Editing Fallout 3 Textures and Putting them in Game

[barty14]

Editing Fallout 3 textures

 

First off you will need:

1. Fallout 3(obviously)

2. Some kind of editor(I prefer "GIMP")

3. A file converter(I prefer "DXTBmp") - http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/DXTB...load-53836.html

4. Fallout Mod Manager. - http://fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=640

5. G.E.C.K. (Garden of Eden Creation Kit) - http://geck.bethsoft.com/index.php/Main_Page

 

Let me start off by saying that I am in no way an expert on this topic, I am only suggesting what has worked for me. Also I am not responsible for any corruption or errors in your game. Dont overight files unless you know what you are doing.

 

To start off, open up FOMM(Fallout Mod Manager) and click the BSA unpacker tool on the right. Then open up the file you want and extract it to your desired location(it will become a dds file). Next open up that file with DXTBmp(or a converter of your choice) and convert it to a Bmp file( I recommend 24bit Bmp) Save and quit. Then open up that converted file with GIMP or a similar tool, and fiddle with the textures as needed. Save and quit. Open up that file yet again with DXTBmp and convert it back to a dds file. There is a simpler way to do this if you download one of GIMP's plugins.

 

OK, now you are ready to put these in Fallout 3. Create a sample folder; if you edited 1stpersoncombatshotgun, then make this directory:

Name of new textures(such as "Combat Shotgun Retex") / textures / weapons / 1stpersoncombatshotgun.dds.

Then put this in your Fallout 3 / Data folder. Next open up the G.E.C.K. and put your texture wherever you want it. Save that file and put it too in your fallout 3 / data folder.

 

And if you dont have ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated, you will need to add an appropriate line into your ArchivInvalidation.txt file. For the texture used in the example it would be "textures/weapons/2handrifle/1stpersoncombatshotgun.dds"

 

Hope it works :biggrin:

[Baelkin]

Euurrmm... A tutorial? Kind of?

 

In any case, I don't think the part on what to do with the textures in the GECK is useful. It does not explain how to make new texture sets in the GECK and apply those new textures to the item you want to retexture, only "Open the GECK and put your texture wherever you want it" which isn't terribly useful to someone new to retexturing (and probably new to modding as retexturing usually is the first step people take when trying to make their first mods). So explaining this in detail would be nice for someone new to the subject.

 

Mind this is nothing personal, but I think that when writing a tutorial one should be as specific as possible and explain every step to such a detail that a reader will be able to follow it step by step and get their stuff to work - it's very important that the first attempt at making a mod is a success as that is what drives people. Once people have their first retex under their belt, they'll typically come back for more. ;)

[barty14]

Well, I'm sorry, but I am not even very good at this so I cant get really detailed. I tried searching for a long time for a tutorial on how to retexture and I couldn't find one so I decided I would learn on my own, and I made this to kind-of guide people in the right direction. It's not really a full thing to get people to really comprehend it( because I dont even really comprehend it). Its more of a general shove in the right direction. So I am sorry if you think it lacks detail, as I cant really fix that.

[Baelkin]

Well, I'm sorry, but I am not even very good at this so I cant get really detailed. I tried searching for a long time for a tutorial on how to retexture and I couldn't find one so I decided I would learn on my own, and I made this to kind-of guide people in the right direction. It's not really a full thing to get people to really comprehend it( because I dont even really comprehend it). Its more of a general shove in the right direction. So I am sorry if you think it lacks detail, as I cant really fix that.

 

I didn't mean to bum you out or anything, just figured you might want some constructive criticism on what you wrote. There are a few threads on the subject here and there, but I don't think anyone has covered, or at least concisely written in a step by step manner, how to implement new textures through the GECK instead of making texture replacers - which is why I was poking you for not including it in your mini-tutorial. :smile:

 

In any case, if you want to make items with a different texture than the vanilla ones in the GECK, you can do it by first making a new Texture Set (found under Miscellanous in the object rollout)

Well, I'm sorry, but I am not even very good at this so I cant get really detailed. I tried searching for a long time for a tutorial on how to retexture and I couldn't find one so I decided I would learn on my own, and I made this to kind-of guide people in the right direction. It's not really a full thing to get people to really comprehend it( because I dont even really comprehend it). Its more of a general shove in the right direction. So I am sorry if you think it lacks detail, as I cant really fix that.

 

I didn't mean to bum you out or anything, just figured you might want some constructive criticism on what you wrote. There are a few threads on the subject here and there, but I don't think anyone has covered, or at least concisely written in a step by step manner, how to implement new textures through the GECK instead of making texture replacers - which is why I was poking you for not including it in your mini-tutorial. :smile:

 

In any case, I'll just jot down the basics of utilizing texture sets here then. It's pretty simple and can be done by following these steps:

 

Mini-guide on using Texture Sets in the GECK for retexturing items.

 

1. Make a new Texture Set, found under the Miscellanous entry in the main Object window rollout.

 

2. Call it something you can remember later.

 

3. Within the texture set you can see a number of map slots, each capable of pointing to a file:

 

• • Diffuse - the "standard" texture slot, the one people normally use for switching colors and whatnot.
    
  • Normal/Gloss - the normal map slot. Normally texture files with the "_n" suffix should be used in this slot.
    
  • Environment - No idea what this does to be honest.
    
  • Glow/Skin/Hair - Glow map slot. Governs what parts of the texture is capable of glowing.
    
  • Height - No idea what this does.
    
  • Environment - No idea about this one either.
    

 

Each of these slots can be set to point to a file, which essentially makes the Texture Set a sort of "texture library" for easy reference. For this example, just pick the Diffuse slot and point it to a correctly formatted .dds file - what is on it isn't that important presently. There are other options you can tweak in the window, however their use are beyond the scope of this short guide. When done, save the texture set by pressing the Ok button.

 

4. Once you have made your new Texture Set, find the item you wish to switch textures on and open it. For the sake of this example, pick the Power Armour and double click it - once the item dialogue is open, click the Edit button under the "Male" UI cluster. This should bring up a 3D view of the armour. If you cannot see the model, you might have to extract it from the Meshes.bsa file using a BSA extractor and place it withing the correct filestructure of the Data folder.

 

5. While still in the 3d view, double click the UpperBody entry in the "Alternate Textures" list - notice that this will bring up the entire Texture Set library that is currently loaded by the GECK. Scroll the list until you find your newly made texture set and double click it. Notice how the texture of the model changes and applies whatever textures you assigned to the different slots in the texture set.

 

This is basically what texture sets do - allow you to specify what textures are applied to the different subparts of a model. Depending on the design of the model itself, you can also specify different texture sets to be used for the body, arms and so on based on how the model is partitioned.

 

I think that's it - hopefully this will be of help to someone, at least now it's out there and searchable.. It's pretty simple and can be done by following these steps:

 

1. Make a new texture set (duh!).

 

2. Open the texture set entry and call it something you can remember later.

 

3. Within the textureset you can see a number of map slots, each capable of pointing to a file:

The Diffuse slot is what you normally would consider an item's texture, namely the one with all the colors.

[Baelkin]

Edit: Poxy browser.

[Drakkz]

Thanks alot.. Helped me understand texturing alot more. :thumbsup: