How to Use FS2002 Default Planes Into FSX

CAUTION! ANY INTERVENTION INTO YOUR FS FOLDERS and files is dangerous and may harm your computer or FS! Procede with care only and, most of the time, make a copy of the folder or file you consider modifying to be able back to a working configuration in case of trouble! YOUR FS FRANCHISE usually is found at such paths like C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X (of FS2002), under Windows 8, for example

How to import default FS2002 planes into FSX? That first supposes that you have a installation of FS2002 still available on you computer. It is better to transfer a plane from a installation than from your original FS disks. A advantage, generally, of importing FS2002 planes into FSX is that you can greatly increase the planes models available in the sim, like the 734-400, or the 777, for example. I am not sure whether the move is also available from FS2004, or with freeware planes for FS2002 or 2004, but it looks worth the try (PROVIDED that you take necessary cautions not to harm your computer of FS). Once you planes installed in FSX, for example, you can also include those into the AI traffic (which needs to master the SDK's TrafficDatabaseBuilder tool technique, which is not in the scope of that text)

How to proceed exactly? Any plane in the recent FS is defined by a dedicated folder. Planes' folder, into FS2002, are found in the FS2002/aircraft folder. Check for a plane you want to move into FSX. Copy the plane's folder and paste it into the FSX SimObjects/Airplanes folder. Once done, open that folder. Two or three points, mainly now, should be of interest

• first, the sound folder. A plane's sounds in FS2002 may be aliasing to another plane's (the simulator that is will use the sound of that latter plane). In such a case, check the plane aliased to, go to its folder in FS2002 and copy the sound folder. Just paste it into the plane's folder transfered into FSX (accept replacing the original sound folder)
• then, most importantly, the panel folder! That is whence your FS will display the plane's panels (2 and 3D). As that folder may refer to gauges which are not located in FSX nor in the folder you transfered, some work will be needed. Just open the panel.txt file with a simple editor to check (our example is about the FS2002 Boeing 737-400): under each 'Windowxx' and 'VCockpitxx' section you'll find a list of gauges used. The items ending with a '!' are refering to a global gauge archive for the plane. 737-400!, for example, refers to a boeing747-400 cab file. Such folders may or may not be found into the current panel folder. If they are, no need to go further. If not, you will have to copy it also from FS2002. Most usually, such folders are found in the FS2002/GAUGES folder. When found, just copy/paste into the FSX/Gauges folder. JUST IN CASE, take care not to overwrite any such folder already existing in FSX! Should that be the case, halt the process, make a copy of the FS2002 gauge folder and rename it (with just enough not to overwrite) AND, in the panel file you will have to modify the name used accordingly! Proceed the same with all such references, like Magnetic_Compass!, for example, all along the list. As far as the gps! and SimIcons! folders are concerned, just let like found as FSX will just use its own GPS and SimIcons gauge instead of the FS2002's. For some planes, now, the gauges' reference may be different: single gauges, for example. If they are already present into the panel folder, you are done. If not, proceed like above and copy/paste them from the FS2002/GAUGES folder (WITH THE SAME PRECAUTIONS REGARDING if those gauges are or not already present too in the FSX/Gauges folder!)
• at last, FSX uses also a thumbnail now to display a plane's image in the Choose Aircraft menu. That thumbnail is linked to each livery of the plane and found into the appropriate texture folder(s) in the plane's folder. Such thumbnail are .jpg picture files with dimensions 256x128. To make a thumbnail for each livery of the plane, you will have to take a picture of the plane for each livery, which mostly is done through a screen capture. As far as attributing each picture taken to its appropriate livery is concerned, the process is more complicated somewhat: in the plane's folder, open the aircraft.cfg file. For each [fltsim.x] section at the file's beginning, check the texture= and the ui_variation= lines. Those lines give you the link between such livery and such texture folder. When texture= is void, that refers to the 'texture' folder with no suffix. When texture= features a information, like texture=2, that refers to the texture.2 (or TEXTURE.2) folder! To get one thumbnail for each livery of the plane you transfered from FS2002, just open the Choose Aircraft menu in FSX. Your new plane, will appear there but with a shaded plane outline and a question mark instead of a picture. Choose your aircraft anyway and thence make a fine presentation picture of it. With a simple picture editor allowing for resizing a picture, just process the pic into a 256x128 jpg picture and place that thumbnail into the appropriate texture folder for the livery imaged. Do that as many times as there are liveries for your plane

Here you are! You now have a expanded fleet of planes at your disposal into FSX! Some minor defaults- may exist (like the front wheel too low for the 734-400, for example) which may or not be easily fixed. The main exemple is the question of how to set the tailnumber, number of flight and company name to the imported plane. Such data are usually set into the aircraft.cfg file at atc_id=, atc_airline=, and atc_flight_number= Not taking in account more details about such data, the main thing about imported FS2002 airplanes into FSX is that FSX does not display the tailnumber on the plane's fuselage whatever how the plane is chosen into (through Choose a Plane/Details, or through Free Flight), and whatever a default, or a personalized livery is used. The tailnumber is displayed for the default airplanes both in FS2002 and FSX respectively. Secondly, changing the tailnumber, flight number and company name at the above said items in the aircraft.cfg file is not recognized by the FSX ATC. That could let us with few possibilities but the ATC recognizes however the flight number and company name through changes made through Chose a Plane/Details or with a flight set through Free Flight (it is possible the change of tailnumber is also recognized but we could not verify that and, in any case, the tailnumber is never displayed on the fuselage -albeit I tried several settings like adding atc_id_enable or atc_id_color or font). A other hurdle, for example, is whether you will activate the DirectX 10 Preview option. Imported planes, like from FS2002, with such the option displays no textures at all whenever original, or modified. Any fix seems not to exist as flightsimming forums are only mentionning 'Addon Converter X,' for FSX, a commercial software which fixes the textures of a given plane 'on the fly' only, as it does not change the textures physically. Of note that the procedure with a hex-editor freeware, like described at Flightsim.com, which change the .mdl type of a FS2002 aircraft into a FSX one is of no use in terms of textures