Hi all, I've downloaded these tools and have fooled around with them, also found a little tutorial on replacing skins:
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1. Download everything from the website I pointed, it can get deleted too.
2. Place the il-2_sturmovik_wrapper_patch.exe in uoyr Il-2 folder and run it. This will patch il2fb.exe so it can use contents not only from .sfs archives, but from "files" folder. (Backup of il2fb.exe will be created)
3. Create "files" folder in Il-2 main directory. This is where all mods will go.
4. Create filelist.txt in Il-2 main directory. mods will be listed here.
5. About the skins: every default paintscheme consists of 4 files:
skin1o.tgb
skin1o.tga
skin1p.tga
skin1q.tga
How to get them?
Make sure, that in conf.ini parameter "ClearCache" is set to "0"; them run QMB (or any mission) once on a plane with desired skin on. Exit the game and find those 4 files in PaintSchemes=>Cache=>AC name
6. All content you put in should be listed in filelist.txt. To insert skin, we have to find out path for it. Take sfs_extractor_v2.0_beta_11.rar, see filelist.txt in there, all files are listed, but it is rather hard to find what exactly you need. Another way -- use sfs-extractor itself to open .sfs archives to look at real file listing. Search for .tgb with corresponding plane name.
Example:
For summer skin of B-109F4 our filelist.txt should content this:
3DO/Plane/Bf-109F-4/summer/skin1o.tga
3DO/Plane/Bf-109F-4/summer/skin1o.tgb
3DO/Plane/Bf-109F-4/summer/skin1p.tga
3DO/Plane/Bf-109F-4/summer/skin1q.tga
7. So, in "files" folder you create folder tree 3DO/Plane/Bf-109F-4/summer and put 4 skin files in.
DONE! Works fine, offline and online.
As for sound, download first sond mod from here: http://www.rapidshare.ru/361063
And see for yourself how it is done.
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Question is, has anybody with a western europe or NA version of the game got this to work? When I run the wrapper it says the il2fb.exe is the wrong size. I have tried .exe's 4.08, 4.03, 4.01, etc, and no joy.
Anybody with a positive experience out there?