FSX Dat files

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bullfox
Technical Sergeant
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Joined: 24 Dec 2004, 14:50

FSX Dat files

Post by bullfox »

Does anyone know the name of the default program that FSX uses to run dat files? I was attempting to open the star.dat file and change the program that opens it from what ever it was to notepad. Now notepad opens all dat files to so they can be read but FSX wont run them. So now no stars. I cant find the program that FSX uses by default so I can fix the problem.
Ryzen 7 5800X3D liquid cooled, OC to 4.5 ghz, Radeon XFX 6900XT Black edition, 2 tb M2 drive, 32 gb ddr4 ram, Asus Hero Crosshair VIII mother board, and some other stuff I forget exactly what.

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LZ-WIL
Master Sergeant
Posts: 1370
Joined: 23 Jun 2015, 13:59
Location: LBSF

Re: FSX Dat files

Post by LZ-WIL »

Hi,

I guess you need to reset the file type association in Windows back to default. What is your Windows version?

Cheerz,
Will
Bonanza, Skylane, Skyhawk, Cherokee, Cub, Texan, Mustang, Warhawk, Spitfire, Flying Fortress

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bladerunner900
Senior Master Sergeant
Posts: 1991
Joined: 17 Aug 2008, 14:59
Location: South Wales

Re: FSX Dat files

Post by bladerunner900 »

You need to disassociate Notepad from .dat files. On Windows 7 this is not straightforward. It can be done by trawling through the registry and deleting the correct key, but I don't know the right one at the moment.

For Windows 7 there is a neat little app. with a GUI, that will let you choose and delete the .dat extension, or any other extension here.
http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/unass ... s-7-vista/

You need to right click on the executable and Run as administrator.

Cheers.
Steve.

bullfox
Technical Sergeant
Posts: 898
Joined: 24 Dec 2004, 14:50

Re: FSX Dat files

Post by bullfox »

I am running Win 7 and fsx acceleration. I was trying to install Autostarx but couldn't get it to display. The stock star.dat file and the Autostarx star.dat file are in different formats. Apparently, on some systems Autostarx works. It's a program from 2006.

I was hoping if I could find the original program FSX uses I could just change the dat file extensions back via the same process I used to change them to notepad. I didn't write down the program name, but I remember it was some sort of Microsoft shell program.
Ryzen 7 5800X3D liquid cooled, OC to 4.5 ghz, Radeon XFX 6900XT Black edition, 2 tb M2 drive, 32 gb ddr4 ram, Asus Hero Crosshair VIII mother board, and some other stuff I forget exactly what.

bullfox
Technical Sergeant
Posts: 898
Joined: 24 Dec 2004, 14:50

Re: FSX Dat files

Post by bullfox »

Well somehow FSX fixed itself. I never did find the correct file association but after a couple of restarts FSX started displaying stars again. So boldly I went where I had not gone before and swapped out the native FSX star.dat for the one created by the Auotstarx program and FSX started displaying it also. Looks great. Easier to spot constellations. I discovered also that the default FSX star field is not just a random creation of stars but is actually based on a star catalog trimmed down to stars brighter than Magnitude 7 with some other stars left out for unknown reasons. Magnitude 6 is usually the limit of naked eye star visibility in regions of relatively dark skies. Lower number magnitude stars are brighter than higher number magnitude stars.
Ryzen 7 5800X3D liquid cooled, OC to 4.5 ghz, Radeon XFX 6900XT Black edition, 2 tb M2 drive, 32 gb ddr4 ram, Asus Hero Crosshair VIII mother board, and some other stuff I forget exactly what.

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thunderstreak
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Joined: 09 Jul 2006, 17:18
Location: CPP6, Ontario, Canada

Re: FSX Dat files

Post by thunderstreak »

I have AutostarX working in P3Dv4.2, fills the sky with many more stars than default and places them correctly by date.
Search avsim for "autostarx.zip"
FSX B377 L049 Spit P40 P47 P51x2 T-6 Cub WOPII P-40 Corsair Anson HE-219 Accu-Feel AL&S
P3Dv5 L049 T-6 172 182 PA-24 PA-28 Spit P-51x2 P-40 Bonanza B-17 Accu-Feel

[email protected], ASUS Z170-P 32GB DDR4 2133 RTX 2070 8GB Win10Pro P3Dv5.1 HF1

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