Here's a little utility that modifies the preview of FSDS aircraft in the
"Select Aircraft" menu of FS2000, FS2002 or CFS2. Specifically, it allows
the user to change the apparent distance of the viewer from the preview of
the aircraft. That's all it does, but some folks might find it useful,
particularly FSDS designers.
To install, simply place the MDLDIST.EXE file on any drive and in any
subfolder. For simplicity, however, you may wish to place it in the main or
"root" subfolder of the sim containing most of your FSDS aircraft. The
program requires that you have installed Visual BASIC 4.0 32-bit runtime
files. These are widely available in such places as the "Must Have Files"
library at www.SurClaro.
HOW TO USE IT:
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The program's interface is meant to be mostly self-explanatory. Upon
running MDLDIST.EXE, a drive list and folder list are presented. These can
be navigated using standard Windows mouse or keyboard conventions. The
object is to locate an aircraft's MDL file, which is usually located in the
aircraft's MODEL subfolder. When a subfolder contains one or more MDL files,
they will be presented in the bottom left text box. Clicking on the name of
the appropriate MDL file with the mouse will "highlight" it, causing it to
have a non-white background. When the file is highlit, the box labeled
"Current:" will display the status of the file.
If the MDL file was not created with ABACUS' FS Design Studio (FSDS), the
box will display the words "Not FSDS" and the "New:" box will not accept a
new Distance value. If the MDL was created with FSDS, the existing distance
value will be displayed and the "New:" text box will accept a new number.
Clicking the "SEND" button will cause the new value to be written to the MDL
file. The "EXIT" button ends the program.
The "Distance" value doesn't seem to represent either meters or feet but,
in any case, the default value is usually sixteen. As one would expect,
increasing the distance value causes the aircraft to appear farther away in
the Select Aircraft menu and decreasing makes it appear closer.
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.
Chuck Dome
cdome@cfl.rr.com
Visit my home page at http://home.cfl.rr.com/cdfss
