[Skybird]

Sorry, Firewall, but as I have repeatedly said: I use not FSX, but FS9. It'S just that many addons for FS9 are being converted to FSX, too, and often both versions come in one and the same package, that's why I post FSX and FS9 stuff together.

On your question, if it is in FSX like in FS9, you can save a flight which you have tailored to be like you want it to be, and then start the sim with this.

You can also try how it is in FSX if you save a cold&dark configured flight, and next time when you fire up the sim, you load this one first, and then configure your wanted flight from that starting situation. the C&D status should be carried over if you chnage the plane form that saved mission.

If you use an addon plane, some of them have menu options that after loading the plane you can chose by such an option to configure the panels as cold&dark. Some addons also have a separate basic configuration program that is used to define certain detail levels, fuel loadings, panel states, all this has to be set during flight planning and before launching the sim.

Be advised that in FS9, using a different than the "Standard Cessna in Seattle" flight as defaul startup flight can bring internal variables in disorder, leading to problems during the flight you then actually do, and causing malfunctions in systems. Also, some variable settings are not being saved together with the rest of the flight when saving that flight. I cannot tell you if that is the case with FSX, too. It was no problem in FS8, and many workarounds are needed for developers of FS9 addons to come along with this problem that Microsoft needlessly has included in FS9. Stupid, if you ask me.