
The recent release of Nick Botamer's EMB-120 sent me in search of a suitable panel. I believe a couple of new panels, as well as a possible update of Bill's original - by Bill - are forthcoming, but I (and a friend who's about to begin flying the 120) needed something NOW! Graciously, Bill has allowed me to update his original, and this rework brings full (well,mostly) functionality, to the FS2002 platform.
Note: This is my second revision of this panel. Those that downloaded the previous version (gsemb120.zip) are using a version that relied heavily on King Air default flight and avionics gauges. I did this to provide integration of the GPS with the EHSI and autopilot system (FS2000 Concorde default). However, I received a number of requests to try and keep the panel as original as possible - so this revision emerged. The section directly below briefly describes the changes in the first revision, followed by the second section describing the subsequent changes.
1st REVISION OF THIS PANEL
Changes from the original panel include:
- removal of the night lighting switch on the left side of the panel in favor of a panel lighting switch on the overhead console.
- Removal of the VOR1/VOR2 selector switch
- removal of Alain Capt's GPS unit
- substitution of the primary flight instruments and radios (HSI, attitude indicator, RMI, and Collins radios) from the default King Air. They look similar and were necessary for integration with the autopilot (FS2000 Concorde) and GPS.
Note: The FS2000 Concorde gauge is required but not supplied.
- substitution of the torque and N1 gauges. The originals were responding to the prop inputs rather than the condition levers, but the prop (which shouldn't have - or at least to a small degree) did vary with the condition levers. The best combination I found was the substitution of the torque and N1 gauges from the King Air, and the retention of the original EGT, prop %RPM, and oil gauges. The downside is that the prop levers (Ctrl F1-F4) still don't control the props, but you do see torque reaction to inferred pitch change, and the rpm does move with condition lever input.
There were some other replacements such as switches, and the addition of the FS2002 icons/toggles.
In effect this was a hybrid EMB/King Air panel that still looked like the 120 panel and was fully functional in FS2002.
CURRENT REVISION OF THIS PANEL
- Reinstalled the original ADI, EHSI (primary flight displays), and RMI
- Reinstalled VOR1&2 switch
- Reworked the Concorde autopilot gauges to approximate the original EMB-120 layout
- Returned the main panel bitmap to original
IMPORTANT NOTE - the autothrottle feature does not work! The feature is on the panel, but when engaged will only retard the throttle to idle thrust - where it remains until disengaged. I've tried every combination of everything I could find - with no success. Someone else may have a solution.
***This panel will work in FS9 but not correctly. The original engine gauges do not work correctly, nor do the default FS2002 King Air Collins NAV and COM radios. I will look at that later and maybe issue an updated cfg file to use FS9 default gauges for those that are inoperable.
INSTALLATION
Unzip the gsemb120a archive to a temporary folder.
The folder structure should look as follows:
gsemb120a (Readme file and screenshots)
|
gsemb120a (contains the aircraft panel folders)
|
Gauges (all gauges plus the cab file)
|
Original_Docs (Bill's original panel documentation)
|
Panel (all panel bitmaps and panel.cfg)
|
Sound (sound file to alias the panel to the Cessna Caravan sounds)
1.) Copy the contents of the Gauges folder to the FS2002/Gauges folder. Very Important Note: copy the EMB120.cab folder into your gauge folder just as you do the .gau files, do not unzip this folder.
2.) Copy the contents of the panel folder to your chosen FS2002/Aircraft panel folder. Be sure, however, that youve removed the existing contents of the selected aircraft panel folder, or have renamed/backed-up the folder.
3.) Copy the contents of the gsemb120a/Sound folder to the FS2002/Sound folder.
Occasionally someone will experience an inability to set a radio frequency. This is generally a problem with the radio initialization settings in the selected aircraft.cfg file, located in the main aircraft folder. Open the file with a text editor (WordPad works well for this) and look for the [Radios] section heading.
The initialization strings should appear similar to the following:
If they do not - then change them as shown above (again save a back-up of the original file first).
OPERATION
I have included Bills original documentation in this package (just click on the HTML file in the Original_Docs folder to view the complete documentation). This explains the flight deck fundamentals and operational protocol. As previously mentioned, though, some changes and additions were made in the update (refer back to the PANEL REVISIONS section.
Note: With respect to Bills original documentation, the installation procedures are different for the update (Ive opted for a manual installation - as noted above). Many of the warnings and other functions listed in the docs still apply, however.
CREDITS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
THANKS BILL! and thanks to Jorge Salas for his 'must have' switch and toggle sets.
COPYRIGHT & DISTRIBUTION
The software contained in this archive is supplied as "freeware", and as such no fee or charge may be made for its use.
The author grants permission for the free distribution of this panel in its PRESENT FORM ONLY, however the aforementioned archive and its contents, as well as all other freeware files included in this package remain the exclusive copyright of their respective authors, and again, no charge may be for any part of this archive.
Note: Further credit and copyright information is supplied in Bills included documentation.
DISCLAIMER
There is no warranty or guarantee of any kind, expressed or implied, for any problems whatsoever resulting from the use of this software (though its very unlikely). The user assumes all risk related to the use of these files.
PANEL ISSUES
I will certainly assist (to the best of my ability at least) with any problems or questions you may have. While Bill is the original author of this panel (and my guess is that he would be as helpful as possible), he is currently engaged with more pressing duties, and to seek his support for a second-party revision of a past freeware release would be - at best - unfair. As this package contains some older gauges (although the ones remaining with the update work very well on my system) there may be an occasional un-resolvable problem - but I will do the best I can to help with any issues that may arise.
