L39 skinning

It would seem there is some undocumented difference between the L-39 and, say, the F-15C, in regards to applying new skins. I CANNOT get my skin to appear, no matter what I try. There was no "L-39C" folder in Bazar/Liveries...which made alarm bells ring for me....

Can someone who has actually successfully changed a L39 skin give me some tips here on the idiosyncracies of this plane. (description.lua and file path info would be nice)

No need for alarm bells, quite a few modules don't have their folders in Bazar/Liveries and these have to be created manually. "L-39C" is indeed the required folder name for the C version.

I don't know much about skinning, but I've just downloaded and tried that one for example...

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3300665/

... and it works allright, so you might want to check its description.lua for reference.

No need for alarm bells, quite a few modules don't have their folders in Bazar/Liveries and these have to be created manually. "L-39C" is indeed the required folder name for the C version.

 

I don't know much about skinning, but I've just downloaded and tried that one for example...

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3300665/

... and it works allright, so you might want to check its description.lua for reference.

Thanks....and that guys gone and done a dirty dog hack..using the original LUA file from the black diamonds, and just swapped the textures...lol....doesn't really explain how it works, but maybe that's how it has to work.....

This is my path for custom L-39C skins:

C:\Users\Ron\Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\Liveries\L-39C

Was going to link you to here: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=134504 but I see you have already been there. Regarding your question on the first part in the description file that you do not change, that information comes from the a/c's EDM file which is unreadable through normal means. Look around and should find a utility that will find all the names for you. Though if just doing a regular skin, should not be needed, just work with what is given on a normal skin.

Good luck.

oh..that could be tricksy...whats with that DCS.openbeta folder name..is that because you have dual installation, or an automatic name...I am running the updater that flips stable and openbeta…

should be irrelevant though, since I put all my mods directly into my DCS World/Bazar/Liveries/L-39C folder. Its still being flakey though...frustrating

No need for alarm bells, quite a few modules don't have their folders in Bazar/Liveries and these have to be created manually. "L-39C" is indeed the required folder name for the C version.

 

I don't know much about skinning, but I've just downloaded and tried that one for example...

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3300665/

... and it works allright, so you might want to check its description.lua for reference.

I installed those and they work fine...BUT.....if I simply replace the DIFF file with my own...guess what? the texture doesn't change....even with the old texture gone, DCS keeps using it.

@Sarah, whichever /saved games directory your installation uses is the correct place.

When you install DCS initially, it will create that folder based on the branch and an .ini file in the game folder will point to the location. Manually switching branches of an installation doesn't change the location of that pointer.

So, if you only have saved games/DCS in your directory, and that's where your controls/custom missions etc. are pulled from; saved games/DCS/liveries/AIRFRAMENAME is indeed the place to put them.

I have a dual installation, but that matters not, just as long as you use the applicable folder on your system and that its Liveries/L-39C/{Custom L39Skin folder name}.

Should not be flakey if everything is setup correctly. All of the liveries for the client enabled a/c work the same, its just that they sometimes are in different locations. BUT, they will ALL work out of the Saved games liveries folder just the same, if you use the correct aircraft folder name there.

Try and give us a bit more detail on what exactly is being flakey and provide pictures and files (the description.lua in question) to help us see what is going on and we should be able to help you.

DCS.OpenBeta is a standard name when installing a separate OB copy of the game on a computer.

"Flipper user" here as well. I've noticed when I converted my stable install into OB spec that neither main game folder, nor the one in Saved Games were renamed, so yes, the folder name should be irrelevant in either case.

ok..I have the liveries for the L-39C in my user/saved games/dcs/liveries/L-39C folder. If I Am in the mission editor and assign that skin to a unit through the loadout screen, I see it perfect. If I then load the mission, the plane is actually a completely different skin.

And when you say "Load the mission" this is on the same computer that you created the mission on right? I know, simple assumption, but when weird things are happening, need to be as specific as possible to find the problem.

We might need to get the livery and the mission to help decipher what is going on.

yes, one machine.... if I load the mission from inside the mission editor, in the same session even, the plane that appears in world, and the one that appears in the mission editor small window on the loadout screen, are different.

Let me go back to basics here.... Current situation : Skin installed in my user/Saved Games/DCS/Liveries/L-39C folder. Description.LUA is a direct copy of the one used for the Black Shark skin. My skin name is the same name as the Black Shark one, and in the same directory as the description.lua. If I go into mission editor loadout screen, the skin appears in the drop down box, and when selected, the small picture of the plane, shows the correct skin. I save the mission, "play mission" from the editor directly...or play it from the DCS main page, the plane that appears in world is completely different (yes, its not eve the black shark skin, but a plain one with no markings).