Eastern Front Grand Campaign - Worklog

:FI:Snaphoo · Post by **:FI:Snaphoo** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 10:02 pm

I've always thought that a good generic skin would be cool, then you could turn the markings on and everyone has the same general skin. I'm not sure about the effect of having markings on vs. off, so maybe some FPS could be saved by being able to turn them off.

Perhaps we could open a thread on exactly where to place each skin so that the serious warping did not occur. So that everyone could be on the same page...

Very nice work Dr. I can't wait until you/we get started!

:FI:Sneaky_Russian · Post by **:FI:Sneaky_Russian** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 10:22 pm

If everyone has all the skins installed in the respective folder
frame rate should not be affected.

:FI:TacticalS! · Post by **:FI:TacticalS!** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 10:37 pm

What you have things to do on Fridays?

We're not all geeky losers then in this Squadron.

You shame us sir.

That's cool. One day you won't be so busy and the misses will be out with the girls and then you will say, "Hey I wonder what those nerds are doing tonight?"

And also we don't use custom skins anymore in Historic Encounters, at least not on Friday nights.

FYI - As Noter mentioned it can work, even with personalized skins, though a customized skin for everyone would be a lot less work and a bit easier to manage. Still it only takes a few folks joining without them installed correctly and the warping, especially on take-off, will materialize.

Without worrying about custom skins, though I miss them, is that anyone can jump into the session, and fly any available Allied or Axis ride flying with the default skins.

Regards,
TS!

:FI:Dr_Strangelove · Post by **:FI:Dr_Strangelove** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 11:03 pm

Feel free to start a poll if you like. We could make available for download a Eastern Front Campaign Pack or something that has all the correct folders already. Then all people would have to do is unzip and paste.

:FI:Noter · Post by **:FI:Noter** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 8:51 am

Actually Falcon we stopped using the custom skins on Friday nights...so I'll expect to see you shortly. It was a bit of a challenge to pull it off consistantly. Like Tact, I think everyone enjoyed them, I know I did. It did get to be a serious amount of work when more guys started flying. The sessioins contained a fighter mission and a bomber mission, so that was two base skins there, then the potential of fifteen plus guys flying times two planes...that was like 30 skins a week. Admitedly I created more work for myself because I would get different camo schemes for several of the planes so we weren't all flying the exact same plane. Add different weathering and ware, paint chips in different locations. Essentially give each a truly individual skin.

One of the personal aspects I really loved was the nose art, that really made it the pilot's plane. I ended up designing a fair amount for those that didn't have anything in mind. That was a blast.

With regards to the winter scheme, would this be like a white wash over an existing skin or just a white/gray skin? I've played with a white wash effect and it looked pretty good.

Noter

:FI:Falcon · Post by **:FI:Falcon** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 3:49 pm

Yeah Notty!

I saw all your great work and it almost turned me off of the idea.

I'm finkin' that each ac would have at least one skin.

We'd make a list of those ac that were needed soonest and do those.

The skin should be easy to make.

Skins should be ready for any members who fly regularly or who may realistically be assumed to pop in a session so members would not hesitate to join in.

Once all the ac are skinned, personalized and sent we could update them as needed using pilot feedback.

We could add the winter scheme (to De and Ru ac?) after all ac are skinned once.

Since you just volunteered,

the winter skins could be whatever you want. The key is fast but acceptable work. White wash or whatever.

A prominent place on the web site could be made available where members could quickly update the "skin pack".

If Fearless Frank can't find a spot here, then someone would be responsible for updating and disseminating announcements and news about the skins.

******

Just to get things going ...

I know we need a Wildcat and an SBD ...

gah! would a FISgreen Wildcat look any good ?????

anyway, we can work on submissions for a squadron skin design for those planes, okay the design and pump out possible iterations of them.

I just woke up and all this thinking is burning my hair ...

anywho, how's any of that sound?

Fal ... something

:FI:Dr_Strangelove · Post by **:FI:Dr_Strangelove** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 3:56 pm

TBH I am suprised there is not a all in one FI skin pack already. This sounds like a great idea to me guys. I am hoping to have the Smolensk plane set settled within the next few weeks which will be the first location we head to on this campaign.

:FI:Falcon · Post by **:FI:Falcon** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 4:20 pm

Dr,

Yeah, me too. The idea has been proposed and died a couple of times.

As far as a Russian skin. If the first missions will be in winter, we can make the first Ru skin set a winter one and make any other skins for them in an update. Let us know when you can.

F

:FI:TacticalS! · Post by **:FI:TacticalS!** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 7:25 pm

No need to re-invent the wheel. Noter (and Falcon et al) has a lot of skins for a variety of planes. As mentioned in another thread, just amend them so that markings can be enabled, and produce just 1 skin per plane. Some skins will work for several (every) variant which makes the work even less.

The key is to keep the entire (and growing) library at one location so everyone can download them and stay current. And campaigns like the Pearl to Japan may require certain skins now, but in the future those skins will probably be needed by others in later sessions elsewhere. Hence the importance of warehousing this work.

TS!

:FI:Dr_Strangelove · Post by **:FI:Dr_Strangelove** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 7:35 pm

Smolensk will focus from July-September of 1941: http://www.ughq.com/campaignhq/index.ph ... &Itemid=51" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So we wont get into the Winter portion probably until late in Smolensk or early in the Continuation War.

As far as warehousing the files, I would be willing to do so no the Campaigns site or if Frank can do it here somewhere, even better.

I like the idea Tacticalis had for this simple skin layout.

Most likely I will have the fighters going up against some Historic Fighters if I can figure out how to do it as well.

:FI:Heloego · Post by **:FI:Heloego** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:35 am

...we would need three skins for most acft: Summer, Winter, Desert.

The :FI: scheme proposed for the Carrier acft is excellent, but would it be more appropriate in shades of blue?

My other two cents.

:FI:Nellip · Post by **:FI:Nellip** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 8:30 pm

Just a thought - if the Skins folder is going to be a bit large why don't we distribute on CD?

We can then ensure everyone has the same versions.

I don't mind doing the distribution - CD's are 10 a penny these days and the postage won't be much.

I can't do a skin to save my life but this could be my contribution?

If we could have someone from US/Canada who would volunteer to do those it would keep the postage costs down?

Post by **:FI:Gurberly** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 10:18 pm

CD?

Chuck it on a server somewhere, let the buggers download it

Damn cheaper. Half a dozen of us have oodles of server space begging for downloads, just ask

G

:FI:Falcon · Post by **:FI:Falcon** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 10:38 pm

:FI:Heloego wrote:.... :FI: scheme proposed for the Carrier acft is excellent, but would it be more appropriate in shades of blue? ...

Okay, count that as a submission; carrier planes "IreBlue".

We can work on the details later.

F

:FI:Sneaky_Russian · Post by **:FI:Sneaky_Russian** » Mon Sep 18, 2006 10:43 pm

:FI:Gurberly wrote:CD?

Chuck it on a server somewhere, let the buggers download it Damn cheaper. Half a dozen of us have oodles of server space begging for downloads, just ask

G

Check my post re: e-snips 1 Gb free file sharing

Eastern Front Grand Campaign - Worklog

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