BN_Install.exec

Further to my earlier post, and although I can now operate a couple of Britten Islanders (BN-2's), I've been unable to fully load these aircraft as provided for by Marcel Kuhat. For starters, I'm still unable to run BN_Install.exec..........I've checked that the necessary .dll file is in the Systems.32 register and isn't 'disabled'. Further I've deleted and reinstalled BN-2's .......all without success. Meanwhile my 'Systems Adminstrator' has 'bounced' my e-mail to Marcel seeking his help, as follows:

'If you had problems, please send an e-mail to marcel@m-r-software.de. Please mind that you have to run bn_instal.exe after EVERY install of ANY Islander in EVERY [fs2004]\aircraft\BN-2*-directory!

As a 'Trainee' I'm caught in fog and presently can't see a way forward.

I would very much appreciate any further help.

Try posting a message here.

http://89826.netguestbook.com/

I can't help but think that you're struggling because you're looking at too many pages and items simultaneously.

1. The soundset should be the last priority as it will be useless if you don't have the fully functioning aircraft to put it in.

2. The link I gave you in my second post in your other thread takes you to the page which deals exclusively with BN-2s. Everything you need you'll find there including all the appropriate gauges.

3. You still haven't elaborated on your BN_Install.exec problem. What is the name of the file which contains this .exe and where (which file library or website) did you get it from? Without this information troubleshooting becomes an unnecessarily lengthy process.

4. Before I replied to your post yesterday I'd downloaded bits and pieces from various sites just to find a clue to what your problem might be - a bit like a cryptic crossword. It shouldn't be like that. You should provide as much information as you have at hand... I reiterate: State the exact name of the file(s) and there origin.

5. You might not be aware of it yet - repainters and "upgraders" upload incomplete files to many different file libraries in most cases without the consent of the authors. This is why everything is in such a mess. The way out of this mess? If at all possible, find the original, the source, which I have done by giving you this link http://www.m-r-software.de/ac_eng.htm#cock -- please just click on it.

6. After having perused the page this link will take you to, you can start afresh. Get rid of all the other junk you might have found elsewhere as most of it is probably incompatible due to the incompetence of would-be developers and upgraders.

That's pretty much how the cookie crumbles. I don't mean to sound curt but focus on essentials and priorities is required especially if you are relatively new to the hobby.

Don't hesitate to ask further questions whenever you get stuck and try to avoid being led astray

You are right........I've been lost in a fog of detail and clutter from what is available on either Flightsim, Simviation or dear old avsim. However, whatever I had on my fs9 has hopefully now been deleted ready for a fresh start!

I don't wish to drain your time unnecessarily, but the answers to your welcome questions on my Install problem are in the link you gave me......
http://www.m-r-software.de/ac_eng.htm#AB

I've downloaded BN-2A:D-IBNA (first in line on the page) and explored all the files in the zip which you will see contain the usual model, panel, sounds, texture, licence and the all important Readme.

If you were then to open folder labled BN-2A_3 you will find the key to the installation............BN_Install.exec. It is this which refuses to run for me.

Many thanks for your help so far......I really believe that you will be able to guide me safely back to earth!

With Best Wishes.

Thanks for that....I've posted a message (in English) and hopefully I shall get a response.

Refreshments first, this could be a long one...

The good news, I got everything working and unravelled some mysteries in the process - the bad news, what follows will suffer from a chronic lack of coherency and unnecessary repetitions. I'll use the numbering system again which might confuse you but it helps me to find my way back through the morass of my deliberations.

Preamble: I know from your first post that you already have BN32Rest.zip; in case you got that from another site, I'd suggest you download it again from the homesite just to be on the safe side: http://www.m-r-software.de/ac_eng.htm#AB
After various experimental workarounds I've come to the conclusion that to be able to run the BN_Instal.exe is necessary - not only to get the aircraft showing up in the sim but also to add extra textures. (Installing additional textures is of course optional... but I just needed to know.)
I found that each .zip file I downloaded contains the same ReadMe and to be honest, both the wording and the whole installation process confused me a bit so I resorted partly to good old-fashioned methods and partly to the unavoidable procedures as outlined in the ReadMe.
Run-time errors have always confused me. My hope is that yours is caused by having placed the .dll file in the wrong directory. I'll show the correct path below later on. You might enjoy the sounds too once we're done.
One more thing: I always use the Copy / Paste method despite using the word "place" something to some directory or folder.

Let's start then:

1. From http://www.m-r-software.de/ac_eng.htm#AB we need the following files:
BN-2A: D-IBNA (Basic set which you already have)
BN32Rest.zip --- and right underneath:
BN32Snd2.zip <-- this is the appropriate soundset for the 2 bladed model we are working with.

2. After extracting the contents of BN32Rest.zip, place the MSVBVM60.DLL into the Windows system directory NOT the system32 directory as I fear you might have done. Thus the path would be: Local Disk / WINDOWS / system -- you'll probably find other .dll files in there already.

3. The BN32Rest contains 4 sub folders: Documentation - effects - gauges - sound

You can save the Documentation folder where you like as long as you remember where you've put it; it contains 3 important word.docs - Checklists etc.

Open the effects folder and place the 4 effects into the FS9 effects directory: Local Disk-Program Files-Microsoft Games-Flight Simulator 9-Effects

Open the gauges folder and place the 2 gauges (BN.GAU and BN_New_MC.CAB) into the FS9 gauges directory: Local Disk-Program Files-Microsoft Games-Flight Simulator 9-Gauges

Open the sound folder and place the 2 .wav files into the FS9 Sound directory: Local Disk-Program Files-Microsoft Games-Flight Simulator 9-Sound Note: The Sound directory might already contain a click.wav file, in that case just retain the more recent one.
Also I'd like to mention that these are merely additional sounds (in case you didn't already know it) and have nothing to do with the engine soundset... which we will get to in due course.

4. After extracting the contents of DIBNA32G.zip you'll be left with 2 sub folders: BN-2 Panel and BN-2A_3

Place the folder BN-2A_3 as is into the FS9 Aircraft directory: Local Disk-Program Files-Microsoft Games-Flight Simulator 9-Aircraft

Now click on the BN-2A_3 folder in your Explorer bar on the left which will expose the contents of BN-2A_3 in the Explorer window on the right.
Right-click the Panel folder and rename it to Panel.orig - next rename the sound folder to sound.orig -- leave this Explorer window open , we have to shift more stuff.

Go back to DIBNA32G and open the BN-2 Panel folder. Place the Panel.a folder as is into your newly installed BN-2A_3 aircraft in Windows Explorer. Now rename the Panel.a folder to Panel

5. After extracting the contents of BN32Snd2.zip keep opening the sub folders until you arrive at the one simply labelled sound -- place this sound folder as is into your newly installed BN-2A_3 aircraft in Windows Explorer. (No renaming required)
NOTE: This is the actual soundset for your engines. If you peek inside this sound folder you'll see a whole bunch of .wav files PLUS the sound.cfg without which you wouldn't be able to hear the sounds.

6. Let's recap: If you look at your newly installed BN-2A_3 aircraft in Windows Explorer it should contain 6 folders:
model.mka
Panel
panel.orig
sound
sound.orig
texture.ibna -- in addition you should see 4 files:

aircraft.ini (unusual)
BN2.air (the .air file, essential for each and every aircraft)
BN_Instal.exe (unusual)
dibna.ini (unusual)

What we are missing is the aircraft.cfg which, like the .air file is essential for an aircraft to function. ...and this is where the magic starts:

7. Double-click on BN_Instal.exe and unless we've made a mistake or MS Windows simply hates you -- instead of a runtime error we should get confirmation that "BN-2A - D-IBNA - LW... ...were installed."

This hopefully successful process will have created the missing aircraft.cfg file.

You can open the aircraft.cfg by right-clicking on it and selecting "Open with Notepad". Look for this entry: ui_manufacturer=Britten Norman, it should be the 13th from the top. The significance of this is it tells you that the aircraft will be listed as Britten Norman in your Aircraft menu when you want to select it for a flight.

I'm aware I've mentioned a lot that you already know but that's inevitable. If you still have problems or are struggling with my contorted instructions, don't hesitate to ask.

You mentioned that the sounds were unlike the way you remember them... well as you can see 2, 3 and 4 bladed aircraft do have their own, unique soundsets - one of those might come close to what you remember.

WOW!!!!!!

Now I'm beginning to understand why this hobby is so fascinating. It's going to be an interesting couple of hours sometime today in this house.......see you at the Bar when I've finished.......hopefully with the job done.

Best Wishes.

Q.E.D

You've cracked it Tailhook.

Had to play around a bit between BN-2A in Windows Explorer and BN-2A Aircraft in FS9 but got there in the end. Strangely, when I opened BN_Install.exec I was told the dill. file was missing. I'd checked beforehand to ensure it was in the Windows systems directory so I added it back into Windows systems32 to see what would happen. When I went to open BN_Install.exe again I saw immediately that the necessary cfg. file was there so I deleted the original BN-2A in Aircraft and rushed to replace it with the complete now active BN-2A from Explorer before it could change its mind.

I've just landed in Union Island in St Vincent/Grenadines just to make sure everything worked. It does.

Many, many thanks for helping out..........I wish the original Readme had the same clarity as that expressed in your post.

I owe you one.

Best Wishes.

You are very welcome Upwind. I'm happy we got it working. The fact that you had to play around a bit between BN-2A in Windows Explorer and BN-2A Aircraft in FS9 was probably caused by my awkward use of words and terms... Windows Explorer is really what you concentrate on when installing anything for that matter.

The problem regarding the ReadMe I'm guessing is that it has never been updated. It appears the project was started in the FS2002 days when almost everybody used WinZip hence the ever occurring "...keep folder options in tact" - or something similar. With WinZip folks used to extract .zip files straight into the FS main directory which is generally a bad idea because all kinds of things can go wrong and troubleshooting becomes difficult.
In this case we have the addition of a somewhat awkward installer to be used first to generate an aircraft.cfg and secondly to add extra textures. Luckily the contraption works - the author obviously knew what he was doing. I suppose after his labour of love he didn't want to be bombarded with silly e-mails such as "the plain don't show" or "i can't get the skins to work".

Back to the point: It's possible that the whole shebang was originally wrapped in a self-installer but, enter FS9 this installer would have been already rendered useless unless the target folder were changed from FS2002 to Flight Simulator 9. (Most of those old-fashioned self-installers wouldn't permit the end user to select the destination-path or -target.)
The logical action by the author would then be to simply do away with the self-installer so the end-user can install manually. In most cases however, the ReadMe file won't be corrected and this is what causes all the confusion.

Why am I telling you all this? Because it won't be the last time you'll encounter a situation of this kind. In short, at its inception a perfectly good file (aircraft etc.) was wrapped in a self-installer which did everything just by double-clicking on it. But as time goes by, parts will be upgraded, patched, fixed and hacked by third parties which obviously makes the original wrapper useless.

You have found one of the best areas in FS for island hopping. There are some nice freeware sceneries available for that part of the world should you decide to stay there for good.

Regards

Tailhook: I didn't think for one moment that I would find it necessary to return to the Britten Islander so quickly, but I have another final single problem.........hopefully.

As a quick update..........I've successfully installed BN-2A: D-IORF from http://www.m-r-software.de/ac_eng.htm as the base model for a repaint from Simviation; a Winair aircraft which operates solely in the Caribbean.

Brillliant!

However, and since I thought it would be useful, I installed a 4-bladed prop BN-2B which is fully loaded and everything works perfectly except the engines sound which calls for an extract from BN32Snd4.zip.

I've troubleshot this problem several times.....tried everything, but I simply can't uncover a solution despite the fact that I followed precisely the same procedure as set out by you so well in resolving the BN_Install.exec problem, and which works so well with other BN installs.

Can you help, please?

With Best Wishes

Hey upwind, I've been involved in naval battles, hence the belated reply... amazing what you can do in the sim

Let's try and solve the sound problem.
I am assuming that you have done the following:

1. downloaded BN32Snd4.zip from the site

2. in your BN-2B_3 aircraft folder renamed the sound.4b folder to sound.4b.orig

3. placed the folder labelled sound which is inside BN32Snd4.zip into the BN-2B_3 aircraft folder

Now to the missing link:

Inside the BN-2B_3 aircraft folder find the aircraft.cfg
Open it (right-click) with Notepad and the top part will look similar to this:

Change sound=4B to sound= -- now it will look like this:

Close the aircraft.cfg and save changes when prompted.

If this solves the problem you are probably beginning to understand how some entries in the .cfg relate to individual parts of the aircraft.

Any problems, let us know

Many thanks 'Tailhook'........of course your solution worked just fine....all I had to remember was to run the Install.exec.

Hopefully this is now all sorted for me with this great aircraft.

I did have one other occasion to play with an Airaft.cfg when a Dash8 sat on the runway without gear and I had to fix it with some work around 'contacts'.

'Till the next time.

Best Wishes.