When I join a new unit, I always keep an eye on the skins for the aces to see if they appear when we change aircraft. On several occasions I have found that the label on the skin does not match the label used for the pilot in the game, especially if he is a big fish with a number of aircraft skins in different units. I usually just change them but I thought I should share so that no one will miss out on seeing these wonderful skins when these pilots are encountered.

The one I found yesterday was Max Ritter von Muller. His Alb DIII early for Jasta 28w was mislabeled as _Max Ritter_von Muller. The label used for him in the game is _Max Ritter von_Muller. If these don't match, the skin for this machine will not appear and he will just a default skin. Simply change the label and you get to fly with, or against, him is his beautiful red Albatross. All the other machines assigned to him match this label, unless I missed one.

I will continue to post these errors as I find them and invite you all to post these errors as they are found. Let's not miss out a single one of these beautifully done skins because of a typo.

That would be my mistake. After making so many, I put the "_" in the wrong spot. Just rename the skin to "Off_Alb_DIII_early_ace_t_Jasta 28w 1917_Max Ritter von_Muller" and all will be good.

Thanks for pointing this error out, and by all means... find more, post more. Hate to see our work not shown in the game over something as simple as this.

OvS

will do skipper

Where does one make this change? Sorry for my ignorance.

S!Blade<><

you can find the skins folder here... the skin will be there provided you have downloaded and installed the skins pack.

X:\OBDSoftware\WOFF\OBDWW1 Over Flanders Fields\campaigns\CampaignData\Skins

Blade M: once you find the skin in the file you just left click it and rename the image.

Thanks to both of you, I found and changed it.

S!Blade<><

Thinks that's Right Click and rename

Found another in Jasta 28w. The Alb DIII early for Emil Schafer is labeled:

_Karl Emil Schafer

should be:

_Karl Emil_Schafer

Thanks jerbear. I am windering though? Will these resort back to the wrong way when ever OBD makes another update?

S!Blade<><

No, they won't. Best just to rename the ones that are found and keep coming back to check if there is more. I'm sure there are more. We had so many, it was easy to make small mistakes like where a '_' went, or a mis-spelling.. .etc.

I have found several more. I looked at German pilots only. My only method was to confirm that an underscore immediately preceded the last name (or last hyphenated name). The following ones do not have an underscore where needed:

Alb DIII Jasta 3 17 Carl Menckhoff (there's a second one that is proper (Carl_Menckhoff) so if I just delete the one without the underscore it should be OK, correct?)

Alb DIII early J2 17 Gustav Kinkel

Alb DIII J3 17 Hans-Joachim Rogalla von Bieberstein
Alb DIII early J3 17 Hans-Joachim Rogalla von Bieberstein
Alb DV later J3 17 Hans-Joachim Rogalla von Bieberstein

Alb DIII early J26 17 Rudolf Weckbrodt

Alb DIII OAW J3 17 Carl Menckhoff

Alb DV later J11 17 Carlos 'Karl' Meyer Baldo
Alb DVa J4 17 Carlos 'Karl' Meyer Baldo
Alb DVa J4 18 Carlos 'Karl' Meyer Baldo
Alb DVa J11 17 Carlos 'Karl' Meyer Baldo
Fok DVII J4 18 Carlos 'Karl' Meyer Baldo
Fok DVII OAW J4 18 Carlos 'Karl' Meyer Baldo
Fok DVIIf OAW J4 18 Carlos 'Karl' Meyer Baldo

Alb DV later J23 17 Maximilian Edler von Daniels
Alb DVa J61 18 Maximilian Edler von Daniels

Alb DV later J35 17 Joachim von Stein zu Lausnitz

Alb DV later J37 17 Ascan Klee Gobert

Alb DVa J4 17 Viktor von Pressentin von Rautter
Alb DVa J4 18 Viktor von Pressentin von Rautter

Alb DVa J7 17 Paul Huttenrauch
Alb DVa J7 18 Paul Huttenrauch

Alb DVa J16 17 Karl Schattauer

Off_Alb_DIII_early_ace_t_Jasta 18 1917_Paul _Strahle.dds

There is a space after "Paul" that shouldn't be there.

If there is a dupe with a near identical name that looks correct, the incorrect one cane be deleted. When we add corrected skins to a patch, it just adds the skin. It doesn't delete the original file.

Best to just keep this thread going and correct the names as we find them. To make a patch to add corrected skins would balloon to massive size in no time.

I am afraid that what I started may cause more problems than it solves. I would not go hunting for errors in my skin files. I would only check for them as you are going through a campaign for that Jasta/Squadron/Esc. If you get a new ace assigned to the unit who does not have a skin, just check the skin files to see if there is one for him in that period, with that aircraft type that is not appearing in the game before I made changes. Usually there is another skin for this ace, either in that unit or another one. I would then compare them to see if there are differences in the spacing for the one that does not appear. Then and only then make a change.

Example is the first change I made in the beginning of this thread for Max Ritter von Muller. There were other skins in Jasta 28w that WERE appearing so I knew that this one was wrong.

Please be VERY careful before you start making changes to you skin files. Have some evidence that there is a problem before you make changes.

Would it be possible for someone to write piece of code/patch to correct the incorrect skin names that have been found and then put the code/patch on the mods page?

Surely people could post in this thread all the incorrect skins they have found (along with the correct names) and these could then be incorporated into a single patch?

Unfortunately I do not know how to programme otherwise I would offer to do this myself.

I realise it would potentially be a massive undertaking?

I never said that. I said I'd rather not because it will balloon the size of the patch quickly.

OV

It may be possible to have a routine that backs up the skins folder and then creates a new one with all the proper skins. Of course anyone who created custom skins directly in the original skins folder, would have to copy them back from the backup copy.

How do you feel about that approach?

Best Regards

Here's another factor to consider. ArisFuser discovered that they need to be DST1 files and at least one was not, so there may be others.

See page 5 of this thread: link

AHHHH! Sorry OV...looks like I started a snowball over a couple of small human errors. I don't think this is a major problem for anyone to get excited about, just something to keep an eye on. A little proof reading as you go.

Hi Robert. I think a routine that cross-checks the actual names in the datafile to the skins in the folder would be great.

We tried this visually, and were asked to make absolutely sure we were correct with out work, but man... I guess mistakes still slipped by. There were just so many skins, over 4K I think?
That kind of routine would be great and could give you as a user a list to make your own corrections.

I will eventually speak with Pol and see if there is a way we can a patch to just the skins folder. Meaning, instead of burdening the main game patch, maybe offer a seperate update patch to the skins. It's hard because as you can see.. you'll get a patch, to a patch, to a patch.... etc. But it needs to be done, there are already enough errors to justify the need for it.

OvS

Guys, I'm not offended at all. I appreciate you guys finding these issues and bringing them forward. It's important. As you can imagine (and I'm sure any of the team that spent all our time making these skins for the game feels the same) it's heart-breaking to think that even one of my works would not be seen because of a spelling error or that I put a space somewhere... etc.

So please, have at it. When you find 'em, post 'em. We'll eventually work something out to get better system to correct it for you, but for now.... it's manual, done by the user.

All the best,

OvS

Found a new one: Jasta 5, Alb DIII early. Both Joseph Mai and Hans Berr are assigned the same skin with the "all seeing eye" on a pyramid, Masonic, I guess. I don't know for sure which is correct but on the net I see models with this symbol used for Mai so I suspect it s Berr that is not correct because none of his later skins shows anything like this. Mai isn't using it later either though, uses a quarter moon after this aircraft.

That one is ok. Hans Berr and Joseph Mai share that plane at one point. You won't see them flying it at the same time.

OvS

COOL, THANX.

Well jerbear now that you have started this are you going to make a list of changes to be made for us OCD types to fix things?

As I find them.

New one Maximillian Elder von_Daniels Albatros DV later Jasta 23 and DVa Jasta 61, should read Max von_Daniels to appear in the game.

True story. One needs to rename the skins in the skins folder.
Cheers,
shredward

Stumbled onto a new one. Jasta 29 - DVII for Siegfried Westphal is mis-labeled Westphall. Should be Siegfried_Westphal. Westphal is the DVII taking off with the Fleur de Lis on the fuselage.

Would be nice to collect all the wrongly spelled skins confirmed so far and create a pack....

If someone can provide me with two files, one containing the bad names and one containing the good names, I could probably write a routine that could be run to rename the faulty files correctly.

Excellent !

Excellent x 2!

I understand that the skin name needs to match the pilot name in order for the skin to be used in the game.

Is there any disadvantage to leaving the improperly named skin file where it is? Can I just copy the file with the incorrect spelling to a new file that uses the proper spelling and be OK? In other words, is it bad to have two skin files for one pilot if one of them isn't used anyway because the name is incorrect?

Each time that I reinstall I copy additional skins (obtained from the mods site) into the game. I could just add the corrected ones that have been identified in this thread, copy them in too, and be done. However, this won't work if also leaving the current improperly named files in the game will cause problems.

It won’t. The dud skin just sits there as a turd. However, it does take up space, and there is no advantage to leaving it in the folder
Cheers,
Shredward

That's good to hear.

It's definitely better to rename the files if it's going to be done only once. But the same task needs to be done each time I reinstall.

Robert's mod would be great. I guess that the advantage of leaving them there is that it's easy, (I know, I'm lazy), I can make changes by myself when new ones are discovered, and it takes up just a little space.

It seems to me that there's another advantage to having two skin files (the original one with a questionable name and a duplicate with a corrected name) for certain pilots - it doesn't require any testing.

I found over 20 file names that seem to be missing a required underscore (see my Dec. 31 post in this thread). Testing them all would be a big task. If I just add a second file for each of these pilots (with an underscore where it apparently needs to be) one of the two files should work and the other one will just be ignored.

Deleting or renaming the original files could potentially cause problems, but just leaving them where they are seems to have no downside.

I noticed a similar but different issue when flying near Verdun in early 1917. Georges Madon from Esc 38 still uses a Nieuport 17 with Lewis in 1917 while the rest of the unit has switched to Nieuport 23. Madon has a unique N17 skin for 1916 but not for 1917. Since the squadron doesn't have a N17 skin for 1917 either, Madon actually switches to default N17 Lewis skins that has British roundels on it.

Flying in Jasta 7 I ran into Madon quite a few times and decided to fix the skin by copying the 1916 skin and naming it Off_nieuport17_Lewis_ace_t_Esc 38 1917_Georges Felix_Madon

Nice catch!

Generally speaking, custom skins and corrections would be easier handled in a mod. I say this because every time you have to re-install woff, you loose all the changes you made to the skins folder unless you kept a backup somewhere. With a mod, you just reactivate it after the re-install.

Just a thought.

Very true.

Yes, these will be backed up for reinstalls. I already copy several additional skins files each time I reinstall (Sandbagger's and Jerbear's) so this will just be another batch.

Well it was suggested earlier to put a list together with the bad names and the good ones. I've gone through this thread and done just that. If anyone wants to turn this into a MOD, be sure and use a copy (not move) command. I've included mvp7's fix for the missing 1917 Neuport of George Felix Madon, so if you move, then you'll break him in 1916. The attached file is actually a CSV file (renamed to .txt to allow me to upload it). I have also uploaded a DOS .BAT file which goes to the correct directory (hard coded in the script) and runs a series of copy commands. The BAT file is just a reformatted version of the CSV file.

I did have one question from hoongadoonga's list. It's the last entry in the file for Joachim von Stein zu Lausnitz. My skins directory has the underscore as von_Stein. Since it was listed as being wrong, I move it to zu_Lausnitz. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Cheers everyone.
MA

EDIT: Removed incorrect files. See later post for corrected ones.

Thanks for doing this, mandrews.

To clarify, I don't know if it is wrong or not. What matters is that the skins file name matches the pilot file name and I don't know how to view the pilot names.

As I said in my post my only method was to confirm that the skin file name had no underscore immediately preceding the last name since that seems to be the proper format. I did no testing in the game to determine whether or not these skins were used or not.

This one is unusual because there are multiple names (with no hyphen) following the "von". I just scanned through the files again and noticed that there is a "von der_Marwitz" so if this one is proper it makes sense that "von Stein zu_Lausnitz" would be correct.

In the same way that MvR has his skin named Off_Alb_DIII_ace_t_Jasta 11 1917_Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von_Richthofen
Joachim von Stein zu Lausnitz skin name should be
off_Alb_DV_later_Ace_t_Jasta 35 1917_Joachim von_Stein zu Lausnitz
for it to be seen insim.

Cheers,
shredward

OK, so that one was right. Thanks Shredward. Here are the corrected files.

Don't know if this one is covered by mandrews Misnamed Skins file.

Werner Dittmann has several aircraft. One of them, his Albatros DIII early is missing an N. It is coded as Off_Alb_DIII_early_ace_t_Jasta 1 1917_Werner_Dittman should ready Dittmann

It is now (see attachments). Thanks @jerber.

mandrews, I ran the bat file and it corrected every one of the default files. Just thought I would let you know. It's easy to add any new corrections and that is a nice thing.

The bat file could be improved to automatically detect the path the skins are on. If you don't know how to do that, I will look at it when I get a chance.

Best Regards;

Thank you. I'm glad to know it works for others too.

I've poked around a little and I think I know how to make the script find the correct directory location. I'll post an updated script soon.

mandrews, this is great thank you for your, and others, work on this ...

I have a new one to report Oliver M 'Stewpot' Stewart ... the "M" is missing so he gets the default RFC-54 Skin

original reads off_Pup_ace_t_RFC-54 1917_Oliver 'Stewpot'_Stewart

it should read

off_Pup_ace_t_RFC-54 1917_Oliver M 'Stewpot'_Stewart

I've tried and it works! Thank you for the BAT file it was very helpful!

Kindest

Hi Folks;

For anyone who may be interested, I have created a modified version of mandrews bat file so that when executed, it will ask for the drive letter that you have WOFF installed on and then will calculate the location of the "Skins" directory automatically, execute the copy and then solicit you to reply "X" to terminate the command prompt window, once you are satisfied that the output in the window has been successfully done. The only thing you will ever need to do is ensure that you update the skins files in the program to include any new naming errors that are found in the future.

If you run the program after having already run mandrews version, you will get a displayed reply that the files were not found. This is because the files with the naming error have already been corrected and no longer exist in your SKINS directory.

If you have any questions just PM me.

You can download the bat file from my dropbox here: click to download

Best Regards

Great, Thank you Robert!

S!

Very nice Robert; but I might have you beat (for the moment at least ). The attached update looks up the WOFF install location from the registry and switches to the drive and and directory location based on that. It also includes Seb correction.

I have only tested it under Win10 and it works fine. I assume Win7 would be ok; but no guarantees.

Cheers all.

Ha Ha, I'm not taking the bait!!
Based on your change their is no need to go further for such a niche tool.

Best Regards

Hiya Fellas... just a quickie.

You can delete any OAW Alb D.III skins for Jasta 3. They don't fly it. That skin for Carl Menckhoff tipped me off to recheck. They were not part of the OAW refresh I did because from what I saw, they were not allocated the plane.

Just in case you want to create some drive space.

Perhaps I am the only one, but I find this all confusing. No idea how these files are to be used. Why are there two files? They appear to be text files ... no idea what to do with them. Sorry to be daft, but some simple instructions would sure be a blessing. Thanks!

Hi 77,
download mandrews txt file, (right click on it and 'save link as'). Then Copy it from your downloads file to your desktop, open it and as you say it’s a txt file. So we need to change that to a bat file. So use the ‘file’ tab and click ‘Save as’, when you're in the ‘save as’ dialogue change the file name. In the file name add “.bat” (you don’t use the speech marks), change the file type to 'All Files' your new file should now should look different like a couple of cogs. Then simply double click that new file on your desktop. It should find your location and then copy in the all new skins.

You can check by going to your skins folder and seeing that both the old files and the new ones with the correct names are there.

Any problems let me know ...

I hope that helps ...

S!

Mandrews; I added a couple of lines to your code so that the Command Prompt window stays open until the user wants to close it. That way they can scroll through the list of files to see if all the copies completed successfully.

Here is a link to the new version: click to download

You only need the WOFF_Misnamed_Skins.bat.txt file. Follow Seb's instructions for downloading and renaming, or perhaps just grab Robert's copy (link in quote below). It doesn't require that it get renamed. The other file of mine, WOFF_Misnamed_Skins.csv.txt, you can ignore. I created it initially to act as a data file for someone to write a tool to take care of this (perhaps as an add-on); but then I wrote the .bat file for myself and decided to share the bat file. The forum software requires that I rename the file in order to upload it, so I just added a .txt to the end of each file.



This is a great idea, Robert - stolen (for the next fix). Looks like you've won this round .

Excellent, thanks!

Penalty on Robert_Wiggens!! Bat files doesn't work... press drive letter... says drive doesn't exist.

Used Winders... it worked... point to Winder!

OV which one of mine did you run? My latest or previous?

mandrew, I noticed an error in the BAT file

off_Pup_ace_t_RFC-54 1917_Oliver M'Stewpot'_Stewart should read

off_Pup_ace_t_RFC-54 1917_Oliver M 'Stewpot'_Stewart

there is meant to be a space between the M and the ' which is missing in our BAT ...

Hope that helps!

The very last one you posted.

Yes it does. Thanks Seb. Corrected file attached. I'm not going to upload the CSV file anymore. I figure anyone who wants to do something better can use the bat file itself as the source of the changes.