DCS World Skinning Questions and Resources

Hmm so thats all done through roughmets? So stuff that doesn’t have a roughmet probably can’t be made chrome (thinking some of the older aircraft)

I haven’t looked at all the aircraft textures but I’m pretty sure most within the last 10 years have roughmets. If they don’t, then there’s something else like a specular.

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Me when trying to learn how to make custom spec maps…

thisisfinespec

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Does anyone have a resource or some teaching on how to make the masking for custom patches say on like the UH-1 pilots?

It would be much appreciated.

Can you be a bit more descriptive? Are you talking about replacing the patches or something else?

Yes, I tried placing the patches I wanted over the default patches however when I loaded the game the patch is cut off in the shape of the air cav patch (for example) I’m just trying to figure out how to organize and apparently mask the patches so I can add my own custom ones.

I could moc one up real quick if you need a visual.

You’ll probably have to make some custom guides, but if you use the model viewer and load the associated model (the UH-1H is ab-212.edm FYI), you’ll get the pilot models. You can load your texture files there and get things positioned right.

I guess thats exactly what I’m asking about is the custom guides, how do I tell the game where to look :thinking:

In your description.lua it’s usually defined there, here’s for the UH-1H (remember to change “true” to “false”):

{"pilot_UH1_01", 0, "pilot_UH1_01", true};
{"pilot_UH1_02", 0, "pilot_UH1_02", true};
{"pilot_UH1_helmet", 0, "pilot_UH1_helmet", true};
{"pilot_UH1_patch", 0, "pilot_UH1_patch_1_cavalery", true};

No I got that far. You ever not know something so much you don’t know how to ask for help? Thats me right now lol

If I figure it out or find a better way to communicate this I’ll post up later, sadly I don’t have the time to make up a patch set right now to show what I mean.

From your description it sounds like you were having problems with the patches getting cut off, right?

So it’s one of two things: your transparency mask is incorrect or your texture isn’t matching the UV. More likely the transparency part. To fix it, you should make a new transparency mask of your patches and put that into the alpha layer.

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Yes theres the missing word (brain fart!) the transparency mask is the issue. I guess my secondary question was, looking at the say US air cav patches vs the Australian air force patches they are very different in the layout of the .dds and I’m trying to figure out how the game knows which area goes where. But that may become evident once I fix the transparency.

The UVs on the model dictate where the textures go, and for the patches I’m assuming they have separate faces/polies dedicated for the textures. If you look at the patch textures, it’s likely the UVs are assigned as blocks for each piece (nametag, shoulders, ranks).

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Ok so the masking seems to be done with an Alpha channel so thats one part solved. Now I gotta figure out how to view the UV’s :+1:

Unless there’s a template, the UVs are going to be a trial and error sort of deal. The wireframe mode of the model viewer doesn’t seem too helpful.

One thing I used in the past to make patches for flight suit is to remove all alpha masks and slapp a “texture finder” (usually a texture made of coloured squares with numbers in them*) on the patch file.

This gives me an idea of the UV mapping for said patch texture.
Having colours and numbers allow you to pinpoint very precisely the place where you want your patch to be.

Hope I was clear. :stuck_out_tongue:

*Like so

or so

and that gives you stuff like this

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Thanks I’ll have to try this out after work today!

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Anyone else having the issue where the KC-135 (both types) turbine blades have been replaced by the texture of the wheels? Seemed to have started before the update, but I didn’t change anything so I’m a little confused.

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:musical_note:The wheels on the turbine go round and round…:musical_note:

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Can confirm that I have the same issue. Goodyear sponsorship?

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