DragonRR

To address the previous posts. At the outset I decided to go for a newer look knowing that this wouldn't appeal to everyone. As I said in an earlier post I did look at some photos of Russian airbases and noted that MOST looked patinated, scratched, old but some shots showed new runways and standing areas. I also was aware of Necroscope's work and the possibility of Francous releasing his square tiled look. So I took a different approach. The joints are two pixels wide.. Yes I could go 1 pixel but I think they're narrow enough. :smartass: The problem (as you seem to have come across Necroscope) is that you either go rough on the joints and end up with a pixelated look close up (which I deliberately avoided) or you end up with a glassy look where there is no real depression (again close up) Personally I don't think either approach is perfect. I didn't forget the transportation hollows as such. I have gone for concrete poured bays insitu. Some of the photos I looked at suggested that this happens.. but I'm no expert on Russian Military base slab laying techniques. The concrete is comprised of two texture layers the top one being slightly transparent to show the one below through a little. I used textures I found after a rather extensive search on my system! I didn't actually paint them myself! I carefully colour matched each tile to avoid patterning issues (which I think I achieved to a reasonable degree). I actually tried your textures initially Necroscope. IMHO they are great from height but unfortunately for me, too pixelated on my large monitor when I'm running through the take off procedure. That said they are a great job and mine are an alternative to yours, not direct competition :)

Well I'm pretty much done, just need to find somewhere to locate the mod really. Runways are now done too. Any comments (ideally constructive) are welcome although I think I may well go back to actually playing BS for awhile now. :D Oh I should add that I have two tilesets. The first is a new look, the second is essentially the same but coloured to more closely match the stock texture colours. The pictures attached should explain.

As mentioned I'm currently going for a new look so the concrete looks pretty new, the white lining looks fairly new and there is only a small amount of grime from traffic going down the taxi lanes. All white lines now stop and start at the tar joints. As mentioned, I personally, can't make all the joints line up. It may be possible to do this but would require relining and resizing the way in which the textures are used and laid down.

1) Agreed however I *think* this is a problem with the way in which the textures are placed. The texture for the taxi roads is not used in the same way as the parking areas, it is placed at a smaller size.. more accurately .. the parking areas are 112% taller (long length of the tiles) 104% wider (width of the tiles). I tried making a fake texture using these dimensions and it nearly works however you then get issues with thin tiles where the textures meet. (In other words - I think this is ED's fault) 2) I've been looking at this. I haven't done anything so far simply because I'm not 100% on the marking placement atm and don't want to start all over again! I have some issues with the curved section on the line markings having jaggies and I'm looking at this as well. Thanks for your constructive comments :)

Updated: Taxi-way done but might need a bit of traffic markings Repainted line markings on both Improved (imo) tar joints, they were too thick before.

The stock parking areas, imho are pretty dire (low resolution) and I've been constantly checking here to see if Francous would be releasing his replacements for the english Blackshark. Unfortunately he hasn't so far and I got impatient :) so I thought I'd have a go myself! This work is now done. New Concrete DOWNLOAD link, see further down this post, old concrete link see this thread: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=37246 If it's small font it's old information! NOTE: ESSENTIAL!! FIX FOR TEXTURES NOT SHOWING IN SOME CAMPAIGN MISSIONS / SEASONAL PROBLEMS: Only applies to the MODMAN versions. http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=619433&postcount=112 I believe the problem is caused by ED calling different cdds files for spring and winter missions. I'm still working on them but here's a screenshot to give you an idea of what I'm aiming for. The foreground is the new finished concrete for the main parking areas. The grey "flags" in the background on the taxi-ways are a previous attempt which I'll be replacing with the newer texture. I did do some research looking at photos on the net of Russian airbases before choosing a style. Many are much like the the work done by Necroscope but I wasn't too keen on the tar joints on his (not that I think mine are perfect either!) and I don't THINK Necroscope's work works properly with the English Black Shark install in any case. My version is based on some photos I found and in particular the one I've attached here. I am considering (using my limited skills) adding some tyre marks and possibly make the paint bay marking more visible and less worn (they are more or less the original markings by ED). I haven't decided whether to do work on the runways as well.. not sure I have the time and the stock textures are generally better (and less visible because you are usually moving) than the parking area! EDIT: Runways, taxi roads and parking areas all redone. Released! http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=610874&postcount=15 Available only from Checksix (http://www.checksix-fr.com/) Thanks Phoenix! http://www.checksix-fr.com/downloads/DCS/BlackShark/Mods/New%20Runway%20Textures%20V1.4.rar New! improved!.. well actually.. OLD! and different! Available here: (limited time) Sorry guys. Spotted some issues with v1.0. V1.4 MODMAN VERSION: http://www.xeos.co.uk/Dragon_OLD_Runway_V1.4_FINAL_MODMAN.rar NON MODMAN VERSION Note this uses the exploit I found along with my programmer friend where you can use DDS textures if you rename them to BMP. ED MIGHT remove this "feature". http://www.xeos.co.uk/Dragon_OLD_Runway_V1.4_FINAL.rar Changes: V1.4 FINAL Many changes, mainly new realistic line markings in the parking areas. Reduced tiling to minimum in the parking areas. Reduce whiteness of line markings. V1.3 ALTERNATE Version for those of you who would prefer the start of the runway without tyre markings, realistically they should be further down the runway in the landing zone which isn't doable with the current runway layout. Fixed a cut issue I had missed on the runway start lines. Minor tweaks to the parking area. V1.2 Massively reduced the file size and texture overhead (probably) Added MODMAN support This post explains in more detail: 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. Screenshot shows parking area in V1.4 (FINAL) Note: Attached thumbnails Left is real KA52 on a hardstanding which I used for my base "look", Right was an early screenshot

@Francous.. again :) Pm'd you about these parking/runway textures.. Even bmp files alone would be great!

Thanks! :D

Tested all this today and it works fine :) One thing I have noticed is that there doesn't seem to be any easy way to send "ALL" data/targets in one go to the flight. You have to select each item individually. Anyone know if sending ALL data in one go is actually possible?

@Francous Have you released these textures? and if you have where I can get them :)

I constantly play this type of self created mission (still practicing). My wingman just sit there and wait with rotors spinning seemingly forever. Apparently once your wingman have landed they won't take off again, won't refuel and re-arm. As chillspider said the most likely thing is that they aren't in you flight group (in the editor it should show you as being 1 of 2 or 1 of 3 and so on) or that you have just lifted enough to take off and they therefore think you have set off..?

Thanks Shepski, Clearly I had a fundamental issue in that I was trying to immediately send target information to my wingman. I should have been storing the information and then selecting the data I had stored to be sent to my wingman. :wallbash:

Been playing MP with a friend over the Internet for hours today. We had a big problem with datalink. it just wouldn't work at all. We are obviously in two seperate flight groups. We have different ID's I was set to Command, he was set to Wingman. I could see his icon (2) on the Abris without a problem but nothing I sent, target info or ingress info was received by him and vica versa. When we changed IDs we could both see the ID change in the red circle on the Abris. Read the manual, read the forums, Tried switching VHF-1 on/off, DL on/off, VHF-2 on/off, Intercom on/off Checked the radio frequencies were the same and tried changing them. Even tried the big red X channel switcher to different channels. Tried SA-TLF switch. I should point out that when I locked a target, hit vehicle, DL ALL, send/mem it didn't show up on my Abris either... We were running Teamspeak and were in constant communication about the issue, checked just about all panel switches. The only thing we didn't try is mentioned here: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=34578 That you should set one player to send only and one to receive only but this isn't mentioned in this thread just Command/Wingman. Oh I should point out that I also tried editing the mission so that we had different callsigns and so on. Can someone help please? Very frustrated!

Thanks :) Yes I had it on my desktop for exactly one day (the 25th) !

That hole just gets deeper and deeper :lol:

Well can't get an exact match (without much more time!) but close enough? http://www.xeos.co.uk/BlackShark_Shrubbo.jpg

Damn.. rumbled ;)

Some people just have no taste :D

@Beaker.. Better or worse? ;) http://www.xeos.co.uk/BlackShark_Xmas_04.jpg

Thanks Threshor! :) You should be able to use the 2560x1600 wallpaper at lower resolutions tho? Here's some Xmas wallpaper using the new skin DCS kindly released for free! The first two have some added snow http://www.xeos.co.uk/BlackShark_Xmas_01.jpg http://www.xeos.co.uk/BlackShark_Xmas_02.jpg Personally I like this one virtually untouched from the original screenshot. Shows, imo, just how damned good the graphics are in this sim! http://www.xeos.co.uk/BlackShark_Xmas_03.jpg

Merry Christmas to all on these forums and especially the Eagle Dynamics dev team. I've got about 10hrs of flight time and feel that I've barely scratched the surface! An absolutely incredible simulation, never seen anything like it. To add to that, great forum support from the devs and even a FREE Xmas KA-50 skin!!! :beer::beer:

A more polished version here, fixed the blades and generally cleaned up my laziness :) http://www.xeos.co.uk/BlackShark_FIXED.jpg

@shrubbo Thanks! Here's some more with more subtle text :) let me know what you think. http://www.xeos.co.uk/BlackShark_06.jpg http://www.xeos.co.uk/BlackShark_07.jpg http://www.xeos.co.uk/BlackShark_08.jpg Despite all sorts of fiddling with the different layers there's not much difference between the three new ones!

It's 1.5mb. http://www.xeos.co.uk/BlackShark_FIXED.jpg http://www.xeos.co.uk/BlackShark_Shrubbo.jpg (new font) Shrubbo Version: http://www.xeos.co.uk/BlackShark_Xmas_04.jpg (new font) EDIT: 10th Jan 2009 Fractal Camouflage. Nice work Vik! The wallpaper is almost a straight ingame screenshot. http://www.xeos.co.uk/Wallpaper_FractalCamo.jpg And another, not sure if I like this or not! Download here: http://www.xeos.co.uk/Blackshark_Wallpaper_3.jpg

@hannibal http://www.xeos.co.uk/ScreenShot_002.jpg Can't get the image to display in here, above link should work tho..