Tuskegee Airmen repaints - issue trying to apply

Arguably the finest fighter of the second world war
vmx12
Airman
Posts: 12
Joined: 02 Feb 2013, 17:02

Tuskegee Airmen repaints - issue trying to apply

Post by vmx12 »

Hello,

I have successfully applied one repaint (Jacquie) for my P-51 from the WWII Fighters collection, which was as straight-forward as any other repaint I've installed.

However, Jan Kees Blom has a set of Tuskegee textures I can't install, despite following his "directions" included in the download. I emailed him, but his email bounced back as inactive.

Here's the gist of the issue: he directs you to create a copy of the model folder and rename it model.1, changing one of the lines in the model.cfg. He says this "unlocks" a so-called hidden WoP P-51. The texture sets he has created are therefore based off of this model.1, instead of the original model created by A2A.

It's here where things get hazy. I follow his instructions, paste in the accompanying text into the Aircraft.cfg, with the 'model' line having a '1' after the = sign. It still doesn't work.

Any assistance is appreciated.

Thanks,

VMX12

User avatar
Skycat
Senior Master Sergeant
Posts: 2190
Joined: 11 Nov 2006, 16:15
Location: Great Falls Army Air Base, Montana

Re: Tuskegee Airmen repaints - issue trying to apply

Post by Skycat »

My guess is that the texture pack you are trying to make work is actually for the original Wings of Power P-51D that is part of the P-51D/H pack for FS2004. I took a look, and there is both a "model" and a "model.1" subfolder included in that version. Each subfolder has similarly named files within, so I assume one is an unused version of the model. This may have been caused by one of the patches; as I recall, the first patch introduced a civilianized version of the P-51D but then the next patch disabled it(?).

The WWII Fighters version is Wings of Power 2, the second generation of the P-51, and is not the same model as what is in the P-51D/H pack version. The WWII Fighters/ WoP2 model does not have a "model.1" subfolder included.
Pax Orbis Per Arma Aeria

User avatar
Skycat
Senior Master Sergeant
Posts: 2190
Joined: 11 Nov 2006, 16:15
Location: Great Falls Army Air Base, Montana

Re: Tuskegee Airmen repaints - issue trying to apply

Post by Skycat »

Notice this advisory that was included with the 1.2 patch for the P=51D/H pack:

"NOTE: This version will update all previous versions (original release and v.1.1) to v.1.2. This version will remove the previous "refit utility" and created a single, configurable P51 in a default "Combat" configuration. This configuration is available in a clean version and one with droppable wing tanks."

Press release 1.2 patch for WoP P-51D/H pack.

vmx12
Airman
Posts: 12
Joined: 02 Feb 2013, 17:02

Re: Tuskegee Airmen repaints - issue trying to apply

Post by vmx12 »

Skycat wrote:My guess is that the texture pack you are trying to make work is actually for the original Wings of Power P-51D that is part of the P-51D/H pack for FS2004. I took a look, and there is both a "model" and a "model.1" subfolder included in that version. Each subfolder has similarly named files within, so I assume one is an unused version of the model. This may have been caused by one of the patches; as I recall, the first patch introduced a civilianized version of the P-51D but then the next patch disabled it(?).

The WWII Fighters version is Wings of Power 2, the second generation of the P-51, and is not the same model as what is in the P-51D/H pack version. The WWII Fighters/ WoP2 model does not have a "model.1" subfolder included.
Thanks, Skycat! I always appreciate our prompt, detailed responses. :)

So perhaps the v. 1.2 update and the FSX patch make Jankees' textures unusable. (It's interesting that I was able to still apply the 'Jacquie' repaint by John Terrell and Chuck Lawsen, though.)

Here are the instructions Jankees includes in his 'Readme' file:

INSTALLATION:

The WWII Fighters P-51D actually includes the original yet updated WOP P-51D with the release, but it is sort of hidden. Here are instructions on how you can install this and other WOP P-51D repaints to your WWII Fighters Mustang.

1 - Go to your WWII_FIGHTERS_P51D folder and make a copy of the Model folder and rename it Model.1

2 - Now open the newly created Model.1 folder and then open the Model.CFG file found inside. Edit the line within to read...

[models]
normal=P-51D

...and save the file. What you have just done is activated the WOP P-51D model included in the Model.1 folder.

3 - Now copy the Texture.tusk88 folder to your WWII_FIGHTERS_P51D folder.

4 - Open your aircraft config. Copy this section to your aircraft
config changing the [fltsim.108] numbers to your sequence of numbers. As you can see from this .CFG entry that under the model= you must now place a 1 for WOP P-51D repaint .CFG entries.

[fltsim.108]
title=P-51D "tusk88"
sim=p51d
visual_damage=0
model=1
panel=
sound=
texture=tusk88
kb_checklists=
kb_reference=
editable=0
atc_id=T88
atc_airline=
atc_flight_number=
atc_heavy=0
ui_manufacturer=North American
ui_type=P-51D Mustang
ui_variation= Tuskegee 88
description=A repaint of one of the aircraft of the 'Tuskegee Airmen' of the 302nd Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group, 15th U.S. Army Air Force, Ramitelli, Italy, 1945. Unfortunately by modern standards, during World War II the US Army practiced a policy of strict segregation of black people, so this Group was entirely manned by black Americans. Their proud claim at the end of the war was that they never lost a single bomber under their escort, which is a tremendous record. Little Freddie was flown by Captain Freddie Hutchins.
atc_id_color=0x00000000
atc_id_font=Verdana,-11,1,600,0


So, as you can see, he's directing us to create this model.1 folder and alter the model.cfg.

Does this shed any more light on if it's even possible to apply his repaints to the FSX P-51 verison from WWII Fighters?

VMX12

User avatar
Skycat
Senior Master Sergeant
Posts: 2190
Joined: 11 Nov 2006, 16:15
Location: Great Falls Army Air Base, Montana

Re: Tuskegee Airmen repaints - issue trying to apply

Post by Skycat »

I just did a more controlled test, staying within FS2004 and not cross-pollinating between FS2004 and FSX.

Procedure:
1. Wings of Power P-51D/H already installed and patched;
2. Installed "WWII Fighters" from CD, not patched to higher version;
3. Made a "model.1" folder for the WWII Fighters P-51D and changed the model.cfg;
4. Copied "texture.1" (Crogan's Cruiser) from original WoP P-51D to WWII Fighters P-51D folder;
5. Copied [fltsim.1] entry from WoP aircraft.cfg to WWIIF aircraft.cfg;
6. Saved edits and started FS2004...

...And Crogan's Cruiser did NOT appear as a paint scheme under the "WWII Fighters P-51D" menu.

So after testing this with stock skins and an original, unpatched copy of the WWII Fighters P-51D I couldn't get the older textures to work with the WWIIF model either.
Last edited by Skycat on 16 Feb 2013, 01:57, edited 2 times in total.
Pax Orbis Per Arma Aeria

User avatar
Skycat
Senior Master Sergeant
Posts: 2190
Joined: 11 Nov 2006, 16:15
Location: Great Falls Army Air Base, Montana

Re: Tuskegee Airmen repaints - issue trying to apply

Post by Skycat »

Update -- I realized that the the text above identifies the manufacturer as "North American" (the historically correct aviation company) instead of "WWII Fighters," which is how the basic WoP2 aircraft is identified. Check under "North American" in FSX and see if your repaint is there.

After I posted, I tried another experiment. I renamed my WoP "texture.1" folder to "texture.tusk88" and copy/pasted the whole entry that you posted. This made my "Croghan's Cruiser" appear as a scheme in FS2004, except now identifed as the Tuskegee Airman skin. It was also filed under 'North American' as I suspected it would be.
Last edited by Skycat on 15 Feb 2013, 21:32, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Skycat
Senior Master Sergeant
Posts: 2190
Joined: 11 Nov 2006, 16:15
Location: Great Falls Army Air Base, Montana

Re: Tuskegee Airmen repaints - issue trying to apply

Post by Skycat »

And after getting the procedure to work in FS2004, I was able to move my WoP "Croghan's Cruiser" skin (renamed to Tusk88) into FSX and use it on the WWII Fighters P-51D model, which is patched up through the FSX compatibility update. The WoP skin looked nice and shiny; the only glitch I saw was that the drop tanks and wing pylons are solid black. That might have been because my source textures were from the Combat variant's folder instead of the w/Tanks variant's folder.

Again, look under the manufacturer name "North American" in the FSX selection menu.

vmx12
Airman
Posts: 12
Joined: 02 Feb 2013, 17:02

Re: Tuskegee Airmen repaints - issue trying to apply

Post by vmx12 »

Skycat wrote:And after getting the procedure to work in FS2004, I was able to move my WoP "Croghan's Cruiser" skin (renamed to Tusk88) into FSX and use it on the WWII Fighters P-51D model, which is patched up through the FSX compatibility update. The WoP skin looked nice and shiny; the only glitch I saw was that the drop tanks and wing pylons are solid black. That might have been because my source textures were from the Combat variant's folder instead of the w/Tanks variant's folder.

Again, look under the manufacturer name "North American" in the FSX selection menu.
Wow! Thanks for the step-by-step.

Unfortunately, I still cannot get the texture to show. I have been looking under 'North American' and it just shows a greyed-out airplane icon with a question mark over it; it says it cannot display. :(

I haven't applied these repaints in FS9 as I don't fly that sim anymore. Only FSX.

It seems that changing that one line in the model.cfg within the model.1 folder is where things may be going wrong for me. I didn't see that you changed any line in that model.cfg file. I tried not changing the line also, but still no plane.

Thanks again...let me try to investigate further.

I'll keep tinkering...

Thanks!

VMX12

User avatar
Skycat
Senior Master Sergeant
Posts: 2190
Joined: 11 Nov 2006, 16:15
Location: Great Falls Army Air Base, Montana

Re: Tuskegee Airmen repaints - issue trying to apply

Post by Skycat »

It won't display in the FSX menu unless you have a thumbnail in the texture folder named "thumbnail.jpg." For now, click on the greyed out icon with the question mark and see if it will launch the plane in FSX.

If you can fly the plane in FSX, your problem is 95% solved. :) The (optional) thumbnail should be an easy fix. Are there any thumbnails included in the download file? Just rename one of those and that will probably do it for you.
Pax Orbis Per Arma Aeria

User avatar
Skycat
Senior Master Sergeant
Posts: 2190
Joined: 11 Nov 2006, 16:15
Location: Great Falls Army Air Base, Montana

Re: Tuskegee Airmen repaints - issue trying to apply

Post by Skycat »

vmx12 wrote: It seems that changing that one line in the model.cfg within the model.1 folder is where things may be going wrong for me. I didn't see that you changed any line in that model.cfg file. I tried not changing the line also, but still no plane.
He's saying that there has to be a 1 next to "model=" in the entry in your aircraft.cfg. That 1 points back to the model.1 folder, instead of the model folder:

[fltsim.xx]
title=P-51D "tusk88"
sim=p51d
visual_damage=0
model=1
panel=
sound=
texture=tusk88
...

The text that came with the repaint already has the model=1. He's just saying that you can use any original WoP textures with the WoP2/WWIIF model if you know the code.

The secret to this trick is that there are two .mdl files in the WWIIF CD version's "model" folder;
P-51D.mdl seems to be the old WoP model (since this same file is what comes with the P-51D/H version), while HR_P-51D.mdl is the newer 'high resolution' version for WoP2/WWIIF that became the standard. The high-resolution version uses more bitmaps for texturing, which you can verify by opening the 'Snooks' texture folder. Changing the Model.cfg entry simply toggles which of the .mdl files is active in the model folder, which is why you must make the duplicate "model.1" folder to allow you to essentially have two separate aircraft models active at the same time.

One thing I noticed with my FSX version of the WoP2 P-51D, though, which came from the Aircraft Power Pack, is that the model folder has only the HR_P-51D.mdl and therefore (in theory) would only be able to accept the high-resolution texture packages. The Aircraft Power Pack version is also the same as the SOLO download version, I believe. If you have the SOLO P-51D, this could be why the Tuskegee skin isn't working for you. I probably got my old "Croghan's Cruiser" WoP skin to work in FSX by accident, because I imported the "model.1" folder I created in FS2004 over to FSX.

I hope this helps.
Pax Orbis Per Arma Aeria

vmx12
Airman
Posts: 12
Joined: 02 Feb 2013, 17:02

Re: Tuskegee Airmen repaints - issue trying to apply

Post by vmx12 »

Skycat wrote:It won't display in the FSX menu unless you have a thumbnail in the texture folder named "thumbnail.jpg." For now, click on the greyed out icon with the question mark and see if it will launch the plane in FSX.

If you can fly the plane in FSX, your problem is 95% solved. :) The (optional) thumbnail should be an easy fix. Are there any thumbnails included in the download file? Just rename one of those and that will probably do it for you.
Ahhh...that's creative. I will try this.

In the meantime, fro what I gather, it loks liek this won't work for me because my P-51 comes from the WWII Fighters CD package, which only featured ONE model, the 'Snooks.' In order to apply the texture set from Jan Kees, I would have to have both models included in some other iterations of the P-51.

Thanks again!

I'll tinker and let you know, though. :)

VMX12

vmx12
Airman
Posts: 12
Joined: 02 Feb 2013, 17:02

Re: Tuskegee Airmen repaints - issue trying to apply

Post by vmx12 »

[/quote]The secret to this trick is that there are two .mdl files in the WWIIF CD version's "model" folder;
P-51D.mdl seems to be the old WoP model (since this same file is what comes with the P-51D/H version), while HR_P-51D.mdl is the newer 'high resolution' version for WoP2/WWIIF that became the standard.[/quote]

Skycat,

Yes, I have verified, and I think we've stumbled across the problem, which you identify in your quote above. I ONLY have the HR_P-51D.mdl. There's no P-51D.mdl in my Model folder. So this is why Jan Kees' repaints won't work for my P-51 variant from the WWII Fighters CD package.

Oh, and I did click on the icon with the question mark and started the sim, but it only displayed an invisible airplane blowing smoke. Kinda cool, though! :lol:

Oh well...I do have one repaint for the Tuskegee Airmen that works (Jacquie) by Chuck Lawson, so it's all good.

Have a great weekend!

VMX12

User avatar
Skycat
Senior Master Sergeant
Posts: 2190
Joined: 11 Nov 2006, 16:15
Location: Great Falls Army Air Base, Montana

Re: Tuskegee Airmen repaints - issue trying to apply

Post by Skycat »

I find it curious that I have the P-51.mdl after installing from WWII Fighters CD and you don't. I have the original pressing of the CD, not the later "Aircraft Power Pack 2" re-release on DVD...does that help with this mystery?

Edit: I'm beginning to think that the FS2004 install version is slightly different than the FSX install version. This theory struck me while I was testing whether the WWIIF 1.2 patch might remove the P-51D.mdl file from my FS2004 install. (It did not.) The installer asks first which version of the CD you have: 1.0, or 1.1 'with FSX on the box.' I have the version with FSX on the box, but the installer's question tells me that there was an earlier version of the CD that was only for FS2004. This was probably compiled around the same time that the original WoP P-51D got its final patch, which itself was kind of a beta test for the new WoP2/WWIIF model. In effect, the FS2004 side of WWII Fighters has the upgraded WoP P-51D model, and the old P-51D.mdl file might have been included by accident.

The FSX install version (CD v1.1) would have come out a little later, and was one of the very first add-on products available for FSX. The staff would have had to make the file structure compliant with FSX, including adding the thumbnail, so it was likely that they deleted the unused P-51D.mdl as part of the reorganization. I'm assuming that the FS2004 side of the install was left 'as is' for CD v1.1.

Just my thoughts. :)

User avatar
Skycat
Senior Master Sergeant
Posts: 2190
Joined: 11 Nov 2006, 16:15
Location: Great Falls Army Air Base, Montana

Re: Tuskegee Airmen repaints - issue trying to apply

Post by Skycat »

BTW, both the FS2004 and FSX versions of WWII Fighters only include the Snooks skin. I also have the earlier WOP P-51D/H pack for FS2004, which comes with several additional repaints. That's what I was using to test the WoP --> WoP2/WWIIF compatibility.

vmx12
Airman
Posts: 12
Joined: 02 Feb 2013, 17:02

Re: Tuskegee Airmen repaints - issue trying to apply

Post by vmx12 »

Skycat wrote:In effect, the FS2004 side of WWII Fighters has the upgraded WoP P-51D model, and the old P-51D.mdl file might have been included by accident.

The FSX install version (CD v1.1) would have come out a little later, and was one of the very first add-on products available for FSX. The staff would have had to make the file structure compliant with FSX, including adding the thumbnail, so it was likely that they deleted the unused P-51D.mdl as part of the reorganization. I'm assuming that the FS2004 side of the install was left 'as is' for CD v1.1.
Yes, I think you're right! I installed the FSX version from the boxed retail product I bought, and it has the FSX logo on the outside of the box. I bet you're right when you say the older P-51 mdl was deleted from this release.

Oh well, you can't win 'em all! LOL

Thanks, Skycat!

VMX12

new reply

Return to “P51 Mustang”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest