Downloading Skins
You can download skins for your boat - these will allow you to sail with new colour schemes and sails. You can find them on many of the websites listed on the Links page on this site. Once you have them on your computer, you will also see the downloaded skins when playing against the computer boats in custom fleet races. Once you have downloaded the skin, you need to put it into the correct folder before you can use it. The skins are in a zip file and you should not unzip the skin file - place the zipped file in the folder. Each boat type has its own folder.
Originals : Acc, Melges, Offshore & Multi
VSK 5 keeps its skins for the boat models that come with the game in the following folder for the Acc boat: Program Files\32nd America's Cup\GameData\Skins\Boats\Acc. It has folders for the other boats at the same location, called Melges, Multi & OffShore.
Although you can place downloaded Acc skin zip files in the same folder as the Nadeo originals, it is better to create a place for them in the game folder in your Documents section. So navigate to C:\Users\{your user name}\Documents\32nd America's Cup\Skins\Boats and make a new folder called Acc to put the Acc skins in. Make similar new folders called Melges, Multi & OffShore for the others.
3rd Party Models
The skins for 3rd party models, added after you have installed the game are kept in a folder in My Documents. For example, the Orma skins are placed in Program Files\32nd America's Cup\GameData\Skins\Boats\Orma. Other models will be in similar folders of their own.
Once you have your skins installed, you can select them for online play or for using in a Solo Mode Custom Race (if enabled in your version) by the Settings/Boats/{boatname} menu in thr game.
Uploading - how to make sure your skin is seen
Once you've got your new skin, it happens sometimes that other players report that they can't see it in the game. This can be very discouraging after all your hard work! Possible reasons include:
1 Bug in Game. There is a bug in VSK5 which intermittently stops you seeing the other boats' skins. The solution is to press the ESC key twice (you will cycle through the game menu by doing this). The skins will then appear.
2 Not enough time. It can take a long time for your skin to appear online in a race. This depends on the size of the file and the connection speeds of all 
concerned. It also may depend on whether your bandwidth is being used to download other players' skins. There also may be an issue if all the players inthe race are having to download your skin. Dont assume the worst unless a few long races (30 minutes) go by with no-one seeing the skin. It may yet appear. If time is the only problem, then this can be improved by using a Locator File.
3 Game Configuration. Go to the Launch Window and select configuration/advanced/connection. Check that in the Peer to Peer section there is a tick in the box to activate the upload.
Click the thumbnails to see the settings in my config, which seem to work ok.
4 Firewalls. You need to make sure that there is a hole in your firewall to let 
the file upload happen. This includes
software and hardware firewalls. Create a rule for each of your firewalls(including WindowsXP if you have it) to allow inbound and outbound traffic through ports 2350 and 3450. If you have a router, you should do this for the firewall contained within it as well.
Locator Files – uploading your skin to other Players
What is it?
This is a text file that is of the form MyAcc.zip.loc and is stored in the folder that contains the boat skin (in this example, MyAcc.zip). It will help other players see your boat skin more quickly. Your boat's skin is contained in a zip file with the name of your boat (for example: MyAcc.zip). It's kept in the Virtual Skipper 5 game data folders and each boat model has a separate folder. Your Acc boat for example, is usually placed in:-C:\Program Files\32nd America's Cup\GameData\Skins\Boats\Acc
Locator Files are text files used to point to a place on the web where you store your boat skin. This is in addition to storing it on your PC. When you race online without using a locator, the other players will automatically download your skin from your PC, which uses your bandwidth and can take a long time, depending on your connection. If you put a copy of your skin on the web and create a locator file on your PC to point to it, the other players will download it from there instead of from you. Whether this is any quicker, or works at all, depends on the services from the webspace provider.
How is it done?
a) Put your skin zip file on the web.
You need to find a place on the web where you can put the skin and upload it to there. Not all websites allow download of files, so check with your own provider, especially if it is a free site. The site needs to allow direct linking. There are some free sites out there which work - at the moment I am using http://filexoom.com/ *** for my skins and so far it seems to work ok and I haven't had any spam etc. It's worth a look at the Trakmania FAQs - this game uses the same system as VSK5 and the locator page may have a current a recommendation for a free host that allows direct linking.
Some clubs can help with storing skins. For example VSK-AUS has a download section with many skins available for you to download, if you register with the site (you don't have to be a full member of the club). You can also upload your own skin to this section. The club allows links from locator files to the files they have in this download section and there is a guide to how to create the locator file for this site there too.
*** As of 8th September FileXoom has server problems & my locator files there are not working. I haven't found an alternative free place at the moment.
b) Create & Save the Locator File.
Once you have the skin on the web – for example MyRabbit.zip, you make the 
locator file, which is then saved to the same folder on your PC that holds the skin zip file. Use Windows Notepad and open a new file. Copy & paste (or type accurately) the full internet address of the place on the web where your skin is stored. eg
http://www.yourwebspacename.com/skins/MyRabbit.zip .
Now click [Save as] and in the dialogue box, change the [Save as type] to 'AllFiles'. Now type your skin name as the File Name with .zip.loc after it - egMyRabbit.zip.loc and save it in the same folder as your skin, on your PC.
For our example, that will be:
C:\Program Files\32nd America'sCup\GameData\Skins\Boats\Acc\MyRabbit.zip.loc.
c) Make sure it works
It's worth pasting the webspace address of your skin into your browser and clicking [GO] to make sure that you are offered the skin file to download. This makes sure that you have theaddress correctly and that your webspace provider allows access to it.
Problems?
Be careful that you don't save the locator as a Text file. Check it has not got the .txt file after the filename. Windows has a default setting where it hides the extension of .txt files (among others). If you can’t see the .txt extension in other txt files, you will need to alter the Windows settings to allow you to see it. Go to Start > Control Panel > Folder Options. Go to the [view] tab and scroll down so that you can remove the tick from ‘Hide extensions from known file types’. Then click [OK] and you should be able to see and alter the .txt extension if you need to.
Use the above menu to find notes and tips to help you get the most out of Virtual Skipper. You will also find skins and courses for VSK5. There's a gallery of designs, & images from VSK1 through to VSK5 and a page of links to other VSK sites.