Jump to content

F-104 Starfighter skins by jocko417


jocko417

Recommended Posts

LATEST VERSION HISTORY

Oct 22/2021:

PSD Template available here

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3318995/

Oct 20/2021:

Shared file updated with new textures.

Oct 15/2021:

"Starfighter Skins 2.0" for the re-release of the VSN F-104G mod 🙂

 

Please delete any of my previously released F-104 skins from your hard drive before installing the new versions listed below!

FIRST THING: GET THE NEW F-104 MOD

To use the skins you will need the 3rd party add-on VSN F-104G model, located here:

https://filehorst.de/folder.php?key=eYfkKFik

 

SECOND THING: HOW TO INSTALL SKINS

Very important: Skins should be placed in your Saved Games folder. Install path should look like this:

C:\Users\<your user name here>\Saved Games\DCS\Liveries\VSN_F104G

 

STEP ONE: INSTALL THE SHARED FILE

There is a "Shared" file that must be installed into the same directory path, like so:

InstallPath.png

This file contains textures that are shared by all my skins. Stuff like pilot textures, pylons, tanks, normal maps, etc that don't need to be included with each new skin file. This will save a fair amount of storage space, as my skins are 4K resolution.

Please install the Shared file first:

Latest Shared version as of Jan 05/2023

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3314166/

You only have to install the Shared file once and it will serve all skins.

 

STEP TWO: GET THE SKINS

 

Newly updated skins can be downloaded with the links below (as they become available):

CF-104 12701, RCAF Station Cold Lake, early 1960s

Get it here:

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3314053/

 

F-104G FX47, Belgian Air Force

Available here:

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3318812/

 

F-104 FG-914, George AFB, USAF

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3318816/

 

 

F-104G 13690, Luke AFB

Download here:

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3318856/

 

Couple of overall green (late version) schemes with symmetrical markings as seen during the late 1970s in Europe:

CF-104 #733 of No. 439 Squadron

733OD.png

Download here

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3318857/

 

CF-104 #762, 1 Canadian Air Group

762OD.png

Download here

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3318858/

 

Couple more Greens on the way (421, 441)...

 

CAF_OD_421.png

421 Sqn 104779 available here:

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3318864/

 

441_OD.png

441 Sqn 104706 available here:

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3318866/

 

*NEW* CF-104 62-751, Turkish Air Force

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3331852/

 

ModelViewer2 2023-06-26 17-50-38-49.jpg

Please make sure you have the latest Shared file, as mentioned above.


Edited by jocko417
restructure
  • Like 5
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think I've got the RoughMets for the metal finish figured out, seeing how different alloys and shine/reflectivity/colour of them will appear in game.

 

Also adding my own extra details like more rivet lines (starting at aft section and working forward), and creating new normal maps to match.

 

Nationality markings are place holders to test RoughMets and how painted portions will look on the metal. This is a nice model! :)

 

 

 

gM42vm.jpg

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice indeed!

Just a heads up

Yesterday they updated the f104 version once again

I don’t really understand what changed but may be it’s worth checking before you do all this work to find out everything needs to be redone for the next version

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Coming along, doing some of the stencils and some other nationality markings. Still working through the tedious stuff too (rivets)...

 

European-based CF-104s were initially tasked for Recon or Strike, the latter being a polite term for high speed nuke delivery. ;)

 

Aircraft wore minimal paint, speed being the order of the day. Upper surfaces in white. RCAF markings style as seen between 1961 and 1965.

 

 

Lkokqm.jpg

 

 

 

 

198P0W.jpg

 

 

 

 

6erOb3.jpg

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow! that 104 looks amazing!, love the variations in metal shading, exactly something i have been trying to as well.. but not as good as above :)

 

Would you mind sharing how you got the baremetal finish?..thats still a mystery to me and some of the skins i`m working on really need at least parts to be that way.


Edited by m0j0NL

My skins: https://tiny.cc/m0j0NL

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This one for example, the 3 colors of the engine compartment really should have a metallic shine to them, the colors game of a really well done weathered plastic model, but IG they just does not..have the correct feel being a gloss paint.

 

NTFpgNvY_o.jpg

 

p.s. I know where to look, the VSN_F104G-01_RoughMet.dds, but i have no clue how to work with this.


Edited by m0j0NL

My skins: https://tiny.cc/m0j0NL

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm certainly no expert but I've had good results so far with remembering rule #1 for natural metal finish... "Pink is your friend!" :D

 

 

Here's a screen of the number 1 template. Painted surfaces are all about "Orange", as you probably know from using the default RoughMets. I've turned these layers off so we can focus on the metal finish. I use white, black and brown layers, with opacities from 5 to 20%, to give the tail section (and other panels) those different colours.

 

 

fCKZkx.jpg

 

 

 

 

Now, the RoughMet files seem to work like this for metal finish: Pink is a good start, you can lighten or darken certain areas to add or take away shine and reflectivity. Green and yellow are good colours for matte surfaces, like the fiberglass antenna areas on the forward fuselage. I'm still experimenting.

 

 

 

 

3CgjES.jpg

 

 

 

 

Put them together and you get this (working on tip tanks now, compare with earlier shot above):

 

 

 

 

o4BZoD.jpg

 

 

 

Finally got around to doing the pitot tube stripes. In reality they were painted in a spiral, I'll see if I can do that later. This is how the airplane would have looked like during the early 1960s in Europe, only thing missing is a Mk.28 nuke on the center line pylon...

 

BTW, I really like the model, but someone with a nasty sense of humour decided the Diffuse and RoughMet files should be different resolutions :huh: so have fun resizing various layers if you want to move them from one file to another to... "save time". :P I resized the RoughMet pictured above from the native 4096 down to 2048 to save space and make it easier to compare the two texture files.

 

I vote to have the diffuse files upped to 4096 resolution to match the Roughmets. Would be really nice when working with small text like the maintenance stencils.

 

Hope this helps.


Edited by jocko417
Link to comment
Share on other sites

description.lua

livery = {
   {"VSN_F104G-01", 0, "VSN_F104G-01AL",false},
   {"VSN_F104G-02", 0, "VSN_F104G-02AL",false},
   {"VSN_F104G-03", 0, "VSN_F104G-03AL",false},
   {"VSN_F104G-04", 0, "VSN_F104G-04AL",false},
   {"VSN_F104G-05", 0, "VSN_F104G-05AL",false},
   {"VSN_F104G-06", 0, "VSN_F104G-06",true},
   {"VSN_F104G-07", 0, "VSN_F104G-05AL",false},
   {"VSN_F104G_Pilot", 0, "VSN_F104G_Pilot",true},
   
   {"VSN_F104G-01", ROUGHNESS_METALLIC, "VSN_F104G-01AL_RoughMet",false},
   {"VSN_F104G-02", ROUGHNESS_METALLIC, "VSN_F104G-02AL_RoughMet",false},
   {"VSN_F104G-03", ROUGHNESS_METALLIC, "VSN_F104G-03AL_RoughMet",false},
   {"VSN_F104G-04", ROUGHNESS_METALLIC, "VSN_F104G-04AL_RoughMet",false},
   {"VSN_F104G-05", ROUGHNESS_METALLIC, "VSN_F104G-05AL_RoughMet",false},
   {"VSN_F104G-06", ROUGHNESS_METALLIC, "VSN_F104G-06_RoughMet",true},
   {"VSN_F104G-07", ROUGHNESS_METALLIC, "VSN_F104G-05AL_RoughMet",false},
   {"VSN_F104G_Pilot", ROUGHNESS_METALLIC, "VSN_F104G_Pilot_RoughMet",true},
}
name = "example"

copy all textures into the Liveris folder

VSN_F104G\Liveries\VSN_F104G\example\

and customize the description.lua in this folder


Edited by cdpkobra
Link to comment
Share on other sites

See, advice from the expert! :)

 

Kobra, can you confirm for everyone that we should be able to use 4096 resolution in future for the diffuse 1, 2, 3 textures and 2048 for the pylons and tanks diffuse textures, to match the existing RoughMet files?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

description.lua

 

copy all textures into the Liveris folder

VSN_F104G\Liveries\VSN_F104G\example\

and customize the description.lua in this folder

 

Hmm but won`t DCS look for the roughmets in the rar file located in Textures?, because looking at your lua I don`t see it refer to roughmets located in the livery folder... but I could be looking at it the wrong way.

 

Btw, the Japanese skin is done and uploaded (with instructions to manually add the roughmets to the rar file), after which my plan is to start work on one of those Chrome Lawn Darts like yours, but one for the JASDF.

 

Again thanks for your help.

My skins: https://tiny.cc/m0j0NL

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When the lines in the lua end with “false” it tells the game to look for textures outside of the rar file. If the line ends with “true”, it uses the default textures in the rar file.

 

So in Kobra’s example above, the game will use the default texture 6, the ejection seat, and the pilot texture from the rar file but everything else used would be your modified textures for the aircraft, located within your specific livery folder.


Edited by jocko417
Link to comment
Share on other sites

When the lines in the lua end with “false” it tells the game to look for textures outside of the rar file. If the line ends with “true”, it uses the default textures in the rar file.

 

So in Kobra’s example above, the game will use the default texture 6, the ejection seat, and the pilot texture from the rar file but everything else used would be your modified textures for the aircraft, located within your specific livery folder.

 

Damn.. such a small line of text, will make, making the skin easier again, since I was constantly updating the texture rar :) so again Thanks!

 

Have you found any good source websites for future F-104 skins?.

 

I have been using:

 

http://www.916-starfighter.de/main.htm

 

http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww3/f/60/94/0#11 (link to the Canadian F-104`s)

 

And google, and for me the most help has been searching for model kit end result photo`s at 2k resolution, because smaller its just to hard to get the detail`s i`m looking for.

My skins: https://tiny.cc/m0j0NL

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Damn.. such a small line of text, will make, making the skin easier again, since I was constantly updating the texture rar :) so again Thanks!

 

Have you found any good source websites for future F-104 skins?.

 

I have been using:

 

http://www.916-starfighter.de/main.htm

 

http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww3/f/60/94/0#11 (link to the Canadian F-104`s)

 

And google, and for me the most help has been searching for model kit end result photo`s at 2k resolution, because smaller its just to hard to get the detail`s i`m looking for.

 

That 916-starfighter site is a great resource, I prefer period photos over profiles like in the second link, artist renditions can sometimes be inaccurate. My CF-104 references, while not as extensive as my F-86 ones, include these books:

 

Starfighter by David Bashow

 

https://www.biblio.com/starfighter-by-bashow-david-l/work/2509204

 

RCAF Aircraft Finish and Markings books by Patrick Martin:

 

http://www3.telus.net/m1729/books.htm

 

Canadian Starfighters, also by Patrick Martin:

 

https://www.amazon.com/ARDB003-AirDoc-Publications-Starfighters-1961-1968/dp/3935687982

 

Great book, has lots of high rez colour photos and some colour aircraft profiles by Richard J. Caruana that ARE accurate :)

 

Also, 417 Squadron History book, out of print but you can find it on eBay. 417 was the CF-104 training squadron in Canada for a while.

 

Your skin looks very nice and I almost had a heart attack when I saw the screenshot with those T-33s parked in the background (T-33s?! We have a T-33 model?!!?). Then I realized it was an actual photo! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...