archer86 Posted December 27, 2020 Posted December 27, 2020 (edited) Thank you jocko417, we have been waiting those quality skins for a long time. you had perceptibly upgraded the virtual quality of this legendary f-104, thank you putting your efforts on this. a little request for bare metal turkish airforce f-104, except markings it is almost same with canadian one. you can find a detailed model example from tis web site: http://www.ozkanturker.com/Galeri/f104/index.htm Edited December 27, 2020 by archer86
archer86 Posted December 27, 2020 Posted December 27, 2020 what a fast development reply ,thank you a lot jocko417, what a great gift for me!
jocko417 Posted December 28, 2020 Author Posted December 28, 2020 (edited) So who's ready to join the "Lukewaffe"? Lockheed/Fokker F-104G 63-13690, 69th TFTS, Luke AFB, Arizona, U.S.A, circa early 1970s. Edited December 28, 2020 by jocko417 2 1
Mizzy Posted December 28, 2020 Posted December 28, 2020 4 hours ago, jocko417 said: So who's ready to join the "Lukewaffe"? Lockheed/Fokker F-104G 63-13690, 69th TFTS, Luke AFB, Arizona, U.S.A, circa early 1970s. This is the one I have been waiting for. So wish ED would take up one of the 'Century Series' fighters and 50s/60s era. For me the aircraft had more character and mystique, if I ever win the Euro Lottery, I will commission a software studio to bring the F-4B, F-5D Thud, Super Saber, Voodoo and F104 to DCS...Well I can dream 1
jocko417 Posted December 28, 2020 Author Posted December 28, 2020 Amen, Mizzy. I'll take aluminum over plastic any day
jocko417 Posted December 28, 2020 Author Posted December 28, 2020 Download link for Turkish Air Force natural metal F-104G scheme added to first post. 2
jocko417 Posted December 29, 2020 Author Posted December 29, 2020 USAF and '703 skins should be out soon, currently experimenting with a shared texture folder that might help cut down on the size of the skins, both for downloading and storage. Textures common to most paint schemes (pylons, fuel tanks, normal maps, etc) would be placed in a folder that the various skins can all use via the description file lua. The folder would be placed in the same livery directory as the skins so new skins wouldn't have to duplicate common textures. In the meantime, this will probably be the next Canadian Starfighter livery... after the powers that be decided to combine the land, sea, and air branches of Canada's military into one "unified" force at the end of the 1960s, the RCAF ceased to be. Instead, collectively we had the "CAF" or Canadian Armed Forces. The new nationality markings and flag were combined with buzz numbers that read from left to right on both sides of the aircraft, ie: "CAF" / roundel / last three digits of the aircraft serial number. The serials also changed from 5 digit to 6 digit numbers in the spring of 1970, with the first three digits indicating the aircraft type designator, in this case "12" changing to "104". Aircraft also wore "shadow" titles on both sides of the aircraft, left side in english, right side in french. With the french side being longer than the english side, this markings scheme is known to scale modelers as the "Asymmetrical Era" in CAF markings, 1968-1973. CF-104 104750, No. 417 Squadron (Operational Training Unit), CFB Cold Lake, Alberta, circa early 1970s. 3
NRG-Vampire Posted December 29, 2020 Posted December 29, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, jocko417 said: USAF and '703 skins should be out soon, currently experimenting with a shared texture folder that might help cut down on the size of the skins, both for downloading and storage. Textures common to most paint schemes (pylons, fuel tanks, normal maps, etc) would be placed in a folder that the various skins can all use via the description file lua. The folder would be placed in the same livery directory as the skins so new skins wouldn't have to duplicate common textures. Awesome: yeah, bigger texture files are causing more and more headaches to people. Common folder usage is the easiest and best way for decreasing memory and storage size: as Megalax posted: those two dots and a solidus do the magic Moreover: as I always said: using textures with mipmaps usually pointless: game/gfx engine starts to use too "early" the half sized mip-textures: fine lines will be invisible too close to the camera (when the camera is moving away from the 3D subject): best/worst example for the Starfighter model is with the italian skins: with those slim and white side/bort numbers. white numbers will be invisible too early/close because of the mipmaps (you can check in the ingame-encyclopedia) +Moreover: ( I do lots of tests over the years: with the current big F-16 and F-14 textures as well) with the current powerful GFX cards the "non-friendly" JPG usage (textures without alpha maps) makes more sense then using 4-8 times bigger DDS files. (especially with small SSDs) Edited December 29, 2020 by NRG-Vampire
CarloVecchi Posted December 29, 2020 Posted December 29, 2020 Great work so far @jocko417 Will you also release your templates? I´m currently working on some German & Italian F-104 skins, would be nice to do them in highrez. 1
PeeJott17 Posted December 29, 2020 Posted December 29, 2020 @jocko417 The Skins look great. Will download a few when I'm Home. Really good work! Thanks a lot
jocko417 Posted December 30, 2020 Author Posted December 30, 2020 16 hours ago, soulfreak said: Great work so far @jocko417 Will you also release your templates? I´m currently working on some German & Italian F-104 skins, would be nice to do them in highrez. Yeah, once I get things where I want them I'll release a template. 2
jocko417 Posted December 30, 2020 Author Posted December 30, 2020 The final scheme for CF-104 aircraft based in Canada used the "Symmetrical" markings style, which continued into the early CF-18 Hornet days. Markings were changed to become simpler while retaining bilingualism. Shadow titles were replaced by "CANADA" and the nationality markings dropped the CAF and adopted a new title system of ARMED FORCES and FORCES ARMÉES, rather ingeniously arranged so that they could be read both horizontally and vertically. The individual aircraft number was moved to the side of the nose. 104750 also wears the unofficial badge of No. 417 squadron, the Starfighter training unit, which shut down in 1983 as Canada transitioned to the CF-18 for front line use. 1
jocko417 Posted December 30, 2020 Author Posted December 30, 2020 Ok, an update, I've uploaded a Common Textures folder for download, awaiting approval from ED. Downloading this folder and placing it into your VSN_F104G liveries folder will greatly reduce the size of future skins and the storage space required for same. Common textures like normal maps, tank and pylon textures, basically anything "vanilla" will be stored separately so new skins won't have to include them. Once ED approves the Common Textures file I'll start uploading new skins: Luke AFB F-104G RCAF 12703 Small Leaf CAF 104750 Asymmetrical CAF 104783 Symmetrical Also working on a natural metal finish Belgian Air Force F-104G 2 1
jocko417 Posted December 30, 2020 Author Posted December 30, 2020 Common Texture folder and Luke AFB F-104G skin now available (that was quick!). Download links on first post.
jocko417 Posted December 31, 2020 Author Posted December 31, 2020 NOTE: Discovered an error in the USAF Luke AFB skin, and corresponding Common Textures normal map. Updated now and both can be downloaded from the same links on the first page. Belgium, still researching... 1
CarloVecchi Posted December 31, 2020 Posted December 31, 2020 vor 2 Stunden schrieb jocko417: Belgium, still researching... Jocko, stencils etc should be all the same for the natural metal skins (basic USAF stencils). If you need references regarding the Belgian Sea Camo sheme, let me know. I have collected a lot.
Mizzy Posted December 31, 2020 Posted December 31, 2020 Best skin jobs I have seen to date, brilliant !
jocko417 Posted December 31, 2020 Author Posted December 31, 2020 (edited) 7 hours ago, Mizzy said: Best skin jobs I have seen to date, brilliant ! Who you calling skin job? J/K thanks, Mizzy. That movie came out in 1982, Christ I’m getting old... Edited December 31, 2020 by jocko417 1
NRG-Vampire Posted December 31, 2020 Posted December 31, 2020 Don't worry, best whiskies are old as well BTW: that movie (Blade Runner) is also one from the best of the best. ...and Sean Young...she is beautiful as always HNY 1
jocko417 Posted December 31, 2020 Author Posted December 31, 2020 Oh man, I forgot she was in that Nick Cage Apache movie! I always remember her from BR and No Way Out with Kevin Costner. Happy New Year everyone! It wasn't quite a green Christmas, but 2021 is going to start out green... 1
jocko417 Posted January 1, 2021 Author Posted January 1, 2021 Later version of above paint scheme, Olive Drab paint varied between two schemes from a brownish green to a bluish green, and neither one exists today in any colour standards. The Danes' version was nearer to the early brownish OD green. Pulling my hair out, but I think I have a close enough match for each. Period photos are useful but quality of film/time of day/ weather all play a part in screwing up the appearance of the green. 1 1
jocko417 Posted January 2, 2021 Author Posted January 2, 2021 Squadron art WIP... 421, 439, 441 Sqns 4 1
Mizzy Posted January 2, 2021 Posted January 2, 2021 On 12/31/2020 at 4:23 PM, jocko417 said: Who you calling skin job? J/K thanks, Mizzy. That movie came out in 1982, Christ I’m getting old... I was 17 when Blade Runner came out and the Director Ridley Scott came from about 5 miles from where I live and Scott studied at the local College of Art. He got the idea of 'Blade Runner' from the skyline of regional industry where I live. But I digress, love the USAF retro skin for the F-104. My dream is they make a module but at my age, I am not hoping too much anymore 1
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