Problem with decals

[+Stephen1918 1,474]

Has anyone else had this problem? If I put two decals on the same part, they get lighter. The wing tip has a stripe decal and an insignia decal, the inner wing has just an insignia decal. You can clearly see the edge between the inner and outer wings.

 

I'm wondering if it's something in the game engine or if it's the way I'm making my decals, or something else?

[+Coupi 4,388]

Hello Stephen,

 

I don't know this problem!

 

Is this only with this plane?

Edited August 27, 2015 by Coupi

[+Stephen1918 1,474]

I just noticed it recently, but now that I'm looking for it, I see that it's happened on several planes. You can see it on the tail fin of the Albatros D.I, which has the insignia and a serial number decal.

Edited August 27, 2015 by Stephen1918

[Wrench 9,847]

decal level issue?

 

2 that are Level=0 ???

 

on the B17 below, the stripe is 0, the Nnumber is 2, and they work fine. You can have a level 0, at the "top" of the decals ini, and the put a level 2 on top it, further down the list.

 

I've never tried 2 level 0s together.

 

Is the stripe used for something like flight leader, that can be set for 0 or something else?

 

also, are the alpha channels surrounding the marking pure black? (the image looks like tga overlap, with not fully opaque alphas)

[+Stephen1918 1,474]

In the first post, the edge you see is where the wing tip part meets the inner wing part. Both decals are level 0 (the red stripes are early Austro-Hungarian national markings.) The decals do not overlap.

 

Here is a screen shot of the tail of the Albatros D.I. The problem is most noticeable in the white area of the cross. The cross is one of the stock decals, level 0. The numbers on the vertical stabilizer are my decals, level 2.

 

Can someone post a screen shot of the tail of their Albatros D.I for comparison? I'm wondering if it's my graphics card.

[+Coupi 4,388]

Hello Stephen

 

My test with insignia005 and insignia @ level 0

 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2015 by Coupi

[+Stephen1918 1,474]

Coupi - Thanks for posting the pictures.

 

It looks like the decals display fine on your computer, so the problem must be with my graphics card.

[Sky High 166]

Same problem here, Stephen.

[+Stephen1918 1,474]

Thanks for letting me know Sky High. I thought it was just my machine, but of it's a common problem I'll try to come up with a solution that works for everyone.

[+quack74 329]

The stock decals have a reduced opacity to them. If they overlap then you can see the decal that's underneath. I think.

 

 

I noticed this a long time ago. So I remade a bunch of stock decals. I made them solid with no reduced opacity. Mostly the insignias. I figured if all the decals were really painted on in real life then they should be more vibrant anyway. It did work. Any time I had two decal overlap they remained the same color. Like I said "I think" this was the answer.

Edited September 1, 2015 by quack74

[+Stephen1918 1,474]

Thanks for the info Quack, I'll look into it.

[+quack74 329]

Also keep in mind that the first decal "Decal000" will be on top of any other decal that comes after it. If two decals are to take the same, or close to the same coordinates, than make sure the one you want to be on top comes first in the "Decalxxx" list.

[+Stephen1918 1,474]

Quack's idea solves the problem.

 

The issue with the transparency of the decals seems to be caused by the computer, not by anything in First Eagles. I looked at my Fokker B.I, which was uploaded a few years ago when I had a different computer with a different graphics card. You can see the difference between a screen shot I made on the old computer and a screen shot I made recently on my new computer:

 

 

I looks like the graphics card on my newer computer is multiplying the transparency (making the alpha channel in the tga file darker) making the decal more transparent. I tried Quack's idea of making the decal opaque (I brightened the alpha channel until it was pure white) and that seemed to fix the problem:

 

 

Fortunately the problem only occurs on some computers and only when there are two decals on the same piece of the model. This usually happens on the fuselage and is mostly visible in the white parts of the decal. So it took me a couple of years to even notice it. I will watch for this in future planes and adjust the decals if necessary.

 

Thanks for the help, Quack!

Edited September 4, 2015 by Stephen1918

[+quack74 329]

I make all Apha channels for decals black and white.

[+Stephen1918 1,474]

Did you do that for all the stock decals, too?

[+quack74 329]

Yes. Well just the Insignias I think. Was a while back. I think I did it when I did the skins for the N28 package. The black camo on the upper right wing is a decal and it interfered with the USAS insignia. I think it was doing what your decals were doing. You could see the tonal difference between the two overlapping decals. So I started making all the decal solid opaque. It was the only way to get the black decal to disappear under the red USAS decal. And I made all the alpha channel Black and white so there was no lowered opacity in any of the decals. The only reason TW made the decal slightly transparent was to see any detail under the decals. But with the Bump mapping in FE2 you really don't need transparent decals anymore.

 

Edited September 5, 2015 by quack74

[+Stephen1918 1,474]

I'm impressed with your dedication to the game, modifying all the insignia decals sounds very tedious.

 

My issue was not with overlapping decals. Its the way my graphics card is calculating the transparency. If there are two decals on the same part (like the fuselage, which has a left and right insignia) then it makes those decals a little more transparent than the decals on the wings, which only has one top or bottom decal.

 

The effect is really only noticeable when you have decals over two adjacent parts - like the wings in the Fokker B.I, which has stripes and insignia on the wing tip, but only the insignia on the mid wing. Anyway, if there is no transparency, then there's nothing to multiply so the problem goes away.

[+quack74 329]

Got it. Yeah, the only way to correct this is to have opaque decals.