Special Aircraft Service

Battlefield - Airborne - Tactical (BAT) => BAT Downloads => Topic started by: whistler on December 22, 2016, 02:20:22 AM

Title: B.A.T. Skin Collection v4
Post by: whistler on December 22, 2016, 02:20:22 AM
(https://i.postimg.cc/90m0xnD0/BAT-Skin-Collection.jpg)
Around 10.000 Skins for B.A.T. Version 4

>> download link at the bottom! <<

THE SOURCES:
My deepest respect, admiration and gratefulness to all IL-2 artists.

THE DOWNLOADS:

Download, extract, move...

If you are starting a fresh skin repository you might need the IL-2_1946_4.12.2_Skins.zip (https://www.mediafire.com/file/ofd5jhss8vmgvqy/IL-2_1946_4.12.2_Skins.zip/file) (~750MB) and skin artists may find of interest the BAT_SkinCollection_VOIDS.zip (https://www.mediafire.com/file/05f6cxrlwb3juft/BAT_SkinCollection_VOIDS.zip/file) (~11MB)

Changelog:
Code: [Select]
* Dec-2016: C.U.P. Skin Collection v1
* Jan-2017: B.A.T. Skin Collection v2
* Mar-2017: B.A.T. Skin Collection v3
* Oct-2020: B.A.T. Skin Collection v4
See you in the skies! whistler, Oct 2020.
Title: Re: C.U.P. Skin Collection ready to download [cup]
Post by: whistler on December 22, 2016, 02:46:24 AM
No need to say that many skins are sometimes compatible with other variants of the same aircraft, if you like one particular skin or skin set that is not available for one type, you can try duplicating and renaming the aircraft skin folder to that other aircraft slot... it may work!
Title: Re: C.U.P. Skin Collection ready to download [cup]
Post by: spartan18a on December 22, 2016, 03:33:16 AM
Greatly organized, neat and tidy thread. Thumbs up!

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: C.U.P. Skin Collection ready to download
Post by: Gaston on December 22, 2016, 03:52:00 AM
Thanks a lot ! Just hope they are LoRez, no HiRez ! Better compatibility between game versions !
Title: Re: C.U.P. Skin Collection ready to download [cup]
Post by: whistler on December 22, 2016, 04:06:19 AM
Hi Gaston,

I did not change any skin, anything that was included in the packs/compilations described in the topic are now part of these packs. You will find there are HD skins there, in example the short-sunderland comes with 12MB skins! and yes, I noticed myself a slight delay while loading these skins... but you know what? low-res skins remain low-res skins no matter what, but HD skins can be easily resized to lower resolutions!

If you search for *.bmp files, and order the results by size, you will see all HD skins...
Title: Re: C.U.P. Skin Collection ready to download
Post by: urmel on December 22, 2016, 07:27:58 AM
Thanks whistler!
Title: Re: C.U.P. Skin Collection ready to download [cup]
Post by: Captain Dawson on December 22, 2016, 11:32:19 AM
Outstanding, thank you Whistler!  :)  I can now add even more to my 17,000 file paintschemes folder!
Title: Re: C.U.P. Skin Collection ready to download [cup]
Post by: whistler on December 22, 2016, 12:50:06 PM
Quote from: Captain Dawson on December 22, 2016, 11:32:19 AM
Outstanding, thank you Whistler!  :)  I can now add even more to my 17,000 file paintschemes folder!

Captain, if there is one single skin in these packs that you did not already have, then mate it was well worth the effort! :P Remember this was put together with C.U.P. in mind.

I noticed that the complete CUP set comes with as little as 125 skins, and that was a good decision: skins can be added later anyway and CUP does not grow in size unnecessarily. Skins are also a matter of personal taste, and while the default skins are always top quality I thought we should have more choices. On the other hand this is a way to preserve aging but good-looking skins (there are in these packs skins dating back 2001).

We can further refine these sets focusing on quality or we can build upon it. It would be cool to have (as a starting point) a few, just a few, top-quality theater-defining skins for EACH and EVERY aircraft available in CUP... but that takes time, research, knowledge and more importantly, brave decision making!

Again, this is a collection of previous compilations, nothing was left out without a good reason (aircraft not compatible or not in CUP), and I did not add any extra skin myself. I would like to credit each and every skin creator but man, that is just not possible. Some skins come with signatures, others don't. My deepest respect, admiration and gratefulness to all IL-2 artists.

Title: Re: C.U.P. Skin Collection ready to download [cup]
Post by: CDS025_DOGO on December 22, 2016, 06:36:59 PM
Whaaaaa  :-*, That great quantity of skins for the CUP, very grateful, Merry Christmas for the foristas of the SAS.

Sorry I do not speak English  :-X
Title: Re: C.U.P. Skin Collection ready to download
Post by: urmel on December 23, 2016, 07:34:02 AM
Nice Skins,many thanks for sharing.
Title: Re: C.U.P. Skin Collection ready to download [cup]
Post by: SGT68 on December 23, 2016, 08:46:03 AM
I want to extract the whole two files into my paintschemes\skins folder. Will the game intelligently load only the corresponding skin folders to the entiries it finds in air.ini or does the whole folder get loaded?
Title: Re: C.U.P. Skin Collection ready to download [cup]
Post by: whistler on December 23, 2016, 09:53:52 AM
Hey SGT68, not sure I understand your question. I believe having 17.000 or 0 skins makes little difference performance-wise (other than disk fragmentation). The engine reads the aircraft folder and/or skin only when it needs to.

You select an aircraft - the engine reads the aircraft folder for available skins and loads the current skin
You start a mission - the engine loads all flyable/AI aircraft skins for that mission
...

A skin guru or engine expert can confirm this.
Title: Re: C.U.P. Skin Collection ready to download [cup]
Post by: SGT68 on December 23, 2016, 10:53:36 AM
Quote from: whistler on December 23, 2016, 09:53:52 AM
The engine reads the aircraft folder and/or skin only when it needs to.

you've answered my question. thanks
Title: Re: C.U.P. Skin Collection ready to download [cup]
Post by: whistler on December 24, 2016, 08:28:18 AM
OPTIONAL EXTRA: C.U.P. Skin Collection v1 RESIZED

If for whatever reason you do not want large or HD skins, all skins larger than 1024x1024 or 1 MB have been edited in this last pack:
Copy these edited skins over any CUP Skin Collection Pack v1

Find download links in the first post.
Title: Re: C.U.P. Skin Collection becomes B.A.T. Skin Collection [bat]
Post by: whistler on January 04, 2017, 10:15:16 AM
So now we have B.A.T. and we must say farewell to C.U.P. - Let's start fresh with this skin collection, shall we?

C.U.P. Skin Collection becomes B.A.T. Skin Collection - CHECK FIRST POST! ;D

Title: Re: C.U.P. Skin Collection becomes B.A.T. Skin Collection [bat]
Post by: GEORGES44 on January 04, 2017, 10:42:04 AM
 Many thanks for this very useful collection: d/l now

Happy 2017
Title: Re: C.U.P. Skin Collection becomes B.A.T. Skin Collection [bat]
Post by: SAS~Monty27 on January 07, 2017, 10:41:30 AM
Can't thank you enough Whistler, a brilliant thread!  8)
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection
Post by: SpongeBob on January 17, 2017, 11:18:37 AM
Hi Whisler,
thank you very much for your contribution. I've downloaded and extracted your skin collections to complete my BAT installation.
I've also included the fix following the instructions in the Readme. Everything seems to be correct, but there is something that was difficult to understand at the beggining: you say that after running the .bat file you can open with a text editor to see the changes that have been done.

I wasn't able to open the .bat file by right clicking, because only an open option was listed, no open with... available. When I clicked onto open, I only managed to run again the file.

SOLVED:
Something stupid on my behalf  :-[. Later I realized that I could open the text editor in the first place, select open in the menu, select 'all files' in the extension, look for the .bat file in the Skins folder and open it.
Voilà, I finally could see what changes had been made.

Just telling this for anyone that gets stuck by the same silly problem.
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection
Post by: whistler on January 18, 2017, 04:23:30 AM
Hi SpongeBob. Yes, well done, or you can open notepad and drag and drop the batch file. As you noticed, only a few skins are no longer compatible with recent mods in BAT and they get deleted.

I recently found a new source with many skins and I am putting together a Vol 2 of the B.A.T. Skin Collection. I think this is a worthwhile project for those new to BAT that may feel overwhelmed with so many sources to choose from - where do I start? Also as I previously stated this is a good way to preserve old skins that still look great today.
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection
Post by: CDS025_DOGO on January 18, 2017, 06:26:57 PM
Whistler, Work is much appreciated, my thanks for working size.
Greetings and I hope that Vol 2 with anxious !!!  8)
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection
Post by: Toasted_Toad on January 29, 2017, 12:51:17 AM
So much skin it feels like I've got psoriasis.  :)

Great job Whistler.
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection
Post by: kirk66 on January 29, 2017, 11:47:33 AM
Ok, sorry for this newby question, but do I extract the skin zips directly into the "skins" folder?

I know this sounds really basic, but I seem to be having issues finding the FM to RT!

Thanks

vulture
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection
Post by: whistler on January 29, 2017, 12:43:11 PM
Extract the zips anywhere, then make sure to move the BAT_Skin_Collection_X\PaintSchemes folder to your IL-2 root folder. Allow overwrite when asked.
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection
Post by: Barkhorn1x on January 31, 2017, 05:49:42 PM
Tried d/l'ing the 2nd big BAT file and it takes me to a security risk web page.  The others d/l OK. Is there a solution to this issue.
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection
Post by: whistler on February 01, 2017, 01:24:41 AM
The zips contain nothing but folders, textures, some inis and a text file. Your Antivirus, anti malware or the browser itself are blocking the page for whatever reason. Disable your security applications and try with a different browser. The page loads fine from here.
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection
Post by: Barkhorn1x on February 01, 2017, 10:47:39 AM
Quote from: whistler on February 01, 2017, 01:24:41 AM
The zips contain nothing but folders, textures, some inis and a text file. Your Antivirus, anti malware or the browser itself are blocking the page for whatever reason. Disable your security applications and try with a different browser. The page loads fine from here.

Yea, I get that. Odd the other 2 worked.  No worries. Got it via another PC.
Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v2 (18-Mar-2017)
Post by: whistler on March 18, 2017, 12:29:44 PM
B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v2

Version 2 comes with around 1.100 new Skins not found in version 1, and it includes all previous fixes. If you already downloaded v1 please excuse I do not provide incremental downloads: it is difficult to keep track of changes when we are talking thousands of skins. Version 2 also comes with all official B.A.T. Skins up to Expansion Pack 7...
   
All details and download links in the first post.
Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v2 (18-Mar-2017)
Post by: jpten on March 19, 2017, 12:08:20 PM
While there is a difference of opinion on skin hacks and the current state of the game has rendered some hacks no longer needed, may I suggest one that I use a lot, a skin hack for the SU-2 as a Blackburn SKUA carrier dive bomber and fighter.  http://www.mission4today.com/index.php?name=Downloads2&file=details&id=7370
Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v2 (18-Mar-2017)
Post by: tarakanz on March 21, 2017, 11:07:07 AM
Where to download separately the Mirage 3? :o
Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v2 (18-Mar-2017)
Post by: Ivan-le-Rouge on March 22, 2017, 02:18:39 PM
Last part downloading. Thanks for this great idea after nearly 10 years my skin folder is quite messy...
Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v2 (18-Mar-2017)
Post by: whistler on March 23, 2017, 02:04:20 PM
Out of sheer curiosity, what is it that people like so much about VOID skins? You can 'easily' customize them sure, but 500 downloads already? This is freaking me out a little :P

(https://s16.postimg.cc/bas4yzsol/downloads.png)
Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v2 (18-Mar-2017)
Post by: tnewell on March 23, 2017, 02:43:22 PM
Whistler, Thank-you for all these BAT skins. P.S., no voids here! Thanks again. Regards.
Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v2 (18-Mar-2017)
Post by: SAS~Monty27 on April 03, 2017, 03:31:27 AM
Voids are useful for skinners who make templates out of them.  Maybe we have a load of skinners working on these?
Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v3 (15-Apr-2017)
Post by: whistler on April 15, 2017, 11:05:59 AM
B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v3

v1: 543 Aircraft / 5.807 Skins!
v2: 585 Aircraft / 6.925 Skins!
v3: 700 Aircraft / 8.542 Skins! - B.A.T. skin madness goes on :P

What's new?
All details and download links in the first post.
Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v2 (18-Mar-2017)
Post by: whistler on April 15, 2017, 12:43:14 PM
Quote from: jpten on March 19, 2017, 12:08:20 PM
While there is a difference of opinion on skin hacks and the current state of the game has rendered some hacks no longer needed, may I suggest one that I use a lot, a skin hack for the SU-2 as a Blackburn SKUA carrier dive bomber and fighter.  http://www.mission4today.com/index.php?name=Downloads2&file=details&id=7370

Hi Jpten

You can easily add those to your own collection! I won't include single-aircraft packs or any download that anyone could add with little effort to his/her collection. As you very well say skins are a matter of personal preference and I myself maintain a separate folder with my favorite skins and skin-sets. The goal of this collection is to include (preferably large) sources containing many skins of many different aircraft/theaters and make sure folders match the B.A.T. aircraft slot names. Variety, quality and quantity. This collection is pretty large already (10GB unzipped) but disk space should not be a problem these days.
Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v3 (15-Apr-2017)
Post by: tnewell on April 15, 2017, 01:55:07 PM
Whistler, thank-you for version 3. A great time saver.  :D
Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v3 (15-Apr-2017)
Post by: lyteyr on April 15, 2017, 04:20:03 PM
thank you whistler!  we all appreciated your hard work! nice and neat too.

lyteyr

Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v3 (15-Apr-2017)
Post by: crs101 on April 17, 2017, 08:44:28 PM
Hello whistler ! :D

Nice and huge skin collection...BIG THANKS!

Dreamed for years for this to happen.

Cheers
Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v3 (15-Apr-2017)
Post by: TheOligopolist on May 19, 2017, 02:09:26 AM
It must have taken a not insignificant amount of time to compile all these. Thank you for taking the time, it's very appreciated.
Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v3 (15-Apr-2017)
Post by: whistler on May 20, 2017, 04:43:05 AM
Thanks TheOligopolist. I almost gave up in the beginning but it has been fun from the first release and on.

I have some more skin packs ready but v4 will see the light once Monty releases his B.A.T. WIP Campaigns (This collection needs a good jet-skins upgrade and I am sure Monty will deliver!)

I found some mistakes lately in v3. Find in the first post an updated BAT_Skin_Collection_v3_FIXES_20-05-2017.zip
 
It contains previous fixes plus:
Code: [Select]
del "He-219Uhu\He-219_v4.bmp"
del "He-219Uhu\He-219_D5+CN_v4.bmp"
del "He-219Uhu\He-219_TH+_v4.bmp"

del "SeaHawk\Banshee RCN 464 (1024).bmp"
del "SeaHawk\VF-194 Banshee (1024).bmp"
if not exist "F2H-3" mkdir "F2H-3"
move "SeaHawk\Banshee RCN 464 (2048).bmp" "F2H-3\"
move "SeaHawk\VF-194 Banshee (2048).bmp" "F2H-3\"

if not exist "F-16A_Block10" mkdir "F-16A_Block10"
move "F-16C_Block30\ALABAMA_3xxxx_2048.bmp" "F-16A_Block10\"
move "F-16C_Block30\alaska-agressor14.bmp" "F-16A_Block10\"
move "F-16C_Block30\alaska-agressor32.bmp" "F-16A_Block10\"
move "F-16C_Block30\F-2.bmp" "F-16A_Block10\"
move "F-16C_Block30\F-16A_Thunderbird-06.bmp" "F-16A_Block10\"
move "F-16C_Block30\F-16C_POLAND-4040.bmp" "F-16A_Block10\"
move "F-16C_Block30\F-16C_POLAND-4044.bmp" "F-16A_Block10\"
move "F-16C_Block30\ned2.bmp" "F-16A_Block10\"
move "F-16C_Block30\RS-SHARK.bmp" "F-16A_Block10\"
move "F-16C_Block30\SP.bmp" "F-16A_Block10\"
move "F-16C_Block30\VA.bmp" "F-16A_Block10\"

del "A-1H\1x1024.bmp"
del "A-1H\2x1024.bmp"
del "A-1H\3x1024.bmp"
del "A-1H\4x1024.bmp"
del "A-1H\5x1024.bmp"
del "A-1H\6x1024.bmp"
del "A-1H\7x1024.bmp"
del "A-1H\8x1024.bmp"
del "A-1H\9x1024.bmp"
del "A-1H\10x1024.bmp"
del "A-1H\11x1024.bmp"
Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v3 (15-Apr-2017)
Post by: KingTiger503 on February 19, 2018, 08:22:35 AM
whistler, you can try Torrent for the Printjob. it is easy to do this.
Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v3 (15-Apr-2017)
Post by: whistler on February 20, 2018, 02:46:58 AM
Feel free to create it and share it with us! ;)
Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v3 (15-Apr-2017)
Post by: steph12 on July 27, 2018, 10:11:25 AM
Well, what can I say? except a huge and hearty thank you!
Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v3 (15-Apr-2017)
Post by: munty on October 24, 2018, 12:35:45 PM
Hello Whistler, thank you very much for you good recopilation work, awesome!!
I have skins pretty worked, in my humble opinion, for about 8 aircraft from the Spanish Civil War (I am spaniard, it is my subject), originals and that nobody else has used. If you are interested to test them, and to anyone who is working on future versions that include airplanes of that time, tell me, please. Thanks again for your great job!!
Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v3 (15-Apr-2017)
Post by: whistler on October 24, 2018, 01:27:28 PM
Please do share your skins munty! Since there is no dedicated SCW section in the boards you can post them in the Skinshop (https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/board,99.0.html)...
Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v3 (15-Apr-2017)
Post by: munty on October 25, 2018, 03:52:59 AM
OK, Whistler, I'll do it this weekend.
Thanks again and cheers!
Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v3 (15-Apr-2017)
Post by: taraboulba on November 21, 2018, 01:23:32 PM
Hi Whistler,


Thanks a lot for this very clean and  nice  sharing.
Another bit of Il2 Community magic.
Best Regards

Tara
Title: Re: B.A.T. Retrospective Skin Collection v3 (15-Apr-2017)
Post by: Sharkzz on November 22, 2018, 03:18:41 AM
WoW this is fantastic !
Thank you Whistler .. brilliant work .much appreciated.
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v3
Post by: chameleon on May 15, 2019, 06:33:24 PM
Guys, i try to resize skins from BAT-pack to 4K by ESRGAN neural network... And it turned out great. Well, in most cases.

Some planes looks great. Pe-8, G4M, He-111
Stock 1K
(http://forum.aviaskins.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=60144&d=1556443574)
4K
(http://forum.aviaskins.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=60142&d=1556443574)

Some - weird. IL-2, MiG-3, for example...

Now checked
B-17 - error on wing root
MiG-3 - mapping shift
I-16 - some errors
Yaks, IL-4 - some skin bad, some - good.
Interpolation error - IL-2, Ju-88, Pe-2, Tu-2, C-47 and co...
R-5, U-2, IL-10 - very sharp.

Good
La, LaGG, I-153, I-15, Pe-8, G4M, He-111, F4F, Me-262, He-162, MS.406, Bf-109 and other germans...

I posted first on Aviaskins - http://forum.aviaskins.com/showthread.php?t=5227

Code: [Select]
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:688696C53088AD32DF164C0A07053D6D755511FD&tr=http%3A%2F%2Fbt3.t-ru.org%2Fann%3Fmagnet
I need help to check all of skins to error or need to rework.
And if somebody want to see another skin in 4K - first i resize templates and second - i can help.

Some ideas
1 - mod to resize pilots skin. In this mod 4K skins work only on planes, but not on pilots. Why not? But I forget all skills of change Il-2's classes and can't do it. I need help.
2 - mod to resize damage textures. I CAN do this TGAs, but i not to success insert 4K tga damage texture in game - and i do not understand why. Not load and it all...
3 - mod to insert specular plane textures. Carsmaster's work now allows us to add a specular layer of texture, but I also cannot insert texture files
4 - mod to change skin format. 4K BMP has 50MB size. I think it's too much. Compressed PNG or TGAs, may be?
5 - mod to resize some another texture... I don't have an ideas and time for search files, but why not, if somebody want?

Best regards.
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v3
Post by: bomberkiller on May 17, 2019, 04:49:29 AM
Hello chameleon,

to do 2048²-24b or 4096²-24b to 1024²-24b skins is simple.

To do 4096²-24bit skins directly to 1024²-8bit (indexed skins) is simple too.

(To reverse it, e.g. to enlarge 1024² skins in 2048² looks crappy.)

How to change the "damaged.TGA" skins, I have no idea.

From your server I took a 4096² Bf-109F-4 skin and changed it to 1024².

Watch the result:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/h1scd5hy26ywyv8/Bf-109F-4_Grey_GYIII52_RoW2_fromServer.7z/file (https://www.mediafire.com/file/h1scd5hy26ywyv8/Bf-109F-4_Grey_GYIII52_RoW2_fromServer.7z/file)

Best regards, Gerhard
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v3
Post by: spad42 on May 21, 2019, 11:26:21 AM
Hello Whistler, i'm french and not speak good english.
I enjoy all your work like the NG series.
I download your skin collection V3, it's a huge work, thank you.

I DL the four zip and when I dezip the folder M to P I have an error message for all the skins of the Nieuport 17.
When I play DOF 3, I have a return to desktop at 70%. WAW, JTW, TGA work fine.
I try a new download and I have the same problem.
Where is the problem ?
Thank you for your answer.
 
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v3
Post by: whistler on May 21, 2019, 11:58:06 AM
Hello spad42, your english is probably better than mine! All good as long as we understand each other!

I have local copies and I just extracted "BAT_Skin_Collection_v3_M-P.zip" without problems. I use 7-zip (https://www.7-zip.org/).

Your download is probably corrupted. Try using a download manager. I don't know what's available these days and these kind of programs can carry stuff you don't need nor want... but there must be some extensions or add-ons for modern browsers such as Chrome (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/download%20manager?hl=en) or Firefox (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search/?platform=windows&q=download%20manager).

Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v3
Post by: spad42 on May 24, 2019, 10:34:21 AM
Thank you whistler for your quick response. My DL was corrupt. I try three time and the third was the good. Now all is OK. Computer are malicious for an old man like me.
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v3
Post by: Kraut1 on May 26, 2019, 02:58:39 AM
Quote from: chameleon on May 15, 2019, 06:33:24 PM
Guys, i try to resize skins from BAT-pack to 4K by ESRGAN neural network... And it turned out great. Well, in most cases.


Hi Chameleon,
very good work, interesting for me, I use high res skins because I am flying with small fov angles (50degree) because I want to see the other planes in a realistic size on my 27" Monitor.

Question: is it complex to upscale Skins with ESRGAN neural Network and how does it work?
(I don't have much free time available)


I have tested some of your Skins and I have already used 2 of them in my current Battle of Gazala il2dcg campaign:
Bf-109F-4\Bf-109F4TropHptmLippertJG27_nomark.bmp Bf-109F-4\109F4_Desert.bmp
Because the testing takes much time (I check the Skin by looking from the cockpit) attached a list of some Skins that I like.
Best regards

Bf-109E-4\Bf109E3_JG1_1939.bmp
Bf-109E-4\Bf109E3_JG27_1940.bmp
Bf-109E-4\Bf109E4_JG77_Balkan.bmp
Bf-109E-4\E4 GuenterSteinhausenblank.bmp
Bf-109E-4\pt_Bf109 E_4.bmp
Bf-109F-4\109F4_Desert.bmp
Bf-109F-4\Bf-109F-4_Grey_GYIII52_RoW2.bmp
Bf-109F-4\Bf-109F4TropHptmLippertJG27_nomark.bmp
Bf-109G-2\Bf109g2_iiijg54.bmp
Bf-109G-2\Bf109G2_IIJG52_summer42.bmp
Bf-109G-2\Bf109G2_IJG52_summer42.bmp
Bf-109G-2\Bf109g2_jg54.bmp
Bf-109G-2\Bf109g4_jg53_desert.bmp
Bf-109G-2\Bf109G4_JG54_france.bmp
Bf-109G-2\Bf109G4_JG77_desert.bmp
Bf-109G-6\Bf109G6_desert_generic.bmp
Bf-109G-6\Bf109G6_JG27_grey_generic.bmp
Bf-109G-6\Bf109g6_jg4.bmp
Bf-109G-6\ME109G6_1jg53_blank.bmp
Bf-110C-4\Bf110_ZG26_1940.bmp
Bf-110C-4\Bf-110Earlywar.bmp
Bf-110C-4\dr_bf110c_2ZG76_blk.bmp
Bf-110C-4\RLM65-70.bmp
Bf-110C-4\vp_Bf110C_zg52nm.bmp
Bf-110C-4\vp_malta.bmp
Bf-110C-4\Wespe.bmp
Bf-110C-4\Wespe_Green.bmp
Bf-110C-4\Wespe_Winter.bmp
Fw-190A-3\Fw190A-4_6JG2_E.Rudorffer_1943_bl01.bmp
Fw-190A-3\Fw190a4_6jg2_mto_1943.bmp
FW-190A-6\Fw190A6_Josef_Wurmheller_blank.bmp
FW-190A-8\Fw190a8_jg26.bmp
FW-190A-8\Fw190a8_jg3_late44.bmp
FW-190A-8\OB_Fw190a8Maximowitzbl.bmp
FW-190F-8\Fw190f8_sg3_45.bmp
FW-190F-8\Fw190f8_sg4.bmp


 
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v3
Post by: bomberkiller on May 26, 2019, 11:57:57 PM
Quote
Question: Is it complex to upscale Skins with ESRGAN neural Network and how does it work?

From pure experience, I can promise you that upscaling is simple and fast, but never brings the desired result! This is especially true with our small 1024² skins.

Why is that? A photo with 16 million pixels can be wonderfully edited.

With a photo with just over 1 million pixels, it gets complicated because no computer program can calculate something that is not there.

Why do not you read what the publisher of the program wrote?

Best regards, Gerhard  :)

https://arxiv.org/abs/1609.04802 (https://arxiv.org/abs/1609.04802)






Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v3
Post by: Kraut1 on May 27, 2019, 12:05:48 PM
Quote from: bomberkiller on May 26, 2019, 11:57:57 PM
Quote
Question: Is it complex to upscale Skins with ESRGAN neural Network and how does it work?

From pure experience, I can promise you that upscaling is simple and fast, but never brings the desired result! This is especially true with our small 1024² skins.

Why is that? A photo with 16 million pixels can be wonderfully edited.

With a photo with just over 1 million pixels, it gets complicated because no computer program can calculate something that is not there.

Why do not you read what the publisher of the program wrote?

Best regards, Gerhard  :)

https://arxiv.org/abs/1609.04802 (https://arxiv.org/abs/1609.04802)
Hi Bomberkiller,
Thanks for the info with the link.
In generally I agree with you, best is to create real hd skins as you do.
I have checked some of upscaled skins and in many cases the quality is not so good, especially if you are close to plane e.g. cockpit view.
But I found out that in perhaps 10% to 20% the results are good.
I have attached some of screenshots of a 1K skin and the upscaled 4K version that from my point of view is good (Bf109E3_JG1_1939.bmp).
Best regards

        0.4 MB    Bf109E3_JG1_1939 4K fov55degree a.jpg                  Check                                            Error                                                 
(https://i.postimg.cc/NMJYPyZd/Bf109-E3-JG1-1939-4-K-fov55degree-a.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/DJXtSzvG)
        0.4 MB    Bf109E3_JG1_1939 1K fov55degree a.jpg                  Check                                            Error                                                 
(https://i.postimg.cc/fRmzTR0b/Bf109-E3-JG1-1939-1-K-fov55degree-a.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/HrWD6HzG)
        0.4 MB    Bf109E3_JG1_1939 1K fov55degree b.jpg                  Check                                            Error                                                 
(https://i.postimg.cc/YSxtYDRK/Bf109-E3-JG1-1939-1-K-fov55degree-b.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/sBvFRcbw)
        0.5 MB    Bf109E3_JG1_1939 4K fov55degree b.jpg                  Check                                            Error                                                 
(https://i.postimg.cc/d1twBRN7/Bf109-E3-JG1-1939-4-K-fov55degree-b.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/t1fKR6jy)
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v3
Post by: chameleon on May 27, 2019, 09:23:10 PM
Quote from: Kraut1 on May 26, 2019, 02:58:39 AM
very good work, interesting for me, I use high res skins because I am flying with small fov angles (50degree) because I want to see the other planes in a realistic size on my 27" Monitor.

Thank you :)

Quote
Question: is it complex to upscale Skins with ESRGAN neural Network and how does it work?
(I don't have much free time available)

Bomberkiller say about GAN image upscaling.
I say - 1 month for install and configure, about 1 minute to rescale skin from 1K to 4K :)
If you want to rescale some skin, i can do it :)

Quote from: bomberkiller on May 26, 2019, 11:57:57 PM
With a photo with just over 1 million pixels, it gets complicated because no computer program can calculate something that is not there.

Some GAN models can draw new details on skin :) But i use Simple-Interpolation ESRGAN model - it is draw techical lines and curves most accurately. And it don't change clock faces on pilot desk to ellipse or helix.
If somebody parts skin image, may be, different parts of skin will be better to upscale by different models.

Quote from: Kraut1 on May 27, 2019, 12:05:48 PM
But I found out that in perhaps 10% to 20% the results are good.

Yes, i agree. May be some painters help us with it?
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v3
Post by: Kraut1 on May 28, 2019, 11:56:01 AM
Quote
If you want to rescale some skin, i can do it :)
Thanks for your offer to upscale the Skins. If I need one I will ask you.
I think I will test from time to time some of your upscaled skins and I will report which of them seem to be good.
Best regards
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v3
Post by: FL2070 on April 15, 2020, 09:48:09 AM
Does anyone know the creator of the skin Bf109G14.bmp?
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v4
Post by: whistler on October 10, 2020, 03:09:00 AM

(https://i.postimg.cc/90m0xnD0/BAT-Skin-Collection.jpg)
Around 10.000 Skins for B.A.T. Version 4

Available in the first post ;)
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v4
Post by: Vampire_pilot on October 10, 2020, 03:53:55 AM
yay!  ]hello2[
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v4
Post by: KingTiger503 on October 10, 2020, 04:18:03 AM
What about the Torrent for BAT Skins.

Best Regards KT503
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v4
Post by: whistler on October 10, 2020, 04:41:40 AM
Not from me, sorry

Just... don't p0rn for an hour
Title: Re: C.U.P. Skin Collection ready to download [cup]
Post by: FedeM1974 on October 22, 2020, 04:56:28 PM
Hi!

Hope you guys are fine.
Just downloaded B.A.T. Mod. WAW era.

Wanted to install the BAT SkinCollection V4.0 but when I read this: "If you are starting a fresh skin repository you might need the IL-2_1946_4.12.2_Skins.zip (~750MB) and skin artists may find of interest the BAT_SkinCollection_VOIDS.zip (~11MB)

wanted to be sure if I need to install what the above says.

Many thanks!
 
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v4
Post by: FL2070 on October 22, 2020, 06:05:17 PM
Quote from: FedeM1974 on October 22, 2020, 04:56:28 PM
wanted to be sure if I need to install what the above says.

You don't need to install anything—skin packs, like this one, work entirely by themselves and don't need anything else to be usable. The quote you pulled is about personal skin collections, not skins as used by the game.
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v4
Post by: whistler on October 23, 2020, 03:48:05 AM
The IL-2_1946_4.12.2_Skins.zip download includes the stock 4.12.2 skins (skins you should already have) and it is there only for convenience should anyone need the stock skins for some reason.
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v4
Post by: FedeM1974 on October 23, 2020, 11:54:01 AM
Thnks FL2070 and whistler!
Title: Re: C.U.P. Skin Collection ready to download [cup]
Post by: FedeM1974 on October 23, 2020, 12:16:05 PM
Hi,

Sorry the silly question. Just instaled BAT 4.0 and WAW era.

To install the bat skin collection 4.0 is just a copy and replace the Paintschemes folder?

tks!
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v4
Post by: whistler on October 23, 2020, 12:47:05 PM
Yes! Download, extract, move, allow overwrite.
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v4
Post by: FedeM1974 on October 23, 2020, 02:08:44 PM
Many thanks!
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v4
Post by: larschance on November 15, 2020, 06:21:02 PM
Hi Whistler. First of all thank you to the team for including The Seventeen Percenters ETO Beaufort campaign by Von and myself in the Single Missions pack. By the looks of things our follow up MTO campaign, launched yesterday is receiving good attention which will spur us on to create the next campaign for the Beauforts in the PTO.

It took 6 hours to download the BAT 4.0 skin pack and that is now installed in my BAT4.0 set-up. What puzzled me was that the BAT 4.0 skin set for just WAW is larger than the BAT4.1 set which I read is for all the four eras. Should this be the other way round? Or is it that you need both sets for BAT 4.1. Sorry to ask but I don't want to wait 6 more hours for a download if I don't need it. I usually just fly WAW with occasional TGA.

Another point I noticed is that although there are dozens of Italian units listed their skins do not show the squadriglia numbers unless they have been made separately as a mod. Was this something inherited with the original sim. As far as I can see it is the only air force affected this way.

Once again thanks for your sterling work on helping keep this sim the best around.
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v4
Post by: whistler on November 17, 2020, 10:37:25 AM
Quote from: larschance on November 15, 2020, 06:21:02 PM
Hi Whistler. First of all thank you to the team for including The Seventeen Percenters ETO Beaufort campaign by Von and myself in the Single Missions pack. By the looks of things our follow up MTO campaign, launched yesterday is receiving good attention which will spur us on to create the next campaign for the Beauforts in the PTO.

Thanks larschance (and Von) for your work in the first place!

Quote from: larschance on November 15, 2020, 06:21:02 PM
It took 6 hours to download the BAT 4.0 skin pack and that is now installed in my BAT4.0 set-up. What puzzled me was that the BAT 4.0 skin set for just WAW is larger than the BAT4.1 set which I read is for all the four eras. Should this be the other way round? Or is it that you need both sets for BAT 4.1. Sorry to ask but I don't want to wait 6 more hours for a download if I don't need it. I usually just fly WAW with occasional TGA.

The Skin Collection v4.0 includes skins for BAT v4.0, which is to say for WAW.
The Skin Collection v4.1 includes skins for BAT v4.1, which is to say for DOF/TGA/JTW.

Yes, one would expect v4.1 to include three times as many skins since we are talking three eras instead of one but most of the sources are WW2-centric.

One day I decided to start afresh with my skin collection and I downloaded some packs and borrowed the skins included. Since it worked quite well I decided to keep looking for sources and variety. Then I went the extra mile and checked the skin folders and individual skins for compatibility, and shared the result. The BAT Skin Collection isn't a comprehensive collection for BAT, it is a disjointed collection of unrelated collections: a starting point (for you) to keep building upon, if you like.

Quote from: larschance on November 15, 2020, 06:21:02 PM
Another point I noticed is that although there are dozens of Italian units listed their skins do not show the squadriglia numbers unless they have been made separately as a mod. Was this something inherited with the original sim. As far as I can see it is the only air force affected this way.

Be more specific please but bear in mind some (mod) aircraft cannot be skinned and/or display markings.

Cheers!
Title: Re: B.A.T. Skin Collection v4
Post by: larschance on November 17, 2020, 01:52:46 PM
Thanks for clearing that up.

When preparing the Italian units for our MTO campaign we noticed the appropriate Squadriglie were listed but when we used that marked aircraft the fuselage only showed the aircraft number not the squadriglia number. e.g. MC200 Series III listed for 76 Squadriglia but the profile does not show the numbers 76 on the fuselage as would be historically correct. We had to ask cafs to create the aircraft with the proper markings, along with others we needed.
I believe the MC200 Series III was a stock aircrft not a mod.
We can work with it, just wondering why.