Introducing the Cockpit Paint Mod (CPM)

In VR ultra mode 4k per eye this hud mod is a godsend!
I wanna thank again the chaps responsible for this fab mod.
I'm still tweeking stuff.
No orange whatsoever lol.
 
Confused, I thought it wasn't released to be used pending FDev approval?

It's not released yet .. I think Dragsham was referring to EDHM

Someone started a rumour that FDev had contacted me and given approval for the CPM, but that's not the case. I would be so excited to hear from them and would post here straight away. But it's possible the CMs now have a policy of not commenting on mods or 3rd party tools, as I don't think they're the sort of people to deliberately ignore loyal CMDRs.

However, I've been PM'ing the CMs for over a month so they definitely know about it and haven't asked me not to proceed. It ticks all their boxes in terms of the modding rules I was given back in 2020 (see the first post in this thread). So I plan to release a mod prototype with just the Anaconda so the community and FDev can give me feedback before proceeding any further

Anyway, that's a long way of saying it's not released yet :)
 
Looks good so far. Is there the opportunity for people to make their own custom schemes and painting different surfaces different colours?

Yeah definitely .. each ship has 8 sections to which you can apply different colours. Each section consists of a specific type of texture (or group of textures), and the layout of the sections depends on where the FDev designers have placed the textures around the cockpit

Each texture has 3 layers, although only the first two are important. Each of those two layers have 9 modes / methods of applying colour - I've included all 9 modes as each texture is different and responds differently to the application of colour. Previously I only had 4 modes but I was disappointed by the flexibility to get particular textures to look a certain way, so I included all possibilities. But most of the time you'll just use modes 1, 2, & 3.

Plus there's a separate 'shiny mode' that turns matte surfaces into reflective surfaces, and you can adjust the degree of shininess. There's also separate sections for the Floor, the Chairs and HOTAS panels, Signage on the chair (signs and symbols along the side), and Signage around the cockpit. Lastly, some ships have accessory light mods as well .. previously that was in a separate mod called the Cockpit Lights mod, but I'm incorporating it into the CPM so the lights can be themed with the cockpit colours

Anyways, I've leave you with an R2D2 themed Anaconda. Hope to have the anaconda prototype ready for a beta test in a few days, might do a closed beta on the EDHM discord first though, and you're welcome to join


Anaconda: R2D2 theme

CPM-Anaconda-R2D2.jpg
 
It's not released yet .. I think Dragsham was referring to EDHM

Someone started a rumour that FDev had contacted me and given approval for the CPM, but that's not the case. I would be so excited to hear from them and would post here straight away. But it's possible the CMs now have a policy of not commenting on mods or 3rd party tools, as I don't think they're the sort of people to deliberately ignore loyal CMDRs.

However, I've been PM'ing the CMs for over a month so they definitely know about it and haven't asked me not to proceed. It ticks all their boxes in terms of the modding rules I was given back in 2020 (see the first post in this thread). So I plan to release a mod prototype with just the Anaconda so the community and FDev can give me feedback before proceeding any further

Anyway, that's a long way of saying it's not released yet :)

I wouldn’t hold my breath on FDEV giving you feedback. Just release it and operate under the assumption that you’re golden unless they specifically tell you otherwise. As you’ve already said, “it ticks all their boxes”.
 
This looks amazing – thank you! @GeorjCostanza. Will it work with open composite? (I have to use open composite with my reverb G2 as Odyssey performance bad for me in VR otherwise). I use another mod for DCS World in VR that is based on 3DMigoto and that dev releases two versions (one for use with open composite). So not sure if your version will work with it? I've attached the link to that mod below. Thanks for all your hard work!
 
You guys are doing more for elite dangerous odyssey than the devs!!

Which begs the question.

Why don't publishers incorporate mods, online inara etc (having ensured their clean) to the game?
I'm waiting on an ingame galmap mod.
Cos the one we have now is frankly pants!
Jus a heads up to anyone much smarter than iam.
Thanks guys!
Is it out yet?
 
This looks amazing – thank you! @GeorjCostanza. Will it work with open composite? (I have to use open composite with my reverb G2 as Odyssey performance bad for me in VR otherwise). I use another mod for DCS World in VR that is based on 3DMigoto and that dev releases two versions (one for use with open composite). So not sure if your version will work with it? I've attached the link to that mod below. Thanks for all your hard work!
Like seriously someone affected by the opencomposite + 3DMigoto crash file a bug report about it already. I've mostly stepped back from active development, but I'm not the only developer - if you don't report it none of the other devs will look at it: https://github.com/bo3b/3Dmigoto/issues

You could also check if the geo-11 fork of 3DMigoto has the same crash: https://helixmod.blogspot.com/2022/06/announcing-new-geo-11-3d-driver.html
 
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Like seriously someone affected by the opencomposite + 3DMigoto crash file a bug report about it already. I've mostly stepped back from active development, but I'm not the only developer - if you don't report it none of the other devs will look at it: https://github.com/bo3b/3Dmigoto/issues

You could also check if the geo-11 fork of 3DMigoto has the same crash: https://helixmod.blogspot.com/2022/06/announcing-new-geo-11-3d-driver.html
Update – @DarkStarSword didn't realise you were the author of 3DMigoto – now I understand your comment. Seriously impressed with your work – thank you.
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Hi @DarkStarSword I'm not saying I have any issues with Open Composite at all? It works great for me with both Elite and DCS. And the 3DMigoto mod for DCS works great with Open Composite too. But the dev supplies a separate version of his mod for Open Composite which is all I've ever used? I'm not aware of any crash bug? Or was your comment meant for the dev of that DCS mod?
 
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twidiling my thumbs here waiting patiently for the anaconda cpm to be released to the public so then the full release with all ships especially the corvette can hopefully end up being released to all as i would love to be able to make my corvette look just as good on the inside as it does on the outside with its nice gold paintjob.
 
This looks amazing – thank you! Will it work with open composite? (I have to use open composite with my reverb G2 as Odyssey performance bad for me in VR otherwise). I use another mod for DCS World in VR that is based on 3DMigoto and that dev releases two versions (one for use with open composite). So not sure if your version will work with it? I've attached the link to that mod below. Thanks for all your hard work!

Hi, I'm sorry but I've never used open composite before. I had a quick read about it, and it sounds like it's a SteamVR replacement?

I also looked at the instructions for the DCS mod, and it looks as though they need to use the 3Dmigoto Loader to get it all working together

The folder 3DmigotoDCS_VR_15.2_openXR must be installed only for usage with openXR mod. The mod must be launched with [DCSInstall]\bin\3dmigoto\3DMigoto Loader.exe prior to DCS.exe execution. 3DMigoto Loader.exe will open a MSDOS windows and wait DCS launch.

I haven't worked with the 3DM Loader before so I'm not sure how to use it correctly, or if it might trigger some sort of warning to FDev in the ED process. Unfortunately I don't have time to investigate this scenario to ensure it works correctly and is safe for CMDRs to use. Sorry about that, but I have my hands full with lots of other stuff, I hope you can understand
 
It's not released yet .. I think Dragsham was referring to EDHM

Someone started a rumour that FDev had contacted me and given approval for the CPM, but that's not the case. I would be so excited to hear from them and would post here straight away. But it's possible the CMs now have a policy of not commenting on mods or 3rd party tools, as I don't think they're the sort of people to deliberately ignore loyal CMDRs.

However, I've been PM'ing the CMs for over a month so they definitely know about it and haven't asked me not to proceed. It ticks all their boxes in terms of the modding rules I was given back in 2020 (see the first post in this thread). So I plan to release a mod prototype with just the Anaconda so the community and FDev can give me feedback before proceeding any further

Anyway, that's a long way of saying it's not released yet :)

Just release it in full. I'm sure all of us CMDRs here will agree, it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission ;)
 
Hi, I'm sorry but I've never used open composite before. I had a quick read about it, and it sounds like it's a SteamVR replacement?

I also looked at the instructions for the DCS mod, and it looks as though they need to use the 3Dmigoto Loader to get it all working together



I haven't worked with the 3DM Loader before so I'm not sure how to use it correctly, or if it might trigger some sort of warning to FDev in the ED process. Unfortunately I don't have time to investigate this scenario to ensure it works correctly and is safe for CMDRs to use. Sorry about that, but I have my hands full with lots of other stuff, I hope you can understand
Hi @GeorjCostanza no need to apologise. I understand 100%. This will be a fantastic mod when it comes out. Thanks for all your hard work. (And yes it bypasses Steam VR because for WMR headsets WMR (openXR) runs in parallel to steam VR and Steam VR optimised for vive. Basically with open composite you’re running one set of VR software not two. For games like DCS and Elite Dangerous VR frame rates Increase and stuttering goes away.)
 
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I haven't worked with the 3DM Loader before so I'm not sure how to use it correctly, or if it might trigger some sort of warning to FDev in the ED process. Unfortunately I don't have time to investigate this scenario to ensure it works correctly and is safe for CMDRs to use. Sorry about that, but I have my hands full with lots of other stuff, I hope you can understand
The loader is really only provided for games that won't load 3DMigoto out of the game directory (actually it was written for Windows Store games that were hostile to files being added to the game directory before Microsoft added official support for modding them, but also works for games that explicitly load c:\windows\system32\d3d11.dll which would ordinarily bypass 3DMigoto). It works by pretending that 3DMigoto is an accessibility tool which makes the operating system load it into every single newly spawned process while the injector window is displayed (3DMigoto immediately unloads itself from all but the target process, and the injector will terminate as soon as it is able to confirm that 3DMigoto has been successfully loaded into the target process - there's a noticeable hit to load times of new processes while the injector is running, so I've done everything I can to keep that window as small as possible), so it should only be used if normal loading doesn't work.

I'd guess that the reason it works in this case is because it changes how the calls go from the game through 3DMigoto and any other 3rd party libraries hooking the same calls (open composite in this case) and into DirectX - normally 3DMigoto would wrap the DirectX API calls, but using the loader will force it to hook some of them instead (not the same as the hook option in the d3dx.ini, but similar), which sometimes plays better with third party tools (and other times worse). It may also reverse the order that the two are called (tip: if you want 3DMigoto to do something with the Steam overlay, enable hooking in the d3dx.ini as that reverses the order of Steam and 3DMigoto - I've used this to correct the Steam overlay only rendering in one eye in 3D Vision Direct games and a few other esoteric uses).

We've had similar issues when users have tried to combine 3DMigoto and other 3rd party tools like Reshade, SpecialK and GeDoSaTo (and even things like the Steam/Uplay/Origin Overlays) over the years and have had to add protections against various quirks that can arise when these are used together in various orders and various combinations of hooking and wrapping. It's very easy to end up with one tool calling into another, which then calls back to the first, and so on until the stack runs out and we get a crash - 3DMigoto already has some ability to detect if it has been unexpectedly called by another tool and skips it's usual processing to try to avoid calling back to that tool, but this protection has only been added where it is needed in response to bug reports (hint hint), as it's really difficult to forsee every call that could possibly need it when used in conjuction with other, possibly not even written yet tools, or this crash could be some other interaction between the two.

Summary: Even if the loader is working around a crash in this case, I'd still consider this an issue that myself or the other 3DMigoto/geo-11 developers should investivate. Please file a bug report.
 
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The loader is really only provided for games that won't load 3DMigoto out of the game directory (actually it was written for Windows Store games that were hostile to files being added to the game directory before Microsoft added official support for modding them, but also works for games that explicitly load c:\windows\system32\d3d11.dll which would ordinarily bypass 3DMigoto). It works by pretending that 3DMigoto is an accessibility tool which makes the operating system load it into every single newly spawned process while the injector window is displayed (3DMigoto immediately unloads itself from all but the target process, and the injector will terminate as soon as it is able to confirm that 3DMigoto has been successfully loaded into the target process - there's a noticeable hit to load times of new processes while the injector is running, so I've done everything I can to keep that window as small as possible), so it should only be used if normal loading doesn't work.

I'd guess that the reason it works in this case is because it changes how the calls go from the game through 3DMigoto and any other 3rd party libraries hooking the same calls (open composite in this case) and into DirectX - normally 3DMigoto would wrap the DirectX API calls, but using the loader will force it to hook some of them instead (not the same as the hook option in the d3dx.ini, but similar), which sometimes plays better with third party tools (and other times worse). It may also reverse the order that the two are called (tip: if you want 3DMigoto to do something with the Steam overlay, enable hooking in the d3dx.ini as that reverses the order of Steam and 3DMigoto - I've used this to correct the Steam overlay only rendering in one eye in 3D Vision Direct games and a few other esoteric uses).

We've had similar issues when users have tried to combine 3DMigoto and other 3rd party tools like Reshade, SpecialK and GeDoSaTo (and even things like the Steam/Uplay/Origin Overlays) over the years and have had to add protections against various quirks that can arise when these are used together in various orders and various combinations of hooking and wrapping. It's very easy to end up with one tool calling into another, which then calls back to the first, and so on until the stack runs out and we get a crash - 3DMigoto already has some ability to detect if it has been unexpectedly called by another tool and skips it's usual processing to try to avoid calling back to that tool, but this protection has only been added where it is needed in response to bug reports (hint hint), as it's really difficult to forsee every call that could possibly need it when used in conjuction with other, possibly not even written yet tools, or this crash could be some other interaction between the two.

Summary: Even if the loader is working around a crash in this case, I'd still consider this an issue that myself or the other 3DMigoto/geo-11 developers should investivate. Please file a bug report.

I love knowing more about how 3Dmigoto works behind the scenes. That's very clever using the accessibility tool technique! It's obvious you guys have put a lot of time and thought into making it the great software it is today. Even after 2 years I'm still discovering new features and techniques

However, I don't know enough about open composite to make a bug report (I've never used it), but perhaps @eloquent could detail the crash report on the 3Dmigoto issue tracker?

My only frustration is when there's an error in the extracted HLSL that I can't find, and I'm forced to write the mod in shader ASM - takes me bloody hours :) The ambient cabin lighting shader is a classic example, I can't figure out why the HLSL doesn't work. And the ASM version took me about a day and about a dozen game crashes before it was stable. Anyway, that's really a minor issue, plus it forces me to learn more about ASM.

I hope you'll try out the Cockpit Paint Mod, took a fair bit of work to put it together
 
"All flight CMDRs, go / no go for launch"

"RETRO" – GO!

"FIDO" – GO!

"GUIDANCE" – Go!

"PAINT" Paint?? GOOOOO!!! 🚀🚀🚀

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Hi CMDRs,

The CPM prototype for the Anaconda is ready!

You can download the files from the EDHM GitHub, and I recommend reading the manuals, or at least the CPM Quick Start Guide

Since this is a prototype / alpha test, I'd greatly appreciate your feedback on the CPM - what works, what doesn't, what else could be added, that sort of thing

Just a reminder the UI is developed by a very clever coder Blue Mystic, and since he doesn't visit the Elite forums it's best to give him suggestions or feedback on the UI via the EDHM Discord or his GitHub, thank you

Well it's finally here, and I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of awesome cockpits you create!

o7

1663682500899.png
 
However, I don't know enough about open composite to make a bug report (I've never used it), but perhaps @eloquent could detail the crash report on the 3Dmigoto issue tracker?
@GeorjCostanza @DarkStarSword,
First, thanks so much for both your efforts for ED and the gaming community generally.

Tl; Dr: I've never had a crash with 3DMigoto – but I'm happy to test and report any if I do get them.

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I think there's been some confusion from my original post:

• I've not had any crashes with 3DMigoto.
• The only mod I've used is the DCS one and the open composite version works great for me.
• I'd just seen people saying (I think here or maybe discord) that it didn't work with open composite. That, plus seeing open composite needed the loader etc, was what prompted me to ask if this mod worked with Open Composite.

Now that this has been released I can give it a try (with OC) and see if it works. I'm happy to report any bugs etc if it helps you.

Thanks again for your hard work on all this stuff – I don't know code so it's beyond clever to me!
 
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