STEP 1: Make an extraction file to put all your work into. I suggest saving this file to the desktop. Also make sure you have Kotor Tool installed on your computer.
STEP 2:
Whatever you do (use Shem's colors or create your own), you're going to end up with a tga file. Because there are already nine existing colors in Kotor, you'll need to give your color a different name. I has to have the handle: w_lsabre######
The pound signs represent the color name. For example, the in-game yellow lightsaber has the handle: w_lsabreyelo01. When I made a bronze lightsaber, I used w_lsabrebrnz01. Again, this is your tga file, so whatever you name the color, it will be saved as .tga (for my bronze saber: w_lsabrebrnz01.tga).
STEP 3:
You're going to have to tell the game that you want to add a new color. Thus you'll make a txi file. This is moronically simple (and I learned how to do it on this forum! Thanks ChainZ2da and tk102!).
Open up Notepad and type in the following two lines:
blending additive
decal 1
Then save this file with the same handle as your tga file, only save it as a txi file. For example, since my bronze saber tga was w_lsabrebrnz01.tga, my txi file would be w_lsabrebrnz01.txi.
STEP 4:
Now go into Kotor Tool and extract a random lightsaber. You'll need to go to:
Kotor I>>BIFs>>items.bif>> or
Kotor II>>BIFs>>models.bif>>
And you'll be extracting BOTH the Aurora Model AND the Aurora Model Extension.
It doesn't really matter which one you extract (unless you want a ridiculously long blade, then pick w_lghtsbr_006). For our purposes, I'll extract w_lghtsbr_001.mdl from the Aurora Model, and then w_lghtsbr_001.mdx from the Aurora Model Extension. Again, these files should be extracted to the folder you created on your desktop.
STEP 5:
Download MDLOps. You can find that here (
http://home.comcast.net/%7Ecchargin/kotor/index.html).
STEP 6:
Use MDLOps to Read the mdl file you extracted. After reading it, the program will recognize it as a binary file source. Then you can Rename it.
STEP 7:
In the screen that pops up, you'll see the name of the lightsaber and four color planes.
Rename the lightsaber to whatever you want. Do this by clicking on the field and entering the new name in the space provided; I'll call my bronze saber w_lghtsbr_011.
Then rename the four color planes to match your tga file; remember I used w_lsabrebrnz01. When you're all done, it should look something like this:
w_lghtsbr_001=w_lghtsbr_011
Plane230=w_lsabrebrnz01
Plane231=w_lsabrebrnz01
Plane232=w_lsabrebrnz01
Plane233=w_lsabrebrnz01
Then click Write file .
STEP 8:
In your extraction folder, you'll have two new files: w_lghtsbr_011-k2-r-bin.mdl and w_lghtsbr_011-k2-r-bin.mdx. Rename them to read w_lghtsbr_011.mdl and w_lghtsbr_011.mdx.
STEP 9:
Put your new mdx, mdl, tga, and txi files in your Kotor Override file and you're done!