crazyeddie

I cheat !! I start with the existing textures, I find one that I can reduce to its basic colours, such as a light grey or white, I remove all trace of existing markings where I can and where I need to, some are good to keep. Sometimes I can do that easily, sometimes I have to go right back to a completely blank skin in one single colour. My software will adjust the base colour easily so I can with some patience get back to a grey or white, that can take a while depending on how complex the skins are. When I have that basic skin I can then use it to copy and paste shadows etc if they have become blurred or less distinct, my old Photoimpact10 software lets me do that better than anything new thats around such as Gimp etc. Thats is why I work in bmp, my software loves it. If a skin has several colours in it then I create a blank skin in those colours. From those I can isolate specific bits that I need for the finished skin, I cut and paste where I can or just copy paste after marking out the bits I need. Those coloured skin already have the shadow, panel lines on them from when I created the first blank from existing skins. It seems a long winded process but if there is no template to work from then thats how I do it. If there is a template then you are well on your way to doing it yourself, if the template is good enough, not all are, some are very basic and really of not much use, but every little helps. The trick is what Software you decide to use to create, some guys swear by Gimp (It is very good, I use it for odd things so dont think I hate it, I dont) - Photoimpact is no longer made but you can do an awful lot with it that other software does not do quite as well. You can still get free copies on line. Cut and Paste is king, hide stuff, use existing bits in other places, then go find yourself a heap of Military Type faces for Windows, and when you are ready I can give you a really good, but VERY large set of psd files that contains just about every roundel you might ever need, or just copy them from Google, its all out there somewhere. Hope that helps. Here is an example of my basic Tucano bmp skin - broken down to this colour from a much more colourful original skin. I wok in 4096 x 4096 or larger if I can (the bigger the size the better the definition of lines etc) - I had to reduce it to this size to post it on this page. From this I created RAF camo skins and other stuff. Things like carrier decks need to be really huge, anything less than 8192 x 8192 and the lines are very broken, but aircraft can look really good at 4096 x 4096. Go as big as your software will let you.

I'm being a bit thick here, I'm not sure I understand what it is you want to do. I believe paint.net can handle any size file, I do most of my work in Photoimpact10 using mainly 4096 x 4096 size bmp files, because that suits what I do and how I do it, then use paint.net to convert them to dds format. I have worked with 8192 x 8192 size files in bmp but my software struggles with that, but paint.net handles the conversion perfectly well.

I will try that, thanks Rudel. YES - that works just fine. And that tells me something else about a change in the game which I not considered, and which I need to explore a bit more to see what else has changed, many thanks.

VPC Airfield Equipment has a couple of small open aircraft shelters in it. You can pick an aircraft - in this case the A29B - and if you select flyable you can start a mission from under the shelter, as you always could. If, however, post the 2.8 update you select that aircraft as an AI it is moved to the next closest free parking space, its no longer under the shelter although it remains shown as under the shelter in the ME drop downs. My question is - does anyone have any ideas why this is happening, I have been fiddling with this for a couple of days and I'm fresh out of ideas, any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Missing texture files - That's interesting, my version of the mod does not have either of those in it so I would not have had them to convert and I didnt spot an error. Cant think why, but no worries, I have them now, thanks for picking that up Ilthronwise.

Its a secret, If I told you I would have to have you killed I dont actually know, I think its to do with the level of compression, but I'm sure there are other factors involved. Eight Balls converted files were dds 3, the ones I did were dds 5, that's the main difference. He did his using a bulk conversion tool that only did dds 3, I did all mine one at a time, it took effin forever of course but I saw a need and liked the mod so much I just had to do it. There are guys on here who can explain what the difference actually is in technical terms, over to them !

Glad to help ... if anyone wants to convert their liveries png files themselves this is the program I use, it's really very easy to use and conversion to dds is simple, and it's free. All you have to do is drag and drop the png file into the prog and select save as dds, then save it as BC3 (Linear, DXT5), with Perceptual set and that's it, you now have a dds 5 texture file. . Drop Paint Net into your browser and download the free version, anyone needing a little help making it work or advice on the other stuff you can do with it just ask, I'll help if I can.

Sorry, link updated.

Here you go - all in dds 5 format converted with paintnet, I think everything you need is in here, its what I'm using currently so it should be okay: Have just added the few in game liveries I did have in the same format. I only have 4. https://www.dropbox.com/s/1rpx600g4bdthpl/CrazyEddies Bronco dds Textures.zip?dl=0 Link above updated to include liveries.

The only line in there that I can see that relates to the A29 is this: 2022-11-07 14:20:49.173 ERROR_ONCE DX11BACKEND: texture 'a29b_01_flir' not found. Asked from '' BUT - I get that in my log file as well and the A29 works in my game. Texture errors are usually ignored and the game uses a missing texture file in its place, so I dont think its anything to do with that line. I'm not an expert with log files, perhaps somebody can see something else that I have missed. I am having a load of different problems with my game since 2.8, some are really strange and I cant seem to identify what is causing them.

Even weirder - now it does work on the Syria map using Rudel miz file, but none of the others. The same issue is happening in Alpha, so I'm guessing its a combination of problems with the the shelters, the aircraft and the game, its happening with all aircraft in the game on every map, in both Alpha and Beta, with just an A29B and the VSN Mod loaded. Past experience tells me to give up trying to fix this, hopefully it will come right sometime in the future.

This is weird - I cant get it to work on any map, inc Syria - the same thing happens on all of them. Thanks for doing that Rudel, it really helps to track the problem down. So, its not the aircraft and its not the shelter and probably not the map so it has to be some sort of conflict with another Mod, I will have to sort that out by the old trial and error method !!! Not come across anything quite like this before, its really strange.

Its doing the same thing for both player and AI, there appears to be some issue with the A29 because if I delete it and start again as a Player aircraft it does drop down to that option, but if I then change it in some way that option disappears again, its weird.

Tried that, only to find that option is not coming with the A29 drop down - I'm only getting these options.

Tried to launch mission from both the parking and parking hot spots, under that large square green canopy. Defaults to nearest empty spot both times. This did work before 2.8.

After 2.8 update I cannot get any aircraft to park under the canopies. They default to the nearest parking spot that is empty.

That's the same version I now have, and it appears to work okay in my Beta game, but I have not tested everything yet. I suspect you may have a conflict with another Mod, but I dont know what that might be. Have a look in your log file and see if you can id any errors, that might give you a clue. I believe there is a navigation mod that does not work with the A29, it could be anything like that, something that affects the mod or adds to its functionality. I have lost track of all the add on's, there are so many now and I don't use them. Another option is to remove anything you suspect might be conflicting, its a bit hit and miss but it is often the only choice you have left when all else fails. Post your log file on here, somebody might spot an error.

What I did was scroll down to where it says "Download Latest Release", that's the one I got 2 days ago and that works. It does not have a version number after it. If you look at the lines of descriptions above it, one line for Bin says a new DLL for 2.8, so I'm guessing that is the fix.

stolzy - go to page 1 and then to the github link, get the latest updated version that works in 2.8.

If you recollect some of the earlier posts you will see that I described this problem way back in Sep and offered the .dds 5 files up for both the main texture file and the cockpit. My aim was to see if we could improve performance and It did indeed improve mine, significantly, but only one other person responded so I removed the link to free up space in my Dropbox. I still have that zip files somewhere if I can find it again.

I have woken up next to women uglier than that !!!!

Hi Greg - I'll have a pint --- of Rum and Coke !

Here is a link to the crewman uniforms - READ THE README. https://www.dropbox.com/s/1j5ugnuh76illr8/CrazyEddies Replacement Crew Textures.zip?dl=0

Making improvements to the Sea King Crew - with many thanks to Urbi who redid a heap of skins for me to work from, new roughmet and new normal textures for everything, and updated a couple of the non UK skins as well, many thanks mate. I have done the UK skins myself with slight changes to his work to reflect current and not so current aircrew clothing and helmets. Issues - All four crew members are taken from the same texture files, so they all look the same. I decided to work on the basis that the crewman in the opening door was the most visible, so thats the skin I have used. The SH3H Helmet is a different pattern to the Westland model and takes its textures from different texture files, so I have done those as well for the 'Junglie' sea Kings. I will release these as an update, on here, when they are done.

Radium: I believe if you could get this working in DCS many would be delighted to see it, and they would use it. Its a huge project for your first but I wish you all the luck and hope you find enough interest amongst the membership.