Modding Help: Creating a "Greenscreen" Map (Specular, Normals, & Skybox Issues)

[Cynicus]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm trying to get into some machinima-style video creation, just for fun. Since ReShade can't access the depth buffer in IL-2, I'm attempting the "old-school" method of creating a "greenscreen world" by modifying the game's textures.

 

I'm primarily a tank player, so I've been using the Prokhorovka map as my testbed.

What I've Done So Far

• Replaced the main ground color textures with a simple 64x64 flat green texture.

• Replaced the normal maps I could find with a 64x64 flat purple texture (to remove surface bump details).

Where I'm Stuck

I've run into a few problems that I can't seem to solve, and I'd be grateful for any help from the modding community.

 

1. Ground Specular / Reflections My biggest issue is that the ground lighting is very inconsistent. Depending on the time of day, the green is either extremely bright (like in Tonk2.jpg) or quite dull (tonk1.jpg). I'm guessing this is because I haven't found or disabled the ground's specular map.

 

I also think this is why the roads are a different shade of green from the surrounding terrain, even though I'm using the exact same green texture file for both.

• Question: Does anyone know where the specular maps for terrain are located, or how I can properly disable reflections on the ground textures?

 

2. Distant Terrain Normal Maps While my purple texture seems to have flattened the close-up terrain, the distant landscape (very obvious in the plane screenshots) still shows large-scale bumps and shading. This tells me there's another normal map or heightmap for distant terrain that I've missed.

• Question: Where can I find the textures that control this large-scale, distant terrain 'bumpiness'?

 

3. Changing the Skybox Finally, the biggest thing I need help with is the sky. I need to change it to a solid color, but my attempts have failed. I tried replacing all the .dds textures I

could find in the \graphics\sky\ folder, but it had no effect in-game—the default sky still loads.

• Question: Is the skybox controlled by something other than those textures? What is the correct procedure for changing the sky?

 

I've attached my screenshots to show exactly what I'm talking about.

Any guidance or pointers you could provide would be hugely appreciated. I'm completely stuck at this point!

 

Thanks in advance.