Custom SP Skining

[Lancer]

Custom SP Skinning

Customising the skins for SP, within GRAW2, is relatively easy and only requires the unbundled “atlas_characters” folder to work on. This guide does assume that you know how to and have unbundled your GRAW Data.

To start with you need to make a folder called “textures” inside your Local/English folder. Inside your “textures” folder make another called “atlas_characters”. Inside the “atlas_characters” folder make a folder called “mul_camo_xy”.

The Cheap & Cheesy Way

Make a 256x256 picture of your camo swatch. Save it as DXT5 .dds file (you’ll need the Nvidia DDS plugin for Photoshop for this task) and name it “camo_acu_test_xy_df.dds”. Place this in a folder named “camo_02” and place this your “mul_camo_xy”. Now every time you play SP you’ll see your camo.

The Classy Way

Make a 256x256 picture of your camo swatch. Save it as DXT5 .dds file (you’ll need the Nvidia DDS plugin for Photoshop for this task) and name it “camo_mine_xy_df.dds”. Place this in a folder named “camo_17” and place this your “mul_camo_xy” folder.

Next make a folder called “lib” inside your Local/English folder. Inside your “lib” folder make another called “manager”. Inside the “manager” folder make a folder called “xml”. Copy all the xml’s from within the unbundled lib/manager/xml folder into your “xml” folder. Note, delete all the xmb files within the xml folder but retain ALL the xml files. If you do not retain all the xml’s you will not see your skin choice in game. For mods such as Snowfellas or Brettzies you will need to copy any of their xml’s into your “xml” folder.

Using Notepad open up the ghost_templates.xml found in your Local/English/lib/manager/xml folder.

Scroll down to the section “<!-- XDEFINE KITS FOR ALL CAMPAIGN CHARACTERS -->” and change these sections

<texture_switch material="camo" texture="self_illumination_texture" file="data/textures/atlas_characters/mul_camo_xy/camo_17/camo_mine_xy_df"/>

<color_switch material="camo" color="base_color" value="0.83 0.95 1.011"/>

Here’s Mitchells for example

<!--Customization units-->

<unit name="teammate_mitchell"/>

<head_unit name="acu_ghost_head_mitchell"/>

<gear_unit name="acu_ghost_back_strap_mitchell"/>

<gear_unit name="acu_ghost_holster_01"/>

<gear_unit name="acu_ghost_hips_gear_01"/>

<gear_unit name="acu_ghost_torso_gear_01"/>

<texture_switch material="camo" texture="self_illumination_texture" file="data/textures/atlas_characters/mul_camo_xy/camo_17/camo_mine_xy_df"/>

<color_switch material="camo" color="base_color" value="0.545098 0.509804 0.466667"/>

<stats block="human_data">

@xp_values(10, 10, 8, 10, 8, 8, 13, 13)

<var name="soldier_type" value="0"/> <!--0. All 1.Rifleman, 2.Demo, 3.Sniper, 4.Support -->

<var name="cue_spotted" value="spot_mitchell"/>

<var name="has_explosive" value="1"/>

<var name="bomb_planting_time" value="3"/>

</stats>

<stats block="base_data">

<var name="localize_id" value="ghost_01"/>

<var name="public_name" value="MITCHELL"/>

</stats>

<bio local="bio_mitchell"/>

</stats>

<bio local="bio_mitchell"/>

Once you have done this, save the ghost_templates.xml. When you next run GRAW2 in SP you should see your selection.

Note

You can use 512x512 or 1024x1024 swatches for higher definition.

[SnowFella]

Now that's just ###### odd in a way. I tried that exact classy approach before I went with the cheap & cheesy way and it just didn't carry over into my testrun ingame

[Lancer]

It might be Snow that you just copied the relevant xml's into the xml folder. I went that route (seemed the obvious one) and it never worked. Much followed. When I copied all the xml's across it worked! Obviously there is a clash some place and GRAW2 reverts to its default if you don't copy the entire contents of the xml folder across. Given the minimal size of those files I could not be bothered to hunt down the offender.

A salute to Brettzie here because he also came to this conclusion.

[MrNothing]

i cant get it to work it keeps telling me "image with and hight must be multiple of 4"

[DerRelient]

You hae to make the swatch 256x256, 512x512, 1024x1024... 4096x4096...

I'll try this today

[EricJ]

Well after experiments in terror, I managed to get it myself:

Thank freaking god!

But Seriously, it's not much hard to do this for the color string:

"r=x g=x b=x"

Where "x" is the appropriate value... difficult isn't it?

I mean I may be wrong, but RGB values are expressed as numbers, not decimals, but I could be wrong and there is an image editor program (I still use Photoshop 7) that shows color values in decimals, I've always known them as whole numbers. Might want to look into that GRIN, would make customization a tad bit simpler.

But you haven't slipped away (and I sure as hell didn't miss the custom patch either on the Magpul Masada topic) yet, what about the custom patch man?

[MrNothing]

nvm got it to work lol thx lancer =)

[MrNothing]

k yea i do have a problem - i cant get the helmet, holster, hip and torso gear to match the marpat cause the helmet and stuff is acu but the rest of body is marpat. can some1 help ?

[Commander Outcast]

That still doesn't explain how to change the webbing from brown to another color.

[EricJ]

<color_switch material="camo" color="base_color" value="0.545098 0.509804 0.466667"/>

That string is the color that does that. The top line is the actual texture. For some weird reason only aliens can explain, GRIN wanted to do it like that....

[BigLloyde]

Thanks for sharing that breakthrough with us all Lancer. There's been way too much going on with regards to skinning. I guess it is as simple as it looks......as long as you know the trick. Maybe you all already use this site, but if it's any help, here's a good place for camo swatches.

http://www.battlefront.com/resources/poc/camo_index.html

[MrNothing]

hey eric j if your answering my problem - it still dosent work !

look

<texture_switch material="camo" texture="self_illumination_texture" file="data/textures/atlas_characters/mul_camo_xy/camo_10/camo_mine_xy_df"/>

<color_switch material="camo" color="base_color" value="0.545098 0.509804 0.466667"/>

its under micthell and rameriez and i still get a acu helmet when the skin is marpat lol

Edited September 16, 2007 by MrNothing

[EricJ]

Did you have a saved portion of a mission? If so I had the same issue. Start a new mission and you'll see it. It drove me up the wall but that screenshot is me checking it out. Try that and it should work.....

[MrNothing]

k thx for the hint > never thought if it lol =)

[EricJ]

No problem bro, as said it drove me up the wall until I figured that out too

[MrNothing]

yey you were right =) thx eric - i was getting ###### off cause all that hard work i did to make a skin (well not uber hard cause adobe is easy to use - time tho > takes up time) wasen't working =) thx -

o yea you know your mrc mod where you did some skin changes for the mrc and i think scar and m416 - have you released it yet cause i wanna use it - specially the desert m416 =)

anyways thx alot lancer for the guide and eric for the tip =)

[Commander Outcast]

Ok, got the webbing changed. But parts are still the same color (head holster ect)

How do I fix that?

[MrNothing]

read what eric j wrote - i had the same problem then got it fixed =)

[Lancer]

EricJ is spot on. It happens when you run a saved game. Please bear in mind that this game really is not modder friendly and in some parts its actually hostile.

[Commander Outcast]

thanks for pointing it out

Edited September 17, 2007 by Commander Outcast