goyney Posted January 23, 2020 Report Share Posted January 23, 2020 (edited) THIS GUIDE IS OUT DATED AND MAY NOT DEMMONSTRATE BEST PRACTISE Detailed guide to help any of you that want to start making your own textures to contribute to the server. GUIDE You will need: Graphics editor; preferably Photoshop. A good alternative would be GIMP: https://www.gimp.org/downloads/ Texview 2 - Download Arma 3 Tools on Steam PBO Manager - https://www.dropbox.com/s/1qt179h629cyy6d/pbo_manager_v14.7z?dl=0 If these links expire, please find a live link Obtaining original textures to work with: You will find the destinations for base textures in the assets wiki: https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_3_Assets I will use the 'MTP Fatigues' as an example. Go to your Arma 3 installation folder. [C:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Arma 3 - mine for example]. Spoiler Click Addons. [This will vary depending on whether the texture you want is from an expansion or not] Spoiler Find the relevent PBO. In my case I am looking for 'characters_f'. Look for the PBO which the wiki advises for your chosen texture. Spoiler Ensure that you open the PBO with PBO Manager. Spoiler Once you have the PBO open with PBO Manager, navigate through the folders to find your files. For me it is: BLUFOR>Data>clothing1_paa.co. *Some vehicles/clothing have 2 parts* Spoiler You will need both the 'paa' and the 'nohq'.(For me it is clothing1_paa.co and clothing1_nohq.co. Spoiler Open both of these files with TexView2. Spoiler Save a copy of both files to your Desktop in a .TGA format. (Just type .TGA at the end of each file name). Spoiler [SAME WITH THE .CO FILE] These files can now be opened with GIMP or Photoshop to edit. When you are done, save the texture as a .JPEG. [I will cover how to apply it in game later in the guide]. Spoiler Texture Templates You can also find templates online which are already set-up and ready to edit. However, the above process is important particularly for expansion items as there may not be templates created yet for these textures. You will also find that some of the templates are low quality, so it's worth just making your own if you can. Creating an overlay with the texture map (nohq) to work with - Photoshop. You will need both the .co and the .nohq in the same window on Photoshop. Spoiler Select the nohq layer (the ugly pink one) in the layers tab and press CTRL+A to select all. Spoiler Go to channels which is in the same tab as layers to the right. Spoiler Select the Red channel, and ensure you are still selecting all (there will be an animated selection line all the way around the canvas). Spoiler Press CTRL+C to make a copy of the Red channel. (The texture should appear grey on the canvas if Red is selected correctly). Spoiler Once copied, go back to the layers window and CTRL+V to paste the Red channel. (You will need to un-select by clicking anywhere in the right window first). Spoiler Do the same process steps 3 to 6 for the Green Channel. Spoiler Once you have both the Red and Green channels - name them 'R' for Red and 'G' for Green. Press the Eye Icon next to the nohq and co layers to hide them. The co is useful later if you need any support or reference from the original texture (incase you can't find a certain part of the texture etc). Spoiler In the layers windows you will see a drop down box which is set by default to 'Normal'. For both the Green and Red layers, set this to 'Overlay'. Spoiler This will make a transparent overlay, and you can place anything underneath these layers, whilst still having the overlay show for guidance around the texture map. Spoiler Applying your new texture in-game Open the Arma Editor and choose a map [Singleplayer>Editor]. I like to use Virtual Reality. For light realism use Altis, as you will see how the light affects your texture. CTRL+S to save the singleplayer mission. I named mine Scenario for example. Spoiler Once you save the mission, go to your Documents folder and then to Arma 3 Other Profiles. Spoiler Click your Arma 3 name folder and then Missions. Spoiler Find the name of the mission you saved, and place the JPEG that you saved into the folder. This will allow you to import the image in game now. *Give the JPEG a simple name eg. t1.jpeg* Spoiler You will now need to use the editor to place the ie. vehicle/uniform into the mission. I will be placing an AI soldier into the mission as I am doing clothing. Spoiler In my case, I will right click the AI and select 'Edit Loadout' to put the MTP Fatigues onto the AI. Spoiler Once this is done If you are doing a uniform, you will need to right click the AI again and select 'Attributes'. Spoiler In Attributes > the 'Init' box, type this code: this setObjectTexture [0, "1.jpg"]; - Replace "1" with the name of your .jpg in the mission folder. Spoiler 11. Once this is done, click Play Scenario. You should see your texture covering the base texture. Spoiler For Vehicles: Instead of the above step 7-10, do the below: Right click your vehicle and go to Attributes. Give the vehicle a Variable name; again something simple such as v1. Click Play Scenario. Press ESC for Debug Console. Type: v1 setObjectTexture [0, "1.jpg"]; - Replace v1 with the vehicle variable name and '1' with the name of the jpg in your mission folder. Execute the code locally and the skin will change. In some cases, such as ifrits, there are two texture maps to the vehicle. In this instance: The code would be: v1 setObjectTexture [0, "1.jpg"]; v1 setObjectTexture [1, "2.jpg"]; - Notice how the second line of code has a '1' instead of a '0'. This is used to select the other part of the vehicle. You will need to edit and save both parts to your mission folder as jpg's. For Backpacks: Same as clothing, except you place the backback on the ground and edit its attribute code from there. You pick it up once you start the scenario. It will be skinned this way. For anything else: You need mods, and that's a whole other story. (It's a fucking pain). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Feel free to PM me with any questions/feedback regarding guide. @InvictusTheReaper This will help you I hope. @Infamous [FULL SEND] "Why would anyone want to follow your guide you make dogshit skins faggot". Beat you to it kid. Edited November 27, 2023 by goyney Ethan Darrell, Azeh, BlackShot and 16 others like this Link to comment
Masonn Posted January 23, 2020 Report Share Posted January 23, 2020 This is actually a really good guide. Happy people won't ask me questions anymore as I'm pretty clueless with what I'm doing tbh. Also had no clue how to do clothing so looking forward to having a play about when I get time goyney likes this Link to comment
Boonie Hat Posted January 23, 2020 Report Share Posted January 23, 2020 Holy Professor Goyney I don't think you can find a guide as good as this online Ethan Darrell and goyney like this Link to comment
goyney Posted January 23, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2020 12 minutes ago, Boon said: Holy Professor Goyney I don't think you can find a guide as good as this online glad you approve 2nd best contributor Ethan Darrell likes this Link to comment
Boonie Hat Posted January 23, 2020 Report Share Posted January 23, 2020 (edited) 13 minutes ago, GO7NEY said: glad you approve 2nd best contributor 👺 Edited January 23, 2020 by Boon Ethan Darrell and goyney like this Link to comment
Alec-I Posted January 23, 2020 Report Share Posted January 23, 2020 Fantastic , the community is forever in your debt. godspeed goyney likes this Link to comment
Infamous [FULL SEND] Posted January 23, 2020 Report Share Posted January 23, 2020 Well shit got me there fuck however why the fuck would anyone follow your shitty guide to make shitty skins Link to comment
goyney Posted January 23, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2020 1 hour ago, Alec-I said: Fantastic , the community is forever in your debt. godspeed daddy is here Link to comment
COOPER Posted January 23, 2020 Report Share Posted January 23, 2020 @GO7NEY u have too much time on your hands lad ❤️ goyney likes this Link to comment
goyney Posted January 23, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2020 Just now, c0zza said: @GO7NEY u have too much time on your hands lad ❤️ too much geordie scum COOPER likes this Link to comment
COOPER Posted January 23, 2020 Report Share Posted January 23, 2020 3 minutes ago, GO7NEY said: too much geordie scum wow thats toxic bro goyney likes this Link to comment
Effort Posted February 8, 2021 Report Share Posted February 8, 2021 Hey, genuine thanks for this guide! I knew how to do all the texturing bits and file ripping from elsewhere, but your mission file implementation helps tremendously, as I've nearly broken my ARMA about 4 times trying to jam custom scripts to load textures into the gamefiles. I'll reply with what I end up cooking up, if anything at all. goyney likes this Link to comment
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