CrazyD

I'll agree with Vesperatus. Hard to tell in the pic, but did you have dark red in with the black for the rest of the body? Or is it my monitor? Looks awesome!

And if you live by the sword, you'll die by the sword!

Moose, you fired the missile right on target! The only thing I would reconsider would be the sizing - I think that if you reduced the skull by 50%, and position it centred on the nose cone (as viewed by the side of course), then the effect wouldn't be so dominating. The flame pattern would extend back to roughly where you've got the rear of the skull positioned in your pic posted above. Then you'll just have to figure out the colour scheme for the rest of the fuselage. Might I suggest a shade of really dark blue, with contrasting light to medium grey, and maybe some trim of deep red or green even (I'm grasping at straws at this point, lol). But I love your skull pic - exactly what I had in mind. We definitely need to get together for some beers! The skull pic I was hoping to find would have been one like yours, but with the jaw in an open "banshee scream" kind of position. But yours is just as good! Did I mention I like your skull pic? Any chance you could fwd me a copy? @ Vesperatus - If you're hovering 90% of the time, that's like being a sitting duck! Definitely going down in flames for sure :D!

I agree, practice make perfect, and it helps to have a wife in the graphic printing industry, lol. But it looks good, and the more you do, the more you learn the tools of photoshop, and the better you get. Keep it up!

Ok, a quickie search, this is the closest I had in mind - position the skull graphic on either side of the nose, with the flames extending back alongside the fuselage, about as far back as the cockpit side windows, then stop there. And for my input, having the flames along the complete underside of the fuselage, and pointing straight up kind of gives a strange effect, because in effect the aircraft then is made to look like its just sitting there. Swept flames, on the other hand, give the appearance of speed, lethality and with the skull, "Death is Coming for Youuuuuuu!!!!!" (lol)

Hang on Moose, give me a minute - gonna google pic for ya ...

Kevlon - what are you using? Photoshop? Try using the path tool to create an outline of the bottom section of your fuselage, save the path, then you can use that as one layer, create a second layer, use the same path only select inverse to fill in the rest of the fuselage. If you need to you can erase the bottom layer only, use the convert point tool to re-align your path points, re-fill and voila!

Hey Moose - I like the flame design, I think it would have a greater impact if it were focused on the fwd section and slightly swept back - kind of like the idea that the fires of hell are coming for you and you are gonna die!!!!!! Maybe put a profile skull on either side of the nose, with flames trailing behind. The funny thing is, I was thinking of doing something along those lines recently, but now you beat me too it, so I offer this concept for you to give it a go (besides, I've got a different skin in progress :thumbup:) Nate - like how you've "trade-marked" your preferred mode of landing :megalol:

If I could offer my two cents: 1 (cent): lower your level of white - it seems too high on the side of the fuselage. 2nd (penny): remove the white around the cockpit window frame - or if you feel the need to have white around the window, make it thinner (like 75% thinner) Looks alright, otherwise. I take that back - 3 cents: don't forget to change your rotor mast and related components:smilewink:

Mangaroca - I know this is an older post - but we've gotten past this issue, and there are two skins I've created - LockonFiles has them. I've got a third skin I'm creating, "Special Forces" kind of thing. It won't be a ready for another week or two (reality has to take priority at the moment).

I know what you're saying. I'm just thinking about the further consequences of following this path. I was wondering if it were possible to have modman install the skin to multiple countries with one install. That way you wouldn't have to edit existing missions in order to fly that skin. Playing devil's advocate here, Moose - not trying to complicate things further :(.

:thumbup: Hey Moose - that's a great job! One question though - do insurgents really need the KA-50? Better make that two questions - if people want to fly a certain skin in a mission that is already in-game, then if the mission doesn't have that country as an ally, or even in the mission as a whole, then they will not be able to fly that skin? I would have to say, if we are able to install the "Standard" skin into all countries, then certainly we should be able to install the custom skins into say - country it was meant for, plus the original countries that fly the KA-50, because I'm sure there's people who've, like myself, yet to fly some or any (that would be me, training missions not included) of the missions. Something to think about. CRD

I'll be honest Deadman - I don't know anything about "LOM, only that it was mentioned that there were technically only 5 skins slots avail, and that Modman got around that limitation. I also have Lomac, and whenever skins were added, then one of the original 5 were replaced. When the Sim-Mod A-10 came out, all of a sudden there were more than 5, and my understanding was that someone figured out how to get around the 5 skin limit by increasing the file number by .1. Thus ends my knowledge of that aspect of skinning with Eagle Dynamics (which isn't much, I'll admit)

Ok Doomhawk - this is for you. After I post this, I'll submit my modified latest skin to LockonFiles under ver2.1, and it will install to "Canada" as the selectable country. Now as posted above, you'll have to copy the cnt_unit line, as well as the first colour_scheme line in order for Modman to recognize and install properly. If it doesn't work for you let me know. Was wondering if the Desert Skin is desired for Canadian-country selectable also?

Ok, I've copied the "standard" skin from the Russia list into the Canada - Helicopter - colour_scheme line, then Modman was able to install the skin modified to place into the Canada slot. Create a mission with editor and select Canada as country and the two skins show up in the weapons loadout, and the skin I created shows up as expected. Now for anyone that wants to specifically add this to their copy of the game has to modify the db_countries file first before this will show up. Does anyone want a copy specific to Canada?

crazyeddie - that guid you asked about is the colour-scheme id for my latest skin (now avail at LockonFiles, wink wink), and it does work. Installing as normal to the Russian side, all is well. Moose - I had a feeling that it might need at least one of the original skins installed to the Canadian list in order for Modman to recognize Canada as a legitimate KA-50 country, but haven't as of yet got around to trying it out. Now to extend this issue with the number of skins further - there are what, five skin slots avail in any one country? Modman gets around that limitation but increasing the number by 1/10th ie 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 1.3 ... so theoretically you could have 59 skins avail for Russia. So once you have filled that number, you'd have to go to Ukraine to fill up the next or spread it around to the other countries, so therefore it must be worthwhile to work this problem out, and have skins made for Canada, US, UK, French, whatever, to be able to put them into their respective countries, and fly them as such. So whether what I just said makes any sense (a couple or three beers are tasting good after a day of renovation work), then it must be better for making skins for a specific country to be able to put them into that country for use. So this needs to be worked out, right?

I went through the process you described crazyeddie - my first attempt failed. First off, when I remade the install package and tried to install, it said that the id # was already in use (I'm assuming its referring to the colour scheme id). So I uninstalled the original "load to Russia" version, then installed the "load to Canada" version. Created a mission, selected Canada, I was able to select the KA-50, but going to the loadout screen, the skin was not shown. So I looked in the db_countries file and saw that the colour scheme did not load into it. So to make this simple, here's the lma7 file that corresponds: [color_scheme] country = {32A0DDDF-E2C1-4F0B-A3AD-17719BB371F2} cnt_unit = {3457BB1E-523F-4C24-BBEA-58D028623F05} color_scheme = {7F1A4DF1-776F-4a92-9B05-18CB2094519B} color_name = Canadian Forces Standard Fictional file = Scripts\Database\helicopters\Ka-50.lua I looked at the countries that have the KA-50 "cnt_unit" id # and they are the same - I take it, this number is the identifier for the specific model -(for Russia, Turkey, etc), so I assumed that the same line would start off for the Canada Helicopters' list - as per your example. Then Modman would install the colour scheme automatically after the "cnt_unit" line (or so I thought) Here's a copy of the db_country section: Helicopters = { CATID = "{828CEADE-3F1D-40aa-93CE-8CDB73FE2710}", Helicopter = { cnt_unit("{3457BB1E-523F-4C24-BBEA-58D028623F05}", "Ka-50", { }), }, }, Fortifications = Any suggestions? I would like to know what the thoughts are on reconfiguring this game so that this kind of thing can be played as US, Brit, or Canuk - open up more mission possibilities or does it take away from the "reality"?

crazyeddie - you've got the idea. I have the 2 Canadian skins created, and someone asked to have them flyable as Canada-selected in the country's list. So if for example you create a mission with Russia and Canada as allies going after insurgents, you would be able to fly with Canada, using the Canadian skin. Looking in the countries' list, Canada doesn't have the KA-50 listed and I don't know how make it work. Or does just inputting the Canadian CountryID number in the lma7 file create that list? I would assume that if a skin is country specific, ie has the Canadian Flag on the tail, you would want to put it into the Canadian country's file, and not into the Russian. Does this affect the "reality" of the simulation? I guess that's for the people to decide of course, seeing that Canada doesn't have this machine. One more thing, has Mitch's skins been reset for the latest Modman install?

Thanks for your comments. I spent hours trying to line up the pattern so one panel aligned with another. There still is a couple of errors, but my next job isn't going to be so intricate (and hopefully won't take as long).

I've completed my next skin for anyone who would like another to add to their collection. It has been submitted to LockonFiles, awaiting its turn (15 submissions ahead, so it may take a day or so before it comes available!). I tried to figure out how to make it a Canadian country selectable, but according to Moose's tutorial, it can only be used where the KA-50 has a list with the country in question (ie: Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, etc.). If anyone knows how to get US or Canada to fly, please let me (us) know. Cheers, CRD :joystick:

As per title, I'm ready to package my latest skin and would like to make it flyable in two countries - should this be possible, or do I have to make it into two packages? I went through RCN Moose's tutorial - apparently you can only select the country that has a "KA-50" listing. So I take it this means having "Canada" is out of the question?

Ok you experten peoples ... here's another piece of the puzzle I can't find. I know its on Paint 1. I've spent 45 min looking for it. I give up.

Crazysundog - you are the master. Not only that, I went and looked up my Key Command List (obtained right from the DCS forums by someone), and found I can slew camera viewpoint so that the camera can rotate, pivot and otherwise focus within "virtual millimeters" on any rivet, panel or spot on the helicopter. Awesome.

Sharkster - I think that Moose's skin pack are zipped within the zip file. Unzip the main file, then load each of the individual zip files into Modman, then install the individual skins.

Ok, one more question regarding view altering - I'd like to be able to get really close up to the helicopter for screenshot purposes - seems you can only get so close then if moving the mouse bumps you back. Can this be changed?