Need Dynamic Weather Help

Hi guys,

I'm trying to learn how to edit Dynamic Weather and I'm using

a tutorial from AirGoons. https://www.airgoons.com/w/DCS_Reference/Editing_Dynamic_Weather

There are instructions for placing weather systems in a trigger zone for easy sizing, location and multiple systems.

I extracted the mission file from the .miz and made a cyclone the same size and location (X-Y Axis)

as a trigger zone using Notepad++. All good so far, but I'm stuck on this point:

"Step 4: Re-inserting the mission file

Go back to the zip manipulation tool and do the reverse of the extraction process. Take your newly edited mission file and copy it back into the .miz file. "

What is the reverse of the extraction process?

How do I use 7zip to re-insert the "mission" file into the .miz file.

Anybody??? :helpsmilie:

Should be as simple as drag and drop if you can open the .miz file with 7zip, or you've renamed it to .zip or .rar

I use Winrar and set it to open .miz files without having to rename them.

All I do is open the .miz with Winrar then drag and drop whatever file into it and close Winrar, done. You can drag and drop stuff out and in to extract and insert.

Hope that's helpful.

Hi guys,

I'm trying to learn how to edit Dynamic Weather and I'm using

a tutorial from AirGoons. https://www.airgoons.com/w/DCS_Reference/Editing_Dynamic_Weather

 

There are instructions for placing weather systems in a trigger zone for easy sizing, location and multiple systems.

I extracted the mission file from the .miz and made a cyclone the same size and location (X-Y Axis)

as a trigger zone using Notepad++. All good so far, but I'm stuck on this point:

 

"Step 4: Re-inserting the mission file

Go back to the zip manipulation tool and do the reverse of the extraction process. Take your newly edited mission file and copy it back into the .miz file. "

 

What is the reverse of the extraction process?

How do I use 7zip to re-insert the "mission" file into the .miz file.

 

Anybody??? :helpsmilie:

Whenever I’ve tried to use 7-Zip to recompress the file, the mission ends up corrupted. Instead I use the Win10 “Send to” menu item and select “Compressed folder” so that a new mission file is created.

Select all the files that go into the mission file, right click, select “send to” and proceed from there.

So this can be done with 7-zip as well.

A .miz file is literally a zip file (in the technical sense) which is why 7-zip, winzip and winrar can handle it.

So here are the steps:

1. Extract the .miz you have to a spot
   
2. Edit the mission file
   
3. Select all within the folder (not the folder itself) and right click 7-zip -> add to "folder name".zip
   
4. Rename the resulting zip in the folder to .miz
   

The biggest thing that tends to go wrong (and break DCS) is when the archiving software creates a top level folder within the archive.

When opening the .miz you made, make sure you see the default files (mission, theatre, etc.)

P.s. to alter the extension, these need to be shown. If they are not, look here: https://support.winzip.com/hc/en-us/articles/115011457948-How-to-configure-Windows-to-show-file-extensions-and-hidden-files

Whenever I’ve tried to use 7-Zip to recompress the file, the mission ends up corrupted.

This is what happened to me with whatever compression method I tried. That's why I set Winrar to open the .miz files directly.

Doing it this way makes it very simple - double click to open, drag stuff out, edit it then drag and drop back in (overwrite original still in .miz), close the file. You can easily delete or add stuff within the .miz file, like a custom config\views folder for example.

Also has the big advantage of maintaining the original compression format used by DCS. No need to extract the whole thing or recompress after playing around with it.

For Windows 10:

Screenshot 1 = Show hidden file extensions (best to have this on - hidden files not necessary but handy)

Screenshot 2 = Set Winrar to open .miz files (same procedure for 7zip or other app)

This is what happened to me with whatever compression method I tried. That's why I set Winrar to open the .miz files directly.

 

Doing it this way makes it very simple - double click to open, drag stuff out, edit it then drag and drop back in (overwrite original still in .miz), close the file. You can easily delete or add stuff within the .miz file, like a custom config\views folder for example.

 

Also has the big advantage of maintaining the original compression format used by DCS. No need to extract the whole thing or recompress after playing around with it.

 

For Windows 10:

Screenshot 1 = Show hidden file extensions (best to have this on - hidden files not necessary but handy)

Screenshot 2 = Set Winrar to open .miz files (same procedure for 7zip or other app)

:) You need to realize that I’m a dinosaur. So I tend to do things the hard way. At any rate, I prefer to generate a new ZIP file with the altered material. That way, if something goes wrong, the original file remains unaltered.

You could always just make a copy of the mission file, rename it then mess with it :smilewink:

I know what you mean though, we all have our foibles :D