Odd Problem

Grape · Post by **Grape** » 05 Mar 2010, 12:49

This is driving me up the wall. I have done some repaints for Nick Black's F/A-18 Hornet. I've done quite a few and everything shows up in FSRepaint V2 and also in the sim. However, my last bunch will just not show up at all in FSRepaint or the sim.

In FSRepaint the file appears in the list as "Nick Black AI\par F/A-18C Hornet\par". It lists the textures under that file but nothing show up.

Any and all help will be appreciated.

Graham King · Post by **Graham King** » 05 Mar 2010, 12:55

The reason is probably in the aircraft.cfg. Check in particular the sim, model and texture entries are correct.

What is the "par" in the list?

Grape · Post by **Grape** » 05 Mar 2010, 13:48

Thank you for your response Graham.

I've compared the aircraft.cfg file with another cfg file from another repaint I did of Nick's Hornet and everything seems to match. Unless there is something I missed which has happened before.

Here's one entry from the cfg file. All other 11 textures are numbered correctly with proper texture names.

[fltsim.0]
title=MAIW_NBAI_F18C_VFA-131_400
sim=NBAI_F18C-D_Hornet_Dry_AI_ONLY
model=C_Centre_Tank
texture=VFA-131_400
atc_airline=Wildcat
atc_parking_codes=V131,F-18
atc_parking_types=MIL_COMBAT
ui_manufacturer=Nick Black AI
ui_type=F/A-18C Hornet
ui_variation=USN - VFA-131 400
description=NBAI F-18C - only for use with AI Traffic!

I haven't the slightest clue as to what "par" means. This is what appears in the Aircraft list in FSRepaint V2

Nick Black AI\par F/A-18C Hornet\par

USN - VFA-131- 401\par

with the rest of the textures listed similarly.

Again, thanks for your help. Life would be boring without some problems.

Grape · Post by **Grape** » 05 Mar 2010, 14:22

Still haven't solved the problem after much investigation. I deleted everything in that texture folder and re-entered everything and it still doesn't show up. I did add another squadrons texture and everything shows up. It's probably something that is staring me right in the face and I can't see it.

Off to do things I should have done yesterday.

Grape

Firebird · Post by **Firebird** » 05 Mar 2010, 15:48

What text editor are you using? That \par looks like a sort of code that is interpreted by a postscript printer or something similar. Maybe a file corruption.

campbeme · Post by **campbeme** » 05 Mar 2010, 17:05

Grape wrote: model=C_Centre_Tank

Your 100% sure you have the above model in the same aircraft folder as your textures?

Mark

Grape · Post by **Grape** » 05 Mar 2010, 19:51

Steve asked

What text editor are you using?

I use either Wordpad or Notepad.

Marked asked

Your 100% sure you have the above model in the same aircraft folder as your textures?

Yes.

Here's what is in the folder that is the Simobjects/Airplanes folder (yes, it'FSX):

NBAI F-18 VFA-131

model.C_Centre_Tank File Folder

Model CFG File
NBAI_F18C_Hornet.MDL MDL File

texture.VFA-131_401 File Folder
aircraft.cfg CFG File
NBAI_F18C-D_Hornet... Installer Package

I deleted all the other textures except for the one to try and narrow things down. I deleted the texture for 401 and reinstalled it and still it's a no go.

If this will help any. I made the textures in Photoshop CS4. I did something different though and this may be the problem. Instead of flattening the .psd file I opened it in DXTBmp and saved it as an Extended Bitmap DXT3 file and copied it over to the texture file. Thinking this may be the problem, I deleted the textures in the texture folders, went back into Photoshop, flattened all the .psd files and saved them as 24 bit .bmp files. Then I went in to DXTBmp and converted those to Exteneded Bitmap DXT3 files. Still not working.

If it's OK, I can submit the aircraft.cfg file for inspection. Let me know if you'd like the whole thing or just the one for the single texture.

Thank you to all who have taken an interest in helping me. I hope to contribute to all the excellent work you guys have put into this hobby.

Grape

Firebird · Post by **Firebird** » 05 Mar 2010, 20:26

I think the problem is caused by a text editor.
The aircraft list gets its name from the two parms in the fltsim entry.
ui_manufacturer=Nick Black AI
ui_type=F/A-18C Hornet

The fact that yours says 'Nick Black AI\par F/A-18C Hornet\par' says to me that your two lines have characters at the end of the line which can't be seen by you but can be read by FSRepaint. I would delete those two lines and recreate them in a plain ascii text editor, or ascii text mode. I wonder if those lines were done in word or a something that created it in RTF format.

Now if the texture doesn't show up it may be that the texture line says something 'my_scheme\par' to FSRepaint. Thereby it won't show up as that folder doesn't exist.

Try recreating the whole fltsim entry again using notepad.

Grape · Post by **Grape** » 05 Mar 2010, 21:22

THANK YOU STEVE!

That did the trick. Word Pad must have done something to screw up the aircraft.cfg file.

Graham King · Post by **Graham King** » 05 Mar 2010, 21:30

Grape, final thought, I would set Windows to always open .cfg files with Notepad, unless this buggers something else you open .cfg files with.

In Explorer right click an aircraft.cfg files and select "open with". In the dialog box that comes up, near the bottom is a check box that starts "Always open with selected program". Make sure it is ticked.

Then find Notepad, if it does not show it should be C:\windows\notepad.exe if you have to use the Browse button.

Then click OK to open the aircraft.cfg.

After that every time you double click an aircraft.cfg it will open in Notepad.

Grape · Post by **Grape** » 05 Mar 2010, 21:37

Thanks for the tip Graham. I did as you said. If it were not for problems I would not learn anything!

Firebird · Post by **Firebird** » 05 Mar 2010, 22:14

Very true, very true.

Blank Fang · Post by **Blank Fang** » 05 Mar 2010, 22:25

I create a shortcut and name it open in Editorunder
C:\Documents and Settings\<%Current User%>\SendTo\
Under Target put C:\WINDOWS\NOTEPAD.EXE

Having done so you can right click on any file and find the new command in the context menu.
This will open the file in Notepad.

The attached file creates the shortcut
I find this a very convenient solution for checking files.
-----
Willy

gsnde · Post by **gsnde** » 05 Mar 2010, 23:31

An extremely useful text editor is the free PSPad (although I usually recommend AI Aircraft Editor for tasks like described above

).

The Send To Toys offers a comfortable way to deal with the Send To option and enhance it a lot.

For those still open a DOS shell regularly from Windows Explorer I recommend the Open Command Prompt Shell Extension.

Firebird · Post by **Firebird** » 06 Mar 2010, 07:36

That looks a very useful tool, Martin, as does AI Aircraft Editor

, but on this occasion the problem was caused by not updating the file in ascii mode. I think that using another tool that can write in another format, i.e. RTF, may complicate things for what is required here.

gsnde · Post by **gsnde** » 06 Mar 2010, 08:44

I totally agree. Steve.

That is why I recommend PSPad. By itself is is strictly ascii (if I remember correctly it can can export to RTF). Also it is much faster than Notepad, and handles several large files easily. I have it associated as the TXT handler on all my systems.

BadPvtDan · Post by **BadPvtDan** » 07 Mar 2010, 03:19

UltraEdit rocks for payware ASCII needs.

Firebird · Post by **Firebird** » 07 Mar 2010, 09:54

I agree, Dan. that's what I use and I have also created a very ham-fisted config for handling aircraft.cfgs.

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