Simple texture edit on armor mod.

[timbotiminator]

I really didn't want to learn literally everything about modding just to change the color of on single armor set. Unfortunately it seems I need to know a lot because I am hitting wall after wall. I wanted the crimson ranger armor set to be green instead of red. I changed the files after extracting from the textures bsa and repackaged them using bsa opt. Skyrim se will not even open until I reinstalled the mod to go back to the way it was. Something about the way I'm packing it might be the issue. I do have creation kit and have attempted to use that but most of the time all the mods seem to show up in the data on ck except crimson ranger. Not sure how to pack it properly so the other mod files don't puke. Any help would be so much appreciated!

[Algabar]

Technically you don't NEED to repackage a BSA. You could also install the extracted loose files to the corresponding folder within .../Skyrim Se/data.If the files themselves are okay, the mod should work with the extracted files,too.

 

OFC errors when packing files as a BSA can make your game crash. BSAopt should work though, if used correctly - and if the modified textures themselves are okay...

 

Unfortunately, there are more pitfalls than just messed up BSA archives. If you saved your textures in the wrong format for example, this could also crash the game. Texture work isn't that easy... What program did you use to change the textures and what format did you choose to save them? Diffuse textures usually are DXT 1 / BC 1 or DXT 5 / BC 5 (DXT 5 only when you need an alpha channel, e.g. for transparency). Best option is the more modern BC 7 format though.

 

Here's an overview of texture formats usable in Skyrim SE.

 

I'd generally recommend asking in the "creation kit and modders" section. That's where the experts are...

[timbotiminator]

I saved them in the same format I found them in when they were first extracted which is dds. I used a plugin on gimp in order to make it work. Is it likely that the files were exported wrong? I will note that after I unpacked the files, they were un readable by gimp anymore. How would I go about installing the mod if I moved the texture files? Would the mod be able to work or would I need to rewrite the location of the textures?

thanks for your reply

[Algabar]

The GIMP plugin is basically okay. I used that myself some time ago. When saving, make sure to create mipmaps - but that's the default setting anyway if I remember right. It's strange though that GIMP can't open its own files. It should be able to... That would point to a problem with the texture format. TBH, I'm not exactly sure what happens here. MAybe the "re-saving" of the .dds files is the problem. I always worked with textures I created from scratch and converted to .dds later.

 

Regarding using unpacked BSAs:

 

There's a folder structure within the BSA. Copy that folder structure contained in the BSA to Skyrim SE/data

 

E.g. if the BSA contains a structure like /textures/armor/[Your armor mod], it should be /Skyrim SE/data/textures/armor/[Your armor mod].

 

The thing is: Loose files always "win" over files packed in BSAs. If the game finds loose files corresponding to files packed in a BSA archive, it will use the loose files instead of the ones in the BSA. That's the basic principle e.g. of texture replacers. You don't need to change texture paths in the plugin or anything. In fact, this way you can "test" your textures. If they work outside a BSA, the problem is probably the packed BSA. If they don't, it's the textures.

[anjenthedog]

fwiw, I've done some texture modding with Paint dot Net. It seems to handle whichever format the file comes as without issue.

 

And before anyone starts talking cost, It's free. Free, not $7 not $5 not $10/month, not $200, it's free. You can, like here at nexus, donate, but it's free. 100% free.