Custom made liveries - couple of problems

[Guest BrandonSk]

Hi all,I just made a custom repaint for MD11. And that's just about as far as I got.I am new to PMDG products and to FSX. Here are the questions I have:1) When I created a logo on tail and I try to save as DXT5 it says there are too many alpha channels. (Not really a PMDG problem, but can you please give me an advice on how to overcome that?)2) Which files to place where? My approach was to make a copy of already installed livery and then overwrite those files that changed. But for winglets for example I can't even find where "MD11 Winglet masters" file is saved :(3) Provided that I succeed with 1 & 2 above, how to modify the aircraft.cfg and texture.cfg files?Probably best would be if someone points me to a tutorial which I was not able to find. Is there any? Provided readme with the paintkit is very very weak! Certainly far from the quality of the product itself :)Thanks in advance.Cheers,B.

[downscc 1,327]

I assume you know that there are many good liveries available for free download from pmdg, but they do not generally provide help with custom painting. Just closing an assumption here.

[Guest BrandonSk]

I assume you know that there are many good liveries available for free download from pmdg, but they do not generally provide help with custom painting. Just closing an assumption here.

Thanks. Yes I do know :)In fact I wanted to follow the installation from there but since it comes with installer (exe) I don't think it would help my problem.I am creating a livery which is not there since it was not used in reality by the real airline.Regarding the support - I hope PMDG or someone more experienced will put something short together. It would be a pity if not. Simple guide / couple of notes is enough.Cheers,B.

[Guest BrandonSk]

Shame, but I have to answer by myself :(I am not sure if I am doing everything correctly, but here are at least answers to my questions + some other info. Hopefully it will help someone doing repaints for their own VA.Later, when I find some time I might even make a short tutorial on this.Cheers,B.

Hi all,I just made a custom repaint for MD11. And that's just about as far as I got.I am new to PMDG products and to FSX. Here are the questions I have:1) When I created a logo on tail and I try to save as DXT5 it says there are too many alpha channels. (Not really a PMDG problem, but can you please give me an advice on how to overcome that?)

Well, create your file with as many layers as you wish and save (I use photoshop, so PSD). Then open the saved file, right-click any layer -> select "Flatten Image". No need to save now as PSD, just go to Save as -> select type DSS and format DXT5.Trick comes whether to generate mipmaps etc. as this depends on the ectual part of livery that you are saving. Look at original PMDG livery to see which files unclude mipmaps and which don't.

2) Which files to place where? My approach was to make a copy of already installed livery and then overwrite those files that changed. But for winglets for example I can't even find where "MD11 Winglet masters" file is saved :(

OK... This one was pretty easy, I admit. The thing is that the "Master" file is called differently in the texture folder. So the best thing is to compare every file in original texture folder and try to discover which file in the paintkit it actualy is.Tricky part is fuselage, where you paint it as one part and then use the fuselage master (3 colors) file to copy precisely the correct size of front, middle and rear parts and paste them in corresponding fuselage left or right files.Complete mess comes with the fact, that some files need to be flipped vertically, especially on the right fuselage you need to mirror each text, etc. But I'm sure you can figure that out.

3) Provided that I succeed with 1 & 2 above, how to modify the aircraft.cfg and texture.cfg files?

Well, I did not try that yet. Based on what I saw though, I think that no changes in texture.cfg are necessary and only aircraft.cfg needs to be modified.Enjoy!Cheers,B.

[Leemazz 0]

I have a tip . Go easy on the alpha channels you only need one not too strong if your applying it to the texture or it will effect the colours and make it look like a mirror . You seem to be doing ok though its not an easy model to paint . The decals will just add to that . Good luck !Lee Marrow painter

[Chase 303]

Shame, but I have to answer by myself :(I am not sure if I am doing everything correctly, but here are at least answers to my questions + some other info. Hopefully it will help someone doing repaints for their own VA.Later, when I find some time I might even make a short tutorial on this.Cheers,B.Well, create your file with as many layers as you wish and save (I use photoshop, so PSD). Then open the saved file, right-click any layer -> select "Flatten Image". No need to save now as PSD, just go to Save as -> select type DSS and format DXT5.Trick comes whether to generate mipmaps etc. as this depends on the ectual part of livery that you are saving. Look at original PMDG livery to see which files unclude mipmaps and which don't.OK... This one was pretty easy, I admit. The thing is that the "Master" file is called differently in the texture folder. So the best thing is to compare every file in original texture folder and try to discover which file in the paintkit it actualy is.Tricky part is fuselage, where you paint it as one part and then use the fuselage master (3 colors) file to copy precisely the correct size of front, middle and rear parts and paste them in corresponding fuselage left or right files.Complete mess comes with the fact, that some files need to be flipped vertically, especially on the right fuselage you need to mirror each text, etc. But I'm sure you can figure that out.Well, I did not try that yet. Based on what I saw though, I think that no changes in texture.cfg are necessary and only aircraft.cfg needs to be modified.Enjoy!Cheers,B.

It sounds like you're causing yourself more trouble than necessary. I use DXTBMP for my repaints and it does the flipping for you. Also, did you know that if you are using photoshop you can just set the texture to "multiply" and reference the layer that says "match up with this layer" on the "747400_Fuse_Layout_Template.psd" file. I found the only way for me to get night textures to work was to manually insert a "night" alpha layer with DXTBMP, flip, then save as DDS 5.

[Guest grim_marmazet]

Im having a small problem with a repaint im doing at the moment too.I wanted to change the window lights to white, but because the light maps are slightly transparent they appear as grey when on the model.Does anyone know how to rectify this?Cheers,Rik