Help needed with using multiple skins meinit.xml and

[Rotorbl4de]

I am working on a new revision of our mod which will use tail numbers and underside wing numbers painted on the skins. I need help with the meinit.xml with understanding what and how the CLSID(red) numbers work and the ID(blue) number. What are these hash-like CLSID numbers and how do they work? Do the ID numbers mean anything, do they correspond to the end number on the skin file name? (example skin parts A-10-OKRAS-L1.bmp, A-10-OKRAS-R1.bmp in bazar/temptextures) I have read a few threads regarding making changes to the meinit.xml and couldn't find any that dealt with my issues.

 

<ColorSchemes>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{D7FBDFAC-7CDA-4857-9999-CDC0F2AFD1CA}" ID="0" Name="Snowbird 1"/>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{6D79BC93-FB8D-4EE4-AE1A-AECADB2798E5}" ID="1" Name="Snowbird 2"/>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{6C2CCF81-751B-42F5-93B2-4160B55DD085}" ID="2" Name="Snowbird 3"/>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{06802A89-EC9B-486D-90C3-89C3A91F1309}" ID="3" Name="Snowbird 4"/>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{58430E22-BD3D-4CC3-B2B9-CB7ED57CB7FF}" ID="4" Name="Snowbird 5"/>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{A32B6C33-9C38-4BD0-BBBD-09380BA6A23E}" ID="5" Name="Snowbird 6"/>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{9DF1AFBE-56FD-4E7D-AB73-0731DD4CD720}" ID="6" Name="Snowbird 7"/>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{DB597F88-04FF-40C4-9ADF-83EF6FF46246}" ID="7" Name="Snowbird 8"/>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{8FC7F7C0-FD76-4607-85F0-9B19F542DA12}" ID="8" Name="Snowbird 9"/>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{2C99F172-EAF3-4E49-8020-475E89467C9C}" ID="9" Name="Snowbird 10"/>

</ColorSchemes>

 

Is it safe to assume that the A-10 supports 10 different skins at the same time in the game?

 

I made 10 variations of the skin and numbered them 0-9 in their skin names and I only got a couple to show up and the few that I got to show up were not in the right order. Others that were partially showing up had a skin overlay still appearing from some of the other skins.

 

I also need to know if there are some skin files I need to delete that may be causing the overlays.

 

I definitly need a better understanding of the skinning system with the CLSID numbers and the ID's.

 

In regards to the Virtual Thunderbirds mod I noticed that their skin files are being put somewhere else and not in the temptextures folder, where are they going? Are they going into a compressed lockon Library? Am I missing some knowledge about CDDS files?

 

Link to current VTB mod: http://www.virtualthunderbirds.com/Library/Virtual%20Thunderbirds%20Mod_2.1.zip

 

Any insight is appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Rotorblade

http://www.VirtualSnowbirds.com

 

PS Notepad++ is a big help with this!

[britgliderpilot]

Aaargh.

 

As far as I can remember . . . .

 

 

Every object in Lomac has a unique CLSID number - whether it be an object, a skin, a weapon, or a loadout. You can borrow those old CLSID's for your new skins, no trouble.

 

The ID numbers translate roughly to the number of the skin filename - OKRAS-R-1 will be the right-hand half of skin ID number 1.

. . . . it doesn't work perfectly like that, though, and you may have to experiment to find out which ID number corresponds to which filename number. I think filename-1 may actually be ID 0 in most cases, for example.

 

IIRC, you can only have as many skins as there were originally. I think there are a couple of exceptions where you can have as many as you like, notably the Su25T . . . . but with the A10 that's not the case.

 

 

If your skins are in the TempTextures folder, they will override any existing textures - so either you haven't got enough textures to provide a full skin for the model, or you're missing out some of the unit codes or something.

 

Provide a screenshot?

 

 

.cdds files are compressed libraries for .dds files. You can use the .cdds browser included in LoMan to flick through them and find the originals - if you like, you can export them, edit them, and reinsert them or stick them in the TempTextures directory.

 

Important - once you've overwritten them into the .cdds, you sometimes can't get them out again . . . . so keep a copy of the original textures.

 

 

 

You can change the order of the list in the MeInit without any problems, it'll change the order in which the skins are displayed in the mission editor too.

 

Suggest you check out the original skin textures, and try to map them against the skins descriptions in the unchanged MeInit - should allow easier arrangement of the final list.

 

This list of A-10 tailcodes/bases may help you on that:

 

http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/lab/6153/Bases.html

[markriley]

When you talk of different parts of the skins being there and some not it makes me think of something i ran into with the F-15 skins which im sure applies to the other aircraft also. Hope this is not elementry to you, you may be way beyond this, but here it is anyway. Check this thread for the whole deal:

 

http://www.lockonfiles.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=529&sid=9f54f226b032cea36b7e2bb95c1e5d6d

 

but here is the point of it all: (got this from Black Hawk)

 

Black_Hawk wrote:...

Game Skin - F-15-FIN-PAINT-DEF - F-15-PAIN-L-DEF - F-15-PAINT-R-DEF

 

DEF-1 1-1-1

DEF-2 2-2-2

DEF-3 3-3-3

DEF-4 4-3-3

DEF-5 5-2-2

DEF-6 6-3-3

DEF-7 7-3-3

DEF-8 8-3-3

DEF-9 9-2-2

 

DEF-10 ?-?-?

End Black Hawk

 

So you see what you do to DEF 1 is the only one (in the F-15) that doesnt mess with the other skins. Skins 2 and 3 can also be different from 1, but the rest of the skins share parts with 2 and 3 so your planes 4-9 can get really out of wack with mixed parts in cammo or other colors and tail fins.

hope this helps some.

There are a couple of other threads on this site dealing with adding more skin "slots", (10,11,12, etc) that could be custom without shareing with other skin slots. Please post back if you come up with something.