Ice covered skins.

[lyric1]

Question why do some skins look like they have just been in a ice storm and others do not? Plus how can I get rid of this effect. I see Panthers that they are glazed over like sugar coated doughnuts.
From a distance they all look like Winter skins.

[Nefarious]

I think...  These are skins that have not been updated yet and they have the specular map turned up on them.

[BuckShot]

Is this why some OD 51Bs look like someone went to town on them with a can of wax and a buffer wheel?

[Fencer51]

There are three files which effect how light works on the skins.  The environment file can create a mirror like finish if it is set to high.  Most skins you have not seen posted here lately (IE OLD) have been given a "Normal" file and a "Spec" file but not the "Enviro" or "Power" files.  Using "Dale Math" the absence of those two files are taken into account and you can get some weird effects.  I will be updating all 100+ of my skins but it is going to take some time.  (3 P-51Ds submitted so far)

[lyric1]

There are three files which effect how light works on the skins.  The environment file can create a mirror like finish if it is set to high.  Most skins you have not seen posted here lately (IE OLD) have been given a "Normal" file and a "Spec" file but not the "Enviro" or "Power" files.  Using "Dale Math" the absence of those two files are taken into account and you can get some weird effects.  I will be updating all 100+ of my skins but it is going to take some time.  (3 P-51Ds submitted so far)

So what era are we talking about when we say old?
Here is a few examples that are not old skins in the grand scheme of things compared to AHI stuff.

Glazed doughnut Tiger II.





UN-glazed.





Glazed Panther.





UN-glazed.





My main point on this is people who are using a skin that they think will work well due to its camouflage scheme are sadly mistaken.
Once they realize that there all green tank on an all green AHIII map in reality is a pile of snow driving about on a black chalkboard.
Then all the work you skinners have put into a skin will be wasted because people will stop using them.

[Fencer51]

Anything that was done before AH3.  Note Greebo is updating all his skins.  Those he has completed and a handful of others done by a couple guys are the only ones with all the files.

[Devil 505]

Anything that was done before AH3.  Note Greebo is updating all his skins.  Those he has completed and a handful of others done by a couple guys are the only ones with all the files.

All skins form before the first generation of bump mapping in AH2 will look high gloss. AH3 did allow for conversion of the AH2 skins with a bump and specular mapping, but there are some of those that have bugs from the conversion process, resulting in high gloss or super bumping.

[Skuzzy]

All skins form before the first generation of bump mapping in AH2 will look high gloss. AH3 did allow for conversion of the AH2 skins with a bump and specular mapping, but there are some of those that have bugs from the conversion process, resulting in high gloss or super bumping.

Not quite accurate.

Many of the AH2 skins did not get submitted with bump maps or material files, which meant using a canned default for those skins, which is not going to look very good for many skins.  So when you see a shiny OD skin, it is because the skinner did not submit a bump map or material file with the skin.

Eventually, those skins are going to get removed, if the skinner is no longer available to update them.

[Greebo]

Why does the game default to white bitmaps if there is no skinner-supplied material file or bump map? If it defaulted to dark grey bitmaps the older skins would look much much better.

[Skuzzy]

Why does the game default to white bitmaps if there is no skinner-supplied material file or bump map? If it defaulted to dark grey bitmaps the older skins would look much much better.

I would not pretend to know exactly what happens when none of the maps are available with the skin, as it pertains to the defaults used for rendering.  Could things change?  Sure they could.  Are they going to?  I am not in a position to say.

[Owlblink]

Not quite accurate.

Many of the AH2 skins did not get submitted with bump maps or material files, which meant using a canned default for those skins, which is not going to look very good for many skins.  So when you see a shiny OD skin, it is because the skinner did not submit a bump map or material file with the skin.

Eventually, those skins are going to get removed, if the skinner is no longer available to update them.

Could you just temporarly put in a generic bump map/meterial file? Create one and just edit something quick and simple so it doesnt use the auto default effects? Than, if they are adjusted by the skinner later they. An be updated or removed to make room as new ones come along.

[Skuzzy]

Could you just temporarly put in a generic bump map/meterial file? Create one and just edit something quick and simple so it doesnt use the auto default effects? Than, if they are adjusted by the skinner later they. An be updated or removed to make room as new ones come along.

We no longer use bump or material files.  Those were all converted when we moved to Aces High III, to normal and specular maps.  There is no such thing as a generic normal map.  Each plane has a unique normal map, but if the skinner moved as much as one rivet, then a different normal map would be needed from the default.

There is no real easy solution when dealing with converting over 1,000 skins.  Some were going to look bad, some were not.  We'll get it all sorted out, eventually.

[Vraciu]

We no longer use bump or material files.  Those were all converted when we moved to Aces High III, to normal and specular maps.  There is no such thing as a generic normal map.  Each plane has a unique normal map, but if the skinner moved as much as one rivet, then a different normal map would be needed from the default.

There is no real easy solution when dealing with converting over 1,000 skins.  Some were going to look bad, some were not.  We'll get it all sorted out, eventually.

Your best bet is still something neutral.   Even an all-purple normal map (until it is revised/adopted/updated--or eliminated) looks better than a misaligned one.

 

[Greebo]

I'd like to see the game apply a set of stock files to any skin that lacks bump maps etc. The ideal would be a blank normal map, a very dark environment map, a less dark power map and an even less dark spec map. Being blank these files would compress down to nothing in the download and it would then need some code for the game to recognise such a skin and apply the maps.

HTC went to a load of trouble to make AH3 look better so why spoil the effort by ruining the look of so many skins when a fairly simple change could make all the difference? Deleting the skins seems draconian given all the work that went into creating them. Personally I have over 350 skins in the game. I don't know how many of those are affected by this but its likely to be well over 100. Even if I stopped making new and default skins it would take me years to update them all.

[Skuzzy]

Deleting skins, which would never get updated, due to the skinner no longer being here, frees up slots for active skinners.

Greebo, you know as well as I do, a hand updated skin is going to look miles better than anything we can do with a generic conversion.

I agree different maps would yield different results and if we look at each skin we could come up with a better set for that skin, but that is something we cannot do, at the moment.  There are simply too many to look at, one at a time.

I have not had time to look at each skin and make any determinations as to what to do.  Right now we are only talking possible actions.  Nothing has been done and nothing will be done until we can get some time to review all the skins.

My priority is to get the skin admin tool completed which has a lot of background work related to moving from AH2 to AH3.  Once that is out of the way, then a skin review might be possible.  I cannot commit to anything yet.