I have fixed up your He-111 multiskins that you posted at the Gen.
For planes 03-15 I referenced the G.3dz headers to the corresponding P.TPCs, and re-named the M.TPCs to "P.TPC", as there were no "P.TPC" files for plane03-15.
It worked.

I still need the extended B-26 folder with some coloured wings. Otherwise I cannot investigate the "four engined" appearance properly and adjust the source code to fix the problem.

I managed to fix it

First plane

Second plane


I made a BMP file of the plane01y.tpc and brushed green paint on it

I copied the "plane01y.3dz" and re-named the copy "planeY.3dz" which replaced the original
I re-pointed the header back to "planeY.PCX"

Jeez I love being able to make a quick BMP file to edit with MSPaint

Edit

I just set up Plane02


Jel

Not sure why you did that.

I purposely pointed some of the slots to M and some to P so you could see that the PRA file is working but the MRA file is not.

I did not finish the B-26 pack last night but I will this morning and then get it up to the GEN. Note that only the first eight planes have corresponding files so the last 8 will look like the primary.

From the other thread

Thanks Allen. I will get back to the source code once I have finalised the mapping files.
Copied from the other thread:

It is not a code difference.
The code just makes the exe read the mapping files and loads the transparencies listed.
The difference is in the mapping files. The 160 versions have additional mappings based on Ray's suggestions
This is an extract from the 1.28 mapping files.

#1
pp38hpex.tpc
pp38hsex.tpc
pp38htex.tpc
pp38hv.tpc
pp38hy.tpc
pp38h01mx.tpc
pp38h01tx.tpc
pp38h01vx.tpc
pp38h02mx.tpc
pp38h02tx.tpc
pp38h02vx.tpc

#2
pp38hpra.tpc
pp38hsra.tpc
pp38htra.tpc
pp38hvtr.tpc
pp38hytr.tpc
pp38h01mra.tpc
pp38h01tra.tpc
pp38h01vra.tpc
pp38h02mra.tpc
pp38h02tra.tpc
pp38h02vra.tpc

These files were originally made from an extract of a hard coded tables in the 1.2x exe. Then multiskin links were added, and It is the same for each one of the 30 planes.
Only three of the multiskin files are mapped, (01mx->01mra, 01tx->01tra, 01vx->01vra)
It is interesting that there is no mapping for pp38hmex.tpc,

In the slot free version "pp38h"..."pv1v1" all became "plane" so there was just one set and not 30.

I am going to go back to the original version of the 1.60 mapping files, and then add any additional mapping needed to get Ray's B-26 working.


Update:
I have it working by mapping the "plane01-15sx.tpc" to the "plane01-15sra.tpc"
I made and edited BMP files for plane01 to test that the BMPs were working.
You can see the transparent turrets.



What is not mapped is the "planemex.tpc" to the "planemra.tpc" because it never was originally.
This fixes the file not found error which occurred when they were mapped and a skin had a "mex" but no "mra".
As a test, and because they were never used, even though they were present, I have removed all of the "planemra.tpc" files from my working folder.

Jel

Can't tell from your post.

Did you see the problem with the He111 mixed PEX/PRA and MEX/MRA files?





I'm uploading a mixed skin B-26 zip called B26(multi)12-11-2018to your folder. In addition to the fact that I've only produced 8 skins I also haven't included mixed skin M and S files yet.

But this set should be adequate for your tests.

Read the bold text at the end of that post.
At your suggestion I had mapped them in an experimental pair of files a few weeks ago and it caused all sorts of "file not found" CTDs.
They were never mapped before
One possibility would be to have "MMX" mapped to "MRA" and re-naming the "MEX". Nobody has used "MMX" in older skins, so there would be no "file not found" CTDs.

Further thought which I am about to implement

If the modder wanted "PlaneMEX.TPC" => "PlaneMRA.TPC" we invent
"PlaneMR.TPC" => "PlaneMRA.TPC" and rename the "PlaneMEX.TPC" as "PlaneMR.TPC".
The header in the 3dz would need to be edited
Then we could have "Plane01MR.TPC" => "PlaneMRA.TPC" etc for the multiskins.
If the modder used "PlaneMEX.TPC" without the "PlaneMRA.TPC", and then we stick with "PlaneMEX.TPC"

This would avoid the "File not found" CTD, but allow the "PlaneMRA.TPC" to be used for new skins

Updating old skins made on the belief that "PlaneMEX.TPC" was mapped to "PlaneMRA.TPC" would be a matter of finding folders with the "PlaneMRA.TPC", re-naming the "PlaneMEX.TPC", and editing the header in the relevant 3dz.

Of course I read the post.

It was not clear to me what you were doing, which is why I asked for further clarification.

Which you've now provided.





FWIW, as I recall, the MEX texture was to be used for the middle and far distance models, replacing the old TES texture from the original game. It never really needed the MRA link..........and I have NO idea why the SEX/SRA link was considered appropriate.

What would have been much more productive would have been to add transparency links to A through G so that skinners would have been able to keep a more logical naming standard.

Instead, for instance, on the B-26, I have the A.3dz pointed to the SEX texture set, the C.3dz and P.3dz pointed to the TEX set and the D.3dz and I.3dz pointed to the PEX set all so I can have transparent elements on each of the sections.

In addition, while building this model I avoided using the MEX/MRA set because i thought it was needed for the middle distance model. Now it turns out that one was never mapped so it wouldn't have worked anyhow if I'd chosen to use it for the main model.

Generally speaking, keeping it all straight is getting harder the older I get.

With that in mind, I don't think we need to add this MMX link as it just adds another layer, unless you think it's needed to avoid CTD's.

Other members may have a different opinion.

If there is no problem with there being no MEX=>MRA we can leave things as they are

I just checked a normal 160 folder and there were 773 "Plane01-15mra.TPC" or "PlaneMRA.TPC" files in it. Over 700 of them were in Iron Mike's multiskins.

Sorry, real life intruded right in the middle of the conversation.

Man, I have a headache. So we have a problem with what to do about MRA.

I fixed the HE111's by renaming the files to PEX/PRA but that's a lot different than 700 separate operations.

All I can offer is that as I convert some of the multiskins to 1.6 for inclusion in the new aircraft inventory I would be willing to make the appropriate changes to those planes like I did for the He111's.





PS - This just shows how important a standard naming convention is.

I put a completed B-26 package in your folder.

It includes medium and long distance models for each slot that doesn't use the same color as the primary plane, which is silver. These planes point to either of only TWO textures, one green and one brown. No sense duplicating the textures when they can point to a common file. in addition, there are no MRA files.

It also includes green and brown wingview textures for the same plane slots. I checked them all and they show up as they're supposed to, except of course for the extra set of engines. These do have their own textures since I wasn't sure if you needed them for your testing. (BTW, these secondary engines DO NOT point to the correct textures but rather they display the primary plane wingview witch is silver.)

Before producing the final package I'll also point the green and brown wingviews to two common texture files for the same reason as the middle distance models.

Also included are modified flight files with the view distances pushed back by about 20%. thus alleviating the problem with middle distance models flashing silver to green.

Good luck with figuring out the wingview issue.

Is the MRA thing really a problem?
The MRA files existed but were never read because the MEX=>MRA pairing in TextMap1 and TextMap2 was never made until the recent experiment which cause the CTDs.
Nobody has reported problems with the skins.
The wingview problem is fixed, and I posted how I did it:

I copied the "plane01y.3dz" and re-named the copy "planeY.3dz" which replaced the original
I re-pointed the header back to "planeY.PCX"


Try the same method with your files.

Ray- check "the Naafi" for a report on the completed package

The MRA thing is not a problem for me. I never used it for main models because I've always tried to stick to my own naming standard which kept the MEX/MRA for middle and long distance models.

I'd imagine in might be a problem for Mike but he'll have to chime in here.

More discussion over at the GEN.

However, as I have written there was never a MEX/MRA link so any MRA files were not used unless they had been referenced in a 3dz header.

We'll call this "All's well that ends well" 'cuz though I'm not sure what the heck happened the problem is gone.

I used the textures you sent but an improved wingview that I THOUGHT was in the package but maybe wasn't.

Now that we've solved this complex problem what say we take on something simple..................like world peace.

Final decision
Just checking Iron Mike's skins
There are many with "Plane01mx.tpc" and a corresponding "Plane01mra.tpc"
The slot skin mapping did have "pp38h01mx.tpc" mapped to "pp38h01mra.tpc" etc.
There are no cases with "pp38hmex.tpc" and a corresponding "pp38hmra.tpc" (etc), which corresponds to the "pp38hmex.tpc" having never been mapped to "pp38hmra.tpc".
So, as a test I will add the "Plane01-15mx.tpc" and "Plane01-15mra.tpc" mappings to "TextMap1.str" and "TextMap2.str" files.

I'm adding Mike's 109G multiskin to the new aircraft package. The set has an M and S 3dz's that point to MEX.pcx but there's no MRA.pcx.

(Actually, the original set pointed to "M", not "MEX" but I like to keep things standardized where I can so I've renamed them MEX.)

If I understand you it sounds like this set is going to need a corresponding "MRA" files or I suppose I could revert to using the "M"

It's not a big deal to add a file, I assume it could actually be blank like the blank "TPC" files that are used when working with "BMP" textures.

I just want to get it correct.

From an earlier post of the original mapping with multiskins included:


TextMap1.str:

pp38hpex.tpc
pp38hsex.tpc
pp38htex.tpc
pp38hv.tpc
pp38hy.tpc
pp38h01mx.tpc
pp38h01tx.tpc
pp38h01vx.tpc
pp38h02mx.tpc
pp38h02tx.tpc
pp38h02vx.tpc

TextMap2.str:

pp38hpra.tpc
pp38hsra.tpc
pp38htra.tpc
pp38hvtr.tpc
pp38hytr.tpc
pp38h01mra.tpc
pp38h01tra.tpc
pp38h01vra.tpc
pp38h02mra.tpc
pp38h02tra.tpc
pp38h02vra.tpc

There is no "pp38hmex.tpc" or "pp38mra.tpc" in these lists so in the basic skin they are not mapped and never were.
However, you can see "pp38h01mx.tpc" mapped to "pp38h01mra.tpc".

So in the 160 version I made just an hour ago I have added the "plane01mx.tpc" mapped to the "plane01mra.tpc", and the same for planes 02 to 15.
I will put the two new files in your folder on the server.
Put the pair of files in both the root folder and the "EAWTM2" folder.


There are there now as two individual files