WW2 Addon Completed

[Stwa 18]

Earlier in this topic, I alluded to the fact that I was not going to support Commonwealth Air Forces SEA.

 

You must admit these "Commonwealth" designations are neither nations or services. And when subdividing one category with others, you cannot use a squadron with more than one nation/service. The only other solution, is to have more than one paint scheme, one that anticipates SEA or PTO roundels. In those cases only the decal.ini file changes. You might as well be back to the approach where the skin maker paints the roundels onto the skin.

 

So, I will now provide the nation service Commonwealth Air Forces SEA. I have little knowledge of all the RAF roundel variations. But not only do they have different colors, the concentric circles can change in size as well. So I simply made a SEA roundel from a PTO roundel, by just changing its color, not its proportions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stwa 18]

OK!

 

These Brits sure are roundel happy. I was looking at a few pics of Tomahawks in North Africa. And they were using the upper surface roundel. [slaps forehead]

 

So, in the decal.ini file, I had to specify the low visibility insignia. Of course, that makes one wonder what the PTO or SEA upper surface roundels looked like. Duh?

 

So for those nation/services I just cloned the normal insignia to make a low visibility insignia.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 14, 2015 by Stwa

[Stwa 18]

So, is this a BoB era skin? Dunno?

 

 

 

 

 

[Stwa 18]

Where have all the Spitfires gone, long time passing.

 

Where have all the Spitfires gone, long time ago.

 

Where have all the Spitfires gone, gone to Messerschmitts, everyone.

 

When will they ever learn. When will they ever learn.

 

 

[Stwa 18]

So, I must confess, the RAF roundel thingy is eating my lunch. However, I finally went with the Wiki source that shows all 15 roundels over time. The RAF roundels in WoX are using brighter colors, the ones in use since 1947.

 

I am now paying attention to the type value, and assigning that to the decal name, so I can understand what I am using in the decal.ini file. So for WW2 I need 3 different types. And in the game RAFWW2 is nation 081. So here are the three decals I need;

 

InsigniaA081 - goes on underside wing surfaces

 

InsigniaA1081 - goes on the fuselage sides

 

InsigniaB081 - goes on upper wing surface

 

[Stwa 18]

So, now I have already entered the new decal names in all the ini files for Commonwealth birds. I will need to scale the upper roundels larger than the lower roundels on the wing surfaces. But I think I now have the correct colors and roundel proportions.

 

 

 

[Stwa 18]

OK, now for the Commonwealth PTO and Commonwealth SEA regs.

 

PTO = Pacific Theater of Operation, or it might mean just Australia, or it might be an early attempt at a regulation by SEAC. Basically the red is painted over with white. The Wiki states that the fin flash red is retained, but I didn't do that.

 

SEA = South East Asia Command, in this case those in SEA and CBI, but not SWP? Anyway as PTO except the white has been replaced with a lighter blue color mixed with 50% white and 50% blue. Wiki says about mid 1942.

 

Note: The under wing surface roundel, in both cases, is the same as the fuselage roundel.

 

 

[Stwa 18]

Just one final comment regarding what I call the "PTO" and "SEA" marking schemes. If you take the descriptions from the Wiki article literally, then the fuselage roundel (A1), might need to have a yellow outer band. But that is partially governed by the color or camouflage of the upper surfaces of the aircraft. So, I wonder if USAAF olive drab would constitute a dark camouflage? 

 

In addition, the SEAC roundel is shown with a narrow yellow band signifying the later war years. I am trying to model 1942, which is early war for for US, but might be considered late war for the UK? At any rate I have attached a different image using the type A1 roundel.

 

To me this whole subject is fascinating from a game sense. The game system relies upon the fact that each nation has only one Insignia that it uses to mark aircraft. But in WW2, the UK uses primarily three. Roundel types A, A1, and B. So, while in the load-out screen for a Commonwealth bird if I select RAF as the nation/service, then the game will not mark the bird with any RAF roundels, which are specified in the decals.ini with the file name "Insignia". Commonwealth birds specify file names of of InsigniaA, InsigniaA1, and InsigniaB.

 

[Stwa 18]

I would like to move away from the subject of RAF or Commonwealth roundels. There is a side of me, that would like to take the type A roundel, and just display it on all surfaces, wing, fuselage, etc..

 

But the main point, at least for moi, is the use of decals. The WoV and WoE games went to a lot of trouble to create all that functionality in the load-out screen. I think what they did is very clever, and I enjoy using these features. So, when I add a skin, for a new or existing bird, I make sure the skin is completely devoid of all insignia marking. Actually devoid of all things that are selectable using the load-out screen. So, insignia, aircraft identification numbers or letters, squadron names or badges, etc.

 

And for a project like this one, where I am integrating new air services, even those before the cold war, unless the insignia has changes, or if the name of the services is radically different, then you probably don't need to add the new service. A case in point would The Republic of China. As it stands right now, I can select ROC when using any US bird, and the insignia is changed to ROC when I fly.

 

But if the insignia is different, or if the service is in fact different, then a new nation/service is needed in the nations.ini file. Just a service like the Netherlands East Indies Air Force. (see attachment below)

 

 

[Stwa 18]

One last little tid bit that I actually took care of last week. Each Zero model came with 2 skins each. So, I cloned the A6M2 into a A6M3 and I cloned the A6M5 into a A6M4, and placed just one skin in each aircraft folder. Now, during Create Mission thingies, I can encounter each of the four paint schemes. Nice variety too, 2 Navy white jobs, 1 green, and 1 green camo job.

 

After the war, researchers discovered that the Japanese had indeed made a A6M4 prototype, but it was assumed that it had never made it to production. On my system, that assumption has proved false.

 

For now, me thinks I have gone as far as I can ornamenting the birds for this add-on. I still need to clean-up (remove insignia) 2 more P-40 skins, and 1 more P-36 skin. But I am also happy with what I have. I got real lucky on this project. First, Edwards awesome Burma terrain. Then, Wolfs aircraft are simply unbelievable. Then, I used 4 of 9 cockpits from Stary. It all has the look and feel of a payware sim.

 

I do hope to see all of you again soon, and it has been real nice chatting with everyone. I am glad I got a few extra days to ornament all the birds. I will need a few more squadron badges along the way, but I am good for now.

 

Regards,

 

Stwa