08.09.2010, 09:59
Hi all:
Well, here goes again:
I'm trying to skin ships and have run into a problem. This all started when I was making historical missions for Operation Hailstone - the attack on Truk Lagoon on February 17-18, 1944. We're missing all the flattops from Task Group 58.3 - Bunker Hill CV-17; Monterey CVL-26 and; Cowpens CVL-25. I could use the Generic Carrier for Bunker Hill but very much want Monterey and Mighty Moo in their correct skins.
The .tga files in Il2 seem to be some sort of proprietary type and PhotoShop won't open them. I was pointed to ViewIMF and have used it to open the file then save it in a format that can be read by PhotoShop.
Now, here's the problem: when saved through ViewIMF the file 'skin1o.tga' changes sizes from 1026KB to 1025KB. At that point the game won't recognize the file and goes back down into the SFS files and pulls up the correct skin.
The file 'skin1o.tgb' - note it's a .TGB file - can be converted into a .tga file simply by replacing the 'b' with an 'a' in the file extension then read with ViewIMF and saved. The file again changes sizes - this time from 4099KB to 4097KB. However, I've successfully skinned this through PhotoShop and the game will recognize the file and use it.
I've been advised to use Gimp and I have but, after seven years of good old PhotoShop I found Gimp slightly hard, hell, damn user-unfriendly, and dumped it after trying for six months to get good at it.
So, is there anyone out there that has had this problem before and found a fix for it or do I just give up (not bloody likely!) and live with ships that I feel can and should be re-skinned to represent historical ships that we're missing.
Hope someone can help.
Great days all.
Well, here goes again:
I'm trying to skin ships and have run into a problem. This all started when I was making historical missions for Operation Hailstone - the attack on Truk Lagoon on February 17-18, 1944. We're missing all the flattops from Task Group 58.3 - Bunker Hill CV-17; Monterey CVL-26 and; Cowpens CVL-25. I could use the Generic Carrier for Bunker Hill but very much want Monterey and Mighty Moo in their correct skins.
The .tga files in Il2 seem to be some sort of proprietary type and PhotoShop won't open them. I was pointed to ViewIMF and have used it to open the file then save it in a format that can be read by PhotoShop.
Now, here's the problem: when saved through ViewIMF the file 'skin1o.tga' changes sizes from 1026KB to 1025KB. At that point the game won't recognize the file and goes back down into the SFS files and pulls up the correct skin.
The file 'skin1o.tgb' - note it's a .TGB file - can be converted into a .tga file simply by replacing the 'b' with an 'a' in the file extension then read with ViewIMF and saved. The file again changes sizes - this time from 4099KB to 4097KB. However, I've successfully skinned this through PhotoShop and the game will recognize the file and use it.
I've been advised to use Gimp and I have but, after seven years of good old PhotoShop I found Gimp slightly hard, hell, damn user-unfriendly, and dumped it after trying for six months to get good at it.
So, is there anyone out there that has had this problem before and found a fix for it or do I just give up (not bloody likely!) and live with ships that I feel can and should be re-skinned to represent historical ships that we're missing.
Hope someone can help.
Great days all.