Historical Skin Mod (v1.0) - 2.62 Compliant

[luciferum]

HSM compatible with COH / OF /ToV 2.62
HSM WEB PAGE

In order to use HSM with COH 2.62, don't modify "relic.module" file as it was possible for previous versions.




Copyright:

1- Historical Skin Mod is a modification of genuine RELIC textures of the games COH/OF/ToV.
2- Those textures and all files included in HSM archive file are properties of Rodolphe QUEMERAIS ('Luciferum').
3- The mod package is avaible for a personnal use.
4- People who want to use HSM skins for their own mod that could be released will need to get a particular
autorisation of HSM creator via Relic Forum under HSM thread.
5- HSM v0.82 and further version of UK paratrooper will not get such permission. It's a special HSM edition skin.
6- SS tank crew and Panzer Lehr tank crew will need an autorisation from 'Georider' as those textures skins are based on model privided by him.
7- PE Grenadier will need an autorization from 'Halftrack' unless the feldgrau jacket is changed.
8- If autorization is granted the credit process described on HSM web site has to be followed strictly unless autorisation granted will be cancelled.
9- The creator of Historical Skin Mod is free to cancel any autorisation to use skins without any explanation.

Those who want to pack skins from different skinners without doing any graphical work will never have permission to use HSM skins... so useless to ask for it.

[Ralazo]

looks good gl

[Monkey Soldier]

Can't wait until you fixed the helmet It will be awesome! Good job.

[NordLand]

Wooooooow great !!
can you make a skin with splinter b for the Luftwaffe ground forces too????

[NordLand]

You're right about the pattern, it's still a bit too big can you make a smaller version?
This picture could be a help for you:



You've already made a Fallschirmjaeger with splinter a, splinter a wasn't used by the Luftwaffe, but the Heer used it.
Can you make a reskin of the Panzergrenadier with the camo you used for the FJs first? The camo that was used for the Panzergrens in the game was never used by any unit of the Wehrmacht in WW2. It would be realistic if you change the camo of the helmet and of the trousers into splinter a and the colour of his parka into field grey.
Are you going to reskin all PE infantry units?

[Panzer Jager]

if you're going to work on PE Panzer Grenadiers, you might want to know that relic actually screwed up their normal map. If you want the normal map to look proper, invert the alpha channel.

[Treizoz]

I like it, good work man. Just lower the size of the camo pattern a bit and apply the same look to the helmet so they are both green. Also I wonder how a darker grey on the pants would look...
If you wanted to add some more insignia too that would be great

[NordLand]

Luciferum, can you change the colour of the jumptrousers, too? In reality, they weren't grey, but they were dark green.
Here's a picture:

[willenicolas]

how is it that you guys skin so well i mean i know how to skin but like this?
HOW!

One more question i use Adobe Photoshop CS2 and i've seen people that they change the color of the shirt of someone without taking the small details it had like scratches in the lower left, just change the color without removing other stuff, what option do i use to do that?

[Halftrack]

btw: Luciferum,you seem to have messed up the alpha channel of the foilage and web on the helmet - compare the helmet on left picture to the right. Now the whole polygons are visible.

[Monkey Soldier]

lol, now you mention it, I see that the leaves of the helmet are screwed lol.

[DoctorLee]

Something to add to what Panzer Jager said : You also have to invert RGB channel as well. It's screwed.

[luciferum]

Thanks all for the answers.
Halftrack: I knew about alpha channel, I had to find out how to fix it. Done now.
Nordland: special thank for your pictures. A 'splinter A' grenadier will be done, probably it will be on the 'Axis/sturmtruppen'. For now, I think Axis will be wehrmacht/21st PzDivision and 'Panzer Elite' Waffen SS/HitlerJungend. I'm collecting documentation for now.

I'm working on creating a bigger 'splinter B' template so that I could apply smaller pattern to FJ and Luftwaffe field units.

[NordLand]

I think Relic wanted the PE to be the "Panzerlehrdivision", one of the most elite units of the German army. It was formed in 1943 from various units of elite training and demonstration troops (Lehr = "teach") stationed in Germany.
It was NOT part of the Waffen-SS. The Waffen-SS hadn't Fallschirmjaeger (OK, they had but the SS-paratroopers never faced western allies).
I think the Fallschirmjaeger/Luftwaffe-units are from the "Fallschirmjägerlehrregiment 21" and the "Fallschirmjägerregiment 6", which fought against Operation Market Garden and were two of the best infantry
regiments in the German army (Göring suggested that the 6th Fallschirmjägerregiment should be renamed into "Fallschirmjägerregiment Adolf Hitler", because of it's outstanding achievments.)
By the way, the "Fallschirmjägerregiment 6" defended Carentan against the 101st and 82nd Airborne Division.

I wouldn't agree if you make the PE units to Waffen-SS units.
In the german version, the PE is called "Kampfgruppe Lehr".

"Kampfgruppe Lehr" = "Panzerlehrdivision"

The only thing I can't understand is that the Panzerlehrdivision didn't fought in Holland against Market Garden.

Here's a picture of Panzergrenadiers from the 902nd Panzergrenadierlehrregiment near Caen.



Look at the helmets. They look exactly like the PE-Panzergrenadierhelmets.

[Monkey Soldier]

But unfortunately, they gave them white uniforms, just like the grenadiers. (But, im not sure why they done it.)

[nobody]

The only thing I can't understand is that the Panzerlehrdivision didn't fought in Holland against Market Garden.

Panzerlehrdivision was almost annihilated in "operation cobra" outside St.Lo, the division was ordered back for rest and refitting, the remaining operational units were formed in "kampfgruppe Hauser" and stayed in combat, Panzerlehrdivision was, November 1944 transferred to von Manteuffels 5.Pz.

[NordLand]

I didn't want to say "I don't know why the Panzerlehrdivision didn't fought against the allies in Holland", I wanted to say "I don't know why the "Kampfgruppe LEHR" fights against the allied invasion of holland in Opposing Fronts.
I'm sure Kampfgruppe LEHR (PanzerLEHR) has nothing to do with Waffen SS (btw in my opinion the Waffen-SS wasn't a so called "ELITE").

[nobody]

Panzerlehrdivision was "regular" army "" because the division was the absolute elite of the german army, the division was formed with the instructors and teachers from the german millitary schools (lehr=teach).

btw in my opinion the Waffen-SS wasn't a so called "ELITE".

Lots of the waffen SS units earned their combat experience in tough battle and would be considered elite troops, they had some nasty habits beside the soldier job, that gave them the bad reputation. But as combat units a lot of them earned their salary.

[NordLand]

In the later war ('44/'45), most Waffen-SS soldiers were young and arrogant men, the divisions took much more casualties than they inflicted.
I think the real combat elite of the german army were the paratroopers.
For example in Anzio, a exhausted bataillon of paratroopers annihilated a group of 800 rangers (300 killed, 500 captured).
Or think of the battle of Monte Cassino. The division which defended Monte Cassino, the 1st Parachute Infantry Division, held this important mountain nearly 4 months. The germans lost 20.000 men, but they inflicted 54.000 casualties to the allies

[Panzer Jager]

Look at the helmets. They look exactly like the PE-Panzergrenadierhelmets.

But their uniforms are like Pioneers', gone green.

[nobody]

I think the real combat elite of the german army were the paratroopers

Fallschirmjägers were luftwaffe units not army, they were not in command of the army until in the late months of the war.

You are not right about the SS units combat abillity during the war, read some combat reports from the eastern front.

[DoctorLee]

NordLand// Kampfgruppe LEHR =/= Panzer Lehr Division

Kampfgruppe Lehr in CoH:OF is a fictional division just like Able company in CoH.

The real Panzer Lehr division appears briefly during the original CoH campaign(Invasion of Normandy).

Kampfgruppe Lehr is most likely based on SS Panzergrenadiere regiments.

[Panzer Jager]

Kampfgruppe Lehr is not based on SS Panzergrenadiere regiments; the uniforms do not display any from of Waffen SS camoflage (unlike the Storm Troopers who look closer to an SS pattern.)

[DoctorLee]

PJ// Their campaign is based around what the real SS forces did in Market Garden, and the reason why we do not see any SS camoflage is because Relic wanted their game to be politically correct, so they refused to use anything that looks like SS.

The reason why I am saying PE is based on Waffen-SS is that I can actually see that throughout PE skins.

Here's some of that.

1. Majorgeneral Voss - Arm Eagle, Cuff title(Wehrmacht used it as well though)

2. Hidden PG model - Again, Arm eagle and cuff title although both of them were purposefully erased by Relic

And PE's overall structure looks more like SS Panzergrenadiere, than Panzer Lehr division.

[Mirage Knight]

Panzerlehrdivision was "regular" army "" because the division was the absolute elite of the german army

Some would argue that said title aptly belong to Panzer Grenadier Division "Grossdeutschland" which served mostly on the Eastern Front

Kampfgruppe Lehr is most likely based on SS Panzergrenadiere regiments.

2 SS Panzer Korps to be exact.

[Lethal Dosage]

Personally i think the Wehr faction in CoH is intended to be Heer while the PE as Waffen SS, and so i agree with Doctor Lee and Mirage there, although i tend to see them as belonging to 1st SS Panzer Division LAH (Leiberstandarte Adolf Hitler). Which the 1st SS Panzer Division had both PzIV and Panther Battalions as well as being completely mechanised, and also having the 101st SS Heavy Tank Battalion attached to them. The 1st SS also fought in Normandy, Italy and right throughout the Eastern Front, and possibly Holland too. Having fought on pretty much every front of the war as well as being quite highly decorated kinda makes them an ideal unit to represent in the game as they'll fit not only in vCoH but also in OF and most likely any future expansions.

[NordLand]

@nobody: the german army was the Wehrmacht: Heer, Lufwafffe, Kriegsmarine. Combat at the eastern front was not the same as at the western front. For example the 2nd SS-armored division. Against the red army the division fought hard and inflicted many casualties to the russians. In France '44, the division was't nearly as successful as in Russia.

All Fallschirmjäger-units fought under the command of the Heer, because they were ground forces (they belonged to the Luftwaffe though).

I think the WEHRMACHT faction in CoH is closer to the Waffen-SS than the PE.

If Relic wanted a political correct game, I can't understand why they gave SS-camouflage to the "WEHRMACHT". The Wehrmacht number of diffrent camouflages used by the Wehrmacht is not even close to the amount of camos the Waffen-SS used.

Every camo used by the PE is Wehrmacht camouflage (the Wehrmacht didn't use SS-camo, the Waffen-SS didn't use Wehrmacht camo): Splinter A(Panzergrenadiers), Swamp 44 (Antitank/PE Stormtroops) and Splinter B(Fallschirmjäger, Luftwaffe ground forces.)

[luciferum]

Well, I'm glad to see so many answers and so different opinions.
My aim is to make vCOH/OF looking more historical. I can't play anymore with almost white german grenadiers ...that's so ugly.
So I will mainly work on different skins that guys like 'HalfTrack' haven't worked on yet, so that people could mix them as they wish in a realistic way or not.

NordLand: You would disagree if I'd turned PE in Waffen SS what I initially planned to do for some reasons. The fact is, I want to have SS units in the skin mod I do because this kind of units are very interesting for getting different skins and camo. The more I think to it, the more I feel that PE units don't correspond very much to the idea I have of SS. And 'Wehrmacht' units from vCOH could be a more realistic base for creating a SS unit. I think to Stug, Pz IV, Tigers, sturmgrenadier and even standart grenadiers which are really well equiped (MG42) as Waffen SS were... KCH too...

About 'real' elite units, I guess all guys are right. I mean Waffen SS can be considered as elite, but it's also easy to find exemples of SS divisions being poor in combat effectiveness particularly at the end of war. Whatever people can think about that, also just look to which army most panzer aces were from. Most were from SS, that's an historical fact. But best equipments were also given in priority to SS, that makes things easier....

Let's go back to my mod... for the skinning purpose, I want to pick units which were fighting both Normandy and market garden campaigns... Suggestions welcome and Merry Christmas to all !

[Monkey Soldier]

''but it's also easy to find examples of SS divisions being poor in combat effectiveness particularly at the end of war.''
Yeap, look at Bastogne. I don't exactly know how much divisions tried to take Bastogne from the 101st Airborne, 10th Armoured Division and elements of the 759th TD Battalion.
Ofcourse, they weren't all SS, but there were some SS units. Its exactly 63 years ago, when the brave men that were defending Bastogne fought hard against the Germans. Under conditions with minus 10 degrees Celsius, heavy fog and cold winds.

Oh, Merry Christmas, and think people, that if you look outside now and its freezing and snowing. There were people fighting in that conditions with low on manpower and ammo. But still, they hold.

[NordLand]

It's about 64 years ago that 15.000 brave men of the 1st Fallschirmjaeger Division defended Monte Cassino against two allied army corps...

Every army had it's elite units, every army had brave men, you can not say the allies were better than the axis, but you cannot say the axis were better than the allies, too.

Everyone who fought for his country was brave: Germans, Russians, British, Americans, French, Polish....

[Lethal Dosage]

^ Agreed.

[Monkey Soldier]

Totally agreed. (But I just knew more stuff about this battle, because I have read the book of Donald R Burgett)

[luciferum]

Here is the latest version of the fallshirmjäger. The splinter B pattern is now smaller. I'm not sure about the colors...may be the light grey is too light.
The color of the trousers has been changed too... but default lighting in worldbuilder seems to be kind of yellow which makes the trousers colour less green than initialy planned.
The helmet is covered with splinter B and net with green folliage.
Problems also for the netting and folliage on the helmet.

Comments welcome.

Next step: small tunings of the FJ and start working on the Luftwaffe field soldier.

[NordLand]

have you changed the colours??
the colours of the splinter pattern in your first splinter b skin (the one you posted first in this thread) were more historical.
The tan colour looks like it's white now, and the trousers are luftwaffe TROPICAL trousers, they were used in italy, not in France or Holland.
The brown colour of splinter b seems to be a bit purple.
The splinter pattern you used for the FJ NOW realy existed, but it was used by the polish army in the '50s.
btw the whole pattern is a bit too small now

the first splinter b skin was great, you'd better scaled down the first pattern a bit.

Maybe THIS is a help for you :


can you see the diffrence?

[luciferum]

sure... of course... On my way to a next try !

[Lethal Dosage]

Thats loking good, any intention of reskinning the Boot knife to lokk more like a proper german boot knife instead of a M1 Garand bayonet? Any yes i'm still sure thats what it is, thats definately a green plastic scabbard, and definately a black plastic and betal handle on the one ingame currently.

*i know someone posted a pic of one somewhere around here!*

[Treizoz]

I like the pattern on the next skin, size and everything, but the white NEEDS to be a darker tan of some kind. It just looks too white, which is a shame because I like the pants recolor and the new helmet. When you have it completed would you consider releasing it a stand alone so I could add it to my game via the skin installer while you work on your next ones? I have no OF skins.

[AnyKey]

Unbelievable work luciferum, hands down. It's amazing to seeing people like you put the time and effort to create such additions to the game to enhance it. I really appreciate your work, looks like this is really promising and cant wait for the complete pack!!


Keep up the incredible work!!

[Chaos@London.co]

There are some nice pictures of sumptarn & splinter pattern kit on the Sturm Miltec website. (reproduction kit, & modern-cut with retro patterns - also including Eichentarn and some others - also if you like the look of Sturm Miltec products, they're very good quality. I've bought some kit which is great for outdoorsy stuff out in the ooloo).
I'm not so hot on German military history (as I'm British & proudly more interested with the units I've served with), but I do rather like my German uniforms.
Whilst they may well have been shits, the fascists did have an eye for good looking gucci kit!

Looking into Italian kit, they had some smart stuff too - notably those funky collarless jackets...

[luciferum]

getting back to more realism (I hope).
Color tunings need to be done for some parts. This will take time.
helmet is too dark I guess. I think I'll go back to a splinter B camo + a mesh with folliage.

[Monkey Soldier]

The camo is great Although, the pants need to be more greenish. And the helmet is too dark. But all by all, it is a good skin.

[NordLand]

wow thats great !!
are you going to release a version with dark-green jump trouseres for normandy theatre?
Can you make a version of the helm, just like the one from relic, but in dark green instead of brown?
btw, the jumpsmock skin is the most realistic (and best looking) FJ skin for CoH OF ever
Can you plz post a backside view of the skin?

[AnyKey]

lol it's fine!! my mouth dropped when i saw this...it's good as Michelangelo's work!! i cant wait for more!...

[luciferum]

Hi all, that's the almost final version of the german paratrooper.

Treizoz: What is needed as files to be used with the skin installer ? I'm not using it and work only with Corsix's tool. Is the '.rgt' file enough ?
NordLand: can u give me a better idea for the 'green' color of the trousers. As you probably noticed, I changed the color of the original model.
All: Thanks for your helpful comments.

Luftwaffe field soldier on the way...

[Monkey Soldier]

This one's is very awesome! Only the trousers left and voila! XD The colour green what he means, is probaly the dark green in the camo of the FJ.

[NordLand]

This skin looks AMAZING !!
The helm rocks !!
I thought of this colour for the pants:


The reason why I wanted to see a backside view was this:


I think this should be the "Zeltbahn"(tent square) of the FJ. The Zeltbahn camo you can see in this pic never existed. This camo has to be "Splinter A". Can you fix it?

[luciferum]

Here are the last corrections: trousers color, and tent in splinter A pattern.
I've tryed to fix alpha troubles with folliage on camo net but some lines are still visible.

[Monkey Soldier]

Very cool, when and where can we download it?

[NordLand]

WOW that's so awesome !!
The trousers look great, but what kind of splinter a have you used? the stripes in this camo seem to be black, they have to be green, here's a sample:

[NordLand]

I tested the skin, it works, the smock looks good, but the whole skins would look better if you would make it a bit darker (the smock just a little, but the trousers have to be darker)