Reskinning an item tutorial - Revision history

Commanderstrawberry at 10:33, 18 October 2023

2023-10-18T10:33:54Z

Sunjammer: /* Further Tutorials */ updating link

2012-02-23T12:50:54Z

‎Further Tutorials: updating link

Sunjammer: moved Tutorial: Reskinning an Item to Reskinning an item tutorial

2012-02-23T12:48:48Z

moved Tutorial: Reskinning an Item to Reskinning an item tutorial

Gaxkang55: /* General considerations */

2010-12-22T13:01:11Z

‎General considerations

Gaxkang55 at 12:52, 22 December 2010

2010-12-22T12:52:25Z

Gaxkang55: /* Locating the Model Textures the Hard Way */

2010-12-22T11:40:01Z

‎Locating the Model Textures the Hard Way

Gaxkang55: /* Locating the Model Textures the Hard Way */ removed wrong "hidden filename" stuff, replaced with simpler explanation

2010-12-22T10:44:45Z

‎Locating the Model Textures the Hard Way: removed wrong "hidden filename" stuff, replaced with simpler explanation

Venezie at 06:19, 11 September 2010

2010-09-11T06:19:19Z

Venezie at 06:14, 11 September 2010

2010-09-11T06:14:54Z

Proleric1: /* Overriding the Existing Textures */

2010-06-28T11:25:10Z

‎Overriding the Existing Textures

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:33, 18 October 2023
Line 89:		Line 89:

	[[Creating recolors of existing items tutorial]] - A way to change the tint of the new texture		[[Creating recolors of existing items tutorial]] - A way to change the tint of the new texture
		+	[[How to create textures]] - An overview of file formats.

	== Related Links ==		== Related Links ==

@@ Line 88: / Line 88: @@
 == Further Tutorials ==
-[[Tutorial: Creating recolors of existing items]] - A way to change the tint of the new texture
+[[Creating recolors of existing items tutorial]] - A way to change the tint of the new texture
 == Related Links ==

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 ==General considerations==
-Most armor and weapons have a tint map, and if the aim is simply to recolor a model, then a custom tint should be used. In any case, recoloring a model which has a tint applied will either not work or lead to unpredictable results. See below for further tutorials. However, there are situations where creating/modifying textures is appropriate, but in those situations it is preferable to create a new item variation and associated machinery to ''''add'''' the texture rather than overwriting an existing ingame resource.
+Most armor and weapons have a tint map, and if the aim is simply to recolor a model, then a custom tint should be used. In any case, recoloring a model which already has a tint applied will either not work or lead to unpredictable results. Additionally, a custom tint file has the advantage of working for both high and medium textures at all LOD. See below for further tutorials. However, there are situations where creating/modifying textures is appropriate, but in those situations it is preferable to create a new item variation and associated machinery to '''add''' the texture rather than overwriting an existing game resource.
 == Locating the Model Textures the Hard Way==

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 Tools needed are the Dragon Age Toolset, and a grafic editing Applications capable of Opening, Editing and Saving DDS Texture Files.
-'''Note:''' The game utilizes Tints, which reuse the same Texture in colorized or tinted versions. Thus the texture in our example doesn't look quite as it does in game, and vice versa. If you edit the Texture, it won't look quite like that when put back into the game. The difference is merely color differences, so this process is limited. However, you can only change Tints, or both. See below for further tutorials.
+==General considerations==
 == Locating the Model Textures the Hard Way==

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 == Locating the Model Textures the Hard Way==
-At the beginning, you only know how the [[Model]] looks and what its called. A somewhat difficult task will be, finding out which files are tied to the model so that you can edit them.
+At the beginning, you only know how the [[Model]] looks and what its called. A somewhat difficult task will be finding out which files are tied to the model so that you can edit them.
-−
-'''Note:''' You may want to read it once, to understand alternative ways.
 First and foremost, you are looking for DDS Files. How DDS Files are referenced by an Item you see in Game is a long list of database references.
@@ Line 32: / Line 30: @@
 #With these 3 Strings, and Dragon Age's [[Naming conventions|Naming Scheme]] you can find the [[MMH]] Main Modelfile.
 #At the end of MMH file (extract, open and Expand All with the toolset), is the reference to the material object filename (page up two or three times from the end of the file).
-#And inside the [[MAO]] File (open with Notepad) is the references to the Textures Filenames.
+#And inside the [[MAO]] File (open with Notepad) are the references to the texture filenames.
-Spend a little time browsing through these files, and the naming convention will become clear. The armor prefixes are a compound of a "race" letter -- h, d, e, q, k(for children) and p (for person, or humanoid) -- and a gender letter -- m, f or n. Chest models are by necessity both race and usually gender specific, while textures will map to any model with the correct UV map, so usually begin with "p" and may or may not be gender specific. Once you understand the prefixes, the textures can usually be located quickly, with the item variation code followed by the part code (where applicable) followed by the texture code.
+Spend a little time browsing through these files, and the naming convention will become clear. The armor prefixes are a compound of a "race" letter -- h, d, e, q, k (for children) and p (for person, or humanoid) -- and a gender letter -- m, f or n. For instance, a Chest mesh (the actual model or msh file) is by necessity both race and usually gender specific, several mmh files will usually reference one msh and are prefixed similarly, while textures will map to any model with the correct UV map, so usually begin with "p" and may or may not be gender specific. Once you understand the prefixes, the textures can usually be located quickly in the relevant erf, with the part code (where applicable) coming next, followed by the item variation code, followed by the texture code.
 (There are some anomalies: for instance Ancient Elven Armor is listed in the toolset as Medium Armor E, but is in fact heavy armor so has an item variation code of "hvye" (it also has no tint map, being a one-off piece), but such cases are not too hard to track down once you understand the overall schema.)

← Older revision	Revision as of 12:48, 23 February 2012
(No difference)

@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 To track back to the DDS File, you need to run up this list in reverse. Starting up our example, the mages apprentice robe, as it is worn by human females.
-#Open up the Toolset and in the Resource Palette on the upperright click on "Items" (appears as a sword icon). Now comes guessing where this piece is to be found there. These Items are pretty well sorted thou, it is to be found under _global / Clothing / Mage Robes / Unique. In the following list you see the ResourceName followed by ItemName "gen_im_cth_mag_app (Apprentice Robes)". Any Item can be found in the "Item" Category.  Doubleclick that entry to look inside.
+#Open up the Toolset and in the Resource Palette on the upper right click on "Items" (appears as a sword icon). Now comes guessing where this piece is to be found there. These Items are pretty well sorted though, it is to be found under _global / Clothing / Mage Robes / Unique. In the following list you see the ResourceName followed by ItemName "gen_im_cth_mag_app (Apprentice Robes)". Any Item can be found in the "Item" Category.  Doubleclick that entry to look inside.
 #In the listing of information that appears to the left of the item, note that the "Base Item Type" is "Clothing", which is branching off into the Item Variation. The robe has a "Item Variation" called "Robe, Apprentice". Variation in mind, onto the next step.
 #Open up the "ItemVariations.xls" File located under "(dragon age install directory)/tools/Source/2da/rules". It has many pages, locate page "clothing_variation" since we know our "Base Item Type" is of "Clothing". In there, locate the Row called whatever Item Variation your Item had. "Robe, Apprentice" has Namestrings followed by "rob" "app" "a".
-#With these 3 Strings, and Dragon Age's [[Naming conventions|Naming Scheme]] you can find the binary [[MMH]] Main Modelfile.
+#With these 3 Strings, and Dragon Age's [[Naming conventions|Naming Scheme]] you can find the [[MMH]] Main Modelfile.
-#'''In this File is a hidden reference to the [[MAO]] Material file.'''
+#At the end of MMH file (extract, open and Expand All with the toolset), is the reference to the material object filename (page up two or three times from the end of the file).
-#And inside the [[MAO]] File is the references to the Textures Filenames.
+#And inside the [[MAO]] File (open with Notepad) is the references to the Textures Filenames.
-Step 4 requires some understanding in completing the Filename. Each [[Model]] File (and [[Art Resources|Art Resource]] too) has a prefix and a suffix. The Prefix sorts the Models into whole Categories, the Suffix into small Variations. The Category for Playerworn Armor by Human Females here is "HF". After the Prefix come the Namestrings noted in Step 3 ,separated by underscores "_" with the exception of the last one. The Suffix here as a variation is the LOD Versions of the same Model, which all have their own LOD texture.
+Spend a little time browsing through these files, and the naming convention will become clear. The armor prefixes are a compound of a "race" letter -- h, d, e, q, k(for children) and p (for person, or humanoid) -- and a gender letter -- m, f or n. Chest models are by necessity both race and usually gender specific, while textures will map to any model with the correct UV map, so usually begin with "p" and may or may not be gender specific. Once you understand the prefixes, the textures can usually be located quickly, with the item variation code followed by the part code (where applicable) followed by the texture code.
-The Models Filename here is then "hf_rob_appa_0.mmh" to "hf_rob_appa_3.mmh". However unless you can work with the MMH, the hidden reference of Step 6 wont be found. It is there in binary form, and u would need for example "tazpn's commandline tools" to convert them into FBX and then into MMH.XML which is a text format of the [[MMH]]. The reference here is called "pf_rob_appa.mao", "pf_rob_appa_l2.mao" and "pf_rob_appa_l3.mao" for their respective LOD Version.
+(There are some anomalies: for instance Ancient Elven Armor is listed in the toolset as Medium Armor E, but is in fact heavy armor so has an item variation code of "hvye" (it also has no tint map, being a one-off piece), but such cases are not too hard to track down once you understand the overall schema.)
-−
-See that effectivly hf got replaced by pf, which is simply another Prefix for only Female Gear. "hf" however was Female Human, but since the Textures get applied to all Female's versions, it is separated. This is arbitrary, but since the same applies to other armor ,it is sometimes "guessable"
-−
-The MAO Files reference these textures
-−
-<pre>pf_rob_appa_0d.dds
-to
-pf_rob_appa_0tl3.dds
-</pre>
-−
-=== Alternatives ===
-−
-However you can take shortcuts, by guessing which ItemVariation it is under which category, and start by opening the "Itemvariations.xls" file directly. Or by browsing texture files with a Picture Viewer. Since pf_rob*** are only Robes, and its not so many.
-−
-DATools also provides a quick way of browsing thru Models, and seeing their Texturenames. You may not catch all Models, but its a possibility.
-−
-Guessing examples for the Mage Robe:
-*It is female player gear. So prefix for textures is "pf_"
-*It is a Robe, so any Texture File containing "rob" may be our File.
-*Open the ItemVariations.xls, and by Clothing find Robe, Apprentice and its strings "rob" "app" "a" ,and you may find the filename.
 == Extracting the Texture from the Package ==

@@ Line 87: / Line 87: @@
 == Overriding the Existing Textures ==
 [[Image:Demo-retexture.jpg|thumb|The end result: reskinned default mage robes.]]
 To override the existing textures, copy the "textures" folder containing the modified textures, and paste this folder into the Dragon Age override folder. The override folder is found in:
 *Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age\packages\core\override\