How to setup "USER THEME"

[Rudel_chw]

Hi Rudel chw.

I have been trying to put themes in using OvGME but can't seem to get the right file structure, could you give me some clues please?

 

Hello, I'd be glad to help.

 

My DCS points to a My Games folder, not a Saved Games folder.

 

Here you leave me puzzled ... DCS uses a two folder structure:

 

- One for the simulator files, usually it is at C:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS\

 

- Another for your settings and user files, usually at C:\Users\your-user\Saved Games\DCS\

 

The "User Theme", like any user configuration, goes onto the second folder, at Saved Games. Saved Games is a Windows special folder, and as such its name is localized on foreign Windows, for example on my spanish Windows it is called "Juegos Guardados" instead of "Saved Games". The structure of the User Theme is like this:

 

 

The path being "/Saved Games/DCS/Mission Editor/Themes".

Unfortunately, you can have only a single User Theme .. that's where I opted to use a Mod Manager to copy on this location the files corresponding to different themes. I could copy them by hand, but a Mod Manager makes this operation much faster and easier.

 

I store the Themes on a separate drive and use OvGME to apply them, each Theme mimics the same folder structure that I showed above, for example the F-14 Theme has this structure:

 

These are the graphics files:

 

 

... and these are the background music files:

 

 

OvGME packages these files onto a zip, that can then be applied from within the App .. the zip file has this structure:

 

 

Not sure what more can I say .. hope that is enough to get you on track :thumbup:

Best regards,

 

 

Eduardo

[mondaysoff]

Thanks Eduardo for your very detailed explanation, but I am also confused about the settings location.

 

Attached pictures shows my installation structure, what should be the Saved Games install is on my C\ drive (Windows 10 M.2 SSD) under >Documents>My Games>DCS and the DCS directory on my D\drive much larger SSD.

 

Also picture of the OvGME file structure I made for an F-16 theme with images and a KA-50 structure with music, neither of them activate in DCS when prompted from the miscellaneous tab in options\User Themes

 

I use the Civil Aircraft Mod as one example of the location working, having certain liveries/skins scripted using Moose-RAT and all my control bindings/log book/missions etc so I know it's a valid location, so why would Windows choose to put in my Documents and call it My Games? I can't recall ever having an option on install as to where to put it other than the main Games directory.

[Rudel_chw]

Thanks Eduardo for your very detailed explanation, but I am also confused about the settings location.

....

so why would Windows choose to put in my Documents and call it My Games? I can't recall ever having an option on install as to where to put it other than the main Games directory.

 

 

I'm not really sure, but seems that the Steam version of DCS uses a "My Games" folder .. can you attach your dcs.log file to take a look at it?

[mondaysoff]

Thanks Eduardo, but never knowingly used Steam version.

dcs.lua

[Rudel_chw]

Thanks Eduardo, but never knowingly used Steam version.

 

OK, the only other explanation I can think of is that your current Windows 10 is actually an upgrade of an older Windows, I cant remember for sure but "My Games" seems to date from the Windows XP era, and succesive Windows upgrades have carried it on up to your current Windows.

 

On the log we can see that DCS tries to use first the "Saved games" folder, but failing that it attempts to use "My Games" and the suceeds and goes on to use it:

 

ERROR   VFS: Can't get 'Saved Games'
ERROR   VFS: Failed to open 'USERPROFILE\Saved Games', trying to use 'MyDocuments\My Games'
INFO    VFS: Successfully opened 'MyDocuments\My Games'

 

So, we can then assume that your current DCS settings are at C:\Users\Alan\Documents\My Games\DCS\

 

that means, the path for the User Theme should be:

 

C:\Users\Alan\Documents\My Games\DCS\MissionEditor\themes\main

 

On the OvGME app, the Configuration settings should be:

 

Configuration root folder: C:\Users\Alan\Documents\My Games\DCS\

 

each User theme Mod should start its path at that point, like this:

 

\MissionEditor\themes\main\

 

so that the mods file get copied onto the correct folder.

Best regards,

 

 

Eduardo

[mondaysoff]

OK, the only other explanation I can think of is that your current Windows 10 is actually an upgrade of an older Windows, I cant remember for sure but "My Games" seems to date from the Windows XP era, and succesive Windows upgrades have carried it on up to your current Windows.

 

On the log we can see that DCS tries to use first the "Saved games" folder, but failing that it attempts to use "My Games" and the suceeds and goes on to use it:

 

ERROR   VFS: Can't get 'Saved Games'
ERROR   VFS: Failed to open 'USERPROFILE\Saved Games', trying to use 'MyDocuments\My Games'
INFO    VFS: Successfully opened 'MyDocuments\My Games'

 

So, we can then assume that your current DCS settings are at C:\Users\Alan\Documents\My Games\DCS\

 

that means, the path for the User Theme should be:

 

C:\Users\Alan\Documents\My Games\DCS\MissionEditor\themes\main

 

On the OvGME app, the Configuration settings should be:

 

Configuration root folder: C:\Users\Alan\Documents\My Games\DCS\

 

each User theme Mod should start its path at that point, like this:

 

\MissionEditor\themes\main\

 

so that the mods file get copied onto the correct folder.

Best regards,

 

 

Eduardo

 

Thanks Eduardo, sorry I haven't replied, been a bit busy.

 

Now I know why I have a My Games folder, that makes complete sense what you said.

 

But going back to the OvGME file structure, and I must say this is not a big deal for me, just wanted to be able to automate all themes via profiles. Using the file structure you mentioned and it is the structure I have been using all along, when any OvGME file with the above structure is enabled it loads into the DCS main \D:directory, not my settings \C: My Games directory. Also tried the full path name with no success, the only way I can get it to work is physically place the files in their respective folder.

 

Thank you for your time and effort in looking into this for me.

 

Kind Regards.

 

Alan

[Rudel_chw]

... when any OvGME file with the above structure is enabled it loads into the DCS main \D:directory, not my settings \C: My Games directory.

 

Hello,

 

OK, now I get it .. what you need to do is create one OvGME Config for each destination. For example, for Mods that go onto the DCS Program Folder, I have this Config:

 

 

Note the destination path, just below the Config name.

 

For Mods that go onto Saved Games, I have this other Config:

 

 

Note the different destination path.

 

You could in fact, have even more Config, to apply Mods to games other than DCS. This is what makes OvGME such a powerfull Mod Manager :thumbup:

 

Best regards,

 

Eduardo

Edited May 12, 2020 by Rudel_chw

[mondaysoff]

Hello,

 

OK, now I get it .. what you need to do is create one OvGME Config for each destination. For example, for Mods that go onto the DCS Program Folder, I have this Config:

 

 

Note the destination path, just below the Config name.

 

For Mods that go onto Saved Games, I have this other Config:

 

 

Note the different destination path.

 

You could in fact, have even more Config, to apply Mods to games other than DCS. This is what makes OvGME such a powerfull Mod Manager :thumbup:

 

Best regards,

 

Eduardo

 

Eduardo you’re a star, got it working, but how silly of me to have missed something so basic, I’m surely getting old.

 

Thanks again.

 

Alan

[Oilman100]

Simple question, how do you add the Mod Description in the bottom box, I can put the cursor and highlight but cannot add any text, thx

[Rudel_chw]

Simple question, how do you add the Mod Description in the bottom box, I can put the cursor and highlight but cannot add any text, thx

 

I use the Mod structure described here:

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2867769&postcount=5

[Oilman100]

I use the Mod structure described here:

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2867769&postcount=5

 

Many Thx for your quick response

[Cpt Cuckoo]

I couldn't get the main menu music to change either.

[silent one]

Don't know if it helps but I had to name my png's like the default ones to get it working.

 

Where do I find the default files for me to copy th

e names over. I cant get this to work ;(

[Rudel_chw]

 

Where do I find the default files for me to copy th

e names over. I cant get this to work ;(

 

These are the names:

 

[tomcat_driver]

Here you go, for the nostalgics like me.

[=Skywarp=]

Cool feature, just noticed it today