Repaint Problems

[Archer]

I have two Corsair repaints, in TEXTURE.1 and TEXTURE.29, I have editted the Aircraft.cfg, etc and they show up fine in game when only one is around.  But about half the time when I am looking from one to the other, I see the wrong texture (ie, in Big Hog, look at what should be Kepford's Corsair, but see another Big Hog).  Sometimes changing views (external, VC, HUD) will also change the texutre I see, as will zooming sometimes.  Does anyone have any ideas of what I can do to fix this?  I'm thinking it may have somthing to do with them being in the same folder.

Also, When I am looking at my own Corsair I see the numbers on the gear doors, one normal the other  mirrored.  But changing zoom and sometimes the direction I am looking at my plane from the two number will switch, the one that was mirrored is now normal and the normal one is now mirrored.  Any ideas on how to stop this too?

Thanks a lot

[Hagar]

Which sim is this? Texture conflicts with repaints are common in CFS2 & the previous M$ sims. The best way over it would be to configure each repaint separately. Then change the texture names & hex edit the MDL to recognise them. This problem was fixed in FS2002. Providing you edited Aircraft.cfg properly there should be no risk of a conflict.

[Archer]

This is for CFS2, guess I should have mentionned that.

"configure each repaint separately" - Do you mean make a new aircraft folder for each plane or something else?

"change the texture names & hex edit the MDL" - Are there certain ways to name the textures, or will anything go?  Also, how would I go about hex editting the MDL, and what would I need to change?

[Hagar]

OK. To make it easier I've written up a quick tute & posted it here.
http://www.simviation.com/lair/duplicate.htm
Hope this explains the basic principles.

[Archer]

Just read through it and it looks good.  I'll try it out next week after my exams are done with and let you knwo how it turned out.

Thanks a lot.

[Archer]

I got around to trying this out this morning.  It has worked fine so far, but I'm wondering if there is a way to get both textures in one folder.  I'd assume there is since in the [fltsim.n] sections there is a model variable.  I've been trying to get it to work.  Occasionally both planes come up, but the one not named as the normal in model.cfg will not initialize.  I'm guessing I need to add another line to model.cfg, but have no idea what it would be.

Help is always appreciated.

[Hagar]

Yes it can be done. You would need to configure it as a "2 in1" like the FS2002 defaults & repaints. http://www.simviation.com/lair/Repaint2002.htm
To avoid the texture conflict in CFS2 this would involve moving the new MDL file & Model.cfg into a separate subfolder (named something like Model.1). Leave the renamed texture in the Texture folder. Then add a new [fltsim.x] entry to Aircraft.cfg pointing the model= entry to the Model.1 folder. model=1
I find there's no real advantage to this method & prefer to configure each repaint separately. You can alias panel & sound to the original to keep the file size down.

[Archer]

I've made a MODEL.1 with a model.cfg where normal=F4U1B_Corsair and the normal MODEL folder, unchanged.  F4U1A_Corsair_T.bmp is in the TEXTURE folder.
In aircraft.cfg I have the fltsim's set as follows:

[fltsim.0]
title=F4U-1A Corsair
sim=F4U1A_Corsair
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=
KB_checklists=f4u1a_corsair_check

[fltsim.1]
title=F4U-1B Corsair Test
sim=F4U1B_Corsair
model=1
panel=
sound=
texture=
KB_checklists=f4u1a_corsair_check

When I get into CFS2, the F4U-1A Corsair works fine.  But when I try to load a mission with the F4U-1B Corsair test I get two errors,

Visual Model could not be displayed
F4U-1B Corsair Test

and after this I get

Error loading mission file.  Either mission file is corrupt or formatted improperly

Any suggestions on how to fix this?

As to why I want them in one folder is because I intend to make several repaints of the Corsair, and still keep as many other add-on planes as possible in my AIRCRAFT folder.

[Hagar]

OK, try using the same AIR file for both versions. The [fltsim.1] entry should look like this.

[fltsim.1]
title=F4U-1B Corsair Test
sim=F4U1A_Corsair
model=1
panel=
sound=
texture=
KB_checklists=f4u1a_corsair_check

You can use any name you wish for the title= entry as long as it's different for each [fltsim.x] section. Check them out in Free Flight first to make sure they both work properly.

I don't think configuring the repaints as separate aircraft will make any difference to the "100 plane" limit if that's what you're worried about.

[Archer]

That didn't work either, I still got the same errors.

I've decided to put a repaint in seperate folders.  Couple questions though.  
Is there anything I need to do so it does not count as a new airplane?

Secondly, how do I alias sound, etc to the original plane to keep the file size down?

Thanks for all the help.