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#4094186 - 03/20/15 02:23 AM Re: Skinning Tutorial [Re: Rick_Rawlings]  
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No problem, I really like the design, can't wait to see it finished!


The older I get, the more I realize I don't need to be Han, Luke or Leia. I'm just happy to be rebel scum...
#4094194 - 03/20/15 03:13 AM Re: Skinning Tutorial [Re: Rick_Rawlings]  
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Originally Posted By: Rick_Rawlings
Remember, from Photoshop, you want to export it to a Windows Bitmap at 24 bits, run it in DXTBMP and save as a .dds to Skins.

Forgot to ask if it is absolutely necessary to export from Photoshop at 24bit Bit Map, then run it thru DXTBitmap to a .dds, when it's possible to Save As .dds from Photoshop itself. This is what I was doing before, and might be part of my problem.


In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is.
#4094200 - 03/20/15 03:55 AM Re: Skinning Tutorial [Re: Rick_Rawlings]  
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Yeah, I would try running it through dxtbmp and see if it works more consistently.


The older I get, the more I realize I don't need to be Han, Luke or Leia. I'm just happy to be rebel scum...
#4094950 - 03/21/15 07:28 PM Re: Skinning Tutorial [Re: Rick_Rawlings]  
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Rick:

'Near as I can see, you can't Export from Photoshop as a 24-bit Bitmap. The choices I get on Export are:
Data Sets As Files... (grayed out)
Paths to Illustrator...
Render Video...
Send Video Preview to Device...
Video Preview...
Zoomify...

If I settle for a simple 'Save As Bitmap" will that be 24 bit?


In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is.
#4094959 - 03/21/15 07:52 PM Re: Skinning Tutorial [Re: Rick_Rawlings]  
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I think so...I do everything in GIMP. Try it and see if it works... thumbsup


The older I get, the more I realize I don't need to be Han, Luke or Leia. I'm just happy to be rebel scum...
#4095098 - 03/22/15 07:36 AM Re: Skinning Tutorial [Re: Rick_Rawlings]  
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Well...I finished the skin. I made two .dds files, one each with the naming suggestions you offered. Nothing shows in the lists. I tried taking one out, leaving the other. Then launching WOFF, closing out, re-starting and checking. No go. Did a re-start of the computer. Still nothing. Where to...?


In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is.
#4095124 - 03/22/15 11:01 AM Re: Skinning Tutorial [Re: Rick_Rawlings]  
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Hauksbee;

I'm coming late to this thread but you could try this to help narrow down the problem.
Take one of your .dds files and rename it to exactly the same as an "HA" that already exists, but append the number 2 as the last character in the name.It should now show up in the list.

Also make sure that the squadron you are planning to use it in actually has this type of aircraft or it won't show up in the list.

If you have already tried this, then I suspect there is some problem with the rendering of the .dds file and that it is not the proper .dds type.

Hope this helps


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#4095196 - 03/22/15 02:07 PM Re: Skinning Tutorial [Re: Rick_Rawlings]  
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Hauksbee,shoot them back to me at that same email address and I will try to get them running and then send them back to you!
salute


The older I get, the more I realize I don't need to be Han, Luke or Leia. I'm just happy to be rebel scum...
#4095287 - 03/22/15 06:58 PM Re: Skinning Tutorial [Re: Robert_Wiggins]  
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Originally Posted By: Robert_Wiggins
Take one of your .dds files and rename it to exactly the same as an "HA" that already exists, but append the number 2 as the last character in the name.It should now show up in the list. Also make sure that the squadron you are planning to use it in actually has this type of aircraft or it won't show up in the list.

Greetings, Robert. I am sad to report that I came a cropper on your suggestions too. First, this is a Jasta 5 skin. In QC I have the date set at 1917. I've got my area set to Flanders, the airfield Boistrancourt. (Jasta 5 flew out of Boistrancourt from March 11, 1917...for a year.)

I tried re-naming my skin with the text from a HA, Kurt Student. I appended the '_2'. No go. Tried doing a re-start. Nothing.

I find it odd that when I choose a D.V, and go to skin it, there are no Jasta 5's on the list. Here's all that shows:
Jasta 12 Adolph von Tutschek
Jasta 21 Eduard Ritter von Schleich
Jasta 27 Hermann Goring
Jasta 32 Rudolph Windisch
Then a list of Jastas only: 10/12/13/17/17 19172/21/27/32/ & Default

I then decided to modify with a name that did show up in the lists. I named my skin with the text from Eduard Ritter von Schleich (_2) It too, did not appear among the WOFF skins. Playing a long-shot, I added it to the OFF skins. Still nothing. Did another re-start. All same-same.

Rick: I will be sending on my original Photoshop doc., plus the Eduard von Schleich_2 doc. Thanks, guys.


In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is.
#4095333 - 03/22/15 09:28 PM Re: Skinning Tutorial [Re: Rick_Rawlings]  
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Whew, OK, Hauksbee, don't feel too bad, I had a nightmare getting this to work, so it's not just you. One thing I noticed if you want to use this as a DV, you still have an Albatros DIII skin as your base, so when I loaded it as an Albatros DV skin, it looked like this:

You can see where the arrows above point to, the textures don't match up. Here's why:

As you can see, your wheel texture is located where the DIII wheel is on the right, not where the DV wheel is in the middle.
When I loaded it up as a DIII, it looked great!



What I would do is to open up any DV skin in Photoshop and then (in new layers of course!) cut and paste your elements over where the DV elements are. Everything should be ok then.

Now, for a couple of thigs...

1) I used your .bmp, so the 24 bit thing shouldn't be a problem.

2) When you dxtbmp it, make sure you save it in this format:


3) With all of that, I still had a hell of a time getting it to register in game (no problem selecting it, it just wouldn't be that skin when I loaded) I've had this happen a lot with my own skins. I would put it in the folder, run the game, take it out, run the game again, put it back...blah. What I think finally worked was that I tried to select it, exited the mission when it wasn't the right skin, went back to the main menu, alt-tabbed out of the game, renamed it in the skins folder ( I just changed the squad number) and then ran it and it finally worked! So don't give up, the file is OK, it's almost like you have to fool the game into selecting the new skin and then everything is cool.

4. Also, working with Albatroses is difficult, because the name in the game is different from the skin name. So an uprated DV in the game is a DV 200 skin (or vice verse, can't remember). You're right, there aren't that many DV ace skins and none of them from Jasta 5. When you make the changes to the skin above, just name it in a squad that has aces in it (so off_Alb_DV_Ace_t_Jasta 10 1917_Hauksbee, for example) and it should work. After doing all the tricks I said above, of course! thumbsup

I'm going to send you back the .dds as an Albatros DIII so you can at least enjoy your hard work. Put it in the campaigns/skins folder and let me know if it works!

RR

Last edited by Rick_Rawlings; 03/23/15 01:36 PM.

The older I get, the more I realize I don't need to be Han, Luke or Leia. I'm just happy to be rebel scum...
#4097731 - 03/27/15 05:50 AM Re: Skinning Tutorial [Re: Rick_Rawlings]  
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Well, I'm back to it, and still no success. This time I decided to take a skin that was already in the list and modify it. I chose Werner Voss. I opened the Voss skin, then opened mine, and copied the top 4/5 and pasted it into Voss. Then saved it as DDS DXT1 (No Alpha) and went to QC. My "Voss" skin does not appear. Tried re-starting. No go. I continued to work at it and things got stranger. I found it difficult to find the skin I wanted in DXT Bitmap. The little bitty search window only displays three names at a time and it got tedious (quickly) paging through them. Plus, I couldn't be absolutely certain that I got them all. So I opened the C: drive so I could see the skins in a full page format, and dragged all the Voss skins to a folder on the desktop. I re-made the Voss/Hauksbee skin and re-inserted it into the skins folder. It is now the only one. 'Went to QC>Field and there's an Alb. with a Jasta 2 skin! Even though both Jasta 2's are on the desktop. I pulled my skin out. Now there are no Voss skins at all. Went to the Field and there it was again: Jasta 2. For some reason, my skin is invisible even though I did not alter the naming at all. In fact, that was why I chose Voss in the first place: just do a quick paste-in and save it back. How would the game know I had even been there?

Other oddities are; There's a Jasta 5 skin, and a Jasta 29 skin listed for Voss in QC, but those skins do not appear in the skins folder. Furthur, there are names that appear in the skins folder, like Bruno Loezer (always loved that skin) who do not appear in the QC queue, no matter which D.III variant you chose. Is Loezer chooseable at all?

So...that's the current state of my confusion.
.


In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is.
#4097733 - 03/27/15 06:13 AM Re: Skinning Tutorial [Re: Rick_Rawlings]  
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Hey, Hauksbee, skin looks great! If you look under the aircraft folder you will see that each aircraft has some default skins, that is probably where the game is pulling them from. My recommendation at this point is to post some detailed screenshots of what you are naming things and where you are putting them. That might help us track down the problem. None of the files you have sent me have been bad, so I am guessing a naming or placing error cheers


The older I get, the more I realize I don't need to be Han, Luke or Leia. I'm just happy to be rebel scum...
#4098238 - 03/28/15 01:29 AM Re: Skinning Tutorial [Re: Rick_Rawlings]  
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Hauksbee Offline
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Rick: Not sure what you mean by "under the aircraft folder". Where is that? Recall that I pulled all the Voss skins out of "Skins" and stashed them in a desktop folder. Then I put one back and altered it. Did not change the file name in any way. Then I launched WOFF and tried to QC with each of the D.III variants. Instead of getting my skin, WOFF chose a Jasta 14 skin every time. Where is that coming from? It's in the desktop folder! My Voss skin is not being stored in the "Default" folder either. I launched each of the D.III's with Default skins. They're all different. That only leaves us with 'placement error'. How to unravel that?
.




In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is.
#4098366 - 03/28/15 02:04 PM Re: Skinning Tutorial [Re: Rick_Rawlings]  
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Hey Hauksbee, this is where you are putting your skin and where you have pulled them from:

Now, if you look at this path:

you will notice that each aircraft has a "default" folder which I believe is where the game pulls the texture from if there is something "wrong" with the skin you call for. So I think that is where you are getting your textures from. Now in game, you should be seeing something like this in the QC:

So if you can select the skin you want from the pulldown box, it means that the "naming" of it is correct. The reason it shows up as a different skin in game is...something I have never figured out. I suspect there is some log file that has to be overwritten that keeps your last skin memorized for speed...maybe? Perhaps a dev or someone more knowledgeable than me will chime in. If you are getting to this point, try the tip I outlined above:

Originally Posted By: Rick Rawlings
With all of that, I still had a hell of a time getting it to register in game (no problem selecting it, it just wouldn't be that skin when I loaded) I've had this happen a lot with my own skins. I would put it in the folder, run the game, take it out, run the game again, put it back...blah. What I think finally worked was that I tried to select it, exited the mission when it wasn't the right skin, went back to the main menu, alt-tabbed out of the game, renamed it in the skins folder ( I just changed the squad number) and then ran it and it finally worked! So don't give up, the file is OK, it's almost like you have to fool the game into selecting the new skin and then everything is cool.


It's a pain, but once it works once, you shouldn't have any further problems. Let me know if that works or if I am right on where you are in the process!

R


The older I get, the more I realize I don't need to be Han, Luke or Leia. I'm just happy to be rebel scum...
#4099277 - 03/30/15 06:16 PM Re: Skinning Tutorial [Re: Rick_Rawlings]  
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Originally Posted By: Rick_Rawlings
...if you can select the skin you want from the pulldown box, it means that the "naming" of it is correct. The reason it shows up as a different skin in game is...something I have never figured out. I suspect there is some log file that has to be overwritten that keeps your last skin memorized for speed...maybe? Perhaps a dev or someone more knowledgeable than me will chime in.

Back again. First, it's not a matter of selecting the skin I want, and then having a different one appear in the game. In your pulldown box, you have "Hauksbee" appearing. I can't get that far. Second, for the D.III skins, you have a significently different list of pilots. My list is:
Lowenhardt
Voss
v. Richtofen
Voss
Sturm
Strobel
Nathanel
Rumey

It's as though we're dealing from two different decks. And then there are the pilots that I know are in the Skins List, but never appear in the pulldown. Like Bruno Loezer. What's with that?

I thought I might be able to do an end-run around this jinx by simply doing another skin. I did a Dr.1 (Kempf's "kennst mi'noch") I went through the same process (1) Do the skin, changing only my name for his. No go. (2) Keep the name untouched, and paste my skin over his. Nothing there either.

I feel that somehow, my Skins Folder is not playing by the same set of rules as everyone else's.
.


In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is.
#4099282 - 03/30/15 06:30 PM Re: Skinning Tutorial [Re: Rick_Rawlings]  
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Hmm, you should be putting them in the folder from my top screenshot... the blahblahblah/CampaignData/skins folder. If you are, it should appear in the pulldown box if you a) named it in an acceptable format (which I would guess you did if you just copied another ace name) and b) the name agrees with the type of skin you selected i.e. trying to select a DIII early when you named it as DIII updated. If all those things check out, you may want to try a fresh install? Sounds like a pain, but this seems unusually difficult...


The older I get, the more I realize I don't need to be Han, Luke or Leia. I'm just happy to be rebel scum...
#4099491 - 03/31/15 04:43 AM Re: Skinning Tutorial [Re: Rick_Rawlings]  
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Hauksbee Offline
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It's looking like you're right: a re-install is the way to go. Just to be sure I've got this right (and perhaps belaboring the obvious into the bargain) you're not (are you?) suggesting me putting my skins in the "aircraft" folder? The Campaign>campaign data>skins is the right choice? Because that's where they've all gone...back to where I got them originally.


In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is.
#4099512 - 03/31/15 07:10 AM Re: Skinning Tutorial [Re: Rick_Rawlings]  
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Correct, campaigndata/skins is where they should be. Good luck!


The older I get, the more I realize I don't need to be Han, Luke or Leia. I'm just happy to be rebel scum...
#4114850 - 05/02/15 03:12 PM Re: Skinning Tutorial [Re: Rick_Rawlings]  
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As for Rick Rawlings request I post here my solution for Hauksbee skin problem.First error he made was the choice of texture file,he wanted to create an Alb DV "later" skin,but started out with an Alb D III "early" skin,and so incurred in wrong texture mapping over the 3D model,you can see it clearly from the screenshot:



you can see the mapping errors
now a screen with the DIII "early" and the same texture,it's perfect! smile2



then the main thing was to correct the file name he had this off_Alb_DV_later_Jasta 21 1917_Eduard Ritter von_Schleich_2.dds
WOFF does not like anything after "name_surname" statement,so off_Alb_DV_later_Jasta 21 1917_Eduard Ritter von_Schleich2.dds
that's it.
EDIT:
just a bit more advices,if you can, use Adobe Photoshop,and stick to version CS6 (64 bit for windows 7 64 bit users) that's because that way you can benefit from N'vidia Tools,for perfect conversion to .dds file type,you don't need an external format converter,you can open them directly from Photoshop and save them from there.Later versions (Creative Cloud or CC) are not supported anymore by N'Vidia Tools,so far so....another advice it's to grab Sagethumbs this simple software makes you visualize .dds files into Windows explorer as thumbnails,and right clicking it it displays a bigger image with all data about the texture file,very usefull,no need to external viewing softwares anymore.

Last edited by Cavaliere57; 05/02/15 03:23 PM.

" In vino veritas "
#4117995 - 05/08/15 07:27 PM Re: Skinning Tutorial [Re: Hauksbee]  
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Originally Posted By: Hauksbee
It's as though we're dealing from two different decks. And then there are the pilots that I know are in the Skins List, but never appear in the pulldown. Like Bruno Loezer. What's with that?

...I feel that somehow, my Skins Folder is not playing by the same set of rules as everyone else's.


(Hauksbee here) Getting back to my skinning problem, I believe the above quote holds, and I need a re-install. It worked when (for reasons unknown) I lost all the Albatros skins. On that occasion, I simply bought another copy of WOFF. Fool that I was, I did not make a back-up copy. Now I need one. I find on the WOFF Home Page that a Duplicate copy can be got for a $5.00 charge. But I don't see anything clickable to make this happen. Could someone point me in the right direction?

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