Skins don't appear

[HotTom]

Downloaded several new Mossie skins from User Files. Tried them in Core Mods but they don't appear as available in the Mission Editor. Tried placing them in Mods/aircraft/mosquito/liveries. Still don't show up.

Curiously, an RAF weather recon skin that I've never seen anywhere before is in the list of skins that does appear.

What am I doing wrong or is there a bug?

Edited March 1, 2023 by HotTom

[razo+r]

Some skins may be country specific. Did you select the proper country for that skin?

[saburo_cz]

If you want skin in game core folder, proper place is:

:\DCS World OpenBeta\CoreMods\WWII Units\MosquitoFBMkVI\Liveries\MosquitoFBMkVI

[HotTom]

@razor+r: Where do I select skin country? They all are RAF skins and RAF missions so should be proper.

@saburo_cz: I checked. They are all right where you said they should be.

I've been flying DCS for 12 years and added many skins or many aircraft. Never had this problem before. Puzzling.

Maybe someone who has the Mosquito Mod can download a few of the newer Mossie skins, place them in Core Mods and see if they show up when they download a mission and run it in Mission Editor. Do the skins you just added show up on the skins menu? Mine don't. 

Edited March 1, 2023 by HotTom

[razo+r]

4 minutes ago, HotTom said:

@razor+r: Where do I select skin country? They all are RAF skins and RAF missions so should be proper.

In the editor select the country to which the unit belongs to. If it's a RAF skin, have you made sure your Mosquito belongs to GB?

4 minutes ago, HotTom said:

Maybe someone who has the Mosquito Mod can download a few of the newer Mossie skins, place them in Core Mods and see if they show up when they download a mission and run it in Mission Editor. Do the skins you just added show up on the skins menu? Mine don't. 

 

I have a few skins and the appear.

Also, when installing the skins, have you made sure that if you open the skin folder, that there is not another folder with basically the same or similar name?

If you open, for example

:\DCS World OpenBeta\CoreMods\WWII Units\MosquitoFBMkVI\Liveries\MosquitoFBMkVI\YourRAFSkin

Then all you see should be texture files and other files and not another folder with a similar name.

[Rudel_chw]

I don't like to add files within the DCS program folder, prefer to use Saved Games instead, like this:

 

 

 

The list on the sample pic, only shows skins that are for USSR.

Edited March 1, 2023 by Rudel_chw

[HotTom]

Rudel!

Aha! I thought: Rudel is going to save my Virtual Life again!

But, no. Tried that, even created new folders to place the skins in...but...

When I cranked up the game I got the same limited list I've been getting. And I don't know where those files are stored.

A mystery!

Thanks for your help, my friend!

Edited March 1, 2023 by HotTom

[Rudel_chw]

1 hour ago, HotTom said:

A mystery!

 

Can you point to one specific skin that is giving this problem, so I can try it on my DCS?

[HotTom]

Several: Either of the two Branff skins (Red prop spinner and Yellow Prop pinner), reflected's 418 RCAF skin (Moonbeam McSwine). 

The "mystery" skin to title: RAF, ML897. Met Flight, late 1943

It never downloaded that, it doesn't appear in User Files but it shows up in my skins menu in Mission Editor. Strange! Nice skin but in reality a glass-nosed econ version I probably never will use.

Edited March 2, 2023 by HotTom

[Art-J]

5 hours ago, HotTom said:

The "mystery" skin to title: RAF, ML897. Met Flight, late 1943

It never downloaded that, it doesn't appear in User Files but it shows up in my skins menu in Mission Editor. Strange! Nice skin but in reality a glass-nosed econ version I probably never will use.

Well, you must've downloaded it somehow, somewhere (maybe as a part of a custom mission?), 'cause it sure ain't there in the stock Coremods folder, just checked.

I also downloaded and tested aforementioned Reflected's skin. I tend to place them in Bazar folder (it shouldn't make a difference really), using OvGME, so for example on my PC the folder path for all its extracted .dds files is:

\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World OpenBeta\Bazar\Liveries\MosquitoFBMkVI\RCAF 418 Moonbeam McSwine by Reflected\

Works like a charm and I've also noticed it doesn't have countries specified in description.lua, so it should work with any.

EDIT: an afterthought - what soft do you use to unpack zipped skins? Maybe it skips a few files thus rendering the whole skin inop? The Moonbean folder should contain 23 files for example.

Edited March 2, 2023 by Art-J

[HotTom]

WinZip, I've used it forever. never a problem.

I tried to load using JGSME. Same list as in "Mission Editor."

I also tried using "Rearm" while on the runway. Same list.

Is there any way to figure out what folder that list is coming from? I can't figure it out.

 

Edited March 2, 2023 by HotTom

[Rudel_chw]

15 hours ago, HotTom said:

reflected's 418 RCAF skin (Moonbeam McSwine). 

 

tested that one, stored at /Saved Games/ ... it works on my DCS:

 

 

Here is where I have the livery:

 

 

Please note that I usually rename the liveries, to abide as per my naming conventions, leading with the country the livery is meant for, and appending the author's user name ... so most likely the folder name you have for the livery is different than mine.

[HotTom]

My problem seems to be that I can't get rid of the list that appears in both Mission Editor and the Rearm menus (the one that includes that odd "Met Flight" skin). When I add new skins in either Core Mods or Users, the sim defaults to that list and doesn't add the new ones.

I thought I had tracked it down by doing a search for "Met Flight" which the Windows search engine found in Saved games. The entire default list was there in a folder labeled MosquitoFBVI  which was inside another folder also called Mosquito FB VI. So I deleted both folders and placed the skins back in Core Mods.

Cranked up the sim and the default list still appeared. Where as it being generated, from which folder?

I can fly the sim just fine with those skins but I really would like to use the skins I have chosen  because they fit with historicalmissions I have written. I have wasted several days chasing this Goblin. So far, I can't find it.

Thanks to both you and Art for trying to help. Being stubborn (and a bit OCD), I will keep looking for the default list folder. It must be somewhere....

 

Edited March 2, 2023 by HotTom

[Rudel_chw]

1 hour ago, HotTom said:

I will keep looking for the default list folder. It must be somewhere....

 

Honestly, I doubt that a static livery list exists, DCS builds the livery list dynamically when it loads the aircraft entry.lua, looking for skins on these places:

 

\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World OpenBeta\CoreMods\WWII Units\MosquitoFBMkVI\Liveries\MosquitoFBMkVI

and

\Saved Games\DCS.OpenBeta\Liveries\MosquitoFBMkVI

 

Can you please take a screen capture of those two locations, to see what you have there?

[HotTom]

Sri to be taking so long, Rudel. I can't seem to make screenshots work. Not something I ever have use for....Stay Tuned....

[HotTom]

Found it. Fixed it. Thanks again to all who helped.

Sometimes being a little OCD pays off!

HotTom (tttiger)

[Rudel_chw]

2 hours ago, HotTom said:

Found it. Fixed it.

 

what was the cause?

[HotTom]

As I suspected, the list of skins I kept getting instead of what I had installed in either Core or Saved Games was buried in a Liveries folder that wasn't where it belonged. I hadn't created it, it contained two skins that never have been available either from DCS or User Files (but they worked just fine). How they came to exist, I probably will never know. I just kept looking for an an extra Liveries Folder.

As soon as I deleted that folder, the sim started using the Mosquito skins I had placed in Saved Games.

Can't explain it. But most of my computer skills are trial and error.

Thank you, sir!