Microsoft(r) Converter for Flight Shop Aircraft and Adventures ReadMe Flight Simulator 98(tm) Version September 1997 (c) Copyright 1997 Microsoft Corporation. This document contains important information about the converter for Flight Shop aircraft and adventures. Don't forget to visit the Flight Simulator Web site for the latest information about Microsoft Flight Simulator. The Web site includes a product support page with up-to-date tips, answers to frequently asked questions, and articles. Click Flight Simulator Web Site on the Help/Microsoft On the Web menu, or use the following URL: http://www.microsoft.com/games/fsim CONTENTS Installing the Flight Shop Converter for Flight Simulator Converting Aircraft and Adventures Converter Usage Notes Common Questions and Answers Notes for Adventure Authors Patches applied by the Converter installation =========================================================== INSTALLING THE FLIGHT SHOP CONVERTER FOR FLIGHT SIMULATOR The Flight Shop Converter for Flight Simulator converts aircraft and adventures created with BAO Flight Shop into a format that is compatible with Microsoft Flight Simulator 98. Important Note: The Flight Shop Converter is provided "as-is" and is not supported by Microsoft AnswerPoint or Product Support Services. To install the converter: After you download the converter, double-click the file FSCONV98.EXE, a self-extracting compressed file. Double-clicking the file extracts the components and runs the installation utility. Installing the converter creates a new shortcut called "Flight Shop Converter" in your Microsoft Games group. The location of the installed files is determined by the location in which you originally installed Flight Simulator 98. If you have renamed, moved, or otherwise relocated your Flight Simulator 98 directory since it was first installed without uninstalling it first, the converter files will not be installed to the correct location. The Flight Shop Converter installation procedure also automatically installs several modified files to correct known issues in Flight Simulator 98. The list of modified files, and issues addressed is listed later in this document. =========================================================== CONVERTING AIRCRAFT AND ADVENTURES Converting an aircraft or adventure is a simple, one-time procedure. Converted aircraft and adventures are ready to use when you click Select Aircraft on the Aircraft menu, or click Adventures on the Flights menu in Flight Simulator 98. To start the converter, double-click the shortcut in your Microsoft Games group. For more information about using the converter, start the converter and refer to the online help provided in the application. On the same service from which you downloaded FSCONV.EXE you will find AAFWAV.ZIP, which contains .WAV files to replace the .WAV files supplied with BAO Flight Shop. If you have difficulty hearing ATC speech when flying adventures created in Flight Shop, replace the original Flight Shop .WAV files with the .WAV files in this package. Extracting the replacement .WAV files requires the use of PKZIP, WinZIP, or a similar tool. PKZIP and WinZIP are trademarks of their respective manufacturers. =========================================================== CONVERTER USAGE NOTES 1. When using converted aircraft, the instrument panels support an extra window that allows you to see the engine instrumentation for all engines in the aircraft at once. The multi-engine displays may be toggled from the Views->Instrument Panel menu, or alternatively, by pressing Shift and the number associated with that panel window. For example, aircraft based on the Cessna or Lear templates will use Shift-5, while those using the 737 template will use Shift-6. 2. The converter enables participants in a multiplayer session to transmit the visual models of other players' converted aircraft during the multiplayer session. However, doing so can consume significant bandwidth and is recommended only for use on LAN connections. Attempting to enable visual model transmission on modem-based connections can result in erratic behavior or dropped connections. To view other players' aircraft when using a modem-based connection, you should swap converted aircraft with the other players in advance, as long as doing so does not violate any publisher's license agreement or copyright. To enable visual model transmission for LAN sessions, edit your FLTSIM98.CFG file as follows: a) Find the lines below: ALLOW_PLANE_MODEL_SEND=0 ALLOW_PLANE_MODEL_RECEIVE=0 ALLOW_TEXTURE_SEND=0 ALLOW_EXTURE_RECEIVE=0 b) Change all the 0's to 1's. c) Change "ALLOW_EXTURE_RECEIVE" to "ALLOW_TEXTURE_RECEIVE". 3. If you encounter difficulty in calibrating or using a joystick with Flight Simulator 98, we recommend placing the following lines in your FLTSIM98.CFG file: [SOUND] Channels=1 SamplesPerSec=11025 This reduces the sound quality to 11Khz monophonic sound but also reduces the quantity of sound playback-related DMA to one-quarter of the default settings. In most cases, making this change resolves erratic joystick behavior. If some of the axes on your stick work normally but others, such as the rudder pedals, are not active, then use the Custom Controls dialog box to assign the remaining joystick axes to the appropriate events. =========================================================== INSTRUMENT PANEL LAYERS You may find that some instrument panel windows are covered by others, especially if you resize or move a panel over the location where another panel appears. For example, if you resize and place the mini controls window in the position where the radio stack appears, it will cover the avionics stack when you try to display that panel window. As a rule, lower numbered panels (using the panel's SHIFT+N number as the reference) have a lower priority in the layering system than higher numbered panels. In other words, panel 2 is always behind panel 3, and so forth. =========================================================== COMMON QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Q: Do aircraft or adventures previously converted for use with Flight Simulator For Windows 95 need to be converted again for use with Flight Simulator 98? A: The Flight Shop Converter for Flight Simulator 98 can convert aircraft either from their original Flight Shop format, or those which were already converted for Flight Simulator 95. In either event, you must convert these aircraft to use them with Flight Simulator 98. Adventures already converted for use with Flight Simulator 95 do not need to be converted again; however, you may achieve better results by reconverting the original source using the Flight Simulator 98 version of the converter. Q: Why do I see the error message "File is not in Flight Shop Format. Conversion halted"? A: The Flight Shop converter is only capable of converting aircraft originally created by Flight Shop in their unmodified form. Many aircraft available from 3rd party sources have been modified by hand to include extra features such as special landing lights, moving parts, or other such items not originally supported by Flight Shop. These aircraft may not be converted for use with Flight Simulator 98. Q: Why do I see the error message "Adventure is corrupted" when I run a converted Adventure? A: Some adventures attempt to access a variable called "ADF_RADIAL" that existed in previous versions but no longer is available in Flight Simulator 98. If an adventure attempts to access this variable, this message appears. Contact the adventure author for updated versions. =========================================================== NOTES FOR ADVENTURE AUTHORS * The RESET_ADVENTURE command now reinitializes all user-defined APL variables to 0. * The ADF_RADIAL variable is no longer available and should not be used. =========================================================== PATCHES APPLIED BY THE CONVERTER INSTALLATION Patched files installed by the converter can be identified by their Version number, as viewed by right-clicking on the file, choosing the Version tab, and reading the version number. Files modified by the converter will contain a version number of 6.10.440, with the exception of FLTSIM98.EXE, which will have version number 6.10.419. Files Modified: [In root folder] FLTSIM98.EXE [In modules folder] ADVDRV.DLL CONTROLS.DLL FE.DLL G3D.DLL HG2D.DLL MAIN.DLL MULTIPLAYER.DLL PANELS.DLL SOUND.DLL WINMSG.DLL [In gauges folder] 737-400.Fuel-Quantity.gau 737-400.Controls.gau 737-400.Engine-Start.gau Bendix_King_Radio.AP.gau Bendix_King.ADF.Slaved.gau Cessna_182.EGT_CHT.gau Cessna_182.Oil.gau Cessna_182.RPM.gau Cessna_182.Manifold_Pressure_Fuel_Flow.gau Cessna_182_RG.Oil.gau Cessna_182_RG.Controls.gau Lear_45.EICAS.gau Lear_45.PFD.gau Lear_45.Thrust_Levers.gau [In adv folder] B3EXECC.ADV B3HKGIGS.ADV B3RED_I .ADV B3TYOFRY.ADV CFBFICLM.ADV CRMVIN.ADV LJCPERKS.ADV LJEXECC.ADV LJMEDEM.ADV LJSLOTS.ADV [In lessons folder] b3dintro.LES LJDintro.LES Patches Applied: * Multiplayer system allows host to remove other players from a session. * Multiplayer system properly displays user names containing extended characters. * Multiplayer system can transmit and receive visual data from converted Flight Shop aircraft. * The slaved ADF gauge in the Bell 206 JetRanger III helicopter now works correctly. * The control position indicator in the Cessna 182RG now moves in a fashion consistent with the other aircraft in the product. * The ILS system reception volume has been adjusted to allow the user to intercept the glideslope from farther below without losing the signal. * The VOR reception volumes have been adjusted for more realistic tail-off curves. This change should alleviate problems receiving Low or Terminal class VORs at high altitudes. * The Cessna 182S autopilot no longer automatically engages the wing leveler when activated from the panel's radio stack. * A potential GPF when shutting down Flight Simulator while an Adventure or Lesson was running has been alleviated. * Fix to FLTSIM98.CFG file creation and parsing. This fixes the support for the NT361 control module from NT Systems, Inc. * The visual system now properly avoids texturing scenery of the Rolling Hills seed type. * The instrument panel system now properly colors the panel when the panel starts in night mode. * Fixed an adventure system bug related to the order of commands in the the adventure source code. This problem occurred when adjusting the autopilot parameters to be for consistency with prior versions. * Fixed adventure system bugs related to the following APLC functions: SET_POSITION - was ignoring the 3rd parameter (Altitude) WEATHER_CHAR - was ignoring the 4th parameter (Speed) VISIBILITY - wasn't handling values between 0 and 1 correctly * Fixed a bug in the ATIS window when the system is using large fonts. * Fixed a bug in the sound system related to playing crash sounds. * Fixed bug with mouse cursor not disappearing on 3DFX based boards when using Mouse As Yoke Mode. * Increased internal scenery buffer from 256K to 512K to fix problems with London scenery (and some 3rd party scenery as well). * Changed display on Fuel Quantity Gauge to allow for aircraft with more than 100,000 gallons capacity. If the amount is below 100,000 gallons, the display will show 2 large digits and 1 small digits - this is a xx.x * 1000 display. If the amount is above 100,000 gallons, then the display will show 3 large digits - this is a xxx * 1000 display. * To use the EGT gauge on the reciprocating engine panels, make sure the Mixture Control check box is selected on the Aircraft Settings dialog - Engines Tab. * Changed behavior of engine controls (throttle, starters, etc) on multi- engine panels so that they no longer change the selected engine that is controlled by the joystick or keyboard (in other words, if you have selected the Adjust All Engines option on the Engine tab of the Aircraft Settings dialog box, dragging engine 2 throttle will not affect the ability of the joystick or keyboard throttle control to move all of them).