Simviation Forum - Creating *.cab files

Sep 26^th, 2007 at 1:44am

Travis Offline
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How is it done? I can't seem to delete the files that are stored in the default aircraft CAB files (Beech_Baron.cab) and 7Zip and WinZip won't do, so how is it possible? It must be, for I have downloaded aircraft with them included.

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Reply #1 - Sep 26^th, 2007 at 2:20am

CAFedm Offline
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Go here...

http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/e/5/fe55ede7-3818-40c4-8790-468a0d74798...

...It should present an option to install the CabDIR SDK, which is the program you need to create new .cab files. To extract an existing .cab file properly, WinZIP is required - I learned this the hard way after discovering gauge bitmaps sharing the same name but different resolution (e.g., low & hi-res) somehow coexist fine within the .cab format but cannot be manually extracted without of course causing a conflict. After having finished extracting, files may be added/deleted/etc., and then everything may be recompiled again in .cab format using the link above.

Brian

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Reply #2 - Sep 26^th, 2007 at 3:51am

Travis Offline
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Well, I downloaded and followed the instructions, but I keep getting error messages. What gives? The CMD app tells me the commands I put in are not correct. I'm not sure what to do . . .

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Reply #3 - Sep 26^th, 2007 at 9:53am

dave3cu Offline
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Locke,

On your desktop create a new folder named Cabdir or something similar.

Copy the 'cabdir.exe' file to the new folder. (It's in the Cabdir_SDK folder or in your FS2004 main folder)

Copy the .cab file to the same folder.

Drag and drop the .cab file onto 'cabdir.exe'. The extracted folder should appear shortly.

Once your done with your work inside the folder, simply drag and drop the folder onto 'cabdir.exe' and the .cab file will be created. You can rename the folder first so that the new .cab file will have the new name.

Out of curiosity though: Why would you want to delete files from the .cab??....and....

Quote:

.....for I have downloaded aircraft with them included

Including the 'Beech_Baron.cab' (modified or not) with a download would technically be illegal without permission from Microsoft...it's copyrighted material. Besides it's unnecessary, everybody has the gauge(s). Are you sure the author didn't just call gauges from the default 'Beech-Baron.cab' in his 'panel.cfg' file? That's legal and common practice.

Dave

At that time [1909] the chief engineer was almost always the chief test pilot as well. That had the fortunate result of eliminating poor engineering early in aviation. Igor Sikorsky

I intend to live forever....so far, so good. Steven Wright

You know....you can just rip up a to-do list.

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Reply #4 - Sep 26^th, 2007 at 2:08pm

Travis Offline
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Sorry Dave. Wasn't entirely clear. I don't intend to include the Beech_Baron.cab file in my download. I simply wanted to create one for my new Bugatti project, and was unsure how to accomplish this. And the folders I talked about were new CAB files for other aircraft . . .

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Reply #5 - Sep 26^th, 2007 at 3:06pm

dave3cu Offline
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No problem Locke, I was just curious... Wink

In any case the method I outlined above is simple and is how I do it. Just create the folder for the gauge, with the .xml's and .bmp's (subfolders if necessary) and drop the folder on 'cabdir.exe'.

The only problem that can arise is, because it is a command line .exe, if there were errors you would not see the error message. The operations simply would not complete.

Cheers,
Dave

At that time [1909] the chief engineer was almost always the chief test pilot as well. That had the fortunate result of eliminating poor engineering early in aviation. Igor Sikorsky

I intend to live forever....so far, so good. Steven Wright

You know....you can just rip up a to-do list.

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Reply #6 - Sep 26^th, 2007 at 6:47pm

Felix/FFDS Offline
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Unless I'm mistaken, a *.cab file is simply a *.zip file. you can zip teh files and then rename the file from "bugatti.zip" to "bugatti.cab" ???

Felix/FFDS

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Reply #7 - Sep 26^th, 2007 at 11:14pm

Travis Offline
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Sorry Felix, I don't think that works. I tried and all it did was give the zip file a .cab extension and keep it a zip file.

It's okay, though. I got it all figured out, now. Hopefully . . .

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