Need Help with MRR 🙏

[SOL-4-KEV]

How do I stop that white glare. With my roundels. I’ve tried copying the MRR values from the default but can’t seem to get it right

[gabuzomeu]

It has to be almost black in the green channel, and dark grey in the red iirc

have a look to my french f-84 skins in the forum  flr an example

[JollyJack]

Rocket Knut posted extensive info on Discord regarding the MMR layers. QUOTE:

Remember, I´m using GIMP. No idea, if it works in PS. Plus, it is based on video, I found on the interweb and probably needs to be tweaked. But as of now, I´m lacking the motivation and, above all, the time to do it. So, here you go, try it out: · make a copy of the template · open this copy · set the MRR-folder to "Normal"-mode and the metallic-, roughness- and specular level-subfolders to "Lighten Only"-mode · open the metallic subfolder and create a new subfolder · give it a name and set it to "Darken Only"-mode · throw the original content of the metallic-folder into this new subfolder · within the metallic-folder, create a new layer and fill it with red (0% blue, 0% green) · proceed accordingly for the roughness- and specular level-subfolders · create a new layer from visible, copy paste this layer into a new 4096 by 4096 file and "export as" as usual (i.e. BC3/DXT5, generate mipmaps and use box fliter) · name it so it matches your skin file · throw the skin and mrr files into the game´s skin folder · try out in game, using different lighting conditions · play a lot with the brightness values of the original template layers in order to achieve the desired effects · probably play a lot more with these values  Cheers!

[Rocket_Knut]

Ehemmm...

The workflow quoted above is only meant to give one something to work with. It should get you somewhere so you would be able to come up with something. It is neither thoroughly tested nor highly sophisticated. There might be better ways to do it. And it doesn´t guarentee you a result, you would be happy with. And, in this context, it will not solve the issue of the glowing white.

@SOL-4-KEV I don´t know, what causes the glowing effect. From experience of creating skins for GB, I´d go for something not totally white but very light grey instead. Might be useful to check the game settings as well. If I remember correctly, HDR in GB caused a similar glowing effect there. Then, I´d start to play with the brightness of the channels within the mrr section in the affected area (roundels).

Looking forward to your feedback, so we all can learn from your experience too.

Edited yesterday at 02:30 PM by Rocket_Knut

[JollyJack]

👍I am new to this MRR stuff, just started looking at the included default #!#1.dds files, and found the greenish and blue ones there seem to work best in general. 

With Haluters PRISM as viewer ( i use 2 monitors) and if you work from within the gama's skin folder for your edits, PRISM imediately adapts live after you save the dds files.

Works a lot faster than with the old viewer in GB where you manually have to (re) load each new edited skin it seems.

[JollyJack]

How do you edit the Blue & Green snapshot layer? Rasterize it first? And how do you create a new one?

[actionhank]

I'll try to throw a quick little guide together on how I've been doing it in Photoshop. If you're using GIMP, the process should be similar but I can't say for sure, since I've used GIMP for all of about 5 minutes in my entire life.

I'll try to describe the process and clicks, so hopefully there will be similar things you can do in GIMP if that's what you're using.

In the Template, you've got the "markings" layer that is where you're creating your markings that sit on top of the "art" layers folder where the actual skin itself is sitting. Here's what I've got in my template for the RoKAF F-51s. This is just a "hand painted" roundel for the wings and is meant to cover the original USAF markings, but since it's not a 1-to-1 fit, I had to edit it to make sure that the reflectivity didn't show where the markings were.

In Photoshop, one thing you can do that makes this easier is to do a Control+Left Click inside of that little thumbnail that shows the markings and it will automatically select that shape for you, meaning you can now paint inside of the area those markings are set in.

With that selected, you want to enable and expand the MRR section, which has the 3 different types of reflectivity that you'll need to work with. The most important one should be the "Metalness" folder, which in my copy of the F-51 Template is in red. Here, you can go and turn the USAF markings off, and you should be able to see a blank skin that doesn't show any dark spots where the markings are, like this:


You can see the selection in that picture that shows where those markings are on the art part of the texture. So now, you'll want to create a new layer to be the reflectivity portion of your skin. For this, since you want it to be 100% non reflective, since it's supposed to be a matt painted marking on the skin, you'll want to use black and then just fill those selected portions of the skin in your new layer of markings inside of the MRR > Metalness > Markings > YourNewLayerForMarkings and in YourNewLayerForMarkings you'll just use the paint bucket tool to fill those spots with black, which when it combines with the other reflectivity templates will create an area under the markings under your painted markings to keep it from being reflective.

That's all a lot of text, but I'll post the picture of my template after you add the markings for stopping the reflectivity. So above, there's the selection of my markings, I created the new layer in the Metalness folder for my RoKAF markings, and then I filled the selected area with black on a new layer. After I do that, all 3 of the reflectivity types combine to make an almost dark blue color range on the layer that shows where the markings are, like the following:

1. The Metalness folder in the MRR folder is where you start. 2. Go into the Markings folder and create a new folder for your markings (3). Then create a new layer in your new folder to represent your markings which is what will make it so your skin doesn't reflect light under the markings (4).
 

To help understand the layers, you can always turn off the different types of reflectivity layers (Metalness, Roughness and Specular Level) to see how they look individually, which will help make it a little more clear how they work when all 3 combine, which is what combines to give you the weird purple/pink skin.

Hope that helps!

Edited 5 hours ago by actionhank

[JollyJack]

Thanks, infact i was struggling with removing and placing other type roundels. Lucky you you just had to replace USA with ROKAF LoL.

I still don't get why the IL2 #1#1.dds skins took like this, mostly purple and green. (to do with no metal shine?)

[actionhank]

43 minutes ago, JollyJack said:

Thanks, infact i was struggling with removing and placing other type roundels. Lucky you you just had to replace USA with ROKAF LoL.

I still don't get why the IL2 #1#1.dds skins took like this, mostly purple and green. (to do with no metal shine?)

I believe that's what you see whenever you have the base color layer turned off and the "Metalness" group turned off as well.

As for removing the old markings, you'll want to check all three of the reflectivity ones, as all three combine to form the overall mapping for the game to render the reflectivity or non-reflectivity of the markings. I think all three of the folders (Specular Level, Roughness and Metalness) should have their own Markings folder that has the included USAF markings that you'll want to turn off just to make sure they don't affect whatever markings you are wanting to add. I generally try to not delete or remove things from the original templates, and then add my own new markings options wherever possible, just in case there's something important on the included template layer that I might miss later on.

Edit: Okay, double-checked, and it looks like the base layer doesn't matter. Sometimes the reflective layers in templates for games can be slightly transparent, so the base skin might change the colors of the MRR layers just a bit. But, that said, if it's just blue, make sure you have the layers under the red Metalness turned on to get the correct hot pink look.

Edited 4 hours ago by actionhank