Move FS9 aircraft to FSX ??

[moeraki]

I have installed new repaints into FSX when written for it but

When I have an FS9 Aircraft I invariably get the Aircraft in OK but not the flight Deck or no dials which give a nice view but!!!!

Also sometimes it says FS98 not compatible ... how do you sort out what it is and replace.

Anyway appreciate it for a simple direction writeup on tranferring compatible aircraft at least so I can have an Air NZ aircraft instead of a Qantas 737 800 or an EzyJet 737 800 that I have so far.
As you oldies will already know its better to fly what you know

Thanks
Moe

[ZK-Brock]

I think that the FS9 gauges are just plain incompatible with FSX.

[creator2003]

i myself have been testing out alot of aircraft in fsx and in most cases there is some thing missing ie glass textures,see through textures ,gauges not working, from what i understand :"and dont quote me "gauges for older fs models are not compatible anymore,, this mite be the case if you have a model thats been updated like most from fs2002 to fs9 ,then putting it in a updated fsx "well you see what has happened"

Now im not sure if you can just build a new panel and asign new gauges to the aircraft ? but its worth a try if its one you really like i suppose ...

also textures if they are transparent they mite be able to be reformated in the image tool and saved as the right format ?

Dials ,well i think that is to do with the panel,gauges so.....

effects for my scenerys work but aircraft ive lost gunfire effects on choppers but smoke etc...work for me

install well thats like and other sim open fsx /simobjects/aircraft "or rotorcraft ,place main aircraft folder in here,
gauges,in gauges folder
effects the same etc.....

hope this mite help a bit ,,
mike

[ardypilot]

Good news! You can import FS9 (MSFS 2004) aircraft into the FSX demo. Be warned, there are some issues, mostly minor and they occur on session startup, and the fix seems to be to quite the virtual cockpit (default in X?) and then return to the VC.

In order to fix another visual bug in X when you run 9's aircraft you have to copy an environment file from FS9 Texture folder:

copy the file ENVMAP.BMP and,
paste it into the Microsoft Flight Simulator X Demo\Texture\ folder,
select an aircraft folder from the FS9 Aircraft folder,
paste the aircraft folder into the Microsoft Flight Simulator X Demo\SimObjects\aircraft folder,
the new aircraft will appear, without a thumbnail but labelled, in X's aircraft selection menu,
select the aircraft from the menu, and setup the other parameters for the session, then go fly.
(I am not the originator of the above method, so my thanks to the poster on the avsim.com MSFSX forum for the Tip.)

[marty]

A few thoughts on FSX with FS9 aircraft
If you try these use a back up copy of the aircraft.

TEXTURES
FSX uses a different type of texture ***.dds files.
There are some good freeware programs to use . DDS converter 2 is exelent,
DXTBmp and piant.net all freeware programs.
method Open the texture with DXTBmp. save as ***.BMP
Edit with paint.net ie add alpha chanels etc. see the help in paint.net if you use it.
Flip the whole image verticaly save as ***.tga I no not why the need to flip.
Use DDS converter to save in .dds format
Load the new aircraft into the planes folder with the ***.dds file instead of the ***.bmp file.
This method can help a lot but not all FS9 aircraft look better in FSX than FS9
Rember to do this on a back up copy of the aircrft.

GAUGES Fsx does not like a+ guages (***.gau files)to much, it likes XML gauges in a ***.cab file
There is no way I no of to convert one to the other.
Fsx will use .gau files but as these are basicaly .dll files each one will have to be aproved, a tedious task.
On the positive side XML gauges are very easy to edit.

Three tools are needed a cabinet compiler and note pad or any other xml editor and a paint progarm Ulimate paint or paint.net both freeware . If you have the deluxe FSX version see the sdk.
I use a neet free program called IZARC but I cant remeber where I found it. It would have been freeware though. Who said Im cheep

Extract the files with IZARC
edit the text ........
with note pad or other if required (640) files are not requied so delete size=(*,*,*,*) etc ifyou want fisrt two numbers are 640 second are 1024 if not present size of graphic is the default.

edit the graphic.........
If the refrence to 640 files is deleted in the xml text delete the garphics as well and delete the 1024 folder just put the new xml and new .bmp into the new cab.

Use IZARC to recabinet. Rember to select cab from the cmpression type list. Zip the default will not work.
If the name of the cab is changed then the name must be changed in the panel cgf folder name of cab!name of xml ***!***

VIEWS
.CFG file the views have change a lot. open a FSX aircraft.cfg file and there are a lot of lines about views. Copy and paste into your fs9 aircraft cfg file in the apropriate place.

There are numbers for positions. The first number is fore aft smaller is further aft and numbers can be negitve. The scecond number, after the comma, is the width. I from menory smaller is to the right, experiment is the only way to be sure.

Hope this helps those that want to play around with the files abit.

Cheers all marty