Subject: Moving ATP+3DAGS(ATP Companion) Aircraft to Airline Simulator (AS)
Date: Sat, 01 Feb 1997
From: Gunnar Graff <gunnarg@fagmed.uit.no>
Organization: Universitetet i Tromsoe
The new Airline simulator (AS) based on ATP-program, made by LAGO in Italy, has only one plane, B747. In AS it is called B744. I love flying around in Europe, but sadly missed all the other planes in ATP.
I have been working with the problem for some time, and have now solved the problem. So now I have 6 planes to fly with in AS: B737, B767, B747 and the new B747(744), A320 and my little favorite, Short 360. I have also found out how to change instrument panels, so I am able to choose between glass cockpit or B737 panel, its even possible to have the more simple short-panel installed in every one of the planes.
This is how to implement the ATP-planes in AS:
1. Copying the pictures of the planes
The pictures of the planes are in the files simX.sim (X=1-5).
sim1.sim=B737
sim2.sim=B767 (copy this file out of ATP and rename it sim6.sim!)
sim3.sim=B747
sim4.sim=A320
sim5.sim=Short 360
Copy the files sim1,sim3,sim4,sim5 and sim6.sim to AS
The rest of the operation deals with 3DAGS-files which implements the proper instrument panels for each plane.
2. Implementing instrument panels
The files IALCFG61-65.ATP are 'bat-files' containing a list of files connected to each plane and panel. In AS all files are equal, with 224 bytes.
IALCFG61 is the file for B737, in ATP 510 bytes
IALCFG62 is the file for B767, in ATP 224 bytes (glass cockpit.)
IALCFG63 is the file for B747, in ATP 510 bytes (B737panel)
IALCFG64 is the file for A320, in ATP 224 bytes (glass cockpit.)
IALCFG65 is the file for Shorts, in ATP 199 bytes (Short panel)
(Example: You want to give B767 the B737-panel. Rename the file IALCFG61 to IALCFG62 and copy over the old ..62-file). A good advice: Copy all these files to a safe place, and rename them outside ATP!
In AS IALCFG63 is the new 747(744) and have already the new glass cockpit with four engines.
COPY the files IALCFG61,62,64 and 65 from ATP to AS.
3. Copying missing panel-files from ATP to AS
Since AS only has glass cockpit, B737 and Short panel is missing. So are the 'old' glass cockpit belonging to A320 (2 engines), and some files belonging to the B747 in ATP.
The following files has to be copied from ATP to AS:
All files beginning with 737 (types .A61 and .IAL)
The files 320PAL.A81, 320PAL.IAL, 320PAL2.A81, 320RUD.A61, 320RUD6.IAL
The files beginning with 747 (6 files, types .A63 and IAL).
The files for the Short-panel are spread all around in the program.
The following files has to be copied from ATP to AS:
ALT.A61, ALT6.IAL, ASI.A61, ASI1.A61, ASI6.IAL, ASI6.IAL
DIGITS.A61, DIGITS6.IAL
HOR.A61, HOR1.A61, HOR6.IAL, HSI.A61, HSI6.IAL, HSIROT.A61
OFF.A61, ON.A61, PAL.A81, PAL.IAL, RADALT.A61, RADALT6.IAL
RMI.A61, RMI6.IAL, RUDDER.A61, RUDDER6.IAL
VSI.A61, VSI1.A61, VSI16.IAL, VSI6.IAL
4. Some files I don't really know what is for I also have copied from ATP to AS, just to be sure:
640.LST, 640.UPD, VGA.LST, VGA.UPD
5. Other notes:
So now I have Airline Simulator with 6 airplanes, and a new knowledge of how to implement the cockpit panel I will use in whatever plane I choose to fly with.
If I am able to find out the connection between the sim-files and the IALCFG-files, it will be possible to have one B737 with B737 panel and one B737 with glass cockpit (called sim7.sim). I will also try out the short with both B737-panel and glass cockpit!
Last night I dreamt about the possibility to move the sim-files from FS3 into ATP/AS. I know that ATP is closely related to FS3 and contains lots of program codes from FS3 which ATP is evolved out of. Have anyone out there tried to implement the planes from FS3 into ATP????
To day I will begin implementing the ATP/AS-planes into the new B737-simulator from the Swiss company (FLYLOGIC??) which was out just before AS. It has Switzerland as default scenery.
Gunnar Graff
Tromso, Norway
The northernmost ATP/AS/B737-pilot in the world