Skin Viewer Problems -- Skuzzy Please Help

[Bullethead]

I continue to be in Skin Viewer Hell, and it keeps getting worse....

As posted previously, my SV v2.06p1 just flat didn't work at all with AH v2.07p2.  It immediately quit responding before it even got started.  So eventually HTC came up with SV 2.07p2 and I thought everything would be fine.  I managed to snag it last weekend but only now have had time to install it, and now I've run into problems with it.

Because some folks reported SV 2.06.1 working for them with AH 2.07.2, I figured I had some corruption somewhere, so instead of just overwriting the SV with the new version, as I've done every time so far, I uninstalled it to get a fresh start with the new version.  Then I installed AHSKVIEW2072.exe

BAD IDEA!!!  

Uninstalling the skin viewer also took out a few other files.  Nothing really important, just some trivial stuff.  You know, like aceshigh.exe and stdshapes.res......    

So....  I had to go back to back to AH2012.exe and install all the patches from there to AH20721TO2072.exe (16 total) before I could do anything else.

After doing that, the skin viewer at least now opens without immediately crashing, and I can point it at stdshapes.res, which has been resurrected in the AH2 folder thanks to all the AH2 reinstallation and patching....

PROBLEM IS, I can't  look at ANY of my own skins.  No matter what plane I choose in the SV dropdown, none of my skins show up on the list of skins to look at.  The only option in the skin dropdown is the default skin.  I've checked and all my custom skin folders (109E41, 190D91, etc.) are still there and still have the .bmp files in them.  My .bmp skins in these folders still work offline in AH2, and I can select them off the menu in the hangar.  However, I cannot see them at all in the skin viewer.  

Any help would be appreciated.

[Krusty]

My first thought is that when you reinstalled it was to a different directory, so that the skins folders are no longer where they need to be.

That's my first thought. My second thought is go to a skin in the skin viewer that you don't have (one you don't mess with, like a yak or something) and find that directory (that will tell you if you have it installed in the right place) and then rename it to xxxxxxx1, THEN see if the skin viewer lists that directory properly (you just copied/renamed the default to another number).

See if that works.

[Bullethead]

I installed everything back where it was originally.  And all the confusion in AH2 itself did nothing to my custom skin folders.  They are still there in AH2/skins/whatever and everything in them still works just fine in AH2 offline.   They are just invisible to the skin viewer.

The only place custom skin folders can be, as far as I know, is /AH2/skins/whatever.  That's where they've always been, and that's where the skin viewer has always found them before.  It just can't see them now.

[Krusty]

Just as a test, though, go to a skin in the skin viewer you don't like, something you would spot easily in a directory, and hit "Save default". Then go find it. Then rename it to xxxxx1. Then open the skin viewer and see if the "xxxx1" second skin option is enabled.

Basically I'm wondering if there's a problem with the viewer itself or with the way its trying to read files.

[Raptor]

Originally posted by Bullethead

PROBLEM IS, I can't  look at ANY of my own skins.  No matter what plane I choose in the SV dropdown, none of my skins show up on the list of skins to look at.  The only option in the skin dropdown is the default skin.  I've checked and all my custom skin folders (109E41, 190D91, etc.) are still there and still have the .bmp files in them.  My .bmp skins in these folders still work offline in AH2, and I can select them off the menu in the hangar.  However, I cannot see them at all in the skin viewer.  
 

I have the same problem

[MotleyCH]

Ya..I'm not sure if the skin viewer is the problem..but it seems like after I use it, when I start AHII, I have to wait for my textures to reload again.

[Bullethead]

Krusty said:

Just as a test, though, go to a skin in the skin viewer you don't like, something you would spot easily in a directory, and hit "Save default". Then go find it. Then rename it to xxxxx1. Then open the skin viewer and see if the "xxxx1" second skin option is enabled.

Doesn't help.  No matter how I make an xxxx1 folder and no matter what I put in it, the following things happen:

1.  the xxxxx1 folder works just fine in the game offline

2.  The skin viewer absolutely refuses to see the xxxxxx1 folder, or at least give me the option of looking at that skin.  The ONLY skins I can see in the skin viewer are the default skins, and there are NO other options in the skin viewer to look at anything else.  The default skins are the only ones shown in the skin dropdown list.

[Krusty]

Originally posted by Bullethead
2.  The skin viewer absolutely refuses to see the xxxxxx1 folder, or at least give me the option of looking at that skin.  The ONLY skins I can see in the skin viewer are the default skins, and there are NO other options in the skin viewer to look at anything else.  The default skins are the only ones shown in the skin dropdown list.

That means the skins viewer isn't pointed to the right place. Go to the skin viewer shortcut, right click, go to properties. Make sure it's in the same directory as AH2 is.

Go to AH2 and do the same (you know where it is, just double check).

Failing that install the latest skin viewer version on top of what you have (don't uninstall, just install over it, that's always worked for me). Make sure the directory location is exactly the same as your AH2 directory. Let it finish installing. Try it then.

If the game can see the skin but the viewer cannot, I'm thinking the link between the viewer and the default directory is broken somehow.

[Skuzzy]

I am confused.  The current version of the Skin Vierwer is "2.07 Patch 2".  Why are you using "2.06 Patch 1"?

And the skin biewer must be run from the same folder as Aces High II.  If your using a shortcut from the desktop, make sure the working folder in the properties of the shortcut is set correctly.