From Void to template

[joes1945]

After I'm finished How do I get the skin into the game?

[adlabs6]

The first step, is to save in the proper format. For Forgotten Battles, that's 8-bit indexed color.

You can do this in your paint program but don't do this to your template! Keep the template at true color (also called 24-bit mode) Start by saving a .bmp copy from your template. I use Photoshop Elements' "Save as..." command so that my layered template is safe. Then close the layered template, and open the newly saved .bmp file of your skin, you'll prepare this for game use.

To begin with, you can save straight to 8-bit color right in the paint program. The results are decent, but not excellent. Once you understand the process, you can use BRIGHT for a very optimized conversion to 8-bit, with results that have much less banding.

To get this finalized skin into the game, you need to find the main FB install folder, and inside there is a skins folder. For each plane in the game, there is a skins folder here. Just place your new skin into the folder corresponding to the plane it fits, being sure not to overwrite the original void or any default or skins you added previously.

In the game, you'll load up FB/PF and start a mission. On the arming screen, you can pick your skins for each plane.

That's a short answer, if you are stuck at any part, just post back and we'll get some more help.

[sturmkraehe]

I've got troubles sometimes to convert the template into a file that is recognized by the game (IL2) without knowing where the problem is.

Generally I start from the void skin convert it into RGB and start working. When finished I convert it into indexed colour and then save it as a bmp file in the folder. Nonetheless, it happens that I can't choose it in the game. This occurs only occasionally and most times it is enough to recopy all layers into the re opened void file and proceed as presented but now I stumble on this problem nonetheless. Anyone can help?

[Serval]

You need to save the BMP-file in 8 bit or 256 color format (two names for the same thing). You could do that in Photoshop or PSP. But you can also let Bright convert the original BMP-file to that format with very good results (often better then the programs mentioned before). Bright and a tutorial are to be found on this site.

[phasmid]

BRIGHTER is a really easy windowed version of BRIGHT. Found in the downloads/utilities/general section here. Always use _ in the file names. Example spitfire_Vb_russia.bmp Dont use names like spitfire Vb russia. Sometimes the program doesnt see those.