Did anyone happen to catch the debate at AVSim on whether it is "ethical" to remove VC's from .mdl files?  I'm on the side of "as long as it's for personal use, ok", so I can tell you that I've tried it and it works (in FS2002 and 2004 anyway).

First you need to get a hex editor (and if you need to ask where to get one or what they are then this is probably beyond your programming skill level.  Second, back up your .mdl file before proceeding.  The rest of this post is copied and rearranged from various public domain sources.  (And thanks to boris4356 for making this information public.)

"As far as removing the VC from the A/C model is concerned, it is perfectly possible and actually quite simple to do, involving only a hex editor and one change to the aircraft.mdl file.

Open the mdl file you want to edit and search for the following hex value: 0022003900

In the SECOND occurence of that string, simply change the 39 in 0022003900 to 00. It should now look like this: 0022000000. Save the changes, OK the creation of the backup file then exit the editor to test it out in MSFS.

Open the .mdl file, hit Ctrl+F and enter 0022003900 in the "Find" box. To eliminate the vc, you must change the 39 in this string to 00. NOTE: Since this same string appears several times in the file, you must be careful to alter the correct string. For example, in the DC-3.mdl, altering the FIRST string only loses the plane's shadow, so leave this string intact and hit "Find next". Changing the 39 to 00 in the SECOND string loses the vc.

Do not change all the strings 0022003900. Because then you would make not only the VC invisible, but also the landing lights and even the plane itself. The best way to remove the VC -and ONLY the VC- is looking for the said string, changing the 39 into 00 for the first appearance of the string and then going into FS to see the result. If it didn't work then go back into the hex editor, undo the change and go to the next appearance of the string and change the 39 into 00. Have a look in FS and continue the operation untill the VC has gone. The string 0022003900 appears more than once in a .mdl file and is something like a command telling to show some part of the aircraft model (the VC, landing lights, the model itself, etc..), so make only the change to the string that handles the VC.

In the two months since this topic was posted it has been determined that only the second occurrence of the 0022003900 string concerns the virtual cockpit, the first occurrence switches off the A/C shadows.

A good hex editor can be found here (Hex Workshop 4.1 - shareware but fully functional for long enough to get the job done and then some): http://www.bpsoft.com/downloads/ "