Need a little help

[XLR8]

I'm trying again to put a default VC F-18 in to another plane UKMILS T-38. Hopefully I won't get frustrated this time.I have been using this tutorial.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17996209


Where I'm confused is where it has the following files in the folder. I have this in the folder

FA-18_Interior
model
t38

In the turatorial it has these files

model.cfg
B737_800_interior.mdl
OSX736.mdl

Where did the cfg file come from.

 

[DaveWG]

Looks like you've got Windows set to hide the filename extensions, which is why you are not seeing the .cfg bit.

If you want to change that, there are some simple instructions here (for Win XP, but Vista & Win 7 are the same)

 

[Tako_Kichi]

The model.cfg file is a simple text file that should exist in every FSX model folder. It tells the sim which file to use for the external model and which to use for the VC.

If you don't have one then you can create your own by copying and pasting an existing one into your aircraft model folder and then editing in Notepad to suit.

The text body should be as follows (this one is taken from the stock FA-18):

[models]
normal=FA-18 The name of the external model
interior=FA-18_Interior The name of the VC model

Edit the info after the = sign to reflect the two models in your particular case. The names should be exactly the same as the .mdl file names but without the .mdl extension.

 

[XLR8]

Ok...update here I did get some kind of VC installed but messed up. I think its down to the textures. The turatorial says to put the texture confg file into every texture of the plane. When I do this it ask to over write the file,is this ok.Also do I use the entire F-18 texture folder or just parts of it.

 

[Tako_Kichi]

Ok...update here I did get some kind of VC installed but messed up. I think its down to the textures. The turatorial says to put the texture confg file into every texture of the plane. When I do this it ask to over write the file,is this ok.Also do I use the entire F-18 texture folder or just parts of it.

You need to understand how FSX manages textures and then apply that knowledge to your situation. The reason it's asking you if you want to overwrite a file is because it's found an existing file with the same name which is to be expected if the original aircraft was set up correctly according to the FSX SDK. The tutorial you are referring to is showing an example for using FS9 textures in FSX which is slightly different to your case where I believe you are trying to add a different VC to a true FSX model.

Let's deal with the 'texture' folder first. In FSX this folder contains all the textures used by both the external and internal models (the exception being any textures for the pop-up panels/gauges which are kept in the 'panel' folder).

Now let's look at the repaint or secondary texture folders. To save disc space FSX only needs to have the specific textures required for that variant in the 'texture.abc' to 'texture.xyz' folder(s). In each of those folders there will be a 'texture.cfg' file which tells FSX to look in specific folders to find the 'missing' textures which are common to all variants. FSX will look in the specified directory as defined in the aircraft.cfg file first and then will look in the folders defined in the texture.cfg file if it is missing textures.

In your case you are trying to add the default FA-18 VC to a model of the T-38. The reason you are not seeing the correct textures is probably because you have either not copied the correct files over or you have put them in the wrong place and FSX doesn't know where to look for them.

The first thing you need to find out is if the T-38 has a default 'texture' folder. If it does than you need to copy the VC textures from the FA-18 'texture' folder to the T-38 'texture' folder. Someone familiar with texturing/repainting/model making would be able to identify just which those files are but if you are unsure the only option you have is to copy the entire contents of the FA-18 'texture' folder into the T-38 'texture' folder (the non-required files will be ignored). Once you have done that then the FA-18 VC should appear correctly textured as the files it requires will be in the correct location.

If the T-38 does not have a default 'texture' folder then the problem becomes a little more complicated.

 

[XLR8]

You need to understand how FSX manages textures and then apply that knowledge to your situation. The reason it's asking you if you want to overwrite a file is because it's found an existing file with the same name which is to be expected if the original aircraft was set up correctly according to the FSX SDK. The tutorial you are referring to is showing an example for using FS9 textures in FSX which is slightly different to your case where I believe you are trying to add a different VC to a true FSX model.

Let's deal with the 'texture' folder first. In FSX this folder contains all the textures used by both the external and internal models (the exception being any textures for the pop-up panels/gauges which are kept in the 'panel' folder).

Now let's look at the repaint or secondary texture folders. To save disc space FSX only needs to have the specific textures required for that variant in the 'texture.abc' to 'texture.xyz' folder(s). In each of those folders there will be a 'texture.cfg' file which tells FSX to look in specific folders to find the 'missing' textures which are common to all variants. FSX will look in the specified directory as defined in the aircraft.cfg file first and then will look in the folders defined in the texture.cfg file if it is missing textures.

In your case you are trying to add the default FA-18 VC to a model of the T-38. The reason you are not seeing the correct textures is probably because you have either not copied the correct files over or you have put them in the wrong place and FSX doesn't know where to look for them.

The first thing you need to find out is if the T-38 has a default 'texture' folder. If it does than you need to copy the VC textures from the FA-18 'texture' folder to the T-38 'texture' folder. Someone familiar with texturing/repainting/model making would be able to identify just which those files are but if you are unsure the only option you have is to copy the entire contents of the FA-18 'texture' folder into the T-38 'texture' folder (the non-required files will be ignored). Once you have done that then the FA-18 VC should appear correctly textured as the files it requires will be in the correct location.

If the T-38 does not have a default 'texture' folder then the problem becomes a little more complicated.

Thanks for the reply. I did look to see if the T38 did have a texture folder. I was looking for just texture folder,and did find a texture common folder. It never asked to over ride it. The T38 is from UKMIL and is supose to be FSX. Where would the F18 VC textures be. Or what would I be looking for.

 

[Tako_Kichi]

Thanks for the reply. I did look to see if the T38 did have a texture folder. I was looking for just texture folder,and did find a texture common folder. It never asked to over ride it. The T38 is from UKMIL and is supose to be FSX.

Some developers use the default 'texture' folder and some use the 'texture.common' alternative. Both do the same job i.e. holding all the common textures used by all the variants. As long as the 'texture.cfg' file(s) point to the 'texture.common' folder you are good to go.

Where would the F18 VC textures be. Or what would I be looking for.

The FA-18 VC textures are in the 'FA-18\Texture' folder along with all the external textures for the default paint scheme. The difficulty comes in identifying which is a VC texture and which is an external model texture. If you have the DDSView program (a free download available from http://www.amnoid.de/ddsview/ ) you can use that to look at the various texture files to see which are external and which are internal VC textures. Once you have identified all the VC textures you should copy and paste those into the T-38 'texture.common' folder. Ideally the external textures and VC textures should be on different texture sheets but this is not always the case. With the FA-18 you are helped somewhat by the fact that the default paint is the easily recognizable 'Blue Angels' scheme so if you see anything that looks like a bright blue external part you don't need that texture sheet. You can also ignore anything with 'bump', 'spec' or 'specular' in the file name as those are also external texture files.

Bear in mind too that you should also copy over the FA-18 'panel' folder contents to the T-38 'panel' folder otherwise you will have no gauges in your new VC.