|
By Ben Chiu
Welcome back, pilots!
Let's discuss a utility that can be used here on the Zone during multiplayer ATC flights.
If you've searched the Web at all for Flight Simulator 98 add-ons, you know that there are scores of flight planning programs out there. But thanks to a note from fellow Zoner, Curt Koyman, I recently tried out a freeware flight-planning program named FSNavigator (which is commonly referred to as FSNav). I'm mentioning it here Flight Zone because it possesses several characteristics and features that would make it of particular interest to Zone pilots -- most notably it's very well suited for multiplayer ATC (Air Traffic Control) flights (of course, being FREE doesn't hurt things either!).
So what does it do?
As a flight-planning program, FSNav produces flight plans. With a few simple clicks of a mouse, your chosen flight plan will include ATIS frequencies, headings, airfield elevation, distance, ETE (Estimate Time of Enroute), and estimated fuel consumption.
During your flight, you can monitor your progress from FSNav's Scenery View. The name is a little misleading, but one could describe this useful view as resembling a cross between an ATC radar screen (hint, hint!) and moving map display. Because this is an overhead view, you can see where your aircraft is located in relation to NAVAIDs and airports, and your directional orientation. Furthermore, if you place your mouse over any NAVAID or airport, a little box with important information about that particular facility will pop up. This will dramatically reduce the amount of fumbling around with charts and maps in the cockpit.
FSNavigator features these handy pop-up information windows.
Using FSNav for ATC duty
FSNav's Scenery View will only allow you to track a single aircraft/player at a time. However, if you switch to Observer mode, you'll be able to track other Zone pilots, albeit only one at a time.
Enter Observer mode by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+O (remember to press CTRL+SHIFT+D the first time you enter observer mode). From that point on you can cycle through the other players by using CTRL+SHIFT+T command. As we've discussed in previous installments of Flight Zone, for the full ATC effect you can switch to Tower view by cycling view using the S key.
With a little window shuffling, FSNavigator's Scenery View works great for ATC operations.
Pressing the F9 key will allow you to switch back and forth between the FSNav window and Flight Simulator 98 window. Unfortunately, if you're a 3Dfx Voodoo or Voodoo II owner, you need to be running Flight Simulator 98 in a window (e.g. not in full screen mode) for this feature to work.
Come and get it!
As we mentioned earlier FSNav is offered as freeware. It can be downloaded from its author Helge Schroeder's Web site.
For those of you that are new to the term, freeware means you can use the software with no strings attached (but dropping Helge an e-mail to tell him how much you like FSNav would probably be very appreciated).
For your downloading convenience, FSNav has been broken down into three parts. You need to download all three parts to install FSNav. The first notable feature of FSNav is that it's very system friendly. FSNav doesn't change any of your startup files (AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS), system-settings (WIN.INI or SYSTEM.INI) or Flight Simulator settings, and will completely uninstall itself if you so choose. If you're not familiar with what any of that means, the bottom line is there's little need to worry about it wrecking your Windows and Flight Simulator 98 setups.
Be aware that there are some translation problems with the documentation and within the installation routine (from what I can gather, Helge is from Germany), but you shouldn't have any problems deciphering what needs to be done. FSNavigator is a super utility and will make a great addition to any Zone pilot's Flight Simulator 98 flight bag.
See you in the Zone!
Have a comment or suggestion for the Flight Zone? Write to Ben.
|
