.Installing Aircraft

Introduction
So you've found the fscommunity and you've downloaded some third party add-ons. Well, let us tell you, you have started a journey that will bring you endless joy and entertainment! Flight Simulator to us is nothing without add-ons. If you have a file now be it .zip or .exe you need to follow a few steps to get it running in your Simulator. Soon you'll be a pro and it really is easy once you know the steps.

Zip files
Many Authors place their works in a compressed zip file. This is the most common way you'll see files being distributed. There are self extracting files and .exe files that pretty much do the same thing. The thing to remember is that the .exe files usually don't need intervention by you as they know where to place the aircraft once extracted.

Zip file utility You will need a 32 bit unzip utility to de-compress and install files from the net. There are many to choose from. The main function of the "unzipper" is to place chars(data) back into the file where they were taken out by a compression utility. That's all you really need to know except that some programs do have what's called "spyware" you know we like to be honest. If you perform an internet search at http://www.google.com/ or http://download.com with 'zip programs' as the criteria you'll find that there are hundreds to choose from! We recommend winzip as it is easy in it's functionality and is free. Once you have a Zip utility proceed to the next step.

Where do I put it?
It's important to place the file you downloaded into a temporary directory.

Temp Directory It's a good idea to save your downloaded files into a temp directory. That way you don't loose track of them or the files that have been extracted. So, create a temporary folder and place your .zip or. exe file in it.

How do I create the folder?
It was recently asked that we show how to create the Temp folder. Most all of Microsoft Windows programs will work in the same fashion. We are working with Win98SE. Select the drive where you want to be working with zip files.

Choose location It's a good idea to save your downloaded files into a temp directory. That way you don't loose track of them or the files that have been extracted. So, create a temporary folder and place your .zip or. exe file in it.

New Folder The above screenshots show that we right clicked the mouse in the clear white space within the drive contents. We then selected New then folder. This shot shows the folder yet not named.

Rename Now we rename it to Temporary. Once we've done that we 'step off' meaning just click the white space or anything else and the name change takes effect.

Downloading tip
We wanted to show you briefly a good downloading practice so that you don't loose track of your files.

Download
As you see here we have clicked a link to download the file to our Hard Disk. We select the dropdown box and choose (I:) this is where we created the Temporary folder. For the rest of this tutorial however we will have the Temporary directory on (M:) as this is where the Sim is. It can be any drive you want. One with a lot of space!

Extract
Now right click the file and make a choice. Here we choose to have the file make it's own folder.



File Contents
Now we should have a new folder inside our Temporary folder.



File structure

Wrappers Some authors wrap the aircraft in another folder or put the aircraft inside another zip file. Browse through the newly created folder to see if that is the case. If so, you need to remove the wrapper. The actual folder here it is 752_nwa, not aircraft. If you just went ahead and placed a folder called aircraft into FS2002 chaos would ensue!

A Fight Simulator Aircraft
As you can see in the above screenshot the aircraft consists of 5 parts 1 main folder and four subfolders (some custom aircraft will have 5 sub folders). The four subfolders are always model, panel, sound and texture. The panel is most often customized and may require you to install new Gauges.

Gauges If the file structure contains a folder called gauges you need to cut all those files within and paste then to your FS2002/gauges folder. Some files may ask you to replace the old file. If you feel uncomfortable doing this make a note of the ones that said replace and create back-ups. Then go back and replace them.

A Fight Simulator cabin
Sometimes you may need to configure a panel if it is causing problems. You can always assign an aircraft the generic Microsoft panels that shipped with the simulator.

Panel
If the file panel.cfg needs configuring then you can assign it to a stock panel here it is assigned panel.heavyjet.2. Most developers will not have you do this though as it is not part of their package.

Lets install!
Okay, so now your ready to place the whole kit into the FS2002/aircraft directory.



Cut



And Paste

Start Flight Simulator
The aircraft is installed. Wasn't that easy! Next you should start FS2002 and make sure it likes the structure and all the files are intact. If the sim starts and gives you a menu look for the aircraft you just installed.

Garreth Jones - Aircraft and Scenery
Planesimulation.com