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Creating LightSabers

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 Lorden Darkblade
06-16-2004, 5:00 PM
#1
I'm planing to create my own LightSaber.
I already opened a tpc file to look how to change the blade color and such.
I have a question tho, inside the blade color file, I see 2 circles, a small one with a strong color inside a big one with a fading color.
What I ask is, to change the core I have to change the color of the small one right?
An example, I want the core white and the outside black!
So I change the small one to white and the outside one to black.
But how do I make the outside thing?
I only looked tho, I have no idea on how to change yet.
Thats why I'm here to ask you my friends on how to make it. I read all the tutorials but none of them seem to tell that.
So any tip I would appreciate :D

Thanks in advance,
ReLoaD2K
 Mav
06-16-2004, 11:10 PM
#2
In general yes the inner circle will be the core of your lightsaber and the outer circle will be the "glow" of it, however what you are trying to do is goign to be difficult becuase the game reads black as being a transparent color so you are going to need to mess around with the alpha channels as well as the .txi file if you are going to make it work as a black and white saber, I myself have a black and white saber blade coming out soon, but the thing is I based it off of the black sabers that svцsh made and I didn't do it from scratch so I don't know how to do it from scratch.

Hope some of this mumble makes sense to you,
Mav
 Lorden Darkblade
06-16-2004, 11:34 PM
#3
Thanks.
Maybe I'll try to use svцsh's Black Core LightSabers.
But still, anyone know how to make the fading thingy that the glow has in the PhotoShop CS ?
I would appreciate a lot!

Thanks in advance,
ReLoaD2K
 Lorden Darkblade
06-17-2004, 5:27 PM
#4
Originally posted by ReLoaD2K
But still, anyone know how to make the fading thingy that the glow has in the PhotoShop CS ?
I would appreciate a lot!

Thanks in advance,
ReLoaD2K

Anyone know how to do that?
 Achilles
06-17-2004, 5:44 PM
#5
Originally posted by ReLoaD2K
Anyone know how to do that?

Create a new black background that is 1.25 in x 1.25 in.
Select your "glow" and "blade" colors
Using the size 65 brush slowly add your glow color.
Rotate your colors in the toolbar so that your blade color is on top.
In the center of your glow, use the circle marquee tool to create select the size of your blade.
Press the delete key.
Switch your top color to white
Use the size 1 or size 2 brush to carefully add a white vertical line to the center of your blade.

Save and name your file (.tga), reference it in your lghtsbrxx.uti and sbrcrstlxx.uti file, copy all files to your Override folder and enjoy.

This should take you all of about 2 minutes to do (unless you take a really long time to pick your colors) =D
 Achilles
06-17-2004, 5:47 PM
#6
I just noticed that I posted the incorrect new image size. I will verify the actual size for you when I get home tonight, but it's not a whole lot bigger than that.

...or you could use an existing w_lsabre<color>xx.tga file to figure out how big is should be.
 Lorden Darkblade
06-17-2004, 7:02 PM
#7
Ok, my real problem is how to make the glow.
I'm not good at does fading type of things...
 Lorden Darkblade
06-17-2004, 8:53 PM
#8
I tryeid to make the "glow" but all the times I try it gets weird.
The glow must have "light" colors. I dont know how to do those in PhotoShop.
How do I make a strong color more light and capable to make the glow with it?
 Lorden Darkblade
06-17-2004, 9:46 PM
#9
Ok, this is weird, In the begining it was working, but now it's not!
It's all weird here's the screenshot:
Ok ImageShack is off...
But it's like when if I the txi file is messed up ya know?
When it gets all white and all X coming out of the hilt.
 Achilles
06-17-2004, 10:14 PM
#10
Originally posted by ReLoaD2K
Ok, this is weird, In the begining it was working, but now it's not!
It's all weird here's the screenshot:
Ok ImageShack is off...
But it's like when if I the txi file is messed up ya know?
When it gets all white and all X coming out of the hilt.

White means that the mdl file is not pointing to the texture. You'll need to go back to the mdl file with hex editor and change the entries. Either that or rename the texture file to match what you already have in the mdl.
 Achilles
06-17-2004, 10:17 PM
#11
Originally posted by ReLoaD2K
Ok, my real problem is how to make the glow.
I'm not good at does fading type of things...


All you need to do is use the 65 brush and slowly add some color. Just hold the mouse in one spot and press the mouse button until you have the desired affect. If you hold the button down, you'll probably saturate the area, which is what you don't want to do. Keep practicing and you'll get it.
 Lorden Darkblade
06-17-2004, 10:22 PM
#12
Another thing, in your walkthrough I'm not understanding what to do in the Hex Editor.
What 01 I have to change?
You said that there are 4 but I found LOTS 01's please be more specific

All you need to do is use the 65 brush

The 65 is size? like 65px?
Isnt that BIIIG?
 Achilles
06-17-2004, 11:20 PM
#13
Originally posted by ReLoaD2K
Another thing, in your walkthrough I'm not understanding what to do in the Hex Editor.
What 01 I have to change?
You said that there are 4 but I found LOTS 01's please be more specific



The 65 is size? like 65px?
Isnt that BIIIG?

I used as an example in the walkthrough because I don't know which color each person is going to go with. Please feel free to search using the name of the color.

I'll say it more more time, if you're editing a normal lightsaber there will be 4 of these. If you're using a double-bladeds saber there will be 8. I'm not sure if either of these numbers seem like "a lot" so you might need to be more specific on your next post. As an aside make sure that you're searching the text fields. If you are searching on the hex side, you likely to find thousands of entries.

65 is the size of the brush that you need. If you don't believe me, please feel free to experiment on your own. Again you're not going to be waiving the thing around. You need to keep it in one place and click on the mouse button until you reach a level of saturation that you are happy with.
 Lorden Darkblade
06-17-2004, 11:38 PM
#14
Ok I figured it out :)
2 questions tho:
1st: How I change the Saber Starting Damage without having to add Damage Bonus and such

2nd: Where I adjust the critical threat thing?
 Achilles
06-18-2004, 12:13 AM
#15
Originally posted by ReLoaD2K
Ok I figured it out :)
2 questions tho:
1st: How I change the Saber Starting Damage without having to add Damage Bonus and such

2nd: Where I adjust the critical threat thing?

I believe that you could probably change the starting damage by editing the baseitems.2da file, however I have to recommend against this as it would modify all lightsabers, not just yours. Depending on what you're trying to accomplish, your much better off just adding a damage bonus to your saber.

In order to adjust critcal threat, you need to add Keen to the saber properties. You can do this a few ways. The easiest is to get the Nextor crystal in game. If you are looking to add this property to the saber without the crystal, then you would add a node to PropertiesList for Keen. You can add more than one node, creating multiple instances of Keen.

For instance, 1 node will bring the range from 20-20, x2 to 19-20, x2. A second node would make it 18-20, x2 and so on. I believe the game will cut you off at 17-20, x2, but then you can always add a Massive Critical node that will allow you to go completely insane with the critical threat damage that you can do in game. BTW, Opila crystal already does this for you, hence the best crystal combination for critical threats is Nextor and Opila.

I hope that this helps.
 Lorden Darkblade
06-18-2004, 11:12 AM
#16
I have another question :p
How do I change the HILT of the Lightsaber?
Whats the file to do this?
 DarkLord Re\/an
06-18-2004, 11:21 AM
#17
i wish i could answer that... i really wish i could... but i need to know to :(
 Achilles
06-18-2004, 11:49 AM
#18
Originally posted by DarkLord Re\/an
i wish i could answer that... i really wish i could... but i need to know to :(

Guys, spending some time digging around in KT would help you to answer several of these questions on your own.

The file for lightsaber hilts can be found under ERFs>Texture Packs>swpc_tex_tpa.erf>w>w_lghtsbr_001
 DarkLord Re\/an
06-18-2004, 11:52 AM
#19
so... thats it... i do digg around... i just didn't know what file name to look for...:lsduel:
 DarkLord Re\/an
06-18-2004, 11:59 AM
#20
When ever i try open it in PS it comes up like this http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v243/darklordrevan/hilt.jpg) is that normal???:confused:
 Mav
06-18-2004, 6:08 PM
#21
nope thats definetly not normal, but I don't know what is wrong with it sorry
 Lorden Darkblade
06-18-2004, 6:57 PM
#22
Well I looked at the HILT and it does not seem easy to MOD as the Saber was :p
Any tips?

Another question, I made my saber all went fine.
I want it to have all the 3 types. I had no problems with the Double-Bladed or the Single Bladed.
But the Short one is giving me problems!
It does not wants to get the Blade Color I made for the other ones.
I edited the mdl file and the uti file but he still dont want to get the color.
Is there any difference in making the short one?
Ah, one thing, making them upgradeables is easy :D I thought it was harder.
Well thats the last thing stopping me from finishing my saber :)
 Mav
06-18-2004, 7:39 PM
#23
There shouldn't be any difference between the making the short saber vs. the other two in fact the double-saber is the most "different" with the 8 w_lsabre lines in the mdl, so the short saber should be easy, as for the hilt the best advice is to create a color coded template of sorts and put it in the game to see what part is what.
 Lorden Darkblade
06-18-2004, 8:24 PM
#24
I found the problem, all I had to do was remove the crystal and put it back. Dunno why but it solved :D
The Hilt I think it will be more difficult then the Blade but oh well I'll give it a shot, a question tho, how do I make only my custom Lightsaber use that Hilt?
 Lorden Darkblade
06-18-2004, 9:03 PM
#25
Ok, I dont know what I did wrong, but all Blue Blades now use my custom Blade.
What have I dont wrong?
I, of course, used the Blue Saber as starying project.
I dont know what can be wrong.
Here are the names of all the files:
star_lghtsbr87.uti
star_dblsbr087.uti
star_shortsbr87.uti
iw_dblsbr_087.tga
iw_lghtsbr_087.tga
iw_SbrCrstl_087.tga
w_lghtsbr_087.mdl
w_lghtsbr_087.mdx
w_dblsbr_087.mdl
w_dblsbr_087.mdx
w_shortsbr_087.mdl
w_shortsbr_087.mdx
w_lsabreblue87.txi
w_lsabreblue87.tga

Ok disturbing news :P I tryied all the Blue sabers and only the Short Saber has the right Blade Color. What can be causing this? The Normal and Double-Bladed are using my custom blade.

More NEWS: only when I'm using the blade that happens got it?
ex: if I'm using a short saber with my crystal all the other blue crystals will have my blade color, but if I stop using that crystal in my blade all other short sabers got back.
What can be doing this?
What have I done wrong?
Help :P

Thats it.
Any clues? :p
 Lorden Darkblade
06-19-2004, 1:43 PM
#26
Any ideas?
This is my first Custom Saber so I have no idea why that happened.
 Achilles
06-19-2004, 2:30 PM
#27
Originally posted by ReLoaD2K
Any ideas?
This is my first Custom Saber so I have no idea why that happened.

No idea.
 Lorden Darkblade
06-19-2004, 2:37 PM
#28
Should I delete all and start from the scratch?
I used the Blue Lightsaber tga file to make my blade.
I thought I could do that.
I cant?
I'll try to make a whole new saber and see what happens.
 Lorden Darkblade
06-19-2004, 5:33 PM
#29
Thats it!
I found out what was wrong, and I also think that or Achilies didnt put this on his Saber Walkthrough or I missed it.
Right in the beginning of the mdl file you have to make a change there.
Example: w_dblsbr_002 I used, in the beginning it was something like this: w_DbLSbr_002 I had to change thos 002 to the number of my saber that is 087 :D
All I have to do now is the HILT!!!!!
The hilt sounds hard to do...
But I'll give it a try. After all is done and if people like I can release my Saber.
 Achilles
06-19-2004, 5:54 PM
#30
Originally posted by ReLoaD2K
Thats it!
I found out what was wrong, and I also think that or Achilies didnt put this on his Saber Walkthrough or I missed it.
Right in the beginning of the mdl file you have to make a change there.
Example: w_dblsbr_002 I used, in the beginning it was something like this: w_DbLSbr_002 I had to change thos 002 to the number of my saber that is 087 :D
All I have to do now is the HILT!!!!!
The hilt sounds hard to do...
But I'll give it a try. After all is done and if people like I can release my Saber.

How I ironic that spent several days telling you to check the .mdl file for correct entries....

I'm glad you were able to resolve your issue.
 Lorden Darkblade
06-19-2004, 5:57 PM
#31
Yes you were right....:o :o :o :( :(
Sorry, would you forgive me? Please?
 Achilles
06-19-2004, 7:39 PM
#32
Originally posted by ReLoaD2K
Yes you were right....:o :o :o :( :(
Sorry, would you forgive me? Please?

Nothing to forgive, I just thought it was hilarious =)
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