Hello,
Im new to skinning anything other than aircraft. I do want to skin one of the carriers.
Ive been going thru the forum looking for a tutorial or instructions, but I only find bits and pieces.
Can someone help direct me to the instructions for skinning a ship, or give me it here please?
I d/l the SFS extractor
found the Files.SFS
extracted the "com.maddox.il2.objects.ships.Ship$USSLexingtonCV2" file
Dont know what to do from here (or if what I did was correct for starters)
I also d/l and installed the TGAConverter (IMFViewer.exe) and it can read snapshot TGAs, but I dont know if this is a tool I need or not.
So what is the flow to edit the carrier?
I do have Sony Vegas as a photo editor.
S!
thanks in advance.
AV8R
download the extracted ship textures here:
(The link is inoperative)
the IMF viewer will convert them to readable format
Yes I saw those when I was searching but didnt know if I had to use the MODs folder to make use of them...
So assuming i can edit the carrier in there.
how do you put it back into the files.SFS file?
Im still not seeing the whole skinning process flow.
Thank you for the pointer.
S!
AV8R
you don't put it back in the SFS.
the mod's folder basically works like a replacement game folder. you will notice that inside the base game folder, there are samples, missions, etc. Inside the mods folder, if you want to replace something inside, for example the sounds folder inside IL2 Sturmovik 1946\samples\*soundname* you would place inside your mod the same folders, so it would be Il2 sturmovik 1946\mods\*modname*\samples\*soundname*
It is my understanding that the SFS files are in effect, containing hundreds of other files, and so on, which you can see when you open an SFS file in the SFS extractor. notice that there is a spot noting where the file you extracted came from, and if you ectract more than one file at a time, it will place them in their correct folders, as they appear in the game directory, and how they should appear in the mods folder.
The mods folder files take priority over those in the unmodified game, so you get your new files being used.
Hope I helped.
Edit: If you are using the ship textures, then they should arrive already in the order needed. just delete the files you didn't change, and put them in a folder in the mods folder, and name it whatever you like.
OK I can understand the MOD override the default SFS system file mechanism...
I suspected as much, this tutorial (The link is inoperative)
is the only flow Ive been able to read that gives the big womb to tomb picture.
It does have some missing information:
- The Wrapper.exe is not explained so that a newb like myself knows how and when to employ it.
Running the Wrapper.exe installer, it says: "You must have 'Eng_Sound_Mod_9X' or 'Mod-Activator' installed first."
So I dont know if this is necessary for what Im trying to do (skin a ship) or not, and where these prerequistes are.
- The "download the texture loader mod" link (The link is inoperative) is empty.
Which I believe existed to allow users to convert objects not already converted. Turns out the SHIPS are unconverted at this time.
So, I downloaded the "Ships" link provided...
Download > ShipsTexturesV1_unconverted.rar (Main file) (105 meg) (NOT CONVERTED)
then I go to the ShipsTexures/3do/Ships/USSLexingtonCV2 folder after extracting the rar file.
I see a bunch of (filename).MSH files, but they are in a "unconverted" state.
Im guessing that I cannot use the TGAConverter until first these packs are converted via the texture loader, right?
Anyways, I tried the "FILE/LOAD ALL + IMG DLL REQ)" command to try to read one of these MSH files in the IMFViewer,
but nothing happens.
Im on MS Vista32 Home Premium Edition SP2
Can someone either tell me what Im doing wrong, or is required for my Vista version, or convert these for me please?
Thanks!
