FE2 Skins Manipulation

[DARoot 6]

Could someone knowledgeable, on these Forums, PLEASE try to explain to me, what

is going on in the situation described below?

-- I am running FE2.

-- I downloaded and installed the "A-Team's" Pfalz D.IIIa add-on plane. [Works fine].

-- Since I didn't care for the "default" Pfalz skins that the A-Team provided, I

downloaded and installed a few of the alternative skins that Quack74 has made

available (as well as, one of my own, to more-or-less depict the Pfalz shown in the

"default" A-team Loading Screen).

-- I then deleted the references to the A-Team's "default" skins, in my "PfalzD3a.ini"

and made my personal skin ("Jasta56a," for want of a better name) as

"[TextureSet001]". [And all of the skins work fine, provided the Player specifically

selects them at the beginning of the Mission].

 

Well, in the "old days" of FE1, one could control the "order" in which alternate skins

were displayed (including what the "default" skin would be, for AI planes, when you

flew against them, from the "other side") merely by changing their order in

"xxPlaneName.ini." -- Apparently, that is no longer the case, with FE2.

 

-- "[TextureSet001]" seems to be IGNORED by FE2. Instead, it insists on listing

"Directory=Jasta15 Hptm Berthold" as the first choice (on the Player-selectable

dropdown menu, and as the "default" AI skin), then "Directory=Jasta16B; Name=Vziw

M Von Holtzem,Jasta 16B,1918" next, and then "Directory=Jasta20; Name=Jasta20"

-- leading one to suspect that FE2 is looking at the alphabetical order for the various

skinset directories.

-- However, even changing the Directory name to "_Jasta56a" (to place that directory at the "top" in Windows Explorer) seems to make no difference.

-- In ADDITION, FE2 seems to "re-write" my existing "PfalzD3a.ini" to ADD-IN entries

for some of these skinsets, even if it means DUPLICATING an entry for that skinset

that already exists (!!)

 

Example: [Yes, this is what my "PfalzD3a.ini" looks like, at the moment -- and I,

personally, did NOT make most of these changes ...]:

[TexureSet001]
Directory=_Jasta56a
Name=Jasta56a
Nation=GERMANY
Squadron=
Specular=2.500000
Glossiness=1.500000
Reflection=0.050000

[TexureSet002]
Directory=Jasta5
Name=Jasta5
Nation=GERMANY
Squadron=
Specular=2.500000
Glossiness=1.500000
Reflection=0.050000

[TexureSet003]
Directory=Jasta16B
Name=Vziw M Von Holtzem,Jasta 16B,1918
Nation=GERMANY
Squadron=
Specular=0.700000
Glossiness=0.400000
Reflection=0.700000

[TextureSet004]
Directory=Jasta29
Name=Jasta29
Nation=GERMANY
Squadron=
Specular=2.500000
Glossiness=1.500000
Reflection=0.050000

[TextureSet005]
Directory=Jasta5
Name=Jasta5
Nation=GERMANY
Squadron=
Specular=2.500000
Glossiness=1.500000
Reflection=0.050000

[TextureSet006]
Directory=Jasta56
Name=Jasta56
Nation=GERMANY
Squadron=
Specular=2.500000
Glossiness=1.500000
Reflection=0.050000

[TextureSet007]
Directory=Jasta77b
Name=Jasta77b
Nation=GERMANY
Specular=2.500000
Glossiness=1.500000
Reflection=0.050000

[TextureSet008]
Directory=_Jasta56a
Name=Jasta56a
Nation=GERMANY
Squadron=
Specular=2.500000
Glossiness=1.500000
Reflection=0.050000

[TextureSet001]
Directory=Jasta15 Hptm Berthold
Name=J15 Hptm Berthold
Nation=GERMANY
Specular=1.800000
Glossiness=1.500000
Reflection=0.100000

[TextureSet002]
Directory=Jasta16B
Name=Vziw M Von Holtzem,Jasta 16B,1918
Nation=GERMANY
Specular=0.700000
Glossiness=0.400000
Reflection=0.700000

[TextureSet003]
Directory=Jasta20
Name=Jasta20
Nation=GERMANY
Specular=2.500000
Glossiness=1.500000
Reflection=0.050000

 

Please note the various duplications for [TextureSet001] through [TextureSet003], as well as the duplications for Directories _Jasta56a, Jasta16B, Jasta15 Hptm Berthold,and Jasta 5 [and "re-numbering" Jasta20]. (and, incidentally, at the time FE2 "generated" this .ini file, I had already DELETED the entire "Jasta15 Hptm Berthold" folder -- so where FE2 got the information it added, I have no clue ...).

 

This is ... ridiculous ... and makes NO logical sense to me.

 

Anybody have any comments/suggestions??

 

DARoot

Edited January 21, 2013 by DARoot

[Panama Red 22]

I have no problems with FE2 using the skin that I maunally put at the top of the list in the XXXX.ini file.

 

The only time it will not coperate is if the NationName=XXXXXXX (in the Aircraft_data.ini file) is not the same nation of the skin that is at the top of the XXXX.ini file skins.

[+whiteknight06604 934]

just remove all the skins except the one you want to show first play a mission then add the other skins and it should be ok. if that dosn't work chect to make sure the skins are not set to show at a certain date.

[DARoot 6]

Thank You, Panama Red and WhiteKnight06604.

 

Much appreciated! [The fact that FE2 was re-writing my "PfalzD3a.ini" really threw me

for a loop -- or perhaps, Immelman].

 

@ WhiteKnight06604 -- Yes, that is exactly what I did to get my skin as "default."

[incidentally, I also had to remove (temporarily) all the other alternate skin folders from

the aircraft directory, since FE2 seemed to "read" them, and offer them on the

dropdown menu at mission start, even if they are not declared in "PfalzD3a.ini"].

Well, today I will start adding them back in (one at a time), and see what happens.

 

Thank you both, again, for taking the time to respond.

 

DARoot

[DARoot 6]

Oh, now this is just becoming ... hilarious ...

Here is what FE2 did to my "PfalzD3a.ini" after "adding-in" a second alternate skin (Jasta20) --

 

[TexureSet001]
Directory=Jasta56a
Name=Jasta56a
Nation=GERMANY
Squadron=
Specular=2.500000
Glossiness=1.500000
Reflection=0.050000

[TextureSet002]
Directory=Jasta56a
Name=Jasta56a
Nation=GERMANY
Squadron=
Specular=2.500000
Glossiness=1.500000
Reflection=0.050000

[TextureSet001]
Directory=Jasta20
Name=Jasta20
Nation=GERMANY
Specular=2.500000
Glossiness=1.500000
Reflection=0.050000

 

And, Yup, "Jasta20" became the new "default" skin on the pre-mission dropdown menu. {and oddly, FE2 failed to include the "Squadron= " line, which is present in the Jasta20 "TextureSet.ini" file, but DID copy that line for its "duplication" of the Jasta56a skin.]

 

Curiouser and curiouser ...

 

DARoot

[+whiteknight06604 934]

thats just odd.......

[DARoot 6]

Yes, and it just gets odder.

 

-- I eventually re-named my preferred "default" skin to "Jasta1" (still "fictional," but now it is at the top, numerically, of the installed skins directories).

FE2 still "duplicated" its entry in "PfalzD3a.ini" (so now there are two [TextureSet001] entries, both exactly the same).

Well, at least it works properly now.

 

-- However, I figured I had better check my other aircraft folders for similar behavior.

 

-- In MOST cases the "order" of the skins entries in the <aircraft>.ini matched the order of the skins folders, and they were in alphabetical/numerical order, top to bottom.

 

-- However, I have both the A-Team's BE-2c and BE-2d, and they both had the same 2 skin sets. So, to differentiate them, I had previously changed the order [putting "2Sqn" as #001 and "45" as #002 on the 2c, and "45" as #001 and "2Sqn" as #002 for the 2d].

 

And FE2 is fine with that!

 

I have no idea what is going on here.

 

But, it is probably time to spend more time practicing flying and gunnery skills, and less time "tweaking."

 

Thank you again for your assistance.

 

DARoot

[Panama Red 22]

Have you thought about a possible corupted FE2 download, bad install or bad spot on your HD ??? If you save your FE2 mod folder, you might re-download and install it again to see if that may be a problem.

 

I do not have your problem, but the biggest problem that I have with FE2 is the occasional "hang" when using the "Esc" key ending a mission.

[DARoot 6]

Oh, I certainly hope not!

But, as Sherlock Holmes says, "Once you've eliminated the impossible, what's left must be the truth."

Well, you are right -- if nobody else has reported a similar problem, the place to look for the culprit is likely on my own rig.

 

As to "hangs" on ESC, way back in 2007 Charles posted a "fix" for random crashes and "ALT-N" CTDs in FE1, that involved editing (basically, doubling) certain parameters in the "Flightengine.ini" file (found in the FlightData.cat archive). It's probably still here somewhere, in the Knowledge Base somewhere.

 

Anyway, here's the pertinent section from my FE2 "Flightengine.ini" (which is working fine for me) --

[GraphicsSettings]

ZBufferDepth=24

MaxVertexCount=16384

MaxIndexCount=32768

MaxTextureCount=4096 <-- Charles recommended 16384

MaxModelType=2024 <-- Charles recommended 2048

MaxMeshPerScene=4096

MaxModelPerScene=2024 <-- Charles recommended 4096

MaxLightPerScene=256 <-- Charles recommended 1024

AspectRatio=1.333333

MinPixelSize=1.0

 

DARoot

[Panama Red 22]

That is what my FE2 FlightEngine.ini currently reads under the [GraphicsSettings].

 

What I did see a while back on the TW site was some one else having the same problem (occasionally hanging on "Esc" key) that I was having. And since he had a different CPU and Video card than me, that told me that it was not my video card or drivers, but in the game itself. My solution was to just use the "Q+Alt" which takes you straight to desktop, so there is no hanging.