CoD disappointing in skinning matters!

[norulz]

Originally Posted by Targ

Im for/against this.


*nods head left/right up/down*

+1




The motivation behind that choice given few weeks ago was sound. I had a lot of skins that look nice from far but close up were a mess.

Especially the wild ones...

Even some skins that were historical had sometimes rivets oversized or overdone in someway... sure... there were some perfect ones... but if Maddox did their hidden layers perfectly then we shouldn't have trouble.


Of course, maybe later an config.ini option to bypass hidden layers enforcing on server could be added for people that find this utterly important for some reason.

[Feathered_IV]

Great to see that the sim will be only as good as the dumbest epileptic ametuer skinner. Level playing field indeed.

[kendo65]

Given the other criticisms being thrown around I really think that this one is nonsense. There are absolutely valid and logical reasons for not having panel lines and rivets being changeable and there is no reason why such a feature would prevent us getting great skins.

And it was common knowledge this would be the case.

[major_setback]

You wouldn't need them to be editable. If they could just be turned off, then a skinner could add lines of choice. Though I think a problem could then arise because the bump mapping must align with the panel lines. So you would have to turn that off too...Oops

[Triggaaar]

Why are we getting these threads whining about this and that from people who've never posted here before?

[Voyager]

Well, I've never created a skin for Il-2, because, while I would like a uniquely identifiable skin, I simply don't have the skill or software to do all of the panel lines, rivets, and assorted hardware that has to be drawn on the Il-2 skins.

I'm not talking "Hello Kitty" or the neon plane either, I'm talking about a slightly different camo job so when we're all lined up in a row, we don't all look like clones.

With this a competent skinner should be able to turn out a good looking skin in an order of magnitude less time, which means instead of focusing on making one fantastic hyper-detailed skin, you can make a unique skin for every aircraft in your wing, and be able to ID everyone by sight, rather than icon, or "Hey Fred, wag your wings."

Try it and see. It is awesome to see.

[cheruskerarmin]

Thank you very much for your replies.

@Il2Pongo, that's a good point!
But i can turn the ingame weathering completely off - if i like. So it wouldn't be necessary to have a fixed rivets/lines layer.

@buglords
THX, i know your works well . Surely i am late with my critics but i don't see
any reason to avoid discussing this matter (didn't saw the discussion before, sorry).

@Trigaaar
To your knowledge - made some few posts before and joined these forums
in mid january this year. Do you have something useful to say, 'senior member', instead of offending me because of opening a new thread here? This is a discussion forum isn't it?
Hopefully this isn't the way new members are treated here.

@CharveL
I assume you haven't seen any of my works nor do you know anything about
serious skinning and the efforts required. Did you make anything useful for the IL-2 community too so far? Did i offend you or other members in any way? 'Your Hello Kitty skin' remarking is indicating arrogance and nothing else.

@David603
That's exactly what i do, using templates. Altering things
how i like them or correcting mistakes, adding own stuff etc.
I didn't make own templates so far. Surely the fixed rivets/lines
are making things easier but i finally have to accept how they are done/appear ingame.

@Voyager
Very good points, thank you for this reply. Therefore i am specializing in making squadron skinpacks (if you like take a look at them at axis & allies paintworks), they are in my opinion much more useful than a
single individual one. Creating a base skin and then making some variants. Anyway - maybe you have to be a serious skinner yourself to understand you want to make the best out of a skin you can. I can't speak for anyone but for the most calling themselves serious skinners.


I have no problem if this matter isn't important to others or if you have another opinion. That's what
forums are for, different people - different opinions.

I'm not a member complaining generally about the new game, what i've seen so far looks very well in my eyes, great job. It's just this skinning matter disturbing me - like the very most of the skinners branch. If you would belong to them - it would most likely disturb you too.

ATB

[kristorf]

Skinning has added lots to the old IL2 franchise, allowing historical missions to be flown using schemes relevant to the theatre in question.

Personally I think it will be a great shame and possibly a mistake that there will very little scope for custom skins as the only add to the game.

I have concerns over the default weathering program (I will hold judgement until I have the game) but combat aircraft are not clean and shiney, they are dirty and sooty.

Having several default schemes may suit, but even the 'standard' Scheme A&B had differances, be it roundels, panel refits, altered camo etc and it would be nice to have that option available, having clean and dirty sections, replaced rivets etc.

Just my humble two peneth worth

[Lucas_From_Hell]

Eye-candy =/= realism.

Most of the flashiest uber-cool pimp-my-'Stang skins in Il-2 could be easily called unrealistic if compared with pictures.

If you have a game that looks absolutely real, and the panel lines are modeled realistically, there's not a single reason to bother about that, is there?

Yes, warbirds sometimes don't look as awesome, as flash or as whatever as seen in game with (brilliantly done, by the way) community-made skins.

Maybe I am indeed talking shite, but one thing to keep in mind is that, no matter what, Cliffs of Dover brings a completely different, new approach - and that's worth for skinning, flying, et cetera. Instead of applying classic Il-2-approved techniques, I'd say it's more interesting to fiddle with what Cliffs of Dover has to offer.

We're talking about a way more dyinamic and complex simulator here, after all, and I'm sure the developers did keep skinning and skinners in mind during the making of this sim, as mentioned in many interviews and posts.

Just my 2p, anyway...

[csThor]

Quality-wise the defaults with their extreme compression are a disgrace for the beauty this engine can deliver. I just made a very quick test and saved a custom texture in Photoshop at max settings and got none of these damned artifacts. It shouldn't be too hard to issue high-quality versions of the current defaults in the next patch. And templates showing the 3D overlay ...