Really basic question about using skins

[Wulf]

I have downloaded a couple of skins and attempted to open them but without success.  It would seem that the skins are in something called 'dds format' and presumably require a special 'dds utility' of some sort to open them. 

 

I've had a look around the interweb for a free dds viewer/converter but although I've found several, I really have no idea which to use or even if I actually need one at all.

 

Would someone who has some experience with this please let me know what if anything I need and if I do need something, which one I should use.

 

Thanks 

[FlatSpinMan]

Why do you want to open them? If it's to view, then you can do so in the Viewer, which is in the BoS folder. If it's to edit them, then I thought it wouldn't work as you'd need to work from the template using gimp or Photoshop. Not knowing about skinning though, I may well be wrong.

[Y-29.Silky]

No no no, you can't open them and view skins like it's a photo, those files just contain the metadata.

Edited January 16, 2015 by Silky

[Wulf]

Oh ... umm ... okay it looks as though I was going off on a tangent (again).  So, I don't view them then.  So how do I get them into the appropriate folder if I can't open them and then direct them to the right spot?  Sorry, I'm absolutely useless at this sort of thing.

[DD_Arthur]

Hello Wulf.  Might these skins be for the FW190 by any chance?  O.K. you downloaded these skins and they're in dds format.  That's good.   Go to the folder you down loaded them to and right click on one and copy it.

 

Now find this path C:\Program Files (x86)\1C Game Studios\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\graphics\skins\Fw190A3.

 

Open the FW folder and paste in your skin.  Now fire up your game and you should be able to select  your new skin under the custom tab.

[Wulf]

Hello Wulf.  Might these skins be for the FW190 by any chance?  O.K. you downloaded these skins and they're in dds format.  That's good.   Go to the folder you down loaded them to and right click on one and copy it.

 

Now find this path C:\Program Files (x86)\1C Game Studios\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\graphics\skins\Fw190A3.

 

Open the FW folder and paste in your skin.  Now fire up your game and you should be able to select  your new skin under the custom tab.

 

 

Thanks.  That makes sense.  I'll give it a go.  And yeah, 190 skins......  

[Sokol1]

..:\IL-2 Battle of Stalingrad\bin\viewer\viewer.exe

 

[Jaws2002]

Looking at my download links, I'm guilty of this confusion. I should have uploaded the skins in a zip, so people download the zip and then open it. As they are now , from habit, people try to open them, instead of saving them to the proper folder.

 

for now, if the link shows the ".dds" at the end, you "save it as", if it shows ".zip" you open it.

 

exemple:

 

this one you "save as"

 

http://www.mediafire...lack13_8JG2.dds

 

 

 

This one "open" with 7z

 

http://uloz.to/x24rn6Zv/toni-hackl-7z

Edited January 16, 2015 by Jaws2002

[Bearcat]

I think a part of the confusion may be from the fact that the old IL2 skins were in a BMP format that could be viewed with Paint. As has been stated to see these skins you must use the Skin Viewer that was released at the same time the templates were. That is the only way to "see" them without a program like Photoshop, PaintShop or Gimp. The viewer is going to be in the link that Sokol provided. I made a shortcut to my desktop to the viewer so I don't have to do that dance every time I want to see a skin.

[Wulf]

No, this is my fault.  I'm just not very bright unfortunately.  

 

And Jaws, thanks for the skins you've made available.  They're really great.

 

Cheers.

[LukeFF]

No no no, you can't open them and view skins like it's a photo, those files just contain the metadata.

 

If it's DDS file, sure you can. I've been using this simple DDS viewer for literally over a decade: http://www.amnoid.de/ddsview/

[Jaws2002]

No, this is my fault.  I'm just not very bright unfortunately.  

 

And Jaws, thanks for the skins you've made available.  They're really great.

 

Cheers.

 

No sweat. It's just as much fun making them as it is using them.

[Feathered_IV]

I love it when people that "may well be wrong" reply to technical questions.

It's one of the things that makes forums such fun.

.

I envy you. You have a very low threshold for fun.

 

Wulf, if you just want to double-click on the skin to view it like the ones in the old Il-2 series, I can recommend XNview for windows. I've been using it for all sorts of things for years. You can even view a photoshop file without opening it completely.

[Wulf]

Thanks Feathered.  I'll download it and try it out.

 

Cheers.