Can you change an aircrafts side?

[KILSEK]

Hi all.

 

I have been taking a break from mission/campaign creating and have been modifying files (structures, view configs) for particular results. I had a thought this morning and am curious about what it would take to accomplish it.

 

I want to change an aircrafts side. In particular, I want to get the F-4E, the Mirage 2000, and both versions of the Tornado, from the countries that they are currently with to the U.S.A. side.

 

I am betting that this can be done with the MEInit. I would think that if I can find the aircraft ID and find the counties ID all I would need to do is copy/paste one to the other.

 

There is one question:

 

Would the country icon(you know the one that identifies the aircraft as U.K., France, Germany, U.S.A.) automatically apply itself or would there need to be some more editing?

 

I would greatly appreciate any help. Thanks, -KILSEK

[kydius]

I don't have an answer but I'm wondering why you want to do this? It's not very realistic to have Mirages and Tornados in the USA. And if you want to have them on your side or fight against them you just have to add their country to your allies or ennemies depending on your situation.

[sunwolf]

backup the old MEInit.xml file.

then copy aircraft datas in UK country part and paste into the USA country part.

by editing .xml files,you can add new country.

[KILSEK]

Hi all.

 

kydius- Well, let me just say that my level of realism only needs to be so much. For me, I am happy "as a gopher in soft dirt" with accurately modeled weapon systems and physics. After that I want to mod things the way I choose.

 

sunwolf- I backed up and then edited it the way I believe you are describing. No joy. I copied those entries and pasted them under the F-117 entry. The F-117 entry is followed by the B-52 entry so that should be the U.S.A. side and no luck.

 

Would you, or anyone else who may have accomplished this, explain it it detail. Thanks, -KILSEK

[KILSEK]

Hi all.

 

backup the old MEInit.xml file.

then copy aircraft datas in UK country part and paste into the USA country part.

by editing .xml files,you can add new country.

 

 

Got it. Thanks for your help. The countries area of the MEInit is about 9/10ths of the way down from the top.

 

Damn I like LO/FC.

 

Thanks again. -KILSEK

[Alfa]

Hello again Kilsek,

 

Sorry I completely forgot to answer your PM about re-distributing aircraft to other nations - but since the PM system wont allow messages above 5000 characters in length, I will write the answer here instead.

 

Yes it is easy enough to re-distribute aircraft to other countries, but doing it in a proper way - i.e. so you get the right markings, seperate skins etc for those countries is more tricky and takes some time.....this is one of the reasons why the country mods are so time consuming.

 

It can be quite difficult to explain the procedure for editing the MEinit.xml, but I will give it a try(in case you havent already figured it out by now) :) .

 

If you just want to assign e.g. the Mirage to the US side without bothering with markings etc, you can follow the instruction below - I have marked the MEinit data in quotes(so that it is easier to seperate it from my instructions), the search words in blue and the bit you need to copy & paste in red.

 

Ok here we go...

 

Step 1).

Open the MEinit.xml and search for: Name="France" - then you will get the following..

 

<Country CLSID="{24623DF1-59F6-4231-B669-4B0160F2C9BF}" Name="France" ShortName="FRA" WorldID="5" flag="France.tga">

<Units>

<Planes CATID="{C168A850-3C0B-436a-95B5-C4A015552560}">

<Plane CLSID="{AAD0C656-A7E0-4099-8F6C-25DDCB3EEEA2}">

 

Mirage 2000 - 5

 

<ColorSchemes>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{55033da3-6ad7-4a9c-807f-79696ce713a2}">EC1/2 SPA3 "Cigogne de Guynemer"</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{7c41a49f-74a3-42e6-b8d0-8297722aa1bb}">EC1/2 SPA103 "Cigogne de Fonck"</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{703e7ba9-e80c-4049-a440-25a45a8a0a29}">EC1/2 SPA12 "Cigogne a ailes ouvertes"</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{2cd75265-f577-41fb-bdc7-6bdee4555385}">EC2/2 "Cote d'or" SPA65 "Chimere"</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{e2ab0c76-4248-4268-8372-b7b35993de47}">EC2/2 "Cote d'or" SPA57 "Mouette"</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{f6b81feb-e6d9-4f4d-9a75-40a33e5b3750}">EC2/2 SPA94 "LaMort qui fauche"</ColorScheme>

</ColorSchemes>

</Plane>

<Plane CLSID="{0213FA86-978D-4586-BAC3-BD642AD52B96}">

 

C-130J

 

<ColorSchemes>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{2024A60C-DC7B-4af0-B0E7-6A911774383B}">ET 2/61 "Franche-Comte"</ColorScheme>

</ColorSchemes>

</Plane>

</Planes>

 

....etc. Now copy the bit above concerning the Mirage(that I marked in red).

 

Step 2).

Now make a new search for: Name="USA" to locate the US country entry - then insert the Mirage bit you just copied in the following way..

 

<Country CLSID="{EFADDFE6-9360-4523-8CAB-2D74182617FD}" Name="USA" ShortName="USA" WorldID="2" flag="USA.tga">

<Units>

<Planes CATID="{C168A850-3C0B-436a-95B5-C4A015552560}">

<Plane CLSID="{8FDB2742-2283-450D-B417-CFC47774E8B6}">

 

A-10A

 

<ColorSchemes>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{06802A89-EC9B-486D-90C3-89C3A91F1309}">Flipper</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{6D79BC93-FB8D-4EE4-AE1A-AECADB2798E5}">23rd FG New</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{6C2CCF81-751B-42F5-93B2-4160B55DD085}">52th Fighter Wing</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{58430E22-BD3D-4CC3-B2B9-CB7ED57CB7FF}">European1</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{A32B6C33-9C38-4BD0-BBBD-09380BA6A23E}">23rd FG Old</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{9DF1AFBE-56FD-4E7D-AB73-0731DD4CD720}">JAWS</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{DB597F88-04FF-40C4-9ADF-83EF6FF46246}">Desert1</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{8FC7F7C0-FD76-4607-85F0-9B19F542DA12}">Desert2</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{2C99F172-EAF3-4E49-8020-475E89467C9C}">Snow1</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{D7FBDFAC-7CDA-4857-9999-CDC0F2AFD1CA}">104th Fighter Wing</ColorScheme>

</ColorSchemes>

</Plane>

<Plane CLSID="{AAD0C656-A7E0-4099-8F6C-25DDCB3EEEA2}">

 

Mirage 2000 - 5

 

<ColorSchemes>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{55033da3-6ad7-4a9c-807f-79696ce713a2}">EC1/2 SPA3 "Cigogne de Guynemer"</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{7c41a49f-74a3-42e6-b8d0-8297722aa1bb}">EC1/2 SPA103 "Cigogne de Fonck"</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{703e7ba9-e80c-4049-a440-25a45a8a0a29}">EC1/2 SPA12 "Cigogne a ailes ouvertes"</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{2cd75265-f577-41fb-bdc7-6bdee4555385}">EC2/2 "Cote d'or" SPA65 "Chimere"</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{e2ab0c76-4248-4268-8372-b7b35993de47}">EC2/2 "Cote d'or" SPA57 "Mouette"</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{f6b81feb-e6d9-4f4d-9a75-40a33e5b3750}">EC2/2 SPA94 "LaMort qui fauche"</ColorScheme>

</ColorSchemes>

</Plane>

<Plane CLSID="{B31D98CC-35E9-4431-81A0-369DFDB6D6A3}">

 

F-117A

 

<ColorSchemes>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{58206553-0986-4B0A-B0BA-BAD1950CEC01}">USAF Standart</ColorScheme>

</ColorSchemes>

</Plane>

<Plane CLSID="{3782913C-BA3A-4CD9-B9DC-2DCBE6B8F656}">[/Quote]

 

Now the Mirage 2000 will be available in the aircraft list for "USA" in the Mission Editor. If you want to restrict which skins should be available for France and the US respectively - e.g. so that you can paint US markings on some of them without them showing up under "France", all you need to do, is to split the up - that is - remove some of the "colourscheme" entries from the French country entry and then assign only those under the US ditto.

 

The Mirage 2000 3D model supports up to a total of 6 colourschemes(all of which currently assigned to France) - so what you could do, is to e.g. leave only the first 4 for France and then move the last 2 to the US country entry instead.....like this:

 

Under "France"...

<Plane CLSID="{AAD0C656-A7E0-4099-8F6C-25DDCB3EEEA2}">

 

Mirage 2000 - 5

 

<ColorSchemes>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{55033da3-6ad7-4a9c-807f-79696ce713a2}">EC1/2 SPA3 "Cigogne de Guynemer"</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{7c41a49f-74a3-42e6-b8d0-8297722aa1bb}">EC1/2 SPA103 "Cigogne de Fonck"</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{703e7ba9-e80c-4049-a440-25a45a8a0a29}">EC1/2 SPA12 "Cigogne a ailes ouvertes"</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{2cd75265-f577-41fb-bdc7-6bdee4555385}">EC2/2 "Cote d'or" SPA65 "Chimere"</ColorScheme>

</ColorSchemes>

</Plane>

 

....and then under "USA"..

<Plane CLSID="{AAD0C656-A7E0-4099-8F6C-25DDCB3EEEA2}">

 

Mirage 2000 - 5

 

<ColorSchemes>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{e2ab0c76-4248-4268-8372-b7b35993de47}">EC2/2 "Cote d'or" SPA57 "Mouette"</ColorScheme>

<ColorScheme CLSID="{f6b81feb-e6d9-4f4d-9a75-40a33e5b3750}">EC2/2 SPA94 "LaMort qui fauche"</ColorScheme>

</ColorSchemes>

</Plane>

 

Now the last two Mirage 2000 colourschemes will only show up in the Payload Editor list of skins under USA - then you can re-paint those skins with US markings without them showing up under France.

 

Hope this was a comprehensible explanation - good luck and happy "modding" :)

 

Cheers,

- JJ.

[KILSEK]

Hi all and Alfa.

 

Thanks BIGTIME!!! Especially for explaning the colorschemes. Yes, you are absolutely correct. It will be more tricky and take some time, but hey thats half the fun in PC gaming. Thanks again. -KILSEK

[Bogun]

Gentlemen,

Just by looking at the Alfa’s explanation it sound possible to create another “country” entry in MEInit.xml, let say “Confederation of Islamic States of The Greater Middle East” and make possible this side to fly all aircraft in the game.

 

Does it look actually doable?

 

I am tired constantly sparing US vs. Russia or Ukraine if I want to make F-15s fight Su-27s, Ukraine vs. Russia for Su-27s vs. Su27s fights, or US vs. Israel if I want F-15s fight F-15s…

[Alfa]

Gentlemen,

Just by looking at the Alfa’s explanation it sound possible to create another “country” entry in MEInit.xml, let say “Confederation of Islamic States of The Greater Middle East” and make possible this side to fly all aircraft in the game.

 

Does it look actually doable?

 

 

Yes and it has been done by several people - myself included :)

 

You can make perfect country additions complete with pilotlogs, so that you would never know that they werent there from the start. However, it takes a lot of work and quite a lot of research to figure out how to do it properly - not to mention doing the artwork(aircraft skins/markings + medals, rank insignias and squadron badges for the pilotlog) for the new countries.

 

But it is most definately doable :)

 

Cheers,

- JJ.

[Bogun]

Alfa,

Please, I would settle for less then perfect county with no pilots or logs, artwork and custom aircraft skins…

So what’s left? Flag to display for the countries list and the way to create the entry for it to place all the aircraft, right?

 

Can any of those “several people” or you post your MEInit.xml with the entry for that non-existing country?

Please, please, please???

[Alfa]

Hi Bogun,

 

Well I think the easiest way for you to go about it, is to download one of the mods that have been made - then study it and work on your own on the basis of that.

 

I am sorry but I cannot think of any links out of hand - I remember that there were a number of single-country mods made available from the Ubisoft lomac forum....try making a search on this topic there.

 

My own stuff is buried somewhere on a back-up CD, so it will take some time to "dig out" :) .

 

Good luck and happy "modding",

 

- JJ.

 

 

 

Alfa,

Please, I would settle for less then perfect county with no pilots or logs, artwork and custom aircraft skins…

So what’s left? Flag to display for the countries list and the way to create the entry for it to place all the aircraft, right?

 

Can any of those “several people” or you post your MEInit.xml with the entry for that non-existing country?

Please, please, please???

[Bogun]

Thanks Alfa,

While waiting for your reply I was playing with MEInit.xml and now have my very own mode of “Islamic Coalition” country with all the planes, ground and naval objects :)

 

Now when I see them flying their B-2 of Tu-160 it just does not look right for them to use standard US or Russian paint schemes and markings… Now I need to make all those skins… and sure soon after all skins are created - I will feel the need for “logs, medals and artwork”…

 

O joy of modding… :)

[Alfa]

Thanks Alfa,

While waiting for your reply I was playing with MEInit.xml and now have my very own mode of “Islamic Coalition” country with all the planes, ground and naval objects :)

 

Good job! - glad to hear that you got it figured it out :D .

 

It really isnt that hard to do once you get started....it is actually easier to do than to explain it :) . All it takes is to look at an existing entry and then imitate it for a new one - and you even got a few "unfinished" country entries you can use as basis(using the CLSIDs). The rest is just a matter of being careful with the editing and double check each step for errors - the more frequent the better, as it it is easier to catch a "bug" in a few lines of code than having to dig it out from the entire country entry at a later point :) .

 

Now when I see them flying their B-2 of Tu-160 it just does not look right for them to use standard US or Russian paint schemes and markings… Now I need to make all those skins… and sure soon after all skins are created - I will feel the need for “logs, medals and artwork”…

 

O joy of modding… :)

 

Hehe.....yes that is exactly how it goes :)

 

Cheers,

- JJ.