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As some of you may know, I am a dev that worked at ACES, and eventually on Microsoft Flight. When Flight was cancelled I created some tools in my spare time that allowed people to create custom liveries for the aircraft after Microsoft patched MS Flight to allow it to load unofficial content. Eventually that set of tools expanded to include some rough attempts to convert FSX aircraft to Flight (still in alpha), convert some scenery, and allow converting Flights SimProp format to and from xml.
I've been working with a few various people over the past half year or so to be able to include the ability to create and modify all the rest of the Flight content. Although we aren't at 100% yet, there are a lot of things working and it is in a state that others can tinker with it or contribute where there are pieces missing.
Current State:
Aircraft:
- Convert FSX airplanes to Flight using ContentConverter (in alpha and doesn't work super well)
Liveries:
- Use the livery creation wizard in Flight Toolkit Addon Builder.
Scenery\Library Objects:
- Convert FSX OBX, models and textures to Flight using the ContentConverter.
- New placements of existing Flight content can be done via xml -> bgl with SceneryCompiler.
Land and Water Classes, Vector Types (data from lclookup and terrain.cfg in FSX):
- Create lclookup via xml -> bgl with SceneryCompiler
Autogen:
- Create annotations via xml -> agn with AutogenCompiler
- Convert FSX annotations to Flight annotations with ContentConverter
Photo\Aerial Imagery
- Not supported right now
Airports, Land Class Map:
- Use FSX tools and convert to Flight with ContentConverter (LC map limited to indexing 256 classes for now)
Vector Data, DEM, Water Class Map, Population, Regions:
- Use FSX tools to create them and copy to Flight (backwards compatible)
Missions, Weather Themes, UI map regions, other SimProp types:
- Edit xml by hand and use SimPropCompiler to convert from xml to binary and visa versa.
Things on the TODO list:
- Allow creating new LibraryObjects via FBX to Flight model format
- Improvements\bug fixes to the conversion processes to support a wider amount of content
- Create new photo-real imagery bgls from tiff
- Improve addon export process for large addons
- Possible integration with other 3rd party tools for FSX\FS2004.
Installing MS Flight:
Make sure you have the latest GFWL client installed: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=128962 (or www.flighttoolkit.com/flightInstallers/gfwlivesetup.exe)
You can download\install Microsoft Flight from here: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9800616
Even though Flight is free, GFWL needs to generate a key for it so it can connect to the service. I have heard of people having problems getting one. If you run into this after installing Flight and haven't ever installed it before, make sure you use the Non-GFWL mode of the Flight Toolkit. You will be prompted for it at the end of the installation process of the Toolkit.
Installing the Flight Toolkit (Requires Vista or newer OS):
You can download the latest tools here: http://www.flighttoolkit.com/Downloads/FlightToolkit_1_1_32.zip (If you have a problem where GFWL says you need a key to play, make sure you use the Non-GFWL mode. You can change this after installation from the Addon Manager)
Website for the Flight Toolkit: www.flighttoolkit.com
Sample Addons:
If you install the Flight Toolkit you will see some 3rd party addons that are available for download already at the bottom. If you would like other options please visit the forum at avsim (http://forum.avsim.net/forum/365-the-microsoft-flight-forum), or check out the avsim library for Flight addons (http://library.avsim.net/login.php?Location=/). Separate account required for both.
I'll post further information about how the tools and Flight's content works in separate threads (including similarities and differences with FSX). In the mean time there should be a few other people with experience using these tools that can help out.
Special thanks to Luis Feriz Tirado, Orion (ollyau) and (Brandon) Huges-Flyer-MD4 for the large amount of help in the early stages of this work, and Jon, Arno and Dick with all their recent help.
Converting FSX Scenery:
Once you install the Toolkit you can convert FSX base scenery to a format that can be used in MS Flight. To do this you first need a clean install of FSX with no other addons installed. Afterwards you can run this command. You will need 7GB free in the temp folder, and 7GB free on the drive containing your MS Flight DLC (usually C
ContentConverter.exe fsx /i:"<path to FSX>" /o:"<path to temporary folder>"
This will convert the content and place it in your DLC folder. After running the command you will need to run Addon Manager to enable the addon called FSX World. I also recommend installing and enabling the "World UI" addon which will add a new region to the map that convers the whole world.
Optionally you can also add the "/a" argument to the command line to have the conversion generate a .flightAddon file instead of placing files in your DLC folder. I don't recommend doing this unless you need to convert the scenery on one machine, and install it on another because it is slower.
Note: I've heard reports of the conversion crashing GFWL configuration of the Toolkit after starting Flight with the FSX World addon enabled. If you run into this, make sure to run the Non-GFWL mode.
I've been working with a few various people over the past half year or so to be able to include the ability to create and modify all the rest of the Flight content. Although we aren't at 100% yet, there are a lot of things working and it is in a state that others can tinker with it or contribute where there are pieces missing.
Current State:
Aircraft:
- Convert FSX airplanes to Flight using ContentConverter (in alpha and doesn't work super well)
Liveries:
- Use the livery creation wizard in Flight Toolkit Addon Builder.
Scenery\Library Objects:
- Convert FSX OBX, models and textures to Flight using the ContentConverter.
- New placements of existing Flight content can be done via xml -> bgl with SceneryCompiler.
Land and Water Classes, Vector Types (data from lclookup and terrain.cfg in FSX):
- Create lclookup via xml -> bgl with SceneryCompiler
Autogen:
- Create annotations via xml -> agn with AutogenCompiler
- Convert FSX annotations to Flight annotations with ContentConverter
Photo\Aerial Imagery
- Not supported right now
Airports, Land Class Map:
- Use FSX tools and convert to Flight with ContentConverter (LC map limited to indexing 256 classes for now)
Vector Data, DEM, Water Class Map, Population, Regions:
- Use FSX tools to create them and copy to Flight (backwards compatible)
Missions, Weather Themes, UI map regions, other SimProp types:
- Edit xml by hand and use SimPropCompiler to convert from xml to binary and visa versa.
Things on the TODO list:
- Allow creating new LibraryObjects via FBX to Flight model format
- Improvements\bug fixes to the conversion processes to support a wider amount of content
- Create new photo-real imagery bgls from tiff
- Improve addon export process for large addons
- Possible integration with other 3rd party tools for FSX\FS2004.
Installing MS Flight:
Make sure you have the latest GFWL client installed: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=128962 (or www.flighttoolkit.com/flightInstallers/gfwlivesetup.exe)
You can download\install Microsoft Flight from here: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9800616
Even though Flight is free, GFWL needs to generate a key for it so it can connect to the service. I have heard of people having problems getting one. If you run into this after installing Flight and haven't ever installed it before, make sure you use the Non-GFWL mode of the Flight Toolkit. You will be prompted for it at the end of the installation process of the Toolkit.
Installing the Flight Toolkit (Requires Vista or newer OS):
You can download the latest tools here: http://www.flighttoolkit.com/Downloads/FlightToolkit_1_1_32.zip (If you have a problem where GFWL says you need a key to play, make sure you use the Non-GFWL mode. You can change this after installation from the Addon Manager)
Website for the Flight Toolkit: www.flighttoolkit.com
Sample Addons:
If you install the Flight Toolkit you will see some 3rd party addons that are available for download already at the bottom. If you would like other options please visit the forum at avsim (http://forum.avsim.net/forum/365-the-microsoft-flight-forum), or check out the avsim library for Flight addons (http://library.avsim.net/login.php?Location=/). Separate account required for both.
I'll post further information about how the tools and Flight's content works in separate threads (including similarities and differences with FSX). In the mean time there should be a few other people with experience using these tools that can help out.
Special thanks to Luis Feriz Tirado, Orion (ollyau) and (Brandon) Huges-Flyer-MD4 for the large amount of help in the early stages of this work, and Jon, Arno and Dick with all their recent help.
Converting FSX Scenery:
Once you install the Toolkit you can convert FSX base scenery to a format that can be used in MS Flight. To do this you first need a clean install of FSX with no other addons installed. Afterwards you can run this command. You will need 7GB free in the temp folder, and 7GB free on the drive containing your MS Flight DLC (usually C
ContentConverter.exe fsx /i:"<path to FSX>" /o:"<path to temporary folder>"
This will convert the content and place it in your DLC folder. After running the command you will need to run Addon Manager to enable the addon called FSX World. I also recommend installing and enabling the "World UI" addon which will add a new region to the map that convers the whole world.
Optionally you can also add the "/a" argument to the command line to have the conversion generate a .flightAddon file instead of placing files in your DLC folder. I don't recommend doing this unless you need to convert the scenery on one machine, and install it on another because it is slower.
Note: I've heard reports of the conversion crashing GFWL configuration of the Toolkit after starting Flight with the FSX World addon enabled. If you run into this, make sure to run the Non-GFWL mode.
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