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CappuccettoRosso

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About CappuccettoRosso

  • Birthday October 19

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  • Flight Simulators
    DCS
  • Location
    Italy
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    DCS

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  1. @SizzlingPopcorn Hi, sorry for the crazy delay! You are absolutely right, on some pcs launching PowerShell scripts is disabled by default. To fix: In your search bar type "powershell", right click and open as administrator. In the terminal run the command: Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned This way you should be able to launch the script correctly. ---- For the sake of completeness, I should tell you that clearly this policy was implemented for security reasons and I urge you not to run suspicious powershell scripts. If you want to know what kind of "ExecutionPolicy" you currently have run the command: Get-ExecutionPolicy Below are some details: Set-ExecutionPolicy Restricted <-- Will not allow any powershell scripts to run. Only individual commands may be run. Set-ExecutionPolicy AllSigned <-- Will allow signed powershell scripts to run. Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned <-- Allows unsigned local script and signed remote powershell scripts to run. Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted <-- Will allow unsigned powershell scripts to run. Warns before running downloaded scripts. Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass <-- Nothing is blocked and there are no warnings or prompts.
  2. Hi @Devrim, it's a pleasure to read you here, glad you like the idea : ) Thanks for all your great work with the modded cockpits! I've been using your stuff for years. As for a video tutorial... yes actually it would be helpful but the idea of doing it slightly intimidates me. If you feel like it, try using the script anyway, it's not hard. Just be sure to spell the directories right when asked. in the form: ( use backslash \ not slash / we're on Windows! ) Main Game - D:\DCS World Backup - D:\UDCS-ModManager\backup Mods Folder - D:\DCS World\_MODS. Let me know if you can get it working. In the meantime, if you really want, I'll scrape up some courage to make a video : ) Thanks again!
  3. Hi sedenion, thank you for your feedback! I know it's silly but receiving your appreciation is a good feeling : ) Allow me a couple of clarifications: This dynamic is already provided for and handled correctly (at least by the criteria I imagine :S) in UDCS-MM. Intermediate versions of overlap files are not preserved nor time and computational resources are lost over them (see line 347 of the code). Simply the last activated mod takes priority in case there is the same impacted file. I honestly do not think that interdicting mod overlapping is a good idea. It is a normal scenario that happens frequently. I fully agree that each method there has its pros and cons and that you choose according to your preferences. For my personal needs, the priority was on minimizing the deployment and revert time and minimizing as much as possible the amount of data written to disk. That is why there is no support for packaged/zipped files: to avoid having to then work on those files to extract them. Thank you again for your intervention, and I renew my complete availability to an eventual integration of my code into a real program ( with a real interface xD ).
  4. You can still use it even on different disks. If you notice, those instructions you quote are written in "highly suggested" not in limitations. Why then did I suggest using the same disk? Not to dwell on being careful in considering compatibility between the file systems of the disks involved, whether the disks use different file systems (e.g. NTFS and ext4), etc. etc. Go ahead and use it and let me know As for mods going into \Saved Games\ come on, a little imagination : ) Create another folder D:\UDCS-ModManager2\ , copy the .ps1 file into it and set here the directories for X:\Saved Games\DCS.openbeta That way you will have a script that manages the main DCS World folder and one that manages DCS.openbeta in Saved Games. I sincerely thank you for giving me feedback and cordially invite you to give UDCS-ModManager a chance. You'll see that - especially if you're dealing with very heavy files - it's really fast. P.s. Oh, by the way, I honestly didn't understand if you are the guy who made OvGME. If so feel free to use my code. If you want to put a decent interface to my script go ahead. The only important thing is to have a serious and working tool to manage the mods, no matter the name and affiliation.
  5. UDCS-ModManager Ugly Dashing Cunning Symlink Mod Manager Overview UDCS-MM is a generic mod manager ( but written with DCS in mind and heart ) that consists of a single 16 KB PowerShell file developed by a decades-long DCS fan moved by frustration at the lack of similar solutions. It is currently the most powerful, fast, lightweight, and hardware-friendly solution to mod management. Oh, and it is also the most aesthetically pleasing ( see "Ugliness" section ). Why you should care: because UDCS-MM uses a completely different approach from other mod-managers. UDCS does not rewrite data. It does not corrupt files by copying and pasting them schizophrenically one on top of the other but instead uses symlinks by intervening on a very small part of the data concerning the indexing of directories and files to manage mods thus respecting the health and longevity of your hard drives and respecting your time as well. Ugliness UDCS-ModManager has a retro interface; commands are given from the terminal. Nothing can beat the thrill of typing Y or pressing enter on a horrible blue background and white text! The User Experience is simply stellar and will make each user really feel in charge. It's pretty much the same difference in feeling as flying in a powerful, flawed and potentially self-destructive F-14 and flying in a modern, clean and deadly slow F-18 looking at its displays with its satellite coordinates... Ehy, I'm kidding, they're both great planes. Simplicity How complicated could it possibly be to operate this script by people who know how to successfully operate a modern war jet? Time Without going into details, I'll summarize the benefits like this: the fact is that UDCS is fast. Incredibly fast. If you want you can stop here, take my word for it and avoid continuing to read boring explanations and ravings. Yes but how fast? Well, if we take any of the other mod managers out there, and assume that this is an old Smart car launched at the frightening speed of 90 kilometers per hour on a bumpy road with shaking windows, UDCS-MM is an AIM-54C Phoenix at 25000 meters traveling at Mach 5 toward a poor, unsuspecting MIG. And let's be clear, I'm not even kidding with the numbers. In fact, this numerical relationship is definitely downward for UDCS-MM. This is the time it took to activate and then deactivate Taz's fantastic "DCS Optimized Textures" mod used as a template as it is very nice and full-bodied. It occupies about twenty GB and acts on about forty GB of vanilla files. DCS Optimized Textures by Taz link: https://forum.dcs.world/topic/323252-dcs-optimized-textures/ Time taken to Deploy and Revert Taz's "DCS Optimized Textures" mod: Other popular Mod Managers: ENABLE ---> 5 min 32 sec ; DISABLE ---> 3 min 47 sec. UDCS-ModManager: ENABLE ---> less than 2 sec ; DISABLE ---> less than 6 sec. Data written to hard disk It doesn't end there. Let's talk briefly about writing data to your hard disk. Let's start with the bad news. Hard disks are not eternal. They have a life cycle measured in amount of data written. Probably a few years ago, when at most you had to change a .lua file to rightly put Fox-3s on an Su-27 ( it would be nice to natively bridge the gap that has come about, don't you think, Eagle Dynamics? ) it might as well have been okay to use mod managers that unceremoniously copy and paste the modded files, the original and backupplied files... But now, we have to turn on, then turn off for an Open-Beta update, dozens and dozens of GBs to get the indispensable "Taz's Optimized Textures," "Modern Weapons for the F-14," "Barthek's Caucasian Textures," and other very high quality stuff! Well, UDCS writes virtually zero Bytes of data to your disk. Windows will report as many as 0 bytes of weight on the symlink files! hey, of course it's not zero. Let's not kid ourselves. If we want to make pseudo-realistic estimates, we can approximate 1 KB for each individual file involved in the operations. Now compare a few measly KB to the imposing, gargantuan bulk of say 40 GB ( which is a VERY optimistic estimate of how much data is written by other mod managers simply by enabling "Taz's Optimized Textures" ). Below is some data on the disk space used by writing data when we activate and then deactivate the fantastic mod "DCS Optimized Textures" ( which we will still use as a template for this example ). The data is in relation to my Samsung SSD 860 EVO 500GB with NTFS file system Available hard disk space & Data written for Deploy & Revert of Taz's "DCS Optimized Textures" mod: Other popular Mod Managers: available space: before ENABLE - - - - intra-operation ENABLE - - - - end of ENABLE 75.725 GB - - - - - - - - - - 29.635 GB - - - - - - - - - - 56.883 GB data written: before ENABLE - - - - intra-operation ENABLE - - - - end of ENABLE 0 GB - - - - - - - - - - 46.090 GB - - - - - - - - - - 18.842 GB The other Mod Managers write at least 46 GB of data. Most likely they write even more than that. This is a rough downward estimate. And we are not even considering here the disk write of when we disable the mod. UDCS-ModManager: available space: before ENABLE - - - - intra-operation ENABLE - - - - end of ENABLE 75.725 GB - - - - - - - - - - 75.725 GB - - - - - - - - - - 75.725 GB data written: before ENABLE - - - - intra-operation ENABLE - - - - end of ENABLE 0 GB - - - - - - - - - - 0 GB - - - - - - - - - - 0.000811 GB The same operation conducted by UDCS-ModManager writes to disk the ridiculous amount of 0.000811 GB practically less than a single megabyte. INSTALL AND HOW TO USE Steps Download the folder "UDCS-ModManager" from https://github.com/ObsceneNickname/UDCS-ModManager and place it on the root of your games drive. Example: D:\UDCS-ModManager\ Execute the PowerShell file "UDCS-ModManager.ps1" inside that folder. Right click on the file --> Run with PowerShell If a prompt asks for confirmation say "Yes". Do not say "Yes to all". The PowerShell terminal should start up. Remember that you can exit the PowerShell terminal at any time by pressing CTRL+C Follow the instructions on the terminal. You'll need to set up the directories of where the game you want to mod, where you want to keep the original files, and where your folder with the mods is. Don't worry, this operation only needs to be done the first time. Example: - Main Game: D:\DCS World\ - Backup Folder: D:\UDCS-ModManager\backup\ - Mods Folder: D:\DCS World\_MODS\ N.B. Consider that inside DCS World there is already natively a Mods folder. That's why the one with our mods is called "_MODS" with the underscore. From the menu that appears with the list of your mods, choose which one you want to activate by typing in the corresponding number and press enter. The mods displayed in green are the ones you have already activated. If multiple mods impact the same files, the last one activated will take priority. Under no circumstances the original files of both the game and your mods will be altered. To disable all mods and return the game to its vanilla state simply run the script again. If you have mods enabled you will be asked if you want to disable all of them. If you want to start from scratch and set up different directories, you can simply delete that .ini file in the "UDCS-ModManager" folder. More info N.B. Highly Suggested Prerequisites: Windows 10 or higher, NTFS disk, mods and game on the same disk Download and extract (if zipped) the folder "UDCS-ModManager" on your drive. That folder should contain the "UDCS-ModManager.ps1" file that we are going to run. Possibly directly in the root of the hard drive. This is not mandatory but the point is that you must launch UDCS-ModManager from a directory that contains no space in its absolute-path. If this is clear to you, feel free to rename both the folder and the .ps1 file itself as you wish. So D:\UDCS-ModManager\ is fine. Also D:\Games\UDCS-ModManager\. If the folder is, let's say, D:\DCS World\UDCS-ModManager\ the script will not work. The folder that houses your mods must be structured as usual as with other mod managers. It must contain folders with the name of the mod and inside the same structure as the Main Game directories. Example: D:\DCS World\_MODS\ ├───BARTHEK's CAUCASUS REDONE 2022 - REV 2 │ ├───Bazar │ │ └───Textures │ └───Mods │ └───terrains │ └───Caucasus │ ├───shadingOptions │ └───vfstextures ├───BARTHEK's CAUCASUS REDONE 2022 - SNOWLESS WINTER REV 2 │ └───Mods │ └───terrains │ └───Caucasus │ ├───shadingOptions │ └───vfstextures\ Limitations On some PCs launching PowerShell scripts is disabled by default. To fix: In your search bar type "powershell", right click and open as administrator. In the terminal run the command: Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned This way you should be able to launch the script correctly. More details on this issue in the comments below --README is WIP-- Thanks This script was developed for personal needs but it is a pleasure to be able to share it with the community, from which I have taken and learned so much, in the hope that you will enjoy it and find it useful.
  6. P.s. The problem of OvGME backup... Never mind, I'm a fool! I think that simply the original DCS files take up more space than those of the (incredibly good) optimized texture mod of Taz.
  7. Thank you for your response, I premise that I am not an expert, have mercy, but I will try to explain anyway. If I am in the wrong I might learn something. Let's imagine this simplified scenario: we have an original file "D:/Main DCS Folder/data/texture.bla" taking up 1 GB and a mod for that file "D:/mod4DCS/Modded_Texture/data/texture.bla" also 1 GB. With a symlink system I imagine things would go like this: move the original file to another directory on the same disk "D:/backup_mod/data/texture.bla." Moving that 1 GB "D:/Main DCS Folder/data/texture.bla" file to another directory does not involve writing an additional GB of data since you would only be going to change the directory. Let's say we consume 1KB of information to index that file in another directory. After that, inside the folder "D:/Main DCS Folder/data/" we are going to insert a symlink (size 1 KB) that does nothing more than give instructions on where to find the real modded file, which is "D:/mod4DCS/Modded_Texture/data/texture.bla." Then again, that's what a symlink does. It pretends to be a file that is actually in another directory. They are "super shortcut"; not my words. I invite you reading: https://blogs.windows.com/windowsdeveloper/2016/12/02/symlinks-windows-10/ When we go to disable that mod, the symlink will be deleted (size 1 KB) and the original DCS file will be moved from the backup directory to the root directory. So again say 1KB of information actually written to disk. *Edit*: Among other things, in the past I used mod managers that used the Symlink system. However, they were not generic but for a specific game. I remember that it was very fast and did not consume disk space even when activating mods of tens of GB. -- On the other hand, regarding the issue of too much size of OvGME Backup I can just show you a picture: I look forward to your opinion. With respect, G.P.
  8. Hi guys, I wanted to ask a couple of things and make some considerations. I have always used JSGME but having heard good things about OvGME I wanted to try it out. I thought this could solve the problem of having to rewrite data every time you activate a mod. I thought OvGME was smart enough to create symlinks in such a way as to save GB and GB of writing to disk. However, it seems that it does not do this. Do you happen to know of any mod management software that uses a "smarter" approach perhaps using precisely symlinks? Does DCS support reading symlinks in the first instance? As an aside, I noticed that by default OvGME uses the ProgramData folder on the drive with the OS to keep backups of the original files. What a bad, bad idea. It almost completely crashed my pc while I was testing the enabling of some heavier mods. Yet another problem: by enabling multiple mods that modify the same files, rightly OvGME overwrites them, but it doesn't seem to keep track of which mod was enabled last and therefore doesn't create a dependency tree for you to do a "clean" disable (which JSGME does). *Edit*: Another problem: It also seems that OvGME's handling of the backup of original files is somewhat arcane. The time it takes to backup is significantly longer than in JSGME, and - the strangest part - is that the backup size is more than twice as heavy as the modified files themselves. Let me explain: activating several mods that take up a total of 20 GB, OvGME's backup operations will create files with a total size of 44.6 GB. This data is the result of an attempt just conducted and is not made up. I must say that not only do I see no advantage in using OvGME but I find it to be even worse software than JSGME. In any case, both do not allow mod activation that does not involve a complete rewrite of the modified files; stressing the disk unnecessarily.
  9. I hope that some kind soul will reproduce this beauty also for the F-15E
  10. Thank you for considering the proposal. A little feedback on version 1.1.4: Fantastic! Personally I did not encounter any bugs or any problems (except those minor graphical issues already mentioned in your comments) with AGM-65E LMAV, AIM-120Cs with various racks, AGM-123 Skipper II (which worked correctly for me - spectacular!) and Laser Guided Zunis in LAU-10s. Being able to use these weapons on the tomcat is magnificent and ultra fun. Thanks A small note: when you ask Jester to select those weapons, they are identified as TADS. To have a correct indication of the impact pipe on the HUD is sufficient to simply manually change the weapon selector on LAU-10 as human RIO.
  11. Hello, I wanted to report this issue I have. I'm playing the Multi-Thread version. I also add that I love all of your modules and I hope to not bother you. First, Jester has very big difficulties finding ships with LANTIRN. He can lock on tanks barely visible on land but he can't find a ship as big as the entire display. You have to be really really close in order to have a lock on a ship from him. And of course this can be a problem when the ship fires missiles at you. But ok, I can live with that. Second, and this is not bereable, if I switch seat, controlling the RIO myself, I can just lock the ship myself. I point-track the ship correctly, set it as a target and fire the laser. Good, this way I can just get over the noobness of Jester. But as soon as I return to the pilot seat, Jester decide to remove my point-track lock and start doing weird stuff and move the LANTIRN. What I would expect: if I manually lock on a target as a human RIO, Jester should NOT interfere and not touch the LANTIRN at all. Unless, of course, there's a specific new command from the Jester Menu. I hope I have described the problem well and I thank you for your patience.
  12. Hello and thanks a lot for your mod, I'm a big fan of it! I wanted to ask you if it's possible to have a "mods mix pack" for the F-14 in order to merge all the fantastic job of yours and the other great modders (very sadly right now the "weapon pack bridge" mod - https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/it/files/3326796/ - is outdated and doesn't work properly) I would suggest a merge of: - F-14 Advanced Air to Air Missile Mod - https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/it/files/3326837/ (AIM-152) - Modern F-14 Weapons Pack (V1.1.3) - https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3326478/ (Your fantastic mod!) - F-14 Expanded Weapons - https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3326497/ (Bombs loadout expanded) It would be incredibly good to have all of the weapons and loadouts of these mods in a single mod instead of exiting the game and switching files. I would do it myself but I'm just too noob to understand the logic behind. I apologize if I bothered you. Thanks again for your work.
  13. Hi, the problem encountered is definitely the one described in the post you linked. Thanks for the reply! Among other things it is also explained in the FAQ ... Sorry I should have read better. I would just like to add that a disturbing aspect is that sometimes Petro gets stuck in a kind of loop and constantly opens and closes the doors of the periscope. This causes loss of alignment even in situations where it is assumed that OBSERVE is off. P.s. The module is truly exceptional. Not that I expected otherwise from ED
  14. I'm also experiencing this and would like to know what happens. I try to tell Petro to close the doors after every shot but still after a little evasive manouver the periscope view is messed up apparently forever. I'm actually surprised I don't see many more posts about this matter but maybe it's just me driving this helo too abruptly. : )
  15. Thank you very much : ) Simple resolution and timely response. My sanity is safe.
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