How to make custom skyrim textures

[FoolsPower]

So you want to create your on textures, huh?

Here are a few steps that I recently figured out.

 

1.Download the FO3 Archive Utility ( http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=34 ) (Made for FO3 but works just fine with skyrim)

 

2.Download the DDS Plugin for Photoshop ( http://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-adobe-photoshop ) (Will allow you to open/save .dds files)

 

3.Run FO3 Archive and click File>Open Archive. Then head to your Skyrim directory(The one with the TESV.exe etc) and click the "Skyrim - Textures.bsa" then click open.

It will then take a minute or two to open up the file.

 

4.Click the "textures" folder (or optionally click a single file you want. its better to do the whole file for easy of use) and then click "extract selected file" then save it to your deskstop or where ever you want.

 

5.Open photoshop (after you have installed the DDS plugin) then go to file>open. Head to the place where you saved the "textures" folder and you will see a ton of other folders. open the .dds file of your choice and edit it how ever you want.

 

 

___Saving and using the textures___

 

(I'm not going to teach you how to save normal maps properly, but there are plently or video tutorials on youtube for that)

 

So this bit might get a bit tricky, but it's the best way i've found to do it at the moment.

 

1.So once you've made your texture, you need to make a folder for this. go to your desktop and make a new folder. Now the (NEW) folder needs to be named as it was in the original "textures" folder. "armor" for example

 

2.So lets say you made a new daedric armor texture. you will need to make an "armor" folder, then a "daedric"(inside "armor) folder and so on, depending on the amount of subfolders it took for you to get to the texture you edited.

 

3.Now you're in the final subfolder, you need to put the new texture you made into it. making sure it's the same name as the original, and .dds format.

 

4.Head to the main skyrim DIR and go into "data" then "Textures"(If you don't have one, make one) then place your "armor" folder into it (or w/e the main folder is called for your texture) and BAM your done. open up the game and go check it out.

 

Extra Note: Also check out this to compress your textures http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/Choose_the_right_DXTC_compression_algorithm (Thanks to Liaen for telling me about this)

 

 

 

(I'm sorry if this is hard to understand, but i recently just discovered this and thought it might help a few people out. if you have any questions, be sure to ask and i'll help the best I can)

 

(I originally posted this in the files section but I was told it'd be better to post in here)

[Therianthrope]

Thanks a bunch, Im gonna try this out now

[Theomach]

Works great, I am now just trying to figure out how to upload all of the retextures I made onto the nexus.

[TIGERshanked]

would i follow this same process to get to the dawnguard and or dragonborn textures?

[thesaphira2000]

What if you make your own model and want to make a custom texture for that?

[Kraeten]

Well, after creating your 3D model you would export the UVW map and use it as a base for your painting and photo editing wizardry. That's all that really changes.

 

You could also bake a texture, but I'm not really sure what that involves. I can tell you though that it doesn't require an oven. :tongue:

Edited November 14, 2013 by Kraeten

[mlee3141]

Great guide for this aspiring texture artist.

[malisc140]

Thanks for bumping this. I was curious.

[Blargensmarf]

i tried installing FO3 archive utility but it keeps saying unrecognized game mode. so how do i install the archive utility without FO3?

 

[ArcAiN6]

sorry to be a buzz kill here, but this isn't " creating " anything. It is the same guide i see all over the place on how to " edit " already created textures.