22 replies to this topic

[ThrottleUp]

Its very easy to use a default FSX VC with any plane you choose. The default FSX VCs wil be no match for a specialized uber-addon of course but I think Microsoft did a good job and its just fine for casual simmers.

In this example I will show you how to easily use the default 737-800 VC with the Posky 737NG series.

This is the procedure I have followed. Please feel free to correct me in case I have missed something. Once you get used to it you can do this really fast. It looks clunky at first but don't worry!

Before I begin there is one rule that must be satisfied: The aircraft model [u]must be compiled using the FSX SDK[/u]. The merge will NOT work if this is not the case. But how to tell?

1. Open the model folder of the plane in question.
2. Inside you will see a file (for example "737.mdl") Open Notepad and drag the .mdl file into it.
3. After some seconds a whole bunch of stuff will appear. don't worry we are only interested in the start of the text on the first line.
4. This is from Phil Taylors blog that explains the rest :

To determine if a model was built with the FSX SDK, use a file viewer or hex editor to look at the file. Near the beginning of the file, you should see the characters "[u]MDLXMDLH[/u]" if it's an FSX model. An FS2002/2004 model will show "MDL8MDLH"

Now that we have gotten that out of the way lets do a merge using a Posky 737NG as an example. We will use the 737-600. You might already have the Posky 737-600 in your FS9 folder.

[u]Part 1: Updating the FS9 Model[/u]
1. Copy the 737-600 folder into FSX\Simobjects\Airplanes
2. Delete the panel & model folders.
3. Now you need to go to the Posky website and download the updated 737-600 model for FSX.
4. We will use the Standard Model in this example which is named FSX)Standard Model Update 2 (OSX736)
5. Here is the download page: [url="http://tinyurl.com/c97mb5"]http://tinyurl.com/c97mb5[/url]
6. Download that model file and cut-paste the model folder into the 737-600 folder.

[u]Part 2: The Panel Merge with default VC[/u]
1. Copy-paste the panel folder from the default 737-800 into the Posky 737-600 folder.
2. Copy-paste the folder named texture from the default 737-800 folder into the Posky 737-600 folder**
3. Open the model folder of the [u]default[/u] 737-800.
4. Select B737_800_interior.mdl and paste it into the model folder of the Posky 737-600

**You might already have a folder called "texture" if you do you will have to rename it. This will affect the paint its calling so don't forget to update the aircraft.cfg!

So now your Posky 737-600 model folder should contain this:

-----------------------------
model
|
model.cfg
B737_800_interior.mdl
OSX736.mdl
-----------------------------

5. Open the model.cfg file in the Posky 737-600. You should see this:

----------------------------------
[models]
normal=osX736
----------------------------------

We are going to add a line (shown in bold red below):

----------------------------------
[models]
normal=osX736
interior=B737_800_interior
----------------------------------

6. Save the modified .cfg and exit
7. Open the folder named texture in the Posky 737-600 folder  - (see Part 2, Step 2 above)
8. Inside this folder you will see a texture.cfg file - if you open it you will see this:

-------------------------------------------------------------------
[fltsim]

fallback.1=..\texture
fallback.2=..\..\..\..\Scenery\Global\texture
fallback.3=..\..\..\..\..\..\Scenery\Global\texture[/quote]
-------------------------------------------------------------------

If you see the above when you open it you have the right file! Ok now close it (if you opened it to have a look!)

9. Paste this texture.cfg into [u]EVERY 737-600 repaint [/u]you have. For example:

texture.SAS  <----- put the texture.cfg in here
texture.westjet <----- put the texture.cfg in here

Basically this texture.cfg "tells" every repaint to look at the file named texture. The "texture" folder contains all the references the VC needs!

Guess what? You are done! Your Posky 737-600 will now have the default FSX VC! You can do this with all of Poskys 737NG models. And of course any other 737 you find. Follow the same procedure for other plane types! Perhaps you found a freeware FSX 747-400 and want to give it the default 747-400 VC?

An issue I notice is that the VC viewpoint is way off so you will have to use the keyboard commands to move back into the cockpit! I think an aircraft.cfg tweak (eyepoint=) can fix this.

I hope you find this useful  

[franthree]

Great tip--thanks I will try it later. The default FSX VC's are really very nice!

[Alaska_MD-83]

This is one of the reason's I wish my computer could run FSX.

[Buziel-411_RED]

KingOfDaWacko, on Mar 5 2009, 06:48 PM, said:

This is one of the reason's I wish my computer could run FSX.

Sometimes I wish my PC could run FSX, but just for the GA.

Great tutorial, ThrottleUp!

[Independence76]

I tried to do this with their 747-400 BCF, but the model refused to appear. The camera files were obviously messed up, and the VC did not appear either.

[AirFranceSST]

I think this should be pinned.

Thanks.

[Independence76]

I tried this with a 737-900, but the cockpit textures did not show up.

Also, how do you add the default VC to a POSKY 747? It doesn't work the same way...

[ThrottleUp]

Quote

Great tip--thanks

Quote

Great tutorial, ThrottleUp!

Quote

I think this should be pinned.

Thanks guys glad you enjoyed the tip and I hope its working ok!!


Independence76 make sure you followed all the steps! You might have missed something. As with everything in FS if you miss even a tiny step nothing works...you know how it is hee hee   It works real good!

Here it is in Posky 737-700 (doesnt matter which Posky model...as long as it obeys compiler rule it will work!)


And here is the default A321 cockpit used with Project Airbus A319

[AirFranceSST]

How can you get this for FS2004. Such as a POSKY 747 Aircraft with the default 747 VC?

[ThrottleUp]

Quote

How can you get this for FS2004. Such as a POSKY 747 Aircraft with the default 747 VC?

Im afraid that is not possible  

FS9 does not allow you to use the VC of one plane with another one. In FS9 the VC is embedded within the model of the plane and to use the VC in another plane you would need the actual source files that were used to build the plane. So using your example you would need the 3DSMax source files of the Posky 747 and the default 747.

Much easier in FSX as you can see!

[Independence76]

ThrottleUp, on Apr 3 2009, 01:27 PM, said:

Independence76 make sure you followed all the steps! You might have missed something. As with everything in FS if you miss even a tiny step nothing works...you know how it is hee hee   It works real good!

Do I have to change the compiling code for it to work properly?

Also, in the Posky 747 merge, the model does not appear. The lights and sound are correct, but the both the VC and model are missing.

I'm also confused on why we must put our default texture folder into our merging plane's folder...

[Buziel-411_RED]

FSCaptain757, on Apr 3 2009, 01:36 PM, said:

How can you get this for FS2004. Such as a POSKY 747 Aircraft with the default 747 VC?

The default Fs9 747 VC?

[ThrottleUp]

Quote

Do I have to change the compiling code for it to work properly?

The people who made the addon plane would do that - a good example being the Posky 737s. If you go to their website you will see that you can get a 737-800 Winglets for FS9 and a 737-800 Winglets for FSX. Look for posts by Hiroshi he explains it very well. The only way you could do it was if you had access to the original files that were used to create the 3D model of the plane. I have to agree with buizel though - the default FS9 744 cockpit is dreadful! You can easily find better products (RFP - now free!, iFly, Overland, PMDG).

Quote

I'm also confused on why we must put our default texture folder into our merging plane's folder...

Think of a bike wheel. The texture folder is in the middle - the hub. All the other repaint folders are at the end of each of the spokes. They are look into the texture folder to know what to do with the VC textures.

However you are correct to question this as it is not the ONLY way to do it. The alternative is to look into the texture folder of the FSX plane, select everything and then paste those into every FS9 repaint. Kinda the same thing but instead of telling the FS9 repaint "Hey the VC textures are in the Texture folder!" you are putting the actual textures in each folder. I used the texture.cfg because its less clunky...its just one  tiny text file that does the same job.

Also Im pretty sure you do not HAVE to call the folder texture, you could call it anything (but remember to change it in the .cfg to reflect that!). I did not go into any of this in my instructions because Im a firm beleiver in keeping things simple.

To my knowledge these are the two ways of doing it but of course I welcome other methods, perhaps someone knows of another!

Edited by ThrottleUp, 05 April 2009 - 03:05 PM.

[Independence76]

So, how do I recompile an aircraft that was originally made for FS9 into FSX using the SDK?

[shamupilot]

Excellent Tutorial Throttle up!

One question though,

What did you do to make your 737-700 with Default VC to work? I've been trying forever on my Shamu 737-700 but i don't know which update to use.

[Taylormc]

Hi, I was reading this and it made me wonder, could i take the captain sim 727 cabin only and put it in the default fsx 737-800? Thanks!!

Hi, I was reading this and was wondering, can i use the captain sim 727 cabin only in the default fsx 737-800 and vc? Thanks!!

[Buziel-411_RED]

Taylormc, on 03 September 2012 - 06:24 PM, said:

Hi, I was reading this and it made me wonder, could i take the captain sim 727 cabin only and put it in the default fsx 737-800? Thanks!!

Hi, I was reading this and was wondering, can i use the captain sim 727 cabin only in the default fsx 737-800 and vc? Thanks!!

No. The cabin is part of the VC model.

[Taylormc]

Actually, : I tested it out yestarday and it worked! I did exactly what it said above with the captain sim 727 and default 737 and the default 737 now has the cabin and vc of Captain sim 727. But it was only afterwards that i realized that in the cabin it had the wing of the 727 and not the 737, so i deleted it and put in the backup 737. Now i am working on the two Wilco 737's i like the vc of the evolution, but not the cabin. Hopefully it works!

[perky416]

Hi guys,

Sorry i know this is an old thread however im a bit stuck. I am trying to use the default VC from the CRJ 700 with a similar airplane. I have followed this tutorial to the detail, however when i copy the CRJ 700 interior file to the model folder of the new airplane, and edit the model.cfg, when going into the simulator the airplane disappears. The lights, sounds and 2d panel are there, however no VC and no airplane.

Does anybody know why this could be happening and what i can do to resolve it?

Thanks

[ck722]

Sorry, but I've tried twice these steps and the plane apears black, without any VC. I've tried to put Learjet45 into EMB120 (from Cantu)