Removing Default Airctraft from the "in sim" selection menu

[falcon409]

Anyone ever done this and not screwed up the entire FSX Installation? lol
I don't fly default aircraft and would like to remove them from the selection menu inside FSX, so that all that shows are the addons. Just wondering if that's possible.

To be clear, I do not want to remove them from FSX, I know that would cause major problems, just want them gone from the Aircraft selection menu.:salute:

[DaveWG]

Open the aircraft.cfg for each & in each [fltsim.x] section changed the "panel=" line to something like "panel=none"

FSX will look for a panel.none folder and as it won't find one it will assume the aircraft is for AI use and not show it in the menu. Any add-ons that alias the sounds etc won't be affected and the aircraft can still be used in AI flightplans.

[ryanbatc]

The only way I know of is to move all the folders from the airplanes or rotocraft folders to a temp location.

[wallyboard]

I think this will do it!

http://orbxsystems.com/forums/index.php?topic=16741.0


Be careful if you have any non-default aircraft aliased to the particular panel. (You could perhaps just copy that necessary panel to the plane using it, if you know what I mean!)

Cheers
Larry

[falcon409]

Open the aircraft.cfg for each & in each [fltsim.x] section changed the "panel=" line to something like "panel=none"

FSX will look for a panel.none folder and as it won't find one it will assume the aircraft is for AI use and not show it in the menu. Any add-ons that alias the sounds etc won't be affected and the aircraft can still be used in AI flightplans.
Excellent, thanks!:salute:

[delta_lima]

Open the aircraft.cfg for each & in each [fltsim.x] section changed the "panel=" line to something like "panel=none"

FSX will look for a panel.none folder and as it won't find one it will assume the aircraft is for AI use and not show it in the menu. Any add-ons that alias the sounds etc won't be affected and the aircraft can still be used in AI flightplans.


Way more complicated than what is needed, IMHO - no disrespect, of course. I have a folder in the FSX root drive called "Inactive Hangar". I have two subfolders underneath that - "Stock FS Planes" and "Addon FS Planes" - anything I'm not actively flying gets placed in one of those two. I usually only have a dozen or so active planes at one time, keeps things tidy. If I were to need a stock plane for a mission, for example, I just drag it back into the appropriate plane/rotorcraft folder.

Just one way to do it.

dl

[falcon409]

Thanks guys, good info. I just wanted to be sure that whatever I did, it didn't end up with a complete reinstallation of FSX, lol.

[DaveWG]

I too have a "hanger" for rarely used aircraft, but I only use that for add-ons.

The method I gave above ensures the default aircraft are always available for AI use (if needed) and any other add-ons that depend on the default aircraft (they may use the default 737 sound for example) work without problems.

As usual with FS, there are many different ways to achieve the same result, and what is the
"best" method for one person doesn't mean it's the best for everyone :santahat:

[allcott]

Anything that aliases the default files, expected to be in the default locations, will systematically and irrevocably fail if you move anything default out of the simobjects folder. You will also be unable to recover a full-default startup .flt if required as part of a troubleshoot.

So don't do it. Ever.

Unless you're happy identifying and copying sound files, gauge files and other files independently and at length to overcome unspecified failures in the FSX core program. Hours of fun!

Either alias the files to unsupported panel.cfg's as stated, or just leave the files alone. Cumulatively, they affect loading less than one average addon with all its' repaints.

[BrittMac]

I have never had any type of major "failure" of FSX due to removing default aircraft. It runs completely normally except for planes that have thier sound aliased to the removed aircraft.

That is it. I don't know why you would have any problems that would mean hours of fixing just because you took out a default aircraft. I have no problems at all.

As DeltaLima does, I have a temp directory that is for default aircraft, and one for addons. I even split up my removed stuff into airframe types and the companies that made the model.

Now, if you have to use a different aircraft in a mission, because you took out the default one, then I don't think you get official FSX "credit" (aka, the green checkmark) because it wasn't done in the default aircraft. Not a big deal to me.

[OleBoy]

To add assurance I suppose.

I have removed ALL default aircraft but the C172. I put them in a temp folder and touched/edited nothing in the FSX.cfg. The only issue I ever had was sounds not working due from being aliased to a default aircraft. Which is easily remedied by going in the sound folder for the problematic aircraft and open the sound.cfg. I then added the aliased files where needed and all was good. Or, added sound files of my preference.

[falcon409]

Lots of opinions, which makes the thread more interesting. I opted for "Plan-B", removing all default aircraft except the Cessna 172 (which I never fly). Any addon aircraft I've ever added are checked for their own sound files and if they are aliased, I look for suitable soundfiles and add them at that time. I don't ever alias panels, if they don't have their own (VC) I don't want them anyway.

Default aircraft are fine as starter aircraft, for folks just getting into the sim and feeling their way around, but once you've become established and comfortable with "Flight", then there are too many well designed Freeware and payware aircraft to spend much time, if any, flying default. JMO of course!:salute:

[gigabyte]

Just to throw one more idea in the pot here (although I really like DaveWG's suggestion I am filing that one away), what I did right after my last reinstall is copy the Config, Guages, Scenery, SimObjects, and Sound folders to an external drive so I had the complete original "out of the box" files. Then I went into the SimObjects folder and renamed the Airplanes folder to Airplanes.Original, and created a new folder called Airplanes. I did copy to Goose back to the new folder and used it a fair amount but I like the HD Goose much better now. I have run into one or two situations where add on's aliased a VC or sound set, (of course the sound file mean squat to me...lol) and if it is a keeper plane that I return to often I just copy the default back to my new Airplane folder.

Like others have said lots of ways to accomplish the desired result, so go with whatever spins your prop.

[FLighT01]

One more thing to consider, if you have any Saved Flights, Flight Plans or Missions requiring a particular plane /livery or set of circumstances (engine cold or engine hot) and you have removed or turned off that plane and you try and start that flight... It would probably be a good idea to back up any plane, gauge, etc. folders first before operating on your FSX install.

[JIMJAM]

I also have always wondered why there never has been a addon or mod of a virtual hanger system or at least a nice way to present and select your aircraft.
My Aerosoft F-16s for example take up a big chunk of space and in my case going from the bottom of the list back to the top is a looooooooooooooong scroll.

[FLighT01]

I also have always wondered why there never has been a addon or mod of a virtual hanger system or at least a nice way to present and select your aircraft.
My Aerosoft F-16s for example take up a big chunk of space and in my case going from the bottom of the list back to the top is a looooooooooooooong scroll.

Sounds like a good idea for some software developer. If FEX and GEX and others can store the bulk of their program outside of FSX there should be a way to more simply accomplish this task.

[Cactuskid]

Unless space on the drive that FSX is installed on is an issue, I agree with Dave that the best way to eliminate unwanted aircraft (or liveries) in your menu is to simply open that aircraft's .cfg and change "panel=" to "panel=off". I do that a lot with payware aircraft that comes with a bunch of paints or models that I don't use.

You can also move texture files to a back-up folder, unless that texture is being used for AI, as is the case with default aircraft. If you have plenty of space left on your FSX drive, then I wouldn't bother with that, and just do the panel=off thing...