G4m1 Betty issues in solomons pack.

[Unicorngirl]

I noticed when selecting a campaign as a Japanese navy bomber pilot in the solomons pack, that the cockpit has some issues. The outside front nose cone of the model hinders the view looking out of the front from the pilots view inside. Your basically blind and it looks like it might be using a B25 or 26 panel. Is there an update for this plane or fix somewhere?

I tried the modded avhistory g4M1 here that looks to be newer and edited the pto 1943 campaign.xml to refer to it ("g4m1" changed to "G4M1 Betty" as the modded plane is named in its aicraft.cfg under sim, name, and model) but it doesnt work. Im thinking its missing files in the solomons pack or it just isnt compatible. Maybe Im leaving something out in the edit but I dont think so.

It would be nice to add this newer plane as the information in its folder says that it added useable gunner stations and better ai for the gunners that the default one doesnt have, I also was thinking the view might of been fixed as well.

[Daiwilletti]

I just took a look at my campaign overlay for PTO. It only has the 3ja_g4m1. I have never flown it! I think you might be on to something with the b25 cockpit textures. They could well be worth bringing over I may have been too enthusiastic in my clean out forgetting these things are often shared.
"I tried the modded avhistory g4M1 here that looks to be newer and edited the pto 1943 campaign.xml to refer to it ("g4m1" changed to "G4M1 Betty" as the modded plane is named in its aicraft.cfg under sim, name, and model) but it doesnt work."
If you go through the requisite steps it should be no trouble importing an aircraft into the package. The campaign techtree entry date needs to be after the entered service date of the aircraft's xdp file. The name of the entry in the techtree should match the m3d/xdp name.
In the aircraft cfg file, I use the xdp shortname in the Title entry of the cfg file, the other two entries match the m3d/xdp name.

You have a lot of things to check in the aircraft xdp when bringing an aircraft into an install. You need the correct guns in the gunstations, the correct pylons and weapons in the loadouts. Don't forget to check the soundfile. Even damage effects can be uprated but my install should cater for most guns, damage effects and weapons already.

Go into the cockpit m3d for the new Betty and check that all the textures are either in the aircraft folder or in the shared folder. I tend to grab most shared textures and stick them in the shared folder, to winkle out duplicates. You would be amazed how many duplicate shared textures are in ETO, for example. Some have lower quality so it pays to sort them out.
I just had a look in the cockpit m3d of the "new" Betty. The only thing funny were some"pilot stack" dds entries. I did not like the "new" betty xdp file. you should switch out the US guns and weapons for Japanese ones which you can probably get from the existing Betty xdp. I could see very little to trip you up in bringing the aircraft over.

Make sure all campaign missiontypes are represented in the loadouts section of the aircraft xdp file, including "recon".

[Unicorngirl]

I just took a look at my campaign overlay for PTO. It only has the 3ja_g4m1. I have never flown it! I think you might be on to something with the b25 cockpit textures. They could well be worth bringing over I may have been too enthusiastic in my clean out forgetting these things are often shared.
"I tried the modded avhistory g4M1 here that looks to be newer and edited the pto 1943 campaign.xml to refer to it ("g4m1" changed to "G4M1 Betty" as the modded plane is named in its aicraft.cfg under sim, name, and model) but it doesnt work."
If you go through the requisite steps it should be no trouble importing an aircraft into the package. The campaign techtree entry date needs to be after the entered service date of the aircraft's xdp file. The name of the entry in the techtree should match the m3d/xdp name.
In the aircraft cfg file, I use the xdp shortname in the Title entry of the cfg file, the other two entries match the m3d/xdp name.

You have a lot of things to check in the aircraft xdp when bringing an aircraft into an install. You need the correct guns in the gunstations, the correct pylons and weapons in the loadouts. Don't forget to check the soundfile. Even damage effects can be uprated but my install should cater for most guns, damage effects and weapons already.

Go into the cockpit m3d for the new Betty and check that all the textures are either in the aircraft folder or in the shared folder. I tend to grab most shared textures and stick them in the shared folder, to winkle out duplicates. You would be amazed how many duplicate shared textures are in ETO, for example. Some have lower quality so it pays to sort them out.
I just had a look in the cockpit m3d of the "new" Betty. The only thing funny were some"pilot stack" dds entries. I did not like the "new" betty xdp file. you should switch out the US guns and weapons for Japanese ones which you can probably get from the existing Betty xdp. I could see very little to trip you up in bringing the aircraft over.

Make sure all campaign missiontypes are represented in the loadouts section of the aircraft xdp file, including "recon".

I had no idea to look into those areas of the folders, I will look through it and see if I can get the newer model to work. 7 tries so far have failed but I will take what you said and try again tomorrow.

Btw the newer Betty has some 7 or so M3d files in the cockpit folder, I assume some are gunner stations.

[Daiwilletti]

Good luck!

I've probably overcomplicated things. After looking at the "new" aircraft xdp there seems very little that could trip you up - I've just remembered to check that the country is valid for the install (a country listed in the nek(?).xml file in the campaigns folder).

The sound file probably aliases to b25c/sound?

The guns, weapons and pylons are pretty horrible but are stock.

The pilotstack.dds in the cockpit is probably a pilot texture, but even if it is missing it should not stop the aircraft from appearing on the QC menu.

One low possibility is that in the .air file the type is set to 2 (AI) when if you want to see it in the QC menu the type should be set to 0.

As for the multiple cockpit m3ds yes they are gunstations.

Honestly, it may seem complex at first but it soon becomes second nature.

[sdsbolt]

The original G4m1 model was released as a non-player aircraft so it is likely to have visibility issues when using a VC view. These issues are not easily fixable without remodeling the aircraft. The b25 or b26(??)VC's were added by a secondary developer though I cant imagine that being very immersive.

[Unicorngirl]

I tested the new Betty in single missions and it works. The cockpit is light years above the default solomons campaign model, looks much more legit, and there is no blockage at all looking forward from the pilots view.

Since it works in missions it should work in the campaign file but nothing I change in the bottom of solomons 1943,xml in campaign folder in the squadron labeled "g4m1" (which is the old plane) works. The new plane is "g4m1 betty" but when I use that the plane doesnt show up in obtain aircraft in campaign generation. I did check the air file using Aired program and it is set to 0.

For the record this is the standalone avhistory betty modded by househobbit. It would benefit the campaign to scrap the "3ja_g4m1" aircraft folder and to use it instead. I will keep trying, I think its a simple issue of the verbage in the campaign xml or in the first 3-4 lines of the aircraft file.

[Unicorngirl]

follow-up,

For the time being, simply using the updated model files from the newer plane in the campaign default g4m1 renamed from "g4m1 betty" to "g4m1" works. I just tested a flight. Its much better now.

[Daiwilletti]

For the "new" g4m1 Betty to show up and be available for the campaign, it has to have an entered service date in the campaign.xml that is before the start date of the campaign. If the g4m1 is left in the campaign techtree, and has an earlier entered service date in the techtree, then it may pop up first. I would remove the original g4m1 from the techtree. People make the mistake of putting too many aircraft in the techtree. With the random spawn sets properly working, the aircraft will appear in the campaign as spawns, they don't all need to be in the techtree.

[Unicorngirl]

VC is great, was able to do an anti shipping attack in solomons. The VC that is working is clearly a b-29 but it works great. One problem is the f keys are not working to jump to bomb station or gunners. I know the plane points to b-29 gun station and edward cooks whitley bombadier station files per the readme but I dont see those anywhere in the Pto folder.

[Daiwilletti]

VC is great, was able to do an anti shipping attack in solomons. The VC that is working is clearly a b-29 but it works great. One problem is the f keys are not working to jump to bomb station or gunners. I know the plane points to b-29 gun station and edward cooks whitley bombadier station files per the readme but I dont see those anywhere in the Pto folder.

It all comes back to the syntax in the aircraft xdp file. The gunnerstations and bombardier need to be set up correctly in the xdp for the F key to cycle through the stations. What I do is look at another aircraft with the same gunstations/bombardier and pilot configuration. Compare closely the layout and syntax with the Betty xdp. If you can find a editing programme called Winmerge you can quickly find points of difference in the syntax.

I have no special knowledge about setting up gunstations and assigning guns; all I do is take a "monkey see monkey do" approach comparing with another aircraft xdp with the same layout of stations and usually work it out.

[mongoose]

If you can find a editing programme called Winmerge

Notepad++ has a good compare plugin, and others, better than winmerge. Just FYI.

[Unicorngirl]

It all comes back to the syntax in the aircraft xdp file. The gunnerstations and bombardier need to be set up correctly in the xdp for the F key to cycle through the stations. What I do is look at another aircraft with the same gunstations/bombardier and pilot configuration. Compare closely the layout and syntax with the Betty xdp. If you can find a editing programme called Winmerge you can quickly find points of difference in the syntax.

I have no special knowledge about setting up gunstations and assigning guns; all I do is take a "monkey see monkey do" approach comparing with another aircraft xdp with the same layout of stations and usually work it out.

Sounds like a lot of work to redo it. I don't think I'd have to do all that as the model says all thats already been set up in the readme.

"This is a stand alone, flyable repaint of the AvHistory G4M1 (Ai only) as a Mitsubishi G4M1 Betty - 2nd Hokitai - Misawa Kokutai - Saipan transitioning to the Solomons - 1942 textured in the Kumogata (cloud-like) scheme for early in the war.

It did tend to be a bit tail heavy, I have corrected this.
It Now DoeS Not conflict with Any Aircraft..

It has a cockpit, and gun stations borrowed from Christophe Rosenmann's B29S, waist guns from the stock B25, and a bombardier station from Edward Cook's Whitley. None of them are really correct, but they are in about the right locations to match the G4M1 model. You should toggle F3 to hide the offending gun station objects from your view. Other than the tail gun none of the sights train along with the gun movement for some reason so you'll just have to shoot by hosing tracers around.

Published with permission from Stephan Saybolt. Unfortunately his original source files have been lost in a hard drive crash, so this is about as good as it's going to get unless someone can create real cockpit / gun stations for it."

[Daiwilletti]

OK I just thought you said the views were not cycling? Often that is just a formatting/syntax error in the view stations.

[Daiwilletti]

The xdp for stations and views in the "new" Betty was a total mess. Not worth persisting with that set of m3d files. The damageboxes had 4 engines!

I did a quick tidy up using b_26 m3d cockpit views renamed as G4M1. I got the bombardier position working with a nice big set of crosshairs, and some of the gunstations (F8). I think it would take a fair bit of work to be able to man all the gunstations with functioning guns.

The "new" Betty xdp had far too many gunstations, I pruned it down to the visual model with seven gun stations including a left cheek and right cheek which I don't think should be there either.

Anyway the model itself looks quite good there are pilots and gunners in all the right places so it is a bit of an improvement over the PTO stock AI only Betty. I'm happy to share what I've got, probably best to let the AI gunners defend but at least there is a working Bombardier station (F7).

[Unicorngirl]

The xdp for stations and views in the "new" Betty was a total mess. Not worth persisting with that set of m3d files. The damageboxes had 4 engines!

I did a quick tidy up using b_26 m3d cockpit views renamed as G4M1. I got the bombardier position working with a nice big set of crosshairs, and some of the gunstations (F8). I think it would take a fair bit of work to be able to man all the gunstations with functioning guns.

The "new" Betty xdp had far too many gunstations, I pruned it down to the visual model with seven gun stations including a left cheek and right cheek which I don't think should be there either.

Anyway the model itself looks quite good there are pilots and gunners in all the right places so it is a bit of an improvement over the PTO stock AI only Betty. I'm happy to share what I've got, probably best to let the AI gunners defend but at least there is a working Bombardier station (F7).

Thanks for doing that, yeah all I was interstesd in really was a bomb station that worked, you beat me to it as Ive had a mild cold all week but I am ok now. Let the ai handle guns, would appreciate a share.

[Daiwilletti]

Here she is, rough and ready.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/ek2g1...Betty.zip/file

The plane looks good externally.

F6 takes you to pilot view then F7 takes you to bombardier.

Gunstations are still messed up.

Use at your own risk!

[Daiwilletti]

Hi Unicorngirl,

I am somewhat flummoxed that 34 people have bothered to download the Betty! I hope it does the trick for you but someone really needs to sort out the gunstation m3ds