Here is the pain and suffering. I remember something similar when I read "The Divine Comedy". Why? Because when you finish a plane and release it, the plane is no more your plane. It's just one more of thousands of files in a database, and you must rely that it will defend itself. How? Well, we will see it soon. But first, for "rookie painters", what is needed for a successful upload?

First at all, the modeler's permission. It must be included for the reasons I wrote on the second part of this series. It is usually included on a file called something like "readme.txt"

Second, a file name. Some web sites request that the name of the file has to be no more than 8 characters long, So you must "compress" the model and identification of your plane in such a little space. I use the first four characters for model identification: d328, b727, p51d and so on. The next two characters are "ah": Alejandro Hurtado. And the last two are just a sequential number. So, my Boeing 737-200 from Avior Airlines, the same that I boarded few years ago, is called B737AH49.ZIP. My very detailed Dornier 328 from United Express is called D328AH75.ZIP. But, if you are going to use my method, please change the "AH" by your own initials!

Third, the file_id.diz file. (Full details can be found here.). It's a text file telling the plane's name, modeler, repainter, version of Flight Simulator and a brief description of the repaint. And if you want your file to be downloaded, try to do it well. It's not the same to say "Boeing 727 prototypes" as it is to say "Do you know how many and how were painted the prototypes of the Boeing 727? And where are they today?". The second is a more attractive and interesting description, and tells to the "just fly" simmers that you know what are you talking about. This description must be attractive, short and yet include all the relevant words that a simmer will search. For example, if you had made Finnair Santa Claus MD-11, include the words "special Christmas" in the text, or nobody will find it. Let's say that this is the presentation card of your artwork, or the first weapon to make this file to success.

Fourth: the attached picture. It's the second weapon you must give to your file for self-defense. You must include a picture good enough to use as wallpaper, but so simple that it can be understood and liked with the small size that the web sites must use to publish it. I have a wonderful picture of a B727 flying inside mountains with an Alaskan thunderstorm, but if you reduce it, then you can't say to which airline it belongs.

Fifth: Another obligatory file is the installation instructions. It changes depending if you made a "textures only" file or a "ready to fly" file. It usually is a text file called "readme.txt". You don't need to reinvent the wheel, just read the installation instructions of another plane and copy them to yours. Plus, you can include in this archive any other information you believe is important: plane handling, airline information, history of the real one, etc.

Sixth, the results of your work: if you made a "textures only" file, a folder called texture.x; if you made a "ready to fly" file, include the four folders (panel, texture, sound and model) and two files (aircraft.cfg and model_of_plane.air) that the plane needs to work. Of course, there can be an effects folder, a gauges folder, and another textures folders. It's not so difficult because all these extra folders must have been included in the original plane. I'm not being more specific because, remember, there are manuals where you can read the detailed specifications. (FlightSim.Com offers tutorials on installing complete aircraft here and repaints here.)

So, once you made a zip file with all the previous parts included, you can upload this. Just pick your favorite web site, hopefully www.flightsim.com and another one if you want. There are sites where your artwork can have a score, there are sites where the downloads are counted, there are national sites and there are dead sites.

And here is where we the repainters begin to suffer. When you released your repaint and a flightsimmer says "beautiful plane but slow". Well, thanks for the beautiful, that's what I intended, but a PBY-5A has a "never exceed speed (Vne)" of 173 kts. It can't be supersonic! Sometimes one of your better creations receives a bad evaluation due to installation mistakes. Sometimes the web site where your file is stored suffers a crash and all the counters are reset.

But not everything is bad. Many days you receive emails from people who like your creations. And from any place of the world! You can have friends from Panama, Austria, Spain, UK, Aruba... A few days ago I met an air hostess and she was interested in me! (Well, being a blond man with green eyes helps a lot.) And many of the feedback and ratings are wonderful. Thanks, thanks, thanks.

Another reward you can receive is when you do a search on the Internet and find your files on other web sites. It means that someone downloaded your artwork, liked it and uploaded again to another place. Sometimes a virtual airline selects one of your planes for its fleet. It is better for me that a 10/10 rating, but not better than a email.

Of course, it can happen only if you do a good job. As I said before, I am making these for joy, but once you decide to release a file, it's a matter of self esteem to do your best to release a plane as good as you can do, given the proper family, real job and time limits. Because the third and last weapon you give to your file is your reputation. Because I want that anybody who downloads one of my seventy plus files can feel that I did the best I could.

It includes doing fixes when something was wrong. Sometimes, even doing your best, there is a mistake: the color of a shadowed part of the plane was different, the flight dynamics are improved... then do a fix, and release it. A fix must have the file_id.diz and the installation.txt files to help "just fly" simmers to correct the mistake.

I could include many other things that you would be interested to know, but I don't include them in this series. When I start to receive feedback from you, the readers, I saw that many of you believed that the name of this series was "how to paint". But I don't want hundred of repainters using the same method. I want people trying, inventing, looking for ideas and improving the work done for many others, me included.

Alejandro Hurtado
dracosist@cantv.net

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