Annihilator Lore-Friendly Realistic Liveries

This simple texture-swap mod replaces default Annihilator livery with a more realistic lore-friendly ones based on Homeland Security BlackHawks. Furthermore, it adds the option to allow Annihilator to appear with multiple liveries!

There are three liveries, numbered 1-3 in an order of becoming more dated for GTA IV's 2008 setting - so the PIA one is the oldest. The design and time period of the liveries has been established by researching various online websites that included photos (along with the dates they were taken on) of Homeland Security BlackHawks. As a fourth livery, I've provided an empty texture, in case somebody wanted to fly in an unmarked Annihilator.

Keep in mind, that during "Out of Commission" or "A Revenger's Tragedy", the vanilla LC2007 registration will still appear on the right door, as it is technically a separate model, not related to annihilator.wft or annihilator.wtd.

Install:

0. Backup your original files, I recommend to copy your entire vanilla "vehicles.img" if you're a frequent vehicle modder!

1. Using OpenIV or SparkIV, open the GTA IV > pc > models > cdimages > vehicles.img

2. Find file "annihilator.wtd" and add the "annihilator_sign_1-4" files.

3. Find file "annihilator.wft" and replace it with the .wft file provided. This will allow the model to spawn with one of multiple liveries.

4. In your system's files explorer, navigate to GTA IV > common > data > vehicles.ide

5. Open "vehicles.ide" using any text editor, such as Notepad, then find the line:

annihilator, annihilator, heli, ANNHIL, ANNHIL, VEH@HELICOPTER, VEH@HELI_ANNIH, 100, 999, 0.2001, 0.1176, 0.3, 4, 2.0 ,0, noboot

And on the very end add "+livery", so it will look like this:

annihilator, annihilator, heli, ANNHIL, ANNHIL, VEH@HELICOPTER, VEH@HELI_ANNIH, 100, 999, 0.2001, 0.1176, 0.3, 4, 2.0 ,0, noboot+livery

===Technical Info===

The textures were made by modifying annihaltor_decals texture, while the model was modified only to require "annihilator_sign_1" instead of "annihaltor_decals", in the same way as other vehicles in GTA IV that use multiple liveries, such as Pony.

The model has been modified without running any 3D modelling software, by doing these steps:

1. Using OpenIV, open the annihilator.wtd file, and then Ctrl+C the entire name of the specific texture you wish to work as a changeable in-game livery (In this case "annihaltor_decals")
2. Using OpenIV, export the desired annihilator.wft model to OpenFormats (.oft). 
3. Using any text editor (preferably Notepad++) open the newly exported annihilator.oft file, then Ctrl+V the entire name of the specific texture you copied earlier (preferably using Ctrl+F) (In this case "annihaltor_decals")
4. Replace all the instances of this texture name "annihaltor_decals" to preferably "annihilator_sign_1". Save your changes.
5. Using OpenIV with Edit Mode on, drag the annihilator.oft file to annihilator.wft file to import the .oft file to .wft file.

The text that's meant to be black was written as holes in the yellow stripe, so changing the body color of the helicopter in-game will also change the color of this text.

The custom text was written using Coolvetica font, which is free for commercial use, released in 1999. Fun fact: It was designed by Ray Larabie, who worked in Rockstar and even designed the beloved Pricedown font!

GIMP has been used to edit the textures. I am providing two graphic files:

• .dds file, which is a default OpenIV format, the texture file has simply been overwritten using default GIMP's settings, hence the texture file size and lack of mipmaps. I highly suggest using OpenIV's function to generate mipmaps and change pixel format.
• .png file, which was exported using GIMP with its default settings, with every box unchecked except "Save background color" and "Save resolution".

I'm not a professional nor experienced modder; however I am open to any advice and constructive criticism!

Since the vanilla Annihilator in GTA V shares the same texture mapping, the liveries from this mod can also be used for GTA V!

Feel free to use and modify my work; however, please credit me. Copyright ©