Decals placement question

[warthog64]

I am trying to add decals to the Mirage F1's by ludo.m54. However I can't seem to figure out how to add decals to the wings. As anyone familiar with these aircraft know, all of them have the insignia already on the wings. Therefore I have no template on what to use for the position or meshname. I have tried many different combinations by using templates from other aircraft but have had no luck. I copied and pasted the decal text below from another aircraft to see if it would work, but it has not.

[Decal003]
MeshName=WingO_L --- Is this correct? I've tried all the options.
DecalLevel=0
DecalFacing=TOP
FilenameFormat=Insignia
Position=-4.2575,-3.0 --- No idea what to use, tried many combinations with no result. Decals never show up.
Rotation=15.0
Scale=0.7
DecalMaxLOD=4

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

[+guuruu]

Use mue's LOD viewer from this pack

 to get correct MeshName. this tool is also very helpful for decal position.

More about decals you can find here :

 

[+daddyairplanes]

without looking couldnt tell you about the mesh name.

however that position seems too far back.-4.2575 is how far left the decal goes out(for a top facing tga),-3.0 is how far back it goes. one should start with 0.0 first then work your way around, and on a fighter size aircraft -3.0 seems rather far back.

you may want to scale up as well until you get it better into position, and drop the decalmaxlod to 3 (its my default setting most of the time)

[+Wrench]

<cough> position of wing lights is always a useful starting place <cough>

but with the lod viewer, it's down to an exact science

 

[mue]

What I've learned so far about the decals system:

Position=a,b defines the position of the center of the decal texture at the aircraft in meters. a,b are either the x,y-, y,z- or y,z- coordinates depending on DecalFacing. If DecalFacing is TOP or BOTTOM then its the x,y coordinates, if LEFT or RIGHT its y,z and if FRONT(?) or BACK(?) its x,z. In the lod viewer you can move the mouse pointer over the aircraft and the x,y,z coordinates are shown in the status bar at the bottom.
Scale defines the size of the decal in meters. E.g. a Scale of 1.0 means that the decal has the size of 1x1m on the aircraft, a Scale of 0.5 means a size of 0.5x0.5m...

Edited November 26, 2018 by mue
changed status pane -> status bar

[Nyghtfall]

6 hours ago, mue said:

...FRONT(?) or BACK(?)...

FRONT and BACK are correct.

[+daddyairplanes]

15 hours ago, Wrench said:

<cough> position of wing lights is always a useful starting place <cough>

aint nobody got time fo dat

seriously though, i usually get a ballpark location from the lodviewer, as most of my projects start with blanking out the main skin in the first place. i say ballpark, as i usually have to tweek some from what i get in the viewer, but i also tend to be goofy and get a measurement AFTER twirling it around to look at the skin.

fine tuning i do the old fashioned way: fire up game, make notes, adjust, repeat. remember its a game every 5th adjustment and fly  around.

[warthog64]

Thanks everybody for the info and tutorials. I've been playing this game for 15 years now but I've never really done much with decals. 

[Tony_Spike]

same,

im trying to place a second decal on the back of a carrier ...seems like its only one decal per face per decal level at the moment

Edited February 23, 2020 by Tony_Spike

[+Wrench]

ships are a nightmare, as that ability only came out with NA. Some of the (very much!) you might be able to get away with one or two; like on the island or flight deck. Depends on how many meshes the modeler built.

[Tony_Spike]

yeah these are the Essex's by Paulopanz that use the YAP lod's and the ones by white  boy samurai .....carrier decks are usually one mesh,i guess  it makes no sense to split them into two even if the skins have a space cleared of deck lines at the rear for a for a decal

im living with it, i re added the deck lines at the back end.... ..i mean how many carriers have numbers at the rear of the deck anyways lol