Cabinet File Modifications

[rogerb34]

Can a xml file in an FS9 Cab be modified?
Compiled and compressed.

I can copy and modify but not return.

[Admin]

rogerb34 said:

Can a xml file in an FS9 Cab be modified?
Compiled and compressed.

I can copy and modify but not return.

I used an odd zip program (can't remember the name) I found at download.com, but the cab tool in the sdk should do it

[Wrongway]

Shouldn't be a problem Roger. I use the cabdir command line tool and it works every time (well, when the syntax is correct anyway).

Rgds: Jeff

[Dave3cu]

rogerb34,

You can't simply copy/extract a single file from a .cab file, modify it, and then return it. You must first unpack the whole .cab file, make your mods, and then repack the whole .cab.

'cabdir.exe' (the tool that Tom and Jeff refer to) is installed with FS9, located in your main ......\Flight Simulator 9\.. folder.

Here's how I have it set up, for the little bit of .xml gauge edit I do:

I created a folder on my desktop named 'Makecab' and copied (not moved) the 'cabdir.exe' file to this folder. Copy the .cab file you wish to work on into this folder.

Open the 'Makecab' folder and 'drag and drop' the .cab file onto 'cabdir.exe'. Cabdir will unpack the .cab file to a new folder of the same name, example- 'Somegauge.cab' will unpack to 'Somegauge' folder (including sub-folders if relevant). You can now modify your .xml files in the 'Somegauge' folder.

When mods are done, 'drag and drop' the 'Somegauge' folder onto 'cabdir.exe' and it will pack to 'Somegauge.cab'.

If you wish to create it as a 'new' .cab, give the folder a new name before packing.

Dave

As always, back any files before modifying them..

[frankr]

Not being the finest brush in the paintshop how does one subtly change the color of the reg. numbers?

Got the cab.dir to work but red numbers on a maroon Stinson? I need to change to maroon or gold for two Stinsons I have painted with FSRepaint, so how can the numbers that Tom mentiond be arranged to get the needed shading? Makes me think I need to be a cryptographer!!

Hope I'm being clear in my question.

Thanks in advance.

Frank R.....

P.S. Can the color be viewed before rebuilding the cab file so I wouldn't have to go back and forth between the cab. file and the a/c in FS? Or something like that.

[Dave3cu]

I'll take a guess here, Frank, that the color is defined by a 'triplet', a hex string in the form 'FFFFFF'. This is the hexadecimal equivalent of the decimal RGB value of the color. Look for a line similar to color="#FF0000" somewhere in the code. (this happens to be true red-RGB 255-000-000)

You can find the decimal RGB values for the color you want in the 'color picker' of most any 'paint' program.

You can then enter the RGB values into this handy, web based RGB to Hex Converter. You can do RGB>Hex, Hex>RGB, preview the color and even pick the color you want from the pallett

Alternately, you can use the Windows Calculator, in scientific mode to convert your decimal RGB numbers to hex.

Dave

[Wrongway]

If you're repainting the Lyon's Stinson Reliant Frank, I recently did a repaint that might help. In the panel folder that comes with the repaint you'll find a modified 'custom.cab'. I resized the original gauge bmp (yep, that's what it is) to remove the 'blockiness' of the lettering and simply painted the nnumber onto it as normal (nnumber.bmp if I remember correctly). You can unpack it and use my modified gauge easily enough, although each separate aircraft will need it's own custom.cab in it's own panel folder. I changed the xml to reflect the new graphic size and removed the element that changed the nnumber if it was altered from within FS9. Now it's simply a bmp and any and all colours can be used as normal. Just remember not to use 255,255,255 as a colour in the bmp (that area will become transparent) and remember to save as an indexed bmp before recompiling the cab file.

Rgds: Jeff