Can't find my airplane addon

[ColonelMerkur]

i was downloading an plane addon, i put it on Steam/Steamapps/Common/FSX/SimObjects/Airplane. after that, i verify the integrity of files to make sure that the addon will be on the airplane list. after waiting for about 15 minutes, i play MSFX and the plane (DH-Dash 8-89) were not on the list.
Can somebody tell me how to fix it or maybe if i do something wrong

[3 Wire]

First of all, you don't need do a files integrity check every time you add a new plane.

Make sure "show all variations" is checked off in the select aircrat menu, it's at the very bottom and easy to miss.

If your add on plane doesn't have a sound file or it is aliased incorrectly it won't show up in the select aircraft menu.

[ColonelMerkur]

there is a sound file in the addon.
i already checked off the "show all variations"
but it still not showing on the aircraft list

[3 Wire]

Originally posted by ColonelMerkur:

there is a sound file in the addon.
i already checked off the "show all variations"
but it still not showing on the aircraft list

Add on AC will have 4 folders under the main "title" folder, for example "Boeing 757-200 American", then under that will be Model, Panel, Sound, and Texture folders.

I would compare the files in those folders to other add on AC you have installed that are working correctly, just to see if anything is missing or different.

Beyond that I don't have an explanation why this one won't show up unless there's a corrupted file in there somewhere.

If you give me the name of the download, and the website where you got it, I can install it and then try diagnosing what the problem might be.

[ColonelMerkur]

Nvm, actually there is another folder inside that have the model, texture, panel, and sound file, so i need to move those file and move it to the main folder.

Maybe that's why the aircraft weren't in aircraft list

Sorry but thanks for the help!

[3 Wire]

Originally posted by ColonelMerkur:

Nvm, actually there is another folder inside that have the model, texture, panel, and sound file, so i need to move those file and move it to the main folder.

Maybe that's why the aircraft weren't in aircraft list

Sorry but thanks for the help!

Yes, that is exactly what happens from time to time with some freeware aircraft downloads. I've never understood why people set up their zip files for download in that manner, but it always pays to open your download and see what the file structure is before you go adding it to your simobjects/airplane folder.

An example of a file structure like i'm talking about would look something like this...

B737-800.zip
|
B737-800
|
737-800 Southwest Airlines <<<<<< The folder you would put in simobjects/airplanes
|
Model
Panel
Sound
Texture

If you were to unzip the "B737-800.zip" and just put the "B737-800" folder in simobjects/airplanes, the aircraft won't show in the select aircraft menu because FSX can't find the required Model, Panel, Sound, and Texture folders. The good news is most freeware aircraft add ons aren't structured that way.

[JJ FSX]

There are several variables within all aircraft.cfg files related to the user interface and the drop down lists, including one called "ui_type=". The text past that equal sign is "part" of the text that gets displayed below the aircraft thumbnail. It is also what distinguishes whether or not a plane gets listed as a unique plane in the initial list or not. When two different planes have the same text, say "C-152" for that variable, then only one of them will show up in the main display, any others will only show up when the "show all variations" box is checked.

How it decides which one it will show on the main list and which one it will treat as a variation I don't know. Probably whatever is the first one it reads when we click the change aircraft button. Its confusing because the average person would think that the "show all variations button" is only for displaying the different paint jobs (textures) for each unique plane. But turns out, thats not all its logic does.

If two completly different aircraft have the same text for the variable "ui_type" in their aircraft.cfg file it treats both planes as if they are the same plane with the ones it reads after the first considered a variation, (as long as the variable "ui_variation=" is unique in each, otherwise it will probably crash). Its stupid but thats what it does.

When that happens to me I identify which other aircraft has the same text for that variable and I change one (or more if there are more) of them to something unique to make them both or all of them show up on the main list. Afterall they ARE unique planes even if of the same type. I do this because I sometimes forget that a unique plane exists. And the list becomes way too large to eyeball search when displaying all variations for all planes, all the time.

These variables are only for this list and do not affect anything else so open your new planes aircraft.cfg with notepad and find ui_type=, and change whatever it is to something unique, perhaps just add a -2 to the end of whatever is there and then you will see it show up on the main list. Then you can easily identify the other plane(s), and then decide which one(s) you want to ultimaly change or keep as the original text), or you can just suffer with finding it amongst all the variations. Hope you don't have too many!

A lot of free plane developers (just average joes like you and me) don't understand what each of the ui_###### variables are or really do and either don't put them in at all or mess them up. Thats why under the publisher drop down you will get "unknown" because they leave out the ui_createdby= variable. And why under "aircraft type" dropdown list we can get all sorts of funky stuff listed, like "Comercial Airlin" when a developer mis-spells "Commercial Airliner" for the variable "ui_typerole" which is what is used for that dropdown list. I have to edit the aircraft.cfg of free plane downloads all the time to correct their errors or get my own preferences into that list.