Hi

Which file would I need to alter if i wanted to change the way the aircraft is listed in the aircraft selection menu.

For example, I want add G1000 to the description of the aircraft that have that so I know that when I select an aircraft.

I thought it might be the acf file but can't find anything like the description.

I tried creating a G1000 folder and placing all the relative aircraft in the but it didn't work so have assumed it's somewhere in the description as different studios have their own folder.

Hope what I have written makes sense

the .acf file

its a text file, can use notepad or planemaker

You need to open the aircraft in Planemaker.exe, then browse to the "Author" tab.

There you will find all the relevant fields, like the "Title for X-Plane UI" and the checkboxes that determine which category applies to the aircraft.

If you look at the default Cessna 172 you will see that there are two different .acf files in the folder, one for the conventional and one for the G1000 variant.
Cheers, Jan

 

Isn't planemaker a dangerous approach as it might automatically change some other parameters when saving?
I know Dan Klaue used to suggest to modify the acf file directly to avoid this.

 

11 minutes ago, peroni said:

Isn't planemaker a dangerous approach as it might automatically change some other parameters when saving?
I know Dan Klaue used to suggest to modify the acf file directly to avoid this.

 

This is lore from decades ago when "resaving" an aircraft in Planemaker would automatically apply new formats to the airfoils, for example. This caused v8 aircraft to not fly the same in v9 anymore and such.

There is no such danger now - and if you screw up something you can run the installer, it will detect the altered file and ask you if he should overwrite. Making a backup copy is always the safest way, of course.

Thanks for the replies. I used notepad++ to look at an acf file and found author OK and then looked for the aircraft name which I also found. Do I just need to change that line for it to work?

If I use Planemaker do I change aircraft description or name for x-plane ui?? Also, after the change do I just save the file and overwrite?

The Planemaker route based on what Janov has said seems to be the easiest way although I have never used Planemaker before so it's all strange.

Have noted concerns about making a copy before I make any changes.....just in case and will do just that!

 

 

I have tried both methods but no luck.

Perhaps I was not clear on my request. I want to change the aircraft description that is displayed with the thumbnail in Flight Configuration so I can easily see all the aircraft that have the G1000.

4 hours ago, ivatt said:

If I use Planemaker do I change aircraft description or name for x-plane ui?? Also, after the change do I just save the file and overwrite?

Yep - just save and overwrite. Just change the info that goes into the box (Standard/Author tab):  "name for X-Plane UI". That is what you see in the thumbnail when you select aircraft.

On 3/4/2021 at 1:00 PM, peroni said:

Isn't planemaker a dangerous approach as it might automatically change some other parameters when saving?
I know Dan Klaue used to suggest to modify the acf file directly to avoid this.

 

There is never any "danger" - because it does not change other params unless you do it and also you can just make a backup. I use 7zip to right-click the .acf and back it up. Then you can go to town on Planemaker (which also creates a backup file).

Even if you forget to backup and mess something up you can just run the updater and it will place a brand new factory fresh copy in the folder.🙂

Edited March 17, 20215 yr by ThrottleUp

3 hours ago, ThrottleUp said:

There is never any "danger" - because it does not change other params unless you do it 

This is not true, you can test it yourself! Change only the name in the author section and save it. Then compare the resulting .acf file with the backup using a tool like Winmerge to see the differences, there will be a miriad of other values that changed. More so with third party planes.
Will it badly impact the behaviour of the plane? I don't know, it might even improve it. 

 

3 hours ago, ThrottleUp said:

Even if you forget to backup and mess something up you can just run the updater and it will place a brand new factory fresh copy in the folder

This is only valid for default planes. 

On 3/4/2021 at 2:15 PM, Janov said:

This is lore from decades ago when "resaving" an aircraft in Planemaker would automatically apply new formats to the airfoils, for example. This caused v8 aircraft to not fly the same in v9 anymore and such.

There is no such danger now - and if you screw up something you can run the installer, it will detect the altered file and ask you if he should overwrite. Making a backup copy is always the safest way, of course.

See message above, you might be surprised seeing how many values get changed in the acf file after a resave. 
I just tried with both the default Laminar C172 and a Carenado Bonanza, the latter having a lot more changes in the resulting acf file.

And my mention of Dan Klaue was not from decades ago but around the time of 11.30 release, two years ago or so?
His posts on the org would specifically ask users to not use planemaker to make changes but instead editing the acf file directly to avoid signing up automatically to the updated flight model which was not yet compatible with their planes.

Edited March 17, 20215 yr by peroni

@peroni I will test it when I get a chance and if I'm wrong I'll definitely post on here acknowledging my mistake 🙂

Next question I have is - if this is true why is this the case? 😕 It would mess up so many things. Has anyone asked Laminar? Has this been a recognized issue? Why would changing just the GUI name affect other aerodynamic params? So for example I change the GUI name from C172 to Cessna 172 and the wing-lift params or engine power changes a little?

On your next point yes you are correct and I forgot that aspect of it when I replied -  3rd party planes. Even more crucial that the .acf is backed up first.

The only way to examine this would be to painfully do a side by side comparison of params before and after a name change, unless someone has a better idea.

 

I would not call this an issue, it might be the intended behaviour. Still it is good to know that this can happen