F L I G H T-L I N E  C E N T E R

H O W-T Os

Okay, this area is  sort of a "How do you do this?............." area.  I have included several blocks of instructions  for
 the users who aren't sure exactly what to do, such as installing aircraft scenery, gauges, etc.  If you have a 
question not explained here, please feel free to leave a message and I will try to get an answer for you.

NOTICE:  I do NOT claim to be a trained person nor do I claim to be a professional at doing the following

procedures.  I have done them by the knowledge I have gained from using FS98 and by experimentation.  I

accept NO  responsibilities for what may happen to your computer or any software or hardware attached.

Use at your own risk.

Situation #1:

I would like to install aircraft for Flight Simulator 98.  How do I do it?

First of all, FS98 aircraft are stored under your FS98 root folder in the

folder <AIRCRAFT>.  If you look in the <AIRCRAFT> folder, you will notice that

each plane has its OWN folder.  Ex:  <AIRCRAFT>--><LEAR45> would be the

directory for the Learjet 45.  Under the planes own folder, there are 4 more

folders:  <PANEL>, <SOUND>, <MODEL>, <TEXTURE>.  Upon downloading an aircraft

file, you should see AT LEAST the following files in the archive:  PANEL.CFG,

SOUND.CFG, AIRCRAFT.CFG, MODEL.CFG, xxxx.AIR, xxxx.MDL, xxxx.xAF.  If you see

others, ignore them for the moment.  Now, what you want to do is go back to

your <AIRCRAFT> folder and create a sub-folder by the name of the aircraft

you are installing.  Ex:  American Airlines 737-200 could be something like

<AA737200>.  Now, goto the sub-folder you just created and create the 4

sub-folders:  <PANEL>, <SOUND>, <MODEL>, <TEXTURE>.  Now, extract the files

from your archived aircraft file to the following:

NOTE:  The <xxxxx> indicates the directory you created for your aircraft.

Once you have extracted the above files to their correct directories, your

aircraft is ready to fly.  Happy flying!!!

Situation #2:

My aircraft file came with sound files or I downloaded them separately.
What do I do with them?

Okay, this is a bit easier to do.  Complete the procedure given in SITUATION

#1.  Now, the sound files used by FS98 are WAV files.  If your sound files

are archived into their own file or with the aircraft files, you should still

see several WAV files and a SOUND.CFG file.  Extract these files to the

<SOUND> directory of the aircraft you wish to apply these sounds to.  That's

it!!

Situation #3:

My aircraft came with a panel or I downloaded one separately.  How do I
install it?

Hmmmm, alright, this is a bit trickier but not too bad.  Okay, first of all,

all panels come with 3 parts:  the picture of the panel, the panel

configuration and the gauges.  When you download a panel for a particular

aircraft, it will include several BMP files, several GAU files, and a

PANEL.CFG file.  Simply extract all BMP files and the PANEL.CFG file to the

<PANEL> directory of the aircraft in which you want to use the panel.  Next,

extract all the GAU files to the <GAUGE> directory, located in the FS98 root

directory, usually <FLIGHT SIMULATOR>.  Once you have completed this, your

gauges should be ready to use.  Good luck!!!

Situation #4:

I downloaded a texture file for one of my FS98 aircraft.  How do I go about
getting it to work?

Okay, easy.  First thing to do is to extract the texture files to the

<TEXTURE> directory of the aircraft you wish to change textures for.  Once

you have done this, you must edit the AIRCRAFT.CFG file found in the root

directory of the aircraft you are working with.  Use any text editor to open

the file and look for the line that shows:  texture=

After the =, type the file name of your texture file.  All textures will have

the same filename but will have different extensions (0af, 1af, 2af, etc.)

Save the file and voila!!!  Your aircraft should now have the new textures

applied to it.

Situation #5:

I downloaded a scenery file but I don't know how to install it.

This is probably the most difficult to do.  Okay, first look at your archived

scenery file.  Depending on whether the scenery file is for a city, an

airport, or for the entire globe it may contain several BGL files, several

R8 files, several FSS files, and/or several OAV files.  The BGL files are the

actual scenery data, whereas the R8, FSS, and OAV files are the textures for

the scenery.  So, now that we know that, goto your FS98 root folder and find

the folder <SCENERY>.  Once you have found it, go into it.  Okay, now what you

must do is create a folder in the <SCENERY> folder with a name that is similar

to what the scenery actually is.  Ex:  Dallas/Ft. Worth Int'l Airport could be

something like <DFWAPT>.  Once you have created that folder, go into it and

create these 2 folders:  <SCENERY> & <TEXTURE>.  Now, go back to your archived

scenery file and extract all the files as indicated in the table below:

 NOTE:  The directories specified are located in the <FLIGHT SIMULATOR>-->

<SCENERY>--><xxxxx>.   Where <xxxxx> is the scenery directory you created for your

 scenery.

Once you have those files in their proper places, start up FS98 and under the

pull-down menu WORLD, select SCENEY LIBRARY.  Click OK on the first window

that appears.  Then click FILES in the following window.  Now, you can do this

one of two ways but I find the fastest is to just click ADD.  Once you do

this, you will be given a window asking for a SCENERY AREA PATH.  In this

line, type SCENERY\xxxxxx\SCENERY\*.BGL.  Upon hitting the L, the other lines

will become active.  In the SCENERY AREA TITLE, type whatever you would like

as the scenery name.  It's usually best if you name it something so you will

know what it is but you can name it anything you would like.  Next, select

the SCENERY AREA TYPE.  This will depend upon what type of scenery you are 

installing.  Such as Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport would be a LOCAL area, Dallas

or North Texas would be a REGIONAL area, and a scenery file with static

aircraft for airports around the world would be a WORLD area.  Okay, now that

you have selected that, click the box next to SCENERY AREA ACTIVE, to

activate the area.  The SCENERY AREA LAYER is not critical but the lower the

layer, the higher the priority is for FS98.  You can select whatever you

would like.  Almost done.  Now, click OK to get out of the SCENERY LIBRARY.

If the scenery you installed is NOT part of FS98, then you MUST goto

GOTO AIRPORT and select SCENERY FROM 6.0 AND BELOW, in order to see the

scenery.  If the scenery you installed is just an enhancement to an existing

FS98 Airport or city, then you can goto that airport or area as you have

always done and you should see the changes.  That's all!!!!  

Please note:

  I will be adding HOW-TOs on incorporating your own scenery through the use of the

 three programs:

 Airport 2.12 by Pascal Meziat, Brian McWilliams and Tom Hiscox 

SCASM/SCLINK by Manfred Moldenhauer and 

Visual Object Designer 2.7 by Rafael Sanchez.

Web Page Designed by John L. Trotter III.
Copyright © 1998 Flight-Line Center. All rights reserved.
Revised: November 28, 1998.