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European Replacement Textures for FS2004's Default McDonnell-Douglas/Boeing MD-83s
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Painted by Olve Askim - 3/2005



What's this?
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Thank you for downloading!
This download replaces the default, fictional McDonnell-Douglas/Boeing MD-83 AI-airlines (Soar
Airlines, Airwave Airlines and Pacifica Airlines) in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 with real
airlines; Alitalia, Austrian Airlines and Finnair.
Since this is a texture replacement pack only the planes will still fly the same routes as before,
but they'll add slightly more realism to your airports. An alternative is of course to remove the
default MD-83s completely, but if you haven't installed a lot of AI you're then likely to be very
alone out there.
And, as before, you can not fly the planes. They're just there to populate your FS2004-world.
A small problem with their default routes is that they'll appear all over the FS2004-globe as before,
and MD-83s from Alitalia, Austrian Airlines or Finnair aren't really too common in, say, Los Angeles.
That's why this download suits best for simmers flying mostly in Europe.

I have made a North American version as well, so you might consider installing that one instead if you prefer
flying there. It's called default_md_83_replacement_us.zip and you'll find it on SurClaro.com or whereever
you downloaded this.
(I am considering an Asian and a South American version eventually too.)


Some technical stuff....
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FS2004's MD-83 models are in fact quite awkward to repaint as they, amongst other things, use only one
texture for the tail which they flip over on the other side. This means I had to choose planes with a design
allowing this; tails without text for example. They also flip the textures on the lower part of the fuse
so I had to exclude planes with huge logos covering the sides. And some areas on their models are nearly
impossible to add accurate details to. Quite a lot of criterias in other words.
Alitalia in this download is actually an MD-82 (as they don't seem to have MD-83s), but you wouldn't
see a difference in real life anyway, and the aircraft.cfg included in this download is corrected. In fact,
FS2004's MD-83s aren't even 100% correct either.
So what I have done here is basically to give them a new paint. I have left the basic outlines as they were,
only added some dirt and tiny details for more realism.
I hope you'll like them.


Fast and simple installation
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Please note that this download is for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 ONLY.
Also note that you can also only have ONE of my texture packages installed at a time. If you want to
replace another one with this, read below.

1. I recommend that you take a backup of the default files incase you change your mind later:
- Open your FS9 folder. In the Aircraft folder locate the folder called md_83 and open it.
- First rename the file called aircraft.cfg. Call it, say, aircraft_backup.cfg.
- You'll also find three folders; Texture, Texture.1 and Texture.2. In EACH ONE OF THEM rename the file
MD_83_T to, say, MD_83_T_backup. Note; ONLY the file MD_83_T.
- Now you have backups.

2. Unzip this ZIP-file WITH folders into a temporary folder. You've now unzipped a folder called md_83.

3. Click yourself back to the FS9/Aircraft-directory. Copy and paste the folder you just unzipped (md_83)
into the Aircraft folder. Overwrite folders if prompted (actually nothing will really be overwritten).
If you're asked to overwrite -files- you've probably done something wrong, so say no to everything and
read this again. Or do the alternative installation below.

4. Now go spotting.


Alternative installation
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1. Follow the two first steps above.

2. Copy aircraft.cfg from the unzipped md_83 folder into the md_83 directory in your FS9/Aircraft folder.

3. Copy the file MD_83_T from your unzipped md_83/Texture folder to the folder Texture in your
FS9/Aircraft/md_83/Texture folder. Do exactly the same with the folders Texture.1 and Texture.2.

4. You're ready to go.


If you've already got another texture version from me installed and want this instead....
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1. Simply zip all this into your FS9/Aircraft-folder. Overwrite when prompted.


Uninstallation
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1. Delete the aircraft.cfg from your FS9/Aircraft/md_83 foler. Rename your backup file to aircraft.cfg.

2. Delete the files MD_83_T in all the three Texture folders. Rename your backup files in each folder back
to MD_83_T



Happy flying!


Copyright Olve Askim (C)3/2005

olvea@yahoo.com

This is freeware for you to download and enjoy. Feel free to upload it anywhere you want as long as it is
packed its original zipped file including this readme. It should also only be uploaded together with the
North American package (see above for details).