Retexture Help

[yoshie55]

I would like to make some retextures of some suits and have them as new items.I know how to apply the texture in NIFSkope but i don't know how to well it's hard to explain,I wan't to make different tie patterns and colours as well as the jackets,shirts and pants but i don't know how to get the patterns and colours.Can somebody help me with this please?

 

Also the textures are not showing up in NIFskope.

Edited February 26, 2011 by yoshie55

[PaladinRider]

The way I do it is edit existing textures with photoshop, save as DD5, then open the .nif and change the BBShaderTexture option.

[yoshie55]

One problem,I don't have photoshop so is there a free trial for it?

[Moraelin]

Ok, let's start.

 

You don't particularly need Photoshop, you need _a_ image editor. The more powerful the better, but if you already have one you're familiar with, it's probably the best. If in doubt, download the GIMP, it's free. (But the GIMP GUI is famously crap, so you kinda get what you pay for.)

 

To unpack the .dds files to TGA, use the NVidia texture tools. Just search for them on NVidia's site. Then edit the TGA, pack back to DDS with the same tools, there you go.

 

For some image editors there is a plugin that can read and write .dds files directly. I think there is one for GIMP and Photoshop, but I never used those. I just use NVidia's tools.

 

To retexture most items -- most notably except furniture the player can sit on -- you don't need NifSkope at all. You only need the GECK.

 

In the GECK, you need to define a texture set. This is a set of diffuse map (the texture of the suit), normal map (wrinkles and such, plus the alpha channel says how dull the object is from 255 = no extra shine to 0 = pretty much dressed in a mirror. Very sensitive. I usually use 240 alpha even for shiny-ish iron), environment map (bump map), etc. If you're sane, you'll take the textures of an existing suit, and _only_ change the diffuse map (texture.) That way it'll keep the wrinkles and all from the original suit, and you just change the colour and texture.

 

Now you find the suit you want to use as a base, and clone it. That is, change its form id, save, say yes when asked if you want to make a copy. That way you have your own modded suit that, for now, is identical to the old one, but you don't replace anything.

 

Now basically you'll see it has 3 meshes: male, female, and folded on the ground (if you drop it.) If you click the Edit button for any of these, you can tell it to load a different mesh. But for now DON'T. You'll also notice there's a table with the available pieces of the mesh, and to each of those you can assign a texture set. Assign the one you just made, and you'll notice in the preview window that it retextured the existing mesh with your textures. Yay. That's what you wanted to do in the first place, right?

Edited February 27, 2011 by Moraelin

[yoshie55]

@Moraelin yes thanks for your help.

[Moraelin]

No problem. When you have more questions, just drop me a personal message. I might or might not read a particular thread on the board, so a pm is a safer bet. Edited February 27, 2011 by Moraelin