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Dovetail Flight School

rhumbaflappy

rhumbaflappy

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Hi all.

A first look at the file and folder structures of Flight School.

This is a very familiar look to the folders, including an Addon Scenery folder with the standard sub-folders of scenery and texture.

There is a scenery.cfg file that looks to be the same type as FSX.

The main scenery folder contains similar sub-folders as FSX. For example, the Scenery sub-folder 0302 contains APX24160.bgl, contains my home airport of Lake Lawn in Delavan, Wisconsin. cvx2416 contains my home area's terrain features, and it shows up in TMFViewer... I'm guessing the terrain file structure is exactly FSX.

ADE for FSX can extract C59 (Lake Lawn Airport) from APX24160.bgl.

dem0302.bgl does NOT show in TMFViewer (either FSX or P3D v2.4). I'll guess photoreal might not show in TMFViewer either.

Dick
 
I've found that dem4km.bgl, the base elevation BGL does show up in TMFViewer, so I believe FSX mesh should be backwardly compatible... possible photoreal as well (With luck).

Seasons.bgl, regions.bgl, and worldwc.bgl show in TMFViewer... but worldlc.bgl does NOT show in TMFViewer... possibly a header issue with the new resample Dovetail uses. My initial guess is that most scenery elements from FSX will be just fine in Flight School.

Looking in the Cities folder we can find Oshkosh (in FS9 photoreal format), and StMaartenAerial.Bgl in FSX format, Both showing in TMFViewer.

stmaarten.bgl shows the models in ModelConverterX... so I'll guess this is straight from FSX.

Enough is FSX in scenery, that I think that aircraft will be the challenge for Flight School designers.

I haven't yet added anythin to Flight School yet, but I think it would work putting elements into Addon Scenery's sub-folders.

Dick
 
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Please read section 9 of the EULA.

Section 9.2 (b) is interesting. (we is dovetail) (bold my emphasis) ( i read this as "You make it, We can take it." - BTW I copyrighted this saying :stirthepo)

(b) we have an irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual, payment free right to take any actions we consider appropriate (including without limitation to copy, reproduce, market, advertise, modify, adapt, merge, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or create derivative works based on the whole or any part of the UGC), and all consents (if any) required under intellectual property, data protection and privacy laws worldwide, for that use, in respect of any UGC which includes portions of our Intellectual Property Rights;

Section 9.2 (e) is also interesting for devs supplying UGC (user developed content)

(e) the UGC must not be used in, or made available to, any other simulator software which is similar to or competes with the Software (if you any doubt about this, please contact licencing@dovetailgames.com);

Section 9.4 - dun da dun dun

9.4 If you breach any of these terms in clause 9.2 or 9.3, then we reserve the right to suspend or permanently remove availability of your UGC or to take any other steps we consider appropriate, including under clause 12.2 of this EULA


Imagine what the Flight Simulators EULA will be .......
 
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Flew it a bit today. Interesting. Not bad. I flew the Cherokee around in Phoenix, my home town in Arizona.

Smooth frame rates.

Note that this uses PBR graphics tech.

Its great to see another sim out here to fly in.
 
Dick, based on your findings, I wouldn't be surprised if they took some of the resample\Terrain code from Flight and put it in Flight School (it would have been the closest thing to the FSX code base). I would have to double check, but I believe worldlc.bgl was changed from 8 bit to 16, and possibly that is what happened to the DEM as well.
 
BrBlazer said:
Where can I download the EULA?
Click to expand...
You didn't read it before pressing I Agree? ......

1st landing - I was on the ground and it said I was too slow speed up. then exit runway - you failed.

2nd attempt the sim crash as I landed - screen frooze bye bye.

I do like it BTW. A few stutters but has promise. I am now waiting for my DA-42 to get enabled - I understand it will be available at a later time.

EULA is in

SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\FlightSchool
 
ronh said:
You didn't read it before pressing I Agree? ......
Click to expand...

I have not purchased Flight School, I just thought the EULA would be available somewhere. And if I had purchased it by now, let's be honest... I would not have read the full EULA. I just got curious about clause 12.2 that was mentioned :)
 
Great work Dick / Stonelance ! really enjoy your posts and findings / works / fantastic !
 
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The aircraft appear to be straight from FSX. But simply adding an FSX aircraft to the proper folder doesn't allow the aircraft to be selected in Free Flight. I don't know if missions could be created to allow FSX planes. (Note that there are no DLL gauges in Flight School.) Time permitting, I'l add some terrain features to the Addon Scenery folder, and see if we can exclude and add terrain, photoreal, mesh and objects... Also note the terrain.cfg is an ORBX creation, so make sure any tests are using their GUIDs.

Also, time permitting, I hope to start my flying lessons! :)

Dick
 
Anything requiring FSUIPC or DLLs or SimConnect won't work in Flight School or the upcoming Flight Simulator. Any 3rd party content would be unsupported and probably discouraged by Dovetail. It's a beginner's tool to lean simulated flying in preparation for Flight Simulator.

Dovetail has repeatedly stated there will be no backwards compatibility supported. But I think Flight Simulator will be very compatible with FSX content with the exceptions noted above. Will there be anything added (for example: conditional object display)? My guess is no, but we'll see. There has been little interaction with the developing community as a whole, and Flight Simulator is due this year... probably in time for Christmas sales (November).

As an aside, I see Jim Keir is among the credits. A distinguished member of the development community.

Dick
 
lionheart said:
I tried installing my Blade aircraft on it. Didnt show up. :(
Click to expand...
Hi Bill.

Aircraft might show as a mission designation, so we need to see if we can add missions. But there is hope for Flight Simulator. Remember, no DLL or use of FSUIPC or SimConnect. XML gauges only.

Dick
 
I've heard that Flight School is a closed system. BUT .. there is this in the EULA

We may provide software or tools which assist the creation of UGC (also known as the "Editor"). Please note that the Editor requires expert knowledge to be used properly. In addition, the Editor is provided on an 'as is' basis without any warranty, representation or support by us and may be amended, altered or removed by us at our discretion at any time; and

Probably a mission editor ... but I see scaleform is being used, and that would mean having a flash editor.
 
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rhumbaflappy said:
Anything requiring FSUIPC or DLLs or SimConnect won't work in Flight School or the upcoming Flight Simulator.
Click to expand...
Dick, Martin has made it crystal clear in his AVSIM replies that DTG will be providing their own custom version of SimConnect with the full Flight Simulator, and that they intend to provide all of the functionality that Pete has provided via FSUIPC such that no third-party module(s) would be required.
 
Hi Bill.

My worry is that any programs, input devices, or aircraft using SimConnect, or FSUIPC will probably not work in Flight Simulator. I'm not saying developers won't have access to some of the inner workings of the game in the future, but it would require new programming.

Dovetail may yet surprise us with Flight Simulator, but if Flight School is a foreshadowing of their direction, we're going to have a 64-bit FSX, with little actual improvement regarding scenery, aircraft, or file and folder structure. I was hoping they'd use MS Flight's virtual folder structure, allowing each addon to control all aspects of it's 'local' scenery.

Dick
 
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