Downloading A/C into FS2002

[BudE]

Am a newcomer to this forum, have been playing with FS2002, CFS2 & 3 for a few years tho, but by no stretch of the imagination do I know enuff about them to get maximum performance. I am interested in trying to download addittional A/C into FS2002, I saw where Davejey2 replied about this to someone, he advised to "Login, go to Main Menu, Files Library and choose from dropdown list, my questions are, What/where do I log onto, I did not see anything to log onto in this forum, and can someone tell me how to download the A/C and get them into FS2002 where they will work once I find them, I am not real knowledgeable with the computer, so if someone has the answer to this, please explain in language that I can understand.

Thanks
BudE

[davehero]

Hi BudE

Click on the Flightsim.com logo in the top left corner of the page. This will take yoou to the main landing page. Hold your mouse over the [Files] button (don't click on it) - a list will appear - click on [Search Files]. This will take you to a screen that allows you to search for aircraft, scenery, panels, etc for various version of FS. Note the explanation of the icons to the right of screen. I suspect you'd be wanting complete aircraft initially (not simply repaints of an existing aircraft). Click on [Start Search] button - this will ask you to login. You'll have to create an account - the login for the forums is separate, so logging in here doesn't log you in there and vice versa. You can use the same username though.

Once you've found what you want, download it. There is usually a Readme text file with most of the downloads - read it first for any special instructions. In general (and I'm sure someone else will step in here with the finer points), once you have unzipped the file, move it into the /Aircraft sub folder of FS2002 on your hard drive. You may also have to copy gauges to the /Gauges sub folder as well (aircraft dependent).

There are more detailed instructions on this link:
http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds?$=main/howto/fs2002a/fs2002a.htm

Good luck!

[tigisfat]

did you have any luck? From time to time, some of us try to check up on people we haven't heard from to make sure they got what they need from this forum.

[BudE]

Thanks for the useful information, I installed a Winzip file and have followed the link you supplied for downloading aircraft, and everything works fine, the only problem I am having so far is that some of the aircraft that I drop into the FS2002 aircraft folder do not go into the program where I can use them, when I click on MS Games, FS2002, Aircraft Folder, the ones I have downloaded and moved are there, but do not show up in the FS2002 Game. Also, some of the ones that I have moved into FS2002 successfully work fine but no gagues, even tho there was a gauges folder in the download. Any Ideas. Once again, thanks for your input.

Bud

[alastairmonk]

Hi Bud,

When you download a zipped aircraft is is frequently a good idea to unzip to a temporary folder first. With WinZip you can specify that the original folder structure is maintained, so that after extraction you have the aircraft along with the associated Panel, Sound and Texture folders.

If the author has included gauges these should extract to a separate Gauges folder.

Once you've extracted the Zip file you can see what you have. If the download is a complete aircraft, and has recompiled as above into the correct sub-folders you can then move it wholesale into your \FS2002\Aircraft folder. Any gauges can be moved into your \FS2002\Gauges folder. If you don't do this last step then the panel will display without any gauges, as you may have already seen.

If the download does not extract to the correct set of sub-folders you will have to create them yourself. Generally these are what you need:

Model folder: ****.mdl file and model.cfg file
Panel folder: panel.cfg file plus certain BMP textures (listed in the panel.cfg file)
Sound folder: sound.cfg plus any WAV files
Texture folder(s): the remaining texture BMP files.

The "parent" aircraft folder should have at least these:

Aircraft.cfg file
an AIR file

plus additional HTM checklists and text files if the author has included them. You may get a jpeg or two showing off the aircraft and panel.

Have a look at your other aircraft and see how their folders are arranged. Once you understand how things are arranged you will soon be installing aircraft without any further problems.

Cheers,

Alastair

[BudE]

Hi Alastair, I installed WinZip with my sonin laws help, as I stated before I am not very informed on the computer. I then used a link supplied by DaveHero which was written by Andrew Herd on How to install A/C into FS2002. He siad to first install WinZip which I did, theb to create 2 new folders on the hard drive and name one downloads and one junk, I made these 2 folders in program files, seemed like the rite place to me, and then followed his instructions. He said to download into download file, then click on the doenload file and get the WinZip icon, a file cabinet in a vice, then double click this icon and get the winzip program and extract to junk file, then click on junk file to make sure a/c is in it and only one folder, if more than one folder comes up, ie: a/c, gagues, panels, readme, ect, to make a new folder and drag all thefolders into one, which I did, then move into F/S2002, a/c folder. which I did, some showed up in F/s2002, some did not. Are you saying that if I get more than one folder when I unzip an a/c folder, I should move the seperate folders into their respective f/s2002 folders, ie: gagues to gagues, ect., ect. The other folders that you talk about creating myself, I have no idea on how to do that, as I stated before, I am not very clever on the computer. Thanks for any help you can give me.

BudE

[BudE]

Hi DaveHero, Followed your advice, as you can see from the replys noted above, I am having some success, and not so good on some others, any other thing you can tell me will be appreciated. And thank you very much for the info.

BudE

[BudE]

Have had some luck, still some problems as noted tho. Thanks for checking.

BudE

[alastairmonk]

Hi Bud,

If the package that you extract automatically recreates the Model, Sound and Texture folders, great ! Move the complete folder set to your Aircraft folder. If the package includes gauges, move the gauge files into your \FS2002\Gauges folder. If this then leaves the aircraft's Gauge(s) folder empty you can then delete it.

If the files do not compile into the correct folders I can talk you through putting the individual files into the right folders if necessary.

There are a number of reasons why aircraft don't show up.

1. Not actually designed for FS2002
2. Missing panel
3. Sounds. If the package does not include the sounds and sound.cfg file it will "point" or "alias" to a sound folder for another aircraft (often a default aircraft.) If the "alias" points to the "wrong" folder it may not show up.

If you can detail one of the downloads you are having trouble with (I'll need the exact file name and where you downloaded it from) I may be able to see what's going wrong.

Alastair

[BudE]

Hey Alastair, have been having pretty good luck downloading aircraft, now if Im could just get all my settings and display right it would be great. It seems like it takes a while for buildings and roads to show up as you are moving along, you have to get sorta close for them to show up, and then I get some like flashing in buildings and so on, and some of the aircraft I downloaded, when I fly them, there is a lot of background static, otherwise, things are not to bad.

BudE

[alastairmonk]

Hi Bud,

It is quite normal for buildings etc. to gradually show up or increase in detail as you approach. The scenery incorporates various "viewing distances" which help to manage the memory load of the scenery detail by only loading it when you are "within range".

"Flashing buildings" sounds like an anti-aliassing problem. This should be set, either in the controls for your graphics card or within FS2002. Which method gives the best performance will need some experimentation, but as a general rule of thumb (at least with FS2004) better results are had by setting it in the card controls and turning off anti-aliassing in Fs2002. I've always used nVidia GeForce cards, where this is straightforward, although I'm sure ATI cards are similar.

Cheers,

Alastair

[BudE]

Hey Alastair,

You seem to be the man in the know, so once again I have a question. I seem to have lost my heavy traffic with ATC. I used to get plenty of voice traffic ( ATC talking/directing other flights) on ATC when requesting taxiing or takeoff info, plus there were several planes always parked in the terminals plus traffice in the pattern and just flying in the area. Now I have nothing, I have tried everything I know, but I must be missing something, I read somewhere in help that if you use a fast simulation rate, which I do when flying long distances, you could lose ATC because it cannot keep up, but I would think it would return the next time I started FS2002. Would like to get these features back in operation, any ideas.

Thanks

Bud

[alastairmonk]

Hi Bud,

In this case I don't really know. If memory serves FS2002 was the first version of the sim to include ATC, and even in FS2004 its a bit "eratic". Personally I rarely use ATC even in FS2004, and its some years since I flew in FS2002.

Hopefully another FS2002 user may have the answer.

Alastair

[BudE]

Can anyone tell me how to get ATC back? I used to have plenty of chatter over ATC involving other AC taxiing, ect. plus there were AC parked in Airport Terminals and plenty of traffic in the pattern and flying around the area, its no longer there, I have had any luck trying to recover it. Anyone have any ideas that might help me.

Thanks

BudE

[mjanicki]

Can anyone tell me how to get ATC back? I used to have plenty of chatter over ATC involving other AC taxiing, ect.


Hi, Bud. I fly FS2002 so I might be able to help you figure out what's happening. I haven't lost ATC like this myself so it could be a learning experience for both of us.

First, do you still hear ATC voices when you contact ground, ATIS, etc? If not then it could be an audio codec problem.

If you hear ATC but only the AI traffic is gone, look in your FS2002\Aircraft folder for the files: default.dp and airlines.cfg. Those files have a nasty habit of disappearing especially sometimes with the installation of third party addons. (I keep a copy of the originals somewhere else on my hard drive just in case.) If one of those files is missing or corrupted, that will mess with AI traffic. The original files can be found on FS2002 CD #1. On that CD you will find an archive named Aircraft.cab. Open that and you will see the contents. Both default.dp and airlines.cfg are there. Right-click them and select "Copy" (_not_ Extract) then right-click on your desktop and select "Paste" for each file. Now you have copies of the originals that you can put back in the FS2002\Aircraft folder.

While you're at it, check in your FS2002\SCENEDB\ATC\SCENERY folder for the file traffic.bgl. If that is missing or corrupted then AI is out to lunch. You can also find the original traffic.bgl on the CD somewhere. That file is stored on CD #2 in the following folder: SCENEDB\ATC\SCENERY.

Let us know what you find and hopefully all the FS2002 folks can chime in to help you get your ATC back.

-- Mike

(I edited once I found where on the CD's those files were located.)

[BudE]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your reply, yes I still get ATC Voices and ATIS, I use the Auto-Tune feature, anyways, the only voices I now get are mine and ground/tower answering me plus ATIS. I used to get all
ATC transmissions and there was plenty of traffic in the air and on the ground, it just dissappeared. I have downloaded several third party A/C into FS2002.

I am not really knowledgeable about all the ins and outs of the computer, so most of the advice you gave me is something I do not know how to do, but am going to experiment and see what happens. Will keep you informed. One other question, are you happy with your settings and what you see as far as clarity and so on. I cannot seem to get my display the way I want it.

Thanks again

BudE

[BudE]

Hi Mike, just checked the files you mentioned, they were all there, and looked normal (I guess, at least they looked like the other files, nothing noted that they were corrupted and since they were where you said they would be, I assume they are complete. The only difference I did note was that the default.dp file was default.cdp.

Bud

[NikeHerk67]

Hi Bud,

I'm a believer in first things first and that doesn't start with configuration files. It starts with making sure of the proper settings.....if it ain't broke, don't fix it, as they say. :)

Check the following settings first:
In the Menu, at the top of the screen in "Windows View", or if in "Full Screen View", the menu can be brought up by hitting the ALT key.
Go to the Options/Settings/ATC and check the slider for Traffic Percent. This will allow you to add as much traffic as FS2002 will permit.

If ATC is not appearing hit the ( ~`) key which is located just to the left of the number 1 key on the main keypad. This will bring up ATC and if you hit it again will hide ATC. This is the same in all versions of MSFS.

After trying these tips, and it still doesn't work, then will come the time to "lift the hood" and start checking configuration files.

I hope this helps.

[mjanicki]

I'm a believer in first things first and that doesn't start with configuration files.

That's a good point, and thank you for reminding us of that, NikeHerk. I had made the assumption that the AI sliders had already been tried. That is not an assumption I should have made. So I'll wait for a reply from BudE to see where we stand. But a culprit right now is that default.dp is missing -- default.cdp is generated at run-time using default.dp.

-- Mike

[BudE]

That's a good point, and thank you for reminding us of that, NikeHerk. I had made the assumption that the AI sliders had already been tried. That is not an assumption I should have made. So I'll wait for a reply from BudE to see where we stand. But a culprit right now is that default.dp is missing -- default.cdp is generated at run-time using default.dp.

-- Mike

Slider has been tried, I have it set at 100%, I have tried resliding it several times, thought it mite kick it back in, but no luck, I have Pilot Voice #4-Male checked, IFR Traffic only - not checked, Show ATC text - checked, A/C Labels - checked and Auto Open ATC Window - checked. I beleive these are all the same settings that I had when I was getting everything. I rechecked the files you referred to, the default is shown as: default.CDP, the other one is shown as: airlines.cfg. The airlines file is an Microsoft Office Outlook Configuration File, same as Panel.cfg and Model.cfg.

[BudE]

Hi Bud,

I'm a believer in first things first and that doesn't start with configuration files. It starts with making sure of the proper settings.....if it ain't broke, don't fix it, as they say. :)

Check the following settings first:
In the Menu, at the top of the screen in "Windows View", or if in "Full Screen View", the menu can be brought up by hitting the ALT key.
Go to the Options/Settings/ATC and check the slider for Traffic Percent. This will allow you to add as much traffic as FS2002 will permit.

If ATC is not appearing hit the ( ~`) key which is located just to the left of the number 1 key on the main keypad. This will bring up ATC and if you hit it again will hide ATC. This is the same in all versions of MSFS.

After trying these tips, and it still doesn't work, then will come the time to "lift the hood" and start checking configuration files.

I hope this helps.

Thanks for your help, but I had already done this several times, I have been thinking about uninstalling/reinstalling to see what happens. As I previously mentioned, I had downloaded several A/C into FS2002 and did not have any problem with ATC, then I downloaded a few more, but cannot remember exactly what I downloaded when I lost ATC.

Bud

[mjanicki]

Hi, Bud:

Ok, so sliders are all good and you've got sound. So it looks like we have a clue here.


The only difference I did note was that the default.dp file was default.cdp.

The file default.CDP is generated at run-time _from_ the default.dp file. I checked that yesterday on my system to be sure. So that after you've run FS you should see both of them. Sounds like your default.dp has gone missing. I confirmed last night that if I remove the default.dp file from my system I lose all my AI traffic. So one thing we can do is get that file back from the install CDs. All we're going to do is get that one file back -- we won't change any of your configurations and we definitely won't delete anything.

You mentioned that machines aren't necessarily your best friends, so I'll go by the numbers and hopefully it will make sense.

Here's what you can do:

1) Put in your FS2002 CD #1.
Note: It will probably go automatically to the FS Install screen when the CD loads. If that happens, look in the upper-right-hand corner and click the X to close that.

2) Go to your Windows Explorer or whatever you use to be able to look around your drives for files.

3) Look in the files on the CD for a file named "aircraft.cab".
Note: A .cab file is sort of like a cabinet so that although it looks like a file, it behaves like a folder.

4) Open the "aircraft.cab" file like a folder and you should see that it contains a bunch of other files.

5) From those files, find the one named "default.dp".

6) Right-click on that file and you should get a menu that has two options, Copy and Extract.

7) Click the Copy option.

8) Now on your _hard_drive_ go to your FS2002\Aircraft folder.

9) Right-click in that folder and from the menu that pops up select "Paste".

10) That should put a copy of the original default.dp back where it should be.

11) Rename the file "default.CDP" to something like "old_default.CDP".
That will cause FS to create a new, hopefully good, one when you run FS next time. To rename a file you can right-click on it and select "Rename" from the menu that pops up.

If all goes well, hopefully you've got AI traffic back. If not, then there is a problem elsewhere.

Keep in mind that if one of your add-on aircraft removed default.dp, it probably did so for its own reasons. Returning default.dp might affect that aircraft so it's a trade-off between that one add-on and having AI traffic.
If it was one of the add-on aircraft, the documentation for that aircraft might even say "may affect your AI traffic" somewhere to let you know.

Good luck and keep us posted.

-- Mike

[BudE]

Hi Mike

Followed your instructions and everything went as stated until I right clicked on default.dp. In the drop down window there was no copy, it had: open with, delete, (delete was not dark where you could click on it), extract, view, select all, invert, and file properties. Just a note, the aircraft.cab file was in a Winzip folder/file, I don't know if this matters or not. Anyways, I stopped there, I did not want to mess anything up.

I also checked FS2002.aircraft folder, there was no paste when I right clicked on it, there was cut, copy, ect.

Bud

[mjanicki]

Oh, for the love of Nancy. :) These computers can be so much fun, Bud.

I was trying to think why you would get such a long menu when right-clicking the contents of a .cab file. You made it clear when you said,


Just a note, the aircraft.cab file was in a Winzip folder/file

which helps a lot. You've got a good skill there because every time something looks different you say the thing that helps to figure out what's happening. You installed Winzip earlier in this discussion and Winzip is now controlling your .cab files. So you're getting a Winzip window when you open aircraft.cab.

So then, go back through steps 1 to 5. But now when you right-click you will get the longer menu that Winzip is providing. So we'll just replace steps 6 and 7.

New 6) Make sure that the default.dp file is the only one hightlighted when you right-click. From the menu that Winzip provides, select "Extract". Winzip will ask you where to extract the file to. To be on the safe side, just tell it to extract it to your Desktop for now.

When that's done you can close the Winzip window and you should see default.dp sitting on your desktop.

New 7) Right-click the default.dp file sitting on your Desktop. From the menu that appears select "Copy".

Now pick back up at Step 8 from the previous post.

Hopefully that will do it. Once everything is done you don't need the default.dp that is on the Desktop any more, but you might want to keep it around just in case you ever need the original again -- that way you wouldn't have to go back to the CD.

And, Bud, I hope through all this you are still flying even without the AI traffic. I know how a couple of days without flying can seem like an eternity. ;) Keep us posted.

-- Mike

[BudE]

Good Morning Mike,

You figured it out, followed your instructions and everything came back like new. Only change to your instructions was when I clicked copy on the the desktop I could not get it into FS2002 Aircraft folder, so I double clicked the folder on the desktop, when it opened I highlited the default.dp folder, the on the L/H side of my computer I have file and folder tasks, I clicked on copy this file, Copy Items window opened, I highlighted FS2002 A/C folder and clicked copy and it worked. One note, not that it makes any difference, but when I extracted default.dp to desktop, the folder on my desktop is named aircraft, but when I double click on it, it opens as default.dp. Anyways, everything is back as original. Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it, and thanks for the way you explained it, makes it easy for someone who is not a computor guru.

Thanks again,

Bud

[mjanicki]

My pleasure, Bud. I know every time I've had a question someone around here has been kind enough to help me out so I'm just trying to do the same. I'm glad you've got your AI traffic back -- makes for more interesting flights.

Just remember, now the next time someone loses AI traffic, you're the expert. :)

Clear skies.

-- Mike

[NikeHerk67]

My pleasure, Bud. I know every time I've had a question someone around here has been kind enough to help me out so I'm just trying to do the same. I'm glad you've got your AI traffic back -- makes for more interesting flights.

Just remember, now the next time someone loses AI traffic, you're the expert. :)

Clear skies.

-- Mike

Mike,

I'm sorry about my misunderstanding of Bud's problem here.

Although I've never lost AI aircraft from adding an addon, I've learned something as well.

You're a great asset to have around and very helpful indeed.

Thanks