There are two ways to start.
1) Open up AH2. Go offline. Open the hangar. Right click on the plane you want to skin. Save that skin ("Save default skin" or some such option). Exit AH2
OR
2) Open AH2 Skin viewer. Select your plane. Underneat the plane list drop box is a button called "Save textures". Click it. Close AH2 skin viewer.
THEN:
both of those will do the same thing.
Now find the directory. Under Program Files you should have HTC\Aces High II\Skins\, open this directory up. Whatever plane you want to skin (let's use the 190a5 as an example) will be named after that plane. You will find a directory named after the plane, such as "190a5". First, RENAME that directory. Add a "1" after it, so it is "190a51" * (or p51d1 or 109e41, whatever you are using).
* = Once you start doing more skins, you would use the next available number, such as 190a52, 190a53, etc, up to 15 I believe.
Now go in this folder and the main file you want is usually called the plane name with a number after it. There are a lot of files. Many are things you don't want to bother with (instrument needles, blood splatters, oil, damage, bullet holes, cockpit, etc). In my case I was editing "190a51.bmp". Just open the files until you find the file(s) with the wings and/or fuselage. Older skins have 2 files, one for wings and one for fuselage. The new skins have these all on the same file, like 190s, ki84, etc.
Open this file in Photoshop or PSP, whatever editing program you like. It is REALLY beneficial if you have a program that supports layers. Edit away! Use the file you opened as a template. It will have lots of areas like gear, wheels, flaps, etc. You can just reskin what you want (I'm guessing the wings and fuselage areaas, like the outsides of the plane).
WHEN YOU'RE DONE:
Want to test it? Well save the file, flatten all your layers (do NOT save over your working file after you flatten the layers!). Then it has to be in 8-bit color. In Photoshop this means Image > Mode > indexed color > adaptive, 256 colors, dither best and hit OKAY. Save as the original bitmap name (in my case "190a51.bmp").
Either open up AH2 and go to the hangar (AH in-game checking looks a lot better, but it takes longer) or open up AH2 skins viewer, select your plane, then in the second drop box select the name of the DIRECTORY you're working in ("190a51" and "190a52" for me). It will pull the skin from this directory and display it in the viewer. The lighting isn't perfect and you can miss a few problems, but it's much more convenient than starting up AH2.
Whew.. long long post. Hope you get some use from it.
