We have all sometimes cringed at some of the default paint schemes in IL2. Some of them are very good, while some are just simply horrible(remember the green slime colored Bf109E-4 of old version!!!), and then others are...just not cool.
So, here is how you change the DEFAULT paint scheme of any plane in IL2
Background infoDefault paint schemes are not like the skins in your skins folders. They are embedded in the game's SFS files. But as you know, any file in your mods folder, identical to a file in the SFS files, will get loaded instead of the one in the SFS file.
So what does a default skin file look like?
The best thing is to have a look inside the folders of some new modded planes. Some of them will have their own default skin folder for you to look at.
The file level that default skins lie at in the mods folder is here
IL-2 Sturmovik 1946\MODS\callthisfolderanything\3do\Plane\LaGG-3series4\....
Inside the LaGG's folder you will find one or more folders , called "Summer" or "Winter",
Sometimes, there will be more than one folder of a plane, like the 109G-2 has 3 separate folders that EACH contain a summer or winter folder with a different default skin. there is the normal Bf-109G-2, then there is a Bf-109G-2(fi) and a Bf-109G-2(sk)
But first, and explanation of these folder names:You will have noticed sometimes when you select a plane, and you change it's country, its default skin also sometimes change. Well, written into the classfile of some planes is the directive that certain countries have their own skins for certain planes, and you can see this by the name of the folder that the default skin folder is in
for example the default skin folder called "summer" for all countries except Finland and Slovakia, is in the folder called Bf-109G-2, Finland's default skin in a in Bf-109G-2(fi) and so on.
Then in cases where a winter map is used, or a desert map, the name of the folder with the default skin will direct the game to it, eg "summer" or "desert"....you can see reference to the primary default skin in the air.ini file too.
But this is all just for interest, and you will need some other advanced skills for that all to make sense. Dont worry about it...
Lets just go get a new default skin!
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Doing this is actually very easy. You will of course need a MOD ENABLED game.
IL2's default skins are not like the single .bmp files in your skins folder. IL2 uses a format that requires 4 files.
3 x tga files and 1 tgb file.
Example:
the summer skin folder of the Bf-109G-2 contains:
3DO/Plane/Bf-109G-2/summer/skin1o.tga
3DO/Plane/Bf-109G-2/summer/skin1o.tgb
3DO/Plane/Bf-109G-2/summer/skin1p.tga
3DO/Plane/Bf-109G-2/summer/skin1q.tga
And that is the format the default skins get stored in.
When IL2 loads a skin from your skins folders, it does not use the bmp file directly. It CONVERTS it to its own format, the 4 file format, and stores that in a temporary folder.
So...if you can get to that file in that temporary folder, then, you can have a new default skin of your choice, already formatted.
Here is how you get it:
Open your Config.ini file and set the entry "ClearCache" to "0"
If your config ini does not have a clearcache entry, put it in yourself, under the [game] directory
ClearCache=0
Remember to change this back to "1" when you are all finished with everything!
Launch your game.
If you like, you can open the folder at
IL-2 Sturmovik 1946\PaintSchemes\Cache
while playing and look whats happening ( I have two screens , so this is easy, but work it out for yourself)
If you go into QMB, pick a plane, and select a skin for it, IL2 will store that skin in it's own 4file format, inside your IL-2 Sturmovik 1946\PaintSchemes\Cache folder.
All YOU need to do, is to find it, identify it, and put it into your mods folder in the correct structure.
And that's it!
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TIPS: This will only work with skins you pick in your skins folder. IL2 will not convert and cache int OWN default skins, only ones YOU load.
TIPS: If you want to use a default skin from an old version of the game for a new version (like the original green LaGG3 skin), you will have to use SFS extractor to get it. Because, once again, IL2 does not cache it's OWN defaults.
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As an example, download this and defrost it into your mods folder. It is actually the old green default skin of the LaGG3, which I just like more than the new one..
EXAMPLE REPLACED DEFAULT SKIN: https://storebror.it.cx/sas/archive/sas/cirxware/ExampleDefaultSkins.zip******************************************************************************
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edit by Gerax:About ...\summer, ..\winter etc:
You can have there: "summer", "winter", "desert", "cbi", "eto", "mto", "pacific".
"cbi" is China, Burma,Indonesia: Sumatra map etc.,
"mto" is Mediterranean Theatre of Ops: Italy map etc.,
"pacific" is Pacific Th.of Ops: NetIslans, Hawaii etc.,
"desert" is North Africa: MTO, SandsOfTime map etc.,
"eto" is European Theatre of Ops: Normandy, Channel maps etc.,
"summer" means Eastern Front: Stalingrad, Lliv maps etc.,
"winter" means Winter maps.
find this terms in the Maps load.ini files in the line:
"CAMOUFLAGE = XXXXX".
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Here is a another very good explanation by 4./JG53_Badger:
https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,32814.0.html
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Topic: Default skin paint schemes and how to change them (Read 66849 times)
