[MOD] - Replacements for Default Skins

[TG-55Panthercules]

[EDIT] These early versions noted below have been replaced/superseded by a couple of combined mod packages that Mitthrawnuruodo and I have collaborated on, including the main package found in the following thread:

 

 

and a new winter "default" replacement package I will be posting soon.

 

Therefore, I have deleted the links to the older packages below, which should be uninstalled/deactivated if you have already D/L'ed them.

=====================================================================================================================

 

I have been playing around with figuring out what sorts of mods can be done for now, until we find out how to properly extract files from the game's .gtp files.  As has been discussed in some other threads, it is possible to tell the game to use other skins in place of its standard default skins.  I figured that process might allow us to solve one of the problems that has been identified as a concern over the last few years, i.e., the fact that the game uses summer-looking skins as default even on winter maps.

 

Therefore, as a proof of concept I have created a set of mod packages implementing a couple of new sets of default skins.  The first one contains winter-camo'ed skins for use with Winter maps, and a new version 2 is available here if anybody wants to check it out: [outdated link removed] .  This new version 2 includes some tweak/fixes to a couple of the default skins, plus replacements for the standard German "white" skins that are being used by the new career mode for its winter map missions - it also includes new preview pictures so that you will see the replacement skins in the skin selection screens in the game's menus.

 

I created these skins using the standard default templates released so far by the devs, so these new default skins may or may not look exactly lke the ones the game is currently using, and there are some planes missing for which (as far as I can determine) templates have not been released. 

 

NOTE - as long as I was creating these new skins I went ahead and "fixed" the tail markings on the German aircraft to make them more historically correct - if you do not want to see the historically correct tail markings, then do not use these new skins in your game. (You can always replace them with skins with the pseudo-historical markings if you'd like).

 

While I was at it, I also created a new set of German default skins for summer/fall map use, with historically correct tail markings - a new version 2 of this package is available here:  [outdated link removed]   .  It includes new preview pictures so that you will see the replacement skins in the skin selection screens in the game's menus. Again, if you do not want to see the historically correct tail markings, then do not use these new skins in your game.

 

Both packages are JSGME-ready - you can just unzip them into your MODS folder and use JSGME (or some other mod-manager if desired) to enable and disable them.

 

I have tested all of these new skins in game, so hopefully they will work for everybody that wants them, but if anybody sees any problems with any of them please let me know and I'll be happy to check them out.  Also, even if you don't want to use these new skins, the packages can at least serve as a guide to where/how you can create your own mod packages to use your own skins to replace some or all of the game's default skins.

Edited March 28, 2018 by TG-55Panthercules

[MrNoice]

hm doesnt seem to work for me ?

[Picchio]

Out of curiosity, as I am unable to verify it and I don't really remember how it works now: does the game understand to use winter or summer skins according to the season, for example during the campaign?

[TG-55Panthercules]

1 hour ago, KG_S_MrFies said:

hm doesnt seem to work for me ?

 

Make sure you have the mods on setting ticked or you won't see them.  Also, check your folder structure and make sure you got them unzipped and installed into the proper folders - sometimes unzipping them incorrectly can wind up adding an extra folder which throws things off.

 

 

48 minutes ago, Picchio said:

Out of curiosity, as I am unable to verify it and I don't really remember how it works now: does the game understand to use winter or summer skins according to the season, for example during the campaign?

 

No - the game does not understand this - you need to manage that manually, by activating the summer mod package if/when you're going to be flying on anything other than a winter map, and activating the winter mod package when/if you're going to be flying on a winter map (only activate one at a time, so be sure to de-activate whichever one you're not going to be using before you activate the one you want to use).

 

NOTE - also, I have not yet figured out where the game gets the pictures that it uses to display the skins on the skin selection screen in the menus - therefore, you won't see the new skins on that screen (it will still look like the old default skins on that screen) but the new skins will be there once you actually start the mission.

 

[EDIT] - I've figured out where the preview pictures are stored - I'll update my mod packages with them as soon as I've managed to shoot new screenshots and figure out what the correct format for the preview pictures is (they're coming out a bit squished up right now).

Edited March 19, 2018 by TG-55Panthercules

[Semor76]

@TG-55Panthercules

 

Can you check the winterskins please. Something went a bit wrong here. (blue dot is from me)

Edited March 19, 2018 by Semor76

[TG-55Panthercules]

I'll try, but some info about what conditions you were using when you encountered the problem would be helpful.

 

[edit] I loaded up a QMB mission with some AI mates and the replaced skins came out just fine - see below (spoiler - historically correct tail markings):

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited March 19, 2018 by TG-55Panthercules

[Semor76]

The summer skins are working,but the winter skins not. The screenshot is taken from my current Bf-110 campaign at Moscow

[TG-55Panthercules]

Since they're working in QMB, I suspect maybe that they've hardcoded a different skin for the unit in your career.  I wonder if perhaps they've done that for all the winter career units, as their way of getting around having summer default skins being used in winter career missions.  I'll have to do some study of the career missions to see if I can tell what skins they're using - then a pack of substitutes for those could be created.

Edited March 19, 2018 by TG-55Panthercules

[MrNoice]

id would be nice if  all markings would be seperate from the skins  and you could just change the swastika like in the old 1946 and cliffs 

[TG-55Panthercules]

OK - I know what's happening in your Moscow career - the devs apparently are using the second of the standard skins (the one simply called "white") for the Bf-110s in the winter missions.  This should be easy enough to address by replacing the "white" skin as well as the default one - I tested it on a Bf-110 career on the Moscow winter map, and it worked fine - see below (spoiler - historically correct tail markings). 

 

Spoiler

 

It'll take a while to verify what's going on with all the winter units and tweak the winter mod package to address the issue generally, but I should be able to get to it in the next day or two if all goes well.

Edited March 19, 2018 by TG-55Panthercules

[Semor76]

Ok. Sounds good.

[kendo]

A big thank you for this. It will fix one of my BIG peeves about the game - always found those weird ahistorical tail markings on the German planes really annoying. 

[TG-55Panthercules]

OK - I've updated the links in the first post to go to the new versions I have created.  These new versions include some minor tweaks to a couple of the skins (mostly minor issues with the winter camo I noticed when I was making the screenshots for the preview pictures), plus new preview pictures so you will see the new/replacement skins in the skin selection screens in the game's menus.  I also replaced the standard German "white" skins that the new career mode seems to be using for its winter missions, so that they will have the historical tail markings.

 

These new versions replace the earlier versions that were originally linked to in the first post above, so if you already D/L'ed those you should deactivate/uninstall them and get the new versions.

 

I've done all the relevant skins from all 24 of the templates that the devs have released to date (as far as I can determine), so this is pretty much all I can do in this regard until the devs release the other templates (or until I figure out what sort of magic Mitthrawnuruodo used to reconstruct the embedded skin files as he mentioned in one of his other threads).

[Vig]

Thanks a bunch Panther - that must have been a ton of work and it will be a big enhancement to the game.  Now to find out what JGSME is and how to work it!

[335th_GRMultiDoc]

Thank you very much for this!

 

As for the JGSME, is it this one we should be using: http://www.moddb.com/mods/call-of-chernobyl/downloads/jsgme

[AstroCat]

Here is another JGSME type app called OvGME : https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=171956&highlight=ovgme

[Semor76]

Thx for the update Panther. The Winter skins for german planes works,but not for the Russians. I replace the Mig-3 skin with my ones and my flight spawned with the default ones.

[TG-55Panthercules]

1 hour ago, Semor76 said:

Thx for the update Panther. The Winter skins for german planes works,but not for the Russians. I replace the Mig-3 skin with my ones and my flight spawned with the default ones.

 

If you're talking about  winter career mode mission, then it's working as intended.  The career mode was already using white/winter Russian skins (using the second standard skin, called "White"), so I didn't replace that one on the Russian side.  I only replaced that second standard skin on the German side in order to include the proper historical tail markings, and there was no such correction to be made on the Russian skins.

 

If you want to replace the Russian winter career-used standard skins (the "White" ones) with your own custom skins, it's pretty easy to do so - just replicate what I did for the German part of the winter mod package (look specifically at how the files with names ending in "_skin_01" are handled, and replace them with copies of your desired skins).  For the preview picture files (the ones in the "swf" folder structure), make them 512x256 pixels and save them as .dds files using the DTX1 with no alpha setting (if you're using PhotoShop's nVidia plugin - not sure how that might translate if you're using GIMP or something else).

 

 

[Missionbug]

Thank you very much for these Panthercules, really appreciated, at last authentic insignia.

 

 

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[56RAF_Roblex]

I may be missing the point of this mod.   The issue the game has at the moment is that if you use a custom winter skin in a Winter map online then everyone else just sees a default skin which is usually green so you are very easy to see.   If I understand correctly,  this mod changes it so *you* see other peoples default skin as a Winter skin but they still see you as being green against the snow so you are making it harder to see your enemies while remaining easily seen  by them.    Is that right?

[Trooper117]

Could I just ask a question?

Can the summer and winter, plus the Kuban default skin mod that is also on offer, all be active in the JSGME mod folder at the same time, or do they have to be active individually as and when needed?

I know it may sound obvious to some, but I would like to be sure 

[TG-55Panthercules]

7 hours ago, 56RAF_Roblex said:

I may be missing the point of this mod.   The issue the game has at the moment is that if you use a custom winter skin in a Winter map online then everyone else just sees a default skin which is usually green so you are very easy to see.   If I understand correctly,  this mod changes it so *you* see other peoples default skin as a Winter skin but they still see you as being green against the snow so you are making it harder to see your enemies while remaining easily seen  by them.    Is that right?

 

Well, I would quibble with your statement about "The issue the game has ..." - I think it's more correct to state that that is one issue the game has, and that is primarily an issue for MP.  As a primarily SP player, I was really only trying to address one of the issues that affects SP players.  But yes, you are correct that this only changes what you see when the default skins are being used.  If the other person in MP does not have the mod installed, then they will still see you in the old default/summer skin.  I can't do anything about changing the way the game is coded here to affect how other people see your skins if they don't have the same mod/skins installed- all I can do is make it so you will see the properly marked default skins on your own PC (and they will too, if they happen to have installed the mod).

 

 

6 hours ago, Trooper117 said:

Could I just ask a question?

Can the summer and winter, plus the Kuban default skin mod that is also on offer, all be active in the JSGME mod folder at the same time, or do they have to be active individually as and when needed?

I know it may sound obvious to some, but I would like to be sure 

 

As for my two mod packs, as I think I noted above the summer and winter mod packs I posted above are mutually exclusive - you cannot use them together and must choose which one you install based on what kind of map you're going to be flying on.  Fortunately, JSGME makes it extremely easy to activate and deactivate whichever mod you need, as long as you do it before you start BoX.

 

You should be able to use my mod packages (seasonally appropriate as noted above) along with/at the same time as the mod(s) that Mitthrawnuruodo created.  My understanding is that he was altering all of the non-default official skins, as well as perhaps the default skins for the types of planes for which the devs have not yet released templates (i.e., the ones that I did not touch), in which case there would be no overlap or conflicts between his mods and mine.  If his mods do happen to include any of the default or "White" skins that I included in my mod packages, then JSGME will report a conflict and the overlapping skins will be overwritten by whichever of the mods you install last.  However, that should not cause any real problem - it just means that for those few overlapping skins (if any) you'll see my version if you install my mod last or you'll see Mitthrawnuruodo's version if you install his mod last.

Edited March 21, 2018 by TG-55Panthercules

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

52 minutes ago, TG-55Panthercules said:

My understanding is that he was altering all of the non-default official skins, as well as perhaps the default skins for the types of planes for which the devs have not yet released templates (i.e., the ones that I did not touch), in which case there would be no overlap or conflicts between his mods and mine.

That was indeed my intention. I just wanted to alter the Kuban skins because there seemed to be few custom versions available. 

[E69_julian57]

Hello, thanks to the creators of Mods, especially when replacing the marks of the predetermined skins.
I want to contribute my five centimos to the package of skins predetermined with the FW 190 A-3 in 4k, improving those already made.
Use it if you want.

You can add the skin to the Panthercules mod by copying and pasting the .DDS file
Greetings.

https://mega.nz/#!wzI0FLaA!5KyFUhfRdf9uh1mYhiVpcylRhBTIGwyzU6bTe0oMhpg

Spoiler

 

Edited March 27, 2018 by E69_julian57

[TG-55Panthercules]

The first post has been updated to reflect the fact that these early versions have now been replaced/superseded by some new combined mod packs that Mitthrawnuruodo and I have collaborated on, the main one of which can be found in this thread: