CoD disappointing in skinning matters!

[csThor]

Quality-wise the defaults with their extreme compression are a disgrace for the beauty this engine can deliver. I just made a very quick test and saved a custom texture in Photoshop at max settings and got none of these damned artifacts. It shouldn't be too hard to issue high-quality versions of the current defaults in the next patch. And templates showing the 3D overlay ...

[JG53Frankyboy]

so you say, you dont have to reduce the quality down to get this ~150kb JPG files ?
Full qualitly, so much bigger filesize, also works ??

would be good - so i would make a small one for online play and a huge one for offline

[csThor]

Photoshop quality level 12 and a file size of about 220kb work just fine.

[Feathered_IV]

Cheers Franky! I was mistakenly using the Steam one. Hopefully there is some way to reassign that destination. I wouldn't want +20gb of skins in my C:/documents folder one day.

Curious... While I had a custom skin selected, I hit the Windows key and jumped out of the game. In the My Documents.../Cache folder is a 12,289kb version of the 95.2kb skin I'd just made.

[Lucas_From_Hell]

Originally Posted by Jarink

Would allowing those of us who DO care about being able to edit these layers break the game?

Would it completely ruin your enjoyment of CoD if a skinner came up with a better set of lines or better looking weathering? Is asking for the ability to fully edit the appearance of the skins unreasonable? Would allowing this change gameplay or allow cheating?

The answer to all of those questions is "No, allowing these changes would have ABSOLUTELY NO EFFECT on you." It does make a lot of difference to some of us, however, and as we are all potential customers of the game, all of our opinions should matter.

It is indeed a fair point. I, and I guess everyone here, would like to have as much realism as possible, if available.

But: one thing most people are ignoring is the new DAMAGE MODEL.

In our beloved Il-2 1946 and previous titles, the visual damage served, roughly, as just a vague way to tell you (both targeted and attacking a/c) what's going on. But that was about it really. So having a new, enhanced set or rivets and panel lines - and yes, those do make it prettier and more enjoyable - was always something incredibly welcome, and kept us flying for a few more minutes and possibly hours, contemplating the masterpieces offered by the community.

In this particular case, however, any damaged caused upon an aircraft causes a reaction that accords to the structure of the victim. No problem so far. So, the panel covering the ammunition belts on your left wing is blown off by some 20mm shell fired by that B'n'Z'ing MoFo that won't let go of you at all. Great, realistic damage, woohoo!

The big issue with changing it is, the lines presented by default are made according to the structure model. Unlike in the "classic" Il-2, rivets, panels and whatnot are brought to us as PHYSICAL parts of the aircraft, instead of the VISUAL importance they held back then.

They have become part of the aircraft itself instead of the pain scheme.

The point where I'm trying to get to is that, basically: by repositioning a rivet/panel-line (or anything implemented in similar fashion), as soon as the aircraft is damaged, it'll be obvious that it was edited, since the lines and the actual panels won't match, and this, as far as I'm concerned, is a way bigger and more noticeable immersion breaker than a slightly mispositioned rivet.

You're less likely to notice the mistakes (and in this case, I'd dare to say they're barely present, if at all in some cases) when the whole simulation around it is coherent than when one issue is addressed but all the surrounding factors are still wrongly depicted.

When everything is according, there is no contrast or whatsoever, whereas when you don't fully fix the problem, all issues are highlighted.

If there's anything to address, I'd suggest letting the developers know so that it can be completely solved in future patches. That'd include any related change to the structure, damage and even flight model that may be needed, and thus everyone would be happy - both skinners and players in general.

Happy flying and skinning everyone

[Pierre@]

I slightly modified "JG53_2.jpg" stock texture:

[ElAurens]

Very nice.

[JG52Krupi]

How do you select a skin in QMB, I can only change my armament.

[csThor]

AFAIK in QMB the skins are connected with the mission so selecting your own is not possible ATM.

Originally Posted by Pierre@

I slightly modified "JG53_2.jpg" stock texture:

That looks fantastic much better than the stock ones, good work.