SceneDB batch file

[oldwheat]

Ok, too much time to think again & I have come up with a new 'brain fart'. Would it be feasible to do summer & winter versions of the SceneDB folder in order to have 'winter'ised' & 'summer'ised' bmps in the airfield folders. This has already been done to allow texture swapping with the world folder, why not go on to the next plateau? IMHO, this would have a much improved visual effect in winter mode.

[Robert John]

oldwheat,
I agree with you. and Let have snow on our airfields and other textures.
Could be a good group project.
We can have a paint snow contest.
RJ.

[oldwheat]

I've done a little messing with idea & it seems to be completely 'do-able', The only really difficult part is painting all those ground textures for the airfields. You are right, it would make for a great team effort.

[oldwheat]

OK, so how do you go about creating a menu file to switch between SceneDB folders?

[oldwheat]

Sometimes I'm a little slow perceiving the obvious. All that is really necessary here is to have a system that switches between two separate
SCENERY.cfg files rather than having two SceneDB folders. This would only require having two copies if the airfields, pertinent scenery & the world folder. This would save a considerable amount of drive space & be a simpler approach, I'm thinking.

[Finn]

OK I' m not at all in your league and do not even understand the workings of CFS-2, but in every mission there use to be a DATE. Could it not be made so, that in the winter months the system uses the winter textures all by itself, and then goes back to summer textures in those months? I am sure, that if it could be done so easy, someone would have done it years ago, but still...?
Finn

[JapLance]

Check something called JSGME (JoneSoft Generic Mod Enabler). I discovered it when started into Silent Hunter 4, and is very useful for a lot of games.

The official download site is already down, but will probably be hosted somewhere in www.subsim.com.

[oldwheat]

OK I' m not at all in your league and do not even understand the workings of CFS-2, but in every mission there use to be a DATE. Could it not be made so, that in the winter months the system uses the winter textures all by itself, and then goes back to summer textures in those months? I am sure, that if it could be done so easy, someone would have done it years ago, but still...?
Finn

Not necessarily, sometimes these things merely go unnoticed. It would be fantastic if this procedure could be automated.

Thanks for the info Japlance, I'll check it out.

[sc7500]

Apparently this is some sort of "big secret" but after 10 minutes I managed to find a decent copy.

OW, can you see what you can do with this, please ?
SC

Attachment 70899

[oldwheat]

Thanks SC, it is a little out of my knowledge base but I'll try to figger it out & see if it is an option.

[oldwheat]

Been messing around with reworked textures for this project & it appears as if it will probably be for the most part merely a case of tweaking the alpha textures for blended airfields & perhaps making blended airfield alphas for those which aren't blended @ present.

I'm still looking for someone better versed in the matter to have a look @ options for easily swapping the scenery CFGs.

[JapLance]

I'm still looking for someone better versed in the matter to have a look @ options for easily swapping the scenery CFGs.

With the JSGME software:

1) Create a shortcut to JSGME in your CFS2 folder.

2) Start JSGME. The first time you run it, it will ask you which folder do you want to put your mods in.

3) Once you've set up the mods folder, add a sub folder with your new mod (e.g. Winter Airfields) inside.

4) Inside this folder mimic the folder structure of CFS2. In this case, scenery.cfg is in the main folder, so no need to create any new folders: you simply put it there (if you wanted to add planes for instance, you would create the AIRCRAFT folder and then copy the plane inside).

5) This new scenery.cfg will have the routes altered to point to the new scenery you just created with the new winter textures instead of the original ones.

This tool is very helpful. I did a test adding the Aerocrate WWI Campaign (which has its own scenery stuff) to a clean CFS2 install and everything worked OK.

Apparently this is some sort of "big secret"

I don't think it's any secret. This tool has been used for years in the Silent Hunter and the Il-2 Sturmovik communities. I have successfully used it with other games as well.

[Ian Astill]

I think something similar is used on the Dambusters add on?? You get a screen with a choice of winter or summer and night or day

[Robert John]

OK, so how do you go about creating a menu file to switch between SceneDB folders?

Hi oldwheat,
You can use a program called Menu Builder.
You can only upload if you paid for the program.
I have some information on bat files in issue 2 of the magazine I produce, and also I know lots for diffrent ways to edit them.
http://thefreeflightsite.com/CFS2_Magazine.htm.

I enjoy making menues and I am going to buy the program so I can distribute them.
Pm me with email address and we can work on this project together and put information in issue no 4 about our work.
RJ

[oldwheat]

The new install requirement with the JSGME gives me pause but I suppose that I could always add all of the add-ons from another of my
folders after JSGME was installed & funtioning.

Thanks for the offer RJ, sounds great. PM sent.