Aircraft Parking Codes Manager

1. Overview

Aircraft Parking Codes Manager it is a freeware program that allows you to modify the atc_parking_codes and atc_parking_types and the model radius of any variation of the planes in your FS2004 directory.

2. Software requirements

Microsoft .NET framework 1.1

Microsoft Flight Simulator A Century of Flight (FS9)

You need the Microsoft .NET framework 1.1 installed correctly in order to use this program.

3. Installation

Delete previous version (recommended).

Just unzip the files in any dir and run the program; you need a copy of ParkingSpecs.txt on the same folder as Aircraft Parking Codes Manager or specify on the ini file where it is.

Aircraft Parking Codes Manager is compatible with AFCAD2 and can coexist in the same folder, remember to no overwrite AFCAD2 ParkingSpecs.txt file with the one on this package; it may be outdated.

4. Revision history

Ver 1.6

Minor bugs corrected.

Added the ability to edit the aircraft.cfg from notepad.

Ver 1.5

Added following functionality:

· Modified the readme docs to readme_pm.

· Sorted the ICAO search combobox.

· Added the UI_variation to the aircraft details.

· The repaint listbox now show the fltsim variation plus the UI_Variation for more intuitive searching.

· When save a repaint it will show in black color text on the repaint listbox.

· The enter saving bug was removed.

· Added a status bar that informs about the saving operations of the file.

· Before saving the .CFG and .MDL files, the program will make a copy of the file named filename.cfg.APCM.BAK or filename.mdl.APCM.BAK in the same directory where the file resides, so you can go back in case the new file is messed up.

· Added a new option menu for selecting the recommended or simplified radius in the grid

· RADIUS MODIFICATION:

o Version 1.5 added the functionality to modify the radius of the mdl file of the selected repaint; it is explained bellow on the file.

o Added a grid where is shown the info about the recommended and simplified radius from project AI.

o Added a new option menu for selecting the recommended or simplified radius in the grid.

Ver 1.1

Added following functionality:

· Changed the ICAO label in the parkingspecs.txt section to a combobox, so you can do a ICAO search, it work’s like the airline name search and select an ICAO code will force the Airline name of that ICAO code.

· You can write the first letters in the Airline or ICAO search box to speed up your search.

· The ENTER Key on atc_parking_codes and atc_parking_types will cause the values of the textbox to be saved on the aircraft.cfg file. It’s not necessary hit the save button after pressing enter key.

· After you select an airline name or an ICAO code the atc_parking_codes textbox will get the focus so you can save the modifications with the ENTER Key.

· Added the capability of disable the ICAO not found warning in the options menu.

· Added a Parking Manager.ini file that must be in the same dir as Parking Manager.exe with the following sections:

[options]

Disable save warning =0

Disable ICAO warning =0

[file]

parking spec dir =

In the options section the program will save your warning options. In the file section you might specify where the parkingspecs.txt is located if you left it blank the program will assume that is in the same folder as Parking Manager.exe, example:

parking spec dir = C:\program files\AFCAD2004

Bugs:

· The readme file is not shown from the help menu.

Ver. 1.0:

First release.

5. Usage

5.1. Parking Codes and types modification.

At startup the program will find the main FS9 folder and place it in the FS9 Directory Textbox.

On the list box on the left side you will see all the aircraft installed in your FS9 Aircraft folder, after you select one Aircraft on the left list box will appear all the repaints this aircraft has:

As you can see the repaints appears in different colors depends if it has the atc_parking_xx configured, this is the color explanation.

RED = Repaint don’t have atc_parking_codes and atc_parking_types.

YELLOW = Repaint don’t have atc_parking_codes but have atc_parking_types.

BLUE = Repaint have atc_parking_codes but don’t have atc_parking_types.

GREEN = Repaint have atc_parking_codes and have atc_parking_types.

BLACK = Repaint was modified.

After you select a repaint the specific information of that repaint will appear in the bottom groupbox:

You will see the following Information: Title, Texture, Atc_airline, atc_parking_codes and atc_parking_types. Also will appear the parkingspecs.txt select . With the current airline loaded. If the code doesn’t match any entry in the file parkingspecs.txt it will appear blank.

You can change the atc_parking_codes and atc_parking_types manually or for atc_parking_codes you can choose an airline name form the browsing by Airline name or by ICAO code the parkingspecs.txt file and automatically it will update the atc_parking_codes textbox. The atc_parking_types has a pulldown menu where you can insert the default parking type for FS9.

You will also see the gate color that the airline use in AFCAD.

After the change was made you must save the file if you not do that al the changes will be lost.

You can save the file in two ways:

· By pressing the save button. It will save the atc_parking_codes and atc_parking_types on the aircraft.cfg file.

· By hitting the enter key on the atc_parking_codes and atc_parking_types textbox, It will save only the code or the type for the current aircraft on the aircraft.cfg file, depending where you pressed the key.

You will be asked if you want to modify the aircraft.cfg file. This confirmation can be disabled on the options menu. Before saving the program will do a copy of the file called aircraft.cfg.APCM.BAK if you want to restore the changes.

All the save notifications are now displayed on the bottom status bar as you can see in the image.

5.2. Model radius modification.

In the main screen you can modify the radius that FS9 will use to assign the aircraft to a gate this is done by modifying the model file located un the model folder of the Aircraft you want to modify. As for CFG files the program makes a backup of the mdl file before modifying it sample: filename.mdl.APCM.BAK.

When the application start it will show on the grid the latest data you loaded:

There are two set of data: simplified model radius and recommended model radius they are stored in separate files recommended.txt and simplified.txt this data is property of Project AI and is found at: http://afcad.projectai.com/documents/FS2004Parkingv6.html , This data is shown as reference only an this author has no responsibility of it’s contents. This two files must be in the same directory as the main program.

You can change the data set by selecting the appropriate item on the menu options – radius file, it will be remembered for the next time you use the program.

The data can be sorted by clicking the respective column name.

When you select a repaint will appear the name of the current model for the repaint and the current radius, also will appear a numeric entry where you can modify the radius for that aircraft:

Once modified remember to save the file or your modification will be lost you can save by clicking the save radius button or hitting the enter key on the numeric entry.

Clicking on the PAI logo will take you to the PAI AFCAD main page.

6. Reporting Problems

You can report problems with Aircraft Parking Codes Manager to:

Armando Di Francesco

http://www.flightsimmer.com/ In the forum area.

7. Copyright

Aircraft Parking Codes Manager and this document may not be distributed for commercial purposes or posted in the public domain without the author’s consent.

Microsoft and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

Thank’s to Matt Fox, Frank Cubillos, Chris Ken, Reggie Fields, Jhon Glossop and all the PAI Staff that tested and helped in the development of this tool.