Help with national insignia

[petrouvis 3]

Hello everyone i am new with strike fighters 2 modding and i started small with some campaign.ini tweaking to and making my own nations and squadrons but i want to move further into making insignia for new nations and some skins.I am kind of familiar with skin making ,i have made some personal skins for IL2 1946, but when it comes to strike fighters 2 and the decal system i have no idea and i have been trying to find tutorials with only one found that doesn't contain some basic information i need to start.Any help is really appreciated and if this is answered in another topic then pointing me to it is also helpful thanks in advance everyone.

[+EricJ 3,931]

https://combatace.com/forums/forum/268-thirdwire-strike-fighters-2-series-knowledge-base/

You'll find some useful links in here. From decals to doing a skin. Most of the planes use JPG (I think the odd few use DDS) or even old BMP. Most of the tutorials are for GIMP but if you have Photoshop then you'll have to have somebody chime in. But this link ought to help you out some.

[petrouvis 3]

12 hours ago, EricJ said:

https://combatace.com/forums/forum/268-thirdwire-strike-fighters-2-series-knowledge-base/

You'll find some useful links in here. From decals to doing a skin. Most of the planes use JPG (I think the odd few use DDS) or even old BMP. Most of the tutorials are for GIMP but if you have Photoshop then you'll have to have somebody chime in. But this link ought to help you out some.

Thanks a lot i shall check it out!!

[Wrench 9,421]

there'a also TK's 'decal tutorial'. it's buried somewhere in the download section, but here's a zip copy. It explains the "decal Level' concepts very well.

as always, if there's any questions, just ask

DecalTutorial_11-12-02.zip

[petrouvis 3]

7 hours ago, Wrench said:

there'a also TK's 'decal tutorial'. it's buried somewhere in the download section, but here's a zip copy. It explains the "decal Level' concepts very well.

as always, if there's any questions, just ask

DecalTutorial_11-12-02.zip

Thanks for the reply,also i found the exact same tutorial by TK in a reply on an article in the knowledge forum and i have finally fixed it and added the decals i wanted and they show in game now on to skin making!!

[petrouvis 3]

On 4/11/2022 at 2:57 AM, petrouvis said:

Hello everyone i am new with strike fighters 2 modding and i started small with some campaign.ini tweaking to and making my own nations and squadrons but i want to move further into making insignia for new nations and some skins.I am kind of familiar with skin making ,i have made some personal skins for IL2 1946, but when it comes to strike fighters 2 and the decal system i have no idea and i have been trying to find tutorials with only one found that doesn't contain some basic information i need to start.Any help is really appreciated and if this is answered in another topic then pointing me to it is also helpful thanks in advance everyone.

A small update for anyone that sees this article from now on i have figured out how to implement my own national insignia in game but they do not show on all aircraft or some show and i dont understand why.

[+daddyairplanes 8,629]

a national insignia will only show on a aircraft of that nation, if you used the decal level 0. ie, you have a USAF insignia, the skin will need to be USAF in the Nation=   line of the skin textureset.ini. same for RoyalNavy, RAF etc.

if you are trying to do a nation not in the stock game (like US Army) you will need to add that nation to the NationsList.ini

personal preference here is to just make the insignia and assign it level two(serial numbers). occasionally using level zero(nations) decals acts wonky, esp for AI and you will have a jet in USAF camo with some other markings. but doing level 2 lets me place it, and if there is variation needed i can make the main one without a number and the variations with the appropriate numbers (ie decal, then decal007 and decal 019 for variations)

i personally tend towards all level two for just that reason. but if your skin should represent multiple nations or units you would need to include a level 0 and 1 entry so they are selectable in the drop down menu in game. mine are usually locked to a specific unit of a specific nation so i get away with all level 2 but its not for everyone.

 

[petrouvis 3]

On 5/11/2022 at 8:12 PM, daddyairplanes said:

a national insignia will only show on a aircraft of that nation, if you used the decal level 0. ie, you have a USAF insignia, the skin will need to be USAF in the Nation=   line of the skin textureset.ini. same for RoyalNavy, RAF etc.

if you are trying to do a nation not in the stock game (like US Army) you will need to add that nation to the NationsList.ini

personal preference here is to just make the insignia and assign it level two(serial numbers). occasionally using level zero(nations) decals acts wonky, esp for AI and you will have a jet in USAF camo with some other markings. but doing level 2 lets me place it, and if there is variation needed i can make the main one without a number and the variations with the appropriate numbers (ie decal, then decal007 and decal 019 for variations)

i personally tend towards all level two for just that reason. but if your skin should represent multiple nations or units you would need to include a level 0 and 1 entry so they are selectable in the drop down menu in game. mine are usually locked to a specific unit of a specific nation so i get away with all level 2 but its not for everyone.

 

 

On 5/11/2022 at 8:12 PM, daddyairplanes said:

a national insignia will only show on a aircraft of that nation, if you used the decal level 0. ie, you have a USAF insignia, the skin will need to be USAF in the Nation=   line of the skin textureset.ini. same for RoyalNavy, RAF etc.

if you are trying to do a nation not in the stock game (like US Army) you will need to add that nation to the NationsList.ini

personal preference here is to just make the insignia and assign it level two(serial numbers). occasionally using level zero(nations) decals acts wonky, esp for AI and you will have a jet in USAF camo with some other markings. but doing level 2 lets me place it, and if there is variation needed i can make the main one without a number and the variations with the appropriate numbers (ie decal, then decal007 and decal 019 for variations)

i personally tend towards all level two for just that reason. but if your skin should represent multiple nations or units you would need to include a level 0 and 1 entry so they are selectable in the drop down menu in game. mine are usually locked to a specific unit of a specific nation so i get away with all level 2 but its not for everyone.

 

I have added the nations in the NationList.ini and the decals with the nation codes into the root folder of the decals but they do not show on any other plane,only on one where i deliberately made a skin and edited the decals.ini to show the new insignia for a test to see if they show in game.And when i added more national insignia as a test they showed on that particular plane without further editing the decals.ini but again not on any other.As i understand the best way it would be to make a skin for the planes i want and edit the decal.ini in order to show the new insignia?

[+daddyairplanes 8,629]

can you post your parts of the ini entries? little easier to diagnose issues in the flesh than over the virtual phone. in game screenshots will also help figure out your issue

if i understand your last question, then i have to ask: are you selecting the same skin for all planes in the flight?

also, in my experiences add on nations rarely add to game generated AI flights (flights other than your own). they show if you use an editor to add them into a mission, but the game likes to stick to the originals (at least in my installs) when populating the airspace.

but you will get better advice with a pic of the issue and the ini that you worked on

[petrouvis 3]

36 minutes ago, daddyairplanes said:

can you post your parts of the ini entries? little easier to diagnose issues in the flesh than over the virtual phone. in game screenshots will also help figure out your issue

if i understand your last question, then i have to ask: are you selecting the same skin for all planes in the flight?

also, in my experiences add on nations rarely add to game generated AI flights (flights other than your own). they show if you use an editor to add them into a mission, but the game likes to stick to the originals (at least in my installs) when populating the airspace.

but you will get better advice with a pic of the issue and the ini that you worked on

My issue is that i have the nation set up and the decals set up but do i need to add a skin with my decals like the pictures above or the game is supposed to show them when i select the nation.

[Spinners 15,966]

Take away SEtendard\FNBlue2\D\

[petrouvis 3]

7 minutes ago, Spinners said:

Take away SEtendard\FNBlue2\D\

And where would i put this new decal.ini because this is the decal.ini of that particular plane that i edited

[+daddyairplanes 8,629]

36 minutes ago, petrouvis said:

...but do i need to add a skin with my decals like the pictures above or the game is supposed to show them when i select the nation.

the decals are part of the skin. sort of

the ini goes in the skin folder. the decal folder (holding the tgas) is seperate from the aircraft folder (holding the skins). but the decal.ini will be within the skin folder

what does your textureset.ini look like for this skin?

[+daddyairplanes 8,629]

9 minutes ago, Spinners said:

Take away SEtendard\FNBlue2\D\

you could put it in the global decals folder outside of any aircraft. but for now i would just leave it where it is until you have the basics down better

[petrouvis 3]

57 minutes ago, daddyairplanes said:

the decals are part of the skin. sort of

the ini goes in the skin folder. the decal folder (holding the tgas) is seperate from the aircraft folder (holding the skins). but the decal.ini will be within the skin folder

what does your textureset.ini look like for this skin?

This is what the Texture.ini looks like i have not touched it 

[+daddyairplanes 8,629]

yeah, Nation=FrenchNavy needs to be changed to Nation=OADF

you can also change the name of the skin should you choose.

then any aircraft using this skin should show your new nation decals

 

edit-

using an existing skin or ini is a good way to learn how to do this (or even quick and lazy way to create new stuff when you know what your doing). but instead of just copying, copy then change the

- folder name

- name withing textureset ini

- and create a new decal folder. then edit the file path within that skins decal.ini to match your new decal folder using "Replace" function in notepad.

this will help avoid confusion in teh future. even if you name it something simple like TEST.

 

Edited November 7, 2022 by daddyairplanes

[petrouvis 3]

1 hour ago, daddyairplanes said:

yeah, Nation=FrenchNavy needs to be changed to Nation=OADF

you can also change the name of the skin should you choose.

then any aircraft using this skin should show your new nation decals

 

edit-

using an existing skin or ini is a good way to learn how to do this (or even quick and lazy way to create new stuff when you know what your doing). but instead of just copying, copy then change the

- folder name

- name withing textureset ini

- and create a new decal folder. then edit the file path within that skins decal.ini to match your new decal folder using "Replace" function in notepad.

this will help avoid confusion in teh future. even if you name it something simple like TEST.

 

I used existing skins in order to see how other people did it  so i can understand better and okay i shall do this from now own but still that means making skins in order to use the new decals i suppose there is no way for the decals to show up on all planes without editing decal.ini or is it beyond me since i am new to modding?

[petrouvis 3]

45 minutes ago, petrouvis said:

I used existing skins in order to see how other people did it  so i can understand better and okay i shall do this from now own but still that means making skins in order to use the new decals i suppose there is no way for the decals to show up on all planes without editing decal.ini or is it beyond me since i am new to modding?

So a little update it seems i was a bit stupid i put but my insignia into the decal bu this time in the form of INSIGNIAFUSERXXX.tga and they now appear on all the planes i try it seems that the naming was of the decals was wrong i am sorry for wasting the time of everyone who replied to this topic i should have been more observant.

[+EricJ 3,931]

I've been playing this game since 2004-5? And every now and then I've made mistakes for obvious things so don't sweat it

[+daddyairplanes 8,629]

like Eric said, even the old heads at this goof now and then still.

my personal preference: i dont usually use level 0(nation) or level1(unit) decals for years now. level2(serial numbers) will work for anything if you dont add a number to the end of the name.

in exactly tailored example, i will make a USNstar.tga for national insignia. proper scale and rotations for location. shows same on all. then the CAG bird will be USNstar000.tga, a full color insignia rather than regular subdued. but all the others will still use that unnumbered USNstar.tga

but thats just one method. draw on all the tutorials and posts from the past, and figure your method out.

[petrouvis 3]

32 minutes ago, daddyairplanes said:

like Eric said, even the old heads at this goof now and then still.

my personal preference: i dont usually use level 0(nation) or level1(unit) decals for years now. level2(serial numbers) will work for anything if you dont add a number to the end of the name.

in exactly tailored example, i will make a USNstar.tga for national insignia. proper scale and rotations for location. shows same on all. then the CAG bird will be USNstar000.tga, a full color insignia rather than regular subdued. but all the others will still use that unnumbered USNstar.tga

but thats just one method. draw on all the tutorials and posts from the past, and figure your method out.

Thanks a lot!!