MoW Ultra HD Panzer IV Pack addon - HD Tanks Mod for Men of War: Assault Squad

After taking a break from modding in general, im back with the first pack from the new Ultra-HD lineup of MoW skins.

This one features 4 tanks, the Panzer-IV F1, G, and H models, as well as the FlaKPanzer-IV Wirbelwind. I think this skin shows what you can do when you are given a butt ugly stock model, dont get me wrong, its an old game but some tanks (like the pz4) have a terrible appearance in game. This skin makes the old pz-4 go away, and it gets replaced with something more beautiful.

I focused more on raw quality, and i painstakingly ensured that every texture matched as best as possible with the model (edges are where they ought to be). Unlike previous skins, i made sure to do everything from the hull, to stuff like suspension, wheels, and even details like tools, boxes, ect. There are a few things i didnt alter from default, but they are either very hard to notice, or simply hidden from view under normal circumstances. All in all, i feel this is the absolute best i could get without going all out OCD on the thing.

I made it much cleaner then older models, the dirt i thought would be a good idea before just didnt look that good, and while i do like the way War Thunder makes their tanks not ultra clean, i feel that making the tanks cleaner (and thus not standing out from the rather clean stock vehicles like the panther or stug) is a better choice.

Unlike the last pz4 reskin i uploaded here, this one has proper and much better looking damage models. I went for a more rusted or burned out look then the usual slapping on some bullet holes and dirt decals, and i also made them less pronounced when medium damage is present. Its just enough to make it possible to spot what component is damaged visually, but not to the point that it stands out like some of the older models where the entire turret will turn charcoal black instantly when its damaged while the rest of the tank is bright green. Its similar to the more modern vehicles like the T-34, or stug, where its visible damage, but not excessive unless its the fully damaged model where i went for burned out appearance and is very easy to ID both via skin and model that it is completely vaporized.

Normal maps are included for the pz4, and they arent exceptional, but they do make the tank much bumpier and realistic looking, and it allowed me to simulate the bumpiness of stuff like latches, bolts, ect, without having to create a new model. The wirbelwind doesnt have them as that tank (at least stock) doesnt support them, and to make it possible id have to alter the texture defenition files which would ruin MP compatibility. If there is enough desire for this i can make a quick normal map and edit some files but this would only work offline. Its a quick job, so if you are interested (im not gonna bother if noone wants) just post in comments.

Specular maps (the reflective thing) is also included, and i think i struck a good balance between showing the edges being very reflective and shiny, while keeping the rest of the tank close to the other stock vehicles, neither too shiny nor too dull.

A bit of a side note, i used three programs to make the skins. Paint.net to do the suspension initially as the wheels need to have transparency (i hate photoshop's alpha editing interface). Photoshop for the actual skin (paint.net has issues with resizing and manipulating textures in general, too much blurriness and just ugliness). And finally gimp to actually save the .dss with proper mipmaps (apparently the photoshop nvidia tools are broken and i always get terrible mipmaps where the wheels turn into big black squares when you arent looking at the tank from very close up). If anyone knows of a way to make photoshop save mipmaps (without making black squares for the wheels) them please tell me, id die not to have to boot up gimp after the fact just to make the mipmaps useable.

Credits go to me for the skinning, and DMS for the original game resources.

Liscense: As i never cared for copyrights and stuff nor want to limit others, do whatever the hell you want with this, include it in your mod, redistribute as you like, ect. And while im not gonna hunt you down or anything if you dont do so, id appreciate some credits though for my work. Finally, because i released my work for free on here, i expect anything that contains my free work to also be distributed for free. I didnt earn a penny on this, and thus i do not expect anyone else to profit from what i did.

Changelog:

V2: original release.

V2.1-2.5: dont bloody remember as it was a long time ago :D.

V2.6: brighter desert camo and altered specular map to be the same as the V2.2 version of the pz3 (doesnt really alter anything major but if you are using the pz3 then update your pz4 skin too so they both look very similarish in game).