[Slim73]

I am very new to this sim (less than a week). I've added a bunch of new skins and noseart and started, little by little, to standardize the naming of the files because I am, well, a bit particular. I noticed that if you take the underscore out of the noseart image file that it will not appear, you will still see the last one selected. I am wondering if taking the underscores out of skin names or changing them in any way is a bad idea, specifically the extra skins that come fresh in 1946, e.g. the ace pilot skins for the Bf-109. Does the sim pull skins from the skins folder other than the one you have selected for the mission? Also, where is the default? I don't need to change the default skin I am just curious as to where it is. Thanks.

[vampire_pilot]

unwise indeed.

a skin with a cerain name may be needed for a certain mission, it is written that way by the mission creator. (like in full mssion builder, where you point a certain skin to each aircraft) so when you rename the skin the game can't find it and will load the standrad skin instead... may result in less fun.

you may have a more consistend naming but when you download skins that you already have you will end up with dozens of copies of the same skin after a while because you can't remeber what you already have by teh sheer amount of stuff. this takes up enourmus space and you will definitely lose the overview. i have tons of skins and you never know when the name will be called up, so better leave them as they come. just IMO though.

the default skins are encoded into an SFS file.
if you don't have a default skin mod, you can't change them.

[agracier]

I am very new to this sim (less than a week). I've added a bunch of new skins and noseart and started, little by little, to standardize the naming of the files because I am, well, a bit particular. .

It all depends ow much trouble yu want to go to in making or flying missions. If you want to get a mission up and ready very quickly then don't rename skins, no matter how oddly they are named or what system is used to give them names.

Also if you're going to turn into a skin collector, downloading prodigious amounts of skins, it's also a good idea not to rename the skins. When you download a double it will quickly show up as a double.

If however you plan on making missions on your own (and this is most enjoyable), then start off as soon as you can with renaming skins with a system that suits you best. Otherwise you are going to be confused and annoyed at the way skins are often named, with conflicting systems all together and no easy way to find that particular skin you are looking for quickly.This especially for aircraft that have tons of skins available - Spit / Bf-109/I-16/P-47 etc etc.

Some skinners use a '$' to prefix a skin, others a '-', others use squadron numbers, their own handle and a whole bunch of other methods.

All are good and well, as long as all your skins use the same system.

One tip I've found to be useful in renaming skins, is to use the nationality of the skin as prefix. For instance the Bf-109 has tons of skins available for many Axis countries or as captures or as post-war aircraft. Prefixing 109 skins with (for instance) BULGARIA, SLOVAKIA, GERMANY, ISRAEL, US, UK etc often saves time when making your own missions since otherwise you have to scroll through countless names before finding the nationality you are looking for.

[Slim73]

Thanks for the insight. I was wondering if the $ meant anything or if it was just being used to set the order. I know that there aren't any missions depending on the stuff I've added so far because I haven't added any missions yet. I think the most important thing is knowing what I am using and what it is so I'll probably keep renaming things that need to be. I always keep the readme's. Thanks again.

[canonuk]

The '$' does actually have a meaning. It's a way of stopping the game engine from applying in-game markings to a skin. If a skin is prefixed with '$' then it never has markings applied, even if they are ticked to show.

[P/O W. 'Moggy' Cattermole]

The '$' does actually have a meaning. It's a way of stopping the game engine from applying in-game markings to a skin. If a skin is prefixed with '$' then it never has markings applied, even if they are ticked to show.

hock:

I never knew that. Are there any other prefixes with other effects?

[agracier]

The '$' does actually have a meaning. It's a way of stopping the game engine from applying in-game markings to a skin. If a skin is prefixed with '$' then it never has markings applied, even if they are ticked to show.

I was pretty certain that the

[vampire_pilot]

uhmm.... I use some $ skins as a personal skin and they sure do show markings!

is it a DGEN thing maybe?! never heared of that before.