Trying to combine two aircraft files with different color palettes? The Aircraft Material Offset Tool (MATADD) can be used in your workflow. It applies an offset to all positive material values.

GitHub repository

GitHub release page

Installation

You can go to the releases page on GitHub and download an installer.

Alternatively, if you prefer not to use the sketchy installer that Visual Studio forced me to use, and that I don't know if it even works, you can follow these steps:

1. Create a new Visual Studio project using the template "Console App (.NET Framework)"
2. Choose the project name you want
3. Select the .NET Framework version (I used 4.7.2)
4. Copy the code from the GitHub repository
5. Run the code from Visual Studio, and use the instructions below to add a child aircraft to a parent aircraft.

Preparation

Warning! Do not trust random programmers with your important files. Make backups and do not overwrite files from the program.

1. Make a backup of your parent aircraft.
2. In SimplePlanes, create a subassembly of the child aircraft.
3. Note down the original number of materials in the parent aircraft. It is 20 by default.
4. Close the game.
5. In a text editor, append the list of materials, that are not hidden, from the child aircraft to the list of materials in the parent aircraft.

Using the Program

Note: This software can accept either an aircraft file or subassembly file as input. The instructions here use a subassembly file.

1. Enter the file path of the subassembly you made from your child aircraft.
2. Enter the original number of materials from the parent aircraft. This number is added to all positive material IDs.
3. Enter the destination file path.

Example input:

A copy of the input file with new material values will be created at the destination file path.

Applying Subassembly

1. In a text editor, change the display name of the new subassembly.
2. Add the subassembly to the parent aircraft.

Example of successful application (material offset of 25):

Random Questions

Why did you make this?
To put a complex character model in a plane for screenshots. (it's quite obvious when a small plane has no pilot)

Why is there no error trapping? The program randomly closed on me.
Because its only intended use for me, is for screenshots using finished builds. It's not really a tool for aircraft development. It is also not guaranteed to work with mod parts or future versions.

Why doesn't it work on negative material IDs?
Because I personally don't change them. All my aircraft use the default definitions for materials -1 to -4. Additionally, as of 1.11 or something, additional materials are defined as positive numbers and not negative numbers.

I lost my source aircraft file that I spent 6969 hours on because your program crashed
Lol (lol out loud), le mao, conduct axial rotation on the ground, kusa (because w is short for warai and it looks like grass), ha ha da xiao (sound of laugh followed by big laugh), whatever you call it

What's that plane?
I don't know either but it will be released soon (tm)