New mods for old modules

[TWC_SLAG]

Before 2.5 came along, there were tons of different mods available for just about every plane. Are we not getting as many new ones, as in the past, because 2.5 is a beta version, and modders are waiting for a finished version, before making new mods? Or, did all of those guys die? :)

 

I had something like 48 JSGME mods for up to 2.1, and now there is almost nothing to take their place in 2.5. I had cockpits, sounds, textures, etc. Now, everything seems to be for just the newest modules.

[Art-J]

I think it's a bit of both. Some guys wait, some "died" ;) (got fed up with issues/delays and moved on to the other platforms). I'm personally not happy that Tom Weiss didn't update his P-51 skins (best in the community IMHO) to 2.5-compatible standard, Stuka5 left DCS so he won't improve his DB605 sound mod and so on...

 

Also, many old mods cannot be converted/updated anyway, as they won't pass the current, more strict IC limitations.

[crazyeddie]

Its a very complex game, its always changing and evolving, so if you make a Mod you have to be be prepared to keep updating it just to keep up with the game changes.

 

Look at the number of Mods that last only a few months then either don't work any more, won't work any more, or are not updated and become useless.

 

I cannot remember the number of Mods I have binned over the years, including a lot of my own, but its well into double figures.

 

That's a simple fact of life, its how the game is, if you make Mods you have to be prepared to support it.

 

I opted out.

[PeaceSells]

... and moved on to the other platforms

 

But what other platforms exist?

[BlacleyCole]

Ones I’m familiar with are flight sim x, prefer, and xplane.

[Rudel_chw]

...I had something like 48 JSGME mods for up to 2.1, and now there is almost nothing to take their place in 2.5. I had cockpits, sounds, textures, etc. Now, everything seems to be for just the newest modules.

 

 

That's really not so ... its just that DCS has changed the proper way to install most Mods. However, those Mods that change or replace original textures from the game are not allowed on multiplayer anymore, but they can still be used on singleplayer.

 

 

The cockpits are now installed trough the liveries folder .. on this image those that are selected correspond to cockpit mods and as you can see most are for pretty old aircrafts:

 

 

 

 

Mods that implement new objects for DCS are now installed on the Saved Games folder .. I've quite a few of them working fine:

 

 

 

 

The traditional Mods, those that go inside DCS's program folder, are actually a bit of a pain, as I've to test them after every update to be sure that they are still working, so I keep them to a minimum:

 

 

 

 

So, to sum up, there are still quite a few Mods that work on DCS 2.5 ... but you cant expect that an older Mod will still work on the latest DCS if its author isnt supporting it anymore. I'd like to give kudos to the user Devrim, for striving to keep his english cockpits updated, I do love his work :)

 

 

Best regards

 

 

 

 

Eduardo

[TWC_SLAG]

So, it doesn't matter if I am downloading a cockpit mod, or a skin, or a texture, etc., it goes in "Liveries"?

 

 

I just found a 2.5 ME-109K cockpit in the Lockons site. That goes in "Liveries"?

 

 

Is that a new file, "DCS.Liveries", or the Liveries file already existing?

 

 

 

Thanks,

[Rudel_chw]

So, it doesn't matter if I am downloading a cockpit mod, or a skin, or a texture, etc., it goes in "Liveries"?

 

 

Not exactly, the Mods should go on your "saved games\DCS" folder ... within it there can be several subfolders, one of those is "Liveries" which is meant for skins and cockpits ... here is a thread where this way of using Mods was first explained:

 

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=190778

 

I just found a 2.5 ME-109K cockpit in the Lockons site. That goes in "Liveries"?

 

 

I dont know about the Mods of that site, I prefer to use those that are on ED's user files section, as they seem to be better supported by their authors. If you put an old cockpit Mod on the new folder structure it will most likely dont work. For the Bf-109 I use Devrim's cockpit, like this:

 

 

 

 

 

Is that a new file, "DCS.Liveries", or the Liveries file already existing?

 

 

The correct folder is on Saved Games/DCS/Liveries ... but I relocated it somewhere else for space reasons (I've over 15 GB on skins & cockpits :) ) ... using the mklink /J command to create "a pointer" to the real folder (that can have a different name, for example DCS.Liveries) ... on my Saved Games/DCS folder it shows with a small arrow, like this:

 

 

 

 

I've a spanish windows, so "Saved Games" shows up as "Juegos Guardados" ... also my DCS folder is actually named DCS.openbeta ... and you can even see that my "Missions" folder is also pointing to someplace else within my PC.

 

 

I agree that this might be a bit confusing, sorry ... DCS has great customization abilities, but that sure does make for a steep learning curve ... :)

 

 

Best regards,

 

 

 

 

Eduardo

[TWC_SLAG]

Eduardo, actually, that cleared up or confirmed a lot for me. Thanks for your effort to help me.

 

VinnieJones

[SkateZilla]

Code changed from 1.2 to 1.5, and that also left a new way to have to import mods from the Program Files route to Saved Games. The newer code since 2.5 has also been implemented, with some old code being discontinued along with point helpers. But anything before 1.5.6 is broken.

 

This has nothing to do w/ Mods and the /Saved Games/ Etc.

 

 

Mods w/ 3D Models that were exported on a very old version of EDM Exporter, the 3D Model will be deemed old and blocked from loading by DCS because the EDM Format was changed.

 

So a lot of the older make_flyable models, no longer work, unless re-exported w/ newer exporter, and revamped for the PBR Environment.

[uboats]

This has nothing to do w/ Mods and the /Saved Games/ Etc.

 

 

Mods w/ 3D Models that were exported on a very old version of EDM Exporter, the 3D Model will be deemed old and blocked from loading by DCS because the EDM Format was changed.

 

So a lot of the older make_flyable models, no longer work, unless re-exported w/ newer exporter, and revamped for the PBR Environment.

 

ahhh, i thought it could be backward compatible

[SkateZilla]

Hence the Su-30 Family Project.

[TWC_SLAG]

I guess I do have another question. If I put a mod in "Liveries", does that mean that JSGME is no longer needed? If so, how do I pick a mod I want to activate? If JSGME is still to be used, how do I change the thread in JSGME to say "Liveries" instead of "_MODS", like I used to?

[Rudel_chw]

I guess I do have another question. If I put a mod in "Liveries", does that mean that JSGME is no longer needed?

 

Hello,

 

There are many types of Mods ... even tough all Mods are basically sets of files that replace or add to the game´s original files in order to change some aspect of the game behavior; there are many different subtypes of Mods .. and they are not all installed the same way.

 

The most common type of Mod is the "Livery", also called "skin". On the old days, the Liveries were installed within the game's folders .. this was an easy way to add a new skin to a plane, but had the problem that it was possible that a game update would conflict with the modded skin.

 

Thus ED came up with the idea of putting the user's custom skins on a folder separate from the program's .. the location chosen was /Saved games/DCS/ ... within this folder, you can create a folder with the name "Liveries" and DCS will recognize it and merge the custom skins that you put there with the game's native skins ... and thus show the player a list with all these skins whenever he wanted to change an aircraft skin (either on the mission editor or on the Rearming window).

 

Does this mean that I can put on this "Liveries" folder a Mod that adds a new battleship? ... no, it wont work because Liveries is meant for skins only (and cockpits, which are kind of a skin for the interior of the aircraft rather than its exterior).

 

For adding new objects to the game, you should use a different folder within Saved games/DCS/ ... this folder should be named "Mods", and within it the Mods for new aircraft's are placed on an "aircraft" subfolder, those for new ships are placed on a "ships" subfolder, those for new static objects go on a "tech" subfolder.

 

All this works fine for adding new things to DCS ... the real trouble starts when you want a Mod that will modify an existing game object .. this kind of Mods have to go on DCS program folder, and are thus prone to conflict with the game, prone to be deleted when the game is updated, prone to activate the integrity check when you go to Multiplayer, etc.

 

For this latter kind of Mods you need a Mod Manager, that will allow you to remove or reapply a Mod whenever you find one of the situations I mentioned. For example, you can use JSGME for this ... or a more modern manager, like OvGME.

 

If so, how do I pick a mod I want to activate? If JSGME is still to be used, how do I change the thread in JSGME to say "Liveries" instead of "_MODS", like I used to?

 

Sorry, I havent used JSGME in such a long time that I really dont know the answer to your question ... I prefer to use OvGME as my Mod manager ... a long time ago I wrote a small Guide on its use, it refers to an older version of OvGME, but the basic usage is the same, perhaps you can give it a look:

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=182827

 

Best regards

 

 

Eduardo