If you’ve ever seen someone fly a plane in War Thunder that has Obama’s face on the back of the plane then you’ve probably wondered how you could do that. Well it’s called making a custom skin for your planes in War Thunder, and within this guide we’ll give you easy steps to follow so you can do it too.
Follow these steps to make custom skins in War Thunder:
- Get an Image Editing program like Photoshop or Pixlr.
- Create a new template for your plane’s skin.
- Locate the folder UserSkins in your War Thunder Game folder.
- Open the folder with the name of your vehicle.
- Open the top TGA File with your Image Editing software of choice.
- Make the changes you wish to make, such as adding faces and different colors.
- Save the picture as a TGA file.
- Open War Thunder and Select your Custom skin within the User Skins options.
Although the steps we’ve mentioned above are easy to execute, they do require some more explanation to understand completely. Luckily, if you read on ahead we’ll be diving deeper into each step and will give you the entire breakdown of what you need to do and when to make custom skins in War Thunder.
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How to Make Custom Skins in War Thunder?
If you’re the type of gamer that likes to personalize their characters and vehicles in a video game then you’re probably pretty bored of the generic skins that are available within War Thunder. You might have also noticed that several people use, what look to be, custom skins in your matches.
You might have assumed that those people either hacked the game or used some form of convoluted cheats to add those special skins into the game. However, if that’s what you assumed then you would be very wrong because it’s surprisingly easy to add skins in War Thunder.
Reminder: Most other people will not be able to see your custom skins in war Thunder, and will exclusively be saved onto your local computer storage. This means that if you boot up the game on another system then don’t expect that you’ll retain those whacky skins of yours.
With that out of the way, let’s discuss all the steps you need to follow to make customs skins in War Thunder.
Step 1: Get an Image Editing Software
Before you can go hunting for the skin that you want to change in the game files of War Thunder, you first need to get software that can edit these images in the first place. There are several great software available to do so, with some paid and some free versions of that software available for your usage.
I would recommend Pixlr or Adobe Photoshop, as I believe that this software provides the most variety and ease of customization. Although you might have to pay for this software, you can easily find them online and can begin your customization process. They are fast, power, and efficient.
However, any Image Editing software will also be able to do the job that these are capable of performing. Just make sure that the software can support multiple different file types, especially TGA files.
Step 2: Create a New Template for Your Skin
Now that you have a software to work with you will need to get a blank template for the plane that you wish to make a custom skin for. To do this you need to go to your Plane or Tracked Vehicle, and go to the Customization tab.
Once you’ve entered the Customization tab simply Click on the Magic Wand widget that is located above the slots. Once you do so you will notice that a new template has been made for that particular plane skin.
You may now edit this new template and make additions to it as you see fit to create a custom skin in War Thunder.
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Step 3: Access the UserSkins Folder in War Thunder
The next step that is vital to make your custom skins is to access the UserSkins folder. This folder will contain the template that you will be edited to include your skins within the game’s visual display. To do so simply follow these steps:
- Navigate to your game’s library (Preferably on the Steam App)
- Right Click on the War Thunder game in your Library
- Left Click on the Properties option on the drop-down menu
- Click on the Local Files tab when the Properties Window opens.
- Select Browse Local Files
- The main directory for War Thunder should open up
- Navigate to and Open the UserSkins folder within the directory
If you’ve followed all of the above-mentioned steps then you should have been able to access the UserSkins folder of your War Thunder game. Now it’s just a simple matter of locating the folder within this folder that specifies your vehicle.
Locate the file with the name of the plane you created a skin template for and open it up. It should have several TGA files within it that show 2D pictures of the 3D skins within the game. This is the important folder you wish to keep open and make future edits within.
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Step 4: Make Custom Edits to the TGA Files
The next step is incredibly important because this is where you unleash the creativity that has prompted you to want to make your custom skins in War Thunder in the first place. First, let’s begin the editing process.
- Navigate your Mouse Cursor to the top TGA file within the folder we found in the last step.
- Right Click on the TGA file Select the Open With option, and open the image with the editing program you chose in Step 1.
- You should now be able to see your vehicle’s skin in a 2-dimensional format.
- Make Edits to this 2D image of your vehicle’s skin. Make sure to double-check the orientation of the skin as it aligns with the actual 3-D model as you continue to make the edits.
- Save the edited file you just made in the same folder and with the same name and file type, i.e. TGA
Now that you’re done with all those steps you should be able to enjoy your custom skins in War Thunder. To do so simply go back to your War Thunder Application and Click on Customization again. Click on User Skin and Select the Custom Template of the skin you just created. Enjoy!
Voila! That’s our easy peezy guide to making custom skins in War Thunder. These steps might have seemed daunting at first, but when you truly look at it are quite simple to follow. Although using image editing software was out of the scope of this article, we’re confident you’ll figure out how to do so on your own.
Making your skins allows you to spice up your gameplay, and have a lot more fun as you navigate the game space, and it’s hilarious, no other reasons are required really. We hope you continue to have fun in War Thunder and see you in the next article! Ciao.
