Something about skins

I'm trying to make my first own skin. I'm using gimp to edit and, as I read in some 3d here, it should work fine.

Into skins tutorials I read also I first need to save .dds file into .bmp to edit it for. However the skin I have into my DCS A-10 have a lot of layers, one for each resolution and .bmp don't support multiple layers, so I'm not sure what have to do now.

Turorial seems not to consider multiple layers for multiple resolutions, but only about the same resolution...

Need some help, please!!

Sounds like you opened the dds file and imported the "Mip Maps". When you import the file does it give you an option?

Which one are you opening?

Sounds like you opened the dds file and imported the "Mip Maps".

Yes I did. Didn't I do?

Tried to deselect the "import mipmap" option when opening .dds file and actually I had just one layer.

Is it really something wrong?

And one more thing: why tutorials always recommend to convert .dds files into .bmp before editing and then save them agin into .dds? Is it really needed to edit skins for?

I have gimp's .dds plugin so I could open directly the skin from dds, edit it and then save without any conversion. Is it another wrong way? Why?

Thx for any help.

Here's a little tutorial for you. First, you can download the A-10 skin template here. You can use Gimp to open and edit them. Once you're happy with the skin you made, save it as a bmp. It will ask you the either flatten or merge the layers, select flatten, and in the advanced options(after you select flatten) make sure 24-bit R8 G8 B8 is selected.(I would recommend have two saves, one in xcf for Gimp for editing, and one bmp for dcs.)

You can use model viewer to see your skin, download this to get model viewer set up. The file for the model of the A-10 is located at DCS A-10C/Bazar/World/Shapes/A-10.EDM

To see your skins in model viewer, you must name the bmp's to certain names listed here:

Once the files are properly named, put them in the DCS A-10C/Bazar/TempTextures folder. Now they will show up on the A-10 in model viewer. (May have to restart model viewer to see changes in skin)

To see your skin in game:

Download this and follow the steps provided to add it to Gimp. Once that is done, get your bmp's and save them as dds's. While saving them, select Compression: BC3/DXT5, that's all you need to do.

Go to Bazar/Liveries/A-10C. Copy and paste one of the folders in there, then rename it the name of your skin(Ex: Garuda's Red skin). (You may want to rename your skin files something else more fitting to what your skin is.Ex: red-a, red-b etc) Then open up the LUA file in the folder. You will find lines similar to what will be posted below, rename the bold part to the corresponding file name of your skin files.

{"A-10C_PAINT_1-a", 0 ,"A-10C_23h FS_1-a",true};

turns into:

{"A-10C_PAINT_1-a", 0 ,"red-a",true};

You can also set the bottom four lines to "empty" to get the numbers off the plane.

Finally, put your dds's into the TempTextures folder, and you will be able to select your skin in the loadout menu in DCS.

Thx very much!!

This is very useful for my purpose.

One thing: I already have gimp's dds plugin, as I've written in above post. So have I to edit the template anyway? Or maybe could I open an existing .dds file, editing and directly save it again as dds? Is the conversion into bmp a really needed step?

And another thing more: have I to open A-10.EDM? In which way? Maybe using modelviewer's prompt opened by the batch file?

Thx very much!!

This is very useful for my purpose.

 

One thing: I already have gimp's dds plugin, as I've written in above post. So have I to edit the template anyway? Or maybe could I open an existing .dds file, editing and directly save it again as dds? Is the conversion into bmp a really needed step?

 

And another thing more: have I to open A-10.EDM? In which way? Maybe using modelviewer's prompt opened by the batch file?

I would highly suggest using the templates, as it has all the layers which is VERY helpful. If you've already edited a different file, you can have both files open in Gimp and drag layers to the other file. When I go straight from xcf to dds, I get an error message so yes, save as bmp first then convert to dds.

You only have to use model viewer if you don't want to keep reloading the game every time you make a change to the skin. A-10.EDM is the file you need to use, in model viewer go to File > Load Model then find A-10.EDM where I posted earlier.

I'm glad I could be of help, good luck with your skins!

I would highly suggest using the templates, as it has all the layers which is VERY helpful. If you've already edited a different file, you can have both files open in Gimp and drag layers to the other file. When I go straight from xcf to dds, I get an error message so yes, save as bmp first then convert to dds.

 

You only have to use model viewer if you don't want to keep reloading the game every time you make a change to the skin. A-10.EDM is the file you need to use, in model viewer go to File > Load Model then find A-10.EDM where I posted earlier.

 

I'm glad I could be of help, good luck with your skins!

Thx again for helping.

So could you tell me now also something about markings & insignas? Where could I find them besides Simmerspaintshop.com? Are there some here in ED forum too?

Sorry I'm not sure. I think you just have to search around online to find them.