I am looking to make my own mod that would re-skin of Mira, Visas, & Brianna. When I look at some others have done. It seems to me that there rhyme or reason to how the TGA file is laid out. What is the best way to edit these files?
Any help would be greatly appreciated by a total noob.:o
Alot of us play hit and miss untill it comes out right.
I recommend you to use instant 3d looking.
Open your Kotor Tool. Find Kotor II/BIFs/models/Aurora Model.
All models with p_ prefix are models of your party members.
Double-click on handmaidenba.mdl and you will see window. Check "Convert skin to trimesh" and export it somewhere. BE SURE that "Clean model export directort befor export starts" is NOT CHECKED. Do the same with mirabb.mdl and visasbb.mdl. If you need heads to then export p_handmaidenh, mirah and etc. Now open folder where you have extarcted all this files. Launch your gmax or 3ds max. In NWmax window open Generals and click on Set Environment. Then check "Export geom only" in MDL import. Import your model. If you want to delete nodes double-click first on talkdummy (If you have exported its head), be sure that all nodes on the head are selected press Delete. Now to remove all body nodes you will need to double-click on rootdummy (sometimes more that one time), make sure that all nodes were selected and press Delete then. If you want to export your model later don't delete them, just hide all dummies and nodes. Now open your image editing software and open the texture for your model. Make some changes or mark some areas Save your image. Now go back to folder that you have opened (folder with textures and models.) and drag-and-drop your texture to all models that are opened now in your 3ds max or NWmax. You will see changes that you need. Work a little (I have made mira, handmaiden and all females reskin mod by this way.).
Alot of us play hit and miss untill it comes out right.
That's how I do it ;)
I open my game(s), color something, switch to the game I am playing (K1 or K2) see if what I colored looks like how I intended (or if it is the area I intended), and if it isn't, I hit my start menu keyboard button and go back to PSP, recolor a bit more... rinse and repeat... :D
One technique I find helpful is have a copy of a skin you are working on, colour different sections different colours, check what it looks like in the game and write down things like :green- legs , red , arms etc then using the coloured copy as a layer modify each section to how oyu want it to look.
Many people have different methods, but I find the simplest method is to load the model into gmax or 3ds, apply the "Unwrap UVW" modifier and save the UVmap. with the uvmap you will know exactly where everything is located.
Many people have different methods, but I find the simplest method is to load the model into gmax or 3ds, apply the "Unwrap UVW" modifier and save the UVmap. with the uvmap you will know exactly where everything is located.
I feel myself stupid... This is really the easiest way! Thank you T7nowhere!
Many people have different methods, but I find the simplest method is to load the model into gmax or 3ds, apply the "Unwrap UVW" modifier and save the UVmap. with the uvmap you will know exactly where everything is located.
Well, some of us - namely me - aren't as proficient with Gmax/3ds as others. :lol:
Some of us have to skin the old school way. But hey, if it works... :p
Well, some of us - namely me - aren't as proficient with Gmax/3ds as others. :lol:
Some of us have to skin the old school way. But hey, if it works... :p
^^^ I'm with Janet! ^^^
Well, some of us - namely me - aren't as proficient with Gmax/3ds as others. Learning ftw!
Some of us have to skin the old school way. But hey, if it works... You don't have to. Seems like there are plenty of nice people who'd teach you if you wanted to learn ;).
Besides, you may be awesome at skinning the "old school way", but if you're good at that, you'd be stunning with a real-time view of the changes you were making ;). Once I learned to do it with 3D software I'd never go back. Just seems so... backwards to do it the other way. Guess-and-check is just bad. And incredibly time consuming.
You don't have to. Seems like there are plenty of nice people who'd teach you if you wanted to learn ;).Um, I think I manage just fine, thanks. ;)
Besides, you may be awesome at skinning the "old school way", but if you're good at that, you'd be stunning with a real-time view of the changes you were making ;). Once I learned to do it with 3D software I'd never go back. Just seems so... backwards to do it the other way. Guess-and-check is just bad. And incredibly time consuming.Well, everyone has their own way of doing things. And time consuming or not, I actually like the way I reskin things. To me (and yes, I am crazy) it's fun. :D
EDITED: Gosh, I can't seem to spell worth a flip today :rolleyes:
Well, everyone has their own way of doing things. And time consuming or not, I actually like the way I reskin things. To me (and yes, I am crazy) it's fun. :D
You keep doing what you're doing mj :D
I for one will not complain judging by all the tasty mods you've released.. nope, no complaints here at all :D
As for me, I use the 3dsMAX option to see the model while I'm skinning, BUT sometimes you just want to actually see in-game results... times like those I'll use the Alt+Enter window toggling method since the window refreshes your skin...
You'll need to make an .ini edit, but the "switch" function can become as valuable a tool as any ;)
.ini instructions are located at the bottom of this post:
http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=122058)
I for one will not complain judging by all the tasty mods you've released.. nope, no complaints here at all :DThank you kind sir :D
You keep doing what you're doing mj :DAye, aye, captain! :thumbsup:
:lol:
As for me, I use the 3dsMAX option to see the model while I'm skinning, BUT sometimes you just want to actually see in-game results... times like those I'll use the Alt+Enter window toggling method since the window refreshes your skin...
In-game results are very important to me. I've never tried reskinning something that didn't, for the most part, have things in obvious places (although whomever at BioWare that mapped Carth's eyelashes to his visible hairline instead of the great expanses of unused area should be shot). But how they react in game is really different. I could do as much 'damage' to Bastila as to Carth and she'll always look softer in game. I'm not sure a 3D program would show that effect. I know they wouldn't show the effect of the animations.
Sometime I use one photoshop plugin which allow me to load uvw map from ascii mdls in photoshop. Is not working with all models. Also is doing great job.
I'm back with more infos about plugin. Is called "nwn model importer" (plugin file name: ModelLoader.8ba | founded using yahoo search engine). Great thing on this one: is make all detached polys to unique color. Is no need to tell about advantages about knowing which face is detached or not when you go to edit a model (armor, robes or other things).
Examples of uvw-map readed with plugin and saved under texture name.
http://oldflash.batcave.net/nwnplugin/1.html)
http://oldflash.batcave.net/nwnplugin/2.html)
http://oldflash.batcave.net/nwnplugin/3.html)
Sorry for bumping.
ps. PM-me for hint about Photoshop
I'm back with more infos about plugin. Is called "nwn model importer" (plugin file name: ModelLoader.8ba | founded using yahoo search engine). Great thing on this one: is make all detached polys to unique color. Is no need to tell about advantages about knowing which face is detached or not when you go to edit a model (armor, robes or other things).
Examples of uvw-map readed with plugin and saved under texture name.
http://oldflash.batcave.net/nwnplugin/1.html)
http://oldflash.batcave.net/nwnplugin/2.html)
http://oldflash.batcave.net/nwnplugin/3.html)
Sorry for bumping.
ps. PM-me for hint about Photoshop
Yes, oldflash you sent me that plugin with Atris' robes if I remember correctly and it works great :thumbsup:
But, it doesn't work for every model. For some reason I can't open head models at all, unless it is a remodeled head that someone (you or Kha usually) has made. But other than that it does work very well for me. At least I can use it to kind of tell what is what and where everything is :D
Unfortunately, but for other models... :) Except models with uvw-map messed-up there are problems with models which has auroraflex (hair, ponnytails).