DragonRR

You have probably missed an important step. You need to save the file and THEN build the CDDS. Otherwise you just get a DOS box and nothing happens.

OK packaged up now only 12mb in size! Readme included. http://www.xeos.co.uk/Runway_OLD_Concrete_V1.2.rar I should point out that whilst my friend "discovered" this "feature" Experienced modders may already be fully aware! However.. I did try doing all this through Modman and Modman despite pre-compressing the textures to DDS format, extracted them back to bmps and they were actually larger than the original bmps! MODMAN COMPLIANT VERSION: (Thanks to Skypat for his help) http://www.xeos.co.uk/Runway_OLD_Concrete_V1.2_MODMAN.rar Please note that the Modman version might have a slightly higher memory overhead.

Talking to a programmer friend: The only way I can reduce the overhead is to either: 1. Reduce the texture size. 2. Convert the files to DDS format 3. Get it into the CDDS file I can't do (1) because that would drastically reduce the quality no matter what clever techniques I might try using. I can't do (2) because the game won't replace the corresponding bmp file in the CDDS pack. (Although I'll come back to this) I can't do 3 because the file has to be the same texture size etc.. However! My programmer friend suggested saving the file as a DDS and simply renaming it to a bmp..... This actually worked!!! And has reduced the file size down 5 times! My programmer friend suggests that the game is unlikely to compress textures on the fly and therefore this really will reduce the memory overhead by up to 5 times the original bmp size. I'm going to repackage the mod and re-release!

Yes my textures are pretty large but you can't have 4 times the current texture resolution and have the same size file/memory load. However I've done several in game tests and I can't see any FPS difference with and without the textures. I am, however, certain that once you are up to the limit of available graphics card ram you will have problems if you then insert another high resolution replacement skin into the game. If you used my textures and (for example) had a 128mb graphics card I'm quite sure you would get pretty awful stuttering no matter how fast the GPU was. Generally (for me) the biggest performance reducing factor by far is having a Wingman.

Almost completely un-retouched. http://www.xeos.co.uk/Wallpaper_FractalCamo.jpg Thanks to VikVaughan for his excellent fractal camo skin.

@Vik. Hmm I see what you mean now. No I don't know if this is possible. I only have, basically, an end cap which has the "threshold" lines. The lines themselves take up about 75% of the whole texture. After that ED just repeat the texture "WPP.bmp" until the threshold piece at the other end.. So... the "touchdown" zones the "landing endpoint markers" and so on would just get repeated all the way down. I didn't see this particular runway.. (and wish I did because it has square tiles which were in my early tests and would have been a little easier). I did see other Runways with the markings you are talking about tho. However although I know how to do texturing I am not familiar the DCS/Lockon placement structure. It may well be possible to change the repeated texture so that other textures are able to be placed in. I hope all that makes sense and if anyone knows more could you please direct me to where I can find more information. This brings me on to Francous! @Francous As mentioned I am not overly familiar with "how it should be done". As you know I've just taken advantage of the fact that the engine will use any correctly named textures over the textures in the cdds files. I have absolutely no idea how to insert a larger texture into a cdds file. I tried it using several tools including Modman and they all refused to do it. However.. I am a little puzzled by your comment that the might be a performance hit. I would assume that the bmp files contained within the cdds file are none lossy compressed...? If they aren't then your comment makes some sense. However.. If they aren't lossy compressed then surely the engine takes the textures and pushes them to the video memory in the same format regardless of whether they are in a cdds file or not? This would suggest (to me) that there wouldn't be any perfromance impact either way. I am prepared to be enlighted :)

Really excellent work Vik! (Note the shots include a shameless plug for my old style Runway (etc.)) textures :)

Yes probably. Assuming I have my layers backed up properly (several fingers crossed) If you can supply me with photo's/links/schematics/whatever..... EDIT: I based the parking area on ED's. I based the runway on a google map of a Russian airport runway.. (AFAIK)

Well I THINK that the area you circled isn't taxiway to runway but one of the smaller service roads to the parking area. Basically I'm at the mercy of ED with this (AFAIK). I haven't textured the service roads and may not do.. I thought they looked OK as is and any retexturing adds more and more to the memory overhead on the graphics card. The problem (as I've mentioned before) with the taxi way to parking area is that: 1. ED have either shrunk or expanded the texture (can't remember which it is right now) 2. I can nearly fix the above by oversizing/undersizing but the joints still don't line up.

Sorry guys. Spotted some issues with v1.0. Changes: V1.1 Improved connection seam between runway start (WPP-KRAY) and main runway (WPP) Changed border of runway to gravel (with a little moss) to allow for other seasons (forgot seasons! DOH!). Added gravel border to start of runway. A few other minor changes to WPP_KRAY and WPP textures. Note: Cover picture doesn't reflect changes. New link: http://www.xeos.co.uk/Runway_OLD_Concrete_V1.1.rar

Available here: (limited time) Sorry guys. Spotted some issues with v1.0. Changes: V1.2 Massively reduced the RAM texture overhead (probably) and file size More info here: http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=614473&postcount=60 V1.1 Improved connection seam between runway start (WPP-KRAY) and main runway (WPP) Changed border of runway to gravel (with a little moss) to allow for other seasons (forgot seasons! DOH!). Added gravel border to start of runway. A few other minor changes to WPP_KRAY and WPP textures. Note: Cover picture doesn't reflect changes. New link: http://www.xeos.co.uk/Runway_OLD_Concrete_V1.2.rar MODMAN COMPLIANT VERSION: (Thanks to Skypat for his help) http://www.xeos.co.uk/Runway_OLD_Concrete_V1.2_MODMAN.rar Please note that the Modman version might have a slightly higher memory overhead.

So very nearly done :) Lots of changes. Hope to release tonight. I'm looking at abrasion on the landing area now although I'm having trouble because the texture is squashed vertically 56% for some reason. I don't know whether they will work with Lock on.

I thought you'd vanished off the face of the earth! Your work is excellent you should still release imo. Don't really know why you haven't.

Screenshots look great. Looking forward to the finished skin.. and a download link ;)

Thanks for the encouragement JaNk0. :) Regarding grass. Well you have to understand that with 2 pixels to play with (in width) there isn't a lot you can realistically do (at least with my lmited abilities anyway) If you look carefully at the screenshots you will see a fairly faint hint of green (most noticeable in the cockpit shot). You should see this better in game assuming you run at higher resolution than the screenshots. Close up it looks a bit like moss.. Well that's the idea anyway. If I went more than 2px the joints would be too wide. Even then grass is very much a 3D thing.. I can fake a 3D look here and there with bevelling on the slabs, white lines and so on.. but the best I can really do is moss I afraid.

Runway took longer than expected had to start from scratch. Also need to redo the taxi area a little, improved lining, more dirt in the middle. Tried to get a balance between obvious tiling (especially on the runway) and good texturing. I think I'm just about there. Hopefully I can get this finished off and released tomorrow. :) I didn't stagger the joints as much on the runway.. I figured the guys would do a better job... after all landing a plane isn't nice on a cracked up runway!

Very near final now on the parking areas. I'm going to tone down the dirt patch areas a little. Unfortunately the in cockpit view, imo doesn't work as well as my previous "new" concrete but without an even higher resolution texture and/or bump mapping there's not a lot I can do about that really. Hopefully you'll notice the moss in the joints. It was brighter but again I toned it down because it looked awful in the cockpit.

It's not quite finished yet Rhino. I have a few things left to do. Might have it available tonight. Much depends on the finishing off of the parking area and then the runway sections. They MIGHT be quick to do (they should just slot into place).. and might not ;)

I just can't win can I! :) I listened to comments by others on the "new concrete" version. Although it is quite possible for people to totally screw up pouring new concrete and end up with staggered joints the texture assumed they did a great job! On top of this the concrete has only been down a short period of time and there have been no repairs or settling. The concrete I'm now working on has been sat there for years, even the repairs are old. There has been a great deal of settling, entire slab runs may well have been relaid (and staggered because of that). Maintenance has kept the white lines reasonably well painted but some more recent repairs have removed the lining. Having said all this I am assuming that they original labour really didn't want to do the job! Little to no reinforcement bars between slabs and so on.

A more weathered version, unfinished but not a million miles off. Still have traffic markings to deal with, still experimenting with "effects" near tar edges. Opinions, constructive as usual plz :) EDIT: Oh I should point out that these are still insitu concrete pours.. They've just been there longer and have been patched up a bit. The people laying the concrete weren't so good at lining up the joints either! ;)

After learning the correct procedure I have gone a bit lazy and tend to switch on all the right wall switches including internal AC power followed by the Ekran, then start, then Abris and so on this saves a fair bit of time but I can't help think this is cheating and/or wouldn't actually work in a real KA-50! :)

New Runway, Parking area and Taxi Road Textures V1.4. The textures are high resolution, roughly 4 times the original but there should be little or no FPS hit. There is a readme included in the file and the textures are very easy to install and remove. I designed the textures primarily to provide a far less blurred view than stock when taking off from the parking area. In the mod there are two texture sets, one with a very new concrete look and one with a slightly aged look. Because the concrete looks new this mod may not appeal to everyone. http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=36290 Old/Aged/Ancient Runway Textures V2.0 FINAL: There is now an all new texture set with far more aged runways etc.. Which should appeal to far more people :) The link below will take you to it: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=37246 There is a Modman compliant version. Mod which disables the rotor blur V1.0 FINAL: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=37506

The mod is now available at LockonFiles here: http://www.lockonfiles.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownloaddetails&cid=158&lid=1295&title=DCS-BS%20Runway%20Parking%20Taxi%20Area%20Mod#dldetails I'll be removing my own download link in the next couple of days.

Well.. it wasn't too bad. I used about 12 primary tiles. I don't know if you are using photoshop, but if you are and you aren't aware: There's a tool- Image->Adjustments->Match Color. To use this I cut out a reference tile, put this in a new picture and used this to match the colour in my working area. The tool generally works really well. In the match colour dialogue box there's a few sliders. When the result didn't look quite right I generally used the "Fade" slider to fix it.

I've uploaded the textures to Lockonfiles who have a backlog of files to approve so here's a link I can make available on a temporary basis: There's a readme included in the file. Note that the file is 50mb. There should be little or no FPS hit. Available only from Checksix! (http://www.checksix-fr.com/) http://www.checksix-fr.com/downloads/DCS/BlackShark/Mods/New%20Runway%20Textures%20V1.4.rar I'm considering doing a weathered version.. does anyone know if it is possible to get bumpmapping into the current DCS engine for ground textures? EDIT: Note: When doing these textures a few issues came to light: 1. ED don't seem to have a hard and fast rule as to what "real" size the textures should be placed at so, as mentioned before, the tiles vary in size from say the Runway to the taxi roads to the parking area. I can't fix this. 2. The end runway piece doesn't line up correctly at one end of the runway (all runways) but does at the other end. I can't correct this and opted for having one end correct rather than going for an in-between. 3. ED sometimes uses parts of textures, for example on the parking area I was using for testing the white lines spill into partly used textures. I can't correct this, some parking areas look better than others.