When you select MULTI_SKIN_MODE=DISABLE none of the .fx files for objects work. Not aircraft, nor buildings or trees.
When you select FX_FILES_ONLY you get all the better lighting effects of the .fx files, but get a real sorry looking "plain Jane" set of aircraft skins.
THE .FX FILES DETERMINE THE LIGHTING EFFECTS FOR ALL OBJECTS
I do not like this. It is very bad that the BDG MultiSkin makers did this. The .FX files should work ALL of the time. No matter what MULTI_SKIN_MODE is used.
During MultiSkin development I was remaking and calibrating Spitfire gauges. Did not test for, or notice this flaw. You can blame me for being thusly narrow minded and a poor tester.
I cannot code fix this. So I went looking on how to make a better set of no MultiSkin AC using MULTI_SKIN_MODE=FX_FILES_ONLY.
Note! This may mess up some skins if you do use MultiSkin.
I am doing this for folks that use a computer that is not strong enough to use MultiSkin, but might like some better AC skins when using MULTI_SKIN_MODE=FX_FILES_ONLY.
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There are two different folders where I see info on what skin is used in this case.
Will use the Me109 in this example:
1. In the IMAGEMAP folder there is a .DDS file called M109ULF. This is the skin used when using MULTI_SKIN_MODE=DISABLE.
When using MULTI_SKIN_MODE=FX_FILES_ONLY the game does not use this skin.
2. Directly below that file is the M109ULF.fx file. For the M109ULF.dds file. And for all of the Me109 MultiSkin skins too.
Inside this .FX file is this line: texture MainTexture < string name = "Me109MainSkin.ms"; >;
The only texture pointer. This is a .ms (MultiSkin) file. Must be in the Multiskin folder.
3. In the MultiSkin folder there is a Me109MainSkin.ms file.
The very bottom line there says:
use MultiSkin\MultiSkinTextures\M109ULF_Replacement.DDS if 1 == 1
I do not recall exactly what "if 1 == 1" means. Vaguely recall that if.. in the lines above in this file, if a specific aircraft is not assigned a skin , then use M109ULF_Replacement.DDS.
Or some such.
Anyway, by observation I see that if I use MULTI_SKIN_MODE=FX_FILES_ONLY, then the M109ULF_Replacement.DDS is used.
This is a low resolution 1024 x 1024 texture. Very Plain Jane. All blue sides, no mottling. All green and blue.
OK. This is the texture I need to change or replace for a higher resolution better looking MULTI_SKIN_MODE=FX_FILES_ONLY Me 109.
Then I spent a few weeks editing MS files and skin textures, to achieve my aim.
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First, this is what skins a player will see using stock v2.13 files. All Plain Jane. Still on the factory floor:
Spitfire.
Hurricane. The November 1940 scheme with black & white under-wings. OK, distinctive. Maybe folks might like to use this, with some added letter codes?
Me109. A 1024x1024 small texture. Not good enough. I will use a 2048x2048 texture with all AC.
Me110.
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Second, this what I did.
Spitfire.
Our newest volunteer tester lives near Rochford airfield. "54 Squadron is a favourite of mine in BOB". OK. For you the Spit will have 54 Squadron markings.
I chose Alan Deere's letter code and emblem. Hey, I am partial to Pacific Islanders.
Hurricane.
Hhmmmh? What to use. I love emblems, they have a personal touch which may be against rather strict RAF regulations, but the best emblem ever in the B of B, LW and RAF was..
Ian Gleed's Figaro the Cat with the nazi swastika trying to buzz saw his tail. Cats don't like nobody messing with their tail!
So be it.
Gleed used this Figaro emblem with a variety of different paint jobs. Seems like the more nazis he killed, the more he wanted the crooked-cross painted as broken up more.
This is his 1943 Spitfire. Before he was killed in action on 16 April 1943, aged 26.
I used the colored Figaro escape hatch from the museum, where the crooked cross was not yet broken up.
Seemed fitting to my own 2016 USA ultra-right wing political climate.
Cut it out and painted best I can. My personal Figaro.
KL and LK Squadrons. Just how my choices panned out.
Me109E.
What I want here is the distinctive "yellow nosed bastard!" No lo-res Plain Jane. A few BoBII players in the past have asked that all Emils have yellow noses. "Can see the enemy better".
OK. Done.
I used a MultiSkin texture from JG26 that I like. Yellow tail, too, for further distinction.
Used the Wing Commander marking. Something else a bit unusual. Division Commanders should be up front with the men.
Never mind the improper Devil's Head on the nose. It seems appropriate for people that also have crooked cross tattoos.
Here at St. Inglevert airfield that PV, two27, and I built for v2.14.
Me110C.
The only thing that I ever did for MultiSkin was paint the Sharkmouth for some of II/ZG76.
This was not easy to do on my nights off after work. The mouth is in 4 different sections of the texture map.
Took me 2 weeks to make them all wrap around the 3D model nose OK.
Well.. I like distinctive markings on my AC, and since no other BoBII dev guys are around that did MultiSkin, the "standard" Me110s will all have shark mouths for this little project.
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OT.. Here in Hawai'i the sharks that attack surfers and swimmers are almost always Tiger Sharks. 6 to 10 feet in length. On average 2 attacks per year on Oahu. Usually when the shore water is muddy after heavy rainfall.
Surfers look like turtles!
Not many Hawai'i folk or tourists get killed by these Tigers, but many folks have lost legs and arms.
Since ancient Hawai'i culture considers sharks as sacred creatures of the ocean, there is no concentrated effort to kill the pesky Tiger Sharks,
just to make it easy for tourists and other foreign invaders of the shark's sea.
You are hearby Warned! Aloha!
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Instant Action Low level Attack on Manston.
I know that there are some RAF AC nesting there, so I don't bother dropping my bombs on hangars. Bomb the birds! I select All Guns and strafe them, and drop my 2 bombs.
"Sir! You overshot the bomb lay again!" My rear gunner Hans reports.
"Ach! For Chrissake! May Jesus forgive us for doing so?"
I turn around soon with bloody intent on ground sluicing the birds again on the ground, but the ones that are left, are taking off!
The one that is smoking I ignore, as not being an immediate threat, and try to shoot at the other two.
My Veteran comrades kill them, and I make another (foolish) third strafing pass on Manston buildings, when a ground pounder 40mm Bofors shoots me down.
I should know better than to "wear out my welcome", but I continue to test the firing of the Bofors, as I was the one that placed them. OK. They are doing their ordered duty.
