Liveries missing on editor

[Iberian]

Liveries will not show on mission editor or rearm window in Open Beta version 2.5.6.54046

[Hiromachi]

Copy, will take a look into that.

[Hiromachi]

For the time being, you need to unzip the archive to the folder of same name.

[NCarter]

I'm still seeing this in DCS 2.7.4.9847 open beta on Steam. Looks like the advice to unzip the liveries still stands. Since I had to experiment a bit to figure out exactly where they needed to go, here's my solution on the bug tracker:

 

https://leatherneck-sim.mantishub.io/view.php?id=1143

[streakeagle]

I can see the liveries in the editor, but both the MiG-21 and Christen Eagle do not have their liveries show up in multiplayer clients. All I get see are the default skins.

 This is only true for the MiG-21 and Christen Eagle. I made a simple test mission and hosted it on my server: a MiG-15bis, MiG-19PF, MiG-29A, MiG-21bis, and Christen Eagle all sitting on a ramp side by side. All of the aircraft had skins other than default selected in the mission editor. On a multiplayer client, both the MiG-21 and Christen Eagle did not show the selected skins, only the default skins. All of the other aircraft worked correctly.

[streakeagle]

Unzipping the textures does not solve the problem. I tried moving the unzipped files to the user mod folder and the bazar folder where AI liveries are stored, but nothing worked. I can only see default textures on  Magnitude 3 LLC modules on multiplayer clients.

[-Rudel-]

Your message is a bit confusing, when you say the default skins are showing.   If that's the case, then there is no bug on our side, but rather a few things which may be causing you issues with custom skins:

1: Host server setting

2: Not using an official WinZip archiver

3: Description.lua syntax errors

[streakeagle]

Host server shows skins for most aircraft.

A handful of third party aircraft do not show selected skins: particularly the C-101 and the Magnitude 3 LLC modules.

This is with stock installs and skins on both ends: the DCS server host and client.

I don't see how an "official WinZip archiver" has anything to do with the problem, as everything works on both ends except for particular third party aircraft, which leads me to believe it is related to how those third parties have their skins organized and/or compressed.

If it is an ED problem, why aren't all third party aircraft affected?

Edited December 10, 2021 by streakeagle

[-Rudel-]

You say a handful of 3rd parties,  who else is it, besides AvioDev and Mag3?

Do the host servers you fly on, have nations specified that locks out liveries not associated?

[streakeagle]

If they locked out liveries, which they don't (I have tested using my own local host as well), why is it that only a few third party have this problem. Notably the C-101, MiG-21, and Christen Eagle. I have verified that other people experience the exact same anomaly, so it isn't my install. What is different about the skin packaging/paths of these few aircraft compared to all the others? I couldn't find a difference. Yet the skins worked fine for the other aircraft. It is not any one livery. No matter what skin is specified by the server, the MiG-21 is in the two-tone gray with white crosses on red/blue roundels and the C-101 is light blue with orange high visibility panels. Whereas, I can use any skin I want from any nationality on all of the aircraft I have tested: F-14, AJS-37, AI F-4, A-4E-C, etc. 

[streakeagle]

I just narrowed the scope of the problem:

I created a simple mission 5 MiG-21s on the ramp, 4 x AI and 1 x client, all with different skins/nationalities.

Running in single player, all 5 MiGs have the correct skin.

Running on a server with no restrictions, the client aircraft has the correct skin, but all AI aircraft have the default skin.

What is different about how AI skins are pathed/selected in multiplayer vs single player for the few modules that are exhibiting this problem?

Keep in mind, these are not addon skins, these are all stock skins that are available upon installing the aircraft.

Edited December 17, 2021 by streakeagle

[streakeagle]

If I use the mission editor on the client to open the track file as a mission and fly it as a single player, the skins work perfectly.

So, the client has the skins, but can only see them on the client's aircraft, not on any other AI.

But if I run the mission locally in single player, all the skins work correctly.

[streakeagle]

I stand corrected: the problem occurs with F-14s as well.

Perhaps all third party modules? I don't have time to test that right now. Maybe this is an ED problem that was introduced with a patch. I remember seeing default MiG-21s on the Vietnam server for quite some time but didn't realize that they weren't the skins specified by the server until I started helping out with mission editing/server maintenance.

[streakeagle]

With 4 x AI F-14As in different skins, 4x AI MiG-21s in different skins, 1 x client MiG-21 in a different skin, and 4 AI A-4E-Cs in different skins, only the A-4E-Cs and client MiG-21 have the correct skins, all other aircraft have default skins.

[streakeagle]

Two screenshots. The first one is in single player on a flat panel monitor and shows all of the selected skins. The second one shows a what a multiplayer client sees running the same exact mission.

Second client screenshot.

[streakeagle]

Resolved: this is a known DCS "feature": AI on multiplayer servers will only show skins that are installed in the server's saved games\liveries folder... and they need to be extracted. So as soon as I placed all of the selected MiG-21 skins into the liveries folder AND extracted them, I could see the skins.

This is a horrible feature. I can understand restricting addon skins, but stock skins have to be duplicated and extracted to be visible in multiplayer?

This explains why the A-4E-C worked: the entire A-4E-C mod is in the saved games folder on the server, so it works.

I am irritated that I lost so much time trouble shooting this and that I even bothered to bring it up with Magnitude 3 LLC.

I apologize for not having searched the multiplayer bug list for a general ED bug before coming here. 

Edited December 17, 2021 by streakeagle

[-Rudel-]

No worries.  At least we all know now.  Great job troubleshooting it. 

It is weird that they need to be in saved games, when they are part of the default DCS World install.  

[streakeagle]

Dedicated server installs don't include the skins to save space. But why do the servers need the skins installed for the AI? The client skins work perfectly without being installed. I don't know if this is on purpose or a bug, but I don't understand the purpose unless it is part of the file checking process to ensure no cheating?