Request To Add Available Historical/Relevant Liveries to the Fw190A8

[Magic Zach]

I'm going to preface this with a one-stop summary: This is a post arguing for already-made and available liveries for the Fw-190A8 to be added to DCS officially for broader usage to the playerbase in singleplayer and online, allowing other players to use and see them.  Download options are available at the bottom of this post.

Who: The skins are made by myself.  I have been within the DCS community for a good number of years, since the Dogs of War server (when there was only the P51, Fw190D9, and Bf109K), and almost all of it was within the WWII side of DCS.  Of mission makers and server runners today, like the 4YA Project Overlord server, one of the most reoccurring complaints from mission designers is that we do not have a historical livery selection for the Fw190.  This has been noted by the player base of late.  Having been around these complaints and criticisms for some time, within that context and that of the required time period and location, I've created a set of liveries for the Fw190A.

What: We do not have a single historical and relevant livery for the Fw190A8 in DCS at this moment.  Of all the chosen liveries from the Fw190A8's livery contest, none of them are historical, or relevant to France in 1944.  Some of them do not have working bort numbers.  A couple are Japanese Zero cosplays.  And some are only relevant to earlier versions of the Anton.

There is a big deficit in DCS for a historical livery set for the Anton 8.  To attempt to remedy this, I have created liveries for JG26 and JG1 in their summer 1944 configuration.
I'm proposing that Eagle Dynamics incorporate some of these liveries into DCS officially.  This will give the simulator its first historical liveries for the Fw190A8.  There are 6 liveries (different Staffeln) of the JG26 to choose from, and 4 from JG1.

One may argue that an individual can install any liveries he may choose from the Userfiles and use those.  However, this has some severe limitations: 

1) Other players online cannot see your livery unless they, by pure coincidence, have that livery also installed.  That is very rare.

2) Our most popular servers have the Liveries locked.  They cannot be changed by the player, only the mission designer.

So it benefits everyone more if these new liveries are added to the official DCS install.  Then everyone has them as standard, and it can be used and seen by everyone.

Historical Context:

Spoiler

I./JG26 and II./JG26 were stationed in France prior to and subsequently after the allied invasion in June, 1944.  I./JG26 arrived and remained in France from June 1943, until the Luftwaffe abandoned France in August of 1944, and were stationed at airfields such as Vitry-en-Artois, Chaumont-en-Vexin, Les Mesnuls, and Vendeville.  II./JG26 (second gruppe) arrived in France in August of 1943, and remained in the country for a full year.  Second Gruppe was stationed at airfields such as Mont-de-Marsan, Mons-en-Chaussee, and the famous Guyancourt.  Guyancourt is an airfield confirmed to be included in the upcoming Normandy 2.0 upgrade.  Just a month prior to the invasion, they received their first new Fw190A8s, replacing their A7s.
I./JG1 moved to France on the day of the invasion, but was a highly active and supplied Fw190 gruppe for the entire duration of the allied campaign in France.  Their main two stations in France for the duration were Montdidier and Lonrai, with a brief period in Le Mans.  Their final airfield in France was Aulnay-aux-Planches on August 11, 1944, for only a week...a transitional stop as the Luftwaffe was abandoning France.  Second gruppe, II./JG1, was stationed at Montdidier too, as well as Semallé.  Here, they remained until early August 1944.  Their last station in France was Connantre on August 11 for five days, as they were exiting France. They received their first batch of 190A8s in April, to replace their 190A7s.

These are both the two most active Fw190 units in France around the time of the invasion, and for the duration of the allied campaign in France.

The Liveries:
Here I have a livery for 2./JG26, 4./JG26 5./JG26, 6./JG26, 7./JG26, and 8./JG26, comprising of half of I./JG26, and all of II./JG26.
For JG1, I have 1./JG1, 2./JG1, 3./JG1, and 6./JG1, consisting of most of I./JG1 and a Staffel from II./JG1.
I made some special features for these liveries.
1) the camouflage tones, specifically RLM 70, were adjusted to be a more realistic darker color tone
2) each livery has a slightly different camouflage pattern on the fuselage.  If you look closely you can see the differences between each livery
3) the bort numbers are custom drawn, and weathered to better suit the weather-worn nature of the aircraft

First and second Gruppe, JG1.  The JG1 identify themselves by their red tail band and unit emblem on the cowling.
1./JG1, which often included additional ID paint on the underside of the wing tips:

Spoiler

2./JG1:

Spoiler

3./JG1:

Spoiler

6./JG1:

Spoiler

First and second Gruppe, JG26.  The JG26 identify themselves by their yellow rudder, and the II./JG26 by the inclusion of a horizontal bar.  The bar and ID numbers change depending on the Staffel within that Gruppe.
2./JG26:

Spoiler

4./JG26:

Spoiler

5./JG26:

Spoiler

6./JG26:

Spoiler

7./JG26:
 

Spoiler

8./JG26:
 

Spoiler

Downloads:
I have given these liveries a tiered choice to be included into DCS.  A first top 5, and a second top 5.
There are two options for how to download
1) Standard download.  Each livery is individual, and individually includes all the textures it requires.  This includes, due to the adjusted camouflage tones, the left and right wings.  Disk space consumed for all 10 liveries: 666MB.  Standard download HERE.
2) Reliant download.  Each new livery is dependent on the 1./JG1 livery to acquire the left and right wing textures, instead of locally.  This requires the 1./JG1 livery to be included, in order for other chosen liveries to work.  However, this more smartly uses disk storage.  Disk space consumed for all 10 liveries: 282MB.  Reliant download HERE.

Edited February 18, 2023 by Magic Zach
Why the Userfiles don't help

[Magic Zach]

The following are more cinematic screenshots of the proposed liveries ingame.  To be clear, these uncensored versions are not what is linked in the downloads above.  The downloads above are for only the censored versions of the liveries.







These shots show the weathering on the bort numbers, as well as the adjusted darker camouflage tones:

Edited February 18, 2023 by Magic Zach

[Night Owl]

I absolutely concur with this request, for ED this would be a way to improve the quality of their product for free and alleviate some of the deficits in ww2 aircraft liveries.

 

To further add to the points made above, we currently have only 5 liveries to choose from for the FW-190 A8, because only those 5 have changeable bort numbers.

Among those 5 one is a livery of a squadron which was only operating on the Eastern front in summer 44 (2. Jg54). It also has a squadron marking band, which they only got in autumn.

Another is a paint scheme from 1942 and 1943 (JG2 Generic).

A third has a cowling painting which was only used until spring 1944 together with camo colours which were only used from late autumn 44 onwards (the JG1 one).

Then there are two nearly identical plain skins. These are ok, but have a camo colour which is rather early war, one of the colours use should be darker in summer 44. Furthermore, only one small ground attack squadron was flying with plain camo liveries during the invasion, so these skins are not satisfactory either.

Edited February 18, 2023 by Night Owl

[Magic Zach]

16 minutes ago, Night Owl said:

 

A third has a cowling painting which was only used until spring 1944 together with camo colours which were only used from late autumn 44 onwards (the JG1 one).

 

And this scheme in DCS was only ever used on the A7s too!  That black/white cowling was never used on any A8s.  And it's inspired by an individual pilot's personalized paintjob, not the broader group as a whole

Edited February 18, 2023 by Magic Zach

[[AUSSIE]t0min8t0r]

these skins look amazing in game especially in a multiplayer setting it just takes the immersion that little bit further. 

[Blackbird12]

Apart from historical aspect, these skins are awesome, they make that 190 so sharp ! I highly support this !

To all 190 lovers, show ED the interest we have in this module !

[Monkey21]

Yes please! Have really been enjoying WWII stuff recently, and this is one more layer of high quality to the authenticity.

[Brigg]

Yeah these need adding along with some of the 47s sorting out. It's kinda why the skin contests for both these planes was a bit of a failure imo. 

[Cliffhanger31]

These liveries are fantastic and are far superior to the ones included in the base game historically and graphically. I know download size is a concern when adding new skins to an aircraft but if that’s the case I would be 100% in favor of replacing all of the A8 skins with the one created by Magic Zach. 

[Snowy55]

The liveries look great and the request seems very reasonable to me. Having suitable skins for Normandy available by default would make things a lot easier and enhance the user experience. 

[Night Owl]

Adding some accurate historical and period correct liveties to the default Anton skin pack for the first time since it's release would awesome for the launch of the new map. 

Much better than for everyone to have to fly on the new beautiful map with some old, half fictional, 1942, or Eastern front liveries 

Edited February 22, 2023 by Night Owl

[Wyes]

These liveries are of such a high quality, they deserve to be part of the core game.

[Night Owl]

Especially also since Ugra has announced for the new map several airfields which were the actual historical operating base for units whose accurate liveries are proposed to ED for free in the aforementioned livery pack.

[Nirvi]

These skins would add so much to the Anton and DCS WWII in general. Hope they can be added! 

[303_HOLY]

On 2/22/2023 at 6:30 AM, Night Owl said:

Especially also since Ugra has announced for the new map several airfields which were the actual historical operating base for units whose accurate liveries are proposed to ED for free in the aforementioned livery pack.

So now ED one more time I would like to ask you for correct liveries for all warbirds.
And because I'm in Polish 303 Sqn I would like to get your etention for some historical details like 306 sqn and 315 sqn was never equipped in P-51D version but only 303 sqn.
Of course perfect 303sqn liveries for Spitfire and Mustang was propossed to Bignewy as a...  etc.

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by 303_HOLY

[MrExplosion]

Nice skins! Hope someone from ED reads this and makes this happen

[Fortinero]

On 2/17/2023 at 10:46 PM, Magic Zach said:

The following are more cinematic screenshots of the proposed liveries ingame.  To be clear, these uncensored versions are not what is linked in the downloads above.  The downloads above are for only the censored versions of the liveries.







These shots show the weathering on the bort numbers, as well as the adjusted darker camouflage tones:

 

I think your work is stunning, may I ask for the links of those 100% historical skins, without this nonsense censored tail marks?

[lee1hy]

I am interested in this post. If you have the material, accurate information and color photos, it will be possible.

[Magic Zach]

I forgot to mention it here, but I've been DMed some time ago that ED is not apparently interested in adding historical liveries to the module.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Magic Zach

[Night Owl]

Let's keep the thread open, that may change, you never know 

[Nealius]

The DL links are dead. Is there anywhere else we can download these?

[Rudel_chw]

On 6/9/2023 at 9:55 PM, Magic Zach said:

I forgot to mention it here, but I've been DMed some time ago that ED is not apparently interested in adding historical liveries to the module.

 

pity, I would love to have them as built-in liveries ... lets hope ED changes its mind, but probably they are concerned with the disk space that DCS is using, as can be seen on other threads that clamor for less liveries to save on disk space.

can you please upload your liveries again?, I only became aware of this thread today 

[Slippa]

Hope these get uploaded too. They make more sense than having a default skin that obviously doesn’t fit.

Since the models are built as accurately as possible, why not paint them accurately in the first place? For my money, the inaccurate skins should be the addition, not the other way around.

Good job anyhow Zach.

[Magic Zach]

I took the link down due to my limited google drive space.  And since ED seemed to not be keen on the relevant liveries, I scrubbed it.  However a handful of the liveries live on in the 4YA Project Overlord liveries pack.  This is a mod that replaces some aircraft's default liveries with more historical ones for the 1944 Normandy invasion period.  While ordinarily available through the 4YA PO discord here (https://discord.gg/rg8ytU2v), the link to the mod is here (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_ckTm8VXPqJV2u5uuiNVMeARPvL8_0oU?usp=share_link)
Remember though, this livery replaces the default liveries.  This means that the names of such liveries will be identical as default in order to fit the 4YA PO server, but the paint itself will be different.  I encourage taking a look into the readme provided in the drive link as well @Rudel_chw @Nealius @Slippa

[Slippa]

Nice one Zach, cheers again.