Flight Simulator 2004 "A Century of Flight"
Splash Screens - Volume 1
by Jeffrey S. Bryner email: jeffreybryner@hotmail.com


If you are using Notepad, turn on Word Wrap (on the Format Menu) to make this a bit easier to read. If you have the version of this readme in PDF format, there are no viewing settings to trouble yourself with.

First and foremost, thank you for downloading this my first volume of hopefully many Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 "A Century of Flight" Splash Screens. I hope it does not disappoint.

Because it is the first volume, I thought I would explain my philosophy for these Splash Screens. It is based in the following:

- To showcase the broad genre of wonderful aircraft and scenery created and made available to us flight simmers by talented and motivated people from all over the globe. Not only by showcasing these works in my Splash Screens does it give "eye time" to works not hereto seen by some, but also it raises awareness and (hopefully) stimulates interest in the variety and abundance of aircraft and scenery available to simmers for downloading. Related to this point, when I publish a volume, I will try to the best of my ability to give credit to the modelers, painters and designers of aircraft and scenery used on my Splash Screens. If you like it let them know, they deserve tremendous credit for their work.

- Related to the previous point, I use as much freeware and as little payware as possible. I have nothing against payware, I am just more of a purist and like to recognize the work of those that do it for the sheer passion and not the money. So in my splash screens, all the aircraft and scenery are freely downloadable from the web. If there are exceptions to that, I will let you all know.

- I am a tad of a purist so that means no reworked, retouched or otherwise modified screen shot images. That means none of these images was modified with programs like Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop or other graphics editing programs. I have absolutely nothing against these programs or their ability to artistically enhance screen shots; I just take a traditionalist, WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) point of view. I do, however, sometimes crop or resize to get the proper perspective for the Splash Screen.

- No photos. I, like some of you, love aviation photography but this is flight simulation. The splash screens should showcase the capabilities of the simulator, not the photographer. By the way, my favorite web site for aviation photography is airliners.net. Bar none, the best on the web.

- No alteration to the layout of the Splash Screen. I do not move the "A Century of Flight" text or the "Microsoft" text along the bottom of the splash screen. I also do not change the yellow border. That way, these Splash Screens "feel" like they came with the Flight Simulator product.

- Finally, the last element of my philosophy is through providing these splash screens, to provide visual variety in the startup of Flight Simulator. There's nothing I enjoy more than waiting to see which Splash Screen my randomizer will show. It makes that sometimes slow startup process a tad less boring and gives me something to look at.



Volume 1

For this first volume, I took some of the screen shots I have posted on different sim sites that have received a considerable number of hits/downloads and have also added a few new ones and turned them all into splash screens. Later, depending on response and demand, I'll try to organize volumes by airline, aircraft, airport, country and other criteria. I tried to keep the file size reasonable for non-broadband downloaders, so I am only including 9 Splash Screens. I will also include links to Geoffrey Schreiber's Splash Screen Randomizer program in each volume. That way you won't have to go on a search for the program if this volume is your first download.

Contents:
1. Alaska Airlines Boeing 734 "We're Going to Disneyland" repaint - rollout at KSNA. Aircraft model by FFX, the wonderful repaint by AJ Nikoley and the beautiful KNSA airport by Shehryar 'Shez' Ansari.
2. American Eagle Embraer 135 over KRDU. Highly detailed model by Dreamwings and super repaint by Charles Fox. KRDU airport by Patrick Finch.
3. Antonov 225 "MRIYA/DREAM" - Short final Kiev Airport. Model and repaint by Thomas Ruth.
4. Air New Zealand Boeing 744 Lord Of the Rings over Sydney departing YSSY. Project OpenSky for the classic 744 model, C. Vincent Cho and Tom Harlaar for the intricate, beautiful paint job.
5. Delta Boeing 773 - In flight over the Atlantic enroute to Madrid. B773 model by MelJet and the realistic paint by Clemens Pieper.
6. Grumman F-14 - In flight over the Pacific off the coast of southern California.
7. Sukhoi Su-34 Strike Flanker in flight over Germany. Outstanding repaint by Bowe Tyson.
8. Lockheed T-38 Talon - Holloman AFB Livery. Owen Hewitt and Jim Goldman brought this FSD creation to us.
9. Western Pacific Boeing 734 Simpsons livery - at the gate at KPHX. Aircraft by Kittyhawk and this genius repaint is by Sebastian Hecker. The beautifully detailed Phoenix airport is by Gary Widup.


Installation:
1. Extract all files into your Flight Simulator 2004 main directory, usually \Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator 9. It will create (if not already present) a sub directory named SplashScreens. If you already have Geoffrey Schreiber's Random Splash Screen display program, you are done. If not, go on to Step 2.

2. Double-click on the file SSRandomizerFlightsim.lnk in the Zip File. It links to http://www.SurClaro /cgi/kdl/main/58/ssr25.zip which will take you to the download page Splash Screen Randomizer version 2.5 by Geoffrey Schreiber from SurClaro. If you get a dead link there, try the SSRandomizerAVSIM.lnk which links to http://library.avsim.net/download.php?DLID=35945. That is version 1.2 of the program, however. Instructions for installing are included with Geoffrey's program. I recommend you create/use the subdirectory named SplashScreens for the splash screens. That is where mine install by default.
With respect to Geoffrey Schreiber's work; I take no credit for it, but all the credit for this slick utility goes to him.

Feedback
I look forward to your feedback. But I do ask if you have something negative to keep it civil and constructive. Email me at jeffreybryner@hotmail.com. Let me know what you would like to see in future volumes.

Please Contribute
The contents of this package although free, took considerable effort to create and produce. Therefore, I classify it as "donationware." That simply means that you may use it freely, but I would be grateful for any donation in any reasonable amount. One dollar, a euro, a pound, a peseta, a peso (or maybe 11), a rupee, a yen, a dinar, a franc, a shilling or whatever you can offer. You can securely send a donation to the Pay Pal account jbryner@aztecha.com. Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Disclaimer
This is the part I enjoy the least, but they tell me I must put it in for my sake. I am in no way responsible for any damages that may result on your computer from the installation of the contents of this package. You install this at your risk and your risk alone. Ok, now that's over thank goodness.