AJS-37 Viggen USN/USMC Skin Packs by Home Fries

This thread will encompass updates for all of my US Navy and Marine Corps skin packs for the Viggen. The skins are of Navy and Marine A-6 squadrons. Each skin in the skin pack includes a "normal" skin and a sun bleached and weathered skin ideal for desert climates. All download links are updated in the first post.

USN/USMC

VA-34 Blue Blasters v1.0

VA-52 Knightriders (1987) v1.0

VA-52 Knightriders (1994) v1.01

VA-75 Sunday Punchers v1.0

VA-85 Black Falcons v1.0

VA-196 Main Battery (1990) v1.01

VA-196 Main Battery (1995) v1.01

VMA(AW)-332 Moonlighters v1.0

VMA(AW)-533 Hawks v1.01

VMFP-3 Eyes of the Corps v1.0

USAF

52d Tactical Fighter Wing v1.0

Air National Guard Tactical Reconnaissance Squadrons v1.0

Note that the files are in EXE format as an installer. The installer allows three install configurations: Compact, Traditional, and JSGME. Compact uses a shared texture folder and a custom auteoxec.cfg to save hard disk space (useful for SSD drives), and extracts the description.luas to all DCS versions in Saved Games as detailed below. The Traditional install extracts the textures to each of the livery folders, then installs the skins to all DCS versions in Saved Games. The JSGME creates a single extraction of the traditional install structure for use with a mod manager.

For Compact Installations - A Note About Autoexec.cfg:

Rather than copying texture files to their respective livery folders, I prefer to use a series of common texture folders along with unique filenames. This allows a single instance of many of my common textures, and keeps the hard drive footprint to a minimum (especially nice if you run a SSD for your system drive).

The installer will add a series of folders to the DCS Texture path; if you do not have these folders created, then it is no problem. The autoexec.cfg included will automatically point to the Texture folder in your Saved Games\DCS folder, and regardless of whether you run the Open Alpha, Open Beta, or Release version of DCS, the path will always point to your Saved Games\DCS\Texture folder. Again, this saves space on your hard drive.

If you use your own Autoexec.cfg, then when prompted to overwrite you can click "no". This will create a file called autoexec.new, and you can manually make the updates as you like. Just don't modify the top line with the file date; this is used by the installer for version control. However, feel free to include it in your existing autoexec.cfg, so you don't get prompted to overwrite until there's another update to the autoexec.cfg.

If you inadvertently overwrite your autoexec.cfg, it is actually backed up as autoexec.old. Just open it and copy the appropriate information to the new file.

For Traditional Installations or JSGME Compatible Extractions:

If you don't wish to use the shared texture folder and custom autoexec.cfg, you have a couple of other options available. Selecting the Traditional Install copies all textures to each livery folder, then copies each livery to each version of DCS detected (up to three versions, including release, open alpha and open beta). As a result, the listed hard disk space requirement assumes all three DCS versions are installled. Each skin is independent and portable.

If you wish to install to a location other than your Saved Games folder, you must select the Single JSGME Extraction, or else the installation will fail for not detecting existing Saved Games\DCS folders. Selecting this option will create a JSGME compatible install that can be dropped directly into your JSGME _MODS folder for installation. Each skin is independent and portable.

The first release is the VA-75 Sunday Punchers. Here are some screenshots:

VA-75 CAG bird

CO's bird with nose art

CO's bird airborne

Birds on the line

Weathered CO bird

Weathered CAG bird

Weathered Line bird

Next up are the VMA(AW)-533 Hawks.

A couple of shots of the CO's bird:

And some line birds:

And weathered...

The CO bird

Finally, the pilots are in woodland or desert flightsuits with the camo helmet covers popular with Marine aviators.

Why are your liveries are distributed via an .exe file? Just seeing it as an exe gave me pause for whether or not I should run it.

Grimes,

Thanks for the question.

I like to use a shared texture folder for my textures and an autoexec.cfg that points to them, as it saves space on my SSD. The EXE is a NSIS installer that streamlines this process, but also allows for "standard" installs where the textures are co-located with the livery desc.lua as well as the option for a JSGME extraction.

I've been doing this with my skins for a while, including most of what I have up on the DCS file repository (though the EXE is enclosed in a Zip for those uploads). I have in the past explained the installer in the file descriptions; perhaps it is a good idea to provide an explanation in my initial post.

Best,

HF

VA-196 Main Battery skins are out. These are of VA-196 ca. 1990 embarked on the USS Independence. I will have VA-196 skins ca. 1995 forthcoming so fans of the USS Carl Vinson have some corresponding skins.

Also note that I am working on re-texturing the weapons and pods to match the USN/USMC paint schemes. All skin packs will be updated once this is complete.

Here's the CAG bird:

and a line bird:

a weathered line bird:

Note the custom fuel tank with the spade on the sides.

Also custom VA-196 helmets, along with Grafton/Cole on the side of Devil 505 (optional)

VA-52 Knightriders (1987) added and VA-196 (1990) updated

The VA-196 (1990) skin pack has been updated to 1.01, which fixes placement of the NK logo on the line birds.

The VA-52 Knightriders ca. 1987 are now available for download. The skin pack includes six line birds.

VA-52 and VA-196 mid-1990s

VA-52 and VA-196 skins from the mid-1990s are now up.

VA-52 ca. 1994:

CAG Bird

Line Birds

VA-196 ca. 1995

CAG Bird

Line Birds

VA-34, VA-85, and VMA(AW)-332

The last three skin packs (for now) have been uploaded. They are the VA-34 Blue Blasters, VA-85 Black Falcons, and the VMA(AW)-332 Moonlighters.

VA-34 Blue Blasters

CAG Bird

Line Birds

Note the custom fuel tank

and a custom helmet

VA-85 Black Falcons

CAG Bird

Line Birds

And another custom fuel tank

VMA(AW)-332 Moonlighters

CO Bird

Line Birds

VA-52 (94) and VA-196 (95) have also been updated to 1.01 to fix an issue with the outer pylon.

Once the lighting in 2.1 is stabilized and there is consistency between the 1.5 and 2.1 builds, I will release a global fix that updates the specular files for the new lighting engine and re-colors most of the weapons and weapon pylons to USN colors.

Marine Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron 3 (VMFP-3) is up. VMFP-3 flew the RF-4B Phantom, so this was a natural fit for the Viggen when used in the electronic surveillance mission. This is a collection of six skins and their weathered counterparts.

The Viggen is now a joint service aircraft! On request, I created some skins for USAF Wild Weasel squadrons (in this case, the 52d Tactical Fighter Wing out of Spangdahlem AB, Germany. The package includes a boss bird and six line birds (three for the 81st TFS, and three for the 23d TFS). The pattern is based on the 3-tone Hill Grey pattern (the 2-tone doesn't work with the Viggen).

Boss Bird:

23d Tactical Fighter Squadron

81st TFS

Additionally, I skinned some Tactical Reconnaissance squadrons that flew the RF-4C in the first Gulf War: the 106th TRS "Recce Rebels" of the Alabama ANG and the 192d TRS "High Rollers" of the Nevada ANG. This is a skin pack of four birds, including a CO bird for the 106th TRS. Like the VMFP-3 skins, these are ideally used with the Viggen's electronic surveillance mission.

106th TRS

192d TRS

All files have been uploaded to the DCS User Files and the links have been updated.

Mods, can we please get this thread moved to the AJS37 Skin folder?

All Viggen skins updated to version 1.03. The update adds the ARAK M70B texture and updates the installer for DCS 2.5 and Legacy 1.5 versions.

Also, mods, can we please get this thread moved to the AJS-37 Skin folder?