Skinning question...

D

desertguy

Guest
Hi guys. From what I've read, I can use Photoshop to make or modify my own aircraft skins. Trouble is, none of the files in my Aircraft folder are recognised by Photoshop, so I can't open them.

What am I doing wrong?
 
The skin files are saved in .dds format. In order to work on them in photoshop you need to convert them to .bmp. You can use a viewer.converter, the one I use and is free is irfanview that you can find here:

http://www.irfanview.com/

Make sure to get the plugin as well in order to be able to read .dds. I think that there is also a dedicated converter (dds to bmp) but I do not remember the name, perhaps a fellow forum member might chip in.

Once you are done editing the skin, reconvert it to dds before using it ingame.

Oh, and if you plan to upload any skins make sure you give credit to whoever created the template you used, but I'm sure you knew that already.

Hope this helps.
 
I think most of us on the OFF Dev team use the free DXTBmp utility:

http://www.mnwright.btinternet.co.uk/programs/dxtbmp.htm

Open up DXTBmp and navigate to your OFF/Campaigns/Campaign Data/Skins folder, where all of the aircraft skins are located in DDS format. View the skins and select one as a base file. Save as a BMP file to your working folder. Open up this BMP with your editor (PSD - PhotoShop or PSP - Paint Shop Pro) and save as a PSP or PSD file. Open up this saved file and (in PSP at least) hit CTRL-A, then CTRL-C and then CTRL-L. This should create a basic layer file. Deselect the first layer and your ready to go.

You can then create new layers on top of the created layer to change or add detail. Once your happy, save the PSP or PSD file and also save it as a BMP file (merged). Open this BMP in the DXTBmp utility and save as a DDS file (DXT1 no alpha). Name this file in the same way as those skins already in the OFF folder. Drop it into the Skins folder then start OFF, into QC mode and select that aircraft and your skin. Away you go :jump:
 
Thanks for the answers guys, I think I'll give it a go now... :applause:
 
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