Making your own skins

Post by **Avi** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 8:18 am

What programs are needed to modify existing game skins?

I wanted to mess around with one just to see what there was to it, but only managed to unrez a .dll file with nothing but gibberish.

I just thought it would be interesting to mess around with it until the mod came out...

EDIT:
I found the DTX files, but have no idea how to open them. What program is needed for this?

I see that I need a paint program that will open DTX files...

GRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!

YouTube · Post by **TronFAQ** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 1:16 pm

If you've got the character skin .DTX files extracted, there's a couple of ways of working with them.

First, is you can use DEdit to convert them from .DTX to .TGA, which many paint programs can work with. Then you can convert them back after you're done editing them.

Second, you can use the Photoshop plugin provided with the tools, that allows Photoshop (or any paint program that supports Photoshop plugins) to read and write .DTX files. The plugin is in the "Plugins" folder when you unzip the tools. Some paint programs may kick up a fuss with the plugin, unless you download a file called MSVCIRTD.DLL. You can do a Google search for it, and you'll find it easily. (It took me a long time to figure this one out, because the paint program I used would not work with the plugin without this extra file.) MSVCIRTD.DLL needs to be copied to your C:\Windows\System32 folder.

Both DEdit and the plugin are, of course, part of the Tron 2.0 editing tools. Setting up DEdit properly is a bit of a chore, so it would probably be much easier to use the plugin instead. Though I personally prefer using DEdit to convert back and forth, because its options are clearer and seem to work better than the plugin does.

Post by **Avi** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 1:33 pm

Okay, I have DEdit (downloaded the Tron Tools from Boxhat).
I extracted one single DTX file from the game into a dedicated folder so that I can experiment with it.
I can't figure out how to open the file in DEdit so that I can convert it to a .TGA file.
?

Post by **xistence** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 2:12 pm

I recommen you to go on tronfaq's FAQ-Page. He made a great tutorial about setting DEdit up.
Beside of this: DEdit would need a project to know the content of the game/ the content you want to edit. You can create a new project in dedit and then putting the DTX-File into the created TEX-folder of this project or you follow the tutorial of faq, extract all game content and being able to edit all. Only with a project you can see textures in dedit.

Post by **Avi** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 4:37 pm

Here's my very first skin:

Just Byte, with some darker colors and red corners.

Thanks to everyone that helped, ESPECIALLY 9 Volt who braved my onslaught of n00b questions for over an hour!

Uh oh, a new hobby...lol

Post by **Avi** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 7:40 pm

And another skin...

It's okay to laugh! Like I said, this is only my first and I'm experimenting with effects and such.

If you have any pointers, please hit me up...

Post by **Avi** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 8:13 pm

And another:

Post by **Avi** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 9:36 am

One more question (but probably not the last):

When I apply a pattern to a SLC skin, you can see all of the details before exporting it back into DEdit. For instance, I made one with a skull pattern on it and it looked pretty cool..you can make out all of the features of the skulls and other ghastly images that I incorporated into it. I put the file into the game and started a server. The colors of the pattern are there, but the images looks like it has been enlarged and you can't make out any of the skulls anymore. You can tell that it's the same pic, but the ratio of the skulls to the bike is no longer the same and it looks rather dreary.

Is there a way to fix this from happening so that my skins look just as they appear while I'm editing them?

I'm currently using Gimp (though Tronfaq's official opinion of it is "It sucks".)

YouTube · Post by **TronFAQ** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 1:14 pm

Yes, Gimp still sucks.

The situation with the SLC skins is that the game only applies specific areas of the texture, to the bike model. You can make part of the texture red and part of it blue, and you might find the cycle turns out only red or only blue depending on where you placed the colors. It's a bit difficult to explain.

Maybe I can reword it by saying that only specific parts of the texture are used, not the whole thing. And one small part of it can be applied to a large section of the body. I guess that's a clearer explanation.

So you'll have to experiment with where you place the patterns and colors on the texture, to see what results you get.

That Jet skin looks pretty snazzy, by the way.

Post by **Avi** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 1:19 pm

Thanks...

I guess the Jet is okay, if you don't mind it looking like he spilled Kool-Aid in his crotch. :sad:

I'm still trying to figure out Alphas and layers and AARRGGHH!!

Sorry, noob frustration coming through...

I opened a Jet face skin in Paint.NET, but it only shows the glow around his face. Once I figure out how it is laying the skin out, I'm sure they'll get more profesisonal looking instead of just dumping patterns and such all over the place.

YouTube · Post by **TronFAQ** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 1:22 pm

I think he looks pretty cool . . . kind of like a Christmas-themed version of Jet. Hehe.

Paint.NET . . . well it should support .TGA files properly. At least, the site claims it does. Would be disappointing to find out it doesn't. PDT_Armataz_01_03

Post by **Avi** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 1:38 pm

Yeah, it does support them, but it seperates the glow from the actual face and I don't know how to select between them yet.

Post by **xistence** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 1:42 pm

It's a bit difficult to explain.

Maybe i can jump in:

A model consists out of polygons, also known as 'faces'. Simple planes with several edges (minimum three). Those faces are 'painted' by textures. Now you could go and use one texture for one face, but this would be nuts. So very often they take the model, made out of faces, 'flatten' it, and taking the shape coming out of the flattening to fit a complete texture onto it. That way you use just one texture (or perhaps two). But now you will find a texture that might look twisted and splitted, and drawing actions don't happen in just 'one strike'.
The only way would be, as tronfaq mentioned already, to try out, but it is tricky and demands a lot of patience from you.

Not sure if i was able to bring in some light into this.

Post by **death_program** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:52 pm

Yay! New n00b on the field!

My question: How do I install the plugin to my paint program (I, also, am using GIMP)?

EDIT: Apparently I need a compiled version of the file (.exe extension) to run in GIMP. Does anyone have this?

YouTube · Post by **TronFAQ** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:35 pm

You need a plug-in for the plug-in.

.

GIMP only supports a Photoshop plug-in (which is what came with the Tron tools) if you install another plug-in, first.

http://members.home.nl/m.weisbeek/gimp/#ps

Also, read my second post in this thread about needing the MSVCIRTD.DLL file too.