changing colors

[jman49]

hey everyone. I want to change the colors of some clothes in the game. how can i do that using the G.E.C.K.

[KazFoxsen]

This is what I did for my Easter Frag Hunt mod, which used the same grenade mesh with 10 different "paint jobs" applied. While you can directly change the textures of a NIF mesh with a program like Texture Replacer, using texture sets in the GECK meant that I didn't have to create a new mesh for each pattern.

 

You'll need to have the FOMM program, which comes with a BSA extractor. With that, you can extract the textures locked up in the game's BSA archives within the Data folder. Open the textures BSA in the browser and find the file you want and extract it and its normal map (the diffuse texture will be something like texturename.dds and the normal will be texturename_n.dds).

 

Once extracted, you can open the diffuse texture in an art program as long as you have a plugin that can read that file type. Gimp is a free program with such a plugin available as a separate download. When you open the .dds, don't display mipmaps (adds tiny versions of the image in descending size), but when you save, make sure the options are set to create them. For a simple color change, you don't need to worry about changing the normal map.

 

After you've changed the color of your outfit's diffuse texture and saved it, (under the data folder, create a new folder and place it and its normal map inside, for organization) open GECK. In the object window, under Misc, you'll find Texture Sets. Create a new one, select "Diffuse," and click "edit" to select your file. Do the same for Normal/Gloss and add the normal map.

 

Double click on your desired outfit and change the ID to create a duplicate. You'll have to add the textures to the biped models (what it looks like when worn) and the world model (when the clothes are on the ground). For a quick demonstration, compare OufitPrewarSpring and OufitPrewarSpring2. When editing the first outfit, click "edit" next to biped model and under the Model Data window, you'll see a list called Alternate Textures. Double-click the blank space near "Upper Body" and a list of texture sets will appear. The texture which changes the original Spring outfit to the Park-stroller look is 1950sCasual2Variant(F or M). Select it and hit OK. Since clothing may have multiple parts, you'll have to swap the textures of different parts, such as for the Spring male outfit, you must change the upperbody and arms, while the female sleeveless dress is just an upperbody swap. Don't forget to change your world models too!

 

If you'd prefer the Texture Replacer method to directly change the NIF file's textures, check out this link: http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/Texture_Replacer/Tutorial. At the bottom are also links to more stuff about textures.