<Maximize Me>

TZ30.zip

Readme Updated:  04/10/04

These files are compatible with FS2004 (FS9) ONLY.  Please use TZ22.zip for prior simulators.

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New home for my Timezone files:  

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FSTimeZones

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Installation:

Joshua Robertson's "FS Real Time" (a separate download) is highly recommended for use with these files.  If you install "FS Real Time", these timezone files can be optionally and automatically installed with his program, and will be uninstalled if you uninstall his program.  If you want to install my files manually, all BGL, BAT, and BGD files MUST be installed in their own scenery folder just like any other third party scenery.  

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Uninstalling

Automatic:

If you installed my TZ files using "FS Real Time" you should uninstall the entire program to remove my files.  You can optionally reinstall "FS Real Time" without installing my files.  "FS Real Time" will be upgraded with this release of these TZ files probably within a few hours after this release.

Manually:

The BGL/BGD files are configured for Southern Hemisphere Standard Time as of the release of this archive.  I have included a Remove.bat file that will remove these BGL/BGD files for you. It's recommended that you use this batch file if you are replacing ANY PREVIOUS VERSION.

DO NOT UNINSTALL THESE TIMEZONE FILES OR USE THE REMOVE.BAT FILE WHILE THE SIMULATOR IS RUNNING!!!! It could cause problems.

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See below for version history.

Background:

To check the time throughout the world, try this website:

http://www.timeanddate.com

They also indicate if and when the area you're interested in observes daylight savings time.

The various Microsoft Simulators observe time zones at exact 15 degree intervals around the world.  Many times, the physical boundaries of countries were no where near these 15 degree increments.  Many places not within the Microsoft Timezone.bgl file were NOT observing correct times.  Even Alaska and Hawaii were wrong!  Additionally, FS2000 and FS2002 flight date went wacko when flying in a "non-timezoned" area.  This isn't verified in FS2004.  These BGL files also prevent the 23:59:59 to 00:00:00 GMT "freezing bug" from occuring in FS2000!  Please note that if the time was being reported correctly by any simulator, I DID NOT "Timezone" the area.

These BGLs cover timezones practically worldwide, from GMT-11 to GMT+14 hours (Kirimati).  Areas covered by the default file Timezone.bgl are not redone here, except as noted.  Please note that all of China is in the same timezone, GMT+8 hours, by decree of that Government.  

For all of the Southern Hemisphere (south of the equator) timezone changing Batch files will be implemented.  The Daylight Savings Time (DST) files are BGL files in this archive, and the standard time BGL files are BGD files.  Simply execute the appropriate Batch file to change the filenames around.  Again, don't run these batch files while the simulator is running!  

Fiji has two files east and west, because the timezone command is not allowed to cross the 180th meridian.  In FS2000/FS2002/FS2004, anything west of 135 east was not being reported correctly, resulting in southern Japan being in a different timezone from the north.  All of Japan and Korea (North and South) are GMT+9 hours in real life.  See note on Labrador below*.  

There are certain places where it was impractical to correct timezones because of the physical borders of countries.  One such place is northeastern China west of Khabarovsk in the Russian Far East.  East of 131E was declared GMT+10 even though that part of China is there, and is supposed to be GMT+8.  There aren't any airports in this region of China.  For the most part, most airports should be in the correct timezone.

These files also correct the strange date changing bug in FS2000/FS2002, iF you're flying within the coverage of these files. If you're over the Pacific Ocean south of the equator and west of 180, there's a chance I haven't covered the area (possible "holes"), but it is not likely.

This scenery doesn't cover areas already covered by Microsoft's timezone.bgl file, except for EUR100.BGL, which was designed to override commands given by Microsoft's file in order to more accurately reflect the end of DST for Western Europe.

Flags

Each SCASM Timezone command is quite simple actually.  Among the commands available are priority and DST flags.  For my new EUR100.BGL file, I simply used higher priority flags so that it will override timezone.bgl.  I also used priority flags to override certain areas in some of my other files.  

The following table indicates the DST flag type, and the start and stop dates of DST within the flight simulator.  This is for the Northern Hemisphere only, and can only be controlled by use of these flags.  These dates cannot be changed.

For FS8 and before:
TYPE	START		STOP		PRIMARY AREA USED
1       April 4		October 31	North America
2	April 4		October 31	North America
3	March 28	October 24	Europe, Asia
4	March 28	September 26	Middle East, South Central Asia

For FS9:
TYPE	START		STOP		PRIMARY AREA USED
1       April 3		October 31	North America
2	April 3		October 31	North America
3	March 28	October 24	Europe, Asia
4	March 28	September 26	Middle East, South Central Asia

Here's a short list of timezones covered here.  DST means the area below is observing Daylight Time upon release of these files.  Subtract 1 hour for Standard Time:

Country or Area			GMT differential

Iran				+3:30
SW Asia	(U.A.E., Oman)		+4		
Pakistan & Maldives		+5
India & Sri Lanka		+5:30
Nepal				+5:45
South of 2 south (Diego Garcia)	+6
SE Asia (Thailand, Vietnam)	+7
All of China			+8 (Only south of 50N is implemented)
Western Australia		+8
Taiwan, Philippines		+8
Japan, Korea			+9
Northwest Territory, Australia	+9:30
Queensland, Australia		+10
South Australia			+10:30 (DST)
New South Wales, Australia	+11 (DST)
Fiji				+12
New Zealand			+13 (DST)
Chatham Islands, NZ		+13:45 (DST)
Tonga				+13
Christmas Island, Kiribati      +14 (The first place on Earth that enters a new day)
Marquesas Islands		-9:30

Additional note, for users of FS Real Time:  

If you're loading a flight (a situation) with a date from April 4th to October 31st (see Flags, above), the simulator will assume that you're in Daylight Savings Time (DST), if your aircraft is in an area that observes it.  If you're using FS Real Time, it will show a bias of one hour more than what is expected, even after FS Real Time changes the date outside the months specified above.

If you have AutoUpdate turned on, FS Real Time will readjust the date back to the current date, but the time bias will not change until you move the aircraft either by slewing it, or flying it somewhere about 30nm away.  You can also reposition the aircraft with the Go To Airport function.  If you do one of these, you'll find that DST will turn itself back off in the sim, and the time bias will then be correct.  

Version History

Added in version 1.1:
*Labrador, Newfoundland, Canada	-4 (East of 60W)
Newfoundland Island, Canada	-3:30

Added in version 1.2:
Eastern Europe, Finland		+2 (West of 30E)
Russia and Asia			+3 to +12 (North of 50N)

Added in version 1.3:
Afganistan			+4:30
Note:  Iran had problems and has been corrected.

Added in version 1.4:
DST capability for Russia and Eastern Europe.  The Republic of Georgia does not observe DST.
Please note that according to Microsoft Encarta and an independent source, Iraq observes DST.  It will not be implemented in this release.  Also added: Oceania areas.

Alaska (GMT-9 and GMT-10, both w/DST), Hawaii (GMT-10), and Western Canada West of 125W (GMT-8 w/DST) were incorrect as defaulted in the Flight Sims.  According to my information, a Yukon time zone no longer exists, and is also GMT-8.  AK1000E and AK1000W exist for the same reason as Fiji, above.

I corrected some anomalies in Oceania.  Please note:  DDT1100.bgl actually covers GMT+10:30 to GMT+12 in Oceania, except for Fiji, which are separate files.

South America was added.  Brazil was added to the Batch files for switching between DST and Standard Time.

Added in version 1.5:
South America worked over again.  It's to my satisfaction now.

Added in version 1.6:
All of Africa was done, and the Middle East west of 45E in the GMT+3 TZ.  All the BGL files dealing with the Eastern Hemisphere had to be redone because of date changing problems associated with them and FS2000.  Most of Iraq now observes Daylight Time, BUT starts and stops at the same times as Europe.  There were also a few bugs corrected.

Corrected in version 1.7:
Africa reworked to my satisfaction.
Finland was missing two airports in GMT+2:  corrected.
Eur200.bgl LatRange corrected.

Added in version 1.8:
All of Canada now included.  The Caribbean's TZ hole "patched" with the correct TZ. (East of 75W, South of 24N, GMT-5).  Haiti is GMT-5, and the Dominican Republic eastward to 60W is GMT-4.  Iran observes DST, and has been corrected.  It starts and ends the same as Europe in the simulators.  

Added in version 1.9:
This should be the last of the BGL files, Mex.bgl.  Mexico and Central America were reporting incorrect times as well.  For Mexico, Baja California Norte observes DST in the Pacific TZ (GMT-8), and Baja California Sur observes DST in the Mountain TZ (GMT-7).  Extreme western Mexico (excluding Baja California) DOES NOT observe DST, and is in the Mountain TZ.  All the rest of Mexico is in the Central TZ (GMT-6) and observes DST.  None of the countries of Central America observe DST.  All countries of Central America, except Panama, are in the Central TZ.  Panama is in the Eastern TZ (GMT-5).

Version 1.9c replaces several files in the Asian Sub-Continent, and added one for the country of Myanmar, whose timezone is GMT+6:30.  Also the Caribbean east of 75W that is supposed to be in the EASTERN Timezone (GMT-5) has been corrected.  Cuba and the Middle East in GMT+2 have been modified, and two files for South America have been created to observe DST.  Paraguay and Chile have two files (parach_s.bgl and parach_d.bgd), like Brazil, to be renamed manually when they start DST (in October).

Version 1.9d adds DST to Labrador and Newfoundland, and corrects can800.bgl.

Version 1.9e corrects several anomalies recently discovered by my friend, Scott Schultz, who pointed out the following problems:

Libya is GMT+2 vs GMT+1
Sudan is GMT+3 vs GMT+2
Lithuania is GMT+2 (DOES NOT observe DST)
The entire Central Time Zone in Canada wasn't observing DST.
Labrador was corrected from the previous release.

Thanks, Scott.

Version 1.9f corrected the Mexican States of Nayarit & Sinaloa, who observe DST.  Note:  Sonora, Mexico doesn't observe DST.

Version 1.9g corrects the Eastern Time of Canada, which falsely reported the wrong timezone West of 75W.

Version 1.9h corrects Bermuda.

Version 2.0:  a complete rewrite of the documentation (this file).  Newfoundland reworked.  TZ_Patch.zip (SE Asia rework) also incorporated into this installation.

Version 2.1:  All five TZ20 Updates incorporated.  A new file, EUR100.BGL, was designed to override Microsoft's Timezone.bgl file and more accurately reflect the end of DST for Western Europe (see Flags, above).  Many areas have been reworked thanks to Josef Dirnberger's TrafficBoard program, which graphically displays world timezones.  TrafficBoard is available at AVSIM and 

http://secure.simmarket.com/product_info.php?products_id=395

Version 3.0:  Finally.  With the help of Christian Stock and Winfried Orthman, these BGL files are now compatible with FS2004 (FS9).  They ARE NOT compatible with FS2002 or below.  Please use TZ22 for those simulators.  All TZ21 Updates were incorporated into this new version.

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Reporting Errors:

If you find a timezone anomaly, please report it to me so I can create or correct the file for it.  If you find anything else wrong dealing with time in our flight simulators, or with these BGL files, please let me know.  I will release weekly updates to this version of TimeZone depending on the volume of requests for change.

Technical & Legal:

I will send to anyone who asks, the source files for these BGL files.  Since I hold the copyright, please don't redistribute a BGL file after modifying it without my consent.  In any event, my CopyRight statement in the source files must remain intact, and no other Copyright statement may be added.

This package is FREEWARE; distribution to commercial software packages, or any electronic medium (CDROM, diskette or hard disk), for the purpose of profit by a company or individual is prohibited without express written consent by the author.

Acknowledgements:

Flight Simulator 2004 - A Century of Flight (c) 2003, Microsoft Corporation, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

FS Real Time (c) 2002-2004 Joshua Robertson, 3D Softworks,  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

TrafficBoard (c) 2002-2004 Josef Dirnberger,  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Christian Stock, for his contribution, and for allowing me to "see the light".

Winfried Orthman, for his help with lat/long conversion and his document "New BGL File structure.pdf", included with his first release of "newBGLAnalyze".


(c) 1999-2004 DDT Incorporated, All Rights Reserved

Dennis Thompson
dennis@cableonda.net
ICQ - 77605664
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FSTimeZones

13:54 04/10/04