It may work well for established skinners but discourages new blood from improving their painting skills, it means one less avenue of interest which is also important for maintaining interest in the game. The ability for the community to provide content at various skill levels is a key reason for IL-2's longevity.

Mate, bit of a silly question?

Its a game.. I have used custom skins since day 1.. why? cuz they look better, its unique to me if i design my own and gives me a bit more identity

Why wouldnt you want to use custom skins?

Thats a fair comment dude but most would prefer the method thats means you don't lag when someone spawns with a custom skin or when you are diving on them ;)

Why cant the server just collect skins and force them out on login? Or go to the hosts website and download them?

One of the biggest parts of flying a sim for me is the skins,from the old EAW days,i have always loved to look at the skins.I play online(not CLoD at the moment,only trying it offline because of stutters etc)But the skins are a major part of a game for someone like me and many many others.
BUT i do know what your getting at,rather have good play than fancy bells and whistles :)
Just a point to add the talented skinners out there will have a field day as this game looks fantastic(just doesnt feel that good at the moment,but thats just prob my sys)

Cheese

You've misunderstood him I think Jamz, I think he means more along the lines of "what unfair advantage has someone got flying around with a custom skin [read: ability to cheat or gain an unfair advantage over other people] so what's the point removing them"

Agreed on the issue though, I love flying skinned :(

Would be interested to know the reason this feature has been widely turned off? Does it cause lag on servers?

CS on hold at the moment, no point doing more until this is sorted.....

Yeah,lol,totally misunderstood,I'm all for custom skins mate,maybe I have'nt explained myself clearly.

DaRat you are right,my point was why would the guys hosting the server stop people from using custom skins,and are they frightened that guys maybe getting some sort of advantage using them.................please,I love custom skins too and like yourself Jamz I have used them from the beginning.

It seems I misunderstood you as well. My apologies.
Many claim that the custom skins loading cause their game to Stutter, freeze, or crash.
Personally I think its a bs excuse, and may be more of a hardware or connection issue, but alas that seems to be the reason.

:) sry dude