AI FLIGHT PLANNER (Version 2)
Flight Plan and Repaint Installer
Addendum
to the AI Flight Planner User Manual
AI Flight Planner Version 2 ("AIFP2") adds a
flight plan and repaint Installer
("installer") as a "front-end" to the existing AI Flight
Planner Version 1.6 ("AIFP") flight planning editor ("FP Editor")
and other tools.
The
installer was developed in cooperation with AIG (Alpha-India Group) who devoted
significant effort in assisting with its specification and conducted extensive
testing. While the installer has been
developed to meet AIG's specific requirements, it
remains a general purpose tool that may be used to install anyone's flight
plans and repaints so long as:
Thanks to AIG for their advice and assistance in the
development of AI Flight Planner Version 2.
The installer is controlled from a new dialog,
sometimes referred to as "the Main Panel".
This manual documents
the new Flight Plan and Repaint Installer only and the operation of the Main Panel. Please refer to the main User Manual for
information on other aspects of AI Flight Planner.
The first time you start AIFP2, you will see a dialog
similar to the one on the following page (without the data, of course). The menu items from
the editor that are applicable to flight plan and repaint installation are
duplicated on this installer dialog. If
your AI flight planning tasks do not involve editing of flight plans or airport
data, they can probably be accomplished entirely from the Main Panel.
AIFP2 defaults to the Main Panel at startup. However, using an Options menu selection, you
may start AIFP with either the Main Panel or the FP Editor (in the FP Editor, check Options
/ Show Main Panel at Startup or, on the Main Panel, check Options / Show FP
Editor at Startup). AIFP2 will always close when the
Main Panel is closed. You may direct
that AI Flight Planner close also when the FP Editor is closed using the Options
/ Close AIFP from Editor menu item from either
dialog. Finally, switching
between the new installer and the familiar editor requires but a single mouse
click (Main Panel Flight
Plans / Edit Flight Plan List and FP Editor Options / Show Main Panel ).
As noted above, the Main Panel has an extensive
selection of menu-initiated functions.
Except where specified otherwise, these functions are the equivalent of
their identically-named counterparts available from the FP Editor. Please refer to the main AI Flight Planner
User Manual for information on their operation.
The flight plans to be manipulated are selected using
the Flight Plan Data Source textbox or the associated Select Button. If you check the Renumber Aircraft From 1
checkbox, the aircraft in the aircraft list will be renumbered sequentially and their flight plan
references updated to reflect that new numbering.
Figure 1 - AI Flight Planner Version 2 Main Panel
As source
data for your AI flight planning activities, you may use a:
If the flight plan data provider has included a
fully-configured aifp.cfg
file (see Appendix "A"), the installation of any required repaints
can be completed with only a few mouse clicks.
The following discussion pertaining to installation
from archive files assumes the flight plan data provider has included all
necessary data in the aifp.cfg
file. If that data is not complete, or
even if the file is missing, you will still be able to install the flight plans
and/or repaints, but you will be asked to enter certain information (such as
repaint file names) that would otherwise be specified in the aifp.cfg file. As well, if there is no aifp.cfg file, certain
functions/displays that rely on aifg.cfg entries, such as alternate traffic file naming (see
below) or display of the airline logo and name, will not be available.
Installing Flight Plans
As noted in
Section 4 of the main User Manual, if an AI aircraft is scheduled to arrive
more than about 37 minutes later than it would based on distance/cruising speed
(that specified in the aircraft…txt file) , it will not materialize for landing. To address this problem, some suppliers of
complete AI add-on packages, specify a cruise speed of about 200 kts for all aircraft.
AIFP2 uses
a different approach - one that does not require use of artificial cruise
speeds. Unfortunately, the 200 kt cruise speed is problematic when used in conjunction
with AIFP2. So, when using such prepared flight plan information, you should
restore the aircraft cruise speed to the value in the relevant aircraft.cfg/sim.cfg
file. Several main menu functions allow
this to be done selectively once the flight plans have been loaded. Alternately, check Use AC Cruise Speed from Aircraft.cfg before loading the flight plan data and AIFP2
will automatically manage the task for you.
Enter the path to the flight plan source data (.bgl/.txt/.zip) into the Flight Plan data
source textbox, either directly or using the paired Select button. Once that file is loaded, the number of
included flight plans and the total number of legs is shown at the upper left,
the titles of the involved aircraft are displayed in the listbox
at the upper right (the "Aircraft List") and a suggested path for the
compiled traffic file is displayed in the Traffic File textbox. If loading an archive file that includes aifp.cfg, the
Airline name, logo, call sign and parking code, and the time period to which
the data applies will be displayed in the upper left hand corner of the dialog. The flight plans are validated for the
selected Flight Simulator version as they are loaded and any errors or unusual
conditions are reported. Warnings (as
opposed to errors that will prevent compilation or operation of the AI) may be
suppressed from the Options menu.
In the Aircraft List, the titles of already-installed
aircraft are shown in black. Those that
are not yet installed are shown in red. The
main Aircraft menu contains a number of functions that may be used to
manipulate the aircraft in the aircraft list.
AIFP2
defaults to the Scenery\World\Scenery
folder for FS9 or FSX, as applicable, for storage of traffic files. But, you may direct it to save those file
elsewhere by entering a new path directly into the Traffic File textbox or
using the paired Select button (see Specifying the Traffic File Name and Characteristics
below).
If you do save elsewhere, (e.g., in an AddOn Scenery\scenery folder) you may control
the display of the traffic in the same manner as a scenery add-on using the
Flight Simulator Scenery Library. AIFP2
will create the Scenery Library entry for you.
Just check the Make Scenery Library Entry checkbox and specify a name
for it. AIFP2 will do the rest. Once the Scenery Library entry has been
created, or if AIFP2 finds an existing Scenery Library entry that
"points" to the scenery folder in which the traffic file is to be
saved, these two fields will be disabled.
When all the required aircraft are installed and you
are otherwise happy with the data, you need only select the Flight Simulator
version to which the traffic file is to apply and click the Compile and Save
button.
Multi-Session Operations
Should you be missing a number of repaints and wish to
install then over several AIFP2 sessions, at the end of each session, save the
flight plan file set (Files menu) and load it, rather than the original archive
at the beginning of the next session.
(If you reload the original archive, you will loose any substitutions
you have made.) If you have checked
Options / Reload
Last File on Startup, AIFP2 will do this automatically (provided you save your
changes).
Should you wish to undo one or more substitutions,
however, a quick way to do it would be to reload the original archive.
Specifying the Traffic File Name and Characteristics
When you load flight plan data, AIFP2 will suggest a name
for the traffic file based on the named of the flight plan data file(s). If you wish to change this name, you may do
so by entering the desired name directly into the Traffic File textbox on the
Main Panel. Alternately, click on the
Select button paired with the textbox, which will bring up the Compile Dialog.
The Compile Dialog allows you to specify both the name
of the traffic file and the folder into which the it
will be saved. You may also specify a
"_FS9" or "_FSX" suffix be added to the file name you
specify (if it doesn't already include such a suffix).
Figure 2 - Compile Dialog
Two additional
functions are available from the Compile Dialog:
Traffic_Key_Provider_Airline_Season/Year
Once checked this box remains checked and the
key-string persists until you change it/them.
If no aifp.cfg
file exists for the loaded flight plans, this second option is disabled (greyed-out) and the default naming will be used.
Click the Continue button to return to the Main Panel
or FP Editor as applicable.
The Aircraft List
The Aircraft List includes all the aircraft used by
the currently-loaded set of flight plans - both those that are already
installed (shown in black) and those that are missing (shown in red). AIFP2 includes a several functions (described
below) for obtaining the missing aircraft/repaints from Avsim
or Flightsim and installing them on your system.
These
functions, most of which are available either by right-clicking on the title of
interest in the Aircraft List or by clicking the Download/Install/Substitute
Individual Repaints button include::
The titles
of missing aircraft to which one or more of these functions apply are suffixed
as follows:
* The
associated repaint archive may be downloaded
** The
associated repaint archive is available and assignments to it may be made
*** The
title is ready for installation
Functions that cannot be used on the selected aircraft
title are disabled (greyed-out).
Missing Aircraft/Installation of Repaints
Aircraft that are required for the performance of a
set of flight plans and that are not currently installed on the users system
are highlighted in the Aircraft List using a red font. If there are any missing aircraft, the
Download/Install/Substitute Individual Repaints button is enabled.
Whether or not a given aircraft is already installed
is determined solely by matching the aircraft titles from the supplied
aircraft_....txt file with the titles ("Title=" entries in the
"[Fltsim.x]" sections of aircraft.cfg
files) of the installed aircraft. So, an
aircraft may be shown as missing when, in fact, the only problem is that the
author of the flight plan data uses a title different than that of the
installed aircraft. In that case, you
don't need to re-install the aircraft.
Rather, simply substitute (see next section) the installed.
As an alternative to using the context menu of the
Aircraft List, missing aircraft may be downloaded, assigned, installed and
substituted using the Missing Aircraft dialog.
Click the Download/Install/Substitute Individual Repaints button and the
dialog shown below appears.
Figure 3 - Missing Aircraft Dialog
Missing
aircraft are color coded as follows:
Following each substitution or installation, the
relevant title is removed from the Missing AC list. When the final item is processed, the Missing
Aircraft Dialog closes automatically.
You may sequence the listed aircraft either by title
or reference number. The registration
numbers assigned to each aircraft by the current set of flight plans may be
seen by checking Show Registrations. Use
of the FS9 and FSX radio buttons changes not only the displayed list of
aircraft, but also changes the Target Version back on the Main Panel and on the
FP Editor.
Installation of a repaint involves adding appropriate
"[fltsim.x]" data to aircraft.cfg in an existing
aircraft folder and copying a texture folder (named Texture.xxxxx where "xxxxx" matches the "texture=" entry in the
"[fltsim.x]" data) to that same aircraft
folder. The aircraft to which a repaint
applies must already be installed, and you should confirm that it operates
satisfactorily as an AI aircraft. During
installation, AIFP2 will confirm that the .air
file and model designated in the "[fltsim.x]"
data for the repaint already exist in the target aircraft folder. If they do not, you may specify that (one of)
the existing .air files or models be
used instead.
AIFP also checks that the designated texture folder is
available in the repaint archive. If it
isn't, you may assign one of the textures already available for the model. (This would usually be a temporary solution
that allows you to install the other parts of the repaint and use the title
while you locate the proper textures.) If there is more than one texture folder
in the archive for the selected repaint, the Copy All Textures checkbox is
enabled. Check it to install all
available textures to the target aircraft folder. Otherwise, only the texture assigned to the
selected repaint will be installed - with one exception.
AIFP2 regards any folder in the repaint archive whose
name ends with the character string "32bit" or "32?bit" (where "?" may be any character) -
whether or not contained in parenthesis -
as alternate 32-bit textures. If
the folder name starts with "texture", the folder is considered to be
a qualified texture folder that may be used directly; otherwise, it is
considered simply as a collection of 32-bit textures that must be manually configured. When both DXT3 and 32-bit texture folders for
the model being installed exist, AIFP2 will so advise you and ask if you want
to install both. If both folder names
starts with "texture.", you will also have the option of specifying
which set of textures to activate.
Typically, a repaint archive includes a text file that
contains the necessary AI parameters for inclusion in the target aircraft.cfg
file. Often, this file is named "[Fltsim.x].txt" or something similar. However, sometimes the information is
contained in the "readme" for the archive or another file. If a file named "[Fltsim.x].txt"
(or one of the alternate name specified in aifp.cfg) is not found in the
repaint archive, you will be asked to identify the file that contains the
information. If no such file exists, you
may still install the repaint; AIFP2 will use default parameters that you may
later replace if necessary. Thus, it is possible to install a repaint archive
the contains only the texture files - either in .zip file format or unzipped directly to the AIFP2 Repaints folder
in a sub-folder named for the aircraft title to which it is to apply.
When you select an aircraft in the
Missing Aircraft list, only the buttons for the functions available for that
aircraft are enabled. For some functions (as noted below), you may
select more than one aircraft, in which case that function is performed for
each aircraft in sequence.
Double-clicking on any item initiates the most likely function for that
aircraft. (For example, if the repaint
for an aircraft is available - colored green - the Install function will be
initiated by a double click on that item.)
You may view the repaint-related information in aifp.cfg by right-clicking on any
listed aircraft.
The buttons
across the bottom of the dialog perform the following functions:
The temporary aircraft folders AIFP2 creates in its
Repaints folder when unpacking repaint archives are automatically deleted
following installation of the repaint.
However, the archive files themselves are not deleted, since it is not
possible for AIFP2 to "know" when you are finished with a repaint archive. Consequently, the AIFP2 Repaints folder may
eventually contain a number .zip
files that are no longer required. This
should not cause any difficulty; but you may wish to delete these obsolete
files periodically.
Substituting for Missing Aircraft
When you click the Substitute button, a list of installed
aircraft meeting the "Seek" criteria set out in aifp.cfg (see Appendix
"A") is shown. If the desired
substitute (installed) aircraft is in the list, select it and click the
Substitute button/menu item or double-click on the aircraft in the Missing Aircraft
list. The missing aircraft to which the
substitution applies will disappear from the Missing Aircraft list and, when
you return to the Main Panel, the substituted aircraft will appear in the
Aircraft List in its place, colored black.
The contents of the initially-displayed list of
substitution candidates depends on what the author of the flight plan
"package" wanted you to see.
There may be other aircraft installed on your system that would be
acceptable (or even preferable) substitutes but that are not shown in that
first list. Indeed, there may be no
aircraft installed on your system that meets that author's criteria. So, AIFP2 allows you to enter alternate
criteria for substitution candidates which, for the purposes of this section
are called "seek strings", or "*" for all installed
aircraft.
Seek "strings" may test any aircraft.cfg [fltsim] parameter. They
take the following format:
aircraft.cfg [fltsim] parameter =
value.
value may be any string. For exact match,
specify value as the string alone;
for "string contained in", start and end the entered string with
"*" (think DOS wildcard). You may also specify "starts
with" or "ends with" by placing the "*" at the end or
beginning respectively. So:
Multiple seek arguments are separated by
"|". You could be more specific using:
atc_airline=Thomson* | title=&*First Choice
Livery*"
which would require a "starts-with" match on atc_airline and also the title to include "First
Choice Livery". Note the "&" sign immediately
following "title=". This means there must be a match on that
parameter (i.e., an "and" function). If the "&'s are
omitted, then a match on either parameter suffices ("OR" function).
Multiple field entries are evaluated from left to right (i.e., no parenthesis).
So, the sequence of the items is important if there's a "&"
somewhere in the string.
Fields which must be empty are specified as
"atc_id=", with or without the
"&", which in this example means registration number not specified.
In addition, there are three "pseudo"
field names that may be use if you are satisfied with a "string contains"
approach. They are:
These
searches are always performed case insensitive.
Quote marks should not be used unless the aircraft.cfg file item of
interest requires them - in which case they will be considered as part of the
"seek string".
Install
Archive
This feature should only
be used by those knowledgeable about "aircraft.cfg"
files
Experienced AI users who do not need (or want)
AIFP2's "hand-holding" may wish to install entire repaint archives
and directly edit the affected aircraft.cfg files.
To do so:
As
for normal installs, AIFP2 will confirm that the required .air file(s), model(s) and texture folder(s) are available. As well, AIFP2 confirms that no existing AI
titles will be duplicated. If all is not
well, you will be given an opportunity to abort the installation.
The
installer creates a suitably-numbered, but - other than deletion of duplicate
titles - otherwise unaffected, "[fltsim.x]"
entry for each repaint in the archive and copies all available texture folders
to the target aircraft folder. There is
no attempt to designate alternate .air files,
models or textures. So, some
"touch-up" to the affected aircraft.cfg file may be necessary.
This feature should only
be used by those knowledgeable about "aircraft.cfg"
files
Special
Liveries
Special Liveries is a feature that
substitutes repaints on the basis of registration numbers. Special liveries, generally, are distributed
separately from the flight plans to which they apply.
Unfortunately, the content/configuration
of the archive files in which they are distributed varies from author to
author, making automation of the installation process very difficult. So, except for the actual installation of a
special livery, AIFP2 relies on you to tell it what to do. (Should some semblance of standardization in
this regard be instituted, perhaps AIFP2 can be upgraded to make this task
easier.)
Figure 4 - Special Liveries Dialog
To begin, install the flight plans and
associated aircraft to which the special livery applies. Then, after unzipping the special livery
archive to a folder of your choice and with the flight plans loaded in AIFP2,
click the Special Liveries button on the Main Panel. AIFP2 will ask you to select the special
livery file. This will be the file,
perhaps named Special Livery.cfg
in the special livery archive that defines how each special livery item is to
be handled. (The file name doesn't
matter; it's the contents of that file that's important.) Once that file is identified and verified to
contain special livery information, a dialog similar to the above will be
displayed, containing a list of all the special liveries in the file.
Select a title in the list. The Select Texture button will be
enabled. Click it, and identify the
folder containing the textures you wish to use with this title. Once the texture has been selected, the list
item will be colored black and the Install button will be enabled.
You need not install the special livery at
this time. AIFP will remember the
texture selection and will automatically enable the install button when you
later return to this item.
When you (eventually) click the Install
button for an item, or double-click on a list item for which the texture has
been assigned, AIFP2 will generate a list of all installed aircraft with the
call-sign specified in Special Livery.cfg for
the selected aircraft and ask you to Select Base Aircraft for Special Livery
(i.e., the aircraft/repaint which is to be replaced by the special livery) If the base aircraft you want is not in the
list, specify alternate "seek criteria" (as for Substitute).
Select the base aircraft in the list and
click on the Make Special Livery button, or double-click on the base
aircraft. AIFP2 does the rest. It:
Add Single Livery
The Add Single Livery functionality allows
you to specify a different repaint for a single aircraft based on the
registration number specified in the flight plan. It is similar to Special Liveries described above,
except that there is no need for a Special
Livery.cfg file.
To change the "paint scheme" for
a specific aircraft registration number, click on the Add Single Livery
button. You'll be asked to enter the
registration number and to specify whether or not the repaint is installed.
If the repaint is already installed,
select it from the list presented (or generate additional lists as when Substituting for Missing Aircraft above and select from one
of those). The selected repaint will be
added to the Aircraft List and the aircraft reference number in all the flight
plans that use the specified registration number will be updated to use the new
aircraft.
If the desired repaint is not yet
installed, you will be asked to select the "base" aircraft (as for Special
Liveries) and a new aircraft whose title will be the title of the base aircraft
suffixed with the registration number will be added to the Aircraft List (in
red). Then, the aircraft reference
number in all the flight plans that use the specified registration number will
be updated to use the new aircraft. As
well, the new aircraft title will appear in the missing aircraft list should
the Missing Aircraft Dialog later be displayed. The
associated repaint should be installed as for any other missing aircraft.
Problems/Error Reports/Support
Should you encounter difficulty installing flight
plans, repaints or special liveries with AIFP2, we'd like to know about
it. To the extent the problem lies with
AIFP2, we'll try and fix it.
But, please bear in mind that, unlike flight plan data
and traffic files, there are no standards for repaints. Repaint authors
package their offerings in a variety of ways.
AIFP has been tested with repaints from numerous authors and copes with
them all. But, there are bound to be a
few situations we didn't encounter during testing that AIFP2 may not
"know" how to handle. Should
you have difficulty with a particular repaint, please check
the [fltsim.x] data included with the repaint and
verify that texture folder names match the corresponding [fltsim.x] texture entry, and that the [fltsim.x]
data is otherwise appropriate before reporting a potential problem with
AIFP2. Should you then still believe the
problem is with AIFP2, please attach the entire repaint archive file to your
report or tell us from where we can download it. Without the file, it's highly unlikely we'll
be able to do much.
Please direct your problem reports to the AIG forum
(area to be announced) or to the AI Flight Planner support forum at fsdeveloper.com.
End User License
Agreement
As used in
this end user license agreement, the terms "AI Flight Planner",
"AIFP" and "AIFP2" shall be construed as encompassing the full
contents of the downloadable archive (.zip)
file originally created and posted for distribution on “download sites” by the
author, including without limitation: the executable files AI Flight Planner.exe and/or AIFP2.exe, the associated user manuals
and the data files AirportList_Base.dat,
ICAO_IATA.dat
and Timezone_Base.dat,
and any derivates thereof.
You are
granted a free, non-exclusive right solely to install and use AI Flight Planner
on your computer system(s) for your own personal enjoyment and, subject to what
follows and the rights of others, to use and distribute flight plan and
aircraft data in TTools text or MSFS compiled format
files created or modified with AI Flight Planner (“derivative files”).
You may not:
without
the express written permission of the author. Use as may be permitted for
commercial purposes may be subject to a license fee.
Your use of
AI Flight Planner is entirely at your own risk.
You assume and are responsible for any and all liabilities and damages
arising therefrom no matter how caused.
By installing
or otherwise using any part of AI Flight Planner, you are deemed to have agreed
to the foregoing.
AI Flight Planner - © 2008-2010 - Don
Grovestine
Appendix "A" - AIFP.CFG FORMAT
The AIFP.cfg file:
This file is included in the archive that contains the
flight plan, aircraft and airport files in TTools
format.
Archive files that do not include a
AIFP.cfg
file may still be installed with AI Flight Planner. However, the user must direct the
installation by entering certain information when requested.
The AIFP.cfg file contains five sections, or blocks:
Sections that are not required may be omitted. Comments (lines commencing with
"//") may
be placed anywhere in the AIFP.cfg file. Data,
including block names, may be entered in upper case, lower case or a mix. Data, but not block names, may be
padded with spaces; however, lines containing data may not start with a space.
[main] Block
The [main] block contains general descriptive
information and usually (but not necessarily) includes:
Airline = name
of airline, which is saved in the "ui_variation"
parameter; where several operators provide service under the "banner"
of a major airline, this field will specify the major airline
Callsign
= call-sign of the operator, which is saved in the "atc_airline" parameter
Airline_ICAO
= ICAO
code of the operator, which is saved in the "atc_parking
_codes" parameter
Season = any
text string describing the time-applicability of the flight plans (e.g.,
"Fall 2010")
Seek = search criteria defining the
characteristics of installed aircraft that may offer an alternative to the
specified repaint when that repaint is not already installed. The format of this field is similar to
entries in the [seek] block (see below).
Provider = an acronym identifying the flight plan
provider. At the moment, this field is
used only to name the provider in the alternate traffic file naming scheme.
FS_Version = "FS9" or "FSX" (without
the quotes). This field identifies the
version of Flight Simulator for which the flight plans are written. (The day-encoding scheme differs between FS9
and FSX),
[repaints] Block
The [repaints] block specifies the suggested repaint
to be used for each aircraft and information on where that repaint may be
obtained.
Each entry in this block starts with the title of the
aircraft to which it applies. This title must match, exactly, the title in
the Aircraft_....txt file other than the upper/lower case mix.
The general format of each entry is: title = field1 | field2 | field3 | field4 | field5
Fields must
be separated using the vertical bar ("|") character and must be ordered as
follows:
Field 1 - The title of the repaint in the repaint archive to be used for this
aircraft. This field may be left blank
but, if the repaint archive contains more than one repaint or the title of the
single repaint does not match the title of the aircraft, the user must specify
this information prior to installation of the repaint.
Field 2 - The name and filetype
of the repaint archive (e.g.,"repaint.zip").
This field may be left blank, but the user must download and specify (using the
Assign function) the repaint archive.
Field 3 - The name and type of the
file in the repaint archive that holds the base [fltsim.x]
information if the file is named other than "Fltsim.x.txt". If this field is left blank and the file name
is other than the default, the user will be asked to identify the file in the
repaint archive.
Field 4 - Any text string identifying the download server from which the
repaint may be obtained (e.g., Avsim, FlightSim), This field is
displayed but not otherwise used by AI Flight Planner
Field 5 - A URL with which AI Flight Planner may initiate
download of the repaint archive. At time
of writing, the usual URL formats were:
for Avsim:
"http://library.avsim.net/sendfile.php?Location=AVSIM&Proto=ftp&DLID=nnnnnn"
for FlightSim:
"http://dfsn.flightsim.com/kdlr.php?fn=filename, where "n" is usually 1 or 2.
However, other formats may be
in use. You will need to check the
properties of the "download" button/link on the download page
to ensure you have the correct link.
As noted, any of these fields may be left blank. Trailing fields may be omitted entirely, but
the trailing field separator, at least, must be present for all fields except
the last. Indeed, the entire entry for any given title may be omitted, but the
user must provide some of the information in order to install the repaint.
[seek] Block / [main] Seek Entry
The repaint specifications in the [repaint] block are
simply suggestions. The user is free to
"substitute" any installed aircraft.
To assist the user in doing so, AIFP.cfg includes seek criteria which is used to generate a
list of possible substitutes from the aircraft installed on the user's
system.
The general format of seek criteria is: [fltsim.x] field
name = acceptable substitute value, e.g., "atc_airline
= Thomson" (without the quotes).
To permit
maximum flexibility, the acceptable
substitute value may be preceded or suffixed with the wildcard character
("*"). This method allows
specification of:
Multiple seek criteria may be entered if separated by
the vertical bar ("|") character.
(The whole is referred to as the "seek string".) If multiple criteria is entered, a logical
"or" function is assumed, i.e., the satisfaction of any of the
entered criteria constitutes a "match". If "and" functionality is desired
(i.e., a certain criteria must exist) the
acceptable substitute value should be preceded by the and
character ("&"). Note
however, the seek string is evaluated from left to right and evaluation stops
as soon as a match is found. So, to be
sure your "and" criteria is effective, it should be placed in the
left-hand portion of the string.
In addition
to [fltsim.x] field names, seek criteria may also
refer to:
Airline - which
is translated to "ui_variation",
Callsign
- which is translated to "atc_airline", or
Airline_ICAO
- which is translated to "atc_parking_codes".
In the interest of simplicity of use, for these three
entries only, the value entered is always treated as "field
contains", i.e., a wildcard character is added at each end..
A seek string for use in the [main] block is preceded
by "Seek = ". This string apples to all aircraft except those for
which a seek string is specified in the [seek] block. A seek string that applies only to a specific
aircraft is preceded by the title of that aircraft. (This title must match,
exactly, the title in the Aircraft_....txt file other than the upper/lower case
mix.)
[all] Block
The [all] block allows specification of any parameter
in the relevant [fltsim.x] block of the applicable aircraft.cfg file, allowing the flight plan provider to
override the data specified by the repaint author or to insert additional
fields.
The general
format of each entry is:
[fltsim.x]
parameter = replacement value
for
example:
description
= any text string, or
ui_manufacturer
= Airbus
Each parameter is placed on a separate line. No error checking is performed. Included quotation marks will be saved.
[fltsim] Block
A [fltsim] block entry has the same basic format and serves
the same purpose as the [all] block entry, except that:
§
it applies apply only to a single
aircraft;
§
it is preceded by the title of the
aircraft to which it pertains (title = parameter = new value); this
title must match, exactly, the title in the Aircraft_....txt file other than
the upper/lower case mix; and
§
if more than one parameter is to be
specified, the various specifications are separated with the vertical bar
("|") character: (title = parameter1
= value1 | parameter2 = value2 | etc)
[fltsim]
block entries take precedence over the [all] block entries.