Folks,

Dux:

I use WinRar for such purposes but there are several good zip/Rar programs about. No doubt you already have one. I have noticed that I can easily open zip files in my file manager (Power Desk) but Rar and other compressed files require me to load them into WinRar and then uncompress them into a folder of my choice where I can work my evil way with them. Good luck with your new enterprise.

PV1:

Thank you. So far it is a minor accomplishment that may suggest the possibility of future improvement. I have some control over reflectivity and shadow within the file structure:

[Shadow]
CastShadow=TRUE
ShadowLOD=MiG-15bis.shd
ShadowType=1
ShadowCastDist=10000
MaxVisibleDistance=400

[TextureSet001]
Directory=SovietSilver1
Name=Soviet Silver
Nation=Soviet
Specular=1.000000
Glossiness=0.500000
Reflection=1.000000
Squadron=

The basic aircraft model must be created in 3d Studio Max which I do not yet have. I do not know if I could use the open source program "Blender" for that purpose. There are so many skinners and modders still working on the SF2 version that it would hardly be worth the effort in most instances to create a new plane. A quick search of CombatAce or the A-Team site will turn up any plane in any flavor you want. There are still hundreds of models and skins available for the original SFP1 game as well but development has stopped on that. I do not have the later SF2 version of the game and most of the work on the original SFP1 (Strike Fighters Project One) has, as I pointed out, reasonably been halted when Third Wire introduced the new version some time back.

Programs such as 3d Studio are large and take time to learn. I do not have the HDD space for another big program. Of course I could remove all my games in order to create models to fly in my games but somehow that seems counter productive. Somewhat like a dairy farmer buying a milking machine and using his only cow as the down payment.

BoB is still my "main squeeze" of course but I have never seriously considered skinning for that. Why? With Stickman and others there is no need for a mere novice. So high is my opinion of the BDG and BoB that it would not occur to me to make changes in the game myself. BoB is special. Plus, and despite being told it shouldn't run at all on my old computer, it runs well and I am satisfied with my version as it is other than the oddly skinned Me 110s that are strangely all white.

It appears that skinning for IL-2 '46 is easier than for SFP1. For one thing the basic template for all the planes is already provided in the basic install. I watched a tutorial on the subject recently skinning the P-38 L. Another advantage is that there is a built-in aircraft/skin viewer in the game so you don't have to wait to see your work flying in the game to make changes and tweaks. You can alt-tab from PhotoShop into IL2 while the work is in progress to view your new skin on the plane in 3d.