oddball idea...

[gyrene81]

I totally agree. Some of our history buffs could create a spreadsheet that could be easily read into code, and then your plane's tail number and call sign would be selected from that. For example (totally made up stuff):

plane	skin id	letters	numbers
B17G	4	L;+G	46827
B17G	4	L;+H	46828
B17G	4	L;+I	46829

Thoughts? I think there are some interesting possibilities here.

i like that idea very much. it would still have to be historical but it would simplify the creation of aircraft skins a good deal. what about squadron insignia, got any idea on that?

it would still take system resources to keep track of all the different markins in addition to skins.  but one thing that basically kills the wish at least for now is the fact that it would only bee seen in films.  in the middle of a furball, they hardly notice the markings.


semp

how does that kill the wish? the differences in the existing skins only get seen in films but that doesn't stop people from creating more skins... this is just an idea to simplify the process of skin creation while increasing variations even though they aren't as visible as the paint job.

[jeffdn]

i like that idea very much. it would still have to be historical but it would simplify the creation of aircraft skins a good deal. what about squadron insignia, got any idea on that?

Yeah, the spreadsheet could get as complex as they wanted to implement. Really, the best way would be to have a team of submitters and a web form. It's much easier to do in a database with unique keys rather than a spreadsheet, as the latter has a lot of repetition. Each plane has a list of skins, each skin (effectively a squadron/wing base coloring) would have insignia, call signs, and tail number combinations that are authorized for it, and are distributed in a to-be-determined manner.

how does that kill the wish? the differences in the existing skins only get seen in films but that doesn't stop people from creating more skins... this is just an idea to simplify the process of skin creation while increasing variations even though they aren't as visible as the paint job.

It definitely doesn't kill the wish, and furthermore, he's wrong, as in bomber formations, it peeves me when I'm in F3 mode/guns and see that all my bombers are the same exact plane. The same applies to F3 mode in the DA/TA/custom arenas, etc.

[guncrasher]

It really wouldn't. Once the textures are overlaid on the 3D model, they are there and loaded into memory. It would be no more resource intensive than it is currently.

remember each player has the possibility of having a slightly different airplanes.  so even with the same skin it still wouldnt be the same airplane.  currently in the game you see a lot of airplanes with the same skin.  for example our squad likes to fly bombers with the same skin.  now you are talking about 10 or 12 different skins on the bombers instead of only one.

semp

[gyrene81]

remember each player has the possibility of having a slightly different airplanes.  so even with the same skin it still wouldnt be the same airplane.  currently in the game you see a lot of airplanes with the same skin.  for example our squad likes to fly bombers with the same skin.  now you are talking about 10 or 12 different skins on the bombers instead of only one.

semp

it should only be 10 or 12 variations of the same skin...and if the insignia are created in 8bit 256 color scheme, they should be lower overhead than what we currently have. they wouldn't even have to be rendered outside of 1000 yards. they aren't visible outside that range now even in full zoom.

[ImADot]

Wouldn't it be the same skin, with different decals applied? Much like how a squad's noseart is applied on top of the selected skin? I hate to admit it - and I'm not playing it anymore - but that's one thing I liked about customizing your plane in War Thunder; you choose the base skin and then add a couple of decals to "personalize" your plane.

[jeffdn]

Wouldn't it be the same skin, with different decals applied? Much like how a squad's noseart is applied on top of the selected skin? I hate to admit it - and I'm not playing it anymore - but that's one thing I liked about customizing your plane in War Thunder; you choose the base skin and then add a couple of decals to "personalize" your plane.

it should only be 10 or 12 variations of the same skin...and if the insignia are created in 8bit 256 color scheme, they should be lower overhead than what we currently have. they wouldn't even have to be rendered outside of 1000 yards. they aren't visible outside that range now even in full zoom.

You guys got it exactly right. It really isn't a big resource requirement by any stretch.

[Mister Fork]

Questions for gyrene:

1. Would this be arena specific?
2. For events like FSO, you would have your squadron ICON and then your aircraft number on a generic skin?
3. Do you envision that skins would only be available for non-squadron pilots?
4. Do you think for an arena like the MA that side symbol (Knight/Rook/Bishop) would replace country symbol? I.e. on wings and tail?
5. Would aircraft number be linked to the current number in the air for that side?

[Zoney]

+1

[gyrene81]

Questions for gyrene:

1. Would this be arena specific?
2. For events like FSO, you would have your squadron ICON and then your aircraft number on a generic skin?
3. Do you envision that skins would only be available for non-squadron pilots?
4. Do you think for an arena like the MA that side symbol (Knight/Rook/Bishop) would replace country symbol? I.e. on wings and tail?
5. Would aircraft number be linked to the current number in the air for that side?

oooh, interesting questions 2-5...never even thought of that. i was just thinking more of separating the historical markings from the basic paint jobs to make it easier for the skin makers and give players more flexible variety, while maintaining the historical aspect. never thought about that much personalization and the idea wouldn't be to limit usage to specific groups.

if htc allowed squadron noseart to be part of the customization that would be very cool for special events for sure.

i never thought about chess piece symbols on the planes...especially in place of historical markings, like country symbols. if historical accuracy is to be maintained, i would think the chess piece symbols do not belong on the planes in place of country symbols.

lol, about #5, what if your aircraft number was your player ranking number? i wouldn't want to put the added burden of the server trying to dynamically change the number on planes in the air as those numbers change constantly while people are getting shot down...bad idea.

[Wiley]

I could see it working and not being that great of a resource hog if you had base skin, then an overlay with the different numbers and markings.  Not so sure about the lower res looking ok though.  Regular stuff like letters looks bad if it's pixelated.

My main technical concern is even as it stands now, loading the appropriate skin for new vehicles taxes marginal systems.  It would require an additional file be searched for and loaded per vehicle in sight.  I'd be worried about microstutters.  It's a fairly safe bet it would take a faster system to run than the current system.

I'd question if it would wind up with more people having to turn on default skin only with this level of customization versus the way it is now.

I'd like to see it though.

Wiley.

[Ack-Ack]

I like the idea but I think it would be kind of a programming nightmare to implement such a system.

ack-ack

[gyrene81]

My main technical concern is even as it stands now, loading the appropriate skin for new vehicles taxes marginal systems.  It would require an additional file be searched for and loaded per vehicle in sight.  I'd be worried about microstutters.  It's a fairly safe bet it would take a faster system to run than the current system.

I'd question if it would wind up with more people having to turn on default skin only with this level of customization versus the way it is now.

I'd like to see it though.

Wiley.

yeah not knowing how the game is programmed now makes it really difficult to say for sure one way or the other. it would be interesting to see how much difference removing all markings from skins would actually make. i know the markings are added layers.

I like the idea but I think it would be kind of a programming nightmare to implement such a system.

ack-ack

good possibility...think it would be as difficult as the changes that were made to the strat system?

[Tinkles]

I like the idea but I think it would be kind of a programming nightmare to implement such a system.

ack-ack

This.

Still a +1 though.

 

[muzik]

Good idea.

[Wiley]

yeah not knowing how the game is programmed now makes it really difficult to say for sure one way or the other. it would be interesting to see how much difference removing all markings from skins would actually make. i know the markings are added layers.

This confused me at first, but now I see what you're saying.  I don't think that's correct when it comes to the skin in the game.  When you create the skin in Gimp or Photoshop or whatever, the different markings can be layers.  However, the file the game references for a skin is a single layer, monolithic file.  To accomplish the 'base skin, add markings' thing you're talking about, you'd need to load the base skin, then the markings layer to go over it.  2 files instead of the one we currently have.  That's what I was talking about in my previous post.

Wiley.