Can You Remove Default Aircraft without Problems?

[JackMorris]

Hi everyone,

As you may know, I am working on a complete 8th Air Force conversion for CFS2.

We all know that CFS2 has a 99 aircraft limit in the A/C folder. It would be good if there was a way for me to remove the default aircraft for the space.

Failing that, if the files are crucial, is there a way of just getting them not to show up in the select aircraft menu? That would be okay also.

Thanks for replies!

Jack

[bearcat241]

Jack,

1....First, make a backup of the mdlnames.txt file in the main CFS2 directory folder. Open the original in notepad and delete all of the lines containing the default aircraft.

2....Now you can remove all the default aircraft from the AIRCRAFT sub-folder.

3....Open the QUICKCOM sub-folder and make a backup of the qc_plane.qcb file. Unzip the attached zip below and overwrite the original qc_plane.qcb with the one in the zip. This will give you an original European theater setup similar to CFS1 (British, German and American models).

These are the default names you will be working with from the qc file:

"SpitIOption"=Spitfire Mk I
"SpitIXOption"=Spitifire Mk IX
"HurricaneOption"=Hurricane
"Bf109EOption"=Messerschmitt Bf 109E
"Bf109GOption"=Messerschmitt Bf 109G
"Fw190aOption"=Focke-Wulf Fw 190A
"P47dOption"=P-47D Thunderbolt
"P51dOption"=P-51D Mustang
"Bf110Option"=Messerschmitt Bf 110
"B17GOption"=B-17G Flying Fortress
"B24jOption"=B-24J Liberator
"B25jOption"=B-25J Mitchell
"C47Option"=C-47 Transport
"Do17Z2Option"=Dornier Do 17Z2
"He111HOption"=Heinkel He 111H
"MosquitoOption"=de Havilland Mosquito
"Ju87aOption"=Junkers Ju 87A
"Ju88aOption"=Junkers Ju 88A
"P38Option"=P-38 Lightning

"SpitIName"=Spitfire_MKI
"SpitIXName"=Spitfire_MKIX
"HurricaneName"=Hurricane_I
"ME109eName"=ME109
"ME109gName"=ME109
"FW190aName"=Fw190a
"BF110Name"=Bf110
"P47dName"=P47d
"P51dName"=P51d
"B17GName"=B17g
"B24jName"=B24j
"B25jName"=B25j
"C47Name"=C47
"Do17Z2Name"=Do17Z2
"He111HName"=He111H
"Ju87aName"=Ju87a
"Ju88aName"=Ju88a
"P38Name"=P38
"MosquitoName"=Mosquito

4....Now, take a favorite model from your collection hangars or downloads to represent each one of these. Rename the folders of each with the names in blue above.

5....In each folder, you want to open the aircraft.cfg files and rename the titles names to match the names in red above.

Example:

[fltsim.0]
title=ALPHA B-17G Flying Fortress ------------> B-17G Flying Fortress (as in the above list)
sim=B-17G
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=
checklists=

Now the simple way would have been to leave everything as is and just delete the contents only within each individual folder of the default aircraft to both save space and prevent them from appearing in selection window. This would leave the folders in place which is what the sim is looking for when it boots up. It's programmed to match up the mdlnames lines, the qc file list and what's actually in the AIRCRAFT folder by folder names only. Then later, when you select to fly FF or QC it checks these again but it also now checks the number of aircraft title names listed in all of the aircraft.cfg's.

My suggested method above takes care of all issues plus gives you a leg up on modifying your QC list to match the western Euro-theater. You can add in other combatant countries later. I also use this same approach to the eastern and Med-Afrikan fronts. The only warning i leave with you is that many addon aircraft are aliased by panel and/or sound to default aircraft. So you must be extra careful to check every model you use in this new theater, no exceptions. They must have their own sound and panels before you deploy them.

[JackMorris]

This is fantastic Bearcat! I can't thank you enough!

[Seagull V]

I don't know if it is what you are looking for but Morton's mk_cfs2_util_v2.zip which can be found at:-http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/page.php?lloc=downloads&loc=downloads&page=info&FileID=2586is excellent for separating aircraft for campaigns and also the QC.

Regards SG

[oldwheat]

Another K.I.S.S. option that I use in the majority of my installs is to do a new 'qc_plane' file & put entries in as follows:

[option.0]
OptionName=Gotha
aircraft.0=Gotha
family_type.0=2
name.0=Gotha

[option.1]
OptionName=Pfalz_DIIIA
aircraft.0=Pfalz_DIIIA
family_type.0=1
name.0=Pfalz_DIIIA

-and so on. This method does not give the option of having mixed opponents, you just select the particular aircraft that you choose to be up against.

Another method would be to start off with a blank file & add aircraft one at a time with the 'JSQCEd' by Jonesoft utility.

[Captain Kurt]

I don't fly QC so I don't concern myslefl with anything that might effect it. Likewise. I do not worry about adding the name of every addition made to aircraft, scendb object etc to the mdlnames.txt file. It isn't neccessary for the objects to be used. MB works just fine. and at some point the list becomes too big for the game to process and causes it's own issues. Then if you later remove objects you added to the mdlnames file, it will cause the game to crash or lock up unless you also remember to remove the name from the list.

Pffft not worth the effort.

There are 2 things I need to be concerned with when removeing the stock planes from the AiRCRAFT folder..

1. Make sure the aircraft names are removed from the mdlnames.txt file so I don't lock up the game.

2. Many add on aircraft models have their sound and sometimes the panel aliased to a stock plane sound folder or panel folder. Removng the stock plane folder then causes the add on plane to not load. Instead of deleting the entire stock aircraft folder, I delete the model folder, texture folder, airfile, .dp and aircraft.cfg file inside the stock aircraft folder. This leaves the stock aircraft folder with only the panel folder and the sound folder inside. CFS2 no longer counts this folder as an aircraft towards the 99 aircraft limit and the panel and sound folders are still there for the aliased add on aircraft to use.

[Robert John]

Just added aircraft to qc this program looks useful.

cfs1_cfs2_quick_combat_editor_v2_2_0
http://www.absquad.net/cfs2_utilities.htm


Robert John

[kelticheart]

I don't fly QC so I don't concern myslefl with anything that might effect it.....

Hi everybody! :wavey:

The Quick Combat list file was never a problem up until the time when the necessity to have theatre-dedicated several installs came along. As a matter of fact, if we stick to the PTO, we'll only need to edit qc_plane.qcb when we want to have a dogfight with a particular addon model. In this case the new addon will only appear in the Quick Combat list by adding it to qc_plane.qcb.

The problem arises when we do not want to see Zeros over England, Stalingrad or Libya, or FW190s over the Solomon Sea. Deleting the stock aircraft folders to make room for theatre-dedicated aircrafts, will force us to edit qc_plane.qcb, because CFS2 will look for the folder names listed in it upon startup.

To make an example, if "A6M2_Zero" folder name is not included in the \AIRCRAFT legacy folder, but it's listed in the stock qc_plane.qcb, CFS2 will work only in Free Flight, providing one doesn't check the Advanced Info screen through a simple click on the Map Icon in the 2d panel.
This and any other CFS2 activity, like Mission Builder of flying any mission, will cause in CFS2 a dreaded lockup or Crash-To-the-Desktop, otherwise known among the initiated as "CTD".

Hence the need to edit qc_plane.qcb and the great conversion plan suggested by Bearcat above.

I hope this will help understanding why we need so much extra work when we want to dedicate CFS2 to a specific WWII theatre of ops. I have a dedicated qc_plane.qcb for every WWII scenarios (7) I have installed, plus one for Korea and one for the Spanish Civil War. Since I am toying with the idea to have WWI as well, I will need soon a WWI qc_plane.qcb!

Cheers!
KH :ernae: