Adding General Aviation (GA) aircraft for use with FS2002 AI flight plans

by Holger Sandmann


The sections below contain detailed instructions on how to download and set up AI versions of the following seven add-on GA airplanes:

(1) 1962 Beech B33 Debonair, by Geoffrey Applegate and James Eden
(2) Aeronca 11AC Chief, by Mike Stone
(3) DHC-2 Beaver CG-DVY green, by Fred Banting and Yannick Lavigne
(4) DHC-2 Turbo Beaver C-FBKB, by Fred Banting
(5) Pitts S-1S Special, by Mikko Maliniemi
(6) Piper Malibu Meridian, by Mike Stone
(7) Found Bush Hawk XP, by Steven Grant and Fred Choate



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Important Notes:

1. The copyrights to all of the add-on files used below remain with the original authors!!!  This is the very reason why you have to go through these elaborate procedures to replicate my personal set-up of AI aircraft.  As an End-user, you can use and alter any of these files as you please.  However, redistributing any combination of original and altered files, or parts thereof, is prohibited without prior permission by the author(s).

2. I have permission from Mike Stone and Fred Banting to include in my template folders the "tweaked" (changed) version of their original aircraft.cfg files.  This makes setting up the Chief, the Beavers, and the Meridian so much easier.  Thank you, Mike and Fred!

3. The two DHC-2 Beaver models were made with a design tool that does not support the display of dynamic parts when used as AI in FS2002.  Therefore, the propeller does not show and there are no moving control surfaces either.  In my mind, the unique look of these aircraft, combined with the excellent textures, fully compensate for this lack of dynamic features.  The choice is yours... 

4. If you want to use the Aeronca Chief and DHC-2 Beavers, you'll have to download the Beech B33 Debonair, as all of these aircraft require the Debonair's F33An.air file to work as AI aircraft.  Alternatively, you can use the F33An.air file included in GA Traffic Maker (see next topic).

5. Three of the add-on aircraft I use---the Debonair, Aeronca Chief, and Malibu Meridian---are also part of Mike Holland's extended version of his GA Traffic Maker (gatm11ex.zip and gatm_116.zip, available at http://caphollands.fsgateway.com/ ).  You can use these instead of the original aircraft and modifications I describe below but you will have to figure out for yourself how to make the necessary changes to your aircraft.txt and/or my GA_aircraft.txt files.  Also, only the Piper Malibu Meridian works as is with the very short runways encountered in many of my AFCAD files, and Mike's versions of the three aircraft use the original flight models without any modifications.  That's why I recommend using my changes and templates as outlined below.  Once you're satisfied with these versions, you can add them to your GA Traffic Maker roster.



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General Procedures:
Within the GA_add-on folder, you will find a number of folders that contain templates and files for the add-on aircraft described below.  Each folder contains sound and panel subfolders with the respective .cfg files aliased to an appropriate default aircraft.  These subfolders will save you hard drive space, since you won't see the AI aircraft's panel and FS2002 uses a fixed sound set for AI aircraft.  

In some of the AI aircraft folders you'll find a file called my_aircraft.cfg, which contains the changes you need to make to the original aircraft.cfg that comes with the downloaded add-on aircraft.  To make these changes, follow these general procedures (but don't start just yet):

1. Copy & paste the aircraft.cfg file from the folder of the original add-on aircraft into the corresponding AI_... folder.

2. Open both aircraft.cfg and my_aircraft.cfg in a text editor, such as Notepad or Wordpad.

3. In my_aircraft.cfg, highlight and copy the first section up to, but excluding, the dashed line "//---".

4. In aircraft.cfg, highlight the first section (beginning at [fltsim.0] and up to, but excluding, the [General] section) and paste the highlighted section from my_aircraft.cfg file.

5. For any other section separated by dashed lines in my_aircraft.cfg, find the corresponding section in the aircraft.cfg file and replace the corresponding lines (and only those!) with the ones listed in the my_aircraft.cfg file.

6. Save the modified aircraft.cfg file and close both.

Once you have completed all the necessary steps for your choice of add-on aircraft, you can either delete the original aircraft or, if you want to fly it yourself, complete the installation as directed by the author of that aircraft.  All of the originals use different aircraft titles and won't interfere with their AI counterparts.



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(1) 1962 B33 Beech Debonair, by Geoffrey Applegate and James Eden

1. Download B33.zip, B33_vcupdate.zip, and theB33patch.zip (at http://www.avsim.com) and install as directed.

2. Open the Debonair folder, and copy & paste the model.ai and texture.b33 subfolders and the F33An.air and aircraft.cfg files into my AI_Debonair folder (in the GA_add-on folder).

3. In the AI_Debonair folder, open aircraft.cfg and my_aircraft.cfg and complete all of the replacements as described in General Procedures above.

4. Open the texture subfolder and delete the large B33DEBVC.bmp file; doing so is optional but will reduce the impact on frame rates the Debonair might have on your system.

5. If you want to add the Aeronca Chief and/or Beavers as well, keep the AI_Debonair folder where it is for now.  Just remember to move the entire folder into your FS2002/aircraft folder once you're done with all installations.



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(2) Aeronca 11AC Chief, by Mike Stone

1. Download schief.zip (at http://www.pmstone.com/aircraft.html) and unzip into a temporary directory.

2. Open the Chief folder, and copy & paste the model and texture subfolders into my AI_Chief folder (in the GA_add-on folder).  Do not copy the aircraft.cfg file, as the complete modified version already resides in the AI_Chief folder.

3. Steps 3 and 4 are optional but will give you the tan and brown textures without the US aircraft registration on the fuselage.  Download chiefupdate2.zip (at http://www.avsim.com) and unzip into a temporary directory.

4. Open the texture folder and copy & paste all files into the texture subfolder of the AI_Chief folder; click on "Yes to all" when asked about replacing files.

5. Open the AI_Debonair folder and copy & paste the F33An.air into the AI_Chief folder.

6. No further edits are required.  Move the AI_Chief folder into your FS2002/aircraft folder.



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(3) De Havilland DHC2 Beaver, wheeled version, by Fred Banting and Yannick Lavigne

1. Download beaver7.zip (at http://www.avsim.com) and unzip into a temporary directory.

2. Download bvr7_upg.zip (at http://www.avsim.com) and unzip into the same temporary directory.  When warned about replacing files, click on "Yes to all".

3. Open the aircraft/Beaver_W folder and copy & paste the model and texture subfolders into my AI_DHC2 Beaver folder (in the GA_add-on folder).  Do not copy the aircraft.cfg file, as the complete modified version already resides in the AI_DHC2 Beaver folder.

4. Open the AI_Debonair folder and copy & paste the F33An.air into the AI_Chief folder.

5. No further edits are required.  Move the AI_DHC2 Beaver folder into your FS2002/aircraft folder.



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(4) De Havilland DHC-2 Turbo Beaver, wheeled version, by Fred Banting

1. Download tb4u.zip (at http://www.avsim.com) and unzip into a temporary directory.

2. Download tbeav4.zip (at http://www.avsim.com) and unzip into the same temporary directory.  When warned about replacing files, click on "Yes to all".

3. Open the aircraft/Turbo Beaver_Wheel folder and copy & paste the model and texture subfolders into my AI_DHC2 Turbo Beaver folder (in the GA_add-on folder).  Do not copy the aircraft.cfg file, as the complete modified version already resides in the AI_DHC2 Turbo Beaver folder.

4. Open the AI_Debonair folder and copy & paste the F33An.air into the AI_Chief folder.

5. No further edits are required.  Move the AI_DHC2 Turbo Beaver folder into your FS2002/aircraft folder.



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(5) Pitts S-1S Special, by Mikko Maliniemi

1. Download s1s_gmax.zip (at http://www.avsim.com) and unzip into a temporary directory.

2. Open the Pitts s-1s folder, and copy & paste the model and texture subfolders (not texture.1 or texture.2!) and the aircraft.cfg file into my AI_Pitts S-1S folder (in the GA_add-on folder).

3. Open your FS2002\aircraft\c172 folder and copy & paste the Cessna172SP.air into the AI_Pitts S-1S folder.

4. In the AI_Pitts S-1S folder, open aircraft.cfg and my_aircraft.cfg and complete all of the replacements as described in General Procedures above.

5. Save the modified aircraft.cfg file and close both files.

6. Move the AI_Pitts S-1S folder into your FS2002/aircraft folder.



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(6) Piper Malibu Meridian, by Mike Stone

1. Download smerid02.zip (at http://www.avsim.com) and unzip into a temporary directory.  Note that there's a newer version of the Malibu with night textures available on Mike Stone's website: http://www.pmstone.com/aircraft.html.  However, I have not tested whether it works as nicely as AI aircraft as the version contained in smerid02.zip. 

2. Open the meridian folder, and copy & paste the model and texture subfolders and the meridian.air file into my AI_Meridian folder (in the GA_add-on folder).  Do not copy the aircraft.cfg file, as the slightly modified version already resides in the AI_Meridian folder.

3. No further edits are required.  Move the AI_Meridian folder into your FS2002/aircraft folder.




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(7) Found Bush Hawk XP, by Steven Grant and Fred Choate

1. Download found.zip (at http://www.avsim.com) and unzip into a temporary directory.

2. Open the Found folder, and copy & paste the model.nvc and texture subfolders and the Found.air and aircraft.cfg files into my AI_Bushhawk folder (in the GA_add-on folder).

3. Download foundtextnew.zip (at http://www.avsim.com) and unzip into a temporary directory.

4. Move the Fuse_1.bmp file into the texture subfolder of my AI_Bushhawk folder; click on "Yes" if asked whether to replace the existing file.

5. In the AI_Bushhawk folder, open aircraft.cfg and my_aircraft.cfg, delete the three sections starting at "[fltsim.0]" and ending one line above "[General]" and replace it with the text in the my_aircraft.cfg file.

6. Save the modified aircraft.cfg file and close both files.

7. Move the AI_Bushhawk folder into your FS2002/aircraft folder.



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Congratulations on your new AI aircraft!  Next, please go back to the readme_first file and continue with the installation procedures.



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Disclaimer:
The author is not responsible for any damage, which may result from the use of this product.
Use at your own risk.  No warranty is offered.



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License:
This file package is released as Freeware.  As an End User, you can do whatever you want with it.  For redistribution on storage media or via the Internet (which I encourage), a number of conditions apply:
1) The archive must be distributed without modification to the contents of the archive.  Redistributing this archive with any files added, removed, or modified is prohibited.
2) The inclusion of any individual file from this archive in another archive without my prior permission is prohibited. 
3) No charge may be made for this archive other than that to cover the cost of its distribution.  If a fee is charged, it must be made clear to the purchaser that the archive is freeware and that the fee is to cover the distributor's costs of providing the archive.
4) I request a brief email notifying me of the website and/or procedure used for redistribution.



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Author:
Holger Sandmann
hsandman@sfu.ca
My aging system: PIII 750Mhz, 256MB RAM, Radeon 8500 (64MB), 20GB HD, Windows 98SE.

March, 2003
