F14 Skinners thread (Paintkit in 1st post)

[captain_dalan]

1 hour ago, Swordsman422 said:

 

Cosmetic args for the early F-14A. Copy to your description.lua and edit as required for the pre-1983 appearance:

custom_args = {
    --[115] = 1.000,         -- Remove Entire TCS Chinpod --
    --[116] = 1.000,         -- Add ALQ-100-only Chinpod --
    [701] = 1.000,         -- Spine GPS Dome Visibility --
    };

No way of doing this through the mission editor? 

[LanceCriminal86]

16 minutes ago, captain_dalan said:

No way of doing this through the mission editor? 

No, it's an appearance only. If the actual ability to change them comes about then that would be reflected in changelogs.

[Swordsman422]

Edit: fixed the formatting and tab alignment of my original arg post.

Edited October 23 by Swordsman422

[captain_dalan]

1 hour ago, LanceCriminal86 said:

No, it's an appearance only. If the actual ability to change them comes about then that would be reflected in changelogs.

Ah, so it needs to be changed every time before starting DCS (if we want for the appearance to change of course)? And the effect is only applied to the A (early)?

Sorry for the noob questions, while playing with custom control inputs and even a bit of skinning, I just haven't played with the description.lua before. 

[draconus]

Never done that either but from what I know you could take your favorite livery, copy it to \saved games\dcs\liveries\ (into the proper Tomcat folder of course), change the folder name and make changes to the description.lua there including the new folder name and livery name. Then you'll be able to just change the livery to your own in the DCS ME or rearm-refuel request.

[Tomcatter87]

6 hours ago, draconus said:

Never done that either but from what I know you could take your favorite livery, copy it to \saved games\dcs\liveries\ (into the proper Tomcat folder of course), change the folder name and make changes to the description.lua there including the new folder name and livery name. Then you'll be able to just change the livery to your own in the DCS ME or rearm-refuel request.

This is the way. At least for now. One thing I discovered though was that my AI wingman still had the TCS, even though I had edited his skin as well. 

[LanceCriminal86]

I'd expect to see better solutions roll down in follow-on updates and as the early art gets done these arguments might change. Probably the TCS variations should just be one animation and need a way to ensure when you change jets it resets the argument so it doesn't carry over. There is also a goal to try and make sure that the 80s/90s skins and Yae's 70s stuff would get moved over to the 80s 135, but still have a link over so the late jet could use the skins without actually copying the files (so missions don't break or for those that like blasphemy). You can use the description.lua to reference another folder/skin, like we used on the Phantom to share some common bits like roughmets or helmets and pylons. Hopefully updates to the base files should also help slim down the need for custom roughmets and normal maps too, at least for a good portion of the jets.

Hopefully, someday a better livery management solution comes along so folks that want to slim down the install size can, and those that want the terabytes of skins can get them directly from HB or through the ED launcher or something.