Here's a little utility that allows one to convert an FSFS or AF99
aircraft to use BMP textures. Thus, instead of being limited to 256x256
textures, one can use 512x512 or even 1024x1024 textures. In that way,
beautiful FS98 aircraft can be made even more beautiful for FS2000 or CFS2
(and, hopefully, for FS02).
To install, first make sure that you have installed Visual Basic 5.0
driver files. These files can be found in such places as the "Must Have
Files" library at www.SurClaro. Then simply copy the TEX512.EXE file to
your hard drive and run it. The program can be run from any drive but, to
make it convenient, you may wish to place it in the \AIRCRAFT subfolder of
whichever flight sim contains the aircraft you wish to convert.
USAGE:
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The program searches the aircraft's MDL (visual model) file for texture
file (*.*AF) names and renames them to be BMP files. In modifying the MDL
file, it is important that the new names be exactly as long as the former
names. Therefore, the files are renamed in the following fashion:
filename.0AF becomes filenam0.BMP, filename.1AF becomes filenam1.BMP, etc.
That is, the AF number of the former filename becomes the last character of
the new file name. In that way, the files can all have the same BMP
extension but still have different names.
The result is that the new MDL file will cause the simulator to look for
these new texture names. This allows you to create new BMP textures, which
are no longer limited to the 256x256 pixel size. You might begin by
converting the old textures to BMP format with an existing converter, such as
TEXBMP2. I created a utility a while back with that name, and I believe
someone else did another with the same name. As far as I know, either one
will be satisfactory. Once the textures are converted, you may use a paint
program to expand their size and repaint them.
CAUTION: This procedure will not work for FS98. It seems to work in CFS1,
if you use its special BMP files. I don't know if they can be successfully
enlarged or not. I would appreciate feedback on that issue.
I hereby declare this utility to be in the Public Domain. Anyone may use
it for any nonviolent purpose, including commerce, without permission. It
should not harm your computer but, if you imagine it has, I accept no
liability.
