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The game has the Corsair MkI, which is the RN version of the F4U-1.
When using a USMC skin (Guadalcanal February 1943 timeframe for example) with markings turned on and selected to USMC (same results occur if you choose USN and USAAF) we do not get the correct US National Insignia. We get a lighter shade of blue circle than was historical and the white star points stick out beyond the edges of the blue circle. It is similar to what the VVS did to lend lease aircraft described in the next paragraph.
On Russian P-400's & P-39D's that arrived from the US via lend lease they arrived in Russia with the factory green paint, blue circle with white start (edges of star touched the edge of the blue circle. The VVS left the blue circle but painted over the white star with red paint and extended the points of the star beyond the edges of the blue circle.
1. Is there a way to fix this problem?
2. Can the early war dark blue circle with white star be forced to display when using the Corsair MkI and selecting USMC for markings without having to use a 3rd Party program like IL-2 Mat Manager (I know the locations and quality is better) which I use now?
3> Can the plane name be changed on a folder and associated with the US so the correct National Insignia will be displayed?
4. Is it possible to add an additional plane be added with with the exact flight model and parameters of the Corsair MkI, but be named F4U-1 and associated with USN & USMC? [This could be applied to P-40E (Kittyhawk Ia) & P-40M (Kittyhawk III) so both type could be used as static aircraft at the same time (USAAF & RAAF) on the same map for example in New Guinea.]
Only 95 Corsair MkI were built and best I can tell they never saw combat due to the fact that it did not have the clipped wings making them too tall when folded for storage on Royal Navy hangar decks nor do I think that were ever used in combat operating from land bases.
Thanks for any information you can provide.
-)-MAILMAN-
The name can be changed and you can change the default country from British to American.
You need to edit the air.ini file and the planes.ru file I believe. One is found in !8N folder, the other in Maddox/Com I believe ...
As for mats ... don't ask me how to get US stars to appear as defaults. No clue. I am sure it can be done but I don't know if anyone knows how yet on that one. You can always find a good skin and change the default skin to onw with stars ...
I had an Issue with this too when I was setting up Skins for my VMF-213 Campaign.
Basicly I had a Template skin I wanted to use, but because the MK1 is a British plane when you select it as USMC VMF-213 and turn on markings you get not just the numbers (which I wanted) but the blue Circle and White Star, that looks aweful!
The only way I knew to get around it at the time was make a skin for each aircraft in the squadron, and simply add their numbers. (which worked out will cause i added historical Nose Art while I was at it)
needless to say this topic is of interest to me too
I think that this problem needs to be addressed as if it were a whole new plane. If it's going to be fixed for everyone, it needs to be addressed "globally", not just on each individual's machine. If someone has an F4U-1 installed on their machine, it should have a proper US marking by default. This way, anyone who sees one in a server, will see it as it should be seen, not with those ugly blue circles and stars.
Now that some are able, is it possible to add a new "slot" for it as F4U-1 USA markings?
Posts: 309
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Jaypack44 Wrote:As far as markings go...
It is possible to change the mat texture-(meaning you can change the marking to the correct design) if you extract all the.sfs files, there is a folder in "paintschemes" called "decals". in this folder are all of the .tga files that are used by the mat files. so, just edit the .tga to your preference and put it into your MODS folder.
HTH 
But exactly how do you do this? I have the SFS extractor tool. I found the file whitestar1 when I extracted the files.sfs. I edited it in PhotoShop 7.0. But how do I put it back into the file.sfs?
-)-MAILMAN-
...why not just use Mat Manager, or one of the different markings mod
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RAF_Magpie Wrote:...why not just use Mat Manager, or one of the different markings mod
Since I have been told that I can change the markings permanently I want to replace the whitestar1.tga file with the correct color blue and size of the circle behind the white star. So if it can be done why not do it and never see that awful insignia again when I have markings on and I choose USAAF, USMC and USN.
I have two separate installs of IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 v4.08. One is the stock version the other is a mod version.
Stock version I use IL-2 Mat Manager and play online games that do not allow mods and I connect to them directly via the IP address.
Mod version is what I use to play mod versions in HyperLobby.
-)-MAILMAN-
Well, I use mat manager myself... only ever run it once, and forgot about it. Everythings changed perminently... AND I use the mod switcher - a much needed tool, considering my Il2 install is over 17gb...
So again, I ask you, why not save your trouble and just use Mat Manager, on both installs, or keep one install and use the switcher...
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RAF_Magpie Wrote:Well, I use mat manager myself... only ever run it once, and forgot about it. Everythings changed perminently... AND I use the mod switcher - a much needed tool, considering my Il2 install is over 17gb...
So again, I ask you, why not save your trouble and just use Mat Manager, on both installs, or keep one install and use the switcher...
Look, I really don't want to get rude, but this is not a debate on whether I should be using IL-2 Mat Manager because of its ease of use or any other benefits. So although your advice has been noted and is appreciated I am choosing to make the change permanent without having to use the Mat Manager. If you can't help me with what I am asking to do or do not want to be bothered with helping me do what I want to do just leave it be and find a thread where a member is asking about the Mat Manager or the switcher. With Mat Manager the only decal that is close to the correct color blue is faded 2 which is not what I am looking for when I have a freshly painted F4U-1 in non-specular blue/gray.
I have made the conscious decision to make two installs of the game, one without mods and the other with mods because the size of the two IL-2 installs is inconsequential to me.
I have used the SFS Extractor to open the files.sfs. I then "extracted all" .preload to a folder. Opened the folder PaintSchemes/decals/States and replaced the original whitestar1.tga file with the one I replaced it with in PhotoShop 7.0. I would appreciate anyone that could tell me what I need to do next or if I am going at it the wrong way.
-)-MAILMAN-
just guessing here.... is alpha channel required for those tga's ( 32bit) ?
regards
Z
well, although the rudeness is unintented, its there, but I will say what I was eventually going to get to despite it... :|
As you've used Mat Manager, you will no doubt be aware of how it works exactly... so I wont bother explaining a simple way to do what you suggest, using files you already have mearly edited...
But if you insist upon doing it the long and hard way, I would probably suggest you give up on trying to re-pack the sfs per say, but try creating a series of folders like every other mod, with the re-done .tga file within the same folder packing arrangement that you would have found said .tga to start with, in your MOD folder.
Posts: 309
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Jaypack44 Wrote:It's really simple. first, edit the .tga to your preferences. make sure that any areas that you want to be transparent are that way in the .tga. Make sure you keep it a 64x64 pixels, otherwise it won't work. then, using whatever image editing program you use, save it as a .tga file. Then, go into your MODS folder and create a new folder (it doesn't matter what the name is). inside this, make a folder called paintschemes. Inside this, make a folder called decals. Inside this, make a folder called states. Then, put your edited .tga in this folder. The final structure should be C:\ (whatever your il2 folder is)/MODS/(your folder)/paintschemes/decals/states/whitestar1.tga
This will also work for all of the other national markings, just createa new folder inside decals with the same name as theone in the extracted .sfs folder.
HTH! 
I started a different thread specifically on whitestar1.tga. This was the first response I got. It was SIMPLE and got the job done just as I had hoped.
I created a folder called National Insignia and placed it in the MOD folder. This is where my edited whitestar1.tga file is now:
F:\Ubi Soft\IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 mod\Mods\National Insignia\paintschemes\decals\States
No more awful looking default national insignia decal for the F4U-1 (Corsair MkI), PBN-1, P-39N etc. in the SWPTO.
-)-MAILMAN-
