The Case Of The Vanishing Decals....

[+Piecemeal 450]

Hi all,

 

I'm hoping somebody can help me with a rather annoying problem I'm currently having so I'll spare you all the sob story and cut to the chase.

Some may remember me mentioning my project where all my SFG campaigns were extensively modified. Part of this was to give the aircraft on both sides a 're-paint' by using skins from other projects. For example, I tried out the Iran/Iraq campaign but got a little tired of it. However, I thought that the F-4D/E Phantom skins would work a treat on my Dhimari Ds and Es, which they did. But here's the problem:

I placed arabnumber decals on the noses of these aircraft, and on the mercenary F-4s I placed a noseart decal on the left hand side just forward of the front cockpit. I experimented and juggled around with their exact positions until I was happy enough with their placement and saved my work. BTW, I have examples of what I'm on about in the gallery area. Full of excitement, I decided to start a campaign in Mercenary mode but lo and behold; no arab numbers or noseart on my any of my wingmens aircraft. I've tried everything, from placing the concerned decals in the Objects/Decals folder to creating a Decals (D) folder within the skin folder itself

Here's two examples:

 

1:

 

[Decal014]

MeshName=fuselage_front

DecalLevel=2

DecalFacing=LEFT

FilenameFormat=F-4E\DhimariMerc\D\arabnum

Position=9.5,-0.5

Rotation=0.0

Scale=0.4

DecalMaxLOD=3

 

[Decal015]

MeshName=fuselage_front

DecalLevel=2

DecalFacing=RIGHT

FilenameFormat=F-4E\DhimariMerc\D\arabnum

Position=9.5,-0.5

Rotation=0.0

Scale=0.4

DecalMaxLOD=3

 

[Decal016]

MeshName=fuselage_front

DecalLevel=2

DecalFacing=LEFT

FilenameFormat=F-4E\DhimariMerc\D\NoseartA

Position=8.3,-0.30

Rotation=0.0

Scale=0.60

DecalMaxLOD=3

 

2:

[Decal014]

MeshName=fuselage_front

DecalLevel=2

DecalFacing=LEFT

FilenameFormat=arabnum

Position=9.5,-0.5

Rotation=0.0

Scale=0.4

DecalMaxLOD=3

 

[Decal015]

MeshName=fuselage_front

DecalLevel=2

DecalFacing=RIGHT

FilenameFormat=arabnum

Position=9.5,-0.5

Rotation=0.0

Scale=0.4

DecalMaxLOD=3

 

[Decal016]

MeshName=fuselage_front

DecalLevel=2

DecalFacing=LEFT

FilenameFormat=NoseartA

Position=8.3,-0.30

Rotation=0.0

Scale=0.60

DecalMaxLOD=3

 

In both the Objects\Decals and F-4E\DhimariMerc\D folders I placed sixteen arabnumbers, from arabnum000 to arabnum015, and in the case of the noseart Decals there were eight, from NoseartA000 to NoseartA007. The 'A' was a deliberate entry, since I put together noseart decals for two different Mercenary squadrons.

 

Strangely enough, they're mostly present when playing in single mission mode.

 

I apologise for the long winded explanation but it's the only way I could get my message across properly. Can anybody out there solve the case of the vanishing decals?

It 'd be an awful shame as after doing so much work on this, the aircraft don't look the same when playing in campaigns

[+Gocad 26]

Sounds to me like another case of RNG love.

 

First of all, your skins need a file called numbers.lst

 

This is a text file that should contain as many lines as there are individual aircraft numbers!

 

For single missions:

 

In the pre-flight loadout screen select the first number (or whatever you have written into the numbers.lst)

 

For campaign missions:

Open your campaign_data:

Search for the unit you want to fly for that uses a 3rd party skin.

 

Add 'StartNumber=0' right after the 'DefaultTexture' entry.

Edited May 8, 2008 by Gocad

[+Piecemeal 450]

Sounds to me like another case of RNG love.

 

First of all, your skins need a file called numbers.lst

 

This is a text file that should contain as many lines as there are individual aircraft numbers!

 

For single missions:

 

In the pre-flight loadout screen select the first number (or whatever you have written into the numbers.lst)

 

For campaign missions:

Open your campaign_data:

Search for the unit you want to fly for that uses a 3rd party skin.

 

Add 'StartNumber=0' right after the 'DefaultTexture' entry.

 

Thanks for the info my friend. I'll try it out now. Do I try the same with the non-playable squadrons that have the same decal set up?

[+Gocad 26]

The 'StartNumber' entry will work for all campaign units and it should be used at least with those units that use 3rd party skins.

[+Piecemeal 450]

The 'StartNumber' entry will work for all campaign units and it should be used at least with those units that use 3rd party skins.

 

No joy people. Have entered 'StartNumber=0' entries just after 'DefaultTexture'; I've created 'Numbers.lst' files with the Notepad and entered the following:

 

00

01

02

03

 

....all the way up to 25, which is as many arabnumbers as I have in my 'Objects\Decals' folder.

 

Sorry for being a pain in the a**e, but have I missed anything folks?

[+Piecemeal 450]

Hi again guys. Have managed to sort my 'vanishing' decals out in one area. Any aircraft I'm flying, along with my wingmen, in any campaign have their decals and noseart showing (at last!). Only problem is that any other aircraft present in the mission, friendly or otherwise, still have their decals missing despite my work over the past 24 hrs following the above instructions. I don't know about other people, but I'm one of those guys who gets irritated with niggly little things like that. Somehow I get the impression that the picture isn't complete.

 

.........Suggestions anybody?...........

[Wrench 9,417]

Where are the folders with the 'arabnum' and nosearts located....

ie: check the path

 

[Decal015]

MeshName=fuselage_front

DecalLevel=2

DecalFacing=RIGHT

FilenameFormat=arabnum <--shouldn't there be more here???

Position=9.5,-0.5

Rotation=0.0

Scale=0.4

DecalMaxLOD=3

 

Like on the other decals...

 

FilenameFormat=F-4E\DhimariMerc\D\NoseartA

 

Just a thought

 

Wrench

kevin stein

[+Gocad 26]

Where are the folders with the 'arabnum' and nosearts located....

ie: check the path

 

 

 

Like on the other decals...

 

FilenameFormat=F-4E\DhimariMerc\D\NoseartA

 

Just a thought

 

Wrench

kevin stein

 

Nah, I don't think it's a path problem, since he stated that he had placed the arabnum decals into the stock decals folder (...Objects/Decals)

 

The problem with 3rd party skins is that those lazy skinners never come up with enough individual aircraft number decals (like at least 100) and that leads to a situation where you can encounter an aircraft (especially during single missions) that doesn't have any number decals although there is nothing wrong with the pathnames an all.

You can't win against the RNG! Mark my words.

[+Piecemeal 450]

Nah, I don't think it's a path problem, since he stated that he had placed the arabnum decals into the stock decals folder (...Objects/Decals)

 

The problem with 3rd party skins is that those lazy skinners never come up with enough individual aircraft number decals (like at least 100) and that leads to a situation where you can encounter an aircraft (especially during single missions) that doesn't have any number decals although there is nothing wrong with the pathnames an all.

You can't win against the RNG! Mark my words.

 

 

Thanks for your encouraging replies to my posts guys. I don't know about you lads but it's been real pencil chewing stuff at this end. You could be right, Gocad; I've only got arabnums from 00 up to 25. Maybe this small problem might be solved with a complete set, say from 00 to 99 for example. I had the lot on some aircraft I downloaded a good bit back but they went with the plane when I deleted it. I always thought that amount would be enough since the biggest aircraft formation I've seen on any side so far has been approximately sixteen.

[+Gocad 26]

I always thought that amount would be enough since the biggest aircraft formation I've seen on any side so far has been approximately sixteen.

 

You're right about the formation limit, but that's unrelated to how the game engine picks the individual aircraft (also known as Level 2) decals for such formations. When generating a formation a RNG chooses a number (ranging from 0 to 99). Let's assume that the plane formation consists of 4 Soviet MiG-21 and the number chosen is 97. The lead plane of the formation (remember that the sovietnum goes from 00 to 99) would therefore have the number '97', the second MiG the '98', the third MiG the '99' and the fourth MiG the '00'. The problem is that the game doesn't check whether there are that many decals. It simply assumes there is and therefore assigns a decalnum that doesn't exist.

 

Also, bear in mind that the game itself doesn't need a numbers.lst file to pick a decal. This file is actually only needed so that the player can pick the number he wants in the loadout screen.

Edited May 10, 2008 by Gocad

[Wrench 9,417]

What i think I was trying to say, move the arabnums INTO a /D subfolder, just like regular decals, and rewrite the path accordingly. This has always assured that the numbers show on the intended aircraft. That's what I've always done.

 

Assming this is for WoI, you can use the 'ArabicSN' decal like I did on the EAF MiG-17PF; it'll pull those from the stock Decals folder.

 

Now, now Gocad ... that comment was unkind!! You and I both know what a PIA it is to make a 100 serial numbers (which I've done more time than I care to think about.....) and matching nose art, and matching ID/Modex numbers....we need an "exhausted" smiley to put here..

 

BTW, if anyone is interested, I have an Arabic font that makes nice number decals...I used it for the EAF Spits, Mc-205, Meteor F.3 and F.8..and probably some others I've chosen to forget!

 

Wrench

kevin stein

[+Gocad 26]

Hmm, maybe it was a bit presumptous to assume that every other modder is as lazy as I am.

 

An "exhausted" smiley. Now that's definitely needed.

[+Piecemeal 450]

Hmm, maybe it was a bit presumptous to assume that every other modder is as lazy as I am.

 

An "exhausted" smiley. Now that's definitely needed.

 

Glad I didn't start a cyber-dogfight there lads! Thoughtful stuff there Gocad. I've searched through all my aircraft files to see if there's any skins with a full set of arabnum decals but to no avail. I never thought of it the way you explained, which was why I only retained the 00 to 25 numbers. Having only about 6gb free space at the moment, I put those decals into my default decals folder and deleted all the arabnumbers in all the skin folders concerned. I know exactly what you're saying, Wrench, but the last sentence before this should explain why they're not where you've suggested. It was all a matter of trying to tidy things up and save some space on my hard drive.

If any of you could suggest an aircraft or skin to temporarily download in order for me to obtain the full set of arabnumbers, I'd be able to place the full set in my default folder; I can't think of any skins off the top of my head and would rather not spend the day downloading Middle Eastern style skins just to look for a set of numbers.

In order for you to see exactly what I meant earlier about the 'picture not being complete', I recommend you lads take a look at the screenshots I uploaded about a week ago in the gallery. I spent a lot of time positioning Dhimari decals onto my Iranian F-4/F-14 downloads, the same being done with the Israeli A-4 skins. Hope you enjoy guys, and thanks again.

[+drdoyo 2]

Now, now Gocad ... that comment was unkind!! You and I both know what a PIA it is to make a 100 serial numbers (which I've done more time than I care to think about.....) and matching nose art, and matching ID/Modex numbers....we need an "exhausted" smiley to put here..

 

Wrench

kevin stein

 

There is another answer. Since 000-024 are available, copy, paste, and rename 000-024 to fill 025-099. Still uses a lot of HD space, but it's the only way I was able to bet my USN jets to have the correct series modex numbers (no 400 series on VF-1 F-14s) in campaign.

 

I concur about the RNG issue that Gocad brought up being the problem by what has ben described.

Edited May 10, 2008 by drdoyo

[Wrench 9,417]

Or...here's another alternative (but may cause repeats)

 

change the number.lst to repeat the numbers...

 

001

002

...

024

025

001

002

etc

 

the game engine should just recyle them back.

 

I did that once, just for s**ts and grins, and it DID work, although sometime you'd got 2 birds with the same number; but everyone gets a number.

 

I've done something smiliar, but dont' remember which aircraft; I used the stock numbers, extracted from the objectscat, placed in the skin's decals folder, and adjusted the number list to fit. Again, after 025, they disappear, but it was the only way to get the ones I wanted on that particular aircraft.

 

As to being lazy, hell...it's almost my middle name! the quote: "I'm not just a lazy as the next guy, I'm MORE lazy than the next guy"

 

The offer on the font stands for whomever still wants it! It's called "Amien01", and it's freely availabe off the web, if anyone wants to search for it.

 

Wrench

kevin stein

[+Piecemeal 450]

The case of the vanishing (now you see them, now you don't!) decals has been solved. After much online soul searching, trial and error,many test flights, ini editing and finding a complete arabnumber collection in an unlikely long forgotten area; everything seems to be where it is. Once again my friends I salute you for your support, suggestions and experience over the past couple of days. Because of your combined help I can now enjoy my game that little bit more.

 

Just for the record, I placed all the numbers (00 to 99) in the default decals folder and then edited the decal.ini files for each aircraft accordingly. No need for a decal folder in each skin folder.

 

Here's to all the contributors in this dicussion.......