Adding Commercial 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 eight add-on commercial airplanes:

(1) Airbus A319, by FS Painter, with Air Canada repaint by Jun Kazama
(2) ATR42-300, by Project AI, with First Air repaint by Peter Liddell
(3) British Aerospace BAe 146-200, by Project AI, with Air BC repaint by Peter Liddell
(4) Boeing 737-200, by Project AI, with Air Canada ZIP (pink) repaint by Kyle Duncan
(5) Beechcraft 1900D, by Mike Stone, with Air Alliance repaint by Mike Stone
(6) Beechcraft 1900D, by Mike Stone, with Central Mountain Air repaint by Gord Spence
(7) Bombardier CRJ-100, by FS Painter, with Air Canada repaint by Jack Woods
(8) DH8C Dash 8Q-300, by Project AI, with Air Canada Jazz (green) repaint by Jeff Sargent



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Important Notes:

1. The copyright 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. Navigating the Project AI website (http://projectai.flight1.net/) can be pretty confusing and individual pages as well as aircraft and repaint file names get changed frequently.  Currently (March 2003), the aircraft models, called "paintkits", can be found starting from http://projectai.flight1.net/certified/paintkits.php, and the individual repaints starting from http://projectai.flight1.net/files/PAI%20Aircraft%20Library/.

3. If you want to add or substitute repaints, feel free to do so.  Just make sure that the AC#, cruise speed and aircraft title match between the Aircraft.txt, FlightPlan.txt, and "title= ..." line in the aircraft.cfg files.

4. If the Beechcraft B1900s have too much of a frame rate impact on your system, you can use Project AI's B1900 model and repaints instead (all available at the Project AI website).  In my opinion, Mike Stone's model looks much nicer.




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General Procedures:

As with the GA add-on aircraft, I have prepared folders for each aircraft model and placed them in the COM_add-on folder.  Each of the folders contains sound and panel subfolders with the respective .cfg files aliased to an appropriate default aircraft, for the same reason as described for the GA add-on aircraft.  Since most of the commercial aircraft models used here are specifically designed for AI use, the only required changes to the aircraft.cfg files are the aircraft title and some of the general descriptors, as well as three lines in the [flight tuning] section.  Just replace the first section (between [fltsim.0] and the text line above [General]) with the text in my_aircraft.cfg up to, but excluding, the dashed line "//---".  Then find the three lines in the [flight tuning] section and replace them with the corresponding lines in my_aircraft.cfg.  The only exception is the B1900, for which I have permission from Mike Stone to include my complete "tweaked" (changed) version of their original aircraft.cfg file. 

Once you have completed all the necessary steps for your choice of add-on aircraft, you can either delete the remaining files and folders in your temporary folder or, if you want to fly it yourself (not recommended for the Project AI and FS Painter aircraft!), 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) Airbus A319, by FS Painter, with Air Canada repaint by Jun Kazama

1. Download ac_fsp_a319.zip (at http://www.avsim.com) and unzip into a temporary directory.  You may get a couple of error messages that appear to be related to some of the support files having non-English characters; ignore them by clicking "OK" and "Yes" and continue with unzipping.

2. Open the AC_fsp_a319 folder, and copy & paste the model.cfm and texture.ac subfolders into my AI_A319_AC folder (in the COM_add-on folder).

3. In the AC_fsp_a319 folder, open the For AI by hiro subfolder and move the fsp_a320.air and aircraft.cfg files into my AI_A319_AC folder.

4. In the AI_A319_AC folder, open aircraft.cfg and my_aircraft.cfg and complete the replacements as described in General Procedures above.

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

6. Move the AI_A319_AC folder into your FS2002/aircraft folder.



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(2) ATR42-300, by Project AI, with First Air repaint by Peter Liddell

1. Download atr42pai_paintkit.zip (from the Project AI Paintkits website) and unzip into a temporary directory.

2. Open the pai_atr42 folder, and copy & paste the model subfolder and the pai_atr.air and aircraft.cfg files into my AI_ATR42_FA folder (in the COM_add-on folder).

3. Open the texture.42 subfolder in the pai_atr42 folder, and copy & paste only the pai_atr42_l.bmp file into the empty texture subfolder in my AI_ATR42_FA folder.

4. Download Texture.FAB-First Air.zip (from the Project AI Repaints website) and unzip into a temporary directory.

5. Open the Texture.FAB-First Air folder and move only the pai_atr42_t.bmp file into the texture subfolder in my AI_ATR42_FA folder.

6. In the AI_ATR42_FA folder, open aircraft.cfg and my_aircraft.cfg and complete the replacements as described in General Procedures above.

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

8. Move the AI_ATR42_FA folder into your FS2002/aircraft folder.



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(3) 	British Aerospace BAe 146-200, by Project AI, with Air BC repaint by Peter Liddell

1. Download ba462pai_paintkit.zip (from the Project AI Paintkits website) and unzip into a temporary directory.

2. Open the PAI BA462 folder, and copy & paste the model subfolder and the BAe146-200.air and aircraft.cfg files into my AI_Bae146_BC folder (in the COM_add-on folder).

3. Download Texture.ABL-Air BC.zip (from the Project AI Repaints website) and unzip into a temporary directory.

4. Open the Texture.ABL-Air BC folder and move the two .bmp files into the empty texture subfolder in my AI_Bae146_BC folder.

5. In the AI_Bae146_BC folder, open aircraft.cfg and my_aircraft.cfg and complete the replacements as described in General Procedures above.

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

7. Move the AI_Bae146_BC folder into your FS2002/aircraft folder.



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(4) Boeing 737-200, by Project AI, with Air Canada ZIP (pink) repaint by Kyle Duncan

1. Download b732pai_paintkit.zip (from the Project AI Paintkits website) and unzip into a temporary directory.

2. Open the PAI B732 Paint Kit folder, and copy & paste the model subfolder and the Project Ai 737-200.air and aircraft.cfg files into my AI_B732_ZIP folder (in the COM_add-on folder).

3. Download Texture.ZIP-ZIP Airlines PK.zip (from the Project AI Repaints website) and unzip into a temporary directory.

4. Open the texture.ZIP-ZIP Airlines PK folder and move the two .bmp files into the empty texture subfolder in my AI_B732_ZIP folder.

5. In the AI_B732_ZIP folder, open aircraft.cfg and my_aircraft.cfg and complete the replacement of the first section as described in General Procedures above.  Note that the original aircraft.cfg does not have a [flight tuning] section.  Copy & paste the lines from my_aircraft.cfg into the aircraft.cfg file just above the [LIGHTS] section.

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

7. Move the AI_B732_ZIP folder into your FS2002/aircraft folder.



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(5) Beechcraft 1900D, by Mike Stone, with Air Alliance repaint by Mike Stone 

1. Download sb1900d.zip (at http://www.pmstone.com/aircraft.html) and unzip into a temporary directory.

2. Open the b1900d folder and copy & paste the model and texture.4 subfolders and the b1900d.air file into my AI_B1900_MS folder (in the COM_add-on folder).  Do not copy the aircraft.cfg file, as the complete modified version already resides in the AI_B1900_MS folder.

3. Continue with the next Section (6).



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(6) Beechcraft 1900D, by Mike Stone, with Central Mountain Air repaint by Gord Spence

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

2. In your temporary folder, highlight the 25 .bmp files and move them into the empty texture subfolder in my AI_B1900_MS folder.

3. In the AI_B1900_MS folder, open the texture.4 subfolder and copy & paste the prop_l.bmp file into the texture folder (it's missing in this repaint).

4. Find your Beech King Air 350 in FS2002\aircraft and copy & paste the Beech King Air 350.air into the AI_B1900_MS folder.

5. No further edits are required.  Move the AI_B1900_MS folder into your FS2002/aircraft folder.



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(7) Bombardier CRJ-100, by FS Painter, with Air Canada repaint by Jack Woods

1. Download crj100ac.zip (at http://www.avsim.com) and unzip into a temporary directory.

2. Open the CRJ-100 Air Canada folder, and copy & paste the model subfolder and the fsp_crj100_200.air and aircraft.cfg files into my AI_CRJ100_AC folder (in the COM_add-on folder).

3. In the CRJ-100 Air Canada folder, open the texture subfolder and move the fsp_crj12_l.bmp and fsp_crj12_t.bmp files into the texture subfolder of my AI_CRJ100_AC folder.

4. In my AI_CRJ100_AC folder, open aircraft.cfg and my_aircraft.cfg and complete the replacements as described in General Procedures above.

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

6. Move the AI_CRJ100_AC folder into your FS2002/aircraft folder.



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(8) DHC Dash 8Q-300, by Project AI, with Air Canada Jazz (green) repaint by Jeff Sargent

1. Download dash8_q300_paintkit.zip (from the Project AI Paintkits website) and unzip into a temporary directory.

2. Open the PAI DH8C folder, and copy & paste the model subfolder and the pai_dash8.air and aircraft.cfg files into my AI_DH8_JAZZ folder (in the COM_add-on folder).

3. Download Texture.ACA-Air Canada Jazz Green.zip (from the Project AI Repaints website) and unzip into a temporary directory.

4. Open the Texture.ACA-Air Canada Jazz Green folder and move the two .bmp files into the empty texture subfolder in my AI_DH8_JAZZ folder.

5. In the AI_DH8_JAZZ folder, open aircraft.cfg and my_aircraft.cfg and complete the replacements as described in General Procedures above.

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

7. Move the AI_DH8_JAZZ 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
