ADE 1.40 is the latest version of Airport Design Editor. In addition to a number of bug fixes and enhancements this version introduces an Approach Designer. Many users want to see aircraft flying reaslistic approaches to airports. In many cases users updating and airport can affect the way approaches work. The new Approach Designer provides a graphical interface and mimics the GPS in FSX. For full details of what's new in 1.40 please check the change log.
INSTALLATION
The installer for version 1.40 is very sophisticated. It will offer you a number of options during the installation process including what documentation to install and whether or not to download tutorials.
The installer should update any version of ADE from 1.20 onwards, or provide a clean install if this is your first version of the program. It relies on checking the registry entries concerning ADE. If you have an older version then you should create a new installation.
Documentation is available in English or German. The tutorials are based on an older version of ADE but are still completely relevant to this version.
ADE will offer you the chance to install two additional utilities. It is strongly recommended that you install ADE Environment Checker. This program will check that your computer has everything needed to run ADE sucessfully. It is also capable of fixing some of the common problems encountered with getting the program to work properly. AI-Aircraft Editor is a tool that enables you to edit the configuration files for your AI aircraft. In many cases these need to be changed for things like wing span or airline. If you do not think you need to do this then you can always pass on the installation now and install it later if you wish.
Once you have completed the installation you can run ADE from the last screen of setup or from an icon or the start programs menu. All ADE programs and files are located in the Airport Design Editor Folder.
When you first start ADE after update you will be asked to run the database scans again. This is very important. There are a number of new features in ADE and a change to the way the databases are stored and used. If you skip or cancel this then you installation will not work properly. If you are a new user then please complete the New User Wizard. After the first run we recommend that you close and re-start the program. This will ensure that all the data is properly saved or updated.
If for any reason ADE fails to start properly or the scans fail then please run ADE Environment Checker.
UNINSTALLATION
Please use the uninstaller from the start programs menu. This will ensure that all files and folders are cleaned up. Please note that ADE Environment Checker and AI Aircraft Editor use .ocx files. If you remove the programs via the uninstaller any .ocx files will not be removed. This is because they may be used by other programs and removing them would result in these other programs failing to work. If you do wish to remove them then there are brief instructions below
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Please be aware that AI-Aircraft Editor requires 6 Microsoft controls and will install them into your %WINDIR%\system32 folder if not already present.
For security reasons these controls stay after deinstallation of ADE. You can de-register each file with the command "regsvr32 /u <%path%>\<%filename%>" and delete it if appropriate.
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KNOWN ISSUES
In any software as complex as ADE there are hidden gems that the programmer puts there to trip himself and others up. When we find them we try to fix them but we do not always succeed. We like to think that the program is stable and works as advertized but......
The on-line help system for ADE has not been updated or completed. Please read the excellent manuals
ADE is still not able to create freeway traffic. We hope to fix this in a later version.
Some others may be listed in the manuals or release notes.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A full list of all those people involved in the development of ADE is shown in the manuals. Please do read about them all. However I would like to make a special thank you to:
Martin Gossmann. Martin is the author of ADE Environment Checker, AI Aircraft Editor and the ADE installer. Martin is also the Release Manager for ADE.
Helmuth (Helli) Hauck who has labored long and hard to produce an excellent ADE Manual in German and who has kept us very much on our toes
Bob Keeshan for the ADE English Manual and the optional tutorials. Bob has managed to pull together the wide range of manuals and release notes that accompanied the earlier versions and made them into one coherent document
Kambiz Agazi, Carlos Maida, Mike Cronin and Al Jordan who joined the ADE Development Team to help us test the installers and other pre -release tasks.
The whole ADE Development Team - y'all know who you are. I lose count of the countries over which they are spread but be assured we have residents of Europe, North America, South America and Australasia on the team.
LEGAL STUFF
ADE is freeware. If you paid for it in any way (other than if you made a domation through our web site) please let us know.
You use this program at your own risk. We cannot be held responsible for the effects that using it may have on you, your computer or your FSX Installation
If you are using or modifying the work of others then it is your responsibility to ensure that you have their permission
ADE is copyright ScruffyDuck Software.
CONTACT
The best place for support on ADE and all its supporting tools is www.fsdeveloper.com. The ADE Support Forum lives there and the whole team will try and help. Alternatively feel free to email me at jon@scruffyduck.co.uk
Jon Masterson
ScruffyDuck Software
ADE Development Team
