Adding A/C messes up MB

[_486_Col_Wolf]

I have something strange going on that I've narrowed down to adding new A/C. Adding a new A/C messes up my existing missions in a strange way. Once a new A/C is added, my missions fly correctly with the assigned A/C but if I reopen the mission in MB everything below the added A/C in the AIRCRAFT folder gets moved down on space and is assigned in MB and also shows up in the Advanced Info.

For example, if my AIRCRAFT folder has 80 A/C and the new added A/C gets alphabetically assigned to 26, then everything after it on the list gets moved down to 27,28 ect. If one of these moved A/C was assigned in MB, when I reopen the mission in MB the old A/C 27 is now 28 and it changes the mission to use the new A/C 27 which is now one above it alphabetically. But in the same instance, opening the mission from Single Mission or Campaign, the A/C originally assigned remains correct and is flown however, in the Advanced Info under "Player A/C" and when moused over on the map, the incorrect A/C is shown.

I know it's a tough problem to describe but I'm hoping anyone who knows the fix might recognize the symptoms.

[Sarg Willy]

A quirk , in structure management , sounds to me like , missions and campaigns , looks for aircraft naming convention ,
and MB uses the numbering convention , I,ll bet that Bearcat would say , is a result of a data file , that has not been deleted , when the new file is created , it,s possible it will correct the issue , that's my best guess , 2 cents worth ,

[bearcat241]

... I,ll bet that Bearcat would say,...

I dunno Sarge....no tips from me on this. I got a headache just reading this...never seen anything even close to it.

[Sarg Willy]

Hi BC , An old game that still cross,s , what 7 different platform,s , each slightly different , by design ,
which adds to the delima , fact is the mission still run,s , just the MB map infoe mouse over is confused ,
most people would never have picked up the subtil difference , Rami perhaps ,
I can only recall something off with mouse over , but never made the link back to an add on aircraft,

[Devildog73]

Col Wolf,
I used to get that too.
If I remember correctly it has to do with which program you are using to add aircraft.
MK's utility and QC update, or Jonesoft QC updater.
I use MK's to add aircraft to my list and then use Jonesoft to update the QC flie.

One or the other of them does what you are talking about. It has been so long since I have used either, I do not remember which.
I have done most of mine like Rami, by hand most recently.
DDog

I have something strange going on that I've narrowed down to adding new A/C. Adding a new A/C messes up my existing missions in a strange way. Once a new A/C is added, my missions fly correctly with the assigned A/C but if I reopen the mission in MB everything below the added A/C in the AIRCRAFT folder gets moved down on space and is assigned in MB and also shows up in the Advanced Info.

For example, if my AIRCRAFT folder has 80 A/C and the new added A/C gets alphabetically assigned to 26, then everything after it on the list gets moved down to 27,28 ect. If one of these moved A/C was assigned in MB, when I reopen the mission in MB the old A/C 27 is now 28 and it changes the mission to use the new A/C 27 which is now one above it alphabetically. But in the same instance, opening the mission from Single Mission or Campaign, the A/C originally assigned remains correct and is flown however, in the Advanced Info under "Player A/C" and when moused over on the map, the incorrect A/C is shown.

I know it's a tough problem to describe but I'm hoping anyone who knows the fix might recognize the symptoms.

[Allen]

MB uses aircraft folder name when loading aircraft and ship. The only way I can thing MB can be messed up like this is if you have aircraft that use fltsim.0, fltsim.1 .ect. in the aircraft.cfg

[_486_Col_Wolf]

DD
I add them by hand. I just paste them from the downloaded folder. But I do have Jonesoft QC updater, maybe this is the source of the problem.

[Sarg Willy]

Not trying to high jack your thread Col Wolf , but Alen posted cfg fltsim 0-1 , and I half to ask a really dumb question,
Can you even make a mission file to call fltsim 1 aircraft , from MB ???? I thought it was only available as a free flight option ,, Novice MB user here , and I guess I never tried to before ,

[Rami]

486_Col_Wolf,

I cannot recall this being an issue for me, but I have always edited by QC file manually.

[Captain Kurt]

Sarg Willy

You are right, MB only sees the aircraft folder name and can't call multiple cfg fltsim version numbers. Doesn't see the cfg at all.

[_486_Col_Wolf]

A/C are not numbered, true. It was just the way I was trying to explain the problem. If I add an AC to the Aircraft folder every AC assigned to a mission shifts up one space alphabetically. In other words if I have a Spitfire MK I assigned in a mission and the AC above it alphabetically in the AIRCRAFT folder is an SBD, then adding a new AC to the AIRCRAFT folder above them on the list makes MB switch the Spit to an SBD. Everything below the added AC shifts one space alphabetically and reflects this in MB.

[_486_Col_Wolf]

OK, so I've found an awkward fix to the problem. If you add the A/C to your AIRCRAFT folder then rename the A/C folder with a z at the beginning it puts it at the bottom of the list. For instance..

"Bf-109 F4", rename to "zBf109-F4" Once that is done all missions opened in MB remain as before and Advanced Info shows the correct A/C when moused over when flying missions in either Single Mission or Campaign. As long as the CFG file shows the A/C proper name (without the z) it will show up in Free Flight in correct alphabetical order, and in MB as an assignable A/C in correct alphabetical order.

It seems the problem only occurs when the A/C is added to the AIRCRAFT folder in the middle of the list. Not sure why.

[Sarg Willy]

Ahh your making progress, and just how many aircraft in your directory ?

[Rami]

486_Col_Wolf,

I can't recall at this point whether it was Talon, Bearcat241, Cody Coyote, Captain Kurt, or someone else, but it was always impressed upon me when working in MB to have each skin as a separate aircraft entity to avoid this type of problem, so as a result, I wasn't able to reproduce it.

But I'm following this thread closely to see if there is a new way forward. Carry on!

[Captain Kurt]

That's pretty much the best way to do it so you can use the Mission Builder directly.

If you are familiar with and want to hand edit the mission file, there are other ways to work with it. It can be a bit complex. Here is Cody Coyote's primer:

What’s in a Name

You may notice that the names for the aircraft shown in the mis file are different than the names shown on the dropdown menu within Mission Builder. There are some differences in the naming conventions used within Mission Builder, Free Flight, and the mis file. Based on my experience, here are some general rules:

The aircraft names displayed in the Mission Builder (MB) drop-down menu come from the title line in the plane's aircraft.cfg file. If you have two planes with the same title, that name will appear twice in MB. That isn't true in Free Flight (FF).

Generally in Free Flight the names displayed are again from the title line in the aircraft.cfg file. However, in FF if two planes have the same title the game displays the title name for one of the planes and the folder name of the other.

Multiple skins (textures) can cause issues in MB. If you have a plane with multiple skins and different aircraft.cfg title entries for each skin, you will see the title for each plane in the drop-down menu. You can select either or both planes and place them in your mission. HOWEVER, what happens next depends on how your skins and models are configured.

If you have a single aircraft folder with multiple skins and each skin has its own Model folder and model file assigned to it, MB treats each one as a separate plane and you can fly both planes, each with its own skin, in the same mission.

On the other hand, if the two skins share the same model file then you can only use one of them at a time in any individual mission. Unfortunately MB doesn't tell you this when writing the mission. It allows you to select both and save the mission but when you go to fly it you will either get an error message and the mission won't load or it will load but only one texture will be used on both planes.

If you have a favorite plane with multiple skins and you choose to make copies of the plane's folder and place a different skin into each folder, make sure to give the copied plane both a new folder name as well as a new title name in the aircraft.cfg to insure that they all show up properly in both MB and FF.

Here’s a guide to helping interpret the mis file names:
MIS File Name Meaning

name=F4F4_Wildcat Single model/single texture (aircraft folder name)

name=DB_F4U1C_Corsair Multiple models/multiple textures - FIRST PLANE CHOSEN (folder name)

name=DB_F4U1C_Corsair.1 Multiple models/multiple textures - SECOND PLANE CHOSEN (folder name + #1)

name=SBD2_DAUNTLESS.1 Single model/multiple texture/same DP (folder name + #1)

name=P-38F Lightning Photo Recon Single model/multiple texture/different DP (title name from aircraft.cfg)

If a plane with one model and multiple textures has both textures chosen it will only display one name, the one shown in [flightsim.1] of the aircraft.cfg file.