P-38J, "8 Ball", skin for Jane's WWII Fighters.


A representative P-38J of the 79th Fighter Squadron, 20th Fighter Group.

Some P-38s arrived in Europe with natural metal finishes and were painted Medium Green (FS53645A) and Light Blue (FSB2D7D5) by Group Maintenance because there was not enough Olive Drab or Neutral Gray available for all paint jobs at the time.  8 Ball is one such aircraft.  

Although 8 Ball is a fictional individual aircraft, it's color, as well as group and squadron markings are authentic.

Hammard's P-38 Paint kit is used and is an excellent tool to use and lean how it's done.  I highly recommend it if you want to work with repaints for the existing P-38.  I used the same file installation structure and as in Hammard's P-38 California Cutie repaint.  I've modded the new texture files and modified one of the 3D files to remove the game generated tail codes.  All other files are from Hammard' California Cutie.  Hammard's original California Cuite readme is included in this file for referance and to give proper credit to the creators.

I've included a "factory fresh" version and a weathered version.

Many thanks go to MEGA, who helped me learn how to get started, for his patience and tutoring, and to all the Jane's WW2 modders, past and present, like Hammered, Rammjager, Johnny Red, Big Dog, Hutch, Max, Flak-Magnet, Tomcatterking, well you get the idea.  This "Ole Girl" still has lots of life left in her.   

Installation
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This a complete aircraft that includes Hammard's 3d mods and new textures for his Califirnis Cutie.
This distribution includes high-resolution (512x512) textures ONLY.
WARNING: attempting to install high-resolution textures on a system with a video card which does not support them may cause the game to crash.

PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THESE INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS OR THIS MOD MAY NOT WORK FOR YOU.

Before installing this, or any other custom modification, you are advised to take a backup of your current ww2.sqs archive.  

Extract the contents of this archive to the WWII Fighters\Data directory.  Assuming the default installation, this is: C:\Program Files\Jane's Combat Simulations\WWII Fighters\Data

The files will be extracted to a new directory WWIIFighters\Data\P38_8 Ball.  Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the WWII Fighters\Data\P38_8 Ball directory.  Inside the 8 Ball folder are 4 more folders, 3-D and other, files and the installation batch files.
The 4 folders are:
1. 512_FF which contains the Factory Fresh textures.
2. 512_Wx which contains the Weathered textures
3. SHP Files which contains the Distance files for both the FF and Wx versions.
4. NrmlWing

FIRST DECIDE WHCIH VERSION , EITHER THE WEATHERED (Wx) VERSION OR THE FACTORY FRESH (FF) VERSION, YOU WANT TO INSTALL.  THEN OPEN THE SHP FILES FOLDER AND COPY THE APPROPRIATE FILE MATCHING THE VERSION YOU WANT, EITHER FF-P38-256SHP.BMP OR Wx-P38-256SHP.BMP INTO THE MAIN 8 BALL FLODER.  THEN RENAME THAT FILE TO P38-256SHP.BMP. 

For example, if you want to install the WEATHERED (Wx) version, first copy the file Wx-P38-256SHP.BMP into the main 8 Ball folder.  Then rename that file to P38-256SHP.BMP.  Then install the weathered textures by double-clicking on the install512_Wx.bat icon.  This will open up a DOS session and the installation will proceed in this window.  When the installation is complete, a message saying "DONE...CLOSE DOS SESSION" will be displayed in the window.  Close the DOS session by clicking on the X close button in the top right corner of the window.

Installation is now complete.

Note:  If you chose the Weathered version and DO NOT want the patched left wing, after you have completed the initial installation, open the P38_8 Ball folder and double click on the installWX_NrmlWing.bat and the left wing patch will be returned to normal.

To install the Factory Fresh (FF) version follow the same instructions above just substituting FF for Wx.  You can switch back and forth by just copying and renaming the appropriate file and double clicking the appropriate install.bat file.  ***Make sure you have a valid current WW2.sqs backup***  

Note:  If you chose the Weathered version and DO NOT want the patched left wing, after you have completed the initial installation, open the P38_8 Ball folder and double click on the installWX_NrmlWing.bat and the left wing patch will be returned to normal.

Enjoy,

LDF May 2007


