Paint help please

[RU55 0]

Hi, im pretty new to flight sim, and just purchased the extended twin otter from Aerosoft...it comes with a separate paint kit of files (7Z File) anyone know what I do with these? I really want to change the colour of the plane but cant see any info how to do this

 

(I want both my planes I have in air hauler to be the same colour)

 

any help would be GREAT

 

thank you

[jaydor 345]

You do not state if you have a paint program?

 

Also if you have never painted before, I suggest you watch as many aircraft paint tutorials on YouTube.

 

It does take time and patience to learn..

[RU55 0]

ah ok...I don't have any programme to pain with - I will take a look on youtube

 

I also have no idea what to do with all these paint kit files as part of the twin otter extended version download :/

[ddavid 149]

Russ - welcome to the re-painters club! You don't have to be mad, but it helps...

First off, you've got a steep learning curve ahead. There are several different types of texture file - these control what is 'painted' onto the aircraft models to produce the liveries that you see on the sim. The only program that handles these different file types is called "dxtbmp", so do search and download this first.

As James says, you're going to need a 'repaint' program. Unfortunately, MS Paint won't do the job. If you don't have Photoshop or PaintShop, which are expensive, there's a freeware product called "Gimp". Like all 'layer-based' image editors, Gimp takes a bit of getting used to, so look for tutorials to get you going. 

Once you've identified the aircraft you want to repaint, select the specific livery that you want to base your repaint on and make a copy, giving it a new name to distinguish it from the other textures. You'll then need to edit your aircraft's configuraion file (aircraft.cfg), using a text editor, to introduce the new texture, otherwise it won't show in the sim (see the YouTube tutorials to get started on this as it's a bit complicated to explain here). Start up FSX to see that you've got the new version of the aircraft in the selection list (remember it will look like your base livery as you haven't edited it yet!)

Open the appropriate new texture with dxtbmp and send to the editor and start changing colours, adding letters, etc. Have a play around with the editor, save your attempt, go back to FSX and see the result. It will be cr*p, but that's where the fun starts! Probably, the letters will be the wrong way round, or upside down, whatever, it'll take several iterations until you get the hang of things.

From then on, it's largely up to how quickly you learn to use the editor's functions. If you're young, you'll fly through this stage. If you're an old git. Like me, it'll take a while. But, persevere, the end results - as you can see from the repaints produced by members like Jankees, James, Mutley (Joe), and others - are well worth the time and effort.

Here's a Google search to get you going:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=repaint+textures+fsx+tutorial&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari

One last thing: the road to repainting is not easy, so...

1. Be Patient!

2. Ask specific questions as you come across problems and be specific, otherwise it's more difficult to advise.

O.K., that's the lecture over - now, get going and have some fun - that's really why we do repaints!

Cheers - Dai.

[jankees 917]

I concur with Dai.

Get the Gimp and DXTbmp, both freeware, and you're all set. All you need is lots of patience and perseverance..

 

As for the 7Z files, that is some form of zipped file, you'll need some program to unzip them. Not sure if winzip will do it, good chance windows will do it for you though.

 

As a side note, you've picked a nice aircraft to start with, but unfortunately, it is not easy the repaint. In fact, it is really hard, which explains why there are relatively few paints for it. I did 5 myself, and then more or less gave up, so I hope it is a simple scheme your after, because more complex paints will be...interesting...to do.

 

Good luck!

 

Jan Kees

[RU55 0]

Thanks Jan and Dai!

I'm going to get learning

I'll get winrar maybe to see if it can change these 7z files so I can see what they look like

[jaydor 345]

win7zip is a free file Google it..