If you are going to use pan_create, I believe you must use the delimiters < > to delimit strings inside of the greater string.

Quote:

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as I'm sure there's a way to change the buttons in the C++ through the SDK ...

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Quoted David_Higgins.
You know, I would have thought so too, but after examing the SDK, it seems there is only so much access.

In my plugin, panels ARE created using pan_create, a combined string, and information in classes.

I don't think you can actually define strings locally in C-Script.

To change the bmap or position of a button, look up functions
pan_setpos(PANEL*, var type, var num, VECTOR* pos)
pan_setbmap(PANEL*, var num, BMAP*)
in the manual, but you should have already seen that material.