Vehicle and Building Skins?

Hello,

I am new to the game but not new to modeling or making skins. I am a member of the DG community. We have an Empires server and would like to make custom skins for the NF vehicles and buildings. Where do I get the default skins so I have a base to work off of? I've searched both these forums and the wiki's pertaining to EmpiresMOD which is great information but doesn't tell me where the default skins are located or how to get them. They're not located where skins are located in other source games and mods in my empires directory. If they are in there I've been unable to find them although I *think* I've looked in every directory within empires root for the Steam installation.

So where do I get the default skins to use as a base template? If there are actually .psd templates somewhere that would be awesome and save me quite a bit of reverse engineering to make them correctly.

If templates don't exist I would be glad to contribute to the community by figuring out the skin syntax and providing .psd templates along with a tutorial to help others be able to customize their skins.
...but I'd still need access to the default skins to do that. So..

Where dey at?!

Thanks in advance...

|DG| Bort
http://www.disturbed-gamers.com

 

http://forums.empiresmod.com/showthread.php?t=14864

 

Thanks! That's the info I needed. Anyone know which .gcf has the vehicle and buildings packed in to it? I'll find it...

Thanks a lot!
Look for a tutorial and template .psd in the next few weeks. Cheers!

 

Yeah, Oyv47. That's why I just ignored his comment. Every community has it's douchebags.

Next question I'd be grateful to have the answer to:
Where do I put the skins once they're edited, for the steam installation?
Do I have to recompile them into the GCF I got them from? Or can I just put them in (which?) folder and the game will automatically use them?

 

Well...I've learned custom materials for this game (they're not all this way as far as I'm aware) go in Steam\steamapps\SourceMods\Empires\materials\imperial\vehicles\ground\commandvehicle for the BE faction.

Where to they need to go for the Northern Faction?
Steam\steamapps\SourceMods\Empires\materials\northern\vehicles\ground\commandvehicle ?

 

SORRY for posting 3 times.
Site lagged and I kept clicking submit. I'd delete 2 of them if I could. lol

 

you don't need to recompile the gcf, just leave them in the folder.
northern factions stuff is in materials/nf

and you can delete (go to edit and choose delete)

 

Thanks. That would be the materials folder inside the sourcemod folder? There isn't an Empires folder already there so I'm assuming I have to create the file path. Which would then be: \Steam\steamapps\sourcemods\Empires\materials\nf\vehicles\ground\commandvehicle (since my skin is for the NF comm), right?
And thanks for the info regarding deleting my multiple posts...much appreciated. I'm not used to vBulletin forums I'm used to the button just being right there. Thanks again!

 

hmmm...I now have it in both the directory above and in Steam\steamapps\username\empires\empires\materials\NF\Ground\CommandVehicle

and in Steam\steamapps\username\empires\empires\materials

Doesn't show up in-game.

Does it absolutely require the vmt file? I don't have that everywhere. I'll try that. Thanks for the quick responses! Awesome.

 

If you're using Photoshop there's a plugin that allows you to import .VTF files directly: http://nemesis.thewavelength.net/index.php?c=154 instead of mucking about with the VTF Edit program.

 

nope. I'm not doing something right.
I've never made a skin for a source game before so...I still have some figuring out to do I guess. Any and all help appreciated.

 

AWESOME!!! Thanks, Marshall! I'll check that out.
I *think* I've managed to create it correctly with VTF Edit / Photoshop...but maybe not so I'll try it. I'm not sure wtf all those check boxes actually do. I just let it do what it wants and export.

If that plugin also exports and makes the vmt...that's fantabulous! Thanks!

 

haha...no real offense taken, Flashe. Thanks!
I did consider your first reply fairly rude tho. Apologies for the name calling. That wasn't cool of me. Sorry.

I have my skin made but it's not working even locally (create game) in-game.
I either have the format wrong...or the file path where I saved it wrong...or the vmt coded wrong.

If that tut info is in that link somewhere I'll find it. Much appreciated!

 

Yeah you're right I've been there and that helped to a degree but you're also right that it doesn't give any info on skinning at all. Just modeling. That's why I'm 'trolling' here for help . And really appreciate the replies I'm getting. They've all been helpful.

I guess this is the best way to get help in figuring out where I'm going wrong.
I've made full models from scratch for other games...never made much of anything for a sourcemod other then making some minor map edits.

So here's my files. Just a simple edit until I figure out the correct formats, vmt coding, and file paths of where they're supposed to go for the game to render them in-game. What'd I do wrong?

http://www.disturbed-gamers.com/bort/stuff/borts_commandvehicle_mess.zip

 

Thanks.

 

Go to your Valve map and search (ctrl+f) for a file called nf_commandvehicle.vtf ,that's the actual texture file you're looking for.