Skin Viewer not working

[Dragon Tamer]

I don't know why but I can't view the help page for the AH Skin Viewer.

If anyone could please tell me how I can view the progress on my skin in the skin viewer that would be appreciated.

What I am doing is merging the layers together (in GIMP) saving the image as a .bmp image (making sure the image is in the AH Skins folder under the new directory).  Am I supposed to add everything else to the directory folder as well or just the image I edited (the skin)?

I also try to view it in the game but it looks like the default skin.  Again I am merging the layers and saving the file as a .bmp under a new director and titling the file.  I am also adding the .txt file that describes the image to the directory.

Thanks in advance,
Vince

[Krusty]

Well, you may benefit from a once-over of my skinning tutorial. See the link in my signature.

You need to save the file as an 8-bit (aka 256-color) BMP. You cannot use millions of colors, or even thousands of colors. That may be why it is not displaying. You also need to have it in the proper directory name as well.

[Dragon Tamer]

I have read through your link, it is where I got most of the ideas for my skin design.  I did what you said and saved to a 256 color bmp file and it did nothing other than botch a bunch of colors and ruin hours of work (no I did not save over the original file, I saved over a copied file, the original is safe on my flash drive)

How now brown cow?

[Krusty]

Re-read the part about setting the color mode to INDEXED....



You want dithering. That's what prevents the horrible color changes.

Also, if you did not save over the original work, you haven't lost those hours of effort. They still reside in your working files, right? Just save them again, and you haven't lost any progress.

You need to have the file in the right directory, you need to save the file the proper way (or it will simply not display at all, reverting to default) and you need to have the BMPs named the proper filename.

Once you have those 3 criteria it will show up.

[Dragon Tamer]

I tried what you said and saved the file after formatting it to indexed, saved it as an 8 bit .bmp and saved the file in the working directory but I still can't see the skin (did I mention that I'm using GIMP not photo shop.)

[Krusty]

What directory is it in? What plane is it for? What did you name the file?

[Dragon Tamer]

It is in the AH skins directory in it's own folder.  The plane is a B-29 and the file is named b29_2 (the image file and the folder are both named the same thing).  Does it matter if I erase the background color or not?

[Krusty]

There's your problem.

I outlined exactly the way to name the folder and the file in the tutorial. Make the folder name "b29_1"

Then....

Make the actual file "b291.bmp" (no underscore!)

You save the working files, the layered files with _1, _2, etc.... But when you export them you need to name them to over-write that default bitmap. The game is only looking for that original file name on the finished skin product.

EDIT: to clarify, if you're saving a .PSD file or whatever GIMP uses, you add the _1 and whatnot to the name. If you're saving as an 8-bit 256-color bitmap, you save as the original BMP name. Copy those defaults somewhere else if you want to get to them again later for reference. I often have them as the lowest working layer in my graphics file so I always have that layer to reference back to instantly.

[Dragon Tamer]

Krusty I think I could kiss you (but not in a gay way).  Thank you for your help.  Renaming the file worked.  Even though it still doesn't work in skin viewer, I can see the skin in the game now which is good enough for me.

[Krusty]

If it works in-game it will work in the skin viewer.

There is a plane selection drop box. Once you choose B-29, there is a SKIN selection drop box below that. It is probably on "default" but you need to select the folder name "B29_1" to tell it you want it to look there for a custom skin. If you had multiple skins in progress at the same time you could preview them all separately this way by selecting the different working folders.

[Dragon Tamer]

Nope, in skin viewer it only shows up as a shade of gray and a darker shade of gray when I have any of the modified skins selected.