This is a small tutorial on not necessarily how to paint, but what to do with getting the texture files into your paint program and what to do with them after you have painted them. We will work on actual painting later. Since CFS2 and FS9 are very similar in file structuring, this tutorial will cover both simulators. The only main difference between the two are the alpha channels, which I will touch on later in this tutorial.

First rule of painting, HAVE FUN!! This is for your enjoyment more so than anyone else's. A very hard lesson to learn, even for myself. There is no better feeling that showing off your first paint job and reading the comments praising your work. Always remember that feeling. Don't let the critics get to you. Most times the comments are not meant to be harsh, but meant to be constructive. You could actually learn a lot from peoples comments, after all it's easy to miss something when painting, and there are many people here that have a keen eye for detail. All these are hard lessons I had to learn myself.

Everything listed will work for both sims unless otherwise stated.


Tools you will need:

CFS2 or FS9
Paint shop Pro, Photshop, Gimp, or whatever paint program you use, preferably one that uses layers.
Martin wrights DXTbmp, used to convert and save texture files. You can get it here: http://www.mnwright.btinternet.co.uk/index.htm The download button for the program is on the
front page. Be sure to download the latest dll files there as well.

Thats all you need for now, pretty simple so far.

This is how I do it, which is not necessarily the only way and may not be the best. As you do this more, you may find a way that suits your needs better.

ALWAYS MAKE BACK UPS OF ANYTHING YOU ARE GOING TO CHANGE, BEFORE YOU MODIFY ANYTHING!!

First thing you need to do is edit the aircrafts cfg file so that the sim will recognize your new paint. Open the aircrafts folder and open the aircrafts cfg file with notepad or word. Notepad works the best. You will see a lot of entires that may or may not make sense to you at first, but eventually you will understand what the entries mean. You want to look for a heading named [fltsim.0], which is usually at the top. If the aircraft has more than one paint scheme, you will headings that look like this [fltsim.1], [fltsim.2], etc. Each paint will be listed in numerical order.

This example is from the stock F4F Wildcat from CFS2.

[fltsim.0]
title=F4F-4 Wildcat
sim=F4F4_Wildcat
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=
KB_checklists=f4f4_wildcat_check

To add a new paint, you will make the following changes. Just copy and paste the first entry, then paste it right below the last entry, like this:

ORIGINAL:

[fltsim.0]
title=F4F-4 Wildcat
sim=F4F4_Wildcat
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=
KB_checklists=f4f4_wildcat_check

NEW ONE WITH YOUR PAINT

[fltsim.1]
title=F4F-4 Wildcat my new paint
sim=F4F4_Wildcat
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=my new paint
KB_checklists=f4f4_wildcat_check

Always change the next [fltsim.X] to the next ascending number. After you have made your changes, then click, on file, save as, save, allow to overwright, then your done.

The same applies for FS9, here is an example of the stock Cessna

[fltsim.0]
title=Cessna Skyhawk 172SP
sim=Cessna172SP
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=
kb_checklists=Cessna172SP_check
kb_reference=Cessna172SP_ref
atc_id=N176CM
ui_manufacturer=Cessna
ui_type="C172SP Skyhawk"
ui_variation="White with blue and gray"
description="A stable and trustworthy plane, most pilots have logged at least a few hours in a Cessna 172, since it's the most widely available aircraft in the rental fleet, and is used by most flight schools. Since the first prototype was completed in 1955, more than 35,000 C172s have been produced, making it the world's most popular single-engine plane. One of Cessna's first tricycle-gear airplanes, the 172 quickly became the favorite of a growing class of business pilots. Its reliability and easy handling (along with thoughtful engineering and structural updates) have ensured its continued popularity for more than 35 years."

And here is an example of what to change:

[fltsim.1]
title=Cessna Skyhawk 172SP My new paint
sim=Cessna172SP
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=my new paint
kb_checklists=Cessna172SP_check
kb_reference=Cessna172SP_ref
atc_id=N176CM
ui_manufacturer=Cessna
ui_type="C172SP Skyhawk"
ui_variation="my new paint "
description="A stable and trustworthy plane, most pilots have logged at least a few hours in a Cessna 172, since it's the most widely available aircraft in the rental fleet, and is used by most flight schools. Since the first prototype was completed in 1955, more than 35,000 C172s have been produced, making it the world's most popular single-engine plane. One of Cessna's first tricycle-gear airplanes, the 172 quickly became the favorite of a growing class of business pilots. Its reliability and easy handling (along with thoughtful engineering and structural updates) have ensured its continued popularity for more than 35 years."

Of course you will use more creative naming than what I did as "my new paint".

Next, you need to create a texture folder, that will hold your new textures. Just right click and copy the original texture folder, usually named Texture, and paste in inside the aircraft folder. It should be named texture-copy. Just rename the folder texture.my new paint, just like the name you used in the aircrafts cfg line that reads texture=. The names have to match or your new texture will not show up.

Ok, now that you have the aircraft ready to take your new paint, you are ready for the fun part!While you are inside your aircrafts folder, take a look inside your new texture folder. You will need to look through all the texture files and see which ones you will need to paint. For the most part, you will only need to paint the exterior parts of the plane, unless you want to make changes to the interior. You will need to see what format the texture were originally saved in. You will need to open the textures with Martin Wrights program DXtbmp. After the texture is opened in dxtbmp, look at the top and you will see listed what format it is. In CFS2, the most common are DXT1, DXT3, DXT5, and 565 bit. In FS9, the most common are DXT1, DXT5, and Extended 32 bit 888-8. For a better explanation of the formats, in DXTbmp click on help, and it will take you to a website with detailed explanations.

You will need to change the format of the texture file so that your paint program will open it up, if its any other format than Extended 32 bit 888-8. Since you have the texture opened in DXTbmp, just click on file, save, in the pop up window, change the drop down box 'save as type' to extended 32 bit 888-8, then save it to a folder that you need to create outside of the aircrafts folder. I have a folder on my computer that has nothing but my paint files on it. (I will touch on this more in a later painting tutorial).

The texture file is now saved as a bmp file and should be easily opened by your paint program. Now you can paint your new texture.( I hope to write up a tutorial on that part in the near future, if you need help painting). Be sure to save your paint first in the format that will save your work with the layers intact, such as a PSD, PSP, or whatever other paint programs save in. Next, you will save your paint as a bmp file. Once again, make sure you are saving your paints in a new, seperate folder away from your aircrafts main folder. You will now open your new bmp with DXTbmp. At this point you may need to add a alpha channel to your texture.

Now to touch on Alpha channels briefly. In CFS2, alphas are used to create invisible parts on the plane, and in FS9 they are used to add shine. Once again, I will touch more on the alphas in a later tutorial. This tutorial is just to help you with handeling the files. If your texture requires a alpha, now is the time to add it. In dxtbmp, click on alpha, then either import the new alpha channel for FS9, or as in CFS2, create alpha channel, and you will choose either black or green. Again, I will get more into that later.

Now that you have added your alpha channel, it's time to save your new texture into the sim. You will click on save, then in the pop up window, choose the format you want to save the new texture in with the lower drop down arrow. Then navigate to the location where your new texture folder was created in the aircrafts main folder, click on the texture in the aircrafts texture folder, (that way your new texture will be saved as the correct name), then click on save, allow overwrite. You will need to repeat these steps for all the textures that you painted.

That's it! Now fire up your sim, and check your work out, hopefully it looks exactly like how you wanted it to look. But, unfortunately it probably wont. But thats ok, it may take several attempts to get the look you wanted, but once you get the hang of this, it wont be that big of a deal. Chances are, you will go back and forth many times, checking, fixing, checking, fixing, etc.. But hey, that's what painting is all about! Congratulations on your new paint and also your new addiction, lol! Now that you have found out how much fun it is painting a plane and knowing that you did it, you will more than likely be hooked like the rest of us, LOL! Just remember to keep it fun!

If you plan on uploading your finished project, be sure to ask the original creator if it's ok for you to do so. More than likely they will say yes, but once in a while you will come across a developer that says no. That's ok though, it's their project and they have every right to say no. But it doesn't mean you can't paint it for yourself.

I hope this tutorial will be of some help to you, and I hope I was able to write this so it made sense. If you have any questions or don't understand something, just let me know. If I don't have an answer, I am sure we can find someone who does. Don't be afraid to ask questions, we were all newbies at painting, and if it wasnt for asking tons of questions, I know I wouldn't have made it where I am today.