We need to be able to make skins

[Zigrat]

I have played offline sims for years, and AH is my first real online sim. One thing i am missing very much though, is the ability to make custom skins. I played EAW for a long time, and one of the great things about that game were the TONS of skins, by now nearly every squadron in WW2 is represented.

There are problems with having skins in a massively multiplay sim though, in that file size and memory are big considerations, so heres my proposal:

HTC has already allowed us to modify sounds, and have different sounds for each aircraft (you can have different radial engine sound for 190, f4u, etcera based on folders). So, what if in the hanger in the game, there was a pull down menu bar that listed the skins you currently have downloaded. The skins would have to be submitted to a approved person of HTC (mabye training corps could act as a clearinghouse?) so that people wouldnt make all red skins or other such cheating things. Then, when an aircraft first came into view (popped from being a "dot" to a real 3d object) the appropriate skin could be loaded. Because large numbers of skins might drag lesser systems to a crawl, the user would have the option of using or not using custiom skins -- if not used, the current default skins would just be used (kinda like if you deletd all the folders in the sounds directory, every plane would just use the defaults in the root directory).

Superfly is doing a great job, but he is just one man, and with many of us to help him I think we would greatly expand the art potential of AH (with the map editor coming, having ability to make seasonal skins is a must)

Anyway, is there any serious problem with a scheme like this? I am not a video game programmer but it does not seem difficult to impliment compared to what HTC has already done with this great game.

[Dingy]

And I will focus all my air combat efforts on the JG2  

-Ding

[LLv34_Camouflage]

Naah, this is just fine!  

Camo

------------------
Camouflage
XO, Lentolaivue 34
 www.muodos.fi/LLv34

Brewster into AH!

"The really good pilots use their superior judgement to keep them out of situations
where they might be required to demonstrate their superior skill."

[Revvin]

I have often wondered if we could have a utility such as AW SAC(Scenery Aircraft Convertor) program for AH. Surely if skins had to be given to HTC first and then ONLY issued by HTC then strict control could be used to stop people cheating by using flourescent pink skins for enemy planes etc.

The potential of the map editor will not be used fully IMHO if we cannot also have skins for planes to give that extra realism in a scenario.

The artwork is great in AH but why not take some of the strain off the team and let the community show its support, please think about it HTC.

[Voss]

The only problem I see with this approach is that there is nothing to keep cheaters from changing ALL of the skins to some easily seen color (like the red you mentioned). I'm sure HT could find a solution, though.

I, for one, am ready, willing, and able to start cranking out skins!

Fo now, though, the terrain editor is eagerly awaited.  

 

[Nash]

... and I will enthusiastically assist Dingy in this most noble and just undertaking. Death to the JG2 weenies!  

[miko2d]

 They will probably allow us to have squad logos - 32x32 or 64x64 bitmaps to be displayed on the side of the aircraft. They are small, require practically no management, simple to implement in the code and are not visible at any distance other then close formation flying. So the gameplay will not be affected.

 Now, the skins affect gameplay greatly. Some planes are practically invisible over the water or over the ground or in front of a clouds. That makes a huge difference even close and with icons. We may possibly have no or reduced icons arenas/events like WB HA.
 So approval of all the skins will cause lots of arguments.
 Also the skins are large, so the downloads of them all will take a lot of time. Once you have a bunch of skins for an aircraft, it will be much harder decision for the company to modify the graphics because it will invalidate all the skins...
 Imagine someone cracking the skin file format. What would prevent someone from making all the skins bright pink so he can see the enemies better?
 There will have to be compression and encoding and verification and distributing that information.

 Now, for all that trouble how many new customers will get attracted to the game because of that new feature - a couple? A dozen? Many people, myself included, do not care about paricular historic squad that much, the existing graphics is good and realistic enough for us. Anyway, the plane I would care to see skinned would be my own plane, not the enemy planes (and I cannot control which skins the enemy will fly anyway - 99% most will fly the most invisible skin, not the one I would like to see). And there is no way for me to see my own skin. I may as well imagine that the skin is there and save the trouble.
 And speaking of realism, how many pilots could repaint their aircraft in real life? Didn't they fly the plane assigned to them?

 How many existing customers will be lost if that new feature is implemented (even if it works perfectly, without cheating) - plenty. Why is that - simple. While spending time on the stupid skins, they will not be working on more important aspects of the game - strategy, clouds, more planes, terrains, etc. They have to keep the old players interested by introducing really new features and keep up with the competition.

 Hitech stated in a recent interview that there is no way there will be player-contributed skins in this game, so this question is purely academic.

Regards,
miko--

[Zigrat]

Miko i don't think you quite understood what i was saying..

As to losing customers because of this feature, i dont understand how that could happen. My whole point was that I understand HTC is a small company, and that we the users could help them with the skinning. I love all the skins they ahve made, but I would just like more.

I also believe you are very incorrect about your assessment of the number of people wh enjoy "painting" aircraft in sims. If you ever go over to the EAW forums at combatsim you will see what I mean.

As for cheating, thats why I said each skin wuold need to be approved by HiTech, who could then pack them up in some of proprietary form (whatever they use now).

And as to download times, thats why it would be an option. If you wished to use the default skins, you could do so, no problem. Also, you would select if you wanted OTHERS to view you as default skin, so if you wanted your c.205 to stay in desert camo, it would do so.

As to whether or not they could paint their planes: the aces could, and did. Look at some of the websites with the VAST number of beautiful schemes, and you'll see what I mean.

[Thzone]

Well, they could always leave the normal skins on planes other than the one that the person flying is in, that way you couldn't change the enemies to be easier to see. As in, there is a folder with standard skins (unalterable) and custom (easily modified) and the custom only go on the plane that the person is flying.

Zone

[MarkVZ]

From the interview of HTC on furball:
 http://furball.dogfighter.com/wbnews/wbn021b.html

 

So, that's it, the dog and pony show over we adjurn to Dale's office where I sit, a little stunned at how far they've come and start asking questions off the top of my head. Mostly about how they make this stuff.
Multi-Gen is the answer, they say. A few things, like the secondary explosion are made in 3d-Studio Max but that most of it is MG. After a brief demonstration of why they can never ever let people make their own skins we start talking about the business end of things.

End-Of-Story

------------------
Mark VanZwoll
33rd Strike Group

[Westy]

 What Markvz said.

 And about folks using it to make it easy to spot enemy planes to get an edge? If they need that edge so much then they suck. Bad.
 
 -Westy

[SFRT - Frenchy]

   I did about 10 skins for AW3 Sac at the time, I would love to do some for AH if able to do so by converting them to a specific format.
   For those who fear the 'red' planes. Well, fear nothing. From what range do u start to be able to see camos on planes? Not so much right? Even at D400 I still can't see those 2 big red dots on the niki's wing, or yellow nose of BF109.
   Being able to edit camos is more a matter of enjoying his plane marking on replays rather than a mistical online killing help.

------------------
Olivier "Frenchy" Raunier
       www.sfrt.net
home.CFL.rr.com/rauns/menu.htm

[This message has been edited by SFRT - Frenchy (edited 06-02-2000).]