Flight Simulator^TM 98 Tips

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Contents:

How to set FS98 to use 3D mode.
Get the highest frame rates for your computer.
Install and assign new panels to FSFS aircraft.
Keyboard and Joystick Custom controls.
Frame rates is the issue... What is the REAL minimum requirements for FS98?
How to install and use Europe 1 scenery in FS98.
How to install new (or old) scenery to FS98.
How to install new aircraft to FS98.
How to set FS98 if you have changed your CD-ROM drive letter.  

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If you have a tip and you wish to share it with the rest of the FS world, please e-mail me.

 Usage of 3D mode with any good 3D graphics Card.

By George Dorkofikis

    In this tip I will show you how to set your FS98 to work in 3D mode.  I suggest you read the FS98 Readme.txt file before proceeding since there you will find information of possible problems that have been detected on each of the 3D chips that FS98 supports.

    Before getting in 3D mode, please note that this requires a lot of processing power, so it may do no good, if you don't have a fast enough computer (P166MMX or above recommended).  You should also have at least 2Mb (4Mb or more recommended) or more of video memory.

    To set up FS98 for 3D mode follow these steps:

 

Go to Options, Preferences...

Select Display Options, and then click on the Enable Hardware acceleration button.
Then click on the Hardware acceleration Tag.

Select the display driver for the 3D mode. This should be "Primary Display Driver (Direct 3D)". If you have a 3D add-on card (like 3Dfx, Voodoo etc), there will be another option : "Secondary Display Driver 3D"

Select the resolution you wish to run 3D mode into. Best results on my P166MMX was 800x600x8 If you wish to use 8bit textures check the "8 Bit image textures" button, otherwise uncheck it.

 

    That's it... Now when you select full screen (by pressing ALT-Enter or through ther View menu), you will be in 3D mode.  If in the display options, the "Enable Hardware acceleration" button can not be checked, then you cannot run in 3D mode with your current graphics card.

NOTE : READ THE README FILE THAT COMES WITH FS98.  YOU WILL FIND IT AT THE FS98 DIRECTORY.  PROBLEMS EXIST FOR MANY 3D CHIPS. For example, my Virge chip cannot display dots, thus runways have no lighting at night ! :-(   Although the readme file says that this is a problem of the driver, when I installed the newest version of the driver, the problem is still there.

   Enjoy the nice scenery.

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Get the highest frame rate for your computer.

By George Dorkofikis

    During the first few days that I have installed FS98, I experiment with resolution, scenery settings, and display options to determine the best frame rate vs the highest quality of scenery.
    I have come to the following conclusions:

• Scenery shadows drop the frame rate by about 40%.  I know they look nice and realistic, but you will have to compromise.  After all, you should stay away from buildings during normal flight...
• Windowed FS98 has lower frame rates.  Go to full screen mode to get 2-4 more frames per second (in most cases).  This frame rate increase occurs only in normal mode and not 3D mode. See below for 3D mode.
• Lower analysis improve frame rate on slower computers.  Ok, you already knew that, but below 800x600, you will see no difference... But if you switch from 1024x768 to 800x600 you will have 2-4 more frames per second.
• In 3D mode, using 8Bit textures will improve your frame rate by about 15%.  If you don't mind having less quality textures.  Note that Microsoft is suggesting the use of 8Bit textures when using certain 3D graphics chips for best performance.
• Close all other running applications.  FS98 is very power consuming.  It needs all the CPU power it can get, to give good results.  In my P166MMX, the resource monitorr showed 100% usage of CPU throughout all parts of FS98!
• Panels also affect frame rate.  Highly detailed panels may drop your frame rate.  Close any panel windows you don't use often.
• Experiment with the scenery complexity setting.

All tests performed on a Pentium P166MMX with 32Mb SDRAM, 4x CD-ROM, Minimum installation of FS98, Diamond Stealth 3D 2440 (4Mb).

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Install and assign new panels to FSFS aircraft.

By George Dorkofikis

    These instructions exist in each panel you download.  In case instructions are missing, you may follow the steps described here.
 

• Copy the panel zip file to a directory of your choice.
• Unzip the file using WINZIP32 or similar decompression utility.
  IMPORTANT : THE UNZIP UTILITY THAT YOU WILL USE MUST BE ABLE TO HANDLE LONG FILENAMES OTHERWISE THE PANEL WILL NOT WORK SINCE THE NEEDED GAUGES AND BMP FILES WILL NOT HAVE THE CORRECT NAMES.  I SUGGEST YOU USE WINZIP32 OR SIMILAR UTILITY.
• Copy all GAU files into the gauges directory of FS98 (*.gau), or move them by using the windows explorer drag and drop function.
• Create a new directory under the Aircraft/FSFSConv directory of FS98. Name the directory "panel.your_plane".  (Replace "your_plane" with a unique aircraft name to describe the panel).
• Copy all the panel's pictures (*.bmp files) and the panel.cfg file into this new directory.
• To assign this panel to any aircraft, go to the directory Panel of the aircraft you want, and edit the file named panel.cfg using notepad or any text editor.
• Change the line  "alias=FSFSConv\panel.xxxxx" in the [fltsim] section to read: "alias=FSFSConv/panel.your_plane" The directory should be one created above.
• Load the aircraft you assigned the panel to, and the panel will be loaded.

Each FSFS aircraft installed in FS98 can have its own panel.  No longer you will have to use the 747 panel for flying an A340! If you wish to change the panel assigned to an aircraft, simply just edit the panel.cfg file and point to the subdirectory where the new panel is.

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Keyboard and Joystick custom controls.

By George Dorkofikis

    Flight Simulator 98 allows the pilots to customize the keyboard and joystick controls to their liking.  That means that pilots can adjust the controls to match their preffered simulator and/or to make their flying experience easier.
    To set your own controls for any or all FS98 functions, go to Options, Custom Controls.  From here you can assign new keys or joystick buttons to any function.  It is advised not to change the keyboard controls, since this may disable access to keyboard commands used by ATC adventures or FSFS adventures.
    Customizing your joystick buttons however is strongly recommended.
To assign your own functions to the joystick buttons :

• go to Options, Custom Controls.
• Click on the Assignments tab.  The screen will look  like the sample below.

• Click on the function that you wish to change assignment. For example Trim up.
• Now click on the assign button..
• FS98 is now waiting for you to press the new key or joystick button for this function.  Press the key or button you wish to use.  If the key or button is currently in use, FS98 will issue a warning asking you is you wish to change the assignment.  If you choose cancel the assignment change is aborted.
• If you want the function to be repeated for as long as you press the joystick button, click and mark the repeat option.  The option box will only be visible and accesible for joystick controls.
• Select the next function you want to customize and repeat the proccess or press OK when finished.

That's it.  Now you can try your joystick buttons to see if the controls are to your liking.  If not, simply go back and change them!

    Here's some ideas on what functions to put on your joystick's buttons:

• Two Button Joystick with no thottle control:
  • Assign Gear Up/Down control to the one button and Brakes to the other.
  • Assign Trim Up to the first button and Trim Down to the second. Make sure you mark the repeat option, so that you won't have to press the button 20 times to move the trim.  Putting trim controls in joystick is highly realistic and helpfull.  Try to make an approach with trim on the keyboard and then try the same approach with the trim assigned to the joystick... You will love it. At least I did!
• Four Button Joystick with or without throttle control:
  • Assign Brakes, Trim up, Trim down, Gear Up/Down to button each.
  • Assign Gear Up/Down, Flaps extend, Flaps retract, Brakes to one button each.
  • Assign Trim Up, Trim Down, Flaps extend, Flaps retract to one button each.
  • Assign Autopilot master switch, Trim Up, Trim Down, Gear Up/Down to one button each.  This is the most realistic combination in my opinion.  Autopilot overide switch also exist on the yoke on the real planes.
  • Helicopter flyers may wish to assign engine throttle to the buttons or the controls of the landing light.

    The combinations are endless. These are only a few ideas of what you can do.
Enjoy your flights.

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Frame rates is the issue...

What is the REAL minimum requirements for FS98 to run?

By George Dorkofikis

    What's the most common question between flight simmers?  "What frame rate do you get???"...
    Well in this part I will try to give you an idea of FS98 frame rates.
    On the FS98 package Microsoft displays 486/66Mhz 8Mb as minimum requirement...  Well, if you have a 486/66, forget it.  No matter how much memory you have, FS98 will simply not run!  It will install and load, but the actual simulation is so slow that you will go for a coffee each time you try to select a menu option!
    I installed FS98 on my old 486/66 with 16Mb of RAM.  The installation took 20 minutes.  Loading the program took 3 (THREE!) minutes!  Frame rate? 1.5 to 2.1 frames per second is not a frame rate...
    I beleive that the absolute real minimum equipment is a P100 with at least 16Mb of RAM.  With a P100, FS98 will run, but to obtain a respectable frame rate, many functions will have to be disabled.
    To realy enjoy the new Flight Simulator, you must have a P166MMX or higher.  Even on the P166, frame rate drops below 7fps in some very dense scenery areas.
    One other minimum requirement for FS98 is 100MB of Hard disk space...  Actually the program requires 85MB for the minimum installation PLUS about 30MB to copy scenery data from the CD to the hard disk scenery cache.
    A full installation will cost you about 425Mb of disk space, but if you can affort it, it's worth it.  No access to the CD to load scenery, as this will be loaded from the very faster hard disk.

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How to install and use Europe 1 scenery add-on in FS98.  

By Ard Middelkoop

Ard send me the following tip to install Europe 1 scenery add-on in FS98.  It contains the portion of the readme file that comes with FS98 that describes the installation procedure, but provides some more help on how to avoid double scenery problems when using Europe 1 scenery.

BAO EUROPE 1 ADD-ON SCENERY PRODUCT

To use the BAO Europe 1 Add-On scenery, you must copy files from your BAO disks into a folder in the directory where you installed Flight Simulator 98. Then you must run two EXE files and use the scenery library in Flight Simulator to finish installing the BAO Europe scenery.

To Copy the Files

• Find the folder where you installed Microsoft Flight Simulator.
  The default is C:\PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT GAMES\FLIGHT SIMULATOR. In the steps below, this folder is referred to as <FLTSIM>.
• Copy the file DISK1A.EXE from disk #1 to the <FLTSIM> folder.
• Create a EUROPE1 folder under your <FLTSIM>\SCENERY folder and name it <FLTSIM>\SCENERY\EUROPE1.
• Copy the file DISK1.EXE from disk #1 and DISK2.EXE from disk #2 to the EUROPE1 folder.
• Create two new folders under the EUROPE1 folder with the names SCENERY and TEXTURE.  These folders should be named <FLTSIM>\SCENERY\EUROPE1\SCENERY and <FLTSIM>\SCENERY\EUROPE1\TEXTURE.
• From your Flight Simulator CD, copy the files in the \SCNSETUP\EUROPE1 folder to the <FLTSIM>\SCENERY\EUROPE1\SCENERY folder.

To Run the DISK1 and DISK2 EXE Files.
You should run these EXE files from an MS-DOS command  prompt.

• Change to the <FLTSIM> folder on your hard drive and run DISK1A.EXE. Type disk1a at the command prompt.
• Delete the file DISK1A.EXE from the <FLTSIM> folder. Type del disk1a.exe at the command prompt.
• Change to the <FLTSIM>\SCENERY\EUROPE1 folder and run DISK1.EXE and DISK2.EXE. Type disk1 and disk2 at the command prompt.
• Delete the files DISK1.EXE and DISK2.EXE from the EUROPE1 folder. Type del disk1.exe and del disk2.exe at the command prompt.

Completing Installation with the Scenery Library
To finish installing the BAO Europe scenery, use the scenery library in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

• On the World Menu, click Scenery Library.
• To display the Scenery Areas window, click the Files button.
• Click the Search button. When the Scenery Area Search window appears, select the drive where you installed Flight Simulator and click on the Search Drive button.
• When the search is complete, click the Next Path button until you see the add-on folder you created.
• Type the scenery area title Europe 1 and select the scenery area type Local.
• Click the Scenery Area Active button, and then click the Add All Files In Path button.
• Click Close.

(NB: You can also install Europe 1 scenery to FS98 database without having to search the whole hard disk. You may
wish to look at the 'How to Install scenery to FS98' tip on this page.)

The steps above come directly from the FS98 readme.txt file which can be found in your FS98 folder.

When you have done this all, you will have double scenery's when you are for example on Amsterdam Schiphol.
You will have 2 control towers and ILS is not accurate.
To solve this problem, follow next options.

Option 1

• Start Windows Explorer.
• MOVE (using the drag and drop function) the original FS98 EUROPE folder to the root of your hard drive and rename it EUROPEX.

Option 2

• DELETE the original FS98 EUROPE folder.

Disadvantage:
    Whenever you want to fly to a city wich is in Europe, but outside the Europe1 scenery package, you'll have to re-install everything.

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How to install scenery to Flight Simulator 98.

By George Dorkofikis

    Flight Simulator 98 scenery file structure has not changed, allowing backward compatibility with scenery created for previous versions of FS.  Its very easy to setup FS98 to include your scenery files from previous versions of FS.

Just follow the following steps:

• If you wish to add to FS98 the scenery you have for FS5.1 or FS95:
  • Using Windows Explorer's drag and drop function, MOVE the scenery folders from your previous FS to the SCENERY directory of FS98. Usually this is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator 98\Scenery
  • By moving the scenery folders with the drag and drop function you save time creating all the needed folders.
• If you are installing new scenery:
  • Go to the SCENERY directory of FS98.
  • Create a new folder for the scenery you are installing under the SCENERY directory of FS98.
  • Go to the new folder and create 2 directories under it.  SCENERY and TEXTURE.
• MAKE A BACKUP OF THE FILE WORLD.VIS located in the SCENERY folder of FS98.
• You should now have a structure like this (This is an example directory structure and may NOT reflect your own!):

• Copy all scenery (*.bgl) files to the SCENERY directory of the new folder you created. Note the location path. i.e. D:\FLTSIM\FS98\SCENERY\GREECE\SCENERY
• Copy all textures (*.r8, *.oav, *.pat, *.r8x etc) to the TEXTURE directory of the new folder you created. i.e. to D:\FLTSIM\FS98\SCENERY\GREECE\TEXTURE
• Now that all scenery files are in place, you need to setup the scenery database of FS98 so that the new scenery is recognized and loaded.
• Go to World menu.
• Go to Scenery Files.
• After you press OK on the warning, click the Files button.  A list of all available installed scenery will be displayed.
• Now you have 2 choices. Either to let FS98 search your hard drive or install each new scenery manually.  If you have too many new scenery folders, you may wish to let FS98 to search your hard drive.  This will take a couple of minutes. Otherwise, its better to install the few scenery folders manually.A
• Automatic Search.
  1. Click the Search button.
  2. When the Scenery Area Search window appears, select the drive where you moved your old scenery, and click on the Search Drive button.
  3. When the search is complete, click the Next Path button until you see the folder(s) of your old scenery files.
  4. Type the scenery area title for the scenery you are registering.
  5. Select scenery area type Local.
  6. Click the Scenery Area Active button
  7. Click the Add All Files In Path button.
  8. Repeat the proccess from step 3 to add all your new sceneries.

  BEWARE: FS98 will also display the default scenery directories or any other already installed scenery directory you have added. BEWARE NOT TO AMMEND THESE DIRECTORIES.

• Manual Installation.
  • Click the Add button.
  • In the scenery path window type the FULL path to the new scenery folder containing the BGL scenery files. i.e. D:\FLTSIM\FS98\SCENERY\GREECE\SCENERY\*.BGL   If you have long names directories don't forget to add the " at the start and end of the path. i.e. "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator 98\Scenery\Greece scenery\Scenery\*.bgl"
  • In the Scenery Area Title window type the name of the scenery area you are adding.
  • Select scenery area type Local.
  • Click the Scenery Area Active button
  • Click the Add All Files In Path button.
  • Repeat the proccess to add all your new scenery.
• You can now fly to any of the previous scenery you installed.
• MAKE ANOTHER BACKUP COPY OF THE FILE WORLD.VIS. Give it another name.
• If anything went wrong, you can copy your backup WORLD.VIS file in the scenery directory and start over.

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How to install new aircraft to Flight Simulator 98.

By George Dorkofikis

    Flight Simulator 98 is using a different structure than FS5 to keep the aircraft files.  This new structure also enables us to delete any aircraft we wish without problems!  This procedure is valid for the new aircraft for FS98 that you download.  If you convert an aircraft from FS5 all new directories are automatically created by the FS converter.  However you may wish to view the "Install and assign new panels to FSFS aircraft" tip in this page
on how to assign another panel for your new aircraft.
WARNING : Exit FS98 before you run the converter or install new aircraft.

To install a new aircraft to FS98 follow the following steps:

• If you are running FS98, EXIT FS98.
• Go to the Aircraft directory of FS98. Usually C:\Program files\Microsoft Games\Flight simulator 98\Aircraft.
• Under the Aircraft directory create a new folder and name it after the aircraft you are installing.  i.e. D:\FLTSIM\FS98\AIRCRAFT\MY_B757
• Go to the new folder you just created.
• Create the following 4 (four) folders under the new folder you created.
  • Model
  • Panel
  • Sound
  • Texture

  The directory structure should now look like this:

  

• Copy the aircraft (*.air) file of the aircraft to the new folder you created.  As from the example above copy to D:\FLTSIM\FS98\AIRCRAFT\MY_B757
• Copy the model file (*.mdl) to the MODEL directory of the your new aircraft folder. As from the example above copy to D:\FLTSIM\FS98\AIRCRAFT\MY_B757\MODEL
• Copy the panel.cfg file to the PANEL directory of your new aircraft folder.  As from the example above copy to D:\FLTSIM\FS98\AIRCRAFT\MY_B757\PANEL.  This file contains information on which panel your aircraft is going to use. You may wish to ammend the settings of this file. Please refer to the "Install and assign new panels to FSFS aircraft" tip in this page.
• Copy the sound.cfg file to the SOUND directory of your new aircraft folder.  As from the example above copy to D:\FLTSIM\FS98\AIRCRAFT\MY_B757\SOUND
• Copy the texture files (*.?af) to the TEXTURE directory of your new aircraft folder.  As from the example above copy to D:\FLTSIM\FS98\AIRCRAFT\MY_B757\TEXTURE
• You may wish to copy all remaining files (readme, pictures, text files) to the new aircraft folder you created for future reference.

You are all done. You can now start FS98 and go to Aircraft, Select Aircraft to see and select the new aircraft you just installed.
No further actions are required.  FS98 searches the directories under the Aircraft folder to produce the list of the available aircraft.

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How to set FS98 if you have changed your CD-ROM drive letter.

By George Dorkofikis

    If after the installation or Flight Simulator 98 you add a new hard disk or for any reason, you have changed the CD-ROM drive letter, you need to set FS98 to recognize the new CD-ROM drive letter.  This is only valid if you have done a minimum installation, or you left some scenery to be read from the CD.  FS98 will look to the CD-ROM drive letter the CD-ROM had during the installation for the booster files, so we have to instruct FS98, that the drive letter has changed.
    Follow these steps:

• With the CD into the CD-ROM, start FS98.  When the warning appears that FS cannot load the booster, press cancel to load FS without the booster.
• Go to World, Scenery Library.
• After the warning (where you click OK), choose Performance.
• You are now at the performance boosters list.  For each region you take the following actions:
  • Press the Edit button
  • Edit the BOTTOM input box where the 'read from' path appears and change the drive letter to the new letter of your CD-ROM.
• Once you have finished, click Reload, and then OK.
• Click OK to exit the scenery library.

After this, your CD will come to live and read the booster.

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Flight Simulator 98 is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
Flight Simulator is a trademark of Bruce Artwick and Microsoft Corporation.
Europe 1 is a trademark of BAO publishing and Apollo software Europe.
Diamond Stealth is a trademark of Diamond Multimedia.

Thanks to Ard Middelkoop for his tip.

Copyright (C) 1998-9 George Dorkofikis

Last update 25 Jul 1998