TUTORIAL: editing skins/skys/UI graphics/bump maps/etc.

[Slomer]

You can edit almost any 2d graphics in farcry including sky boxes, model skins, wall textures, UI graphics, Bump Maps, etc. fairly easily.

Go here: dds tools (http://developer.nvidia.com/object/nv_texture_tools.html) and download the photoshop plugin for dds files.

Step 1. Finding file:
After installing the plugin use winrar or any program capable of reading the *.pak files. They are simple zip files. Explore until you find the dds file you need. In this case it is X:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Crytek\Far Cry\FCData\Objects.pak and in this file the desert eagle is under weapons/DE directory within the .pak.


Step 2. Opening DDS:
When opening the dds file in photoshop it will often state the file has existing mip maps and then ask if you would you like to display them. Answer no. There are 7 levels of mip mapping on all files that have mip maps and the plugin will create them for you. Choosing yes without knowing what your doing can and will mess up your file.


step 3. Editing the image:
The engine scales the texture to fit so you do not have to keep the dimensions as the original file. The great thing about this is that if the original .dds is too small for detail work you can increase the size of the file for more detail and it will work fine. However the file must remain sized in powers of 2. Some examples of this are: 512x512,1024x1024, 1024x512, 256x512, etc.

Note: If the model has bump maps these will also be dds files and will be called skinname_DDN.dds or skinname_DDP.dds. DDN file is bumpmapping and I believe the DDP file is a second gloss/detail bump map. However I am not totally sure on DDP files. If you do any major editing you may also want to edit these bump maps to match your skin.


Step 4. saving your file:
A screen with many options will come up. All the defaults are fine except for 2 things. Change the mipmaps levels to 7 and change to dxt5. Your window should look like this pic.
http://aq2.action-web.net/easter/skintut1.jpg .
Feel free to experiment with these settings.

NOTE: If what you are edting is not a texture but a standard 2d graphic with no mip maps you need to tick off the mip maps when saving. If photoshop did not ask you to view the mip maps when opening then this applies to your file.


Step 5. Testing:
Go to your farcry mod directory and make a new subdirectory named after your mod. In this case I used the name testeagle. make sure that you have the same directory structure here as there was in the original .pak file. For example mine is mods/testeagle/objects/weapons/de. Make a text file name moddesc.txt with the following layout:

_Description_ = "your mod desc."
_Website_ = "www.yoursite.com"
_Version_ = "0.01a"
_Author_ = "your name"
_Title_ = "mod name"

To load your mod launch the game as follows (obviously changing to your mods directory)
FarCry.exe -devmode -MOD:moddirectoryname


Step 6. Releasing:
Ok now download these important files (http://www.hx3.de/ext/farcry/Modfiles.zip) as pkzip does not come with the game. (thanks to x.TheCounter.x for the info and files). Unzip the pkzip25 file into you main farcry/mods directory. From here it is fairly simple. open a command prompt in that directory and type PackerForDistrib testeagle. In place of testeagle put in whatever your mods directory is named. The .bat file will make a distro.pak file. Ok now zip this file and your moddesc.txt file up and upload them to the internet so we can check them out!

I made an example mod just to show what can be done. It is a rather mediocre looking silver/black desert eagle skin I hacked together. I do like it more than the standard DE in the game though.

testeagle.zip (http://aq2.action-web.net/easter/testeagle.zip)

note: I spent quite a while going through the *.cgf model files in a hex editor trying to add bump maps to files that do not have them. I managed to do so but it is overly complicated and each file has to be done differently due to various texture linking and mapping. Changing material types/names/adding bump/gloss/environment maps is possible without SDK but is not worth it. I will be waiting for the SDK before I work on this more. However since right now making new models without a plugin is not feasible if someone wants to LUA script an entirely new weapon and wants it to look different than the model they used let me know and I will help change the skin references in the file so the 2 weapons atleast look different.

UNrelated note: the .cal files are the animation lists for models. It seems like the human_male animations will work on skeletons, dead mercs, etc. Throw in some custom scary voice clips, set these models to standard merc AI scripts, then throw about 100 of them onto an island all with nothing but knives. THen have the player arrive via boat and you'd have a cheap dawn of the dead sequal. http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

[This message was edited by Slomer on Wed April 07 2004 at 07:22 AM.]

[Slomer]

You can edit almost any 2d graphics in farcry including sky boxes, model skins, wall textures, UI graphics, Bump Maps, etc. fairly easily.

Go here: dds tools (http://developer.nvidia.com/object/nv_texture_tools.html) and download the photoshop plugin for dds files.

Step 1. Finding file:
After installing the plugin use winrar or any program capable of reading the *.pak files. They are simple zip files. Explore until you find the dds file you need. In this case it is X:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Crytek\Far Cry\FCData\Objects.pak and in this file the desert eagle is under weapons/DE directory within the .pak.


Step 2. Opening DDS:
When opening the dds file in photoshop it will often state the file has existing mip maps and then ask if you would you like to display them. Answer no. There are 7 levels of mip mapping on all files that have mip maps and the plugin will create them for you. Choosing yes without knowing what your doing can and will mess up your file.


step 3. Editing the image:
The engine scales the texture to fit so you do not have to keep the dimensions as the original file. The great thing about this is that if the original .dds is too small for detail work you can increase the size of the file for more detail and it will work fine. However the file must remain sized in powers of 2. Some examples of this are: 512x512,1024x1024, 1024x512, 256x512, etc.

Note: If the model has bump maps these will also be dds files and will be called skinname_DDN.dds or skinname_DDP.dds. DDN file is bumpmapping and I believe the DDP file is a second gloss/detail bump map. However I am not totally sure on DDP files. If you do any major editing you may also want to edit these bump maps to match your skin.


Step 4. saving your file:
A screen with many options will come up. All the defaults are fine except for 2 things. Change the mipmaps levels to 7 and change to dxt5. Your window should look like this pic.
http://aq2.action-web.net/easter/skintut1.jpg .
Feel free to experiment with these settings.

NOTE: If what you are edting is not a texture but a standard 2d graphic with no mip maps you need to tick off the mip maps when saving. If photoshop did not ask you to view the mip maps when opening then this applies to your file.


Step 5. Testing:
Go to your farcry mod directory and make a new subdirectory named after your mod. In this case I used the name testeagle. make sure that you have the same directory structure here as there was in the original .pak file. For example mine is mods/testeagle/objects/weapons/de. Make a text file name moddesc.txt with the following layout:

_Description_ = "your mod desc."
_Website_ = "www.yoursite.com"
_Version_ = "0.01a"
_Author_ = "your name"
_Title_ = "mod name"

To load your mod launch the game as follows (obviously changing to your mods directory)
FarCry.exe -devmode -MOD:moddirectoryname


Step 6. Releasing:
Ok now download these important files (http://www.hx3.de/ext/farcry/Modfiles.zip) as pkzip does not come with the game. (thanks to x.TheCounter.x for the info and files). Unzip the pkzip25 file into you main farcry/mods directory. From here it is fairly simple. open a command prompt in that directory and type PackerForDistrib testeagle. In place of testeagle put in whatever your mods directory is named. The .bat file will make a distro.pak file. Ok now zip this file and your moddesc.txt file up and upload them to the internet so we can check them out!

I made an example mod just to show what can be done. It is a rather mediocre looking silver/black desert eagle skin I hacked together. I do like it more than the standard DE in the game though.

testeagle.zip (http://aq2.action-web.net/easter/testeagle.zip)

note: I spent quite a while going through the *.cgf model files in a hex editor trying to add bump maps to files that do not have them. I managed to do so but it is overly complicated and each file has to be done differently due to various texture linking and mapping. Changing material types/names/adding bump/gloss/environment maps is possible without SDK but is not worth it. I will be waiting for the SDK before I work on this more. However since right now making new models without a plugin is not feasible if someone wants to LUA script an entirely new weapon and wants it to look different than the model they used let me know and I will help change the skin references in the file so the 2 weapons atleast look different.

UNrelated note: the .cal files are the animation lists for models. It seems like the human_male animations will work on skeletons, dead mercs, etc. Throw in some custom scary voice clips, set these models to standard merc AI scripts, then throw about 100 of them onto an island all with nothing but knives. THen have the player arrive via boat and you'd have a cheap dawn of the dead sequal. http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

[This message was edited by Slomer on Wed April 07 2004 at 07:22 AM.]

[thedudemanguy]

nice! thx!

[TheBladeRoden]

awesome

http://students.uww.edu/rodenja10/darkcrysig.jpg
http://students.uww.edu/rodenja10/darkcry/

[thedudemanguy]

ok, works fine.

only caveat is you can't view them with the sandbox trick, you have to boot up the game as a mod - anyone know how to launch a mod and devmode from the command line to do that more easily so I don't have to load save points to look for the char or item?

(and only other thing, to you skinners remember if you make major changes the bump map will look wrong... I think once full tools are released you could take a low lod model, subdivide it, and then add the details you want and get new normal map if you want to make skin changes, clothes type, etc...)

[JTTimmay]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>http://aq2.action-web.net/easter/skintut1.jpg <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

where did you ge tthis program, I have the PS plug in but not this program too.

Tim

Thanks
Timmay
Webmaster of
HalfLife-Mods.com (http://www.HalfLife-Mods.com)
Team Lead of
Jedi: Timeline (http://www.jeditimeline.com)
Public Relations Manager of
Half-Life Radio (http://www.HalfLifeRadio.com), Stargate SGC (http://sgmod.hl2central.net), Jurassic Rage (http://jurassicrage.halflife-mods.com)

[Slomer]

That is the same PS plugin I linked to. That is what the file format plugin looks like when you try to save the images as .dds files.

[JTTimmay]

oh ok have not tried to save one yet, thanks dude. BTW good job on this, I have 2 of my guys making textures now ecuase you showed the tools we needed without the SDK. http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Thanks
Timmay
Webmaster of
HalfLife-Mods.com (http://www.HalfLife-Mods.com)
Team Lead of
Jedi: Timeline (http://www.jeditimeline.com)
Public Relations Manager of
Half-Life Radio (http://www.HalfLifeRadio.com), Stargate SGC (http://sgmod.hl2central.net), Jurassic Rage (http://jurassicrage.halflife-mods.com)

[Slomer]

thedudemanguy I updated the tutorial with some information on the bump mapping that is on most of the character models. You can actually edit these files if your patient. However the "polybump" normal maps are made by using high poly models and their low poly counterpart. So subdividing the low poly version once the sdk is out and editing will not really help much with these normal maps unless you also have access to the higher resolution version and the skill to edit both. To see a bit more info on this try here:

polybump info/previewer (http://crytek.com/downloads/index.php?sx=polybump)


Also I added a small bit about how to load the mod + devmode via command line. But here is an example.

FarCry.exe -devmode -MOD:testeagle

[This message was edited by Slomer on Wed April 07 2004 at 06:50 AM.]

[Slomer]

Is there anything else people would like to know?

[nooc]

alpha transparency! http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

im just trying to edit the main menu screen, i used your settings but its still no transparent, has a white background.


------------
/\/ooc
siegemod.com
------------

[Bandittheone]

Could you show us how to put bump maps of the weapons?

[dek001]

like nooc here ive tried skinning a hud and it puts it in a white background doesnt matter what settings i tried could not get rid of it and it ruins it,any idea's if menu or hud can be skinned http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/images/smiley/16x16_smiley-sad.gif

[Lo.TekK]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by nooc:
alpha transparency! http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I concur. I've been trying to get alpha transparency on a weapon skin, but neither promoting the image to its own layer and using layer transparency, nor adding an extra alpha channel works (I always get "unsupported input format" error).

[sasquatch_nacho]

excelent

http://www.paintedwall.com.au/FCM/images/banner.jpg
Help Wanted For Project Lilith (http://lilith.moddb.com)

[dek001]

i dont have a problem doin weapon skins there easy and they work fine it's just things like the main menu and hud, me and nooc are havin this problem he's having probs with menu and im having trouble with the hud.Can someone try skinnin these and see if they can get them to work.

[KABryan]

to get the alpha channels I had to go to image&gt;calculations and when the option screen comes up I inverted them so that the objects appeared white and the background was black. I also saved them as 4:4:4:4 16 bit dds. I hope this helps

http://www.thegameresource.com/pics/deci.jpg

[Slomer]

I have been rather distracted by lineage II recently. Seems my attention span is not what it used ot be. I will look into the transparency stuff if I get a chance. I have not tried it yet but making a new channel for alpha then saving as dxt5 should work in any standard directX engine. I have even done it on the xbox before.

[bobsbarricades]

could you guys post some of your edited skins?

[AE-on]

Slomer,

I am thinking of adding a "Walkthrough" section to the Swoop/AEon FAQ, featuring all the longer more explicit tutorial threads.

Is that ok with you, adding you 1st post?

AEon Check the Far Cry Editing FAQ by Swoop/AEon (http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=400102&f=273109392&m=292101473)

[Fragger-]

An example of bump mapping:
http://images.action-arena.com/downloads/farcry/skins/48577-val.jpg
And an example of transparency:
http://images.action-arena.com/downloads/farcry/skins/22995-sc.jpg

http://www.planetsoldier.com/skinz/forums/mn/fcsiggy.jpg

[This message was edited by Fragger- on Fri May 14 2004 at 06:30 PM.]

[erunstrom]

where do i save the dds files after skinning?

[Fragger-]

Here's what you do:
Extract the files fron Objects.pak and objects1.pak (in that order)to the FCData folder (When it asks if you want to overwrite, click yes). You should end up with a new folder named Objects.
Modify the DDS.
In the folder where the DDS was originally, create new folders keeping the same folder structure as the originals. In your case, it should be like this:

Objects/vehicles/humvee

Save your edited texture in Humvee.
Create a new compressed (zipped) folder and drop the new objects folder in it.
Rename your zip to pak and choose a name that starts with any letter after O. (I use ZZ-humvee.pak).
Take your pak and copy it to the FCData folder.
Open Humvee.cgf in the editor and look at your skin to see if it everything fits and tweak it if it doesn't, repeating the above procedure every time and closing the editor before copying your pak to the FCData folder, or you'll get an error message.
Hope that's clear enough.
http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

http://www.planetsoldier.com/skinz/forums/mn/fcsiggy.jpg

[the_fubz]

DUDE FRAGGER!!!
I WANT THAT SCOPE http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/images/smiley/16x16_smiley-very-happy.gif

---
Sex on the T.V. can't hurt... unless you fall off

[Fragger-]

Scope (http://www.farcryarena.com/pages/downloads/file.asp?s=11308)

http://www.planetsoldier.com/skinz/forums/mn/fcsiggy.jpg

[the_fubz]

download doesnt work http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif
and the disributer doesnt work either http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif
niether does anything else i do http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif
still cant get my amphibious humvee or 20clip sniper rifle to work http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

---
Sex on the T.V. can't hurt... unless you fall off

[the_fubz]

Ya o got everything but distrbuter woring tahnks to this post!
only took a few looks at it though
look what i did http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~fubz/dash.jpg
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~fubz/dash%20(1).jpg
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~fubz/dash%20(2).jpg
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~fubz/dash%20(3).jpg

it looks even better in the game, and it only took me 5 mins http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif
---
Sex on the T.V. can't hurt... unless you fall off

[Fragger-]

Woo! Stickers!
http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0PAByAP4RfR7yTXbbq1xZmXaLT5Mt78t1Mv8GRGp*XqKZJu198 RK6BAwO!zUjFVQBtrwQYTT*gX8jrOInrJffIH0xXY2v1Jsz/hmve.jpg

http://www.planetsoldier.com/skinz/forums/mn/fcsiggy.jpg

[JTTimmay]

Fragger 2 things I want to ask you, 1 are you working for a mod already? and 2 where can I find the scope to DL, the one link does not work.

Thanks
Timmay
Webmaster of
HalfLife-Mods.com (http://www.HalfLife-Mods.com)
Team Lead of
Jedi: Timeline (http://www.jeditimeline.com)
Public Relations Manager of
GameSHOUT Radio (http://www.HalfLifeRadio.com), Stargate SGC (http://sgmod.hl2central.net), Jurassic Rage (http://jurassicrage.halflife-mods.com)

[Fragger-]

Well, I'm "unoficially" helping on "Maya Underworld", since I don't really have a lot of spare time. About the scope, send me an email and I'll send it to you.
fragger at sbcglobal dot net (harvesters suck).

http://www.planetsoldier.com/skinz/forums/mn/fcsiggy.jpg

[the_fubz]

bump jsut becasue i love this stuff.. and fragger how do you do your texturing?

---
Sex on the T.V. can't hurt... unless you fall off

[AE-on]

Slomer,
wonderful tutorial, I edited and added it to the FAQ. Here is my Desert Eagle test skin:
http://www.planetquake.com/aeons/tmp/farcry/AE-TestEagle.jpg

Works perfectly. http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/images/smiley/16x16_smiley-very-happy.gif

AEon Check the Far Cry Editing FAQ by Swoop/AEon (http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=400102&f=273109392&m=292101473)

[Fragger-]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by the_fubz:
bump jsut becasue i love this stuff.. and fragger how do you do your texturing?

---
Sex on the T.V. can't hurt... unless you fall off<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I use photos most of the time, unless I want to get a more unique look. Then, it's just photoshop.

http://www.planetsoldier.com/skinz/forums/mn/fcsiggy.jpg

[Crazyhooker]

Are there any other programs out there that are free you can do this with or relativly affordable, as im a college poor student who lives off the 99 cent menu and can't afford photoshop!

Crazy******

[sasquatch_nacho]

The GIMP

Google it

Just for you
http://www.users.on.net/~jrehardy/Forum/google2.jpg

http://www.gimp.org/

http://www.jhosts.com/~lilith/images/banner.jpg
Help Wanted For Project Lilith (http://lilith.moddb.com)

[Lo.TekK]

Well that was mature. http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif

[Crazyhooker]

Well the Gimp.org site seems to be down but I did find a copy of it elsewhere. That Nvidia .dds plugin page had a link to a Gimp plugin http://nifelheim.dyndns.org/%7ecocidius/normalmap/
Says its a normalmap plugin. Doesn't say anything about dds files. Gave it a download anyways after installing Gimp. On the install readme It says I need pkg-config version 0.14 or later and gtkglext version 0.7.1 or later. Then it says Type 'make install' to install the plugin. Can't find what you would type 'make install' Into sounds like I need a compiler or something.

Just wondering if i'm wasting my time or are any of you guys using the Gimp with this plugin.

Crazy******

[GazzaBinks]

Crytek are working on releasing the displacement maaping (normal mapping) for walls etc. But are having legal problems with microsoft, but they are being worked on.

[sasquatch_nacho]

you'll be wanting the compiled windows version, look here
http://www2.arnes.si/~sopjsimo/gimp/

http://www.jhosts.com/~lilith/images/banner.jpg
Help Wanted For Project Lilith (http://lilith.moddb.com)

[Crazyhooker]

Yea Thats the version of GIMP I got. It's the plugin from the webpage that I listed that was asking for the files in the readme.

Crazy******

[licence2kill]

hey fragger can u post your val fr download?

[Fragger-]

Get it HERE (http://www.farcryarena.com/pages/downloads/file.asp?s=11311)

http://www.planetsoldier.com/skinz/forums/mn/fcsiggy.jpg

[licence2kill]

is there a way 2 make it not a mod but overwrite the tdefault textures and make it so they use them all the time.

i tried to overwrite the old ones from the original pak and repack it but then it doesnt work at all


edit: i cant open any ncgf file in the new pak y?

[This message was edited by licence2kill on Sat May 29 2004 at 01:44 PM.]

[licence2kill]

any idea how 2 get it 2 work all the time without restating the game and having the game treat it like a mod??

[dek001]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by licence2kill:
any idea how 2 get it 2 work all the time without restating the game and having the game treat it like a mod??<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

ok all you have to do is put the pak into the fcdata folder not into mods just into fcdata and it will use it during the game same with most skins being made at the moment unless there instruction say different.

[licence2kill]

i did that and well it uses the default one and shows the new 1 uo under the mods screen making me restart the game if i want to use it

[dek001]

Right when you have downloaded the zip/rar file did you extract it? silly question i know but you never know.

when you extract it extract it to FCData folder it will appear when you next play it shouldnt show in the mod menu cause you havent put it in the mod folder.

[licence2kill]

ya i put the pak file in the fcdata folder

[dek001]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by licence2kill:
ya i put the pak file in the fcdata folder<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
so if you did this why you saying it's in the mod's menu?

[licence2kill]

for some reason it shows up in the mod menu IN facry not in the folder and it makes me turn it on in order to use the skins

[Noar68]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Fragger-:
Well, I'm "unoficially" helping on "Maya Underworld", since I don't really have a lot of spare time. About the scope, send me an email and I'll send it to you.
fragger at sbcglobal dot net (harvesters suck).

http://www.planetsoldier.com/skinz/forums/mn/fcsiggy.jpg <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

If you ever get the time, how about officially http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/images/smiley/16x16_smiley-happy.gif

[dunnorgan]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Crazy******:
Well the Gimp.org site seems to be down but I did find a copy of it elsewhere. That Nvidia .dds plugin page had a link to a Gimp plugin http://nifelheim.dyndns.org/%7ecocidius/normalmap/
Says its a normalmap plugin. Doesn't say anything about dds files. Gave it a download anyways after installing Gimp. On the install readme It says I need pkg-config version 0.14 or later and gtkglext version 0.7.1 or later. Then it says Type 'make install' to install the plugin. Can't find what you would type 'make install' Into sounds like I need a compiler or something.

Just wondering if i'm wasting my time or are any of you guys using the Gimp with this plugin.

Crazy******<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's because The GIMP was originally developed for linux. 'make install' is the standard way to install the binaries and other files of a program you downloaded. In linux, you use the shell (BASH shell is good) and you type './configure', 'make', and 'make install' to fully install The GIMP for linux. But since you're running it on windows you should just need gtk (gimp tool kit) for windows and the runtime library.

Sorry about all the detail - I spent so much time learning linux and now I want to put it to use!

I Am Awesome.

[Slomer]

Feel free to send copy the tutorial for faqs, etc. A nod with my nick would be nice. Just glad it helped some people.

[Fragger-]

I added it as a sticky in my forums:
http://www.nofeargaming.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5600#post5600

Fragger's Skinning Site (http://fragger.nofeargaming.com/)http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/4039/fragger.gif
http://www.planetsoldier.com/skinz/forums/mn/fcsiggy.jpg

[MR CANADA]

what about my tutorial?

http://www.dovegiftstore.com/mrcanada/CanadaSig.jpg

[Fragger-]

Which one?

Fragger's Skinning Site (http://fragger.nofeargaming.com/)http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/4039/fragger.gif
http://www.planetsoldier.com/skinz/forums/mn/fcsiggy.jpg

[MR CANADA]

Hello there, here's what you got to have in order to do a farcry skin:

1.A photo editing program(such as photoshop 7.0 or cs)
2.FarCry Game installed.
3.DDS plugin for photoshop. ( download at http://developer.nvidia.com/object/nv_texture_tools.html
4.Requirements: You will need to place the plug-in (dds.8bi) in C:\Program Files\Adobe\photoshop 7.0\plug-ins\file formats and these required dlls (msvcr71.dll and msvcp71.dll) in your Windows\System folder (you will have to extract them from the DLLs.zip file).


Okay, once you have all that stuff, you can do this:

1.look in your FCData folder (if you have one harddrive it is usually Chttp://ubbxforums.ubi.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gifrogram files/ubisoft/crytek/farcry/FCData
2.make backup copies of textures and textures1 and objects and objects1.
3.Extract textures and Objects with winzip to a directory.
4.Extract textures1 and objects1 in the same directory and click yes when it asks you if you want to overwrite the files.
5.Open up photoshop. From the file menu, select open... and open up a dds file, for example: C:/program files/my skins/objects/weapons/p90/p90.dds

IMPORTANT:When it says "Image has MIP maps, Display them with the image? Note: you must select "use existing MIP maps in the save dialog"
Then you select "NO"

6. Edit it in any way you want.
7.when you go to save it, MAKE SURE YOU SAVE AS FILE TYPE DDS. when the menu pops up that looks like this:

http://www.pifiu.com/upload/uploads/052004/dds_save.jpg

Make sure you select DXT5(interpolated alpha)
AND
Make sure you write 7 where there was a 1 in the "specify # MIP maps" box
AND
Make sure it is set at "Generate MIP maps"(see pic)

Then click save.

Now, if you want to see your skin in the game, you must do this:
1. Go to where you saved your edited skin.
2. Make a directory that mirrors that of the far cry skins directory( for example, we edited the p90 skin, which was in "Objects/Weapons/P90/p90.dds", so we have to make an objects folder, and put a weapons folder in it and then put a p90 folder in the weapons folder and then in the p90 folder put in the p90 dds file that you edited.)
3.Zip up the objects folder with the weapons folder and p90 folder in it.
4.Rename it to zz-p90.zip
5.place the zip file in your FCData folder.
6.Enter the game and take a look at your new skin. (or you can open up the model that the skin is for in sandbox)
7. To see it in sandbox you must do all the above and then make sure you have the model files associated with sandbox editor. Then you would just open up the model file that you made a skin for and you would be able to see it in sandbox( in our example we did the p90 skin so we would open up the p90 model)

i hope this helps you out.

if you get stuck on any part just reply, or you could ask fragger, since he has been skinning a lot longer than i have.

ENJOY

Cheershttp://ubbxforums.ubi.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Kevinkrisam

http://www.dovegiftstore.com/mrcanada/CanadaSig.jpg

[bobfett]

what about sky changing? can you help with that or do we just edit the sky textures in photoshop?

why did crytec not add a skybox editor in the sandbox app? it would be more easy to have one.

[carnophage666]

hi, i can't seem to get an texture on the "brushes" i made using 3d studio max. i exported them using the crytek exporter 2. but when i import them (or just simply put them into the directory in "C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Crytek\Far Cry\objects") select brush and try to drag and drop it on the map it doesn't appear or says no uvw map (wich i obviously applied!) i also copied the texture file to the same directory.

I just don't get it...

[bobfett]

i have a tv like monitor model and i have it in the sandbox editor everything is working ok.

i need to no how i can make the screen have an animation on it like a movie or an add .

what i mean is i need to no how to add animated textures to my tv model in 3dmax 6 so it will work in the editor and game.