How to combine repaints with Community mods?

[ryanbatc 12,857]

Does anyone know how to do this?  I've heard it can be done but it seems very complex.  

[hs118 707]

I don't have a tutorial but....basically copy and modify one of the existing entries in the aircraft.cfg. The magic step though is to update or create the layout.json file. The easiest way to do the layout file is with MSFSLayoutGenerator by Brandon Filer.

I have successfully made Robert Young's Turbo Mod a standalone aircraft and added a repaint with the layout generator tool.

[ryanbatc 12,857]

18 minutes ago, yurei said:

I don't have a tutorial but....basically copy and modify one of the existing entries in the aircraft.cfg. The magic step though is to update or create the layout.json file. The easiest way to do the layout file is with MSFSLayoutGenerator by Brandon Filer.

I have successfully made Robert Young's Turbo Mod a standalone aircraft and added a repaint with the layout generator tool.

So you have the other non turbo mod and Rob's as separate aircraft?

[hs118 707]

Just now, ryanbatcund said:

So you have the other non turbo mod and Rob's as separate aircraft?

Yes. In the original Turbo mod thread somewhere near the middle, there are general instructions for making it a separate standalone mod. Again, the magic at the end of the file copying is the use of the MSFSLayoutGenerator (which is not mentioned). If you follow the instructions explicitly, they will work with the v1 mod. 

If you follow the instructions with the v2 mod, there will 3 or 4 liveries that show up blank in the sim. Running the layout generator will catalog all the liveries into a new layout.json file for the folder. 

Sorry I don't have a tutorial at this time. I am working on a repaint mod package, just repaints so I may make more notes for other humans at that stage.

[hs118 707]

@ryanbatcund I don't remember where I copied this from (perhaps the Turbo mod thread ) but here are some instructions I archived in a text file. Again, the real magic is the layout.json file at the root of your mod folder.

"Yes you can, but you will need to edit the  layout.jsn file in the mod's top folder and aircraft cfg  in the mod's simobjects folder.Open the aircraft cfg file (after making safety copy) and copy/paste one of the FLIGHTSIM.X entries (where X is the number in the ordered list of aircraft additions) and add a title at the first line, then below that the texture name/number, then below that the unique registration number.

In the layout.jsn file you'll see a bunch of Texture references for each current livery: DDS/Json/Texture/Thumbnail/small thumbnail.

You'll need to add all the texture dds and json files in a new list. If you have complex liveries there will be a lot of entries. This is quite involved if you haven't done this before - or if your additional liveries have their own layout and json files you'll need to merge that with my mod's equivalent. You can only have ONE layout.json file.

Lastly place the new liveries in new TEXTURE folders. You can name them what you like but it might be easier to carry on the texture numbers (7,8,9,etc).

Don't. forget to make BACKUP copies of everything before you edit!"

Edited October 19, 2020 by yurei

[CFIJose 5,485]

I tried adding some of my favorite liveries to Rob's Turbo Mod but was unsuccessful. I had no idea that I need to use the MSFSLayoutGenerator.

Thanks.

[CFIJose 5,485]

1 hour ago, yurei said:

@ryanbatcund I don't remember where I copied this from (perhaps the Turbo mod thread ) but here are some instructions I archived in a text file. Again, the real magic is the layout.json file at the root of your mod folder.

"Yes you can, but you will need to edit the  layout.jsn file in the mod's top folder and aircraft cfg  in the mod's simobjects folder.Open the aircraft cfg file (after making safety copy) and copy/paste one of the FLIGHTSIM.X entries (where X is the number in the ordered list of aircraft additions) and add a title at the first line, then below that the texture name/number, then below that the unique registration number.

In the layout.jsn file you'll see a bunch of Texture references for each current livery: DDS/Json/Texture/Thumbnail/small thumbnail.

You'll need to add all the texture dds and json files in a new list. If you have complex liveries there will be a lot of entries. This is quite involved if you haven't done this before - or if your additional liveries have their own layout and json files you'll need to merge that with my mod's equivalent. You can only have ONE layout.json file.

Lastly place the new liveries in new TEXTURE folders. You can name them what you like but it might be easier to carry on the texture numbers (7,8,9,etc).

Don't. forget to make BACKUP copies of everything before you edit!"

I understand all the above, but have no idea what to do with the MSFSLayoutGenerator.

Ex. Create a folder for MSFSLayoutGenerator. Drop the .exe file. drop the edited layout.json file, and run the .exe.

Is this what you did?

[hs118 707]

Pretty much. If you drag and drop the original layout.json onto MSFSLayoutGenerator, the tool will automatically know where the original layout came from and will overwrite it. 

No need to actually run the LayoutGenerator if you drag and drop the layout.json on top of it. 

Really, it is that simple.

 

Edited October 19, 2020 by yurei

[robert young 2,897]

2 hours ago, ryanbatcund said:

So you have the other non turbo mod and Rob's as separate aircraft?

There is a fantastic tool (actually a couple of them) which make combining stuff so much easier.One is an auto layout creator. Before finding it I would spend many, many hours either creating a foolproof layout.json file (it is SO easy to make a tiny mistake and the whole file gets scuppered) or wondering why items would not load, or in some cases the whole aircraft would refuse to load.

https://github.com/HughesMDflyer4/MSFSLayoutGenerator

....enables you to create extra livery folders, or indeed anything else, and when you run it, it will automatically create the vital layout.json file without which you cannot combine anything without a great deal of work.

However you still have to be careful if your new liveries contain any other than textures/model cfgl files as they are likely to clash with any mod that has its own custom files. But textures are ok. You will have to manually enable the new liveries by assigning a {flightsim.x} (wrong brackets as avsim won't allow square brackets) unique entry for each extra livery in the aircraft.cfg file (just like you did in FSX).

Edited October 20, 2020 by robert young

[CFIJose 5,485]

You got all this Ryan? 😀

[ryanbatc 12,857]

Ooofda, ok I'll read through this.  I am starting with the 152 livery I like, and trying to make it work with the C152X mod.  Then I have a Bonanza livery incoming (not mine but a request from me), that I want to combine with Rob's incredible mod.  For the 152 someone gave me a template which I'm looking at to learn the basics.  Realistically I'll use that exe ha!

Well I screwed something up because I no longer see the Bonanza V2.  I tried adding a livery I really like from the default G36.  I added it as a variation but I think I need to add it to the v2's aircraft,cfg as a variation at the end of the file perhaps?  Then somehow update the json without overwriting the v2 json hehe.  I'm kinda lost.

edit2:  I thought I had it all setup...but still no Bonanza v2 present in the sim.

What I have done so far

1) Added a flightsim.10 to the V2 (copied the livery contents of the one I am trying to add)

[FLTSIM.10]
title = "Bonanza G36 Turbo10" ; Variation name
model = "" ; model folder
panel = "" ; panel folder
sound = "" ; sound folder
texture = "10" ; texture folder
kb_checklists = "" ; Procedures/Checklist sibling file name
kb_reference = "" ; Reference information sibling file name
description = "TT:AIRCRAFT.DESCRIPTION" ; Variation description.
wip_indicator = 0 ; know if the variation is good to go or still WIP : -1=Disabled, 0=Rough, 1=1st Pass, 2=Finished
ui_manufacturer = "TT:AIRCRAFT.UI_MANUFACTURER" ; e.g. Boeing, Cessna
ui_type = "Bonanza G36 Turbo" ; e.g. 747-400, 172
ui_variation = "Turbo Blue" ; e.g. World Air, IFR Panel
ui_typerole = "Single Engine Prop" ; e.g. Single Engine Prop, Twin Engine Prop, Rotorcraft, etc
ui_createdby = "Asobo Studio" ; e.g. Asobo Studio, Microsoft, FSAddonCompany, etc
ui_thumbnailfile = "" ; app relative path to ThumbNail image file
ui_certified_ceiling = 25000 ; service ceiling / max certified operating altitude (ft)
ui_max_range = 920 ; max distance the aircraft can fly between take-off and landing in (NM)
ui_autonomy = 6 ; max duration the aircraft can fly between take-off and landing in (Hrs)
ui_fuel_burn_rate = 100 ; average fuel consumption per hour (lbs/hr) - reminder: fuel density is ~6.7lbs per US gallon
atc_id = "N136GF" ; tail number
atc_id_enable = 1 ; enable tail number
atc_airline = "" ; airline name
atc_flight_number = "" ; flight number
atc_heavy = 0 ; heavy?
atc_parking_types = "RAMP" ; "ANY" / "RAMP" / "CARGO" / "MIL_CARGO" / "MIL_COMBAT" / "GATE" / "DOCK"
atc_parking_codes = "" ; Comma separated and may be as small as one character each
atc_id_color = "" ; color for the tail number : i.e. "#ffff00ff"
atc_id_font = "" ; font for the tail number
isAirTraffic = 0 ; Is the plane usable for air traffic
isUserSelectable = 1 ; Is the plane selectable by the user

2) I copied the new livery folder and placed into V2's directory with the others and renamed it correctly as TEXTURE.10

2a) The livery I am wanting to place has tons of textures that the Turbo G36's don't have....  so I changed the last line of the fallback to fallback to the stock G36 textures...maybe that's the issue?  The texture.cfg for my new TEXTURE.10 folder is:

[fltsim]

fallback.1=..\..\..\..\texture\AS1000
fallback.2=..\..\..\..\texture\DetailMap
fallback.3=..\..\..\..\texture\Gauges
fallback.4=..\..\..\..\texture\Glass
fallback.5=..\..\..\..\texture\Lights
fallback.6=..\..\Asobo_Bonanza_G36\TEXTURE

3) I then backed up the existing layout.json and dragged the copy onto the EXE file, which then added my texture.10 entries to the new file.  I made sure the copy was now named correctly.

After doing all of these things the V2 Bonanza DOES NOT show in the sim at all...  Obviously I messed up somewhere!

Edited October 20, 2020 by ryanbatcund

[RALF9636 1,957]

How could something that was just a simple drag and drop / copy and paste procedure become such a complicated mess?

I wish Asobo would provide a simple user-friendly livery-manager.

 

[CFIJose 5,485]

9 hours ago, ryanbatcund said:

Ooofda, ok I'll read through this.  I am starting with the 152 livery I like, and trying to make it work with the C152X mod.  Then I have a Bonanza livery incoming (not mine but a request from me), that I want to combine with Rob's incredible mod.  For the 152 someone gave me a template which I'm looking at to learn the basics.  Realistically I'll use that exe ha!

Well I screwed something up because I no longer see the Bonanza V2.  I tried adding a livery I really like from the default G36.  I added it as a variation but I think I need to add it to the v2's aircraft,cfg as a variation at the end of the file perhaps?  Then somehow update the json without overwriting the v2 json hehe.  I'm kinda lost.

When I tried it, this is what I did:

1) Copied downloaded livery texture to G36 Turbo mod folder.

2) Added the info to aircraft.cfg and texture.10

3) Copied relevant texture info from layout.json from download livery to the layout.json file in G36 Turbo mod.

The result was that only one livery showed up.

Now I learned that we need to use MSFSLayoutGenerator to fix the layout.json file.

Update: The final step is to drop the edited layout.json file into MSFSLayoutGenerator.

All liveries are showing up now. Pic of new livery:

Edited October 20, 2020 by DJJose

[hs118 707]

The use of the MSFSLayoutGenerator is astoundingly simple though not very intuitive. With file explorer open so you can see both the original layout.json and the MSFSLayoutGenerator.exe file, put the mouse pointer on the original layout.json file.

Hold the left mouse button down, and drag (without letting off the left mouse key) the layout.json file ON TOP OF the MSFSGenerator.exe file. When over top the .exe file, let off the left mouse button.

The program will automagically run and rebuild the layout.json in the original layout.json location (overwriting the one that was originally there).

 

PS, you can also use the MSFSLayoutGenerator with command line arguments. See it's documentation.

Edited October 20, 2020 by yurei

[CFIJose 5,485]

Added a second livery: