EDIT:  22 November 2012 2:50PM Pacific Time (yes, Thanksgiving Day)

This update is HUGE!  All of the images are now up-to-date, most of the old content has been removed, new content added, and the organization is much more in line with the current World of Tanks manual.  Hyperlinks were added all over the place, so people can jump to exactly what they're looking for.  Also, the manual revision name will reflect the build number the game is currently in, so it's even easier to know if you've got the current manual.

Yes, I do understand that there's only a "Getting Started" and "Basic" section to the manual.  Rest assured, more will be added coming up soon!  Enjoy everyone!!

---

Welcome to the "un"official site of the World of Warplanes Game Manual!  This manual has been designed to help new Beta Testers understand the basic concepts of the game.

Anyone can benefit from this manual, from World of Tanks veterans and flight sim enthusiasts to absolute newcomers to computer gaming.  I highly recommend utilizing this manual for reference if you have any questions regarding the game.  Many questions can be answered by searching the manual's PDF bookmarks.  (If you're not familiar with PDF bookmarks, download the latest version of Adobe Reader here:  Adobe PDF Reader)

This manual will be in a consistent state of upgrade due to the unknown nature of update content until it's released.  Therefore, some information may be out of date.  If you have any recommendations as to what you'd like to see in future revisions, please leave a reply!

Enjoy!


Update history:

0.7.0 - Initial version.
0.7.1 - 27 November 2011  20:15 UTC
0.7.2 - 03 March 2012 06:40 UTC
0.7.3 - 04 March 2012 07:05 UTC
0.7.4 - 04 April 2012 05:57 UTC
0.7.5 - 14 June 2012 17:10 UTC - massive update.  Too many items to list.
0.3.4 - 22 Novermber 2012 14:50 PST - complete update, overhaul, revision, spit-polish, you name it.

0.1 - 9 October 2012 19:10 UTC - added Quick Reference Card



You're the man Crash! Keep up the good work.

I have never reached a higher level of disappointment with this game than I have this weekend.

 

It boggles the brain on how many experienced pilots have repeatedly:
Expressed their opinions
Wrote about the problems
Devoted time to help….

 

Yet not one of the problems is getting fixed….. Just more frustrations and problems being put into this game…

 

A cinematic intro screen…… Why???  What purpose does this serve????    Sure it may be nice but it’s not NEEDED !   Key word here is NEEDED!

I have watched MM put planes into battle that never should have been there in the first place.

 

I watch Tier 6’s get thrown into Tier 8 battles where there were plenty of Tier 8’s and 9’s to make a battle…

 

I have watched planes that were rulers of the sky now turned into useless flying hunks of junk.

 

Altitude bans put into place because everyone kept trying to go after them instead of going after a ground target to make them come down….

 

There was a time back in Closed and Open beta when this game was just about close to balance….. Now it is so much further away…

 

WoWP is an extremely wonderful game… To be able to fly the fighters of WWII is a dream come true for many since many will never be able to do this in real life….

 

Many of us here know the history of the aircraft…what they can and cannot do…. However now… it’s the opposite for these aircraft.  

 

Low altitude aircraft can now get up with the once high flyers….

 

AA that is dead on laser accurate

 

OP Guns on a certain line of aircraft while certain lines had the damaged reduced…. Why…. Makes no sense..

 

Airplanes that did not have the greatest maneuverability can now out turn anything….unlike their historical replicas.

 

Instead of coming up with ways to help new pilots learn how to play this game…… We just “kill certain aircraft”…. Got to oil that squeaky wheel

 

Now I have been an extremely huge fan of WoWP since I first got in….. Flew it as much as possible…
But now…. This game is just not that much fun anymore…..with every new patch comes more problems

 

I’ll keep on flying….. Not as much…..Some levels are still fun to fly

 

Now I’ll probably get some -1’s…… So be it…..

 

Many others that I have spoken with feel the same way….

 

This game is not headed in the right direction….. Very sad also….
Hopefully someday pilots will be heard

Good day my fellow forum dwellers. I am Heh, your friendly forum spammer and whale biologist. In this episode of "Heh's biology report on WoWP's fascinating creatures", we're gonna show you the slowest, biggest, and most graceful creatures of the aerial kingdom: sky whales.

Sky whale taxonomy:

 

Sky whales (Caleum Ceti), are big, slow lumbering creatures gracefully roaming at low altitudes in the WoWP maps. Like their marine counterparts, they tend to eat krill, but they only eat dead, highly oxygenated krill processed by ground targets. The sky whale will tend to use its teeth to chew the krill in either big chunks or rapid bites, depending on the sky whale's age. In order to move, sky whales use a powerful nose muscle that propels them forward at a graceful speed, except for the royal whales that we'll explain later. Due to metal birds flying all around, the sky whale needs to defend itself. Since it's too colossal in size and weight to evade them properly, they usually grow up with a dorsal defense system.

Sky whales tend to poop on big targets as well. A sky whale's poop is extremely explosive and radioactive, and some sky whales tend to poop to save their hides, much like a skunk. They also carry 8 explosive thorns at their child stages, which are usually not used, but some like using it to eat metal birds, as their taste is twice better than krill.
The glorious floating whales have 4 main evolution stages, from stubby clumsy newborns to healthy calves to fully grown adults. Those of royal blood are special, but we'll explain them later. Here's all 10 sky whale evolution stages at your fingertips:

Newborns:

Newborns are named TShes, which mean Ticklish Shy fellas. They tend to be only tickled by the planes they face and have to bite at a faster rate than piranhas! There are two varieties, which are very much the same:

TSh-1: Those are the first sky whales, and tend to be only a few days old with two fins. They have no teeth at first, but then they get their piranha bites as they grow up. Because it is a TSh, it tends to be quite a clumsy little thing, always struggling to turn. It loses poop storage organs for stronger teeth at one point, as well as for a stronger nose muscle. There have been rumors about it having thorns at that age, but it is considered a myth.

TSh-3: At this stage, they gain a single fin instead of two, and get 10 teeth that double in power afterwards. They also get a stronger dorsal defense system and regain their poop organs. That is the final stage of newborns for all sky whales.

Calves:

Calf life is very long in a sky whale's life. In fact, most sky whales are actually teenagers! They tend to develop incredible damage systems, better defense systems, and even fully destructive thorns. They tend to have closed backs at that point.

LBSh: After a painful moulting, the TSh loses its teeth and regains sharper ones, though not as potentially destructive as the tiny teeth in the TSh stages. It also gains more powerful poop. The most important development here is the access to some sort of turning ability though. This is the first Odontoceti, which are characterized by their HUGE teeth. The ones with shredding teeth are Mysticeti. All sky whale stages start with a Mysticeti stage except the TSh, IL-10 and royalty stages.

IL-2: Now the sky whale sheds its dorsal defense system off for much sharper teeth that take giant chunks out of ground targets. The sky whale also gains incredible agility compared to its younglings, and has incredibly thick skin impervious to tiny metal bird teeth. It relies on friendly metal birds to help it stay afloat, as its daddy and mommy are far away. It also gains its adult thorns at that point.

IL-2 t: After a painful post-moulting moment of paranoia, the sky whale is rewarded with a very dangerous dorsal defense system. Even though it keeps the same teeth, it loses them right after getting the DDS, which is frankly the same as the old one in its TSh-3 stage, and also losing its first teeth. However, it also gains VERY dangerous poop too. And thicker skin. It's a very formidable foe to any metal bird, but loses part of its newly found agility.

IL-8: Now the sky whale is in its preteen stages, and develops a VERY dangerous DDS. And has bigger teeth. It's an evil evil foe for anyone that stands in its way, unless it's a swallow. Swallows are the main enemy of every single sky whale, only being scared off by the great Moby Dick (tamed and trained by yours truly) and outran by royal whales. The IL-8 stage is just one of two teen moulting processes, and sacrifices all mobility for much larger teeth and stronger blubber, making it part of the Odontoceti suborder.

IL-10: This is another moulting process a sky whale can go through if it hates the immobility of the IL-8 stage. The sky whale then becomes faster and the most agile sky whale of all stages. It's still a Mysticeti and is usually neglected due to how slow it grows and how it isn't as armored, but it's still a fearsome evolution with the NR teeth, capable of dealing the same degree of damage the TShes dealt to the enemies around them. However, unlike the IL-8 stage, it has access to the NR, which helps it grow to a fully well-bred adult sky whale faster.

Adult whales:

All of them are notable by their big heads. Hell, all of them are actually so alike that we call them IL-20s.

IL-20: In this stage, there's a GIANT leap in sky whale puberty. It's even the end of sky whale puberty, as out comes a fully grown sky whale. It gains an extremely powerful DDS called the NR. At this stage, some sky whale riders name them. Adult sky whale poop is massive and can wipe an HQ out with just one poo. An adult sky whale's teeth change from the shredder teeth in its adolecent stages to the biggest teeth in whale growth ever. The most popular sky whale of them all is the legendary Moby Dick, with his trusty tailgun named Ivan.

That marks the end of common sky whale growth. However, some whales are royal whales named IL-40s.

IL-40: This whale returns to grinder teeth, relegating it to a Mysticeti, but this time, they are all on the nose of the whale. Its thorns are seemingly similar to the old ones, but they have a larger blast radius. The main thing that characterizes a royal whale though is the change from a nose propelling muscle to a powerful gas sac, located near the tail. The gas sac allows the king whale to move a lot faster than a commoner whale and also glide at high altitudes. Also known as the King Whale. However, Moby basically hates royalty. He prefers a democratic system.

IL-40P: This is the final stage of sky whale royalty, also known as the Emperor whale, which Moby hates even more because once again, he prefers democracy. It is also known as the pig whale, mainly because of its nose. Even though it's laughed at by the other sky whales because of the nose, the Emperor is still the scariest sky whale ever. There are less teeth, but they're all more powerful to the point of dealing more damage and having more precision than the King whale. The speed is absolutely ridiculous, capable of outrunning most sky dolphins. But what characterizes it is the EXTREMELY thick blubber. Nothing has thicker blubber than the Emperor. With all these aspects combined, the Emperor whale is truly the most dangerous sky whale on the field, and should be treated with absolute caution and should be taken out immediately before it annihilates every ground target.

Mutant whales:

When I went back in here, I discovered new kinds of sky whales not in the normal sky whale tree. I'll call them mutant whales.

Pegas: A baby whale, similar to the TShes. Anyway, it has a single tooth that's remarkably powerful when playing with baby sky dolphins, and quite decently thick blubber. It lacks a DDS, but it can carry poop sacks at such a young age. It is also the most agile sky whale in existence, though a lot less agile than baby sky dolphins, which are extremely agile.

BSh: This one was part of the LBSh stages, but it developed the traits at such a young age. The strange thing about this creature is that it's STRICTLY a Mysticeti unlike the LBSh, which is an Odontoceti. While the DDS is also poor, it has the remarkable ability to drop a lot of poop. We people at the Bureau of Aeromarine Biology thought that the record holder for most poop was the skorca in the Fw 57 stage, but the BSh poops more, even though its poop is smaller. Not one creature poops more than the BSh.

Sh-Tandem: Also known as the ShT whale or the Tandem whale. This is by far the most intriguing discovery I've seen. It's strikingly similar to the BSh, but it has one thing that sets it aside: it has a tail on the bottom. This was an atrocious design that shocked the BAB. Now, it has a more powerful nose muscle, but it carries the same amount of poop as the LBSh. But this is not the weird part folks. The weird part is that it can perfectly imitate a SKORCA. The Tandem whale has the climbing ability of an I-16 sky walrus, thus causing massive shock to those that try energy fighting. The mobility is also tied with the Pegas, but the Tandem is a tier 5. Thankfully it lacks proper teeth, as it would scare every sky whale if it had LBSh teeth. Overall, the Tandem is the weirdest sky whale to glide in the skies of the WoWP universe. An absolute beauty.

Now, let's talk about whale blubber:

-Sky whales are hunted by Swallows for their thick blubber, which is basically a very powerful growth accelerator. Some sky whales have been known to eat their own kind, mainly the legendary Moby.

-Apparently sky whale blubber tastes like crackers, while royal sky whale blubber tastes like honey-coated waffles.
Now, this is the story of how I met Moby Dick, and the story behind him:

One peaceful day, an alpha player was talking to me about finding a sky whale to ride. I always doubted them back in the day, cause I was always a mobility lover. But then, I saw a little sky whale sitting at a shop. He seemed lonely as no one picked him, so of course I adopted him. Had to trade in a cookie for him. And then, I took him out for a walk, then I saw metal birds all up in the air, of the biplane ethnicity. I then commanded him to stay down and smack ground targets, then I noticed, at a pretty young age, his anti-air potential. That's when I had a goal: To make the greatest whale of all time, and ride it.

So I was training my good old Moby all the time, till when I made him poop by accident and I watched a monoplane disintergrate behind him. I then discovered that sky whale poop CAN have the range to beat up people chasing him for blubber. That was in his little IL-8 stage; you can just imagine how cute and curious he was back then. :3

At his adolecence, Moby started to hate other whales. That's when he neglected my usual orders and then punched a younger whale down to the floor. I then found out that Moby had an EXCELLENT talent when it came to beating up his own kind, and then it evolved to effectively beating up anything in front of him. My Moby was starting to no longer be the calf I raised, but a legend.

When he became a beautiful and very graceful sky whale, he had a pretty white color. Then I noticed he could knock out the fastest enemies, sometimes even ALPHA ACES (sometimes) down with his bigger poo. Then I found that his tailgunner was all drunk (no duh, as always), so I took that tailgunner to rehab, and that's where Ivan's famous accuracy came from. Do not tell me how he became sober. Then when Moby had his big teeth, he loved eating up P-51s that are stupid enough to hit ground targets. Then, inspiring from Corsairs in the wild, I taught him how to aim his rockets. Somewhat. And then, he started to FARM metal birds, laughed at everyone on his tail at low alt, always pooped on carriers, making their captains yell at him all the time. And then, he scored his signature triple ace, with a double ground ace, and then he was in the history books, incarnated as Moby: The Whale Whaler. He sits quietly in the hangar nowadays, but I still love him.

And that guys, is how I met Moby, and also the end of my documentary.

Supreme edit to relieve everyone:

How to make the DDS work to your advantage:

We know, the DDS is extremely freaking drunk on vodka and all. However, there's a way for a skilled sky whale to cope with that. Basically, it moves its dorsal fin in a way to move AWAY from the enemy (or yawing). For some odd reason, it seems that the DDS aims where the plane is, not where it WILL be due to weird sky whale anatomy, so if one whale yaws away, it might just lead the DDS teeth stream TO the enemy bird's next location, and so it gets magical results. I've never noticed it since as an Ace Combat addict, I'm very very used to yawturning, but then I stopped yawing back when I still played really, and by god the shots didn't connect that well. Then some adult skorca (I remember his name, but I'm not telling you incompetent fools) tried attacking me, and when Moby yawed, 50-75% of the burst kept connecting and he went down surprisingly fast. The reason why it works when you go in a straight line is because the enemy is ALSO forced to fly in a straight line to damage you, and so there is barely any leading needed, and so the shots connect better.

Sky whale camo: It's as existent as Manbearpig. Really.

Edit: GODDAMMIT WG STOP UPDATING SO FAST
This here is an actual guide, just in documentary format.

6/3/14: Patch 1.4.0 I am still working on the mods.  There are several that are broken.  Camera Mods still work if you do this fix:

1. Go to World_of_Warplanes\res\scripts\db
2. Delete or rename cacheddb.bin

 

5/7/14: Patch 1.3.1 broke all Camera Mods.  There is 2 different workarounds to allow the Camera Mods working as a standalone or with XVM.

 

4/24/14:  1.3 brought the official release of res_mods/x.x.x folder.  So, modding is back to the easier way again.

 

Currently, I will have my Mod Compilation and Camera Mods updated for 1.3.0 and will slowly work on the other mods as standalone.

 

My compilation are various mods that I use from the Russian Forums plus some that are my own work.

 

DrSinister Mod Pack with XVM (XVM vers. v1_7_1_NA)

(to see my camera mod you need to go to Settings > Battles and Checkmark Legacy FoV)

 

Installation:

  1. Download "DrSinister Mod Pack" and upack in WoWp root directory.

  2. Double click on the Clear_Cache_wowp.bat located in your WoWp root directory.
  3. Play the game.

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Clear Wargaming Cache .Bat file

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Individual Mods

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Authors of each mod are listed with the Mods

 

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Reticle Adjustment - Author: DrSinister with help from Hootorez

The above Adjustment is designed to work with DrSinister Camera Mod.

 

Reticle Adjustment for Default Camera

 

A temporary bug fix to get the bullets to be more centered to the Reticle.  Currently (since 1.3.0) the bullets shoot lower than the reticle in 3rd person view.  This is not an exact adjustment since if you use one of the 1st person view camera mods below this will raise it, since 1st person view is not affected by this bug.

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DrSinister Camera Mod - Author: DrSinister

This one you can install any other single mods except for XVM.

 

These steps need to be done to get the any modded XMLs to work:

1. Go to World_of_Warplanes\res\scripts\db
2. Delete or rename cacheddb.bin

 

Spoiler

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Hootorez Camera Mod - Author: Hootorez

This one you can install any other single mods except for XVM.

 

These steps need to be done to get the any modded XMLs to work:

1. Go to World_of_Warplanes\res\scripts\db
2. Delete or rename cacheddb.bin

 

Video

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Zapperguy Camera Mod - Author: Zapperguy

This one you can install any other single mods except for XVM.

 

These steps need to be done to get the any modded XMLs to work:

1. Go to World_of_Warplanes\res\scripts\db
2. Delete or rename cacheddb.bin

 

First person only with a few levels of zoom.

Camera modded for joystick scheme only.  Players using other schemes & this mod will not have the same views as someone using joystick scheme.  Sorry mouse guys.

Video

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Red Bullets - Author: DrSinister

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Bright Red Tracers - Author: DrSinister

I used this Red Tracer trails mod to help prove the Tracking Bullet bug, I had some people ask for it, so here it is.

 

Red Tracer Video

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Lighter Red Tracers - Author: DrSinister

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Frame Around Planes Mod - Author: Hootorez

http://imgur.com/OZK1Akz

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3 Different Sized Lead Indicator - Author: DrSinister

 

• 1st stage — gray point on the lead vector shows the direction of the target flight; the target is out of the firing range
• 2nd stage — red circle on the lead vector shows that the target is at max distance for the most ranged weapon
• 3rd stage — yellow circle on the lead vector shows that the target is at the distance of effective fire for all weapons
• 4th stage — green circle on the lead vector shows that aim point of the player's plane and lead-compensating aim point were superimposed and the player can open accurate fire.

 

Now this one is 3 different sizes packaged together.  Smaller, Small and Large.

 

http://i.imgur.com/CXM4XFd.jpg

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Legacy Lead Indicator - Author: DrSinister with assist from Phrap

 

This is as close as we can get it to get back to the pre 1.4.0 lead indicator.

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Cyan Lead Indicator - Author: Zapperguy

http://imgur.com/v50uRlG

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Smaller Magenta Lead Indicator - Author: DrSinister

http://imgur.com/6ZuZNeP

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Magenta Lead Indicator - Author: DrSinister

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Alternate HUD Arrow Markers - Author: Hootorez

http://imgur.com/rmo2CIx

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Alternate HUD Arrow Markers with Cyan Locked Target - Author: Zapperguy

http://imgur.com/wgOZBhQ

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Library sights ZEBRA_COOL - Author: Hootorez

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Library sights ZEBRA_COOL without points cursors - Author: Hootorez

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Multiple Crosshairs - Author: Hootorez/Pustah/DrSinister

 

Magenta Crosshair = Crosshair 2, Red
Green Crosshair = Corsshair 3, Red
Red Circle = Any Crosshair, Orange
Larger Red Circle = Crosshair 1, Combined
Black/White Cross = Crosshair 2, Combined
Magenta Circle = Crosshair 3, Combined
Yellow Circle = Crosshair 4, Combined 

******************************************************************************************************************************

Radar Skin - Author: Hootorez

A Radar Skin that is in this video.

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Alternate Ground Target colors - Author: DrSinister

 

Pink

http://i.imgur.com/0ZwrJov.jpg

 

Purple

http://i.imgur.com/r8l14Jl.jpg

 

Purple Ground + Pink AA

http://i.imgur.com/bSBayX3.jpg

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As I update each mod, I will pull them out of this spoiler.

Out of Date mods:

Spoiler

Spoiler

Hello Pilots. My name is Ken (EnlighenU). For just a second, please let go of any thoughts of the game and understand that what I am about to say comes from a real person, the man behind the player EnlightenU. I want to say thank you.....thank you for being in the game, for being patient with WG, for the rams (not so much...lol)  for the matches, for the advice and especially for the friendship. After playing many online games, WOWP is by far the most respectful  population I have found.... I'm grateful for every lesson I have learned in Victory and even more so for those I learned in defeat. In my life, this game is a bright light and the source of great joy. It would not be this way if not for every single one of you.....and I mean that.  Oh yes, when I see you, I'll surely try and shoot you down, but never forget that i am grateful and honored for the opportunity to fly with you all.

Psyrenn

StormTroopr

Ok, this'll be my big all encompassing guide to skinning. To help make it easier to read I'll just go through the process, stopping to explain bits as I go along. Please note: Do read the entire thing, there's some important notes at the end. Anyway, on with the show.


Necessary Software
First off , you'll need some sort of photo editing software that is capable of working with .dds files. The majority of editing software doesn't come WITH the capability of editing .dds files, and for those you will need plugins. Some that come to mind are Gimp, Paint.net and Photoshop, Gimp and Paint.net being freeware and Photoshop costing, well... a lot. Here are a few links to guide you to the proper software:

Gimp (the actual program): http://www.gimp.org/
Gimp (the .dds plugin): http://registry.gimp.org/node/70
Photoshop (the .dds plugin): https://developer.nv...adobe-photoshop
Paint.net (the actual program): http://www.getpaint.net/ (Direct .dds support, does not require plugins)

Obviously I can't link you to the actual program Photoshop, as that's what we call pirating, and that is bad. There may be a trial version however.

You will also need a program to extract the .dds files from the .pkg files that the game uses, as well as repackage your modified .dds files back into the .pkg files. The only ones that come to mind for me are 7zip and Winrar, 7zip being open source software and Winrar being a payed for program, but having a trial time period that you could use. Here's link for those as well:

7zip: http://www.7-zip.org/
Winrar: http://www.win-rar.c...nload.html?&L=0

For the rest of this guide everything you see will be done with Photoshop and Winrar, as that's what I use, though I'd imagine the other programs work pretty similar. Installing everything should be pretty simple so I'm not going to go through that process.

Locating the .dds Files
First off, after you've got your necessary software installed (if you didn't already have it), your going to need to locate the .dds files for the plane you want to skin. For this guide I'll be using the Bf 109 G, since it's the only plane I've FULLY skinned so far.

Navigate to where the .pkg files are located (mine are a little different since I didn't install in the default location, but you'll get the idea) and copy it to, for example, your desktop.


Next, change the file extension from .pkg to .zip, and select yes when it gives you the warning about changing file extensions. (A note on this: Alex mentioned that you do not have to change the file extension, but that you can simply extract the files using whatever extraction software your using.)


Now, using the extraction software we've got we simply extract the files. I always use the "extract to (insert file destination here)" method, as I find it's the easiest, and I can always move the folder/files around afterwards.


Now we've got all those folders with all those .dds files. (Mind you I've got some extra .psd files from previously working on skins.)


Editing the .dds Files
Let's go ahead and open the GR11_BF109G_hangar file (default skin file). You can do that by opening it through your photo editing software or, since we installed the .dds plugins, simply double click the file. (You may have to right click the file, select properties, and make whatever program your using the default for this to work, and if you do if makes life much easier.)


Once the program starts up and the file opens you'll get a little box like this. Make sure you open the file at the default sizes.


Now you've got your skin open in your photo editing software and your free do play with it as much as you want, just make sure you don't rotate it, or it will look all sorts of weird in game because nothing will match up right. Then when your done playing around with it, simply save it over the currently existing .dds file.


When you go to save it you'll get yet another dialogue box like this. Make sure you've got everything set like I do in this picture. (It's all default so I'd imagine Gimp users can just leave everything defaulted.)


Repackaging the .dds Files
Now we go ahead and open our extracting/packaging software, locate, and open the games .pkg archive.


When your locating the .pkg archives within your extracting/packaging software you'll have to make sure it's looking for all file types, as the .pkg files may not show up otherwise. Once you do that you'll be able to see the .pkg file.


Now, still within the extraction/packaging software, we navigate to where the .dds file is located.


Now you'll click and drag the .dds file you modified pretty much anywhere in the folder you have open with your extraction/packaging software, with the exception of into one of those top three folders.


Now you'll get one last dialogue box. Make sure you have everything set like I do. (Aka: The default way.)


That's it, now your ready to go fly your pretty new plane!

Final Notes (Notes with dates have been added at a later time, just putting the dates there to make new ones easier to find.)
Please note that you should not have WoWP open while doing all this. Aside from the demand on your computer, you won't be able to repackage your .dds files if it's open. It should also be noted that you need to back up your original .pkg files in case you mess anything up.

I have heard that some planes are not skinnable. I however have not yet run into this problem, though I have not skinned every plane in the game, so you may come across one that you can't. I have also run into problems with blanking out the country insignia, kill markers, unit numbers, and the other common files. The last time I tried messing with them I broke something or other and had to resort to reinstalling to fix the issue. (My fault for not backing anything up.)

4/15/2013
It does not SEEM that changing the image size of the .dds file affects the skin, at least not increasing it, as long as you go in multiples rather than decimals. For example, I was able to 4x the size of the P-51A skin with no problem, albiet a huge file size. Another note on that as well, keep in mind if you do increase the size of the image, the greatly increases the size of the file, therefore decreasing game performance. Testing it on the 51A, when I 4x'ed the image, the file size shot up to roughly 30mb, though it does look better. Just something to keep in mind.

I take no responsibility for broken games. Modding any game is a risk, but if you do it properly everything should be fine.

Have any questions? Feel free to ask. Also, if there is any way I can improve this guide, please do let me know, as this is an ongoing project of mine.

Lastly, a big thanks goes out to DrSinister for helping me figure out how to get skins to work in WoWP.

I had posted this in another thread and decided it is probably better used as its own thread.

Here is a crash course of using the new axes graphs to adjust for sensitivity/precision and getting the joystick properly setup for the game.

Note: I will be showing how to adjust the axes via the yaw axis because this is the only axes I have still linear.


Basic Overview of the Joystick Settings

First thing you need to press ESC, click settings and change the control scheme to Joystick.  (if yours is bugged and shows all joystick or another control scheme, then select through them till the Adjust Joystick Axes button appears.)  Now press the Adjust Joystick Axes button (button encase in red in picture.)


This will bring up the Axes graphs, each axis has its own graph, Roll, Pitch, Yaw, Thrust and Boost (green section), how the game reads your stick (orange section), deadzone and invert axis (red section), and what axis to set for each axis in game (blue section).


Make sure that the orange section reads your joystick all centered, if this is not the case, then exit the game and re-calibrate it via Windows Game Controller screen.  (Google this if you can not find it for your Operating System.)

Now for each Axes on the left, make sure that each one has the proper axis assigned to your joystick (blue section).  Also make sure that it is not set as Axis # (Default Controller), inside the (  ) should have your Joystick Name, like it does for my Extreme 3D Pro in the yellow section of the picture.


You will also notice that there is no sensitivity slider anymore. this is done via the graph.

How to read the Graph

This is what the graph looks line in default state:


The bottom of the graph (horizontal plane or the yellow line) is the representation of the physical joystick positions (or %).  Each graph line represents 5 points in a scale of 0-100 points.
The left side of the graph (vertical plane or the orange line) is the representation rate of roll, pitch, or yaw (or %).  Each graph line represents 5 points in a scale of 0-100 points.

Setting up the Curves

Each graph has 8 movable points, green section, you can add (left clicking anywhere on the graph) or remove (right clicking the point) from the graph and 2 stationary points (0 and 100 and are not displayed). Note: In default state only 1 point is displayed.

In a default state, the graphs shows a 45 degree line from 0 to 100.  This is also known as a Linear curve.  What this represents is that all points are 1:1.  For example, if my joystick is at 50% axis then the game will roll, yaw or pitch the plane 50%.


Now with the picture above you will see a non-linear curve. I have plotted 3 points, 15%, 25% and 35% of the Joystick Position, also these points are at the 5%, 20% and 35% of the Rate of Pitch, Roll, Yaw.

What does this mean? Well, what it means is that when my joystick is at 15% of the axis the game will represent the rate of pitch, roll, or yaw at 5%, at 25% joystick axis at 20% and at 35% joystick axis at 35%.  This also will lower the sensitivity of my joystick at these said points because they are not outputting the same % as what my joystick is positioned at.

Basically how you will look at the graph is anything below the 45 degree line will lower the sensitivity and anything above the 45 degree line will raise the sensitivity.

Also you will be doing a lot of tweaking of the graph at this stage till you can find a curve that will work for you.

Examples

The picture below will show how I lowered the rate by 5%, which is pretty much still a linear curve just adjusted lower.


What this curve below achieves is that from 0 to 35% it reduces the sensitivity of the rate of pitch, roll, or yaw near the center of the joystick, this also will allow more precision tuning of the plane at the center of the joystick.  Then after 35% its the same linear 1:1 curve for the remainder of the joystick positions.


Now my curve that I use looks like this:
(do not look at the additional points that I have in my curve, this is advanced modding of the xml to get more then the 8 points to adjust, I am just using my curve itself as an example)
This is my old curve.

This curves overall has a slight lower sensitivity.  In the center of my joystick its lowered to where I feel I have the best fine tuning for me then it rolls back up in sensitivity around 30-50% of my joystick then it rolls down in sensitivity again after 50% to about 99% to give me even more fine tuning at this point (this would be used more in a turn fight because this is roughly where my joystick is when I am lining up a shot) then at 100% stick it gives me the full rate of pitch or roll.

My new curve as of 4/17/13, both pitch and roll are different curves now:



Well I hope this helps explains the graphs a bit.  I am not sure if I went enough in detail.  If you have any questions just leave it here or PM me.

Pilots!

We figured since our collection will continue to grow, it would be nice to have all our Youtube videos in one spot.
So we will post them all here from now on!

Thanks for watching!

~Hathore

Thilix

I hope no ones offended by this as it's taken from the movie Downfall.

If so I will delete it.

Hello denizens of the forums!

 

Today I'd like to discuss gun convergence vs gun dispersion, and the effects we'd see in-game. First, I'll talk a little about gun dispersion, which we currently see in-game, and then I'll talk about gun convergence which is the way it was IRL. 

 

Gun Dispersion:

Currently we see gun dispersion in-game. Gun dispersion is based on a gaussian dispersion which means your bullets fan out in a 'cone' pattern starting from the moment they leave your guns. This effectively gives you a 'shotgun' effect at mid to long distances.

 

Pros:

Gives players with a little less aiming ability a greater chance of dealing damage over time at longer ranges.

 

Cons:

Results in skill playing less of a role in aiming.

Reduces the effect of maneuvering to avoid gun solutions.

 

Neutral:

Guns are effective from 0m to maximum range.

 

 

Gun Convergence:

Gun convergence is the standard method used to achieve a usable weapons platform for aircraft with wing-mounted weapons. Pilots would find a range at which they liked to open fire, and have their ground crews push the guns in or out to make all of the weapons 'converge' at a certain point for a fixed difference. This gives the weapons a 'triangle' firing pattern at ranges closer than the convergence distance, and an inverted triangle at ranges further than the convergence distance.

 

Pros:

More player customization. Players should be able to set their weapon convergence range to suit their play style.

Weapons are not as effective at ranges greater than convergence.

The  'flat' weapon spread makes evasive maneuvering more viable as bullets will not have any up/down scatter.

Pilots who learn to use their convergence range to their advantage will be able to use their weapons more effectively if they maintain the correct range.

Pilots who pay attention to their opponent's convergence ranges will be able to take better evasive action. (using range as well as maneuvers to avoid an opponent. If you get out of the convergence range, the opponent can only hit you with 1 wing's worth of guns.)

Rewards players for learning a skill in-game.

 

Cons:

This system is a little more complex for the beginner. Nothing a quick 'flight school' episode can't handle though.

Makes aiming equipment irrelevant for wing-mounted weaponry.

 

 

My Suggestion:

Add gun convergence to aircraft with wing mounted weapons. Make it user-customizable. Get rid of dispersion for wing-mounted weapons. Keep dispersion for nose-mounted weapons, but change it to a normal distribution and make the cone a lot smaller. 

 

 

Cheers!
Glenn

Salutations, Pilots! Today I'd like to introduce you to your new CM; talk a bit about the World of Warplanes community policy moving forward; and touch on the state of the game and address some of the bigger topics of discussion within the community. 

 

I won't keep you in suspense, your new World of Warplanes Community Manager is: me! Since joining Wargaming in late 2013, I have been inspired by the passion all of you have for World of Warplanes: your devotion to the game, your creativity, and your willingness to help strengthen the community through your actions as players. I feel amazingly connected to this community, and it is my honor and privilege to step into the role as your Community Manager. My goal is to ensure that you are having an amazing experience revolving around World of Warplanes, and I want to give everyone an overview on what you'll be seeing coming up. (Basically, "What are you going to do for us, gunlion?")

 

Transparency

Players today are wanting more than ever to be clued in on the how's, why's, and when's of a game's development, from learning about how game mechanics work, to the thoughts behind a design decision, to finding out when the next update is coming and what's going to be in it. Over the past month we've been giving players a lot more peeks behind the curtain with World of Warplanes, through the Developer Blog, Dev Q&As (those March answers are coming!), and with WG being a more active presence on the forums. We're going to continue this trend of insight, information, and involving our players into what's going on with World of Warplanes. 

 

This also means that when issues arise, we're going to be communicating clearly and openly with you to the best of our ability. While there may be technical and confidentiality limitations on what we are able to divulge, we're going to keep you informed and apprised, and we're going to squash the false perception that our players' concerns are going unheard. (More on that a bit later.)

 

Community Events

At its core, World of Warplanes is an amazing multiplayer aerial combat game, and it's only going to become better as more content and features are added. From the community side, we're going to be giving our players more options on how to play within the game that won't require any (or at least not much) development time. You're already seeing the beginnings of that with the Escort Battle Encounters event, giving players additional, optional in-game goals separate from missions that provide some great rewards and shake up the standard battle mode. Expect more WG-run events in this vein, as well as some really cool things coming up that we'll be putting in the hands of our players that will give you and your friends brand new ways to play the game. 

 

Game Issues

Now to the real meat and potatoes:

 

"As the Community Manager, what are you going to do--or what CAN you do--to alleviate some of the issues with the game, such as chat, the matchmaker, population issues, and game balance?"

 

There's this negative perception I've read in the forums where our players feel they are not being heard, and if they are, that it has no impact. I dislike that perception. It's wholly untrue, but I understand where it comes from: there are outstanding issues that the community has frustrations with that need to be addressed, and I think I can be open enough to say that until such time as they are addressed, that perception is unfortunately going to remain. The development team is very keyed in to issues that affect our players, and as Community Manager I will be working to make sure that we're being honest in how we talk about these issues, as well as making sure these issues are accurately represented to the developers. As Community Manager, think of me as your advocate to put forward your concerns with their due gravity and importance. 

 

2014 is going to be a great year for World of Warplanes. We have a lot of things coming down the pipe that I think deserve their own posts (also, with respect to transparency, sometimes we have to hold things close to the chest until we're prepared to announce them!), but I want to thank everyone again for your continued support, enthusiasm, and patience. Stick around, because big things are coming, and we want to share them with you. 

 

o7

Pilots, we've heard your feedback on the Earning Your Wings mission, and we want to give you more chances to get that Curtiss Model 81A-1 in your hangars! We have decided to extend the duration of the Earning Your Wings mission until 04:00 Pacific, Monday, June 16! You will now have the entire week of E3 and the weekend to obtain this rare plane! 

 

Thanks again for everyone's feedback on the mission. Now get in the skies and earn your wings! 

Ok, I may have found a fix (if it didn't fix itself already):

 

Open your WoWP game folder and look for "WOWpLauncher.cfg". Open it in notepad

 

somewhere in the middle you should see "<client_ver>10300.133264</client_ver>", change the last number from 4 to 3 (ie: 10300.133263)

 

save the file and launch your game launcher. It should check integrity and then download about 538 MB, but afterwards, for me at least, it works.

MrRepublicans Tips list !!!!!! 

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100,000K views!!!!! wow i got to thank everyone for being so interested in my thread. I started it after being asked by a lot of people just for basic tips and decided that this would be a good way to help the community in a small way. I remember getting to 40k and just being happy people were even looking at it .... I hope i've helped some people get over that learning curve to start to enjoy this awesome game. If you have any questions or even want to post some of your own tips just reply!!!

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Hello.. this list is here to help newer players with basic (and some complex) tips to help you do better !!!! so you might be asking (if you dont know me) .. what makes you so good. its simple - I PLAY SMART- so read this and comment if you want :)
SO ... what makes a good player???? you might just say skill , but its far more complex then that 5 letter word. here is my break down of it
60%- tactics/smarts
30%-playing ability
10%-luck
= 100% good player

My Quick Tips:

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Fighters
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1.never do head on's unless you have double their HP
2.never just go in a line upwards ... this makes you easy to shoot at .. so put some wiggle in it
3. never turn fight in a heavy or zoom-and-boom planes.. if u turn ur very open to attack
4. hit IL's as soon as you can.. these guys might be easy to kill but they can win the game off of GT's if you let them
5.never go on someone that already has 3 or + people on him.. if u get greedy, people will hit each other, its just not worth it
6.stay grouped up if possible.. if your solo then try to stay with 3 or so people
7. LEAVE a losing fur ball... its not worth getting in a fur ball and dying just to try to save 2 other people
8. When in doubt go to AA
9.If your losing a dog fight look for friendlies near you to fly towards so they can help.. you cant always trust other people but it can help distract the person on your tail some
10. don't climb if you don't have a plane that climbs good.. ive killed too many A6M's and yaks at 9k +.. i just now think "what heck were they thinking?
11. don't shoot before you get in to gun range. for each plane this is different , but if u shoot too early , you do no damage and tell them that your after them
Heavy Fighters
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1. Never use all your boost at the start of a match.. this helps if you get in trouble after climbing up
2. Try to wait after climbing up till fighting kinda starts.. this is just doing one circle kinda half way between your base and your front line
3. when boosting to get away never go in a line.. try turning alittle , this does make u just alittle more harder to hit , in turn giving ur alittle more HP to get away
4. STAY HIGH, you have to try to set a Min. height that you will never go under unless its certain circumstances (common sense people).. it might suck to let a kill go after knocking him down to 30% but its not worth going to deck and not being able to get back up
5. LOOK FOR HELP... this is kinda part of being smart.. if you have some one on a tail and u see 3 team mates near you or close .. fly towards them (NOT IN A LINE , but towards them as your dog fighting) and if you see some one near stretch some one out .. yes i know you cant always trust in randoms , but 4 times out of 10 they should help you enough to get them off your tail

Medium Fighter (Fw Line)

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Overall I love the FW line , and i find the tier 6 one awesome .. i like it as much as my mustang to be honest .. its a beast at getting kills and has a unique flying style than any other plane.. its the closes they have to support plane in this game .. you can hit gts , clear tails and do head on's with most other planes. I hope you give the line a try , and I'm sure you will love it

1. Play it smart... these planes can't energy fight vertical as good as other planes in their tiers... you have to make sure if you dive on some one they can't chase you up .. because in these planes its almost impossible to shake a lighter fighter of the same tier 

2. Lay back and be a sniper... this means you wait for the fighting to start to get in the action.. you wan't to be able to attack people with out being noticed and with out getting someone on your tail .. these planes have great gun range, so they make great snipers to pick out people in fur balls

3. Try to gun down heavies first/ ground attack ... these planes have awesome fire power .. so use it to help your team

4. Try head on's in this plane ... you can beat every plane except heaves .. so you can finally do head ons and win with almost no damage is done to you (a dream come true for a lot of people haha)

5. Don't go on the deck.. these planes are high flyers and snipers.. they don't ever do good on the deck .. only time you should be on the deck is while running away from more than one enemy with no other choice   

6. Run when you have no help and your out numbered or you can't out turn some one ... THESE PLANES CAN"T TURN .. so don't bother turning after doing a pass on a mustang.. just keep going on your merry way .. if you get in a turn fight, you will lose very fast... it has great horizontal speed , so use it

My Comments

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Tactics/smarts: Now you might say .. "hey MrR i get killed by better people all the time" .. Well think about this - are they above you? are they diving? are you over their AA or yourself? Whose plane has the advantage in turning and climbing?... The first thing to being smart at this game is recognizing when you can and cant win a battle. This requires a lot of knowledge about all the planes for all the tiers and does take some time to get
Example: if I'm in my P51A against a Yak 9 i know he cant climb compared to me.. so i save up boost and dive on him and go right back up (but not in a line due to the derp ability of the canon on the yak)
everyone has a bit different tactic for each plane , so all u have to do is find your own. yess its hard but once you get that "click". your win rate will boost up and you will have far more fun. here is a quote i use in game a lot "never go in a dog fight you cant win" - Red Baron .. that is so true in this game.. why would you go in a fur ball of 6 people in a P40 over no AA. Your going to die , so your best option is to climb if you have the boost and time .. then you slowly go for those who can climb (like 110s , or other P40s) .. I call this the predator approach, you go for those who can climb first (plane wise) and those who you know are a danger first.. and you slowly pick people off one by one working on them.
Playing Ability: After you get down what you want to do ... you work on your abilities like aiming and dodging. its that simple once you get better at your skills and you play smart... "but Mr R cant skill overcome any tactic.. so why is this 30% of a good player" .. well no , any good tactic can over come skill
Example again- In my P51A i know that i can out climb that yak.. so even if that player is good , he cant over come the nature of his plane... i climb high and he tries to shoot at me (10% he will kill me due to a derp shoot with a somewhat good aim) but i know with my dodging skills, that almost never happens. and i dive on him and shoot .. ( i might knock 30% of his HP off ) but i go right back up and repeat till hes dead... if he relays on his skills he will eventually die, but if he has a good tactic he could counter (like staying low and using AA as cover) but it comes down to who has the better tactic .. THEN it comes down who has the skill to do their tactic better
Luck: this 10% goes for match win % too.. you only get a lucky good team or bad team 10% of the time .. this is the honest truth.. i hear people say one person cant do anything , but in this game yes they can. Its hard, but if you can just take out 2 people then you are a positive for your team

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PLANE REVIEWS (tell me which plane u want next!! just post a reply !)
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The P.1056(tier 8):
While i have played this plane only a few games.. i have learned that is is amazing for a stock tier 8... it has the speed to keep up with a FULLY upgraded 262 and can even out run it with its 30 second boost. The guns are alright , but the speed makes up for it.. A great thing it has over the 262 is its turn time. It also has a number of options for those who want to ground pound, making this plane suited for many types of players. While the grind is hard to get this plane, its well worth it !!
Score(out of 10 stock)(non stock) - Guns (6)(8), Speed(7)(8), Boost(8)(8), HP(6)(6), Handling(6)(6), Ground Attack Ability-GAA-(6)(7) - Total of 39(43) (tier 8 avg. is around 33)
The Hornet(Tier 7):
Unlike the tier 6 and tier 8 in the heavy brit line , i found this one to be a let down. I started with full engines and i felt like i was in the tier 6 all over again but with more boost.. it climbs good for a tier 7 but its guns are very bad for its tier. its a plane that most will find ok but nothing special.. it can out turn 609s which makes it far better for dog fighting heavys at lower tiers , but tier 8 and above its cream
Guns(5)(6) , Speed (5)(7), Boost (6)(7), HP (5)(5), Handling(6)(6), GAA(5)(6)
The Me262 HG2 (Tier 9):
This Plane right now is the king of the heavys... super fast , can outturn 262s, and has REALLY good boost , you feel un touchable in it. The first set of guns for it are kinda bad , but once you get those 20s.. woah is all your going to say after killing your first person with them.. makes other planes feel like butter when you slice them in half.. The last 30s are more for ground attack , but do hurt when you hit. Overall from stock to full, its a great plane and lives up to the expectation the 262 left you wanting in a tier 9
Guns(7)(9), Speed(7)(8), Boost(8)(9), HP(7)(7), Handling(5)(5), GAA(6)(6) --- top 30s makes it (7)
Plane Strats
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The P51A (Tier 6): Ialways say base your targets first by plane then by player... so if you know your better than the other P51A players then i suggest you get higher and save boost and that should give you enough advantage... going over AA is another one that will help shake them off your tail but its mainly who gets on who first .. so you better look for them, because getting a equal pilot in the same plane will kill you if you let them get on you
Spitfire 1 (Tier 5): This plane is better after the patch , but is the usual turn fighter .... U DONT GO OVER 7K in it.. stay low and kill ILs , and low planes... it has great guns , so it shouldn't be that hard.
F2A-1 (Tier 3 Prem): This thing climbs great for tier 3 , so if its a tier 3 2 match i suggest energy fighting , but dont climb if ur not the highest tier ... turn fight then. This plane does have a down side of weak guns , so if your planing on playing it , you better be patient.
109B (Tier 4): This little devil has gotten a big boost in climbing since the last patch.. soo USE it people .. in a tier 4 match and lower, you can completely own the skies and its your game to lose basically.. but you have to be smart and keep you energy as much as you can. try avoiding going too high when in upper tier matches . u just cant preform up there with tier 5 and 6 planes.. and will get killed by some one who knows what they are doing... You will be able to out climb anything that can out turn in you in this plane besides the Spitfire 5+ , and the A6M5 (to avoid them just stay over 5k , a a6 above 5k can barely climb after you , even with full boost)
109F (Tier 6): Ohh my first love in this game.. its always has been a great to decent plane, but now it can finally compete with the P51A if your smart enough First off you got to lose those wing mounted guns.. yes you wont be able to make people disappear anymore but you will be able to fly with a mustang now.. Keep your energy and do dives rarely.. unlike the A the F just doesn't keep energy and will kill you trying to chase a P51A back up.
Strats
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When to fire:​ just fire when you know you can hit them.. this goes in to skill and getting better at aiming overall... i usually shoot my 50cals 2300ft ..but 2000ft is just fine(2500 is good for canons)... but focus on flying the rather getting a shot in... if you watch me fly i do get hit and take hits from other P51a's but im focused on out flying them and making them stall when they are just busy trying to squeeze HP out.

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Videos

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#1:

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Replays- Download and watch me mess around :D 

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#1:

https://www.mediafir...abpwmb7aj8w04wn - Me in my fw , it was a very lucky game for me and i almost got hit a few times

#2:

https://www.mediafir...hcqln6g0oqtd8d1 - Me in my Fj-1 ... i lost this game but it was so fun and i could have won it.. but i made mistakes 

#3:

https://www.mediafir...lwwbw88oot1uzgn - Me in my Yak 7 .. won the game , got very close to dying .. derped a few people and dodged a lot!!!

 

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My Info

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Line Info : Jap Fighter Tier  5 , UK  Heavy Tier 7 , USSR Fighters Tier 7 (La) and Tier 5 (Yak) , USA fighters Tier 9 (FJ1) and 7 (F4U) , USA heavy tier 7 , German Fighters Tier 9 (Fw) and Tier 8 (209) , German Heavy Tier 9

ANY OFF TOPIC OR INSULTING COMMENTS WILL BE REPORTED , PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL TO THE FORUM EVEN IF YOU DONT AGREE OR DISLIKE ME. Have a tip you think I'm missing, post it :)

 

 

Adding cinematics for the opening and after crashing just made the game that much worse. It makes me sad to think of the great expense and effort invested on a feature that is cosmetic, and badly implemented.

 

At the beginning, it's intrusive. I don't need to see some bogus "pre-construction" of what my plane was doing before I could control it. It could have been having a party in Rio, for all I care. It does not help establish the combat situation. The information I need for that is in the mini-map, and I need to spend the time available considering who my opponents are, calculating distances, and assessing any strategy my team mates suggest.

 

After death, the cinematics are INFURIATING. I want to see what happened in combat directly after I died. How close I came to achieving my goal. Not some dumbarse auto-generated pseudo-Hollywood clip that I can't ESC from, and which, by the time it's finished, has completely stopped me from seeing what I wanted.

 

All-in-all, the movie feature is annoying at best, and a step backward for the game, at worst.

UPDATE: Due to changes in the "Earning Your Wings" mission, the deadline for the Curtiss Model 81A-1 portion of the contest will be extended to allow more players to post screenshots of their plane! 

 

Pilots, there are a lot of rewards up for grabs for completing our E3 Week missions: hangar slots, credits, and even a rare tier IV US Curtiss Model 81A-1! But why stop there? This week, complete the missions and get a chance at a Bonus Check: a gold payout! Here's how to enter:

 

• Complete the Battle over Los Angeles mission once per day. (That's three days!)
• Post screenshots of your after-battle reports showing that the mission was completed. 
• Twenty (20) players who post their screenshots showing mission completion will be drawn at random and win 500 gold!

 

And as an added bonus-on-top-of-the-bonus, players who complete the Earning Your Wings mission will get 1000 gold for posting a screenshot of the plane in their hangar! There's no random drawing on that one--if you get the plane, you'll also get the gold! (If you also post screenshots of completing the Battle over Los Angeles missions, you will still enter into a drawing for that prize. You can potentially win both prizes!) 

 

Good luck, Pilots! Show LA and E3 your stuff!

Silent_Scope