Who volunteers to test a tool?

gsnde · Post by **gsnde** » 03 Jul 2008, 11:23

The ones using MAIW with FSX have noticed that the propeller texture prop-hs.bmp appepars as a solid disk. I have made a replacement texture which works fine. The annoying thing is that you would have to replace about 660 occurrences of this bmp if you have installed all MAIW packages. Here my tool kicks in.

This is how it operates:

• on startup it is checked that my replacement texture is available in the program folder
• then the user has to select the folder below which the MAIW aircraft are located
• then the user has to press a scan button, which starts the analysis how many textures you have
• after the list has been compiled, you can install the replacement texture. for every original texture a backup is created in the respective texture folder, which you can restore with the same tool

In my test environment the program runs without problem. What I like to test is if the interface and the logic is fool proofed so that I can skip further documentation and help files. Mind you, every field and button is explained via tool tips.

The tool will be published on my web site together with a very detailed guide on how to install MAIW packages in FSX.

PM me if you want to give it a go.

nickblack423 · Post by **nickblack423** » 03 Jul 2008, 12:19

Just a thought mate....you dont actually need to do this.

FS goes to the main texture folder when loading textures...if it finds the texture it needs there for a certain part then it uses the one there, if it doesnt then it looks through all the aircraft specific texture folders for it.

One thing we did when first starting out was to include all the textures required for a specific model in each individual texture folder. This isnt needed as you can put a master texture of anything that is repeated and not repaint specific, (rotors, lightmaps etc.) in the main folder once and therefore eliminate the need to include these textures for each individual repaint.

The only time this changes is if you want something different to the main texture for your repaint, like with my Hawk 100 series. The Hawk lightmap for this model, NBAI_Hawk_100_L.bmp, is found in the main FS texture folder, therefore every hawk 100 uses this texture for its lightmap, the only difference being that some of the hawks have slime lights, so those all need their own individual NBAI_Hawk_100_L.bmp in their texture folder.

What you can do here is put the texture prop_hs.bmp into the main fs directory, and then delete every other copy of it. The only difference being for the Hercules J which has a different texture altogether. Henry should have renamed that to be honest to help us out, but hey.

Nick

gsnde · Post by **gsnde** » 03 Jul 2008, 14:27

Hi Nick,

I have thought about this approach as well. The reason I finally decided against it was that I wanted to stay as close to the MAIW design as possible.

You can go back and forth between the original and the replacement texture with just one click, which makes it easy to use.

nickblack423 · Post by **nickblack423** » 03 Jul 2008, 14:32

In that case well done on designing it, sounds like a very useful tool.

I will let you know nowadays we do try everything in our power to reduce the ammount of texture files in our packages, by only locating one copy of a universal texture.

Nick

gsnde · Post by **gsnde** » 03 Jul 2008, 15:21

Still no volunteers, though

Firebird · Post by **Firebird** » 03 Jul 2008, 15:41

Maybe not as yet, Martin, but its early. As I don't have FSX I would be useless to you. Sorry.

BadPvtDan · Post by **BadPvtDan** » 03 Jul 2008, 15:51

I think all of the staff and contribs will only have FS9.

Ford Friendly · Post by **Ford Friendly** » 03 Jul 2008, 16:32

I run only FSX, so I can test for you in the next couple days if you want.

gsnde · Post by **gsnde** » 03 Jul 2008, 19:55

Thanks you, Ford. I send it to you. Your email address is still the same?

subs · Post by **subs** » 04 Jul 2008, 01:25

Normally I have taken the time to locate all of these 'duplicate' bmps like prop-hs into the main FS\Texture folder. The main advantage being the hard-drive space saved.

Is there any additional benifits to doing so, considering perhaps the HDD doesn't have to find and pickup say 30 prop-hs files (say at Little Rock with so many C-130s)? What about display benifits with the video card having to load only one texture into memory rather than 30 induvidual prop-hs files? Would these kind of benifits help with perfomance too?

Maybe it is only negligible in practice, but psychologically it can be a huge increase in FPS in your head ;o)

What's the consensus on performance gains? Is there actually any, or do I just have to keep believeing there is? ;o)

Subin

Ford Friendly · Post by **Ford Friendly** » 04 Jul 2008, 04:14

Got the file. Will play with it over the next couple of days and pm you or email you the results.