New Development Snapshot 0.49.13 for MegaMek, MegaMekLab, and MekHQ

[Hammer]

Welcome all to 0.49.13!

This release marks a significant milestone for Megamek as we finish the second year of 0.49.x development. It features numerous fixes and quality-of-life improvements. The breadth of exciting additions is extensive, making it challenging to decide where to begin. We recommend reviewing the complete list to see all changes. However, we'll highlight a few noteworthy ones for now. It's important to note that this release, being the 13th in the cycle, may still contain a few new bugs due to all the awesome new stuff.

Here we go...

-Client settings had a massive overhaul see HERE for details.

-Major improvements to how min/max visual and sensor ranges are display in game - highlight min - max visual and sensor ranges by kuronekochomusuke · see HERE for details.

-Improvements to the Detail Unit Counts in the Initiative Phase. see HERE for details.

-Allow sprites on reports in Double Blind. see HERE for details.

-Major improvements to the Create Random army menus. see HERE for details.

-We've expanded the Display FOV Darken/Highlight and Field of Fire to all non-report phases, it also shows the optional weapon Field of Fire during the deployment phase

-Weapons Quirks now show in the unit selector. see HERE for details.

-Improvements in showing multiple units in the same hex



-Princess and her off board artillery can no longer hide in double blind! Counter-battery fire to off board targets now works in double blind.

-BattleArmor with Indirect fire weapons can well... fire indirectly now. Conventional Infantry is trickier and not implemented. 

-Numerous fixes to Alphas Strike Conversion

We have a few of VERY important things to be aware of in this release especially around the units.

1. Anti-aliasing is now an option and if you’re having graphic slow downs or “chugging on the map” trying to change the option in client settings.

2. We have made changes to the unit files to align them with the MUL by removing the term "(Standard)". This was a significant data task and resulted in the removal of nearly 1000 instances of "(Standard)". Our Quality Assurance (QA) team has thoroughly tested these name changes by creating campaigns and loading them with every unit. However, there is a potential risk in MekHQ with CPNX files, as they rely on unit names for matching. If you encounter any errors while loading your campaign file, we apologize for the inconvenience and kindly refer to the following post for further assistance.

3. Lastly we’ve ripped the unofficial unit band aid off. We've moved the unofficial units zip out of this release. The reasons and poll for this was discussed HERE. Between our Discord and this poll 75% of players were good with us removing them. It allows us to have the releases be focused on canon units.

The file is still available but players will need to add the zip file manually. We have no plans to further support or add units into that zip. It would be safe to just set it up in a customs folder and move that folder between releases.

To add the units back:
1. Download the zip file from the MegaMek Extras HERE.
2. You need to right click and use the "save link as"
3. Save this as a zip to the data\mechfiles folder of the program.
     -As a suggestion save this to a customs folder in the data\mechfiles
4. On restart they will be added.

We continue to find small improvements in stability over 49.12 but we still aren't 100% where we want to be. We know from experience that when we say this players generally stay away. But you can run both a stable release (0.48.0 or good dev release 0.49.12) you just need to keep them in separate folders. We need players to use Dev releases.

Remember that MekHQ campaign files **aren't** backwards compatible so if move your campaign from an earlier version to this you can't go back. But you can keep backups and play in both versions to see the difference.

MegaMek
See the notes above and below for specific things.

MegaMekLab
A new option for the unofficial record sheets, On record sheets, hit location and cluster tables can now be printed in place of the fluff image; activate this option in the record sheet settings. You can see an example HERE.

Remember to check the FILE-Configuration for all sorts of options for Record Sheets.

MekHQ
There isn't a lot of MekHQ outside of some fixes, but we do have Stratcon fixes.

MekHQ StratCon Alpha
Stratcon is starting to get a little more work and bug fixes (see below). Nickargua the dev is looking for help and see HERE for how to help.. It sounds complicated but it's quite easy to make the files he's looking for.

Stable 0.50.0 Status Update
We are still in the development portion of the current cycle. We've been able to implement a new version of Gradle (our build language) starting with the 0.49.11 release. As well as adding support for Java 17. This is still undergoing testing and we encourage players to use the programs with Java 17 but Java 11 remains our recommended choice for the .49.x Dev cycle. We are still working on the connection stability issues.

We've found the primary cause of these disconnects is the use the Unofficial "Simultaneous" options. These options create a host of issues and while they worked in 0.48.0 Stable the changes in this Dev Branch have made them problematic. As a fair warning we are considering removing them when we get to 0.50.0 Stable. These are the options we are referring too.


We are getting to a point where we are starting to talk about 0.50.0 Stable but we still have some significant things we need to complete and don't anticipate a new Stable anytime soon. At this point we have some really good solid development releases and for security alone I'd recommend upgrading to Java 11 from Java 8.

Once that is done we'd recommend trying a dev release like 0.49.12. With a milestone of 0.50.0 we need to make sure we get it right.

Java 11 and 17
We've updated to Java 11, which means you'll need to update to use the 0.49.x development branches. As Java is now open source, we recommend Adoptium Temurin 11. We have a help page for Windows and Mac. Further, for Linux, you should be able to use your package manager to install Adoptium Temurin from their repository. Finally, all our automated tests (with the exception of MegaMekLab) are done with Temurin 11.

This release implements support for Java 17. We need to stress this has had some testing and needs more players to use the programs with Java 17. But Java 11 remains our recommended version.

Social Media
We are also happy to announce we have an official MegaMek Discord. This is now our primary community location for the suite, providing superior voice support, individual channels, and assistance for the official public servers. There are also the following community Discords with regular MegaMek channels, namely Everything BattleTech and Classic BattleTech. We are also on Facebook, at MegaMek BattleTech and MegaMek for our group and page respectively.

Mac Users
Please check out this workaround for Mac Operating Systems.

Contributing
Please check out this document for contributing to the suite.

Updating Your Campaign:
1. Make backups of your campaigns and customs.
2. Always treat each release as a stand alone release and only copy your data forward from older versions, never backwards.
3. Do not copy MegaMek saves nor any preference file from a different version.

Change Logs (Release Specific) and Download Links
MegaMek
Download

Code: [Select]

+ Fix #3914: LAM fuel tanks will now correctly provide fuel to the LAM
+ Fix #3951: Solar engine powered fixed wing support vehicles are now able to move and don't require fuel
+ Fix #3696: Altitude values no longer inadvertently influence space combat
+ Fix #4229, #4249, #4278, #4415: Alpha Strike conversion and card fixes
+ Fix #4234: The mini round report now allows marking and copying text
+ Fix #4235: A player without a team no longer results in an error
+ Fix #4238: Erroneous jungle hexes in Fan Pack Arctic boards have been replaced with woods
+ Fix #3915: In space with StratOps ECM rules active, a LAM's ECM systems now use the correct range of 0 (its own hex) instead of 6
+ Data: Updates to Flynn map pack
+ Data: Updates to Spanish translation.
+ Data: Updates to German translation.
+ PR #4213: BA mortar weapons can now use indirect fire
+ PR #4251: The lobby now indicates that a unit is shut down
+ Fix #4246: Improve rendering of horizontal scroll bar
+ PR #4254: Clan weapons get explicitly called out in firing phase reports
+ Fix #3968: Hexes with multiple units now give better information in the unit labels
+ Fix #3703: Uncompressed save games can now be loaded
+ Fix #4117: Unit card and minimap can now be focused when clicked
+ Fix #4261: Prevent aerospace units from having an out-of-bounds bomb count
+ Fix #2102, #3896: Weapon-delivered smoke will now not move in the round it is created and not count this round towards dispersion;
                    it will also disperse regardless of game options
+ PR #4269: Anti-aliasing has been removed as a gui option; high quality rendering will always be used
+ Fix #2220: Units now dismount to adjacent hexes from SV
+ Fix #4203: QoL updates to the Create Random Army tabs
+ PR #4228: Various updates to the advanced search: patchwork armor, AS unit roles, additional unit type and unit survival filters
+ PR #4268: Princess will now attack even DropShips when set to very high aggression values
+ PR #4280: Adds two new "v2" Princess Presets for the new aggression values
+ Fix #4267: Ejected Crew now remember their initiative
+ PR #4276: The key binds can now be reset to their default values in the client settings
+ PR #4281: For VTOL vehicles, elevation is now saved to and loaded from MULs
+ PR #4289: A pure text stats summary of Alpha Strike elements can now be copied to the Clipboard
+ PR #4282: Symbols on the minimap can now be hidden; the minimap also now has a context menu
+ PR #4284, #4296, #4313: Substantial updates to the client settings dialog
+ PR #4295: System/java/Megamek information can now be copied in the About dialog
+ Fix #4293: Off-board entities are now properly visible to players
+ PR #4292: The -quick command line flag can now be combined with other flags
+ PR #4290: The lobby chat window now shows a text placeholder when empty to improve its visibility
+ Fix #4302: The wind direction shown in the Planetary Conditions is now correct
+ PR #4294: Megamek now has random and constant skill generation values for The Society (WoRS)
+ PR #4319: The unit tooltip now shows original armor and internal structure values
+ PR #4310: Show a chat message when changing settings
+ Fix #4334: Correctly display heat capacity on unit tool tip to match unit card when TO Heatsink Coolant Failure is used
+ Fix #4221: Flares now correctly despawn when blown off the map
+ Fix #2333: Show Weapon Quirks in various tool tips
+ Fix MML 881: Problem with PPC Capacitors in Mixed Tech Mechs and Vehicles (adding missing PPCs)
+ Issue #2972: Add team BV totals to round report
+ PR #4348: Add weapon location to tooltips if appropriate client setting is on
+ Issue #2569: Ability to change certain color palettes in client settings to improve accessibility
+ Issue #4291: Prevent unintended discovery of opponent hidden units if both player and opponent have them
+ PR #4318: Added expandable detailed info to target selection dropdowns
+ PR #4368: The random map generator can now generate Snow features
+ PR #4360: Low Quality Graphics options to address lag in game
+ Issue #3813: Implement repeating TSEMPs
+ Issue #4370: Remove unnecessary log bloat for altitude checks in space
+ PR #4405: Prevent error displaying hex tooltip in various situations
+ Fix #1227: Variable Size critical slots on Superheavy Meks from MTF files now load correctly
+ Issue #4314: BA Micro Grenade Launchers can now correctly attack targets up to 2 hexes away and show these ranges in the unit display
+ Issue #4392: The random map generator now respects the full range of allowed terrain features and may create a feature when between 0 and 1 are allowed
+ Issue #4345: The bot readme will no longer appear anytime a bot is created and respects the nag dialog setting. Those can be reset with a new menu item
+ Issue #2981: Entity images now show on reports when using double blind
+ PR #4362: The round report now gives detailed unit counts
+ Fix #4386: Indirect-fire ballistic weapons no longer apply modifiers for planetary conditions
+ PR #4379: The overheat from weapon fire shown in the unit display now shows the correct heat capacity values when heat capacity is modified
+ PR #4288: The in-game Done button has been reworked to prevent accidental no-actions without constantly having to add a click in the nag window
+ PR #4412: Remove "(Standard)" as model to follow the MUL. The MUL has removed the (Standard) and we will continue our practice of matching the MUL as closely as possible
+ Fix #4327, #4400: Field of Fire and FOV Darken/Highlight may now be used in more phases of the game
+ PR #4414: The wreck tooltip now shows crew info if they did not eject
+ Data: iATM ammo should use ATM availability codes for standard (ER,HE,Standard) ammos
+ Fix #4406: Fix an issue with Forces not working correctly when using double blind
+ PR #4388: Chaff Pods (ECM and smoke) are now functional in the game
+ Issue #4416: Entities destroyed by environmental conditions are marked as destroyed
+ Issue #4411: Corrected display of cruise missile damage values
+ Issue #4835: Allow repeating TSEMP on aerospace units
+ Fix #4283: Custom Weapon Orders can now be saved again
+ Issue #4262: Game year selection no longer limit units
+ Issue #4422: Issue with escape key reset when jumping
+ PR #4438: Split light visible range and other visible range calculations
+ Fix #4432: Issue with seen by client setting unit tool tip index mismatch
+ Fix #4446: Show teams before players on BV count report section
+ Data: Fixing #4223, #4206, #4371, #4398, #4377, #4272, #4257, #4244 ,#4312
+ PR #4430: Highlight min/max visual and sensor ranges
+ PR #4450: When tacops sensors is not on, dont show sensor rings
+ PR #4451: When tacops sensors is not on, show visual range in tool tip

MegaMekLab
Download

Code: [Select]

+ PR #1241: On record sheets, hit location and cluster tables can now be printed in place of the fluff image; activate this option in the record sheet settings
+ Issue #1247: BA pop-up mines now show up under "other equipment"
+ Issue #1238: Battle Armor tube artillery now only allowed on battle armor

MekHQ
Download

Code: [Select]

+ Data: updates to the Stratcon FAQ now version 2.3 in docs\atb folder.
+ PR #3618: Campaign Options: Properly Disable Retirement and Dependent Options On Preset Load
+ PR #3619: Campaign Options: Properly Disable Contract Market Pane based on AtB Selection
+ Issue #3634: Re-enable Mass Mothball dialog
+ Issue #3654: Engines can be swapped again in meklab
+ Issue #3652/3629: Addressed errors loading campaigns with pending special AtB scenarios
+ Data: Improvements to FedCom Civil War Planetary Control
+ Issue #3502: Campaign Options: Improve Maximum Acquisition Per Day Text and Tool Tip Text
+ PR #3662: Update refit classes based on CamOps
+ Issue #3632: [Stratcon] Text clarification regarding airborne dropship modifier
+ PR #3663: Properly classify CASE refits
+ Issue #3600: [Stratcon] Regenerating bot forces no longer duplicates displayed scenario objectives
+ PR #3665: Stratcon Hidden Facility Modifier Fix
Enjoy everyone!

[Hammer]

Warning.

This release has some new build scripts and while gameplay doesn't seem affected the ability to print Record Sheets seems to be broken. If you need Record Sheets printed we recommend using 0.49.12

[Bludlust]

Ubuntu 22.04.2, Java 11, marked the MekHQ.jar file as executable. Executing the file does not bring up the opening screen I'm used to. It only brings a long text box with three options to start new, load a campaign or quit. quit works, the other two bring up an error. "The campaign file could not be loaded. Please check the MekHQ.log file for details". There is nothing in the log directory. it is an empty folder. clicking OK the clear the error message bring back the long text box with the three options.

[rjhancock]

Ubuntu 22.04.2, Java 11, marked the MekHQ.jar file as executable. Executing the file does not bring up the opening screen I'm used to. It only brings a long text box with three options to start new, load a campaign or quit. quit works, the other two bring up an error. "The campaign file could not be loaded. Please check the MekHQ.log file for details". There is nothing in the log directory. it is an empty folder. clicking OK the clear the error message bring back the long text box with the three options.

1) You shouldn't mark JAR files as executable. They are not executables, the are Java Archives.
2) First guess is there is a security setting on your system that is quarantining the JAR file from its location to prevent it from accessing its own data. This happens on macOS. Not sure the steps to get Ubuntu to not do that.

Try running MekHQ from a terminal window with `java -jar MekHQ.jar` and see what happens.

Note: If Java is installed correctly on Ubuntu, then double clicking a JAR file in the GUI should automatically load the Java RE and launch the JAR file.

[Tinyozora]

Thanks for all the awesome updates.  Just wanted to drop in to say that removal of the simultaneous deployment, firing, and physicals phases could drastically slow down larger battles between multiple players.  Especially simultaneous firing is such a huge component and it's removal could see not insignificant increases in play time requirements as it'll slow down certain scenarios of play.

[BATTLEMASTER]

Thanks for all the awesome updates.  Just wanted to drop in to say that removal of the simultaneous deployment, firing, and physicals phases could drastically slow down larger battles between multiple players.  Especially simultaneous firing is such a huge component and it's removal could see not insignificant increases in play time requirements as it'll slow down certain scenarios of play.

I agree with this.  I'd rather see the options fixed than removed, especially with simultaneous movement and the bot calculating movement for all its units at the same time.

[Bludlust]

1) You shouldn't mark JAR files as executable. They are not executables, the are Java Archives.
2) First guess is there is a security setting on your system that is quarantining the JAR file from its location to prevent it from accessing its own data. This happens on macOS. Not sure the steps to get Ubuntu to not do that.

Try running MekHQ from a terminal window with `java -jar MekHQ.jar` and see what happens.

Note: If Java is installed correctly on Ubuntu, then double clicking a JAR file in the GUI should automatically load the Java RE and launch the JAR file.

Unmarking and double clicking the file resulted in the same behavior as described in the original post.
Running from the terminal results in the splash screens as expected, but then hangs at "initializing new campaign..."

I'm gonna research that security behavior you mentioned.

[epic 2.0]

I agree with this.  I'd rather see the options fixed than removed, especially with simultaneous movement and the bot calculating movement for all its units at the same time.

Completely agreed.  While I don't use simult movement, removal of simult targeting and firing, and to a lesser extent, physical phase, will significantly slow down larger games -  or any games, IMO. 

[pokefan548]

Simultaneous targeting/firing/physical is a must IMO, makes the game go way faster. Simultaneous movement is an official optional rule, and should of course be fixed and retained. The rest, I have no strong opinion.

Also, Society fans rejoice, we now have random skills. I'm sure all four of us will use it.

[BATTLEMASTER]

Also, Society fans rejoice, we now have random skills. I'm sure all four of us will use it.

I'll have fun beating up on bot-run Society forces  ;D

[MoleMan]

Does this run extremely slowly for anyone else? Princess is taking forever to make her shots and moves

[BATTLEMASTER]

Does this run extremely slowly for anyone else? Princess is taking forever to make her shots and moves

How big of a game are you playing?  What initiative settings are you using?

[dgorsman]

Does this run extremely slowly for anyone else? Princess is taking forever to make her shots and moves

Extremely slow/forever is quite subjective - for me, that's around 10 minutes or longer.  I would suggest providing the following information:

• Rough time per move - seconds, minutes, tens of minutes?
• Number and type of units e.g. all fast light Mechs, VTOLs
• Size of map, and general terrain e.g. flat, hills, large bodies of water, lots of trees
• Notable game settings, such as allowing terrain/buildings to be set on fire
• Hardware, especially RAM and processor type/speed

[Hammer]

Does this run extremely slowly for anyone else? Princess is taking forever to make her shots and moves

Also from the release notes.

1. Anti-aliasing is now an option and if you’re having graphic slow downs or “chugging on the map” trying to change the high quality option in client settings.

[mikecj]

Thank you!

[MoleMan]

Also from the release notes.

1. Anti-aliasing is now an option and if you’re having graphic slow downs or “chugging on the map” trying to change the high quality option in client settings.

Yep, sorry for not coming back, it was the same issue that I found on the issue tracker, unticking the high quality option fixed it. It seems like a good release otherwise :)

[Bludlust]

Unmarking and double clicking the file resulted in the same behavior as described in the original post.
Running from the terminal results in the splash screens as expected, but then hangs at "initializing new campaign..."

I'm gonna research that security behavior you mentioned.

Permissions are set to create,read and write in all directories and files in the MekHQ directory. When I run it from the terminal, I get the splash screens as expected but it then hangs at "Initializing new campain". the opening screen does NOT give me the option to load any of the pre-generated campaigns. I let it run for a few hours, but it never moved. I finally had to kill the process. FYI, in the four linux distro's I've tried in the past 5 years, in order to be able to double click, the JAR file MUST be marked as executable...doesn't matter if it's an archive or not.

[Bludlust]

Permissions are set to create,read and write in all directories and files in the MekHQ directory. When I run it from the terminal, I get the splash screens as expected but it then hangs at "Initializing new campain". the opening screen does NOT give me the option to load any of the pre-generated campaigns. I let it run for a few hours, but it never moved. I finally had to kill the process. FYI, in the four linux distro's I've tried in the past 5 years, in order to be able to double click, the JAR file MUST be marked as executable...doesn't matter if it's an archive or not.

another FYI, I decided to try the "Stable" version.....it runs fine. So, something between 48, and now is not letting linux machines run.

[Lastone23]

Completely agreed.  While I don't use simult movement, removal of simult targeting and firing, and to a lesser extent, physical phase, will significantly slow down larger games -  or any games, IMO.

We run 9 people on a weekly basis.  Without Simultaneous Weapons fire, the game would slow to a crawl.  We've tried it.  That and physical is the only ones we use.  But I think that Weapons fire is the bigger fruit if only one could be kept.

As always, you guys do a great job.

[rjhancock]

Permissions are set to create,read and write in all directories and files in the MekHQ directory. When I run it from the terminal, I get the splash screens as expected but it then hangs at "Initializing new campain". the opening screen does NOT give me the option to load any of the pre-generated campaigns. I let it run for a few hours, but it never moved. I finally had to kill the process. FYI, in the four linux distro's I've tried in the past 5 years, in order to be able to double click, the JAR file MUST be marked as executable...doesn't matter if it's an archive or not.

1) Look for a popup that is behind the current window. Not sure what causes it but it does happen. It's waiting for a date input for when to start the campaign.

2) If double clicking the JAR file when it is NOT an executable does not load the app, then it is a configuration issue with your window manager not linking JAR files to the java runtime. JAR files are Zip compressed files, not executables. Linux should be treating them like documents and not programs.

[Sithos]

Simultaneous targeting/firing/physical is a must IMO, makes the game go way faster. Simultaneous movement is an official optional rule, and should of course be fixed and retained. [...]

+1 :)

[Sir Chaos]

Just got started with 0.49.13.

It appears that automatic ejection is no longer disabled by default for mechs with CASE. Well, either that, or I clicked on the wrong thing by accident, which wouldn´t be the first time.

How do I change that back to how it used to be?

Edit: Found the option to disable automatic ejection by default, but that appears to be for all units, not just the ones with CASE.

[PuppyLikesLaserPointers]

That was not the recent problem actually. If I remember correctly the problem was persists more than a year.

[BATTLEMASTER]

Just got started with 0.49.13.

It appears that automatic ejection is no longer disabled by default for mechs with CASE. Well, either that, or I clicked on the wrong thing by accident, which wouldn´t be the first time.

How do I change that back to how it used to be?

Edit: Found the option to disable automatic ejection by default, but that appears to be for all units, not just the ones with CASE.

That was not the recent problem actually. If I remember correctly the problem was persists more than a year.

I KNEW THAT WAS AN OPTION BEFORE!  So I wasn't going crazy!  Makes me wonder what happened

[Sir Chaos]

I KNEW THAT WAS AN OPTION BEFORE!  So I wasn't going crazy!  Makes me wonder what happened

I´m not sure. I´ve mostly been playing 0.48.0, I just dipped my toes into the dev versions until recently, to see what´s going on. Things are as I described in 0.48.0, auto-eject conditional on having ammo not covered by CASE; it must have changed somehow in one of the dev versions.


On a different note, I saw that the unit images on the map are now only labelled with the base model name, not the full name - e.g. "Timber Wolf" instead of "Timber Wolf Prime". It would be nice to have a way to change that back.

[PuppyLikesLaserPointers]

I KNEW THAT WAS AN OPTION BEFORE!  So I wasn't going crazy!  Makes me wonder what happened

You know, there is no option to ONLY disable automatic ejection on the units with either CASE/CASE II. There is only the option to disable automatic ejection by default or not. In result, whatever the option is on the game or not, you have to check every single units one by one.

If I remember correctly, the game once were have an option to automatically set the automatic ejection to off only for the unit with CASE/CASE II. I can't confirm it and it may a mistake, but anyway it does not change the fact that you need to check every single armors and fighters individually before the battle. I have seen multiple times the unit with CASE II are suddnly destroyed by the ejection when it suffers an ammuntion explosive because it is either on for all or off for all for years.

Anyway, is it my own delusion that such an option were existed?

[Sir Chaos]

You know, there is no option to ONLY disable automatic ejection on the units with either CASE/CASE II. There is only the option to disable automatic ejection by default or not. In result, whatever the option is on the game or not, you have to check every single units one by one.

If I remember correctly, the game once were have an option to automatically set the automatic ejection to off only for the unit with CASE/CASE II. I can't confirm it and it may a mistake, but anyway it does not change the fact that you need to check every single armors and fighters individually before the battle. I have seen multiple times the unit with CASE II are suddnly destroyed by the ejection when it suffers an ammuntion explosive because it is either on for all or off for all for years.

Anyway, is it my own delusion that such an option were existed?

Like I said, the part you put bold used to be the default - for as long as I can remember, which is roughly the 0.7 dev branch, and as recently as 0.48.0. Auto-eject for units with ammo without CASE, no auto-eject for anyone else. And I would like to have that back.

[dgorsman]

On a different note, I saw that the unit images on the map are now only labelled with the base model name, not the full name - e.g. "Timber Wolf" instead of "Timber Wolf Prime". It would be nice to have a way to change that back.

There should be an option to how that works, with multiple settings.  Don't immediately see it, I'll keep looking.

[Sir Chaos]

There should be an option to how that works, with multiple settings.  Don't immediately see it, I'll keep looking.

Found it. "Change Unit Label Display" in the View dropdown menu. Selecting it or using the keyboard shotcut cycles through several options.

[Sartris]

Weird MML thing. The AS cards for aerospace fighters seem to bee looking in the mechs folder for images (hammerhead, lighting, eagle, etc are showing up with mech images). Some conventional fighters are not showing AS card images while others are. This issue seems to be exclusive to AS cards

[Lanceman]

Weird MML thing. The AS cards for aerospace fighters seem to bee looking in the mechs folder for images (hammerhead, lighting, eagle, etc are showing up with mech images). Some conventional fighters are not showing AS card images while others are. This issue seems to be exclusive to AS cards

More than that looks like the AS Cards don't pull from from the aerospace fluff at all. I have art for the Simurgh downloaded, shows up on the record, blank on the card.

[Sartris]

if you copy an aero image into the mech folder, it displays on the AS card. probably a copy/paste oversight in the code that pulls the image

at a glance i'm not seeing a rhyme or reason to which conventional fighter art shows up on the AS cards vs where it doesn't

[pokefan548]

Weird MML thing. The AS cards for aerospace fighters seem to bee looking in the mechs folder for images (hammerhead, lighting, eagle, etc are showing up with mech images). Some conventional fighters are not showing AS card images while others are. This issue seems to be exclusive to AS cards

Addendum to this, I've had issues with custom fighter variants pulling their sprites from the mech folder even when appropriate fighter sprites are available.