Flight Simulator 2002 settings

FS2002 General settings

Adjusting your Sim

Can't hear certain sound effects
Running FS2002 Pro under Windows 2000 Professional, you can't hear ATC, Navaids, or the flaps.

Windows 2000 Pro uses many different drivers/codecs for sound and uses a priority list to determine which to use first. By promoting the Windows Media Audio codec to number 1, you may regain all of your sound.

System time
Many people are puzzled why, after setting FS2002 to use "System time", it doesn't appear to work. Here's an explanation that might help:

When you set FS2002 to use system time, it applies your current local time to the default location of your start flight (the one you get if you just open FS2002, select "Create a flight" and press "Fly now" without changing any details). All tests were conducted using this method.

What it does not do is recognise your time zone. To explain this more clearly, We'll use the example below:

Using Meigs and Liverpool UK , the time of the test is 23.30 25th November.

Startup location - Meigs
Local time - 23.30 (25th November)
G.M.T. - 05-52 (26th November)

Startup location - Liverpool UK
Local time - 23.30 (25th November)
G.M.T. - 23.30 (25th November)

So - where ever your startup location is, that is where FS2002 maps the time for the rest of the world from.

If you then change your location before flying, it still uses that original location to map the time in the rest of the world.

So again, if our default flight starts at Meigs, and, in "Create a flight" we choose Liverpool as our point of departure, the times shown are as follows:

Local Time: 04.30 (26th November)
G.M.T.: 04.30 (26th November).

Displaying the menu bar in FS2002 full screen mode
Maximized=0
Location=257,103,905,636
RUNNINGBADHW=0
HideMenuNormal=0
HideMenuFullscreen=1
HelpTopLeftX=451
HelpTopLeftY=-125

and switch the number 1 after hidemenufullscreento a 0.

Soundcard doesn't work with FS2002 in Windows XP
Go into the sound menu, or play control, and go to Advanced and check the box that says "1 Digital Output Only".

Making Gyro drift more realistic
Open up FS2002.cfg with your favorite text editor and look for the line "GyroEffect=1.000000". Change it to something more
reasonable, e.g. GyroEffect=0.125000

Removing ALL text messages from the screen
Using Notepad, open the FS2002.cfg file, located in the main FS2002 folder (make a backup of this file before attempting the modification). Locate the section about half way down titled [MAIN], and add this line to that section:

HideInfoText=1

Thus, the section should now look like this:

[MAIN]
RUNNINGBADHW=0
Location=188,102,955,724
HideMenuNormal=0
HideMenuFullscreen=1
Maximized=1
HelpTopLeftX=292
HelpTopLeftY=169
HideInfoText=1 <-------------------------THIS IS THE LINE TO ADD

FPS slider
The slider sets two values in your 2002.cfg file:

UPPER_FRAMERATE_LIMIT=xx (where xx is the value you set your slider to.)

This is located in the (Display) section of your 2002.cfg file and does exactly what it says. It locks your max frame rate to that value and then assigns additional resources to other tasks (such as smoothing guage motion, pre-loading scenery, etc.)

LOD_TARGET_FPS=xx (where xx is roughly 70% (rounded)of the value of the slider).

This is located in the (GRAPHICS) portion of the 2002.cfg file. This gives a "minimum" setting for Frame Rate.

If you maintain within this 30 percent bracket, the sim will pump out all the detail you have defined in the rest of your sliders. If you drift below the minimum, then it will start dropping detail in an attempt to get above the minimum. The first to go is texture detail, which explains the "muddy" or fuzzy textures people complain about. Some settings do not
seem to be affected. Autogen, for example does not seem to ever get turned off, where some people have reported loss of AI traffic, and loss of building detail (High Res Airports such as KORD).

Microsoft put this slider in the sim, to maintain the smoothness that we all love. Stuttering not only is aresult of RAW frame rate, but also the CHANGE of frame rate from one slice of time to another. This is most evident in turns. When you pass from a low density screen to a high density screen (such as going past New York City skyline), your FPS drops suddenly. If you were pushing 60 FPS and you drop to 20, the drop in frame rate is more noticeable than if you had been at 20 all the time.

To maintain proper operation of the slider, First determine your "comfort zone". Set the slider accordingly. Then tailor your other settings so that your sim can maintain that at all times in all (or most) conditions.

Some of you may want to override the slider instead. To override the slider, you need to do TWO things.
Setting the slider to unlimited merely removes the "roof" from the slider, It does not do ANYTHING to
the LOD_TARGET_FPS value. Thus if you previously had your slider set to 30FPS, then your minimum is still
LOD_TARGET_FPS is still set to 21.

To maximize your range, first set the slider to 10FPS (lowest setting), this will set LOD_TARGET_FPS to 7.
Exit and restart simulator to make sure the LOD_TARGET_FPS value is written and saved to the FS2002.cfg file. When restarting, then set the slider to unlimited. This will remove the limiter from your video card, while maintaining the lowest setting for LOD_TARGET_FPS so that detail is maintained.

Turning off the FS2002 Logo when FS2002 loads
Open fs2002.cfg, under the main section find ShowLogo=1

Change the 1 to a zero, no more logo.

How to open aircraft doors
To open / close main doors in the default FS2002 aircraft, hit "SHIFT" and
"E" simultaneously.

If the Aircraft has more than one door (that is capable of being opened), use the same procedure, but now hit numbers "2" to "4" immediately afterwards.

Fixing the thrust reverser permenently
Using FDE or any other air file editor, find the entry for thrust reverse, and change the value to -60.00000, when the enter key is pressed the number will change to -59.xxxxx, but it will work just fine.

Now you have thrust reverse all the time, anytime you press the F2 key. No more fooling around with inane joystick settings. This is permenant. It must be accomplished on all aircraft air files that support reverse thrust.