PLEASE READ THIS THOROUGHLY BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING OR YOU COULD ACCIDENTALLY OVERWRITE FILES
YOU DO NOT WANT CHANGED.
AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE:
You may have noticed the Original Massive Crash is now unavailable. This was not because of ANY technical problems. Prior to its release I had asked for assistance in finishing the Original Massive Crash since I was involved in completing the Nick's Jet Smoke project and the individual that assisted me copied some code from a pay ware package in order to complete what I had started. They did this without my knowledge. Although I was not legally bound to do so, when discovered I immediately pulled the file from the servers. I DID NOT have to pull the Original Massive Crash from the servers even with the copied code since the payware author who requested the removal was UNLICENSED however I do not function on that level and granted the author's less than cordial and quite threatening request for removal.
From that experience I wish to pass on something to everyone. As someone with a legal background and who has researched the issue, the advice I am about to give is very real and very serious:
IF YOU ARE/HAVE DESIGNED **ANY** FILES OR PROGRAMS (SYSTEMS) THAT ADD, COPY, REPLACE OR EDIT ANY FILE FOR THE MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR AND ARE CHARGING MONEY FOR THE USE, AND YOU HAVE NOT ACQUIRED EITHER AN 'ADD-ON' LICENSE OR A LICENSING AGREEMENT WHICH INCLUDES COPYRIGHT PERMISSIONS DIRECTLY WITH MICROSOFT CORPORATION YOU CAN BE IN DIRECT VIOLATION OF THE END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT AND AS SUCH YOU AND THE WEB SERVERS THAT HOST/DISTRIBUTE YOUR SOFTWARE CAN BE LIABLE UNDER THE TERMS OF THAT LICENSE AGREEMENT.
Without proper licensing no one can claim distribution copyrights, artistic or otherwise, or any ownership to add-ons, effects, drivers, .dll, aircraft, panels, gauges or any OTHER file that is either designed to overwrite, edit or be added to the Microsoft Flight Simulator software. The end user agreement of the program specifically forbids such manipulation or additions to the software for anything other than SOLE private and NON COMMERCIAL USE. If you buy the Flight Simulator software and design, manipulate and add files to it yourself on your own computer, it is legal. If you distribute those files, it is not. That actually includes freeware believe it or not however since the hobbyists efforts to distribute files do not secure ANY income and freeware tends to perpetuate the sale of the Simulator software along with boosting interest in purchasing truly LICENSED 3rd party pay ware add-ons of both software and hardware, which is what Microsoft is in business to do, the freeware distribution is really not looked down upon and enforced, which Microsoft reserves the right to allow or disallow. However... make money on it and that is a different story.
The information I have just provided came directly from both legal AND official Microsoft Corporation licensing sources.
A disclaimer and legal notice in an unlicensed Microsoft Flight Simulator freeware package means absolutely NOTHING and has no legal grounds to protect the contents, at all. A disclaimer and legal notice in an unlicensed pay ware package is however different... it offers a complete admission by the software author of intent.
I DO NOT advocate the use or distribution of someone elses work without proper recognition and permission however some people think because they charge for Flight Simulator file or add-on creation or editing they can claim they not only own everything about what their software produces but ALSO the basic idea it renders to the screen. This is total nonsense. Please do not be intimidated by any pay ware or even freeware author(s) who argues and/or legally threatens that they completely own the rights to the files or ideas provided in any package unless they can prove it by sending your attorney the data that they have not only secured all the proper domestic or international copyrights but also have properly obtained Microsoft Licensing which secures that copyright protection and authority to sell or distribute software which manipulates or adds said types of files to the Microsoft Flight Simulator software under the terms of the Flight Simulator End User License Agreement.
People who charge for Flight Simulator related software without being properly licensed by Microsoft are using this hobby to illegally further their income and by doing so they not only risk themselves, they may also risk involving the Web Sites where they post their unlicensed software for distribution.
This is a hobby and IT SHOULD BE FUN. If someone wishes to make a buck on the hobby, fine... GET LICENSED and do it legally.
No one can own complete rights to any file that has to do with Flight Simulator software without Microsoft Corporation permission, PERIOD
I wish to take a moment to briefly discuss the crash simulation files and their history. In the release of the Original Massive Crash I received a few emails (4 to be exact) in which it was claimed after installing the effects files their FS9 installation would not function. Running the RESTORE_FS200x.exe files provided with the package allowed their FS9 installations to function again. All 4 cases were resolved and it was not the effects files themselves that caused the problem but instead the systems the effects were being installed on had incompatibilities with the intensive video memory and CPU priorities these effects require. In one case I strongly suspect a driver problem in conjunction with the FS9 installation, which the effects files caused to surface since the individual decided to set all the video settings in the simulator to 'ultra-high, and move ALL the sliders to 100% just prior to installing the effects. It was also found the FS9 installation was a cracked version of the simulator which I do not condone. The issue was resolved and Massive Crash ran fine after reinstalling the program and starting out with the default video settings. In all other cases the computer systems the effects were installed on were found to be very old and they simply could not handle the load. FS9 reads the effects file as the program loads and if incompatibilities with hardware or settings are sensed, it can throw error messages and/or shut itself down. A corrupt download of this package could cause the same problem.
Because of the graphic detail involved, these effects are very processor intensive. If you have an older computer and video adapter you may experience problems. Should you have a problem booting FS9 after installing these effects, run the Restore_FS200x.exe for your version of the simulator then try reducing the video detail sliders in the program and reinstall the effects files. This is a very rare problem and unless you have an old system or a bad or corrupt video driver/FS9 installation there should be no problem running the effects. Also, try re-downloading the file to be assured you did not get a corrupt download the first time around. Right now I use a Dell Dimension 2350 with onboard Intel graphics and although I cannot set my video to "Ultra-High settings, these effect will run fine on my system.
NEXT:
A few emails came in about the aircraft disintegration in the simulator. These effects files have absolutely nothing to do with the aircraft breakup on the screen. Aircraft disintegration on impact is driven by 4 components:
1.) The model itself has the breakage programmed into it. Not all aircraft have "Crash Damage" designed into the models.
2.) The simulator must be set to detect crash damage in the settings area.
3.) The aircraft configuration file must have the line: visual_damage=1 located properly within it.
4.) This is the tough one, assuming all of the above is properly set: THE PLANE MUST CRASH IN SUCH A WAY IT WILL ACTUALLY COME APART. This usually requires the wing tips be hit just right in order for the disintegration to happen. Speed, velocity, type of impact, location of impact...before touching the ground. Usually the very tops of trees or just SHAVING the corner edge of a building will start the disintegration process. I have found it to be rare on my system to see COMPLETE (fuselage and all) aircraft disintegration but I have seen it occasionally. The wings coming off is much more usual that the entire plane ripping apart.
Nose dives will usually produce absolutely no effect other than sticking the plane into the ground like a Yard Dart. This is because most aircraft do not have the contact points at the nose which signify fuel tanks or engines are present. In a nose dive if the aircraft impales hard enough into the ground or water to contact the engines\tanks, usually the effects will appear. If you understand how to manipulate contact points you can add 'wing-scrape' attributes to the nose of the aircraft which might influence the simulator to react better to a nose dive crash.
LAST:
I received a communication from someone that stated only one entry of the: visual_damage=1 code line needed to be made under the [GENERAL] heading. This may very well be true however I have also heard that the aircraft breakage may be hindered on some aircraft by not including it under each version of the plane in the aircraft configuration file. My instructions below were designed to BE SURE the needed code was in place in order for everyone to get the full experience. In order to simplify things you can try adding the visual_damage=1 code line under the [GENERAL] heading. If you are still not seeing results then try adding it to one version of the aircraft as described below. If after several attempts no aircraft breakage is seen, it is possible the aircraft MODEL file simply does not have the needed information for aircraft breakage. The effects files will display just the same, breakage or not.
Any questions, suggestions or support issues should be directed to:
Nick Needham
klondikekit@yahoo.com
I sincerely hope the flight simulator community enjoys these effects. Sincere thanks from me go out to everyone
who has donated their valuable time to create simulator software for the community!
to a safe location so you can restore them if you do not like the effects included in this package.
For ease of installation I the provided the following files in this package:
MCr2_FS2004.exe -and- MCr2_FS2002.exe.
a. Simply double click the .exe file for your version of Flight Simulator and WinZip will install the needed files to the
proper directories inside of the Flight Simulator locations as shown below:
For FS9 (FS2004) Users:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator 9
For FS2002 users:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\FS2002
b. When the Winzip window appears allow the content to extract directly into the directories. If your version of Flight
Simulator is located other than where I have indicated above you MUST browse it manually to the correct location.
If you have already enabled visual damage in your FS aircraft AND set the Flight Simulator to detect crashes and damage in the settings area of the program, you are ready to go.. Fly your plane.
The better effects come from belly skimming hits and tearing the wings off the plane. The same results will NOT occur each time the plane crashes. The crash effects will be influenced by the dynamics and physics of the aircraft as it makes contact with buildings, trees, ground, other planes, etc The longer you stretch out a really bad landing the bigger the show!
NOTE:
Nose dives will usually produce absolutely no effect other than sticking the plane into the ground like a Yard Dart. This is because most aircraft do not have the contact points at the nose which signify fuel tanks or engines are present. In a nose dive if the aircraft impales hard enough into the ground or water to contact the engines\tanks, usually the effects will appear. If you understand how to manipulate contact points you can add 'wing-scrape' attributes to the nose of the aircraft which might influence the simulator to react better to a nose dive crash.
If you have NOT already done so you must enable the visual damage of each aircraft that you want to see the effect work with AND also enable Flight Simulator to detect crashes and damage. This is accomplished in the next 2 steps.
Step 2:
a. Open the aircraft configuration file for the plane you wish to enable the effect for.
b. Scroll down to the end of the first sets of variables and add the following line:
visual_damage=1
You must add the above line to the bottom of ALL the [fltsim.X] headings or ALL the variations of the plane will not display the effects. Once you reach the [General] heading you have entered and enabled crash damage for all the variations of the plane. Many planes will have only 1 variation and others may have as many as 3 to 6! An example of this edit is shown below. The default Microsoft Lear45 aircraft.cfg was used for this example:
NOTE: As stated above, in order to simplify things you can try adding the visual_damage=1 code line under JUST the [GENERAL] heading. If you are still not seeing results then try adding it to one version of the aircraft as described below. If after several attempts no aircraft breakage is seen, it is possible the aircraft MODEL file simply does not have the needed information for aircraft breakage. The effects files will display just the same, breakage or not.
[fltsim.0] //<------SEE THIS TOP HEADING??? SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF IT'S LIST
title=Learjet 45
sim=Lear45
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=
kb_checklists=Lear45_check
kb_reference=Lear45_ref
atc_id=N456LJ
ui_manufacturer=Bombardier
ui_type="Learjet 45"
ui_variation="White with gold and black"
description="The Model 45 is Learjet's first all-new aircraft since Bill Lear's first Model 23. Although it looks like a Learjet, it has only half the parts of a Model 35, reflecting a significant design progression. The parameters set down for the 45 called for it to have the performance of the Learjet 35, the handling of the Learjet 31A, and greater cabin space than the competition."
visual_damage=1 //<--------- $$$$********ADD THIS LINE HERE AT THE BOTTOM AS SHOWN*********$$$$
[fltsim.1] //<---------------SEE THIS HEADING??? ANOTHER ONE!! SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF IT'S LIST
title=Learjet 45 Limited Edition
sim=Lear45
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=1
kb_checklists=Lear45_check
kb_reference=Lear45_ref
atc_id=N45LR
ui_manufacturer=Bombardier
ui_type="Learjet 45"
ui_variation="Anniversary edition"
description="The Model 45 is Learjet's first all-new aircraft since Bill Lear's first Model 23. Although it looks like a Learjet, it has only half the parts of a Model 35, reflecting a significant design progression. The parameters set down for the 45 called for it to have the performance of the Learjet 35, the handling of the Learjet 31A, and greater cabin space than the competition."
visual_damage=1 //<--------------- $$$$********ADD THIS LINE HERE AT THE BOTTOM AS SHOWN*********$$$$
[General] //<-------SEE THIS HEADING??? YOUR DONE! THERE ARE NO MORE VARIATIONS FOR THIS PLANE!
atc_type=Learjet
atc_model=
editable=1
performance="Cruise Speed\t\nMach 0.81 464 kts..........
YADDA YADDA YADDA
(cut here for example)
*******************************
The above example shows 2 different variations (paint jobs) of the same Lear45 in which we enabled the visual damage for.
c. Save the edited aircraft configuration file.
Step 3:
The following instructions are for FS2004. FS2002 may be different but since I have never used FS2002 I cannot be sure. I would think from the description I give below you should be able to find the setting in FS2002.
a. Start the Flight Simulator and go to the settings area.
b. Click on "Realism" button. When the settings appear, select:
*DETECT CRASHES AND DAMAGE*
c. If you desire you can select the other options, *Allow collisions with other aircraft* and *Aircraft stress causes damage* but those two are not necessary for the effects to be enabled.
d. Restart the Simulator and confirm the *DETECT CRASHES AND DAMAGE* setting remained enabled. If so, go crash a plane!
