Hook5 Skin System Guide

[hdiddy]

HOOK 5 Skin System User Guide (VX)

 

So I created this guide on the Garden, and stupid me did not save anywhere so I figured I would create it again.  So without further ado hopefully this helps to explain some basics on how to use the Hook 5 Skin System many folks rant and rave about.

 

Requirements:

• Hook 5 -  Yes it will work with Basic and will explain below however much easier with Paid)

 

Optional:

• Hook 5 Paid - Yeah you get a GUI with Paid.  If your ok modifying text files and refreshing game textures welp that's on you
• MrOllk's 4x Mod
• Hook5 Universal Skin System (Large Download 3GB+)

 

This guide will be made with the assumption optional and required features are being used.  However I will note where the optional mod is coming into play and quickly the workaround if you do not have it.  This guide will not explain in detail how to use the workaround.

 

THE SETUP

 

So now that you have Hook setup and working time to get into Skins.  The first step is making sure your files are setup correctly. Unlike the usual skins your used to the game uses skin definition files to control how the layers of your skin.  For this to work correctly your stuff must be setup correctly.

 

Skin folders go in your Activemod folder like any other Skin.  The difference is what is in the folder. You can call it what ever you want but it belongs in the Activemod folder with the rest of your Skins. Below are my skins.

 

 

In side of that folder dictates if the Hook5 Skin system will pick it up. Below is a Skin template for a female skin in the Universal Skin system (more details below).  What you will see is that those texture files are basically just blank files as they are just there to ensure the game captures this file folder as a Skin. You can use real skin textures but this helps save space.  Hook 5 will handle the rest.  The most important files are the Skin Definition files. Why? Because this is what the game uses to decide how to build your skin. This is why you can name texture files whatever you want and place them wherever you want.  As long as they are referenced appropriately the skin will work.

 

 

 

The "_skin_definition.txt" basically points to what "_skin_SkinDefinationFile.txt" you are using for this skin.  Nothing fancy here.  For those who may want have multiple versions tweaking specific skins you can modify what skindefinition file it points to.  I personally use it more as backup but hey its an option.  Just be aware you cannot point multiple models to different Skindefintion files on the same skin at the same time.

 

 

The SkindefinitionFile is where all the magic happens. Basically every layer of your skin is controlled in this file.  This is also where Hook 5 Paid and Hook 5 Free come into play.  More on this later.  Ultimately this file is separated into 5 sections: SkinGeneral, SkinBody, SkinFeet, SkinGenit, and SkinHand.  Sounds familiar? Yes these are all the basic textures you have in any skin. So of course the SkinDefinition is going to need to know what to put there. 

 

 

The added Skin General section is where you would adjust things like color, hue, brightness, and glossiness of your skin.  Basically allowing you to make different skintones.

 

 

  

They key to the skin system is understanding how these sections are laid out.  Its pretty straight forward.  Each section will have a BaseBodyLayer where the main skin files exist.  From there you can add additional layers to your liking to change things up a bit.  For now we will stick to the basics. But I will use my ebony skindefinition as the example.  

 

 

The skin system works by ultimately bypassing your typical skin folders and using the skin textures in a definition file to layer the skin on your models body. So first thing you need to us understand how 1x and 4x skin textures effect this. Your models must be defaulting to a 1X skin for the system to work. Yes so if your models are defaulting to 4X the skin system is not going to work. Yes the skin system can apply 1/2/4x skins in any combination to a model, however it only takes over on a 1X Skin.  So...

 

SCENARIO 1: Using MrOllk's 4X MOD (Gives you a selector to change the default skin for a model)

 

In this scenario you need to ensure each of your models are set to 1X.  In this scenario having "mod_" prefix on the texture for 4X does not matter because the 4X Mod is controlling what skins your model will recognize. You simply change the option in the Customizer Menu

 

 

SCENARIO 2: Using the default game without the 4X mod

 

In this scenario your Hook 5 Skin folders cannot having any 4X or 2X textures in there. Basically no "mod_" or "mod2_" prefixes on your textures.

 

THE UNIVERSAL SKIN SYSTEM

 

The Universal Skin System is an idea Ivan from the Garden developed as a simple way of mixing and matching Skins.  I have ultimately expanded on his work and also added a system for males. So this also includes the female skins OZ70NYC had just posted before MG's demise. Basically pretty much a good number of user created skins are in the system allowing you to do things like Mix a ColdIrony Normal with Hootie Realistic Diffuse.  The combinations are almost endless. This is the beauty of the Skin System.  To install the Universal Skin System.  Just download all the files and put the "SkinMale" and "SkinFemale" folders in your "_hook5data" folder

 

 

 

USING HOOK 5 SKINS

 

Using Hook 5 Skins once all is setup is pretty simple.  However as mentioned earlier this is where having the GUI comes in handy. If you are not using the GUI because you are on Basic, you would need to manually modify the SkinDefinationFile Alt-Tab back to your game Alt-R to reload textures and modify as needed. You can see how this would be annoying.  That said since your just modifying a text file...I'm sure some programmer could create a quick 3rd party tool to do it side by side...Just saying.  As I said earlier I will not get into the details of modifying the files directly however the top section should provide the basics. Ok on we go...

 

The first thing you need to is apply the custom skin to your model. As mentioned above if you set everything up correctly you should see the Skin show up in your list of skins.  If you do not see it show up.:

• Make sure you are using the correct naming convention for the textures.  The game recognizes it as a skin based on how the files are named.  So the mus be using the Female_White or Female_Black, etc naming convention for VX.

 

Once you select your skin open  the Hook 5 GUI (F4) and select the skin in the menu to modify it. 

 

 

If you do not see the Skin as active in the menu:

• Make sure your model is defaulting to 1X, if using Olly's4K Mod when you change it you need to reload the room (exit and abort) so it takes effect
• If not using the 4X mod, make sure you do not have any 4X textures named "mod_" in the skin folder

 

If the skin shows up as Active you are off to the races. In the Skin Menu you will not see basically the text file but in a GUI format.  The idea here is that you will basically add or modify the different pieces for each body part and than save the skin for later use.  Load data allows you to add pre-made skin layers users have put together so you can just load them in a single click.

 

 PRO TIP: When mixing different stages (Diffuse, Normal, Spec, Sub) try to use the same Diffuse layer across the board to make sure you don't get major color shifting between body parts.  Some may merge nicely but some may have color variation which you will see if you mix.  The normals is where you get a lot of differing effect.

 

 

The Universal Skin System separates all these files in their proper stages for ease of use.  Once you go into the menu you can select the hookdata folder and just browse to each stage you are looking for and apply the right texture.  This makes things less prone to error and easier for the novice to know where things go.

 

 

This is just a sample of what Skins are available in the Universal Skin System

 

 

It takes a little time but you start getting the hang of it. Some normal errors that sometimes happens is

 

• My Entire Body is Black or invisible: This usually happens when one of your textures is not loading. Check the body part that is black to see if you have any files that are missing or point to the wrong place. (See Comment Below for more detail)
• There are visible gaps seperating the head, hands or feet, from the body: Check your displacement on your normals.  I tend to keep mine at 1 or 0 but if it is not the same across all body parts that sometimes causes gaps.

 

Thats about it I will add more if people have more questions or something is not clear but figured this would help since the original one I created on the Garden is not available.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[zefh]

4x mod MrOllk----? где скачать???where can I download???

[hdiddy]

16 minutes ago, zefh said:

4x mod MrOllk----? где скачать???where can I download???

So you really don't need the 4x Mod, if you name your files appropriately in the folder everything will work fine.

[zefh]

 Спасибо за быстрый ответ......я спросил, потому что вы указали в руководстве :

Необязательный:

• Hook 5 Paid - да, вы получаете графический интерфейс с платным интерфейсом. Если вы согласны с изменением текстовых файлов и обновлением игровых текстур, это на вас
• 4x мод MrOllk ------!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

С уважением

[hdiddy]

20 minutes ago, zefh said:

 Спасибо за быстрый ответ......я спросил, потому что вы указали в руководстве :

Необязательный:

• Hook 5 Paid - да, вы получаете графический интерфейс с платным интерфейсом. Если вы согласны с изменением текстовых файлов и обновлением игровых текстур, это на вас
• 4x мод MrOllk ------!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

С уважением

Sorry I only speak English.

[Bunnybong]

Man I wish I seen this guide sooner!! Thank you!! It will still help me out as now I can seek to use different defuse and so forth!

 

can you make a guide for hook 5 hair physics?

[EJAX]

What?! ... It's almost Halloween, I'm sure you can find a use for it!  lol

[hdiddy]

4 hours ago, boomshanka said:

Many thanks for this. Wow what amazing results!

 

 

I think I might trust my initial instinct and completely ignore this feature.

LOL...Don't give up yet.  This is an usual issue that occurs.  I swear it was driving everyone nuts until someone figured it out.

 

When this happens, basically no skin layers at all, the issue has more to do with the paths in your skin definition file. So first where is your _hook5data folder? If it is in the usual spot <gamefolder>\mod\activemod\_hook5data, then your main11.fx file should look like below...

 

 

All of your paths in your SkinDefintion most likely look like below.  Missing the _hook5datafolder prefix on the paths of each layer.

 

 

Basically if your running the game with the _hook5data folder in Activemod your paths should look like below

 

 

 

[hdiddy]

8 minutes ago, boomshanka said:

Here's a q: why are most of the folders in normal, spec and sub empty in my download?

 

Can you give me an example? Some skins simply may not have normal or spec files.  You would rely on spec and normals from another skin based upon your preference. For the skins that never got the full Hook5 treatment this allows you to apply normals to a skin you may really really like. 

[hdiddy]

10 minutes ago, boomshanka said:

yeah sure, here are a few:

 

SkinMale\Stage2_normal\SexyBastardo.Michael

SkinFemale\Stage2_normal\Cara

SkinFemale\Stage2_normal\Cara.Black

SkinFemale\Stage3_specular\Cara

SkinFemale\Stage3_specular\K1T0.Sheena

 

 

So there are a few, about 5 female and 3 or male skins that do not have normals.  The Female skins without normals is coming over from Ivans original setup.  As he actually used normals from Hootie, Birol, and others to make different versions of the skin.  Same goes for the male skins.  The skin system is designed to mix and match normals and layers.  Not so everything has to be the same across the board, even though you can use that way if you like.

 

8 minutes ago, boomshanka said:

 

All as described. Realistically I'd only use this system to add tattoos given that Hook 5 paid fucked up all the ones I've got. So I'm not that fussed. Not prepared to spend hours trying to get things working for that. 

 

That's fair.  I am actually going to update the layers files with the tattoos for the Skin system I downloaded from MG. Will update the guide when I do.

[deadarthas]

hey i and help
my hook5 skin system some how broke i cant add new layers or load any data and it doesnt even reed some of my txt files can anyone help me tnx

[hdiddy]

1 hour ago, deadarthas said:

hey i and help
my hook5 skin system some how broke i cant add new layers or load any data and it doesnt even reed some of my txt files can anyone help me tnx

 

Hmmm it is hard to troubleshoot but try some of this. First question is are you using Hook 5 Free or Hook 5 Paid? I just going to assume you are using Paid, but Iif not most likely the syntax of your skin definition file is off.

 

• Was it working before? Did you do anything recently with the game?
• If your new layers you add are not saving for some reason. Make sure your skin definition text files are not set to "Read Only". This happened to me once and not really sure how they got set that way. Maybe a Hook update did it.
• Are you using MrOllyK's 4x enabler? If so do you have your model set to use 1X Skin (as mentioned in the guide)
• If your not using the 4x enabler do you have skin textures on your skin folder with the "mod_" prefix? If so you need to remove the prefix so the skin folder is recognized as a 1x skin allowing Hook Skin System to take over (as mentioned in the guide)
• What does your skin folder look like, if you can provide some screen shots that will help troubleshoot.

[xXDeliteXx]

Do I have to turn off read-only on everything or what?
Also, _skin_SkinDefinitionFile.txt is what im editing to change the texture right?
Why is nothing happening when changing it?
I'm pressing Alt+R and nothing is happening

Sorry if im asking stupid questions

[aykekarallo]

The "_skin_definition.txt" just tells the hook where are the actual skin parameters.

Example:

 

[skin_data_file]
name =Adelle.txt

\name = _another_skin_data.txt

 

(whatever after "\" will be ignored).The current skin parameters are in "Adelle.txt" in the same folder.It´s that one what you have to edit.
 

 

[aykekarallo]

Well,in fact that program already exists.It´s called H5$.

I mean at the payed version you can load and edit skins via GUI without edit a single file,and in gametime (no alt+R).But it´s paid stuff..

 

Unsure if this could be possible by an external app.

[deadarthas]

On 10/15/2020 at 9:18 PM, hdiddy said:

 

Hmmm it is hard to troubleshoot but try some of this. First question is are you using Hook 5 Free or Hook 5 Paid? I just going to assume you are using Paid, but Iif not most likely the syntax of your skin definition file is off.

 

• Was it working before? Did you do anything recently with the game?
• If your new layers you add are not saving for some reason. Make sure your skin definition text files are not set to "Read Only". This happened to me once and not really sure how they got set that way. Maybe a Hook update did it.
• Are you using MrOllyK's 4x enabler? If so do you have your model set to use 1X Skin (as mentioned in the guide)
• If your not using the 4x enabler do you have skin textures on your skin folder with the "mod_" prefix? If so you need to remove the prefix so the skin folder is recognized as a 1x skin allowing Hook Skin System to take over (as mentioned in the guide)
• What does your skin folder look like, if you can provide some screen shots that will help troubleshoot.

tnx i dont know what happend but what ever it was it got fixed after reinstalling and i do have h5 paid but one day it just broke

[jazzyjul]

Beautyful, thank you so much!

I manage to make it work correctly, just a completely noob questions:

 

How to save the changes to the model in hook5 pay? i click on save as and give it a name, but when i open again a scene whit the model that i edit previously, the model shows only the base skin, exactly as it was before i start tweaking it whit this tool.

 

On the other hand, what "bake" means?

[Pfil2002]

Thank you. It's a very good tutorial !

[mordax]

This was super helpful! Thanks!

[Guest]

On 10/10/2020 at 9:39 AM, hdiddy said:

LOL...Don't give up yet.  This is an usual issue that occurs.  I swear it was driving everyone nuts until someone figured it out.

 

When this happens, basically no skin layers at all, the issue has more to do with the paths in your skin definition file. So first where is your _hook5data folder? If it is in the usual spot <gamefolder>\mod\activemod\_hook5data, then your main11.fx file should look like below...

 

 

All of your paths in your SkinDefintion most likely look like below.  Missing the _hook5datafolder prefix on the paths of each layer.

 

 

Basically if your running the game with the _hook5data folder in Activemod your paths should look like below

 

 

 

This needs to be done to basefeetlayer, basegenitlayer, and so forth correct?

[Sir_patrick]

great tutorial man, thanks a lot, i have one question, can use shemale skin in this?

 

[ITIB]

I can change everything except the head.

I am able to choose the skin for body, feet, genitals, and hands, but no matter what I choose for the head, it makes no difference.

I have ensured that nothing is set to read only, but no matter what I try, the head will not change.

Anyone have any clues?

[Guest]

Gotta say... at least I tried ? This is too much for me with every minute of struggling with this longer I just want to quit and delete all of it..and I really don't want to go back to TK17v7.5  everything seems completly new! PLS HELP I don't get it ?

I don't know if I'm upset or tired I guess both. tried to extract most of the files but I don't even know these locations ? I were playing v7.5 since half year and now this is completely new experience for me including this forum

If someone could at least send me to a topic for beginners or quickly explain to me how all of this works or how to even prepare a proper VX version with all basic mods I would be grateful!

[Newboi360]

On 3/22/2021 at 8:30 PM, ITIB said:

I can change everything except the head.

I am able to choose the skin for body, feet, genitals, and hands, but no matter what I choose for the head, it makes no difference.

I have ensured that nothing is set to read only, but no matter what I try, the head will not change.

Anyone have any clues?

Seems you mistype neither add space somewhere, or in filename (bump normal or specular, or in filename of _passfile) Also check _pass.txt and file path and name there too.

[Arse22]

21 hours ago, lisicagold4 said:

Gotta say... at least I tried ? This is too much for me with every minute of struggling with this longer I just want to quit and delete all of it..and I really don't want to go back to TK17v7.5  everything seems completly new! PLS HELP I don't get it ?

I don't know if I'm upset or tired I guess both. tried to extract most of the files but I don't even know these locations ? I were playing v7.5 since half year and now this is completely new experience for me including this forum

If someone could at least send me to a topic for beginners or quickly explain to me how all of this works or how to even prepare a proper VX version with all basic mods I would be grateful!

This works on 7.5 too. Skin Customization is from Hook5, nothing to do with VX. I think this guide is specific for Hook5Paid which allows you to change skins in-game rather than through textfile. Nothing is keeping you from using VX the same way as 7.5, since it's not related. On top of that, most models are posted in the old format anyway. If they are using Skin Customization, most likely the author already did all the work. You should be more specific when asking for help, there is plenty of guides.