Cockpit Livery Discussion

[Wrench]

I know there are community members that make all kinds of cockpit li eries out there, anybody planning on a 'clean'/'new' cockpit for the F4U?

I personally really don't like the 'museum relic' aesthetic in an airplane that spent 3 years in the war, and each individual aircraft probably spending far less than that in front line service. 

I can start on it myself, but I've never done half as good a job at it as many 'pits I've seen here over the years.

[ac5]

I completely agree. At some stage, that Corsair, (and thousands of others) left the

factory in a pristine condition, thus with a unworn cockpit.

I find also quite disappointing those ultra-worn cockpits for the sake of "realism".... 

I have looked into all the .dds textures of all 4 cockpits, but  even being a retired advertising photograph

myself, quite capable with Photoshop, I can't deduce where to retouch it. 

I did such a job on the F-18 which took me a couple of days, but with the Corsair I'm lost...

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3302617/

And BTW, I did not notice any difference between the 4 Cockpits provided....

 

[ivo]

4 hours ago, Wrench said:

So che ci sono membri della comunità che realizzano tutti i tipi di cabine di pilotaggio. Qualcuno ha in programma una cabina di pilotaggio "pulita"/"nuova" per l'F4U?

Personalmente non mi piace per niente l'estetica da "reliquia da museo" di un aereo che ha trascorso 3 anni in guerra, e ogni singolo aereo probabilmente ha trascorso molto meno tempo in servizio in prima linea. 

Potrei iniziare da solo, ma non sono mai riuscito a fare neanche la metà del mio lavoro in modo così buono come in molti "box" che ho visto qui nel corso degli anni.

+100

[ac5]

2 hours ago, ivo said:

+100

+100000 Ben detto, 'estetica da "reliquia da museo"  ... Vedi sopra, Io ci ho provato, ma è un osso duro......

Speriamo...

[Wrench]

I'll probably start on it, at least a very basic version, maybe I'll host the project on github to start a community version, because yeah, this one is gonna be a lot of work.

[ac5]

2 hours ago, Wrench said:

I'll probably start on it, at least a very basic version, maybe I'll host the project on github to start a community version, because yeah, this one is gonna be a lot of work.

Well, I am not afraid of the work, as a retired photographer... But where to even start..

D:\Games\DCS World\Mods\aircraft\F4U-1D\Shapes\Textures

Here I found a .zip file, with cockpit textures,  but I mean... was it really necessary making 225! files for a cockpit? The F-18 one I retouched had "only" 75....  

[Wrench]

I started work on one, but man it's slow going.
I'm literally going with flat colors and no normal map as a starting point, it can be edited from there.
I'm working on the placards at the moment and just like the Tomcat cockpit I did, every single bit of text is stretched and squeezed in a different way.

nothin' to it but to do it.

[ac5]

Hi,

I have managed to perform a basic retouch of the front of the cockpit,

but DCS loads the wrong .DDS file, in spite that the .lua file (false) should be OK..?!

See attachments. Any ideas? Help? 

description.lua

[ac5]

And even more odd.... The DCS model viewer loada properly

the retouched cockpit "AC", but DCS itself doss not... GO FIGURE....

H E L P!

See screenshots.

[Ala13_ManOWar]

On 6/22/2025 at 11:40 AM, Wrench said:

I know there are community members that make all kinds of cockpit li eries out there, anybody planning on a 'clean'/'new' cockpit for the F4U?

I personally really don't like the 'museum relic' aesthetic in an airplane that spent 3 years in the war, and each individual aircraft probably spending far less than that in front line service. 

I can start on it myself, but I've never done half as good a job at it as many 'pits I've seen here over the years.

 

On 6/22/2025 at 3:20 PM, ac5 said:

I completely agree. At some stage, that Corsair, (and thousands of others) left the

factory in a pristine condition, thus with a unworn cockpit.

I find also quite disappointing those ultra-worn cockpits for the sake of "realism".... 

I have looked into all the .dds textures of all 4 cockpits, but  even being a retired advertising photograph

myself, quite capable with Photoshop, I can't deduce where to retouch it. 

I did such a job on the F-18 which took me a couple of days, but with the Corsair I'm lost...

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3302617/

And BTW, I did not notice any difference between the 4 Cockpits provided....

 

 

Yeah, then again I completely disagree with you whatsoever. Aeroplanes are usually the filthier thing you've known and even unreleased aeroplanes at factory still in tests are usually worn out just with some engine runs up and a couple of test flights, so they reach front line not even close to that "factory pristine" you claim to be. Actually, if something, DCS F4U-1D Corsair's skins are if something waaayyy too clean.

For the record, these are your "factory fresh" examples, brand new yet already filthy even without having seen a single day of front line service,

Edited June 23 by Ala13_ManOWar

[ac5]

O.K. Then dear Ala13_ManOWar, if you can show the exterior of those factory fresh Corsairs,

then you are certainly able to show us factory fresh cockpits straight from the assembly line which present the same worn surfaces,

damage, scratches as the corsair we are getting in DCS...

 

Edited June 23 by ac5

[-Rudel-]

Every texture changed needs to be listed in the description.lua in your AC folder

[Wrench]

Cockpit liveries can be a little weird. Sometimes installing them in saved games works, sometimes it doesn't. For the longest time, I had to install a mod called 'default' in the liveries directory for the Tomcat. Try a few combinations of install and see what works.

16 hours ago, Ala13_ManOWar said:

 

 

Yeah, then again I completely disagree with you whatsoever. Aeroplanes are usually the filthier thing you've known and even unreleased aeroplanes at factory still in tests are usually worn out just with some engine runs up and a couple of test flights, so they reach front line not even close to that "factory pristine" you claim to be. Actually, if something, DCS F4U-1D Corsair's skins are if something waaayyy too clean.

For the record, these are your "factory fresh" examples, brand new yet already filthy even without having seen a single day of front line service,

For the exterior I'm sure that's true, but I would have to assume the USN would do some maintenance of the cockpits at least, and not let the paint chips falling off the rusty metal moving components float around as FOD.

[Wrench]

As for my work, I've been starting with flat paint and I/other commmunity members can add fancy normal maps etc later. I've been doing very minimal normal maps and roughmet, keeping the original AO pass (red channel)

As for F4U1D_CP_PLACARD_001, I'm a little over half way, working a half hour at a time or so.

Edited June 24 by Wrench

[motoadve]

I like the worn out cockpit of the Corsair, my only complain is that its too dark

[Ala13_ManOWar]

22 hours ago, ac5 said:

O.K. Then dear Ala13_ManOWar, if you can show the exterior of those factory fresh Corsairs,

then you are certainly able to show us factory fresh cockpits straight from the assembly line which present the same worn surfaces,

damage, scratches as the corsair we are getting in DCS...

 

No I can't dear ac5 because those high quality color kodachrome pictures costed a kidney and half your liver back in the day so why would they take any color picture of that small unimportant detail in the first place?  

But apparently you haven't seen a real aircraft in a daily use, and they got scratches and stained all over very quickly, even at the factory. You know, in a war they don't pay attention to cleaning the planes before sending them to the front line  . Not to mention, usually primer is the only thing used in the interiors so a relatively thin coat of primer between you and the bare metal, and that lasts really short time until it gets scratched and stained all over (primer is not even a paint and it's usually a rough finish which gets smudged easily).

Anyhow, my point being, you might "like" it, or you might "dislike" it, and I'm all about respect for others opinions and likings. But you both can't pretend the "factory pristine condition" is any sustainable argument for your own likings when that doesn't match real life at all the moment you know any real life aeroplane and I've known a few to know even private modern aeroplanes get dirt the moment you take them home. Not to mention you dismiss the "museum relic" thing as it wouldn't be a reality, and you don't know the half of it, those museum relics are actually pretty clean since they are, you know, museum relics and are kept clean and unused any more…   

6 hours ago, Wrench said:

For the exterior I'm sure that's true, but I would have to assume the USN would do some maintenance of the cockpits at least, and not let the paint chips falling off the rusty metal moving components float around as FOD.

Sorry mate, "maintenance in the cockpits and aeroplanes are an oxymoron. They don't even clean the airliners you fly in, wait for the us navy to clean your cockpit…  

Bear in mind it's usually and most of the time ground crews who start the engines for you (watch the Corsair period training films, they say it), and that's after the pre-flight check and all which means filthy hands, clothes and boots. You can expect oil, grease, gas and all kind of filth from the aeroplane itself staining the cockpit (they aren't your house maids, you know, they don't try to keep it clean and all). Plus, that means a lot of people pass through the cockpit even before flying just for checks and all and the more people the more opportunities for the plane to get filth. It's as simple as that.

Edited June 24 by Ala13_ManOWar

[ac5]

2 hours ago, Ala13_ManOWar said:

No I can't dear ac5 because those high quality color kodachrome pictures costed a kidney and half your liver back in the day so why would they take any color picture of that small unimportant detail in the first place?  

But apparently you haven't seen a real aircraft in a daily use, and they got scratches and stained all over very quickly, even at the factory. You know, in a war they don't pay attention to cleaning the planes before sending them to the front line  . Not to mention, usually primer is the only thing used in the interiors so a relatively thin coat of primer between you and the bare metal, and that lasts really short time until it gets scratched and stained all over (primer is not even a paint and it's usually a rough finish which gets smudged easily).

Anyhow, my point being, you might "like" it, or you might "dislike" it, and I'm all about respect for others opinions and likings. But you both can't pretend the "factory pristine condition" is any sustainable argument for your own likings when that doesn't match real life at all the moment you know any real life aeroplane and I've known a few to know even private modern aeroplanes get dirt the moment you take them home. Not to mention you dismiss the "museum relic" thing as it wouldn't be a reality, and you don't know the half of it, those museum relics are actually pretty clean since they are, you know, museum relics and are kept clean and unused any more…   

Sorry mate, "maintenance in the cockpits and aeroplanes are an oxymoron. They don't even clean the airliners you fly in, wait for the us navy to clean your cockpit…  

Bear in mind it's usually and most of the time ground crews who start the engines for you (watch the Corsair period training films, they say it), and that's after the pre-flight check and all which means filthy hands, clothes and boots. You can expect oil, grease, gas and all kind of filth from the aeroplane itself staining the cockpit (they aren't your house maids, you know, they don't try to keep it clean and all). Plus, that means a lot of people pass through the cockpit even before flying just for checks and all and the more people the more opportunities for the plane to get filth. It's as simple as that.

Fine, dear Ala13_ManOWar,  so as you say, you are not able to show us factory fresh cockpits straight from the assembly line which present the same worn surfaces, damage, scratches as the corsair we are getting in DCS...

Now.. why do you think that there is an option on offer in the A-10 to choose between an “aged” and a “factory new” If there was no interest in the DCS community towards a “factory new” cockpit?

And what about the P-47 and the Spitfire, among others? Those cockpits are far less damaged / scratched / dented than the Corsair one. Were the workers at the P- 47 factory more careful than the ones in the Corsair?

In any case, I will keep on retouching that corsair cockpit in order to bring it to a “factory new” condition, as is doing Wrench. I will succeed with this one as I did for the MIG-21 and the F-18, by the way receiving praise from many DCS users…..

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3302617/

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3301142/

 

[ac5]

9 hours ago, -Rudel- said:

Every texture changed needs to be listed in the description.lua in your AC folder

Well, thank you -Rudel- ... and of course that texture changed listed in the description.lua in my AC folder, in fact

that description.lua is an EXACT copy of the one found in the "default 2K" folder, only changing the name at the bottom

from  "default 2K" to "AC"

The only difference being that I retouched the file F4U1D_CP_GAUGES_001 in Photoshop,

saving it inside the folder AC of course as a .DDS file, included.

In fact, as I wrote, The DCS model viewer loads properly the retouched cockpit "AC", but DCS itself does not!

See screenshots above... How do you explain this? Kind Regards, AC

F4U1D_CP_GAUGES_001.dds description.lua

9 hours ago, Wrench said:

As for my work, I've been starting with flat paint and I/other commmunity members can add fancy normal maps etc later. I've been doing very minimal normal maps and roughmet, keeping the original AO pass (red channel)

As for F4U1D_CP_PLACARD_001, I'm a little over half way, working a half hour at a time or so.

Hi Wrench, well, amazing work, but... did you manage to make the retouched cockpit work INSIDE DCS,

and not only in the DCS model viewer? (See my remarks above...)....

[Ala13_ManOWar]

21 minutes ago, ac5 said:

Now.. why do you think that there is an option on offer in the A-10 to choose between an “aged” and a “factory new” If there was no interest in the DCS community towards a “factory new” cockpit 

Hahaha, I don't know for how long have you been around here, but I don't "think", I do KNOW as a matter of fact WHY is there that option, and that's only because some unacknowledged about aeroplanes and aviation people here is these very same forums asked, or should I say demanded, those "alleged factory fresh cockpits" because they didn't "LIKE" it. And I do know because back in time when that happened I was in those discussion and many others about the same tiresome subject   . Still stand on my point,

"you might like or dislike it but that doesn't make it more realistic as many, and you, say it is just because they haven't the experience of the actual filthiness an aeroplane constantly grows"



Just a hint, aeroplanes gross weight is never the one said at factory, in their airworthiness certificate it must be updated every now and then because aeroplanes gain weight!! Do you wonder why an aeroplane actually gains weight over their service lifetime?? Guess…    


Whatever it is, you dislike worn out aeroplanes, I love them. So?

[PL_Harpoon]

2 hours ago, Ala13_ManOWar said:

Whatever it is, you dislike worn out aeroplanes, I love them. So?

To be fair, you're the one who's trying (quite arrogantly I might add) to convince them that what they like is wrong.

[ac5]

2 hours ago, Ala13_ManOWar said:

Hahaha, I don't know for how long have you been around here, but I don't "think", I do KNOW as a matter of fact WHY is there that option, and that's only because some unacknowledged about aeroplanes and aviation people here is these very same forums asked, or should I say demanded, those "alleged factory fresh cockpits" because they didn't "LIKE" it. And I do know because back in time when that happened I was in those discussion and many others about the same tiresome subject   . Still stand on my point,

"you might like or dislike it but that doesn't make it more realistic as many, and you, say it is just because they haven't the experience of the actual filthiness an aeroplane constantly grows"



Just a hint, aeroplanes gross weight is never the one said at factory, in their airworthiness certificate it must be updated every now and then because aeroplanes gain weight!! Do you wonder why an aeroplane actually gains weight over their service lifetime?? Guess…    


Whatever it is, you dislike worn out aeroplanes, I love them. So?

So this discussion is useless. Please be so kind and stop it...

[Ala13_ManOWar]

13 hours ago, PL_Harpoon said:

To be fair, you're the one who's trying (quite arrogantly I might add) to convince them that what they like is wrong.

Then again, sorry I have to correct you on this. You mean quite autistically literal but you've already attributed intentions and feelings, like arrogance, you didn't know  .

[Q3ark]

1 hour ago, Ala13_ManOWar said:

Then again, sorry I have to correct you on this. You mean quite autistically literal but you've already attributed intentions and feelings, like arrogance, you didn't know  .

No dude, just stop. 

[Wrench]

17 hours ago, ac5 said:

Well, thank you -Rudel- ... and of course that texture changed listed in the description.lua in my AC folder, in fact

that description.lua is an EXACT copy of the one found in the "default 2K" folder, only changing the name at the bottom

from  "default 2K" to "AC"

The only difference being that I retouched the file F4U1D_CP_GAUGES_001 in Photoshop,

saving it inside the folder AC of course as a .DDS file, included.

In fact, as I wrote, The DCS model viewer loads properly the retouched cockpit "AC", but DCS itself does not!

See screenshots above... How do you explain this? Kind Regards, AC

F4U1D_CP_GAUGES_001.dds 16 MB · 0 downloads description.lua 14.33 kB · 0 downloads

Hi Wrench, well, amazing work, but... did you manage to make the retouched cockpit work INSIDE DCS,

and not only in the DCS model viewer? (See my remarks above...)....

I haven't yet, no. Like I said sometimes its weird, I'll post when I figure it out.

 AC5, thats some nice work. Did you have any issues with the color on your dash? Mine is turning purple in the model viewer for some reason, maybe some post processing?

 

As for the debate on whether it makes sense, I did ask a former vSquadron mate who is also a Navy veteran pilot, and he said that while navy cockpits will show some general wear, it's more like a well cared-for used car than a museum relic. He said the navy does in fact take great pride in maintaining their aircraft as I suspected, and they do in fact touch up the paint in the cockpits as required.

Now, he served long after WWII, but the principle remains. The navy does not allow their aircraft to deteriorate to the point they become illegible, and they do not allow unpainted/damaged surfaces to be exposed to salty air aboard ship. 

 

Remember also that the F4U's aboard ship pretty much only served the last year or so of the war. Corsairs didn't spend 4 years in continuous service aboard ship, and if they had, they'd have undergone regular maintenance specifically aimed to avoid the aircraft looking like this.

Add to that the fact that carriers were especially well equipped to handle maintenance, and that carriers served in limited-duration cruises, they had the time, materials, expertise, manpower, and will to do the maintenance.

 

All of that being said, its largely a non-issue since none of the planes we're flying actually exist, its all pretend and I could paint it in leopard print if I wanted to.

Let's focus on the task at hand for those interested. Anyone who isn't interested in a kess-worn cockpit is welcome to use any of the liveries already provided, and peruse many other forum sections to their heart's content.

[Slippa]

If any or all of you release a pristine looking cockpit as an option, I’d add it to my folder and thank you for giving us all the choice. 

I came here predominantly to fly Spits and as many other (old and musty) props as I can. Inevitably I’ve ended up flying Jets and Rotary aircraft too and happily. I like a bit of wear and tear on my props but some do go over the top with it. Everyone’s happy if we have all the options. People I’ve spoken with that own and maintain Spitfires, C-47s, Harvards, Tiger Moths and the like will always preserve and keep original parts of the aircraft that can be safely used and they’ll protect that precious bit of history. If you tried to retouch anything they’d chop your bleedin hand off.

I’ve seen many cockpits that have barely been touched in eighty odd years that still look perfectly serviceable. I’ve also seen some in an absolute mess. The servicemen and women that I’ve ever met aren’t usually careless in the way they go about looking after their aircraft. Things are likely to get scuffed but more surface scratches than damage. Some may have different experiences o course.

Well done for cracking on and giving us more options to choose from. This one does need brightening up a bit.