Odd legacy folders in Skins directory? | Forums

[Snuffy Smith]

These folders have collected in my Skins directory from various custom mods. I'm not completely sure how long or when a couple of them came in. I think at least one, La-7(3xB20), is a legacy duplicate file from the original IL2.

Now; do I need any of these? Would a campaign or mission need one of these--could it find a skin in one of these? My testing suggests that only the coded/program skin folders are recognized? Is there any harm in deleting the ones clearly not where the game looks for a skin?

M.S.406
Ms-406
MS406 [actual game's folder]

La-7(3xB20)
La-73xB20 [actual game's folder?]

BF109-E4and E4B

CR-42
CR_42 [actual]

P.11-c
P_11c [actual]

TB-3

Durand_Yak-9T
This is one of several loose skin files that show up in the Quick Mission Builder, I cannot find an actual skin anywhere. The do not seem to be in the Skins directory. QMB will put them on, and they will fly, but where are they?

Are there any other doppelgangers hiding in the shadows?

[Snuffy Smith]

These folders have collected in my Skins directory from various custom mods. I'm not completely sure how long or when a couple of them came in. I think at least one, La-7(3xB20), is a legacy duplicate file from the original IL2.

Now; do I need any of these? Would a campaign or mission need one of these--could it find a skin in one of these? My testing suggests that only the coded/program skin folders are recognized? Is there any harm in deleting the ones clearly not where the game looks for a skin?

M.S.406
Ms-406
MS406 [actual game's folder]

La-7(3xB20)
La-73xB20 [actual game's folder?]

BF109-E4and E4B

CR-42
CR_42 [actual]

P.11-c
P_11c [actual]

TB-3

Durand_Yak-9T
This is one of several loose skin files that show up in the Quick Mission Builder, I cannot find an actual skin anywhere. The do not seem to be in the Skins directory. QMB will put them on, and they will fly, but where are they?

Are there any other doppelgangers hiding in the shadows?

[adlabs6]

I think lots of thoes unused folders are just remnants of the past, or forgotten bugs. As for deleteing? I never did, dunno what would happen if you did.

[Snuffy Smith]

My question about the odd folders is really if I need to move their bmp's to the game's folders or if I need to leave them in these new folders, so the bmps can be found by the campaign or mission they are used by? Are they just clutter, or do they have a function?

I just noticed in the .mis files that the "Class air." line plane type is slightly different than the Skins' folder's name for the same plane. Is that correct?

My second question was just: where are the bmp's for all the individual skins at the bottom of the QMB list? Do they exist, or are they just coded into the game? There are 14 individual skins there, which do not seem to be in any folder--mostly famous ace's 109's.

[Willy.]

From having messed aroung with this in the past, I can say that you don't need any skins folders at all for IL2FB/PF to work just fine. You would loose the ability to add any custom skins though.
So, some of the stock folders that are incorrectly named are just wasted space.

With regard to the "Aces" skins, these are indeed hardcoded and "currently" cannot be accessed.

However, after abit os sleuthing and trial and error, I found that you can actually add custom skins to the "Aces", by adding new skin folders with their proper names.

I uploaded my set of empty skin folders some time back here http://www.skinsandthings.freeola.com/skin%20detail.php...4.03-5m&artist=Willy , it has all the non-essential folders removed and all the "Aces" folders added.

[Snuffy Smith]

Thank you Willy, that really answered a lot of questions. Are you saying, when you mention that one doesn't need the skin folders, that the voids are not essential to game function? Are voids then just a gift to us of blank templates for custom skins? I always thought the void was what the game created its default skin from. The bit about creating additonal "Aces" skins is very interesting.

[Willy.]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Snuffy Smith:
...the voids are not essential to game function? Are voids then just a gift to us of blank templates for custom skins?... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
That's correct. Also, as each skin is 1 meg. in size you can save a fair bit of space by removing them, or any other skins you don't use.
If do a search for void.bmp in your skins folder you will find all but one as one has been named viod.bmp , I think it's the Emily...

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Snuffy Smith:
...The bit about creating additonal "Aces" skins is very interesting... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yes, I was quite pleased when I puzzeled this out, as it gives a few new options and anything is better than some of the stock skins.
It works great for most of them, but one or two keep the national markings and numbers even when you turn them off