first attempt for new skin

[alessillo]

[Tanker0815]

You need to upload your picture.

You can upload it here www.imageshack.us

Just select your screenshot and click on "host it".

Then you get a link (a few links but just use the "direct link" and post it here.

[alessillo]

[alessillo]

[Tanker0815]

Perfect!

Where are the textures for the tanks? Maybe I will try to make a texture as well.

[alessillo]

these are only tests, I have added some white colour to the texture file of the T72...

[Tanker0815]

Yeah I know.

I only wanted to know, in which folder/file the textures are.

I want to test my texture skill with corel...

[alessillo]

Well my english is not very good but I try to explain the way to change textures.

There is a file datapack.cd in the \data folder, all the textures are stored in this file and the problem is that evry texture must be extracted from this file.

[Tanker0815]

Originally posted by alessillo:

Well my english is not very good but I try to explain the way to change textures.

There is a file datapack.cd in the \data folder, all the textures are stored in this file and the problem is that evry texture must be extracted from this file.

Your english is very good mate.

Never tried to extract a *.cd file. Which program do you use for extracting?

[alessillo]

This is the problem, I have extracted the t72 texture manually, using the "010 Editor"; if you open the datapack.cd with the editor you will read data like this "su1t72_armor, data\textures\armor" this is the position in the file where begin the texture of the t72, and the file ends where there is "AZRC". So you must copy this part of the datapack.cd, open a new file (in the 010 editor) and then use the menu tools->operations->binary invert; at this point select the hex option and then OK. This operation will decrypt the file, in fact all the data in the datapack.cd are "inverted". Now save the file in the t-72\data\textures\armor folder with the name su1t72_armor.tga

[Pandur]

huiiii...!

thats nice! the "new" pattern itself is, meybe, a bit "white" for this green/brown landscape BUT the fact that it is possible to change the whole thing is cool.

my next question is how do you "import" the changed texture into the original datapack.cd file?

or lets say; how does it(the new skin) get into the game after editing...?

iam a bit puzzled about this...

[alessillo]

You don't import the new textures in the datapack.cd, you save the new textures in the t-72\data\taxtures\techn\(.tga files) and t-72\data\textures\armor\(.dds files) these folder must be created by the user. When the game start reads these folders, if there are new files (like my test files), the game loads the new files and does not load the files in the datapack.cd.

[Pandur]

hm, so you just need to export the needed files once in order to edit em and than you can use them all time for a new edit(if you saved the originals in a seperate place...)!?

if yes its quiet easy after you got them out of the datapack.cd file.

[alessillo]

Yes, and I think that this is true for all the files that are in datapack.cd, so you can export the mesh of the T-72, edit it and perhaps have a new tank...

[Schmeisser]

You are The Man

Now i would like to add a small detail to t-55 skin

A white shield with symbol of key on it

[Tanker0815]

Thank you for this little guide "how to hack in the datapack.cd file".

I will try to make a little symbol on the t-55 and I will post my first results here.

Just one question for you guys, will this work in LAN also? I mean, will other player see my texture?

Tried to invert the file, the selected lines go red and the furhter steps are unclear for me.

I have selected the first four lines, that begins with AZRC... and ends with ...\armor\

But the next steps aren't clear for me.

This is the part I must select to get the T55 texture right?

After I did this, I copied the parts out of it in a new file, inverted it and saved it with the name su1t55_armor.tga

But I can't open the file...

[ June 15, 2006, 09:56 AM: Message edited by: Tanker0815 ]

[alessillo]

I begin using the XVI32 hexeditor

I open datapack.cd and find the start point of the texture

here I use Edir-> Block mark

then I search for AZRC (the end of the file in datapack.cd)

at this point I move the cursor in the position immediatly left of AZRC and I use EDIT-> Block mark

then I copy to clipboard

now I start 101Editor, make File->new and I paste

now I go to the start position of the file and I delete the first four bytes (this may be done also after the binary inversion)

at this point I select TOOLS->operations->binary invert

and I select this options

Now I save the file as su1t55_armor.tga in the \data\textures\armor

It is important to note that the true skin of the tanks are in the \data\textures\techn folder and are .dds files

[Tanker0815]

WoW, thank you for this advanced tutorial.

It worked for me, but all I get, are two very small .tga files which are black and white...

[alessillo]

In the datapack.cd you must search for "xd0t55, data\textures\TECHN\" and "yd0t55_bump, data\textures\TECHN\" these are the skin files, they are two .dds file; once converted and saved in the data\textures\TECHN\ folder tou can edit them. Note that when you save the file with 010 Editor you must save the the file with the extension dds.

[alessillo]

This is a snow T34 made in ten seconds

[Tanker0815]

B-I-G Thanks to you. I will show you my work later today, Thanks again.

Do I need the .tga files? Or only the .dds files when I want to make my own texture?

[Pandur]

i have to "OMG" here!

WOW, thats some serious progress in a few days, and i dont know how many people where here to ask this since the T72 forum exists :eek:

iam somekind of übernoob when it come to such HEX stuff. i cant read more out of this hex editors than latters in a weird combination, so here comes my noobish question

what programm(s) would/could be used to edit the "essentialy" needed files for a new skin? i this case .dds when i uderstand correct.

finaly some non-mission and non-interface mod´s in sight

[alessillo]

For Tanker0815: I think that you need only the .dds file for your own texture;

For Pandur: the program that I use are XVI32 that is a free HEx Editor http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xvi32/xvi32.htm and 010 Editor http://www.sweetscape.com/010editor/.

To edit the .dds files I use The Gimp 2.0

Unfortunately the developers did not help the users with tools for modding the game...

[Tanker0815]

To open the .dds files you need this program:

http://www.amnoid.de/ddsview/ddsview0663a.zip

It can open them, and you can save them as .bmp, .jpg files and other ones too. After you changed them, you can convert them back into .dds files.

This is the prgroam and the two alessillo posted to edit the texture of a tank.

Thanks for this information alessillo, I will try it out.

My installation of BOF is ****ed up, and I can't unistall and install it. When I click on the buttons of the autorun screen, nothing happens...

[ June 16, 2006, 11:33 AM: Message edited by: Tanker0815 ]

[Tanker0815]

Problem solved. Deleted the install entry in regedit.