The good old Abacus Flight Deck series.

[Sbob]

To start off, I managed to find the Flight Deck 6 CD on Amazon the other day.
It should show up early next week and I'm not sure how much of it I'll install in FS9, but its neat having all the CD boxes in the same pile.

One thing has eluded me so far, and I'm wondering if anyone has figured it out?
I want to modify the AI aircraft so the tower and ground ATC use some installed callsigns and flight numbers, to make it a little more customized.
I've tried to modify the aircraft.cfg files to add stuff like:

atc_airline=COUGAR
atc_flight_number=81

..but I can't get the ATC to recognize the changes.
I've tried to add the lines in different places in the .cfg files but I'm starting to think this isn't controlled by AI aircraft and maybe its coded into the traffic BGLs or the scenery BGLs?
I've learned in the past that usually, FS uses the last .cfg lines it loads, meaning the AI aircraft are getting loaded first.

Any ideas out there? This is common for the entire Flight Deck series in FS9.

 

[Motormouse]

You'll need the 'Edit VoicePack' utility, to add those
If the installed default voicepack doesn't have those callings in it already ( there is a list in the SDK); then use same call signs in the traffic file, the traffic file takes precedent over what is in the cfg, you'll need Lee Swordy's Traffic tools utility, to decompile the AI traffic file, then edit the callsign section of each flightpath in the flightplans.txt file

 

[Sbob]

Thanks, MM.

I went through TT's readme file and it looks like all I have to do is decompile the traffic BGLs and flip the R and F flags.
The AI aircraft.cfgs are already changed.

Of course, I'll be backing up those BGLs in case someone did some hex editing.

Callsigns are not an issue. I think I'm getting close to the upper limit for FS9.

Meanwhile, I still have all of the stock SDK voice file names if anyone wants me to post them.


UPDATE- OK, this should have been easy* which I why I backed up the traffic files, first.
I found the "R" tags in the flightplans text file, changed them to "F" and re-complied the traffic files.

Naturally, it didn't work and the AI aircraft stayed frozen on the deck of the carrier.
This may have been a Win10 issue with "watermarked" BGL files or else Abacus added something.
The new traffic files were the same size as the old ones (mostly, I didn't check the files with a hex editor yet).
So, it was fun playing with Traffic Tools again but I'm calling it a day.





*- I'm having "OK, this should have been easy" engraved on my tomb stone.

 

[Dangerousdave26]

I have been using a similar saying the last few years.

"Nothing can be easy"

It seems to be a reoccurring theme to me.

 

[Mick]

I offer something I call "Eric's Law," since it was formulated by a guy I knew named Eric:

Nothing is easy.
Everything is harder than you think.
Everything takes longer than it should.

 

[Sbob]

Well, my Flight Deck 6 CD showed up today.

Overall, its a good package for FS 2004 and if you're undecided about trying to order a copy from Amazon or EBay, go ahead and take the shot.
I have a LOT of aircraft carrier scenery already installed and I was concerned about how FD6 would get along with other installs like Carriers 2006 and the other FD scenery sets plus some MAIW scenery for Norfolk and Pensacola.
At first I wanted to install everything for FD6 to a desktop folder then pick through all the files but then I figured I would do a YOLO install direct to FS and look for any problems.
All the scenery fits well, even assuming you're already running a ton of traffic and scenery files.

The carriers are modeled well although you don't get goodies like deck crew, blast deflectors and AI aircraft.
Doing a quick read-through of the docs, Abacus wanted this title to act more like an "early career mode" of ground based training before going out to the boat for deck quals, so a lot of the doo-dads and eye candy aren't included from their previous titles. I'm guessing there were some "professional reasons" going on behind the scenes , but it actually works out if you're new to carrier scenery. My frame rates held firm at 60 FPS and there weren't any distractions. Carrier cat shots and traps are handled with an "RCBO-like" gauge. I prefer ARRCAB 2.6, but this other gauge gets installed automatically and it works fine (make sure to read the manual).

You get six carrier locations-

Corpus Christy, Texas. An odd choice given the default oil rigs in the bay but, OK?
The English Channel. One the possible choke points I was worried about but the location is in the north east corner of the channel.
Pensacola, Fla. Closer to land but well out of the way of other carrier locations.
Persian Gulf/ Kuwait City. Another possible crowded area but its fine.
Rome, Italy. A little close to land, but hey, its a liberty call.
San Diego, Ca. This was the other big concern I had but the location is well-removed (farther out to sea) than the other SD carriers.

Aircraft- You get a nice, but limited selection of aircraft and texture files. All the Flight Deck 4 and 5 planes are there PLUS a nice T-45 Goshawk for boat quals and a T-34C (turbo) Mentor for turboprop training. Textures are more subdued/realistic than the examples in FD 4 and 5, which I like. One standout texture is for the F/A-18E which depicts a plane from VFA-106, The Gladiators out of Norfolk/Oceana. VFA-106 is under represented in FS as a whole, but its worth noting that they are the "schoolhouse squadron" for all F/A-18 Navy pilots and ground crew. So, good catch, Abacus. Unfortunately, this aircraft tends to float a couple of feet above the ground so you'll want to fix the GEAR AND SCRAPE section of its aircraft.cfg file (which isn't hard to do). So, good old Abacus once again however the cockpit/VC and sound folders are a little better than their FD4 and 5 brothers. The T-45 is a little drab in terms of flight dynamics, but it IS supposed to represent a trainer. Likewise, the T-34 flies like mashed 'taters with no gravy but, again, it is a trainer for would-be COD and Hawkeye pilots.

So, over-all I like the full package. Its basic modern Navy flight training and carrier quals centric, so don't bother wearing your Tom Cruise mask and helmet. BUT, this is a very good way to get into FS2004 carrier flights if you've never tried it before. There are also "interactive" flights/missions for FS 2004 that I haven't tried yet, so this might be another good thing.
What you get straight out of the box works just fine, but you might want to tweak some stuff or try adding better sound folders, depending on what you want.

The CD also comes with a separate FSX install, but that's beyond the scope of my review.

 

[Sbob]

OK, one VERY IMPORTANT THING ABOUT FD6.

There is a rather nasty DLL file that does not play well with Win10 or FSIUPC. This is related to the adventure/mission files and if you're running Win10, you REALLY DON'T WANT THIS THING ON YOUR SYSTEM. It can be a bear to remove/delete but it can be done if you isolate the DLL file, then RESTART windows and immediately DELETE the DLL.

Sorry about missing this earlier.
Its better to do a manual install and trash all the DLL files you find in the FD6 folders before you install them in the sim.