Repaintable PMDG service vehicles?

[737freak 42]

Hello,

 

I had a question regarding the new animated PMDG ground service vehicles of the 747v3:

 

Can they be repainted to match the used airline livery or to match the airport? If so, can these paints be included in the .ptp repaint packages?

 

Thanks in advance!  :smile:

[Steve Dra 7,588]

Hello,

 

I had a question regarding the new animated PMDG ground service vehicles of the 747v3:

 

Can they be repainted to match the used airline livery or to match the airport? If so, can these paints be included in the .ptp repaint packages?

 

Thanks in advance!  :smile:

I haven't looked too deeply into yet, but I imagine the short answer is yes.

 

I'm guessing you'd have to create a copy of the vehicles into the local folder of your repaint and modify them there...that is how it usually works.

 

I'm not at my PC where I can check for sure, but I'm pretty sure that will be how you do it. 

[737freak 42]

Thanks Steve! That makes sense. I just hope it is possible to package service vehicle pains with the actual liveries.

[Steve Dra 7,588]

Thanks Steve! That makes sense. I just hope it is possible to package service vehicle pains with the actual liveries.

That will be completely up to the painter...as long as the texture maps for the custom ground vehicles are in the livery folder when we package it up for distribution it should work great.

 

On a side thought...that would be a good project for a painter...create a library of livery-specific ground vehicles anyone could add to their fleet.  Hmmm.....

[Steve Dra 7,588]

After reviewing how they've built and deployed the vehicle models, it will be trickier than I originally thought.

They are stored in the SimObjects\MISC folder.

 

What I'm theorizing you'd do is create texture folders under each vehicle corresponding to each livery you'd like to link it to...here is the sim.cfg file in that folder...

[fltsim.0]

title=PMDG_Services_Maintenance_Van

model=MaintenanceVan

texture=UPS

 

[General]

category=GroundVehicle

 

[contact_points]

wheel_radius=1.40

static_pitch=0.0         //degrees, pitch when at rest on the ground (+=Up, -=Dn)

static_cg_height=0.0     //feet, altitude of CG when at rest on the ground

 

[DesignSpecs]

max_speed_mph = 30

acceleration_constants = 0.3, 0.4     //Time constant (effects responsiveness), and max G acceleration

deceleration_constants = 0.2, 0.4     //Time constant (effects responsiveness), and max G acceleration

 

As noted in red above, you'd have to add a texture.UPS folder and hold the UPS textures there.  (The line originally reads just texture=)

Unfortunately, you'd have to manually adjust the sim.cfg files in each of the vehicle's folders to make them all reflect you're about to fly a UPS Freighter (for example).

 

WARNING: I am NOT Advocating anyone do this unless you are very adept at file and folder manipuation..and of course don't expect support from PMDG if you tinker.  If you must...make backups!

 

So...with all that said...MAYBE one of our intrepid coders out there who are adept at writing small apps to do things like this may create one that automates the whole process...OR....our great PMDG team would look upon this as a cool new feature in a future release?

Maybe this is all covered in the SDK for those who tinker with that (I never have...I just paint, hehe)

 

Anyway...something to ponder later after we're looking to make our experience even more realistic...for right now...I'm cool with PMDG ground equipment!

[JasonB 117]

Steve et al,

 

Modifying folders at that level is just going to create more problems than it is worth. We have a different solution than you guys are attempting to do so leave it alone until further notice please.

 

This will change in a future update.

 

Stay tuned...

[Steve Dra 7,588]

Steve et al,

 

Modifying folders at that level is just going to create more problems than it is worth. We have a different solution than you guys are attempting to do so leave it alone until further notice please.

 

This will change in a future update.

 

Stay tuned...

Hehe..I was hoping you guys may have had something in the works (or plan to)

What can I say....Idle hands and a curious nature...they've both gotten me in trouble and furthered my career(s)...just have to apply a little common sense before you start playing with things.  :wink:

 

I have no desire to play with this though Jason...even if you guys didn't have a potential solution on the horizon....I really don't mind PMDG vehicles buzzing around the Queen. :smile:

 

Can't wait to see what you guys have planned.  Thanks for the heads up Jason!

[737freak 42]

Steve et al,

 

Modifying folders at that level is just going to create more problems than it is worth. We have a different solution than you guys are attempting to do so leave it alone until further notice please.

 

This will change in a future update.

 

Stay tuned...

 

Many thanks for the reply, Jason. Glad to hear you guys are aware of this 'shortcoming'. Looking forward to airline-matching service vehicles in a future update. :smile: