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[herbarnold99]

Currently the Swordfish floatplane defaults to a pair of silver-bluish colored floats. I'd like to modify them to camouflaged colors that were more likely later in the war. I've tried modifying Float_skin1o.tga, Float_skin1p.tga  and Float_skin1q.tga in the modded aircraft folder but without success. Any tricks to that? Can anyone advise? Thanks much...

Cheers
Herb

[Mission_bug]

Hello Herb, the best way I can think of is if the floats actually get re-mapped in a 3d program to the particular skin that you want to use, normally it would be the default if the floats had been made with the aircraft, however, that requires enough space on the particular texture to enable one of us to do it.

With the floats mapped again they would then just be added to the aircraft as any other part in the hier and with the float version selected the default would then pick up your floats so they matched the aircraft.

Downside is that any of the skins you had that you might want to use with floats would also need each individual texture altering to include the floats, can be quite a involved process as you also need to add the necessary lines and rivets to the texture.

Might also require a java change so that your particular aircraft can be changed from land to sea, if it is already a seaplane slot then not a problem I do not think but as with everything someone has to find the time to do the work just to test the theory.

As for your tga, is that actually what the floats were mapped to originally?  The floats themselves will most probably/should call up the texture you are using if you open that particular mesh/meshes, the 'silver-bluish' in your case. 

If you altered the texture with new colours it would need to have been saved in a particular way so that the floats and game actually use that particular texture and there is a mat file to consider as well.

Just some things for you to think about.


Take care and be safe.


Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[herbarnold99]

Thanks for the info Pete! When I open the Float_skin tga files, they are Ar-196 skins with that silver-blue scheme on the floats. So I'm assuming the 3D floats from that aircraft were pretty much directly used for the Swordfish floatplane mod, although that's just a guess.

Can you tell me anything (or point me somewhere) about how to save the newly repainted tga files correctly? As well as what to do with the associated mat files? Thanks again for your reply...

Cheers
Herb

[Mission_bug]

Hello Herb, I am having a go at re-mapping the float parts to the default tga, they are AR-196 floats as you presume, so stay tuned.

I added the floats from my version of the Swordfish mod into gmax:



As I feared, not much room:



I have had to shrink the mapping and try to find a place to use:



I found a texture from Archie without any tiles so there was a blank space and where the
undercarriage would have been that provided possibilities:



Here we go, trying it out before adapting the texture:



First attempt, the White lines are the float maps, previous detail painted out:



Left float using new texture:




Into the game for testing:



But, there always is one right, once the slats opened I found I had used the interior part of the texture
to paint the float, not seen here:




Okay I have started now so will carry on, that means I will now need to import the slats into gmax
and move some items of their mapping, also there are some struts and rudders for the floats that
could also do to be added to the default.

This might take a few days and you will really only be able to use skins specific to the floater, besides
that I had to shrink the mapping of the floats to be able to position them so not quite sure how that
will affect lines and rivets.


I have a old template I made some skins with to represent a Finnish and French hack, however, it is a Paint
Shop Pro file and I cannot open it with what I use now which is PSD, other templates I have I converted
before changing over but never thought I would use this one again, fuck.

Take care and be safe.


Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[herbarnold99]

Wow! Amazing, Pete! Appreciate what you're doing, sorry it wasn't as easy as I thought it could be. Will be happy to take a stab at some skins when you get to that point...

Cheers
Herb

[Mission_bug]

Hello Herb, yes someone will need to make a few skins for this change, I will alter the meshes and provide a rough map to guide you.

Not sure how involved this will get so without my old template I really do not want to get into making a new one, sadly I do not have the option at the moment as any energy and inclination I have is devoted to the Thorneycroft, to convert my template would involve setting up a new version of P.S.P., even just a trial version but I just cannot be bothered with all that messing around, sorry.


Take care and be safe.


Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[Mission_bug]

Okay, I think I sorted the main issues out now.

I relocated the mapping parts of the slats that were in the way:





And the floats now have a space to paint them:





I will sort out the lods for the bits done so far then try and re-map the float struts and their rudders, not
sure how long this is going to take but it gives me a break from my main project anyway so all is good.


Take care and be safe.

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[herbarnold99]

Great progress Pete, thanks!

[Mission_bug]

Hello Herb, The slats and the floats are done with their lods now in place, I still need to do the support struts that go from the fuselage to the floats and the rudders for them.

I have set up a new default skin using one of the original blanks that shipped with the TD Swordfish and added my parts to that, I did not want a numbered default and also needed to add the damage decal from the old default so you will need to fine tune things to taste once I finish:









I also took a look in the java and found it necessary to add the 'TypeSeaPlane' entry for 4.12.


Because the floats are more or less half size compared to what they should be I am not sure how things
will look once you add lines and your own paint but at least it should be better than having to use a
separate tga file.

Maybe if you have a template for the Ar-196 you could take a copy of the lines and just shrink them to
fit the area I added to the texture, anyway, we will see once I am done how things look.

I cannot get the rear gun to operate although I can get into the pit, maybe there are special commands for this
something like the SB bomber.


Take care and be safe.

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[herbarnold99]

Good call on working with the Ar-196 template, and I'll work with whatever new default skin you can pass me!

Cheers
Herb

[Mission_bug]

Hello again Herb, had one of those days but getting there.


The parts in the interior Green colour are what I think are the parts that needed to be mapped, I still need to sort the lods
for the rudders but nearly there:





I had a nightmare trying to figure just what should be visible, it took some time and a few crashes of the Stainless program, loss
of one folder due to me ending up with it all looking like the damage decal was the main skin and also not being able to get things to
show up in SkniL so I could decide what was what.

I had to go for a lie down, I got a headache.

Anyway, I went through what I thought to be the essential hiers for this and removed or altered the things crashing the Stainless
program and was able at last to confirm what you see is all that is active as far as the floats go, I did make visible some small parts
for the rudders that were hidden so as far as I can tell everything you need is now on one texture.

I originally thought some further struts should be visible but realised they were from the AR-196 and had been hidden because they got
in the way of the torpedo, this makes for a rather flimsy looking set of struts but there you go.

The other set of struts you see, the dark ones, are actually experimental, I was looking at the real aircraft and it has extra sets, like a
double set if you will one inside the other and these are further up towards the front, maybe the same at the rear, I assume to add strength
because of the position of the torpedo

Here is a image from the net to show what I am waffling about:





Not sure whether to try and make the changes or quit while I am ahead before I get bogged down.


Take care and be safe.


Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[herbarnold99]

Again, great progress Pete. The strut arrangement is certainly a compromise, but the good enough is always the enemy of the better! Having the floats' textures available on a regular skin will be a significant improvement...

Cheers
Herb