INSTALL THE PANEL


1.
Simply double click the .exe file for your version of Flight Simulator and a WinZip box will appear that will automatically install the PANEL FILE to the proper directories inside of the Flight Simulator locations as shown below:

For FS9 (FS2004) Users:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator 9

For FS2002 users:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\FS2002


2. 
When the Winzip window appears MAKE SURE there is a check in the box "OVERWRITE FILES WITHOUT PROMPTING". If you do not put a check in the box to allow the files to overwrite, the product WILL NOT update.

NOTE: If your version of Flight Simulator 2002 or 2004  is located on your hard drive other than where I have indicated above you MUST use the browse button of the Winzip self extractor and browse the extractor manually to the correct location. YOUR FLIGHT SIM INSTALLATION IS PROBABLY WHERE I INDICATED ABOVE AND THE WINZIP SELF EXTRACTOR DOES NOT NEED THE BE BROWSED. MANUAL BROWSING IS ONLY REQUIRED FOR ADVANCED USERS WHO HAVE MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR INSTALLED IN A NON-DEFAULT LOCATION.

3. 
Click "UNZIP" on the Winzip self extractor box and that will allow the contents to extract directly and update your space shuttle product. 

NOTE:
Refer to the Panel_ID.jpg in this directory to locate items on the cockpit panel. I modified the original panel and added a landing gear drop/raise handle, located just below the YAW Damper.


4. 
The default landing gear is set to NASA tolerance and is very sensitive to hard landings. You must touch down at a maximum 18 feet per second drop rate or less or the gear will fail. If you wish to have stronger landing gear struts instead of the NASA 18 foot per second spec, open the STRONGER_GEAR folder and follow the directions inside


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IMPORTANT REMINDER:
When the shuttle starts for the first time you will see an error message. I corrected the problem but the message will still appear the first time the shuttle is run in the sim. MAKE SURE YOU SELECT **NO** to NOT DISABLE and ALLOW ALL functions. The error is caused by the landing gear in the old model file (.mdl file) and it WILL NOT cause FS2004 or FS2002 to become unstable. If you do not select NO the landing gear will not be visible and other features will not be available. 

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Should you make a mistake and select YES to the error, close the sim and edit the fs9.cfg file as described below:

Make sure "hidden files and folders" is disabled in Windows!!!

Open the FS9.cfg file in notepad. It is usually located:

C:\Documents and Settings\(ACCOUNT NAME)\Application Data\Microsoft\FS9\FS9.cfg 

1. Scroll down and look for a section called [FrameCallNoWarn] 

2. Find "shuttle" on the list, and change the "0" to a "1". Save the file, and load up FS9. 

You should now see the landing gear and other features will function without any errors.