[simpits-tech] How do I create a selective start....

[Gene Buckle]

On Fri, 7 Aug 2009, Sean Galbraith wrote:

> I have been working on making my pit work in FS2004 *and* "Wings over
> Europe" which is cool since I can now blow stuff up ;-)
> What I want to do is come up with some clever and sexy way of
> deciding  which sim to start.
> The sort of thing I am talking about is;  Imagine a USB key, with a
> big tag that says "FS9" which you pick of a key peg.. stick into the
> front of the panel then hit the "go" button, PC loads the selected sim....
> Whether this is a happening thing or not, or even how to actually do
> it, I have no idea!
>

It's actually pretty easy to do that very thing.

The first thing you need to do is plug in the USB key to the port you're 
always going to use.  You need to make sure that Autorun is enabled for 
the drive letter that the USB key maps to. (You can do this via TweakUI)

Then create a batch file in the root directory of the USB key that 
contains the following: (call it "startsim.bat")

cd \path to the simulator home directory
<name of simulator program>.exe

You can find both the home path and name of the .exe in the properties of 
the shortcut or start menu item that starts the sim.

Next, create a file called autorun.inf, which also needs to be in the root 
directory of the USB key.  It should have the following lines in it

[autorun]
open=startsim.bat

...and that's it!  Stick the key into your sim computer and the autorun 
function will start whatever simulator you've set up!

I suppose I should write this up for the simpits.org site. :)

g.


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