My Skins and Service Pack 1

[column5 63]

Just wanted to say that with one exception, my skins seem to work fine with SP1.

 

My new VF-111 skin is incompatible because of the non-standard way I was storing the decals. This has been fixed and a new package is available for download at my site.

 

Thanks!

[+TK_ThirdWire 0]

Hey column5,

 

what "non-standard" way were you storing the decals?

 

TK

--

[+Tiwaz 0]

What exactly did you have to change? My 417 squadron 104 skin doesn't have decals stored conventionaly yet seems to work fine.

[+Tiwaz 0]

TK Like this

 

 

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I don't know if anyone else has stumbled across this . I didn't care for how cluttered my aircraft folder was getting with extra decals so I tried some thing.

I added a new folder, inside the aircraft folder and gave it the same name as the skin as whose decals would go into it; I named it 417 for my 417 squadron skin. inside it I placed all of the decals for that skin.

 

Next i opened the decals.ini folder for that skin and changed the decalfileformat line to have 417 in front of the decal I wanted to useso it looked like this:

 

[Decal001]

MeshName=fuselage

DecalFacing=RIGHT

FilenameFormat=417canada

Position=2.15,-0.000

Rotation=0.0

Scale=1.85

DecalMaxLOD=4

 

Now the decals still appear on the air craft but don't clogg up your aircraft folder this will also make uninstalling a skin much easier

[column5 63]

Hey column5,

 

what "non-standard" way were you storing the decals?  

 

TK

--

 

TK,

 

Here is an example of what I was doing:

 

[Decal006]

MeshName=vertical_stabilizer

DecalLevel=2

DecalFacing=RIGHT

FilenameFormat=f-4busnvf111decalsvf111_tail_right

Position=-5.05,1.2

Rotation=0.0

Scale=5.25

DecalMaxLOD=3

 

The above worked great before the patch. Then I tried the following:

 

[Decal006]

...

FilenameFormat=usnvf111decalsvf111_tail_right

...

 

This worked for some decals, but not others. So, I just went back to the old method of putting all fo the decals in the AIRCRAFT folder.

[galanti 0]

My skins work fine, too, except in campaign mode you cannot change your skins anymore in the loadout screen. Maybe this is by design?

 

Other than that, patch seems great. I actually dogfought (?? dogfighted??) a MiG-17 in my Hun and won! I still think cannons are way overpowered, TK, but when you release the editing tools, I'll fix that myself. Effects are fantastic!

[+TK_ThirdWire 0]

column5,

 

Hm, I don't thinlk the patch changed the way decals are loaded, so I'm not sure why that wouldn't work... except maybe the name might be too long or something... :?

 

TK

--

[column5 63]

column5,

 

Hm, I don't thinlk the patch changed the way decals are loaded, so I'm not sure why that wouldn't work... except maybe the name might be too long or something...   :?  

 

TK

--

 

Hmmm. I'll shorten the file names and see what happens. Thanks!

[+TK_ThirdWire 0]

I'll download that particular skin (which looks phabulous btw ;)) tomorrow and see if I can figure out anything wrong with it... I do like the way you guys are organizing your skin specific decals into the skin folder, and I'd like to make that the 'standard' way in the future... ;)

 

Thanks,

 

TK

--

[Rogue 0]

That would be a great change TK. It would help to keep the files centralized and uncluttered.

[column5 63]

I'll download that particular skin (which looks phabulous btw ;)) tomorrow and see if I can figure out anything wrong with it...   I do like the way you guys are organizing your skin specific decals into the skin folder, and I'd like to make that the 'standard' way in the future... ;)

 

Thanks,

 

TK

--

 

TK, I've already put another version up on the website. Here is a direct link to the original version with the decals in the skin folder:

 

http://www.column5.us/skins/sundowners_1.zip

 

Props go to Tiwaz for discovering that we can put paths in the FilenameFormat= line, and thanks for the compliment on the skin!

[Odd1 0]

Am I seeing things? I uninstalled SFP1 using the SFP1 Uninstall utility, reboot, reinstall and added the Patch everything went very smooth. I then went to add the backed up skins back. They where already in the new install? The only thing I had to reinstall where the missing INI files? Did the old uninstall utility leave quite a bit behind? Running XP sp1.

[column5 63]

Am I seeing things?  I uninstalled SFP1 using the SFP1 Uninstall utility, reboot, reinstall and added the Patch everything went very smooth.  I then went to add the backed up skins back.  They where already in the new install? The only thing I had to reinstall where the missing INI files?  Did the old uninstall utility leave quite a bit behind?  Running XP sp1.

 

Odd1,

 

The uninstall only removes the SFP1 "native" files. Any other files such as add-on skins will be left behind. To completely uninstall, you should manually delete the Strategy First folder under Program Files after you have run the uninstall.

[Odd1 0]

I didn't use the Uninstall from the patch but rather the Unistall in the original SFP1 folder but apparently the same outcome. Everything works fine though. Mostly your skins by the way great stuff. Thanks.

[column5 63]

I didn't use the Uninstall from the patch but rather the Unistall in the original SFP1 folder but apparently the same outcome.  Everything works fine though.  Mostly your skins by the way great stuff.  Thanks.

 

Thanks!

[column5 63]

column5,

 

Hm, I don't thinlk the patch changed the way decals are loaded, so I'm not sure why that wouldn't work... except maybe the name might be too long or something...   :?  

 

TK

--

 

TK,

 

It looks like you hit the nail on the head! (That's why you are the developer, eh?)

 

Through trial and error, I believe I've found that the string following "FilenameFormat=" can be up to 32 characters long, INCLUDING the decal numbers and file extension which are not explicitly typed out. For example, the following works:

 

[Decal021]

MeshName=vertical_stab_ant

DecalLevel=2

DecalFacing=LEFT

FilenameFormat=F-4busnvf111vf111vtl

Position=-5.05,1.2

Rotation=0.0

Scale=5.25

DecalMaxLOD=3

 

There are 22 characters after "FileFormat=", plus seven more characters making up the actual file names (001.tga, 002.tga, 003.tga, for example) which makes for a total of 29 characters in the actual path. My testing shows that 32 is the max.

 

Hope I described that clearly. :?

[column5 63]

BUMP

[+Tiwaz 0]

Hmmm good find I'll have to keep that in mind. On the other hand we can always shorten up the decal name , if its kept in the skins folder uninstalling them shouldn't be a problem so very simple names could be used.