Review CFS

Control 98		Control 98 is a software utility for the management of the Flight Sim 98 environment. The management of aircraft, textures, sounds and panel files are some of the features in this program.
Control 98 Authors Edition		The Authors Edition is a 1024x768 graphically enhanced version of Control 98 for those who would like to do it all in a big screen mode.
Control 2000		Control 2000 is a 1024x768 full color utility for the management of the flight sim environment for both CFS and FS98. Integration of all facilities for both flight simulators including the ability to move aircraft between environments with a simple click.
Control 2000 Light		The Light version of Control 2000 is an 800x600 version. This was released to accommodate the more common windows size preference. All of the features have been fully maintained.

"With so many Flight Sim utility programs released by Garry over the last two years
where do we begin to do a review?"

The initial reason Garry developed the first versions of Control 98 was to provide a quick and simple method for the editing of Microsoft's Flight Simulator 98 aircraft texture files. These files required several complex steps to convert to an editable image and then several complex steps to convert back to their default formats. Garry designed a method of presenting all texture files associated to an aircraft on a single page and allowed direct editing of those images with your preferred paint program using a simple click.

As the Control 98 program expanded from version 1.0 through to version 6.03a (latest version) many useful features were added by Garry, including some responses to user needs and requests. To date more that 35 thousand copies of Control 98 have been downloaded worldwide.

Therefore, I think the smartest place to begin this review is to highlight the features that are available throughout all of the programs that Garry offers to the Flight Simming Community.

Manage aircraft - the ability to edit all of the aircraft configuration files - panel, sound and aircraft.cfg files are available to be edited in your text editor

Edit Aircraft Textures - you can browse from aircraft to aircraft - examining all texture files and simply click on any of these textures for editing in your preferred paint program.

Manage panels - the ability to graphically view your panels and assign them to aircraft with a simple click.

Manage sounds - the ability to test and hear sounds associated to any aircraft and assign those sounds to other aircraft with a simple click.

Edit Scenery Textures - the ability to open any of the scenery texture image files and edit them in your favourite paint program.

Management Features - many various forms and reports have been implemented to assist in the overall management of the Flight Simulator Aircraft environment.

The Control 98 suite of applications have been developed predominantly with Microsoft Access 97 and extensive modular coding with Visual Basic 5. This of course has added to the complexities of installation and overheads to use the program but once installed and up and running the effort is very much worthwhile. For those who do not have MS Access 97 - Garry has also provide the appropriate runtime software.

Two versions exist for Control 98 - the normal version which maintains 800x600 resolution and the Authors Edition which is 1024x768 resolution.

The programs are very graphically orientated which is typical of anything that Garry develops, check out his WEB site at http://www.gjsmith.com/ to get the feel of how much effort he puts into design and feel.

For an example: Below are the front end menus for the Control 98 applications:

All of the Control 98 software has been released as FREEWARE to the Flight Simming Community and continues to be FREEWARE. Garry has, and continues to provide extensive support to the users of Control 98 over the last two years.

In November 1998 Microsoft released Combat Flight Sim. This release inspired Garry to develop the Control 2000 suite of software to integrate both FS98 and CFS with his application.

This required a considerable amount of design and effort but the end result for Control 2000 exceeded even Garry's expectations.

Not only was Garry able to provide all of the features of Control 98 for Combat Flight Sim within Control 2000, he was able to integrate many of the functions between both FS98 and CFS simulators. Panels and sounds are able to be shared across platforms, aircraft can be moved between simulators and many other management features were added.

Control 2000 support both CFS and FS98 but can be used
with CFS only if you choose.

Again, Control 2000 is graphically intense, originally being designed for 1024x768 resolution and many visually pleasing application forms.

Control 2000 Main Menu

Aircraft Texture Edit Form

Change Aircraft Details Form

Control 2000 is available in two versions - the normal version is 1024x768 resolution and there is a Light version which is in 800x600 resolution. Both carry all of the same features and functionality.

The Control 2000 suite of applications have been developed predominantly with Microsoft Access 97 and extensive modular coding with Visual Basic 5. This of course has added to the complexities of installation and overheads to use the program but once installed and up and running the effort is very much worthwhile. For those who do not have MS Access 97 - Garry has also provide the appropriate runtime software.

Gary Smith has finalised Version 2.0 for Control 2000/Access 97 and, believe it or not, has created a fully functioning Control 2000 for MS Office 2000(Access 2000) too. This Office 2000 version is available for all those out there Beta testing or considering purchasing/upgrading to Office 2000 when it is formally released worldwide. Both applications/downloads are the full copy of the Access MDB file for each of the operating systems. Additional graphics functions and forms have been added to further enhance the applications for the endusers.

	Control 2000 Version 2.0 Enhancements on almost every form - Additional Full Details form added.
	Control 2000 for Office 2000 (Access 2000) Fully functioning Office 2000 application with all features of version 2.0 above.

To cap all this off, Garry has now made available all of the above software on a single CD.

On this CD is the following Software
Control 2000
Control 2000 Light
Control 98
Control 98 Authors Edition
All support software required.
To obtain the CD there is an additional Cost of $10 US

Visit to the above sites to view the outstanding flexibility and support these programs can offer you in your flight simming environment.

I highly recommend these outstanding and flexibility Utilities for both the novice simmer and for the old pros too!