Help with creating custom decals?

[Alect7 0]

I wanted to create a custom tail decal for the F-8H Crusader for an air force that has no squadron markings. I saw a mod that was able to implement this on the F-8H (69) so I wanted to know how to create one on my own. The decal is already designed, the only trouble I have now is actually getting it to work. I'm fairly new to modding Strike Fighters 2 and I have little experience in modding anything so any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[+daddyairplanes 10,216]

copied from an old post of mine, but still breaks down the elements of a decal.ini entry

 

[Decal001]
MeshName=Fuselage                                  ---------------- actual node it goes on. limit 3 tga per
DecalLevel=2                                    ---------------------------- 4 different levels. O ties to nation, 1 ties to unit, 2 is serialized and unique to each aircraft, 4 is kills iirc. 2 is normally used for serial numbers but can be used for individual schemes/camoflage or nose arts
DecalFacing=RIGHT                                    ----------------- self explanitory. basic directions included TOP, FRONT, LEFT, RIGHT
FilenameFormat=B-52G_89/DiegoGarcia/D/FuseR  naming convention. the D folder in this is not really needed, but a habit amongst the senior modders that i picked up
Position=-2.75,0.0                        ----------------- self explanitory.
Rotation=0.0                                 ----------------- self explanitory.
Scale=48.00                 ----------------------------------------------- not usually this big. can be either side of the decimal point, mine are often huge due to a tga covering the whole fuselage side or wing. but one could make a bigger tga with high detail and scale below 1.0 to place on model
DecalMaxLOD=3                                       --------------------- Wrench can explain better than me, but iirc has to do with distance visible

in the case of the file name format

FilenameFormat=B-52G_89/DiegoGarcia/D/FuseR 

aircraft/skin/D/your decal

 

for the basics of how to add the decal.ini, look in the knowledge base for SF1 and SF2.

Edited February 27, 2022 by daddyairplanes

[+Nyghtfall 2,154]

Good explanation!

Just some small add ons:

DecalFacing= TOP, BOTTOM, LEFT, RIGHT, FRONT, BACK

Reverse= TRUE or FALSE <--- to mirror a decal on another side to have both sides facing the same direction.

[+daddyairplanes 10,216]

good catch on Reverse, that may well apply to what hes working on. i usually place it below the Scale line, but me thinks it will work anywhere under the Position line. i also only add it in when its true, it works fine without that line if you dont need it.

Front and Back i had left off for now for simplicity, since they are rarer to use. LEFT and RIGHT are for exactly what he asks in this post, but UP and DOWN will likely come along soon enough

[Gatling20 753]

TK posted this a long time ago, I think it covers just about everything:

 

Strike Fighters: Project 1 Decals Tutorial                                                     v11-12-02

Strike Fighters: Project 1 allows you to place high-res textures on top of the basic skin texture.  These high-res textures are called decals, and they can even be made to use different textures in response to the aircraft’s Nation ID, Squadron ID, Aircraft Number, and Kill Number.  So you can use decals to dynamically add squadron patches, squadron code, aircraft serial number, kill markings, and just about anything else you want to add.

This tutorial will cover the basics of how the Strike Fighters’ decal system works, and it included some hands on examples at the end.  Keep in mind that because the decal system is fairly powerful and flexible, placing decals can be tricky and frustrating at times. So be prepared to do a lot of trial-and-errors as you play with the decals.

Decal Textures

All decal textures are normal 32-bit .tga format, using the 8-bit alpha channel to control the transparency. Textures can be created and edited using any of your favorite paint programs that support 32-bit .tga format.  (This tutorial assumes you know how to manipulate alpha channel, for more information on how to do this, please consult your paint program’s manual).

Decal textures can be any size you want, but they must be square in shape.  Typical texture sizes used are 64x64, 128x128, and 256x256.  Of course, bigger texture uses more memory, so having too many high-res decal textures may affect the game’s performance.

The decal textures are applied so the edge of the texture is stretched out to the area not covered by the texture itself.  So to avoid “bleeding” outside the texture, you must have a buffer of transparent pixels (usually 3 pixels will do) on each edges of the texture.  If you see a streak or “bleeding” decal, check your alpha channel and keep it at least 3 pixels away from the edge of the file.

All decal textures should be placed in the Objects/Aircraft folder. The default decals are not visible to the end user, but any new user created decals placed in this folder will override the default decals of the game.  So to replace existing default decal, all you have to do is simply save the new texture with the same name as the default texture.  (A list of the name of decal textures shipped with the game is included later in this tutorial)

Decals.ini

The placements of the decals are specified in decals.ini file in each texture directory.  This allows you to have different settings for each texture set. (USAF, Navy, German, etc, etc).  If you open the decals.ini file you’ll see a long listing of decals entries, which might look something like this:

[Decal001]

MeshName=Nose

DecalLevel=0

FilenameFormat=Insignia

DecalFacing=RIGHT

Position=4.707,-0.113

Rotation=0.0

Scale=1.7

DecalMaxLOD=4

Reverse=TRUE

 

[Decal002]

...

etc.

 

Breaking these entries apart:

 

[Decal___]

 

This is the section header of the decal entry, and it must be named [DecalXXX] where XXX is a three digit number 001, 002, 003, etc.  The numbers have to be consecutive, and any missing number will cause the rest of the decal entries to be skipped.

MeshName=

Mesh name refers to the name of the mesh object that the decal is to be applied on. 

The 3d aircraft models in the game are made up of many smaller components called “meshes”.  The number and the name of the meshes vary from model to model, and are specified by the 3d model builder.  When applying a decal, you must specify the name of the mesh it is applied to.  For example, insignia decals are typically applied to left wing mesh, right wing mesh, and fuselage mesh. 

There is a max limit of 4 decals that you can apply to any single mesh. (ie, 4 decals max per fuselage, 4 per nose, etc, etc).

 

To get some of the basic mesh names, you can browse the existing decals.ini files for the aircraft you are interested and look at the mesh names listed in the file.  Generally, the fuselage, nose, vertical tail, right/left outer/inner wings have decals already on them.  A complete list of mesh names for each of the objects in the game should be included in the zip file.

DecalLevel=

Decals can made to use different textures based on one of the four dynamic variables: aircraft’s Nation ID, Squadron ID, Aircraft Number, and Kill Number.  You select which variable the decal should use by setting the DecalLevel, as follow:

  DecalLevel=0    –> Nation ID

  DecalLevel=1    –> Squadron ID

  DecalLevel=2    –> Aircraft Number

  DecalLevel=3    –> Kill Number

 

Every nation and squadron in the game has an ID number assigned to it.  Each aircraft is also assigned a different aircraft number, and Kill Number uses the player’s current kill scores.  These numbers are passed into the decal system.  The game engine changes the texture name by attaching a three-digit number (001, 002, 003, etc) to the name of the texture.  So if the texture name specified is Insignia.tga, and the aircraft’s Nation ID is 1 (and DecalLevel=0), the actual texture name used is Insigna001.tga.

FilenameFormat=

This is the file name of the decal texture (32-bit .tga file).  It will first look for the file that has the name plus the three-digit number set by the DecalLevel as above.  If no such texture is found, it will then look for a texture without any number added.

For example,

    DecalLevel=1

    FilenameFormat=SqPatch

The game will look for texture named SqPatch001.tga if the aircraft belongs to Squadron ID = 1, SqPatch002.tga if Squadron ID = 2, etc.  If numbered texture is not found, it’ll then look for just SqPatch.tga.

DecalFacing=

DecalFacing specifies which side of the mesh the decal should appear.  It can be LEFT, RIGHT, TOP, BOTTOM, FRONT, or BACK.

Position=

This controls the position of the decal on the airplane.  The coordinate is given relative to the whole airplane, not to the individual mesh.  The coordinates are measured in meters.

For DecalFacing=LEFT or RIGHT, the coordinate x,y refers to coordinate as you’re looking from the right side of the aircraft.

  +x toward the nose

  -x toward the tail         

  +y up

  -y down

For DecalFacing=TOP or BOTTOM the coordinate x,y refers to coordinate as you’re looking down from the top of the aircraft.

  +x toward the right wing

  -x toward the left wing

  +y toward the nose

  -y toward the tail

The coordinate must lie on top of the mesh specified or the decal will not show up in the game, so you must enter coordinates that the mesh actually covers.  If you are trying to add nose art to one of the default aircraft, and it isn’t showing up, you may want to check your coordinates and make sure they are in the bounds of the nose mesh. (Granted, this might be difficult without having the model in front of you in 3d studio max - but you should be able to get close by looking at the default decal settings and finding coordinates that are on the nose mesh, and tweak it from there.)

Rotation=

This sets the rotation angle, in degrees.  This is optional, and if entry is not present, it’ll default to no rotation.

Scale=

This controls the size of the decal on the mesh.

DecalMaxLOD=

This controls how far out the decal show up on the mesh.

Reverse=

This is optional, and if entry is set to TRUE, the decal will be applied reversed in x direction.  Mainly used for decals that are mirrored on left and right (such as FinFlash and “slanted” type decals).

Nations List

List of nations included with the Strike Fighters and their corresponding ID numbers are listed at the end of the Skin Tutorial. 

Squadrons List

The squadrons are listed in SquadronList.ini file located in PilotData folder.  To add a new squadron, you just have to add a new squadron entry on this file.  If you open the .ini file, you see that it contains the following Squadron entries:

[Squadron001]

Name=10TFS

DisplayName=10th TFS, 50th TFW

Nation=USAF

 

[Squadron002]

…

etc.

 

Breaking these entries apart:

[Squadronl___]

This is the section header of the squadron entry, and it must be named [SquadronXXX] where XXX is the three-digit number 001, 002, 003, etc. of the squadron.  The numbers have to be consecutive, and any missing number will cause the rest of the squadron entries to be skipped.  This number is the Squadron ID that gets passed into the decal system.

Name=

Short unique identifier name used to reference the squadron.

DisplayName=

This is the text description that is displayed in the squadron drop down list.

Nation=

This is the name of the default nation

Examples

So, there are basically 2 ways to do decals.  The first is the ‘stand-alone’ type decal that you can use to add high-res texture that always appears with a particular skin. (Remember, that each skin has it’s own decals.ini file in its directory, and thus when you chose to fly with this skin, you are using that particular decals.ini file). 

To add this type of decal, you just follow the following four steps:

1.      Create your decal texture using your favorite paint program.

2.      Save the decal file as a 32-bit .tga file into the Objects/Aircraft folder.

3.      Add a new decal entry in the decals.ini with the line FilenameFormat= set to the name of the decal.

4.      Find the name of the mesh you wish to apply the decal to, and determine the facing, position, and size of the decal. And enter them in the decal entry you just created above.

Example 1: MyDecal.tga

For example, to add MyDecal.tga to the nose of the F-4E Phantom with USAF camo skin (located in Objects\Aircraft\F-4E\USAFtng1 folder), you can add the following new entry to the end of its decals.ini file:

[Decal012]

MeshName=fuselage_front

DecalFacing=LEFT

FilenameFormat=MyDecal

Position=8.15,-0.25

Scale=0.8

DecalMaxLOD=4

 

Note that the original decals.ini for F-4E USAF camo has 11 decals, so [Decal012] is the next decal number.  With the above decals.ini saved, and MyDecal.tga copied into Objects\Aircraft folder, the new decal should appear on the nose of your F-4E Phantom with USAF camo skin.

 

The second and more useful way of adding decals involves use of the DecalLevel.  This requires a series of decal textures that the game can select from based on Nation ID, Squadron ID, Aircraft Number, or Kill Number.  You can create a whole new series, or add or change the existing series.  You can name the series anything you want, but the textures must be saved with names ending with a three-digit number 001, 002, 003, etc. For example, if you’re planning to use the series with Nation ID (DecalLevel=0), you should save Mercenary (Nation ID = 1) texture with name ending in 001, USAF (Nation ID = 2) texture 002, USN (Nation ID = 3) texture 003, etc.

1.     Create a series of decal textures using your favorite paint program.

2.     Save them with names ending in three-digit number 001, 002, 003, etc.

3.     Add a new decal entry in the decals.ini with DecalLevel set to the variable you want to use to generate the three-digit number  (0 = Nation ID, 1 = Squadron ID, 2 = Aircraft Number, 3 = Kill Number)

4.     Add the line FilenameFormat= set to the name of the decal, without the three-digit number.

5.     Find the name of the mesh you wish to apply the decal to, and determine the facing, position, and size of the decal. And enter them in the decal entry you just created above.

Example 2: NationNameWhite003.tga and NationNameWhite004.tga

For example, say you’re creating a darker camo skin and would like the letters “NAVY” and “MARINES” to appear in white lettering (instead of default black letters).  You can do this by using decals with DecalLevel set to 0 (Nation ID).  USN has Nation ID of 3 and USMC has Nation ID of 4, so you can use two decal textures – one with white NAVY letters and another with white MARINES letters.  And save them both in the Aircraft folder as NationNameWhite003.tga (Navy texture) and NationNameWhite004.tga (Marines texture).  Then, in the decals.ini, add the following entry (these are from F-4B decal.ini)

[Decal010]

MeshName=fuselage_P

DecalLevel=0

DecalFacing=LEFT

FilenameFormat=NationNameWhite

Position=-1.450,-0.335

Scale=2.2

DecalMaxLOD=3

 

[Decal011]

MeshName=fuselage_P

DecalLevel=0

DecalFacing=RIGHT

FilenameFormat= NationNameWhite

Position=-1.450,-0.335

Scale=2.2

DecalMaxLOD=3

 

That will apply the decal texture NationNameWhite003.tga when the user selects USN, NationNameWhite004.tga for USMC, and nothing for other service (unless you create other NationNameWhiteXXX.tga textures or default NationNameWhite.tga).

 

Example 3: F4_SqTailL014.tga and F4_SqTailR014.tga

 

Here’s another example.  This time, we’re using existing decal series, and adding a new F-4 squadron instead.  According to the list of default decals included at the end of this tutorial, F4_SqTailL.tga and F4_SqTailR.tga are the decals used for the tail marking on all F-4s, so we’ll use this series.

Open SquadronList.ini in PilotData folder.  And add the following new squadron entry:

[Squadron014]

Name=MYSQUAD

DisplayName=MySquadron

Nation=USAF

 Note that the last squadron (assuming you have your default SquadronList.ini) has 13 squadrons, so [Squadron014] is the next squadron.  To add more squadron, you just have to increase the number to make it the next squadron ID.

(also, it is a good idea to make a backup of the original SquadronList.ini, just in case…)

Then, create the F4_SqTailL and F4_SqTailR decals.  To make these decals to appear only when you’ve selected your new squadron, you have to save the decal textures with three-digit number 014 (Squadron ID of your new squadron).  So for this example, we’ll save them as F4_SqTailL014.tga and F4_SqTailR014.tga, and copy them into the Objects/Aircraft folder.

 

That’s it!  Now, whenever you select any aircraft and skin combo that uses F4_SqTailL and F4_SqTailR decal series, your new decals will show up on the tail of your aircraft when you select your squadron from the drop down list.

Note that you didn’t have to edit any decals.ini for this example.  This is because you’re using already existing decal series (F4_SqTailL and F4_SqTailR).  Also, note that when you fly A-4 or F-104, your squadron marking does not show up (yet).  In order to make them show up, you’ll need to create similar decals for A4_SqTailL014.tga and A4_SqTailR014.tga.

 

Default Decals

Here is a list of filenames for the default Strike Fighters decals:

FinFlashXXX.tga – national marking applied on the vertical tail fin.  For most nations, this is their national flag.  For USAF, this is the TAC symbol, and for some others (such as Soviet), this is the same as regular insignia.

InsigniaXXX.tga – insignia marking that appears on wings and fuselages.

NationNameXXX.tga – currently, these are just the “USAF” (002), “NAVY” (003) and “MARINES” (004) lettering.

USAir002.tga/USForce002.tga – the lettering “US AIR FORCE,” split into two textures for better texture usage.

killXXX.tga – default kill markings for the jets showing red stars.

F4TailNumXXX.tga – black and white AF serial numbers found on the camouflaged F-4 C/D/E.  There are 100 textures containing a small sample of real life F-4 serial numbers.

F100NumFuseXXX.tga – 3-digit FW-XXX numbers found on the side of the F-100 fuselage.  There are 100 textures that contain some of the real F-100 serial numbers.

F100NumTailXXX.tga – 5 digit serial numbers found on the tail of the F-100. These numbers correspond to the numbers in the F100NumFuse files, so if you edit one series, you should also edit the other to make them match.

F104FuseNumXXX.tga – 3-digit FG-XXX numbers found on the side of the F-104 fuselage. There are 100 textures that contain some of the real F-104 serial numbers.

F104TailNumXXX.tga – 5 digit serial numbers found on the tail of the F-104 also matching the numbers on the fuselage.

SovietNumXXX.tga – 2 digit numbers found on all Soviet aircraft. 100 textures (000-099) indicate numbers 00-99 in the color red.

USMCNumXXX.tga – 2 digit numbers found on the USMC skins. 100 textures (000-099) indicate numbers 00-99.

USNAttackNumXXX.tga – 3 digit numbers found on Navy Skyhawks. 100 textures (000-099) indicate numbers 300-324, 400-424, 500-524 and 600-624.

USNFighterNumXXX.tga – 3 digit numbers found on Navy Phantoms. 100 textures (000-099) indicate numbers 100-124, 200-224, 300-324 and 400-424.

GermanNumXXX.tga – 2 digit numbers found on the German aircraft. 100 textures (000-099) indicate 00-99.

ItalianNumXXX.tga – 2 digit numbers found on the Italian aircraft. 100 textures (000-099) indicate numbers 00-99.

SqPatchXXX.tga – squadron badges that are used on certain aircraft and skins.

SqNameXXX.tga – squadron names that are used by US Navy and US Marine squadrons.

SqNumXXX.tga – squadron “number” that are used by some non-US aircraft and skins.  Italian 154/6 (010) has the number “6-”, Italian 155/50 (011) has “50-”, German JBG31 (012) has letter “DA”, and French EC 2/11 (013) has “11-RH”

A4_SqTailLXXX.tga and A4_SqTailRXXX.tga – squadron tail markings for A-4 Skyhawks.  These have a left and right side, and cannot be flipped in the decals.ini files for various reasons.  Each squadron in the game has a decal set for each plane, so although it would not be historically correct for VF-84 Jolly Rogers to fly on A-4, it is still possible in the game.

F4_SqTailLXXX.tga and F4_SqTailRXXX.tga – as above, except for F-4 tail.

F104_SqTaiilLXXX.tga and F104SqTailRXXX.tga – as above, except for F-104 tail.

 

Troubleshooting tips

If your decal isn’t showing up, here are some things you might want to look into…

* Remember, the maximum number of these is 4 per mesh piece (fuselage, nose, vertical tail...etc, etc). If you’re applying a lot of decals and some of them are not showing up, check to make sure you didn’t exceed this limit.

* Make sure you have the correct name for the mesh you’re trying to apply the decal to.  Mesh names are not the same from aircraft to aircraft.

* Make sure the position specified is within the mesh.  For example, each wings are usually broken up into two meshes – inner wing and outer wing, so make sure you have the right mesh and right position.

* If your decal is not responding to the dynamic variable you’ve selected, check the DecalLevel.  Set it to 0 to make it use Nation ID, 1 for Squadron ID, 2 for Aircraft Number, and 3 for Kill Number.

* Double check your filenames and naming convention.  Make sure you’ve saved the file with the correct three-digit number at the end.

* Make sure the decal texture is in the right directory.  The texture must be placed in Objects/Aircraft, not in the individual aircraft folder.

 

 

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