TrackPacker and this site are now in an archived state and no longer under active maintenance and support. Check out Lock-On, the successor to Flanker, and its user community for useful add-ons.
TrackPacker is a simple compression utility for Flanker 2 tracks (flight recordings). Tracks are used within the simulator and in the user community to create and share narrated training sessions, demonstration flights, air shows and even "music videos".
TrackPacker makes sharing tracks easy by compressing the track and its sound files, if any, into a package. This compact package can then be published on the Internet, attached to email messages, or put on portable media for manual transfer or archiving. A track package is identified by the ".f2t" file name extension and the Flanker 2 Track Package file type.
When it comes to unpacking, TrackPacker has an automatic installation feature that decompresses the track package, extracts the files and puts them in the right place. The installation procedure can even add the track to the Flanker training screen menu (optional).
TrackPacker now also includes a command to remove a track and its associated sound files in one simple step, including cleaning up the training screen menu, if necessary.
TrackPacker uses Microsoft Cabinet technology to compress the track and voice-over files into a compact and convenient package. To minimise package size, TrackPacker can convert voice-over files from the recorded format to any format for which a standard ACM audio codec is installed on your system. TrackPacker converts the voice-over back to a Flanker 2 compatible format as part of the unpacking process. By using a voice-over format with a very low bit-rate, this allows a highly compressed package to be created. For example, the DSP Group TrueSpeech(TM) format has a bit-rate of just 1 KB/s. In comparison, Flanker 2 records voice-over using the PCM format with a bit-rate of 43 KB/s. See below for a comparison of the reductions achieved by different formats.
| Voice-over format | Size/Reduction | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCM 22050 Hz, 16 Bit | 6.3 MB | 0% | Unpacked |
| PCM 22050 Hz, 16 Bit | 5.4 MB | 14% | TrackPacker package, no conversion |
| PCM 22050 Hz, 8 Bit | 1.8 MB | 71% | Halved bit-rate, good compression |
| ADPCM 22050 Hz, 4 Bit | 1.2 MB | 81% | Encoded bit-stream, little effect on quality |
| GSM 22050 Hz | 0.6 MB | 90% | Better encoding, minor effect on quality |
| GSM 11025 Hz | 0.3 MB | 95% | Lower sample frequency, radio quality |
| TrueSpeech 8000 Hz | 0.2 MB | 97% | Very low bit-rate, radio quality |
TrackPacker can add new entries to the Flanker 2 training screen menu. When creating a track package, the author can specify the suggested menu location (training category) for the track. The user can choose to accept or override the suggested menu location during installation of the track package.
TrackPacker integrates with the Windows Explorer shell by adding context menu commands for track and package files. To pack, unpack or remove a track, just right-click the file and select Pack, Install or Remove, respectively.
TrackPacker is free for personal use, and can be downloaded and distributed free of charge. TrackPacker is provided as is, without any warranties. For known problems and trouble-shooting, check out the Support page, or use the Flanker 2 message board at the LOMAC site.
Copyright © 2000-2003, Vidar Hasfjord.