FSXPM paintjob manager and importer

[Lowflyer 97]

Hi guys!

Here's a little program I've made that I'd like to share with the community. A few months back I had to reinstall FSX which also meant reinstalling a lot of community-made paintjobs which is a bit of a drag when you've got a few you want installed for online flying and you want your mates' planes to look right, so I thought I'd put my limited programming skills to use by making a program that can import paintjobs from zip files, copying texture directories and making required changes to the aircraft.cfg files.

The program is available on the Avsim library.

Note: In order for FSXPM to import a paintjob properly it needs to come zipped with a proper texture.* directory as well as a text file containing a [fltsim.x] section to be copied into the plane's aircraft.cfg file. The "x" (or whatever the author decided to use) will be replaced with the next number in sequence.

At launch the program will first look for fsx.exe in the directory it is located in. If not found it will check the windows registry for a path to your FSX installation. Therefore the program can be run from anywhere on your computer or be tricked into working on a copy of your FSX directory if you so desire. No additional files besides the executable will be created on your computer.
 

 

Cheers, Rolf

[Nathan3219 113]

Thanks Rolf. Looks like a handy program.

[Lowflyer 97]

New version uploaded to dropbox.

 

You no longer have to select the correct plane in the list before importing a paintjob. The program will search your SimObjects\Airplanes folder for a plane with matching ui_type and ui_createdby keys in the [fltsim.0] section of aircraft.cfg.

 

Also you can now import a paintjob by right-clicking it's zip file in windows explorer, select "open with" and direct it to FSX Paintjob manager.exe. FSXPM will notify you in case of success, otherwise it will just terminate silently.

 

The program is still in beta and any help in identifying bugs is much appreciated.

 

/Rolf

[Ron Attwood 3,472]

Fantastic job Rolf. One of the things I like about it is the ability to hide paints in the selection screen. So no more renaming the panel folder to Panel_OFF or editing the aircraft.cfg. Brilliant!

Not only that, you don't even have the faff of unzipping a file.

Josh, are you listening? :lol:

[Bjoern 1,157]

Sweet! I have started a similar thing in batch script, but with a UI and Windows context menu functionality, this tool makes my effort basically superfluous.

 

 

 

Quick questions:

 

- Does it look for fltsim info in *any* included text file?

- What if said text file includes info for several different aircraft? (As used in paint packs for a whole airline)

- What if there is no fltsim info or texture folder included at all?*

 

 

 

(*Don't laugh, this happens!)

[some1 65]

Thanks, I've been searching for something like this. 

[Lowflyer 97]

Thanks for the kind words, guys! :-)

 

To answer Bjoerns questions...
 

- Does it look for fltsim info in *any* included text file?

No, if there is more than one text file it will open another file dialog window asking you to select the correct one. I admit having the program search all .txt files for a [fltsim.x] section would be a more elegant solution but sadly I didn't think of that when I started working on that procedure. I will look into this.
 

- What if said text file includes info for several different aircraft? (As used in paint packs for a whole airline)

Not being much of an airline guy and not actually having ever come across a file containing several paints before this is something I never though about. If you tried to import from such a file only the first [fltsim] section in the file and it's corresponding texture folder will be imported. Worth looking into though. Can you link me to an example? Preferably something for a default FSX plane or freeware. PMDG NGX or 747 is works too.

 

- What if there is no fltsim info or texture folder included at all?*
 
 
 
(*Don't laugh, this happens!)

Nothing will happen. (I hope...)

 

While looking for paints to test on I came across one (and I'm sure there are many more) where the author had just dumped all files in one directory and included instructions for the user to copy the base texture folder (rather than setting it as a fallback in texture.cfg), rename the copy "texture.somethingorother" and move the relevant files to that folder. Now, making a routine that tries to make sense of written instructions like these is just too much work and the result would be too random, so I'm not even gonna consider trying. Mercifully most painters out there seems to include proper texture folders in their zip files and use fallbacks when needed.

 

Cheers

[Bjoern 1,157]

No, if there is more than one text file it will open another file dialog window asking you to select the correct one. I admit having the program search all .txt files for a [fltsim.x] section would be a more elegant solution but sadly I didn't think of that when I started working on that procedure. I will look into this.

Well, in batch I'd look for [fltsim.x] and "title=" lines and then just copy anything including and beyond these two lines until the next blank line.

 

Can you link me to an example? Preferably something for a default FSX plane or freeware.

I was mostly thinking about AI...

 

ein_240506.zip (Aer Linus 80s by Nick Prestwich)

acl85.zip (Air Cal 1985 by Henry Tomkiewicz)

 

Requires various AI models, but you won't really need them (fake folders, .cfg and .air files should suffice).

 

One way to make this work would be looking for the respective .air files in FSX' SimObjects/Aircraft folders to at least get each .cfg entry where it belongs and then have the user associate each entry with the correct texture folder (as I doubt that a program can be good at guessing folder names).

 

 

Nothing will happen. (I hope...)

 

While looking for paints to test on I came across one (and I'm sure there are many more) where the author had just dumped all files in one directory and included instructions for the user to copy the base texture folder (rather than setting it as a fallback in texture.cfg), rename the copy "texture.somethingorother" and move the relevant files to that folder. Now, making a routine that tries to make sense of written instructions like these is just too much work and the result would be too random, so I'm not even gonna consider trying. Mercifully most painters out there seems to include proper texture folders in their zip files and use fallbacks when needed.

Well, what about a simple editor for the [fltsim] entry?

Just a single window, in which the user can choose the folder to install the plane to, fill in title=, model=, texure=, atc_airline= etc... lines themselves and simply click "Install".

The tool would then write the [fltsim] entry to the aircraft.cfg in the selected folder and copy any .bmp/.dds files from the repaint archive to a newly created folder whose name is specified by the content of the texture= line from the editor.

 

 

 

I know I could do this more or less in Batch, but you've got a more robust platform (.NET? C++?) to tackle this.

 

Having installed a complete AI environment by hand, I am a bit scarred by the clumsiness of the standard workflow. 5000000 folder windows and 200000 text files open at the same time...*shudder*. Your tool, with the right features, could make things so, so much simpler and faster.

[Lowflyer 97]

Well, in batch I'd look for [fltsim.x] and "title=" lines and then just copy anything including and beyond these two lines until the next blank line.

That's exactly what it does after it has located the right text file to copy from. There are two ways to do that; either have the program search through all of the present files (usually only one anyway) or let the user choose. I picked the latter solution but I might change that eventually.

 

I was mostly thinking about AI...

 

ein_240506.zip (Aer Linus 80s by Nick Prestwich)

acl85.zip (Air Cal 1985 by Henry Tomkiewicz)

 

Requires various AI models, but you won't really need them (fake folders, .cfg and .air files should suffice).

 

One way to make this work would be looking for the respective .air files in FSX' SimObjects/Aircraft folders to at least get each .cfg entry where it belongs and then have the user associate each entry with the correct texture folder (as I doubt that a program can be good at guessing folder names).

Ok. I'm not overly interested in AI traffic myself and couldn't care less if it's Aer Lingus or World Travel Airlines that blocks my taxiway, but I might have a look at it when I'm done with some other changes I'm working on.

 

Well, what about a simple editor for the [fltsim] entry?

Just a single window, in which the user can choose the folder to install the plane to, fill in title=, model=, texure=, atc_airline= etc... lines themselves and simply click "Install".

The tool would then write the [fltsim] entry to the aircraft.cfg in the selected folder and copy any .bmp/.dds files from the repaint archive to a newly created folder whose name is specified by the content of the texture= line from the editor.

That sounds like an awful lot of work trying to marginally simplify a process that is probably best done with Notepad anyway. Besides, how common is it that a paint pack comes without a sample [fltsim] anyway? Sorry but I can't see enough reason to bother with that. From what I've seen the vast majority of add-on painters these days does it properly anyway.

[Bjoern 1,157]

I picked the latter solution but I might change that eventually.

Well, having it user-selectable might work as well.

 

I'm not overly interested in AI traffic myself and couldn't care less if it's Aer Lingus or World Travel Airlines that blocks my taxiway, but I might have a look at it when I'm done with some other changes I'm working on.

It actually doesn't matter if it's for AI models or, say all PMDG aircraft. The point is that a single archive contains paints for different aircraft.

 

That sounds like an awful lot of work trying to marginally simplify a process that is probably best done with Notepad anyway.

Believe me, it's not. Even if you have templates, you need to copy and paste them, fill them out, copy and paste them again, etc...while with an editor, you could just TAB your way around each field and have it do its magic afterwards.

 

Besides, how common is it that a paint pack comes without a sample [fltsim] anyway?

I can't blame the people that did the paints, but I had to create texture entries for maybe fifty to sixty planes because of this.

 

Sorry but I can't see enough reason to bother with that. From what I've seen the vast majority of add-on painters these days does it properly anyway.

Look at it this way: If you've set up the editor routine for the above, you can also offer the user to change anything about the paint they're about to install. Like folder name or callsign or something else.

 

But then again, it was just a suggestion.

[Lowflyer 97]

It actually doesn't matter if it's for AI models or, say all PMDG aircraft. The point is that a single archive contains paints for different aircraft.

This is indeed worth looking into. As for the rest I'm sorry but the program does what I originally intended it to do, and more.

 

Suggestions are appreciated nevertheless.

[Bjoern 1,157]

It's okay. I'll simply create scripts for the rest of the functions I need.

[Lowflyer 97]

New beta version uploaded to DropBox. Link in the top post.

 

Fixed a problem with importing paints from zip files where the readme file wasn't located in the root of the file. It works as intended now but the user must manually locate the file when asked. I'm planning to improve this in the next version. Thanks to Freebird here on Avsim for bringing this to my attention.

 

I've also completely changed the interface to make it look more like the FSX aircraft selector. Resizing the main window now works thanks to this.

 

Cheers, Rolf

[Jimmy RFR 406]

Looks nice.  I had to chuckle - I recently created a very similar application that does much the same, with the addition of detailed management over the various fltsim section entries - and the primary reason why I created it?  The AN-2, along wiith it's dozens of community created paints. It made me smile to see that plane and it's paints used as your example for a screenshot. ^_^

[Lowflyer 97]

Thanks Jimmy. Didn't know you were making a similar program.

 

The ability to modify even more of the fltsim.x keys is something I've had in mind but my focus has mainly been on making installing new paints as hassle-free as possible. I'm quite happy with how it's turned out so far.

 

And yes the AN-2 has been a bit of a favourite for me as of late.  B)