The ole Aircraft.cfg files!!!!!!!!

[Guest]

Ok hope I can explain......lolI'm adding my first 727-000, and 737-400 aircraft to my sim. Some of the models are the FFX/SGA, and Mike Stone's aircraft. My question is this. Do all the aircraft need to be on 1 cfg page in notepad?? Confused?? Here's what I'm talking about.Rough copy so you can follow....[Flightsmim 0]Boeing 727-200 Deltaatctextureetcetc[flightsim 1]Boeing 727-200 American Airlinesatctexblahblah[flightsim 2]Boeing 737-400 United Airlinesatctexyada yadaSo, does every plane reguardless of model need to be together in order to fly/use a AI, or is it just broken down into model types?[flightsim 0, 1, 2, 3,...etc]Boeing 727, your airline[flightsim 0, 1, 2, 3...etc}Boeing 747, your airline[flightsim 0,1,2,3,..etc]MD DC-10 your airline1 more question is that when I've downloaded a plane, say FFX/SGA 727, the cfg file is [flightsim 0] or a different type from Mike Stones collection and the cfg is [lightsim 0] do all of these planes cfg need to be together?Sheeze, now I've really confused myself and I'm sure I've done the same to you guys as well. I can here you guys now.... "What in heck is this moron tryin to do?" lolGrrrrrrr, HELP!Doc

[Guest]

not sure why this didn't show up in the first postflight sim 0 727 your airlineflight sim 1 727 your airlineflight sim 2 727 your airlineflight sim 3 737 your airlineflight sim 4 DC-10 your airlineSee what I'm tryin to get at? Models can be grouped together when you copy and paste the cfg or do the 727 models and 737 models need to have their own cfg?Man, maybe I need to regroup and figure out another way to explain this. I'm confused now. Doc

[Guest]

Ok, let me try this one more time.if I down loaded 30 aircraft, will I have cfg files that go from (fltsim 0 thru 30) ?Or........is it if I D/L 30 repaints/textures, I'll have a cfg file that reads (fltsim 0 thru 30)?And all this is reguardless of make and model? I understand that if you have a repaint/texture file, your copy and pasted the same cfg file and make the changes as needed.Man, sorry guys, not really sure how to explain this, but I'm praying you guys know what i'm tryin to say. :(Doc

[Guest pilot_guru]

I sure hope some of the other guys can help you Doc, I am now more confused than you.Do you just want to add a heap of planes to your hanger for AI use?, then flight plan them for your different airports?Or are you downloading additional textures to add to some of your AI planes?Its confusing with what you have written, but I am sure everyone will help you where they can.Dave

[Guest]

Well Dave, it's like this.Example would be, I D/L Mike Stone's pack of 5, 727's. I believe these are just AI friendly aircaft. I created a b727_200 folder to place the textures in.. in my aircraft file. So, when you open the aircraft cfg file there are 5 files for the planes. 1 for a NW 727, 1 for a AA 727, 1 for a ATA 727...etc. Now in the cfg file, you see the (fltsim x)title-Boeing 727sim-b722 and so on and so on, for each aircraft. I know that I need to change the X in the (Fltsim) to a number, which will be 0. And 1 for the next file, 2 for the next and so on........plus, I understand that you need to place the name of the texture file next to the (texture-aa) in the cfg. All of this I understand.Ok, so now I have 5 aircraft in this 1 cfg file, right? Ok, now I've downloaded a plane that was built by FFX/SGA (Delta 727). Get it D/L to my aircraft folder. This new folder isn't in the "b727_200" folder. It's just hanging out there by its self. Start the game, the Delta jet is there. Ok, the Delta file has its on cfg file and its (fltsim) value is a z. (fltsim Z). Now here's my question, do I copy and paste this new cfg file for the Delta jet into my b727_200 folder along with the other Mike Stone aircraft? And if so, does the value of z in the (fltsim Z) now become a 6? And keep in mind, this aircraft IS NOT a repaint. This is a model plane. And if I were to D/L another model 727, would that aircraft's cfg go into the b727_200 folder and have it's (fltsim Y) value become a 7? See what I'm getting at?Also, say I D/L a American Airlines 737_400 model, no repaint. Ok, open the cfg file and read it's contents. Ok, (fltsim A) is its value. Now that I have 6 727's, does the value of the 737_400 (fltsim A) now become a 7? Or because it's a differnt type of plane, will all of my 737_400's have values from (fltsim 0 to 10) if I have 10 737_400 on file, depending on if they are repaints or models?I hope this cleared it up some. I know I'm making this harder than it actually is, and I'm sure a simple answer is coming my way. In fact, just while I was typing this, a light bulb did come on in my head, and I think I have the answer now, but I want the EXPERTS, (YOU GUYS) to correct me.And Dave, yes, I'm just trying to build my hanger up right now. Haven't even tried making flight plans yet. I'm sure that will be a 3 week long state of confusion for me. I have ATIM, and AFCAD, but haven't even got a hold on that stuff yet. Thanks for your patience guys!!!!DOC

[Guest Joshieca]

Head to my site below. Once there click on the "University link"...there are help guides there for just that sort of thing.[div align=center][link:www.jetdoc.com/STO/]Visit The Bookstore & Gift Shoppe][/b

[Guest]

Hey Josh,I have been using your site, and it's a wonderful place, and very helpful. But, let me back up.Ok Josh, since FS2002 doesn't have a "727 Model" in the game, I get one. Ok, the one I get is FFX/SGA 727-200 Delta. Since I have this model now, will Mike Stone's repaints/texture work with this particular FFX/SGA 727 model? So, if my FFX/SGA 727 cfg file has a value of (fltsim 0) FFX/SGA 727, will I be able to copy and paste Mike Stone's 5, 727 repaints/texture to the FFX 727 cfg file?I'M confused because I've heard that some ppls repaints/textures on different aircraft type won't work because of the model types. And, if Mike Stone's repaint/texture do work on the FFX/SGA 727 model, will the cfg file goes as follows?1 (fltsim 0) title FFX/SGA Delta 727 Sim b727 panel sound texture Del ....etc2.(fltsim 1)title Mike Stone American Airline 727sim 727panelsound texture AA....etc3. (fltsim 2)title Mike Stone Braniff Red 727sim 727panel soundtexture BI..etcSee what I'm getting at? For each aircraft, reguardless if it's a 717, 747, MD-11 do I have to have at least 1 MODEL aircraft for each type and just d/l repaints of X Airline, copy and paste the cfg and just add the proper changes to the repaint cfg's?Doc

[Guest Captain Barfbag]

Yes, it's confusing, and even more so because it is possible to make things work in different ways than they are normally set up.First, though, you need to match textures with model files. A Mike Stone texture will not work with an FFX model file. If you want to do a repaint of a Mike Stone plane, you need to use Mike Stone textures.Next, pretty much anything else is fair game. You can take an .air file and use it with any other plane. In most cases, though, you will be glad this is just a sim, because it won't fly very well. The .air file is specified by the "sim=" line in aircraft.cfg. In cases where the aircraft are about the same size and clase, you might get away with using, for example, the very stable 737-400 default .air file with a downloaded MD-80 that performs poorly as an AI aircraft.So, you want to have one big directory with one aircraft.cfg file in it to specify all of your planes. This might work, but I don't think so. You'll note that each aircraft.cfg has a "general" section, followed by others which apply to all the aircraft in that folder. These parameters (contact points, load parameters, flap positions, etc.) don't change from livery to livery of a given aircraft, so there is only one copy. You might be able to move them up into the [flightsim] section, but I'm not sure it would work.Anyway, most systems are set up with a folder for each aircraft type, and a [flightsim] entry for each paint job in the folder. If you have aircraft of the same type but different designers (AI Aardvark vs. Project AI, for example) you probably want to treat them as different aircraft types, because a lot of the parameters are different.For reference, I've got close to 100 different aircraft folders, and around 400 liveries. I consider myself closer to "typical" than to "extreme" in these numbers.

[Guest Joshieca]

>See what I'm getting at? For each aircraft, reguardless if>it's a 717, 747, MD-11 do I have to have at least 1 MODEL>aircraft for each type and just d/l repaints of X Airline,>copy and paste the cfg and just add the proper changes to the>repaint cfg's?>In general it is best to have one model for each type of aircraft. So if you have a Mike Stone 727 than you need to have a model and a .air file for that aircraft and only use repaints made for a Mike Stone 727.The same holds true for most other aircraft. PAI and AI Aardvark are very different aircraft. PAI planes are often simplistic and can lack detail. While AI Aardvark aircraft are often more complex and have more parts. This is clearly evident in their repaint files. Just open one of them up with DXTBMP and you can see the number of "parts" difference between a PAI and AI Aardvark aircraft. Does this make one better than the other? Well that's for you to decide. BUT what I am getting at here is that the good CAPT is correct in saying that in general you can not take a PAI repaint and try to make it work on anything release BUT a PAI model of the same make/model.So yes in short you need to have one folder for each model type...you can have as many repaints of that model in the same folder, but in general have ONE folder for each type of aircraft....Something like this...(folder names)B707 PAIB727 PAIB737-200 AIAB737-200 PAIB737_200...and so on and so on....If you need more help, pop on over to my forums and I will have to explain things in greater detail.- J

[tgibson 11]

Hi,The one thing that planes sharing a folder have in common is the aircraft.cfg file. This helps define the flight dynamics of the plane. So a 727 should NOT be in a folder that also has 737's, since they fly differently.Also, inside the aircraft.cfg file is a section called Contact Points, which defines how the plane sits while on the ground. Since each author (even different authors of the 727) will define their planes differently in GMAX (for example), these contact point numbers will be different for Mike Stone's 727 vs the FFX one.Thus, you should keep one folder for each *plane* you download. One folder for all of Mike Stone 727's, one folder for all of FFX's 727's, one folder for all default 737's, one folder for all FFG 737's, etc.You can then store all paint schemes of that particular plane inside that one folder, if you wish. However, you can also make individual folders for each of the paint schemes - this way works fine too. However, then you will be duplicating MDL, panel, and sound files that will take up more space on your hard drive. That's the only reason to lump all the paint schemes into one folder - it saves disk space (and I admit the resulting organization is a bit easier to grasp).Hope this helps,--Tom GibsonCal Classic Propliner Page: http://www.calclassic.comFreeflight Design Shop: http://www.freeflightdesign.comDrop by! ___x_x_(")_x_x___

[scott967 62]

Panels and sounds can be placed in their own folders and aliased from specific aircraft. There is a close relationship between the visual model (includes 3d virtual cockpit) .mdl file, the flight dynamics .air file, and the aircraft.cfg file. It is possible to provide multiple model folders, and .air files, with a single aircraft.cfg, but this must be done with caution. (For example, a model that is identical except is using reflective textures.) My understanding is that MS developed the aircraft.cfg file in part as a way to allow editing of parameters in the .mdl and .air files using FSedit without actually changing the files. It's probably best to consider each aircraft.cfg file as tied to a single .air file and single model folder. So when downloading an aircraft, if a new .air file is encountered, probably best to put in its own folder with own aircraft.cfg. scott s..

[tgibson 11]

The other reason to provide multiple MODEL folders within one aircraft folder is to allow them to each be set at a different radius for RAFCAD use. However, at that point there is virtually no disk space savings using a single folder anymore, so it would only be for organizational neatness.Hope this helps,--Tom GibsonCal Classic Propliner Page: http://www.calclassic.comFreeflight Design Shop: http://www.freeflightdesign.comDrop by! ___x_x_(")_x_x___