SA342 USMC HMLA-169 "Vipers" Skin Pack 1.51a

Marine Attack Helicopter Squadron (HMA) 169 was commissioned in 1971 as part of Marine Aircraft Group 39 (Camp Pendleton, cA), and unlike most HMLA squadrons began with the Cobra (AH-1G) before becoming a composite squadron. By 1976, the AH-1G was replaced by the AH-1J Sea Cobra, which were eventually replaced by the AH-1T.

In 1986, HMA-169 was redesignated Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron (HMLA) 169, and replaced its AH-1Ts with the AH-1W Super Cobra. As a composite squadron, it also received its complement of UH-1N Hueys.

Today HMLA-169 flies the UH-1Y Venom and the AH-1Z Viper.

This is a fictional skin pack of SA342L/M/Mistral Gazelles with HMLA-169 markings. Each SA342 variant has four different BuNos (USN/USMC serial numbers), including one high color Commanding Officer's bird, allowing you to create packages of different aircraft. You still provide your own two digit MODEX (side number) in the mission editor. Each skin has a "normal" version and a weathered version. Weathered skins have a bleached effect as if the aircraft were heavily exposed to the sun for months on end. Normal skins include pilots with green flightsuits, while weathered skins include pilots with desert flightsuits. This skin pack is intended to satisfy one's "cobra itch" until the AH-1 is released.

Note: this skin pack uses an EXE installer that creates common texture folders and an autoexec.cfg (if you already have one, you can make manual changes). I would like your feedback on this system; if it works I intend to apply it to my other skin packs.

For Compact Installations - A Note About Autoexec.cfg:

Rather than copying texture files to their respective livery folders, I prefer to use a series of common texture folders along with unique filenames. This allows a single instance of many of my common textures, and keeps the hard drive footprint to a minimum (especially nice if you run a SSD for your system drive).

The installer will add a series of folders to the DCS Texture path; if you do not have these folders created, then it is no problem. The autoexec.cfg included will automatically point to the Texture folder in your Saved Games\DCS folder, and regardless of whether you run the Open Alpha, Open Beta, or Release version of DCS, the path will always point to your Saved Games\DCS\Texture folder. Again, this saves space on your hard drive.

If you use your own Autoexec.cfg, then when prompted to overwrite you can click "no". This will create a file called autoexec.new, and you can manually make the updates as you like. Just don't modify the top line with the file date; this is used by the installer for version control. However, feel free to include it in your existing autoexec.cfg, so you don't get prompted to overwrite until there's another update to the autoexec.cfg.

If you inadvertently overwrite your autoexec.cfg, it is actually backed up as autoexec.old. Just open it and copy the appropriate information to the new file.

For Traditional Installations:

If there is an issue with textures not displaying, it is likely a problem with the installer. Please let me know what textures are missing so that I can troubleshoot the issue.

pecial thanks to Upuaut for his templates that were used to create the flightsuit torso and legs.
You are free to use any of the textures in other skins or projects as long as proper credit is provided in the readme file.

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