A question about reducing the number of paints per aircraft.

[Navy Chief]

I, like most of SOH members, have a lot of aircraft in my FSX-O, FSX-S, and P3D inventories. Generally, I may only use 2 or 3 of the many possible paints for most of them.

This question has probably been answered before, but I've not really understood how to proceed.

With so many paints for most models, how can I delete the ones I KNOW I will never select? I don't see a reason to back them up, or store on a different drive, etc..., when they are simply not needed (by me, anyway).

Keeping in mind you are dealing with an old Chief, and kindly explain how to do this? Thanks! NC

[andersel]

Chief - I fly in FS9, but I don't imagine that things are very much, if at all, different in FSX. When I want to "remove" a paintjob from one of my aircraft it is a simple two step editing process. 1. delete the paint that you want gone from the aircraft cfg. 2. renumber the remaining cfg. entries so that they are in the proper numerical order. Done! If/when I do this I normally just leave the .texture in question in place, on the off chance that I might want to use it again.

Hope this works for you.

LA

[Navy Chief]

Chief - I fly in FS9, but I don't imagine that things are very much, if at all, different in FSX. When I want to "remove" a paintjob from one of my aircraft it is a simple two step editing process. 1. delete the paint that you want gone from the aircraft cfg. 2. renumber the remaining cfg. entries so that they are in the proper numerical order. Done! If/when I do this I normally just leave the .texture in question in place, on the off chance that I might want to use it again.

Hope this works for you.

LA

Thanks LA, easy enough to understand. The question I have about not deleting, but letting those textures remain; doesn't that take up a lot of hard drive space, overall? I mean, if I know there's no way I would choose anything other than a USN paint for a A-4 Skyhawk (for example), wouldn't that free up a lot of hd space, overall? NC

[falcon409]

Thanks LA, easy enough to understand. The question I have about not deleting, but letting those textures remain; doesn't that take up a lot of hard drive space, overall? I mean, if I know there's no way I would choose anything other than a USN paint for a A-4 Skyhawk (for example), wouldn't that free up a lot of hd space, overall? NC

Pete, I know when I get an airplane, that at best I might keep two or three out of the twenty some people include with their models. I delete the livery and remove it's info from the cfg file. . .done. Yes it does free up HD space if you have a lot of airplanes that you plan to "trim down". Also quite a few have two or three "models variations". . .I remember some that had even more than that. when I delete liveries, I also look to see what models that might eliminate and those are gone as well. . .I don't care about subtle differences in models. I get the airplane to fly, not because one has chrome trim around the windows and another is powder coated, lol.

[Ferry_vO]

Chief - I fly in FS9, but I don't imagine that things are very much, if at all, different in FSX. When I want to "remove" a paintjob from one of my aircraft it is a simple two step editing process. 1. delete the paint that you want gone from the aircraft cfg. 2. renumber the remaining cfg. entries so that they are in the proper numerical order. Done! If/when I do this I normally just leave the .texture in question in place, on the off chance that I might want to use it again.

In FsX just deleting the appropriate texture folder is enough, the entry won't show up in the sim without a texture folder present. No need to edit the aircraft.cfg!

[Navy Chief]

In FsX just deleting the appropriate texture folder is enough, the entry won't show up in the sim without a texture folder present. No need to edit the aircraft.cfg!

Haven't tried this method yet, but won't this cause error pop ups upon booting FSX? NC

[Jafo]

In FsX just deleting the appropriate texture folder is enough, the entry won't show up in the sim without a texture folder present. No need to edit the aircraft.cfg!

That's correct, however some aircraft share texture folders so not every 'texture' can be removed with impunity without checking the config files.
Ideally they should reference 'texture.common' or similar, but it's not uncommon to have a fallback to another separate folder...or even another aircraft entry entirely.
Bottom line....check first...

[racartron]

Most simple method around is to tweak the aircraft.cfg file by adding "//" in front of the texture livery call out.
Like so Texture=n4453T changed to texture=//n4453T.
FSX Will ignore the entry but you can add it back anytime you want by deleting the "//".

[Navy Chief]

Most simple method around is to tweak the aircraft.cfg file by adding "//" in front of the texture livery call out.
Like so Texture=n4453T changed to texture=//n4453T.
FSX Will ignore the entry but you can add it back anytime you want by deleting the "//".

So if if it is a texture I know I will not use, simply add the // in front of the texture livery listed in the cfg file. Simple enough. Still, am thinking that, over all, deleting those uneeded texture folders would free up a significant amount of space. NC

[Navy Chief]

Although there are a lot of programs that allow for management of FSX files, I do not recall one that specifically will tailor which texture files are associated with a model, to include cfg file editing, and deletion of unwanted texture folders. NC

[WarHorse47]

Chief, I'm trying to understand the issue you've raised.

If you want to remove some textures, just delete them and edit your aircraft.cfg by removing the corresponding [fltsim] entries and renumbering the remainder.

There are utilities like ACA2007 Light from AI Flight Support that can be used to check the aircraft.cfg for errors - like a missing texture folder.

[falcon409]

Chief, I'm trying to understand the issue you've raised.
If you want to remove some textures, just delete them and edit your aircraft.cfg by removing the corresponding [fltsim] entries and renumbering the remainder.
There are utilities like ACA2007 Light from AI Flight Support that can be used to check the aircraft.cfg for errors - like a missing texture folder.

Yea, it seems pretty cut and dried here. . .if you won't use them any more delete them. These other suggestions are fine, but the quickest, simplest, most obvious is to delete them, renumber the remaining liveries and get back to flying.

[Lane Street]

If you are looking for a tool to do this with, you might take a look at the AI-Aircraft Editor- http://www.owlsnest.eu/tools.php

I think it will do what you wnt except for the actual deleting of the texture files.

Due respect, if you are deleting texture folders because you are out of hard drive space, you need a new hard drive.

cheers,
Lane

PS. the tool works for user planes too, not just AI

[WarHorse47]

Some additional suggestions (cautions) with FSX.

Before you delete any texture folders, I would relocate them first to another location before actual deletion - in case one needs to be reinstalled.

I would then edit the aircraft.cfg file and maybe load the Select Aircraft menu to make sure everything shows as expected.

With the remaining folders I would also check the texture.cfg files to make sure the remaining texture folders are not referencing any of the folders you want to delete.

Kinda sounds like I've "been there, done that" doesn't it..

[Navy Chief]

With the remaining folders I would also check the texture.cfg files to make sure the remaining texture folders are not referencing any of the folders you want to delete.

Yep, it is this step that somewhat confuses me, and why I've been hesitant to do this NC

[WarHorse47]

Yep, it is this step that somewhat confuses me, and why I've been hesitant to do this NC

Which is why you backup everything before you start. You can make a copy of the entire aircraft folder for insurance, then make the changes until you get familiar with the various aspects of removing the individual textures. If you screw up, you restore the folder. Great thing about FSX is that you learn as you go.

[expat]

I tend not to delete textures (which mount up on HD space I admit). However, like others I usually narrow down to 1-3 paints I like best and keep active. The trick I learned here - even easier than having to renumber the air.cfg - is simply to add a "minus" sign next to the panel entry on the paints you want to disapply, i.e., panel=-, or panel.2-. This removes all these extra paints from the boot up of FSX and keeps your aircraft main menu nice and short.

[padburgess]

Hi Navy Chief

Try this application at Flightsim.com
Dave Nunez's Repaint Manager X. It shows your aircraft listing of paints and allows you to select and delete those you don't want. It will either delete the cfg entry and leave the texture folder or delete both the cfg entry and texture folder.
I use it all the time and have never had a problem.

FSX - FSX Utilities
FSX RepaintManagerX

Name: repaintmanagerx_1_01.zip
Size: 1,413,884 Date: 04-06-2010 Downloads: 3,205


Regards
Paul

[Navy Chief]

Hi Navy Chief

Try this application at Flightsim.com
Dave Nunez's Repaint Manager X. It shows your aircraft listing of paints and allows you to select and delete those you don't want. It will either delete the cfg entry and leave the texture folder or delete both the cfg entry and texture folder.
I use it all the time and have never had a problem.

FSX - FSX Utilities
FSX RepaintManagerX

Name: repaintmanagerx_1_01.zip
Size: 1,413,884 Date: 04-06-2010 Downloads: 3,205


Regards
Paul

Will take a look at that Paul; had never heard of it. Thanks! NC

[falcon409]

Was also going to give that a try but it has it's limitations. In my case I only have the default aircraft in the Aircraft folder the rest are divided into sub-folders by type and this program has no way to search those sub-folders.

[ejoiner]

I, like most of SOH members, have a lot of aircraft in my FSX-O, FSX-S, and P3D inventories. Generally, I may only use 2 or 3 of the many possible paints for most of them.

This question has probably been answered before, but I've not really understood how to proceed.

With so many paints for most models, how can I delete the ones I KNOW I will never select? I don't see a reason to back them up, or store on a different drive, etc..., when they are simply not needed (by me, anyway).

Keeping in mind you are dealing with an old Chief, and kindly explain how to do this? Thanks! NC

Really all you have to do is remove the entry from the aircraft.cfg and renumber the remaining entries in sequence. Then up to you as to whether you leave the texture file for a rainy day, or just delete it to free space. I have to do this periodically myself. I really only need a handful of A-4 and A-7 skins but I probably have 25 of the suckers. So much good work!

[DaveB]

An easier way to 'not see' paints you don't want is to add 'n after the panel in the aircraft.cfg.. eg panel=n. If a paint has a defined panel (eg panel=1.. just change it to panel=n //1.. it will read the n and nothing after the // but you'll still know which panel the paint used. If you want to use the paint again.. just remove the n Works for me.

ATB
DaveB

[Naismith]

---

Can I just point out that it is often necessary, especially if you are running FSX (or the variants) whilst editing out the repaints, to go into

C:\Users\yourname\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX\Si mObjects

and delete the entry for the a/c you are editing otherwise this can cause issues within the sim. i.e. it is looking for a texture within that file and cannot find the entry which results in a blank texture or sometimes even freezes up the sim.

That directory is hidden normally and you will have to unhide it.

You cannot do any damage to the sim in deleting entries here as it is rebuilt every time the select aircraft screen is clicked upon. In fact you may well ind aircraft you have deleted previously still have basic entries lurking here clogging up resources.

[Lane Street]

---

Can I just point out that it is often necessary, especially if you are running FSX (or the variants) whilst editing out the repaints, to go into

C:\Users\yourname\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX\Si mObjects

and delete the entry for the a/c you are editing otherwise this can cause issues within the sim. i.e. it is looking for a texture within that file and cannot find the entry which results in a blank texture or sometimes even freezes up the sim.

That directory is hidden normally and you will have to unhide it.

You cannot do any damage to the sim in deleting entries here as it is rebuilt every time the select aircraft screen is clicked upon. In fact you may well ind aircraft you have deleted previously still have basic entries lurking here clogging up resources.

The only info stored in those folders is the engine run time and any changes you have made to the reg number in the plane selection GUI.

No harm in deleting them except all of your Hobbs meters will be reset to 0.

Those folders have nothing to do with texture usage and are irrelevant to this conversation.

cheers,
Lane

[Naismith]

The only info stored in those folders is the engine run time and any changes you have made to the reg number in the plane selection GUI.

No harm in deleting them except all of your Hobbs meters will be reset to 0.

Those folders have nothing to do with texture usage and are irrelevant to this conversation.

cheers,
Lane

Entirely relevant, take some textures out of an aircraft you have flown with the texture. Then remove the texture and try reflying any aircraft of that same type but of another texture. You will find it all messed up.