Thanks Skinners - Please read update and give me your comments

[jrdani 0]

Thanks to all of you who create and share the fantastic skins that we all enjoy so much. Your abilities and talents are truly amazing. I wanted to give you an update on a previous post I'd made regarding skins, decals, etc. I've been trying to use these skins on the F-4J in WOV's Linebacker I campaign (listed as filenames): tomcatters_2.7z, atfusnvf33f-4j.zip, fighting_falcons_2.7z, VF101.7z, atfusnvf102f-4j.zip, VF114.7z, vigilantes_2.7z, chargers_2.7z, lancers_2.7z, death_angels_2.7z, shamrocks_2.7z and [982]F_4j_VMFA_451.rar.

 

Your replies to my previous post eventually led me to some very interesting discoveries by trial and error testing. Because I'd had no problems with any of the skins I was using a year ago in WOV-Patch 1, I created a clean (stock-no mods) install of WOV, added patches one at a time through patch 3 and re-installed skins one at a time, testing in both Single Mission and Campaign after each skin installation. None of them worked completely in either Single Mission or Campaign using Patch 3. Numbers and/or markings were missing on virtually every skin. I even tried changing graphic options, particularly "Object Texture" to medium and then low with still no complete success, and as you know, when lowering this option some markings that do show appear blurred or almost erased. I don't think my computer is a limiting factor as I have a 1.7 gig processor with 1024 meg ram, a 160 meg HD and an ATI All-In-Wonder 8500 video card.

 

As I stated above, I knew they had worked after patch 1, so I created another "clean" stock install, patched it through Patch 2 and re-installed the skins, again testing in Single Mission and Campaign mode after each skin installation. Every skin worked in Single Mission and Campaign, using Patch 2 (I had all graphics options set on "high" with mirrors and reflections "off"). I then re-installed the mods I'd been using previously (enhanced VietnamSea tiles, enhanced water, sky mods, etc.) and tested the skins again. All skins continue to work completely using Patch 2 with all graphics settings on "High".

 

Given the above results, the only conclusion I could draw from this is that maybe something in Patch 3 changed the way object textures are handled (handled may not be the correct term). I've re-read the Readme issued with Patch 3 trying to re-review what was changed and looking for some clue as to what to do on my own to correct this problem. I've tried everything I can think of, but I cannot correct it. Given the above information, do any of you have any ideas? Is there anything I can do to enable these skins to function normally in Patch 3? If not, is this something that could maybe be addressed in Thirdwire's next patch or maybe on future skins? I would enjoy using these beautiful skins in Patch 3 if at all possible.

 

Finally, I'd like to take this opportunity to again thank each and every one of you for creating these skins that add so much beauty and realism to our sims, bringing so much enjoyment to all of us. Thank you also for your previous help and for always being so generous with your time and knowledge. Please give me any and all comments, ideas, opinions, etc. regarding this issue.

[+Dave 2,322]

My friend I do not know what to tell you. I am all patched up the same as you, I drop the skin in and it works. Have you done flightengine.ini tweak?

[+JSF_Aggie 1,292]

Same here, they work fine for me.

 

There is one potential issue for using them in a campaign, reguarding decals that are set up with a DecalLevel=2, generally the decals that are the numbers.

 

For example, the ATFUSNV33 skin, the decals with a DecalLevel=2 go from 000 to 009 (b000.tga, b001.tga, ...b009.tga).

 

For the VF33 squadron defined in WOVCAMPRT_DATA.INI, the StartNumber is set to 25. If you're going to edit this campaign to use the ATFUSNV33 skin, StartNumber needs to be changed to 0, or otherwise it's going to look for decals starting with 25 (b025.tga, b026.tga...), which do not exist for this skin.

[Guest capun]

AFIK the major differences between SFP1 and WoV are:

 

- Nations.ini is reduced in WoV, it is restricted to the nations that participated in the Vietnam Conflict

- Squadron.ini is different in WoV

- GroundObjects.ini is changed in WoV

- Game dates are restricted in WoV

 

Patch 3 did change a bit in the new texture handling, so if any skin was made prior to it, then they have to be added manually to the plane.ini file.

 

The new format calls for a TextureSet.ini in each skin that is read at runtime and it is appended automatically to the plane.ini file

[jrdani 0]

Thanks for your comments USAFMTL, JSF Aggie and Capun. I'm incorporating all of them and worked on this all last night. USAFMTL, I did a search on FlightEngine.ini and based on some of the edits I read about, I changed my GraphicsSettings and HighDetailOption to read as follows:

 

[GraphicsSettings]

ZBufferDepth=24

MaxVertexCount=16384

MaxIndexCount=32768

MaxTextureCount=16384

MaxModelType=2048

MaxMeshPerScene=2048

MaxModelPerScene=4096

MaxLightPerScene=1024

AspectRatio=1.333333

MinPixelSize=1.0

 

[HighDetailOption]

;HorizonDistance=75000.0 (4/22/06 jrd)

HorizonDistance=85000.0

DetailMeshSize=6

DetailLevel=1

WaterEffect=1

NoiseTexture=1

;MaxTextureRes=0 (4/22/06 jrd)

MaxTextureRes=512

 

USAFMTL, is this the flightengine.ini tweak you referred to? I made the HorizonDistance and MaxTextureRes changes based on something Fubar512 had posted on October 19, 2005. I had previously changed the MaxTextureRes from -1 to 0 based on Charles' SF Editing Notes. Which is the correct MaxTextureRes value?

 

I'm currently re-installing each skin in my WOV Patch3, and looking at each one, using the above edits to the FlightEngine.ini file. Thanks again for everyone's comments and I'll keep watching this thread for anything else you might think of. I'll also post the results.