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* Hangar Manager V1.4
* Author: Mark Schilberg
* For use with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000
* Platforms: Win95, Win98, WinMe, WinNt, Win2K
* This software is Freeware
* Support email: hangarmanager@home.com
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============
Installation
============
If you currently have Hangar Manager installed, uninstall it prior to installing this version.
Extract the zip file to a temporary location and run the setup.exe file from there.
===========================
What's New in Version 1.4 ?
===========================
- Added limited support for multiple configurations per aircraft (ie. more than one [fltsim.x] section in the aircraft.cfg file). The limitation is that you can only select one of these configurations at a time in the Staging area. When an aircraft.cfg file like this is found, a dialog will pop up and ask you which aircraft config you'd like to select.
- Added "Delete" button to "List unused gauges in MSFS gauge directory" tool. You can now select whichever gauges you want to delete from that list (use CTRL and SHIFT while selecting if needed) and hit the delete button.
- Added a Tool called "List all packages in Hangar" which shows a categorized list of all the packages in the Hangar directory. You can now use this list as an alternate way to select packages in the main Hangar window. The window size and placement of the list window is now saved between sessions.
- Tabs on the components tabbed control are enabled/disabled depending on if components of that type exist for the package.
- Moved the Panel alias indicator onto the Panel tab of components control. Same idea with Sound alias.
- For those of you who are wondering how to get aircraft already installed in MSFS into Hangar Manager, see the notes at the end of this file.
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What's New in Version 1.2 ?
===========================
- Added sound configuration alias support. It is now handled like the panel "aliasing". This wasn't supported previously because I never bothered with modifying sound configurations for my aircraft before so I didn't think to put it in.
- HM now recognizes text files used for the "kneeboard" (hit F10) in MSFS and correctly puts them in the "aircraft" folder. It was previously putting them in the documentation folder and therefore would not show up on the kneeboard. These files have the extensions _check.txt, _keys.txt, _notes.txt and _ref.txt.
- Modified package removal from MSFS routine. Found that MSFS would create empty xxx_notes.txt files in the aircraft directory automatically and the old way of file removal would get stuck when it encountered this "new" file. The old routine used to make sure it did not remove any files for the package in the "aircraft" directory that it did not put there itself. It now doesn't care.
- The zip file name changed for those of you who are used to the hangarmanv1.zip format. I had to change it to hmv12.zip because some ftp sites can't handle filenames greater than eight characters (8.3 format).
That's it. If you have any problems or questions, let me know at hangarmanager@home.com.
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What's New in Version 1.1 ?
===========================
A few minor bug fixes ...
- Resizing the application window to a certain size (too small) would cause an error in certain circumstances.
- Selecting the "List Unused Gauges in MSFS Gauges Directory" option while the intro screen was up caused an error in certain circumstances.
- While fixing the bug above I found a way to speed up the gauge scan routine. Scanning for unused gauges and uninstalling packages that contain gauges is now faster.
- Removing the current image shown in the "Hangar" while the current package was installed in MSFS would cause the "Remove package from MSFS" option to fail. Put in a safeguard to make sure this would not happen.
- Reworked parts of the readme.txt and application regarding directory locations. Situations would arise where if you would change your Hangar directory location after initial set up, the package categories (directories under the Hangar directory) would not get automatically created.
That's it. If you have any problems or questions, let me know at hangarmanager@home.com.
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1. Introduction
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NOTE: I will use the word "package" to mean a set of files which are included in an aircraft and/or panel and/or sound configuration. When I mention "aircraft" I mean the set of components that are composed of the flight model, aircraft model and texturing of the aircraft model.
Hangar Manager is a utility that makes the job of collecting and organizing the many aircraft and aircraft related components available on the internet for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000 easy (I have only used and tested it for FS2000). It also lets you quickly and intelligently install and uninstall these components to and from the Flight Simulator directory.
Here are the reasons that I decided to create this application:
1) There are a lot of great freeware aircraft, panels and sounds out there!
2) There is no real standard that authors of these packages adhere to while creating the "ZIP" or self extracting EXE file containing their work for public consumption. I find it a hassle to have to take a detailed look at every zip file to know where the files should be extracted to install the package. The zip file names themselves can be pretty cryptic as well.
3) I realized that there are already applications that automate this process, tried a couple, and for one reason or other didn't find them to my liking. One of the reasons is that some of these apps handle scenery, adventures etc. and I'm not interested in dealing with an app that has all this extra complexity. I wanted a simple, straight forward application to handle aircraft, panels and sound configurations only.
4) Once the package was installed, and you would then like to uninstall it, it wasn't a trivial task to find all the files involved (i.e. gauges) in order to remove everything from the Flight Simulator directory and also to make sure the files that needed to be uninstalled weren't still being used by another aircraft.
5) I wanted a way to create a collection of aircraft that wasn't comprised of a bunch of zip files. In other words, I wanted an application that could analyze and recognize the contents of a "Staging" directory and store the contents into a standardized set of directories, similar to the Microsoft Flight simulator standard directory structure. Programmatically or otherwise this makes a lot of things easy. For example, if your collection was taking up too much disk space, you could copy this directory structure onto a CD. Then all you would need to do is point Hangar Manager at the Hangar directory on the CD to instantly access your collection with images and easily accessible information and options.
6) I wanted a way to easily be able to browse through names/images of aircraft/panels in order to decide which ones I wanted to add or remove from MSFS with the click of a button. Luckily, most authors of aircraft/panels include images of their work in their packages. Being able to install/uninstall components from MSFS this easily makes it simple to just have the aircraft you'd like to fly installed in MSFS. This cuts down on MSFS processing overhead during aircraft selection and cuts down on the space used by MSFS.
The list goes on but you're probably falling asleep by now so I'll stop here :-) If you've already fallen asleep, WAKE UP!
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2. Locations
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When you start up HM it requires three directory locations to exist and to be specified ...
The "Staging" directory
-----------------------
This is a directory where you initially place (extract) the files for a SINGLE aircraft and/or panel and/or sound configuration. Just create a directory somewhere and call it something ... "Staging" would be a good name :-)
More on the use of the Staging directory ...
I let you take care of using whatever utility (i.e. Winzip) you want to unzip the file since there could be zip files contained within zip files or multiple aircraft contained in a zip file, etc. Don't be concerned about directory structure contained within the zip file or even reading the installation instructions (unless you encounter a problem). All HM cares about and recognizes are the files themselves. All you really need to watch for are zip files contained within zip files and unzip those files into the Staging directory as well.
The "Hangar" directory
----------------------
This is where the aircraft/panel/sound components are stored when they are accepted from the Staging directory. Think of this as your database or collection directory. Create a new folder for the Hangar directory because if the folder you select contains one or more directories, those directory names will become the categories for your packages and no new categories (directories) will be created for you. If you'd like to point to an existing "Hangar" directory created with Hangar Manager, go right ahead.
The Microsoft Flight Simulator directory
----------------------------------------
This has to be set to the top level directory where Microsoft Flight Simulator is installed, i.e. C:\MSFS. (I'll refer to this directory sometimes as the MSFS directory).
Once you correctly tell HM where the Staging, Hangar and MSFS directories are, you are able to use HM.
Here are all your options once you're in ...
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3. Viewing Package Components
==============================
The tabbed control in HM is where the components of your package are displayed. It shows you pictures of the package (if the author was good enough to include them). The right and left arrow buttons to the left of the picture box let you select the next/previous picture if there is more than one. The tabbed control shows you the Aircraft, Panel, Gauge, Model, Texture, Sound, Documentation files and Unrecognized Files. Note that you are able to double click on files with extensions of .txt, .cfg or .diz to immediately view (and change if needed) the files.
The Unrecognized Files "page" shows you files that Hangar Manager does not recognize as files associated with an aircraft, panel or sound configuration. The author might have included some other kind of file(s) in his distribution (i.e. weather, situations etc) that HM doesn't deal with, other than plopping them into the Unrecognized Files directory. You could manually install these files if needed.
NOTE: If you see a valid file in the Unrecognized Files page that should be in one of the other categories, I'd like to know about it. Just email me the link to where I can download the aircraft and/or panel and/or sound configuration containing the offending file(s) and the name of the file(s) that are out of place.
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4. Options on the Menu Bar
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File/Locations
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This will let you change the directory locations you've specified.
File/Exit
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Self explanatory.
Tools/List All Packages in Hangar
---------------------------------
Lists all packages in the "Hangar". Packages installed in MSFS will have brackets around them (i.e. <>). You can also use this list as an alternate way to select packages.
Tools/List Unused Gauges in MSFS Gauges Directory
-------------------------------------------------
This option looks at each gauge file (.gau) in the MSFS "gauges" directory and searches throught the MSFS aircraft directory to see if it is actually used in any of the panels. The procedure used in this option is also used each time you uninstall a package from MSFS to see if the gauges that were initially installed with the package are still being used. If the gauge file is still being used, that particular file would not be uninstalled.
You may optionally delete the gauges listed by selecting them (use CTRL or SHIFT + select if needed) and selecting the "Delete" button.
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5. General Options
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Package Name
------------
Every package needs a unique name no matter what category it's in. HM will initially check for an aircraft name in the aircraft.cfg file, if one exists, and populate the Package Name with it automatically. This name can be overridden. HM will check the hangar and MSFS directories for name duplication and alert you if one exists.
NOTE: While you're in the "Hangar" area, packages installed in MSFS will have their names enclosed in brackets like this ...
Package Category
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When you start up HM, a set of categories will be created for you. These categories are simply a set of directories under the Hangar directory and aid in organizing your packages into groups so that you can easily find what you're looking for. These directories can be renamed, removed or added to via Windows Explorer in order to create your own set of categories, even while the directories contain packages, installed in MSFS or not. (You'll have to restart HM in order to see category changes). Note that these category directories will not automatically be created if the Hangar directory contains one or more directories when you start HM.
Options
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Pick an option from the dropdown list and hit the "Go!" button to activate it. More info on these options are listed under the Staging Options and Hangar Options sections below.
Go To Staging/Go To Hangar
--------------------------
This option toggles between the two areas.
Refresh
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This option will display the latest contents of the Staging directory or the latest contents of the currently selected package in the Hangar directory. This option is especially useful while you're using the Staging area because it changes frequently while you are unzipping components of an aircraft and/or panel and/or sound configuration to that directory.
Explore
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This option will open the currently selected area (directory) in Windows Explorer if you would like to see more information on files.
WARNING: This option should only be used as an informational tool only or if you're familiar with the way Hangar Manager operates. For example, if you modify files in the Hangar directory while they are installed in MSFS, you might run into problems when you try to uninstall the package from MSFS.
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6. Staging Options
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Copy package to Hangar
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This will copy the package components as shown in Staging and copy them to the "Hangar" directory. Note that you should select the category that you'd like the package to belong to while you're in the Staging area.
Remove all from Staging
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This will remove all components from Staging. If Staging contains files, you'll see words to that effect in the title bar. It is important that the Staging area (directory) is clear before files for a new package are put into it.
Remove panel from Staging
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This will just remove the panel components from Staging and leave everything else intact, if for some reason you need to do this. For example, if you want to replace the panel for the aircraft with another and do not want to use an alias (see below) you would use this option to clear out the original panel before dropping the new panel files into the Staging directory.
Remove sound from Staging
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This will just remove the sound configuration (sound.cfg and .wav files which are used in the sound.cfg) from Staging and leave everything else intact, if for some reason you need to do this. For example, if you want to replace the sound configuration for the aircraft with another and do not want to use an alias (see below) you would use this option to clear out the original sound configuration before dropping the new sound config into the Staging directory.
Remove aircraft from Staging
----------------------------
Same idea as removing the panel or sound configuration from Staging but in this case you will just be removing the aircraft components themselves leaving everything else in tact.
Remove current image
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The image that is currently being displayed will be removed.
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7. Hangar Options
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Copy package to MSFS
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This will take the currently selected package and copy it to the Microsoft Flight Simulator directory.
Copy package to Staging
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This will take the currently selected package and copy it to the Staging directory. This is the option you'd use if you want to rework the aircraft/panel/sounds with different components.
Remove package from MSFS
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This will remove the currently selected package from the Microsoft Flight Simulator directory. This is a "smart" removal process where each gauge that was initially installed with the package will be checked to see if it is still being used by another panel currently installed in MSFS and will not be removed if so.
Remove package from Hangar
--------------------------
This will remove the currently selected package from the Hangar directory. You will be prompted to remove it from the MSFS directory first as well, if installed in MSFS.
Remove current image
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The image that is currently being displayed will be removed.
NOTES about aliases:
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HM is designed such that you could contain an aircraft/panel/sound combo in a single package but this would lead to panel and/or sound file duplication since a panel or sound configuration can, and often is, used by more than one aircraft. It is therefore recommended that you store a panel or sound configuration in its own package and point to it via the alias functions of the panel.cfg and sound.cfg files. You can set up these alias files easily with the following options:
Create panel alias
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To use the "Create panel alias" option, just select a package containing the desired panel that you would like to use in another aircraft, select the "Create panel alias" option and click the GO! button.
Paste panel alias
-----------------
Once you have selected the "Create panel alias" option, you can easily create a new panel.cfg file for any aircraft in the Hangar by selecting this option. If a panel.cfg file already exists for the aircraft it will be renamed to oldpanel.cfg so that you can easily restore it with the "Restore old panel" option. Note that if an oldpanel.cfg file exists for aircraft selected for subsequent usage of the "Paste panel alias" option, oldpanel.cfg will not be changed and the current panel.cfg file will be overwritten.
Restore old panel
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This will restore the original panel of an aircraft that was replaced using the "Paste panel alias" option. HM will simply overwrite the panel.cfg file in the package with the oldpanel.cfg file if one exists.
Create sound alias
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To use the "Create sound alias" option, just select a package containing the desired sound configuration that you would like to use in another aircraft, select the "Create sound alias" option and click the GO! button.
Paste sound alias
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Once you have selected the "Create sound alias" option, you can easily create a new sound.cfg file for any aircraft in the Hangar by selecting this option. If a sound.cfg file already exists for the aircraft it will be renamed to oldsound.cfg so that you can easily restore it with the "Restore old sound" option. Note that if an oldsound.cfg file exists for aircraft selected for subsequent usage of the "Paste sound alias" option, oldsound.cfg will not be changed and the current sound.cfg file will be overwritten.
Restore old sound
-----------------
This will restore the original sound configuration of an aircraft that was replaced using the "Paste sound alias" option. HM will simply overwrite the sound.cfg file in the package with the oldsound.cfg file if one exists.
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NOTES ABOUT AIRCRAFT ALREADY INSTALLED IN MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR DIRECTORY
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- Hangar Manager (HM) is geared toward collecting, installing and uninstalling aircraft/components with Hangar Manager only. A few of you who've tried HM were wondering about the aircraft you've installed in MSFS before you got HM. Sorry that I've left those of you who have in the dark. Here are some suggestions...
STOCK MSFS A/C:
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I don't have an automated tool to do this but if you're interested in adding any of these aircraft to HM (to reconfigure them or whatever), just copy the aircraft folder for whichever a/c you're interested in (i.e. B777_300) from the MSFS/aircraft directory into the Staging directory. Once this is done, hit "Refresh" in HM if you already have HM running. You'll also have to change the "title=" line in the aircraft.cfg file so that you don't see two aircraft with the same name in MSFS. You can then use the "Copy package to Hangar" option to add the aircraft to your collection.
Whatever you do, never remove any of the stock aircraft from the MSFS directory. If you do, the stock gauges in the "global" gauges directory may be flagged as unused and may be deleted. These gauges should never be deleted.
NON STOCK:
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If you've already added a bunch of other aircraft/panels configurations to MSFS that contain gauges, there is no way of adding them into Hangar Manager from the MSFS directory since the gauge files have already been installed into the "global" gauges directory. Hangar Manager has no "memory" of them. (When you install gauges with Hangar Manager, it keeps track of them by remembering what you've installed). For these aircraft/panels, your best bet is to remove the aircraft directories for them from the MSFS/aircraft directory and then to use the "List unused gauges in MSFS Gauges directory" Tool in Hangar Manager to remove the unused gauges that will be left behind. Then you can load the aircraft into Hangar Manager by unzipping, moving or copying one at a time into the Staging directory, hitting the Refresh button and selecting the "Copy package to Hangar" option.
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Disclaimer: This is freeware. I will not be liable for any damage done to the data that resides on your computer as a result of using Hangar Manager. I'm not trying to scare you :-) I've tested and used this software on my own computer and it has not caused any such damage, but just in case, may the user beware.