Creating 3d Models for Il-2

[Flashy]

Hi everyone,

 

As we all know, 1C/Ugra media/ Digital forms etc are constantly busy creating new things for Korea/Odessa/etc, so they really dont have capacity to build all the planes which the community would like to see in the sim. A lot of these planes (early WW1 two-seaters for example) will probably never be commercially viable if 1C had to pay someone to model them, so a community effort to model them for free basically seems like the only potentially realistic way to get them into the sim.

 

So, I would like to start a discussion around the feasibility of members in the community being able to create 3d models for 1C, and what is required to be able to submit a model for consideration. There is already a precedent for this as the I.A.R. 80 was apparently built by someone in the Il-2 community, so its hopefully not a total pipe dream.

 

I suppose the first set of questions I would have around this process are:

• what 3d modelling software would we need to learn?
• Are there documents or information somewhere which tell us what standard/complexity is required for the models? (number of vertices, polygons, etc) or some guidelines around how the model should be built to make 1C's job of integrating it into the sim as easy as possible.
• Who in the community already has 3d modelling skills which are close to what is needed, and would they be willing to teach others who want to learn? I imagine modelling something as complex as an aircraft would require a small team of a few people, so being able to teach others could be useful

 

Thats all I can think of right now, but I would like others to contribute to the discussion with their thoughts and questions.. Maybe someone has already tried this and has some experience? I am under no illusion that modelling planes is at all easy - the 3d models in this game are of the highest standard, so the skill level required would be very high, but it cant be impossible either..

 

What does everyone think?

[AEthelraedUnraed]

There are at least precedents. In addition to the IAR, a G.50 is being built.

 

However....

27 minutes ago, Flashy said:

what 3d modelling software would we need to learn?

If you still need to learn anything, then you're not realistically going to be able to build any new planes. This is not the days of IL2: 1946 anymore, where you'd patch a few polygons together and call it a plane. The current aircraft are much more detailed and require extensive prior 3d modelling experience to have any chance of succes. I'm sorry to say this, but if you're not already a professional 3d modeller, such a project is way over your head. And before you can even start modelling, you could already spend hundreds of hours on the required research...

 

But yeah... if there is anyone in the community who already is an experienced 3d artist and has lots of time to spare, then it is possible. As I said, there are precedents.

[Flashy]

Okay well that is kinda the point of this thread.. to find out what skill levels are needed and if we do have anyone in the community who has the skills and software to realistically model a plane.

 

I do know a little bit about 3d modelling btw, I used to have a property development business and I would create a full 3d model of the house we were selling based on a plan, and then create 3d renders from that model, as well as virtual "walkthroughs" (scripted videos basically) to show the client what it would feel like to walk through the finished house. I have also done some work creating 3d models of components and using them to produce technical drawings for manufacture. Admittedly, this was all in Sketchup, so it wasnt anything particularly hardcore, but I did use it to create some pretty complex 3d models back in the day.

Edited January 16 by Flashy

[Avimimus]

From what I gather: 3d models both have to be very high fidelity in terms of their accuracy to the original aircraft. They also have to be very high technical quality (efficient in their use of the resources, complex texture maps) and meet some criteria which are specific to the game engine.

 

There isn't a published guide for 3d models in Great Battles that I know of - but there is some talk that Il-2 Korea will get one a year or two after release.

 

For specifications - I would recommend directly contacting the team or contacting a third party. The Karelia team is currently working with at least two 3d modellers to try and create new aircraft, which means they must have the specifications as well. So, I would recommend contacting them - and maybe proposing creating a couple of buildings or a ground object of their choice (as an initial first step).

 

But you could also reach out to the team directly (I suspect they are pretty busy with Korea right now though)!

[AEthelraedUnraed]

1 hour ago, Flashy said:

Okay well that is kinda the point of this thread.. to find out what skill levels are needed and if we do have anyone in the community who has the skills and software to realistically model a plane.

 

I do know a little bit about 3d modelling btw, I used to have a property development business and I would create a full 3d model of the house we were selling based on a plan, and then create 3d renders from that model, as well as virtual "walkthroughs" (rendered videos basically) to show the client what it would feel like to walk through the finished house. I have also done some work creating 3d models of components and using them to produce technical drawings for manufacture. Admittedly, this was all in Sketchup, so it wasnt anything particularly hardcore, but I did use it to create some pretty complex 3d models back in the day.

Alright, well that's at least a start. I know the 3d modelling software they used in the past (RoF days) was 3ds Max, but I don't know if that's still the case. I just checked and a license costs €2245, so you're probably best off using Blender, which is free. Blender is a powerful piece of software, and I'm pretty sure you can do everything that's required in it.

 

It occurred to me that there is something else that might be a bit more realistic for amateur 3d modellers: ground objects. I think there's a lot of ground objects that could be built to add flavour to the game. Think static objects, like C-47s that can be placed by the dozens on pre-D-Day British airfields. Ground objects don't require the same fidelity as flyable planes (and don't require a cockpit), so they're easier to model. Or variants of existing items, such as German/Russian infantry squads.

 

Also if someone would model proper buildings, foliage and landmarks, I think it would be feasible to have a small community-made map such as Malta or North Africa.

Edited January 16 by AEthelraedUnraed

[Flashy]

41 minutes ago, Avimimus said:

 So, I would recommend contacting them - and maybe proposing creating a couple of buildings or a ground object of their choice (as an initial first step).

 

 

41 minutes ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

It occurred to me that there is something else that might be a bit more realistic for amateur 3d modellers: ground objects. I think there's a lot of ground objects that could be built to add flavour to the game. Think static objects, like C-47s that can be played by the dozens on pre-D-Day British airfields.

Yes that is a good point and something we sorely need.. There are no static models of many planes in Il-2, especially the early WW1 planes, so maybe I will start learning blender and see if I can convert some planes to statics as a learning experience..

I would still love to hear from others who have done this and hopefully get some advice/help. There was a mod for RoF which added lots of static planes (originally done by lefuneste and @actionjoe:

 

 

I think something like this for Il-2 would be a pretty fun project
 

[Jaegermeister]

6 hours ago, Flashy said:

A lot of these planes (early WW1 two-seaters for example) will probably never be commercially viable if 1C had to pay someone to model them, so a community effort to model them for free basically seems like the only potentially realistic way to get them into the sim.

 

So, I would like to start a discussion around the feasibility of members in the community being able to create 3d models for 1C, and what is required to be able to submit a model for consideration. There is already a precedent for this as the I.A.R. 80 was apparently built by someone in the Il-2 community, so its hopefully not a total pipe dream.

 

I suppose the first set of questions I would have around this process are:

• what 3d modelling software would we need to learn?
• Are there documents or information somewhere which tell us what standard/complexity is required for the models? (number of vertices, polygons, etc) or some guidelines around how the model should be built to make 1C's job of integrating it into the sim as easy as possible.
• Who in the community already has 3d modelling skills which are close to what is needed, and would they be willing to teach others who want to learn? I imagine modelling something as complex as an aircraft would require a small team of a few people, so being able to teach others could be useful

 

Thats all I can think of right now, but I would like others to contribute to the discussion with their thoughts and questions.. Maybe someone has already tried this and has some experience? I am under no illusion that modelling planes is at all easy - the 3d models in this game are of the highest standard, so the skill level required would be very high, but it cant be impossible either..

 

What does everyone think?

 

So you are asking for opinions of others. OK, I'll tell you what I think about that idea. You stated above that you don't have the skills to create these planes you would like to fly, so you are wondering if others in the community would like to create them for you for free.

 

My opinion is that over the next few years you might run into a couple of people capable of modeling a couple of planes to add into the sim in their own time, because they are particularly interested in those specific planes. Similar to the IAR-80.

 

I would guess that someone with the specialized graphics modeling skills to create these planes is not going to devote the extensive amount of time it would take to produce multiple planes for free, just because some people would like to have them included. Maybe you can get @Gambit21 to weigh in on that question. He knows what is involved, how long it would take, and how to do it. That should be amusing.

 

Maybe there are a few independently wealthy, retired and bored graphics designers out there with nothing else to do for the next year except make free planes for you, I don't know, but I would be surprised if anyone steps up and asks which planes you would like first. 

 

[Flashy]

The planes are not being created for me, and its not about what I want. The idea is to explore possible community-based alternatives to the current commercial model, because that model doesnt seem to be working for certain planes (the most obvious example is early WW1 planes, but the forums are filled with other planes people want that have virtually 0% chance of being added officially). I would assume that the people doing the modelling would be working on a plane that they would all want to see in the sim, and nobody is talking about trying to dictate what planes anybody should be building. I am talking about forming a small team within the community of people who have a common interest and goal (whether thats WW1, WW2 or any other era - Tiger Moth anyone?) who are willing to work on a plane in their free time... tons of other games have armies of modders who create amazing free content which is of a very high standard (Look at something like Fallout London or Enderal for example), so I am trying to see what the community thinks about trying something similar, but on a much smaller scale obviously

[Juri_JS]

I think as community projects it would be more realistic to create things like additional AI vehicles, ships or buildings. Lots of stuff is still missing in the game that would be useful for mission builders or to improve the maps.

 

Examples:

- Sd.Kfz. 231 armoured car

- British motor torpedo boat

- German M-boat, R-boat or VP-boat

- more bunkers/field fortifications

- Mont-Saint-Michel model

[Gambit21]

On 1/16/2025 at 1:47 AM, Flashy said:

Hi everyone,

 

As we all know, 1C/Ugra media/ Digital forms etc are constantly busy creating new things for Korea/Odessa/etc, so they really dont have capacity to build all the planes which the community would like to see in the sim. A lot of these planes (early WW1 two-seaters for example) will probably never be commercially viable if 1C had to pay someone to model them, so a community effort to model them for free basically seems like the only potentially realistic way to get them into the sim.

 

So, I would like to start a discussion around the feasibility of members in the community being able to create 3d models for 1C, and what is required to be able to submit a model for consideration. There is already a precedent for this as the I.A.R. 80 was apparently built by someone in the Il-2 community, so its hopefully not a total pipe dream.

 

I suppose the first set of questions I would have around this process are:

• what 3d modelling software would we need to learn?

 

Blender is a reasonable choice for many, just keep in mind that the final mesh will need to end up in Max for this developer. 

You can purchase an Indie license of Max for a few hundred dollars, and if this sim is your target then that's what I'd recommend. If this team was working in Unreal, then Blender would be more feasible since it has a working Unreal bridge. I hate Max, it's clunky as hell but that's the program they work with as does most of the game industry. I work in Modo and export Max files.

 

On 1/16/2025 at 1:47 AM, Flashy said:

 

• Are there documents or information somewhere which tell us what standard/complexity is required for the models? (number of vertices, polygons, etc) or some guidelines around how the model should be built to make 1C's job of integrating it into the sim as easy as possible.

 

This is a bit of a moving target, for instance you'll notice that the meshes became more dense as the series has progressed...but the best way to determine this is look at the UV map of a current aircraft since this is essentially a flattened version of the mesh.

 

On 1/16/2025 at 1:47 AM, Flashy said:

• Who in the community already has 3d modelling skills which are close to what is needed, and would they be willing to teach others who want to learn? I imagine modelling something as complex as an aircraft would require a small team of a few people, so being able to teach others could be useful

 

Just speaking of the model/mesh here...it generally takes one person, a lot of time. Trying to team up on the mesh can work and some do this, but it also can cause other issues that I won't bother winding down the path of here. I've helped complete come cockpit items on an upcoming DCS aircraft, but this person and I work very well together and I know what I'm doing. So it can work, but it takes a good communication and you have to know the pitfalls to watch for. What can end up happening is that mitigating complications of dividing the work can end up taking as long as if one person just did it themselves. You'll have to trust me there. So possible with caveats, and has been done.

 

No other modeler is going to teach you, they're too busy and this would be a full time job. I make the mistake of trying to help one person with a few things and it was beyond cumbersome. 

You decide what you want to learn, you watch tutorials, you get involved with a forum or Discord and ask questions, and you practice. That's how it works. Natural talent helps. Don't be fooled that Sketchup and arch-vis prepared you for anything where aircraft models are concerned...it's a whole other ball of wax.

This team in particular is not gong to hold your hand, especially if you're a westerner...trust me on that one. You have your work cut out for you on several levels if you want to pursue this, and that's all I'm going to say in that regard. 

 

On 1/16/2025 at 1:47 AM, Flashy said:

 

Thats all I can think of right now, but I would like others to contribute to the discussion with their thoughts and questions.. Maybe someone has already tried this and has some experience? I am under no illusion that modelling planes is at all easy - the 3d models in this game are of the highest standard, so the skill level required would be very high, but it cant be impossible either..

 

What does everyone think?

 

 

All that said...yes it's doable. I had a background that allowed me to learn quickly because I was accustomed to making 2D appear to be 3D (traditional illustration) so when I got a hold of of 3D app and could actually work in 3D, I moved along quickly. I entered modeling contests, stacked up some wins, and confidence, practiced texturing workflows and tackled more and more complex subjects and after a while took on WWII aircraft, the first one being for an air museum client up this way. 

All this to say, if you want to do it, and you have some talent, and dedication it's more than possible. 

 

However this is just the modeling aspect - there's texturing, rigging, LODS, etc.

Good luck.

 

Here's a P-51D mesh that I did a while back for an air museum client, and gave the team for reference when Bodenplatte was announced.

It's not a game mesh...much too dense, and it's SubD to boot. 

 

 

 

Edited January 18 by Gambit21

[AEthelraedUnraed]

7 hours ago, Gambit21 said:

Blender is a reasonable choice for many, just keep in mind that the final mesh will need to end up in Max for this developer. 

You can purchase an Indie license of Max for a few hundred dollars, and if this sim is your target then that's what I'd recommend. If this team was working in Unreal, then Blender would be more feasible since it has a working Unreal bridge.

I would probably go with Blender, then when everything's all but finished get the 30 day free trial version from Max to export. I imagine they'd also be open to receiving the models in some free file format like .dae or .fbx and do the conversion themselves. Fbx is a proprietary Autodesk format, so it probably has good Max support?

 

7 hours ago, Gambit21 said:

This team in particular is not gong to hold your hand, especially if you're a westerner...trust me on that one. You have your work cut out for you on several levels if you want to pursue this, and that's all I'm going to say in that regard.

No they are not going to hold your hand... but my personal experience with them is that they can be very helpful. They're not going to spend hours of their time on everyone (they have better things to do), but if you know what you're doing and already have something you can show them, then I've found them to give some helpful and in-depth answers to your questions.

 

On 1/16/2025 at 8:04 PM, Juri_JS said:

Examples:

- Sd.Kfz. 231 armoured car

- British motor torpedo boat

- German M-boat, R-boat or VP-boat

- more bunkers/field fortifications

- Mont-Saint-Michel model

Also:

- More building variety (the Rheinland buildings are more of a German type; for the Netherlands you'd see a different architectural style)

- Higher-res versions of some of the early buildings (BoS looks positively outdated...)

- Denser version of the Stalingrad ruins (there's a satellite-style ground texture you can base this on, as well as ready-made textures)

- Dykes to go along the Dutch rivers

- Dutch/German style farms that fit into the terrain textures, like the farms you see on the Normandy map.

[Juri_JS]

58 minutes ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

- Dykes to go along the Dutch rivers

I haven't tried it, but I think Dutch dykes and dune areas could be created with the height editor in the mission editor. Although I am not sure if these changes can be saved.

 

For those who wonder what I am talking about, you can unlock the full map editing tools by adding "full_editor = 1" in the "[KEY = system]" section of the "startup.cfg" file.

Edited January 18 by Juri_JS

[Missionbug]

It has probably been mentioned thousands of times to new modellers who wish to be involved with flying sims but here goes again, you will be better advised to KEEP IT SIMPLE at first.

 

Even if you already model in 3d and you want to be part of a team then maybe offer to help with buildings or other smaller simpler objects at first that are necessary for the maps, even if you are experienced with certain 3d programs and other sims it will be beneficial to learn the specifics of which way any particular simulator makes their own objects and for that you would need contact with the team involved.

 

Those who model regularly for any sim are generally expert modellers who do it for a living and it is they who will be making the key items such as aircraft and giving you valuable advice, initially it is probably fair to say it is they who will be making those major items because they are used to working to a deadline. It is very unlikely unless you yourself are also an expert modeller that you will be given any major project to start with so you might need to accept that whatever your skills if you were accepted into a team you might also be expected to do the  more straight forward stuff early on such as buildings or other smaller and simpler projects.

 

Besides the modelling programs such as 3ds or Blender many teams use Substance Painter for texturing their particular models so be aware of that also as it might be your model will only be accepted if textured in that program.

 

Take care and be safe.

 

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

 

 

Edited January 18 by Missionbug

[AEthelraedUnraed]

23 minutes ago, Juri_JS said:

I haven't tried it, but I think Dutch dykes and dune areas could be created with the height editor in the mission editor. Although I am not sure if these changes can be saved.

I have. Dunes work, but dykes are too fine grained for the mesh. Remember that the heightmap is only a 50m resolution or so. And although changes can be saved, they cannot be loaded in game.

 

It should be mentioned though in the context of this thread, that any static ground objects can be run as mods. So you can just build them and add them to your missions; no need to go to 1CGS to put them in the game for you.

 

[Gambit21]

6 hours ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

I would probably go with Blender, then when everything's all but finished get the 30 day free trial version from Max to export. I imagine they'd also be open to receiving the models in some free file format like .dae or .fbx and do the conversion themselves. Fbx is a proprietary Autodesk format, so it probably has good Max support?

 

 

 

It's a good question, I guess it depends on how deep you go with getting it ready for this particular engine. If you're only obligation/goal is to hand over a mesh then you can use whatever you want and export an .obj or even .Fbx as most will do that. I've use Modo for years in this case because it's far and away the best modeler (and free now because Foundry just dumped it) I don't know the details of exporting say rigging/moving flaps, gear, cockpits switches etc to this game engine from Blender. May or may not work.

 

Combat Pilot guys are using Blender which plays nice with UE5.

 

 

[Avimimus]

On 1/16/2025 at 7:04 PM, Juri_JS said:

I think as community projects it would be more realistic to create things like additional AI vehicles, ships or buildings. Lots of stuff is still missing in the game that would be useful for mission builders or to improve the maps.

 

Examples:

- Sd.Kfz. 231 armoured car

- British motor torpedo boat

- German M-boat, R-boat or VP-boat

- more bunkers/field fortifications

- Mont-Saint-Michel model

 

If we are doing wishlists:

- A Romanian Destroyer (to give us an axis warship to bomb).

- Possibly a British Motor Gunboat (opponent for s-boats, useful for Normandy)

- A PTRD team

- A couple of infantry machine gun positions

- Possibly reskinned infantry (and a PIAT or Bazooka team for Bodenplatte).

[Juri_JS]

3 hours ago, Avimimus said:

- A PTRD team

- A couple of infantry machine gun positions

- Possibly reskinned infantry (and a PIAT or Bazooka team for Bodenplatte).

I really hope the devs will use the opportunity and add Soviet and German infantry in the Karelia/Odessa module. We already have the models in the game as gun crews and soldiers on airfields, so why not use them to finally give us eastern front infantry?

 

And I would also add mortar teams to your list.

Edited January 18 by Juri_JS

[Avimimus]

2 hours ago, Juri_JS said:

I really hope the devs will use the opportunity and add Soviet and German infantry in the Karelia/Odessa module. We already have the models in the game as gun crews and soldiers on airfields, so why not use them to finally give us eastern front infantry?

 

And I would also add mortar teams to your list.

 

A mortar team is an excellent idea! Very common artillery units for tactical air support to hunt... it'd add quite a bit of potential gameplay and realism!

[357th_KW]

8 hours ago, Avimimus said:

 

If we are doing wishlists:

- A Romanian Destroyer (to give us an axis warship to bomb).

- Possibly a British Motor Gunboat (opponent for s-boats, useful for Normandy)

- A PTRD team

- A couple of infantry machine gun positions

- Possibly reskinned infantry (and a PIAT or Bazooka team for Bodenplatte).

 

I'd love to have a Motor Gunboat to go with the S-boats.

 

To add a couple I'd like to see:

River barges for the Rhine

Horse drawn supply wagons

[Juri_JS]

5 hours ago, 357th_KW said:

To add a couple I'd like to see:

River barges for the Rhine

We already have barges in the game. Barges on the Rhine were larger during the 1940s, but this shouldn't be a big problem.

 

 

What I would also love to see are placeable trench systems. They don't have to go into the ground, modeling the parapet would be enough, so they look ok from the air, similar to the placeable trench sections from Il-2 1946.

 

Edited January 19 by Juri_JS

[Yogiflight]

A gun shield for the German 88mm AA gun for the front units. Having them in the forward area without a gun shield simply looks very odd.

[AEthelraedUnraed]

While I love many of the suggestions above (I think horsecarts are especially overdue), anything that moves is significantly harder to make and likely requires the active participation of the developers.

[Yogiflight]

6 hours ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

While I love many of the suggestions above (I think horsecarts are especially overdue), anything that moves is significantly harder to make and likely requires the active participation of the developers.

This is why I didn't suggest moving artillery/AA/AT guns, which would be interesting ground targets as well.

[MaxPower]

I have some experience with modding.  I have modded vehicles for games successfully in the past.  I thought I could give some input from someone who has actually done it.

The main problem is that making a functional vehicle in a game requires skills in several different areas that would involve many professional paths, and game engine related tools.

I just want to say right out of the gate that building vehicles for games in the traditional way in your spare time is borderline impossible.  Sure, people do it and there are good examples of nice mods all over the place, especially in sim gaming.  I, myself, have done it.  But, the workload for a hobby is I think about the highest you can get without building an actual car or an actual kit aircraft.  If you really want to get to a realistic representation of an aircraft, I hope you love counting rivets and screws on panels, and studying what kind of fasteners go where.  You might not need a perfect representation of all of the kinds of rivets but you're going to have to represent the visual differences and their placement in some way.

On the modelling side, if you're good enough to do a detailed model of an aircraft and its cockpit, you probably shouldn't be doing it for free.  It requires a high amount of skill and precision in several different areas.  Not only in modelling the form, but also texturing.  In order to texture you have to have a least some knowledge of materials and 'lookdev' ie. how to get the look you want out of the technology that's available.  The biggest thing in my experience that you have to grapple with is research.  It's not just trying to interpret photos for how stuff looks.  Different photos of different examples of the same aircraft in non-flying museum preservation can be pretty confusing.  Often one example of one aircraft will have differences than another aircraft, especially with the look and layout of the cockpit gauges.  Flying example will often not have a period correct cockpit and will have replaced some of the cockpit with modern systems in order to legally operate in modern airspace.  There are also some problems finding photos of areas that people aren't interested in photographing.  What does the floor look like, or the area behind the seat that the pilot can see?  Perspective distortion is also a non-insignificant problem.  Landmarking details that only really show up in close up cameras can be a challenge because of the huge amount of perspective distortion in phone cameras etc.

The model would ideally have LODs, and may have special LODs for collision, mass distribution, in-cockpit view, and several resolution LODs.  The resolution LODs mean you have to down sample the model a few times and set up the view distances for them so you can't see the model switching.  There's a temptation to skip this step but it's very important for performance.  Rasterizing tiny triangles is many times more expensive than rasterizing triangles that cover many pixels.

Then we get to the non modelling related stuff.  There's sound design, flight model set up, game-entity script set up, aircraft animation rigging, weapons and hard points placements.  In a professional scenario, these would be the responsibility of sound designers, game designers, technical game designers, and maybe the modeler themselves in some cases.  All the axes for all of the things that rotate have to be set up, and their inputs, motion, and constraints tied to some game entity parameter.  Getting the model in the game, packed, set up, and associated with other assets is usually where the professional engine tools come in.  This usually requires some familiarity with the tools and scripts you're editing, which requires even more time.

And then there's flight model.  How much do you love working with incomplete information and interpreting the intent of military scientists from 80 years ago, often in other languages?  I currently have an ongoing personal project where me, a layman, am trying to estimate aircraft performance from simple statistics.  Even in the simplest form possible, this requires a lot of deep critical thinking about the purpose and condition of the air tests and how the data is presented.

Anyway, here's an example of my previous aircraft modding work from a while ago.  I just want to reiterate that you have to be borderline insane to attempt something like this for no compensation.  I didn't realize how hard it would be when I started it.  I was a young artist and I thought I had to prove myself to get a job.  The reality was that there was no way I could really articulate all of the work that goes into something like that.  Any prospective employers had never done anything like that so their ability to actually recognize what they were looking at was disappointing.  I got the first job I applied for on the strength of the portfolio but even professionals can't relate to the amount of work that was required.

[AEthelraedUnraed]

3 hours ago, Yogiflight said:

This is why I didn't suggest moving artillery/AA/AT guns, which would be interesting ground targets as well.

To clarify, with "anything that moves" I meant any movement at all, so that includes anything that rotates and shoots, even if it's a static gun. Also, editing objects already in game is currently not possible as there's no way to convert .mgm files back to .obj or something.

 

The *only* thing I think is feasible for someone without a ton of prior experience, are completely static objects like buildings. Besides the already mentioned reason that you most likely need the Devs to convert any vehicles, @MaxPower has just excellently described the amount of work involved.

[Flashy]

Wow, lots of responses! Sorry for not replying - was away this weekend. Thanks for all the replies everyone, especially @Gambit21 and @MaxPower for your insights into the actual modelling process and your experiences. I had assumed it would be a lot of work to build a plane, and was thinking it could be something that someone could do on a part time/hobby basis over a period of about 6 months to a year,  but I think I probably did underestimate the skill level and experience required to create something of this standard.. and I do understand why someone wouldnt want to take on a project like this unless they were super-passionate about seeing the plane in the sim..

 

 

@Gambit21 or @MaxPower - how hard would it be in your opinion to create static models of the existing aircraft? I imagine the hardest part of that would be the damage model, right?

[MaxPower]

@Flashy  I don't really know what the specs are for those.  The requirements are less than a functioning aircraft because there's no cockpit and I think no animations?  It's likely that you would not be able to get them into the game because it would still require some kind of script to declare the entity and set up its properties, as well as the importation and implementation of the assets.

So, the work you have for a static model that can get asploded on the ground are something like:

• Research into the outer form of the aircraft and markings
• Some way to create and visualize the textures you make in a form that's relevantly similar to the ones used in the game
• Damaged versions of the model
• Maybe some way to landmark where vfx are spawned like where fire and explosions should be placed
• LODs resolution and collision
• How to name stuff internally

If you want to make it work on your side then you would need all the importation stuff that we are missing, as far as I know.  Not sure about implementing and referencing the assets, referencing them in the editor manifest or whatever they do to place them in maps, and so forth.

 

Also no worries about not getting back right away.  This is a forum after all.  Some time between messages is expected  

Edited January 21 by MaxPower

[Flashy]

I was actually thinking more along the lines of taking the planes we already have in the game (so the full 3d model exists) and "baking it down" to a much lower res static. For some reason, 1C doesnt release the static model when they release the full model (you would think the amount of extra work to do that would be pretty small compared to all the work they have already had to do to create the flyable plane!) so we are desperately short of statics for use in missions. This results in the pretty comical situation where you find SE5A's and Alb D.Va's sitting on the aerodromes in 1916 careers, for example..

 

So, just creating statics for all the existing planes in the game would be a big step to helping fix that. As far as getting them into the game.. that would be up to the devs.. my hope would be that, if someone has already done the majority of the work in creating the models (with LODs and damage model), then they would be so kind as to add them for us to the game.. that really would be the least they could do.

Edited January 21 by Flashy

[AEthelraedUnraed]

9 hours ago, MaxPower said:

It's likely that you would not be able to get them into the game because it would still require some kind of script to declare the entity and set up its properties, as well as the importation and implementation of the assets.

Actually, the "scripting" is relatively easy, in plain text, and can be implemented without any help from the Devs. If any models ever get to that stage, I'd be willing to help with the final import into the game

 

3 hours ago, Flashy said:

I was actually thinking more along the lines of taking the planes we already have in the game (so the full 3d model exists) and "baking it down" to a much lower res static.

That's not possible since the in-game models are in a proprietary format for which there is no way to convert them back into something you can edit. Any aircraft models would have to be made from the ground up.

 

As noted, they can have a lower resolution though and you can re-use the textures, so it's still only a fraction of the work of a flyable aircraft.

[Avimimus]

On 1/19/2025 at 11:07 AM, AEthelraedUnraed said:

While I love many of the suggestions above (I think horsecarts are especially overdue), anything that moves is significantly harder to make and likely requires the active participation of the developers.

 

Well, perhaps if we ask nicely? Or roll it into the Karelia team's work and see if they can put in the request?

[AEthelraedUnraed]

40 minutes ago, Avimimus said:

Well, perhaps if we ask nicely? Or roll it into the Karelia team's work and see if they can put in the request?

I think that if you provide them a ready-made object that's already animated, is of sufficient quality and within their specs and adds sufficient value to the game, there's a chance they'd import it into the game for you. But even in that case, they'd have to write AI, physics, damage scripting etc. so I wouldn't get your hopes up

 

On the other hand, for static models you can do everything yourself and release them as a mod, then if it's good enough they just incorporate the mod into the base game.

[Avimimus]

2 hours ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

But even in that case, they'd have to write AI, physics, damage scripting etc. so I wouldn't get your hopes up

 

For ordinary ground objects and vehicles that part is pretty easy (assuming the model is configured correctly i.e. animations, lods, collision boxes). From my experience working with the config files, physics are shared across type and the AI is usually generic. I could probably implement config files.

 

But that assumes everything is set up perfectly, has been imported correctly etc. It also doesn't apply to aircraft or anything which requires custom physics.

[KFX1]

I have Blender experience and would love to work on Statics/Blocks, however, I do not know what format, scale, etc. is required to bring them into the game.

 

Please direct me to this information and I will get started!

 

If you are skilled at getting them into the game, let's team up!

 

Some of what I was looking to produce are:

Entrenched infantry

Trenches

Static vehicles civilian and military with and without towed guns

Boats

[IckyATLAS]

 

On 5/30/2025 at 8:18 PM, KFX1 said:

Please direct me to this information and I will get started!

Please read first the whole thread. There is a lot of "vital" information from experimented professionals.

 

On 5/30/2025 at 8:18 PM, KFX1 said:

Trenches

Regarding Trenches, this topic was discussed before, as the Trenches in the WWI Arras map are just horrible. It seems you cannot do much as the ground or terrain map model does not allow for negative elevations or something similar. Building a realistic trench model seems undoable with the existing technology.

 

 

[MajorMagee]

Creating variations of the current AI vehicles has been worked out in detail. Given some new 3d models in the correct format they could be added as well using the same approach. This includes infantry squads from other nations if we had the proper models (see below).

 

 

Quote

Just ran a test, and yes, you can duplicate the existing detachment files and rename them "ger" in place of "usa" or "gbr", and they will be selectable in the mission editor under the new name. They naturally show up as their original models, and textures, and I don't see a straightforward way to retexture them since the 3D models contain the country specific weapons and equipment. It would take the ability to generate new model files to do this correctly.

 

Based on the link you posted the models already exist, so it's just a matter of the developers releasing them, and then there would be no need for the duplicate and rename trick.

 

 

[LukeFF]

Sorry guys, this just isn't feasible with the time it would require of our team.

[AEthelraedUnraed]

1 hour ago, LukeFF said:

Sorry guys, this just isn't feasible with the time it would require of our team.

I think you misunderstand the intention behind this topic

 

This thread is not about the Devs creating additional 3D models. We understand that you don't have time for that at the moment, with Korea and all.

 

This thread is about us, i.e. independent modders with some knowledge/experience of/in 3D modelling, creating 3D models ourselves. No Devs needed for that  There's a lot of untapped potential within the player base, of people who have the skills as well as the enthusiasm to create some wonderful new objects for IL2.

 

Speaking of which, the only way I know of for converting 3D models into the IL2 format, is an archaic plugin from the now-defunct RoF forums for the obsolete 3DS Max 8 software. Is there any chance of a more up-to-date version of the conversion script being published?

[Aapje]

1 hour ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

No Devs needed for that  

[...]

Speaking of which, the only way I know of for converting 3D models into the IL2 format, is an archaic plugin from the now-defunct RoF forums for the obsolete 3DS Max 8 software. Is there any chance of a more up-to-date version of the conversion script being published?

 

There are still devs needed to clean up a conversion script so it can be published, and integrating the created 3D assets into the game, and depending on how that is done, that may include extra AI coding.

[LukeFF]

1 hour ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

I think you misunderstand the intention behind this topic

 

This thread is not about the Devs creating additional 3D models. We understand that you don't have time for that at the moment, with Korea and all.

 

This thread is about us, i.e. independent modders with some knowledge/experience of/in 3D modelling, creating 3D models ourselves. No Devs needed for that  There's a lot of untapped potential within the player base, of people who have the skills as well as the enthusiasm to create some wonderful new objects for IL2.

 

Speaking of which, the only way I know of for converting 3D models into the IL2 format, is an archaic plugin from the now-defunct RoF forums for the obsolete 3DS Max 8 software. Is there any chance of a more up-to-date version of the conversion script being published?

 

I understand fully. 🙂 The amount of time needed for the team to oversee the work being done by a third party is just too much. 

[AEthelraedUnraed]

7 minutes ago, LukeFF said:

I understand fully. 🙂 The amount of time needed for the team to oversee the work being done by a third party is just too much. 

Thing is, there needn't be anything to be overseen. Static 3D models aren't locked; I can create one right now and load it in game, no approval or anything needed. Although I haven't tested it, I don't even think the "Mods On" mode is needed. The only reasons I haven't done much of the sort myself is that 1) I never quite got the Windows XP-era 3DS Max 8 software to work on my PC without crashing every minute or so, and 2) I'm not that good of a 3D modeller anyhow.

 

24 minutes ago, Aapje said:

There are still devs needed to clean up a conversion script so it can be published, and integrating the created 3D assets into the game, and depending on how that is done, that may include extra AI coding.

I realise that, and I know my asking for it was a stretch

That said, I'm only talking about static models that do not require any AI. Of course the Devs aren't going to implement any vehicles right now.