Getting Started On Modding DS2

[pluche]

There will probably always be a lot of dumped textures in any area.

I usually use undead purgatory with the following steps (for armors or weapon):

1 - Start Xnview (or any image viewer ) in the dump folder - sort files by date

2 - launch game in WINDOW mode - load character - strip character naked

3 - ALT+TAB to image viewer and delete ALL dumped textures (because most of them will be terrain or enemies' and that's not what i'm looking for)

4 - ALT+TAB to game and then wear a set of armor

5 - ALT-TAB again to image viewer (there you will see inventory icons and only the armor set textures, sometimes a wall or two if you move around in the room)

6 - Create folder with armor set name - MOVE (not copy) files to newly created folder

7 - repeat 4-7 until i have all sets and then i drag the files to Gimp for modification

 

Of course if you want to mod weapons you'll have to equip them one by one, else you'll have to take more time figuring which texture belongs to which weapon.

Once you're done, just delete all files in the dump folder, just keep the folders you've created, and close game, set gedosato back to texture override=true and dumping=false.

Also, you can modify the textures while the game is active, just save them to the override folder, then ALT+TAB to game, change equipment to the next item in inventory and then reequip your modified item

(faster than unequip and then search among 1000 items).

 

Hope that helps a bit.

 

If anyone has an easier way of doing it, i'm all ears :smile:

 

PS BTW if you set gedosato to "override=true and dumping=true", it will dump modded textures, better leave override to false if you are dumping files.

Edited May 31, 2014 by pluche

[funexplosions]

Good tips, pluche. Seems to be the current easiest way to do this.

[OpenSaucer]

-snip-

 

Brilliant technique, thanks a lot.

Edited June 1, 2014 by OpenSaucer

[C0NN0R]

Thanks for clarifying how to dump textures. I had no idea it was part of GeDoSaTo

Edited June 1, 2014 by C0NN0R

[C0NN0R]

Does anyone have an idea of what tool/settings to use to replicate the default normal maps?

[Derok]

Default normal maps are "baked" from high poly models. Usually professional 3d artists use 3D sculpting programs like zbrush or similar. But... Since we can't extract models (for now) an alternative way is creating them from textures using a Photoshop/gimp plugin, but result won't be as accurate.

 

@Pluche I will try your method, thanks for posting it

Edited June 1, 2014 by Derok

[pluche]

Hi, thank you guys :) I'm not really a modder btw, just thought i would give it a try...

 

Does anyone have an idea of what tool/settings to use to replicate the default normal maps?

 

For normal maps i use gimp 's normal map plugin. You could also try crazy bump.

I just paste the modified parts on a new layer on top of the original normal map file and then use the plugin. Depending on what texture (very rough) you use, you might want to use a selective gaussian filter before creating the normal map, else it will create a myriad of tiny bumps.

 

For light maps, i just used Gimp's "color from sample" function under the color->map. Just select the original lightmap as sample, it works well (used on Dore's shield).

[C0NN0R]

Hi, thank you guys :smile: I'm not really a modder btw, just thought i would give it a try...

 

Does anyone have an idea of what tool/settings to use to replicate the default normal maps?

 

For normal maps i use gimp 's normal map plugin. You could also try crazy bump.

I just paste the modified parts on a new layer on top of the original normal map file and then use the plugin. Depending on what texture (very rough) you use, you might want to use a selective gaussian filter before creating the normal map, else it will create a myriad of tiny bumps.

 

For light maps, i just used Gimp's "color from sample" function under the color->map. Just select the original lightmap as sample, it works well (used on Dore's shield).

Do you need a light map to edit transparency? I'm trying to edit the wings out of the butterfly top, by deleting them and saving the edit with alpha. They just show up white.

Also, does anybody know if the light maps are always the same resolution as their diffuse maps? I can't find any 1k light maps; they're all 512.

[pluche]

I think the transparency is only used in the diffuse texture. If you want to know if you can set an item transparent, just open the texture in gimp, press del to erase the layer, and export as png (or dds) in the override folder.

Equip the item in the game and it should only show opaque parts in black (at least for me it's black). I don't have the butterfly set so i can't test it, but all other items were black.

As far as i know you don't have to modify the light map to get transparency.

 

You don't have to use the same res for diffuse, normal and light maps. you can have a 1024x1024 diffuse + 512x512 normal + 512x512 lightmap. I used all 3 files in high res for a mod and it takes a few seconds to load them in game... I think it's better to get the smallest size you can while keeping the max quality. Small normal maps can create ugly bumps...

[C0NN0R]

I think the transparency is only used in the diffuse texture. If you want to know if you can set an item transparent, just open the texture in gimp, press del to erase the layer, and export as png (or dds) in the override folder.

Equip the item in the game and it should only show opaque parts in black (at least for me it's black). I don't have the butterfly set so i can't test it, but all other items were black.

As far as i know you don't have to modify the light map to get transparency.

 

You don't have to use the same res for diffuse, normal and light maps. you can have a 1024x1024 diffuse + 512x512 normal + 512x512 lightmap. I used all 3 files in high res for a mod and it takes a few seconds to load them in game... I think it's better to get the smallest size you can while keeping the max quality. Small normal maps can create ugly bumps...

So if a texture comes up as black when it's diffuse map is all transparency it means the mesh can't have transparency?

I can't make any paart of any mesh transparent unless it's already transparent. which means transparency is either baked into meshes, or the tex dump doesn't pull alpha maps.