AvHistory.org

 Hello fellow simulated air combat aficionados. I have a simple question that I cannot seem to be able to find the answer to by google searching:

I want to find a program or walk-through that can assist in or explain how to edit and make new cfs3 textures. The editing I want to do is usually small scale. For example I have modified the default spitfire mk9 to have only its two 20mm's, and I want to know how to paint over the red machine-gun ports. Plus some custom nose-arts wouldn't be bad either! I have tried the Microsoft freeware version but it seems to require something called "gMax." gMax costs money and as a student I have none to spend on gaming software! So to sum it up I need a no-strings-attached freeware texture repaint kit. If you can't help please wish me luck! I somehow doubt such a program exists...

-spitguy22

 Well G-Max is free AFAIK, but it is for 3D modelling. If you just want to paint a bit, grab Martin Wrights DXTBMP to convert the skins into .BMP files and back. You can then edit the .BMP's in nearly any of the paint-programs out there......

http://www.btinternet.com/~mnwright/programs/dxtbmp.htm

Cheers

gmax is free and is for building the actual model, or editing it if you have the source files. You cannot edit the model files as supplied with each aircraft.

For editing/repainting the textures, Paint.NET is free, as is The Gimp. A quick Google search will get you either. A walk-through on repainting can be found at http://www.simviation.com/gryphon/tutorials/p38tex.htm  Although it's aimed at PaintShop Pro 7, reading through it will give you some of the gist of repainting textures.

 thanks all!