Trails of Cold Steel 4 (Mod Request)

[amorrow28]

56 minutes ago, SirDoge said:

Well that sucks,was hoping it's possible.Oh well,thank you all for answering.

 

If it's DirectX 11, 3Dmigoto will work with it.  I found a config of 3Dmigoto for it here which tells me it's very likely modifiable using the techniques we've been using for CS3 / CS4 / Hajimari.  I've posted quite a few tutorials scattered throughout this thread to get you started.

[PepeLordd]

It seems that all cold steel share the PhyreEngine which is a a free to use engine that is dated back to 2008. why cold steel 1 and 2 look so terrible even though they share the same engine? i don't know most likely Falcom incompetence, regardless even Xanadu is using Phyre but like amorrow28 said it's more about DirectX 11 than the engine.

[SonicMan1234]

8 hours ago, PepeLordd said:

It seems that all cold steel share the PhyreEngine which is a a free to use engine that is dated back to 2008. why cold steel 1 and 2 look so terrible even though they share the same engine? i don't know most likely Falcom incompetence, regardless even Xanadu is using Phyre but like amorrow28 said it's more about DirectX 11 than the engine.

 

Because they came out for the Vita.

[PepeLordd]

2 hours ago, Switch608 said:

Since you know PhyreEngine, do you know of any tools for unpacking and packing .dae.Phyre and .dds.Phyre files? 
I only found tools to unpack .dds.Phyre files on xentax, no tools to pack .dds.Phyre files,and no tools to unpack and pack .dae.Phyre files.
If we have these tools, with @amorrow28's tools, we can directly edit the .pkg file to make mods, instead of using 3dmigoto.

i think tools for the dds exist but you need to search the final fantasy x/x-2 discord since they did some research on them there, there is also a tool for the dae files but it's not public unfortunately.

 

1 hour ago, SonicMan1234 said:

 

Because they came out for the Vita.

yeah? xanadu too came out for the vita but looks so much better than the first two cold steel games and don't forget that it came out on the PS3 too and that version looks as bad as the vita version.

[untestedpower]

1 hour ago, PepeLordd said:

yeah? xanadu too came out for the vita but looks so much better than the first two cold steel games and don't forget that it came out on the PS3 too and that version looks as bad as the vita version.

They're the same type of models.  Towa is literally the same. She has the same face in both games. There are tons of reused textures and items too, not surprising considering Tokyo Xanadu was cobbled together in like 13 months from pre-existing assets. Also, CS1 and CS2 were on PS3 at launch as well. That means literally nothing. If it had a Vita version at launch, which TX did, the graphics were made to Vita standard. TX is a Vita game. The ex version has more content but it's not like it magically makes the graphics better. It had better performance and that's it. That doesn't improve the models.

[amorrow28]

(warning: philosophical rant) I humbly suggest we don't conflate interest with audience.  Game devs must consider their audience, because they need to make money to pay their staff.  Us lowly modders though, we can't really expect much of any pay; we mod out of interest - which isn't the same thing.  I didn't do my mod for anyone on this forum (although clearly I love to share), I did it because I could and because it made my gaming experience more fun.  I suspect the same goes for all the other modders here.

 

So don't worry about the audience.  The question, @SirDoge, is do YOU have interest?  Because there's literally nothing stopping you from taking my install of 3Dmigoto, copying the files into the Tokyo Xanadu folder (minus the mod folder, no point in that - just the base files and the shaderfixes folder), and seeing if it loads.  Then follow my tutorial and delete a skirt or two for funsies.  I've said before in this thread that ambition can crush enthusiasm, and I hold to that.  Just start.

 

And if you do, I hope you share!  Turns out that I had an audience after all, even if I only did this out of interest.  And it didn't take much - my first upload was ONE skirt delete (Alisa's default costume) - and it says it's been downloaded 62 times (so far), nearly as many downloads as my most recent upload (Hajimari v1.2, currently at 85 downloads).

 

(Oh, and of course, don't ask me to do it, I don't take requests... and I'm totally burned out anyway, it was a hell of a push to finish the CS4 mod and now I'm literally here just for the screenshots.)  ?

[PepeLordd]

2 hours ago, undeadclown99 said:

They're the same type of models.  Towa is literally the same. She has the same face in both games. There are tons of reused textures and items too, not surprising considering Tokyo Xanadu was cobbled together in like 13 months from pre-existing assets. Also, CS1 and CS2 were on PS3 at launch as well. That means literally nothing. If it had a Vita version at launch, which TX did, the graphics were made to Vita standard. TX is a Vita game. The ex version has more content but it's not like it magically makes the graphics better. It had better performance and that's it. That doesn't improve the models.

you got mixed up with what I've said, Towa is higher poly in xanadu than in cold steel 1 and 2 and if you really think they look the same go get your eyes checked. also what's your source on the 13 months claim? and what i meant was that cold steel 1 and 2 were on PS3 not xanadu mate and it means plenty. if it was a handheld only game it would explain low poly graphics but no it's a PS3 game that looks like a early PS2 game. even some PSP games look better than it did. also i didn't mention eX+ so don't try to add to your argument stuff that i didn't mention alright mate?

 

Edited June 6, 2022 by PepeLordd

[amorrow28]

6 hours ago, Switch608 said:

Since you know PhyreEngine, do you know of any tools for unpacking and packing .dae.Phyre and .dds.Phyre files? 
I only found tools to unpack .dds.Phyre files on xentax, no tools to pack .dds.Phyre files,and no tools to unpack and pack .dae.Phyre files.
If we have these tools, with @amorrow28's tools, we can directly edit the .pkg file to make mods, instead of using 3dmigoto.

 

First I wanted to point out what you might already know, but the unpackpkg.py library that some of my tools depends on can be run directly from the command line, and it will decompress any .pkg file into the individual files.  I tested it on CS4 archives anyway, and it works as advertised.

 

I would think the easiest way to manipulate those files would be to get the Phyre engine (which is free, although Sony wants your business plan so uh, that's a barrier).  Any PS4 devs around that would be willing to help?  ?

 

I think the guy to watch is Julian Uy on github; my tools are completely dependent on his libraries and he is VERY prolific on github, at nearly 300 repositories.  (In fact, my unpackpkg.py is literally his code with 1 added line so that it can be successfully used with my code.)  And no joke, he started a new repository just two days ago called falcom-dumps that is currently empty with a readme saying it's a placeholder for things to come.

[untestedpower]

3 hours ago, PepeLordd said:

you got mixed up with what I've said, Towa is higher poly in xanadu than in cold steel 1 and 2 and if you really think they look the same go get your eyes checked. also what's your source on the 13 months claim? and what i meant was that cold steel 1 and 2 were on PS3 not xanadu mate and it means plenty. if it was a handheld only game it would explain low poly graphics but no it's a PS3 game that looks like a early PS2 game. even some PSP games look better than it did. also i didn't mention eX+ so don't try to add to your argument stuff that i didn't mention alright mate?

You don't seem to be getting this. If the game was on the Vita then that's it. Vita is the graphical cap. Yes they were put on other systems, that doesn't matter at all. Vita is still the graphical cap. The models are the same in every version because they were made for the Vita. Tokyo Xanadu and Cold Steel were both vita games, thus they look like Vita games. The model quality is almost the same. TX used a ton of assets from Cold Steel. Falcom reuses assets all the time to keep up with their massive crunch schedule and TX is very clearly built from a lot of those parts, from textures to animations.

[amorrow28]

26 minutes ago, undeadclown99 said:

You don't seem to be getting this. If the game was on the Vita then that's it. Vita is the graphical cap. Yes they were put on other systems, that doesn't matter at all. Vita is still the graphical cap. The models are the same in every version because they were made for the Vita. Tokyo Xanadu and Cold Steel were both vita games, thus they look like Vita games. The model quality is almost the same. TX used a ton of assets from Cold Steel. Falcom reuses assets all the time to keep up with their massive crunch schedule and TX is very clearly built from a lot of those parts, from textures to animations.

Wait, Towa best girl is in this game??! ?

 

I wouldn’t call those re-used assets though… if it’s reused then some serious re-work went into it. I thought you were talking about reuse like how they stuck Duvalie’s head on Musse’s CS4 DLC swimsuit (body and all) in Hajimari… now that’s reuse. This I guess I would call - adapted?

 

Not that reuse bothers me. One of my favorite series of games is Atelier, that’s some serious asset reuse right there though.

[amorrow28]

3 hours ago, Switch608 said:

 

Thank you for the information. I'll be checking it out.

I'm more interested in getting a tool that I can use than going to work on the game engine.?

After all, I'm not a programmer, @amorrow28, and researching code is harder for me than you might think.?

 

I hear you, but I don't know if there's a good solution other than using the tools that come with the game engine.  Also, I don't mean to say we'd be engine programming; my hope is that the engine comes with simple utilities to pack and unpack files.

 

I found a tool that extracts objects out of the .dae.phyre and .dds.phyre files and is actually very easy to use.  Ironically, given the rather heated discussion here, it was developed for Tokyo Xanadu eX+ haha.  I've tested on CS3 and Hajimari though and it works perfectly fine for both.  I suspect CS4 works too, but I'm too lazy to check.  It's here:

 

https://forum.xentax.com/viewtopic.php?t=17859

 

Quote

 

Use extract_pka.py to get the .pkg file you want out of assets.pka (if CS3/CS4), then use unpackpkg.py to extract all the phyre files from inside the pkg.

 

extract_pka.py assets.pka C_CHR001.pkg
unpackpkg.py C_CHR001.pkg

 

Then Use the Xanadu Viewer (File -> Open Folder) and select the folder you just created (in my example above, {game}/data/asset/D3D11/C_CHR001.pkg__ folder.

 

 

From here you can save the mesh as an .obj file, which it seems you can import right into Blender.

 

 

The issue I've found is that while tools are available to extract objects, I haven't seen any tools that can repack them.  I don't see how this will be any better than 3DMigoto if we still end up modding by injection...  3DMigoto already extracts meshes very capably by dumping buffers.  This might help with modding some of the more difficult meshes since I think it can get bones though.  Also it's pretty nice to import an entire model at once, instead of a giant dump of meshes.

 

I did find this thread where the author talks about packing collada files (.dae) back into .dae.phyre files, but he uses the Phyre Engine SDK to do it.  Blender can export models to collada .dae, so I think we'd be stuck at the last step without the propietary tools from Sony.

 

Still, if you can figure this out, I'm sure there will be very many happy nintendo switch owners since I believe the file format is the same for them and they can use layeredFS to apply new .pkg files.  Plus, I have to say I feel pretty accomplished getting a model from assets.pka into Blender (especially since I contributed code to the tools I used).  I just don't know what to do with this.

[SirDoge]

Hm,il probably try to see if it works in the future.Not really good at this stuff,but will try.Thank you.

[untestedpower]

7 hours ago, amorrow28 said:

Wait, Towa best girl is in this game??! ?

Yes, though it's not really explained why. It's more of a developer in-joke. And yes, I'm not trying to say the entire game was completely devoid of unique assets, but there was a lot of reused stuff. The dungeons were also very simply designed with basic art assets because they were made quickly.  The game was made to slot in very quickly between CS2 and Ys 8, both of which were from much higher profile franchises in Falcom's library.  Ys 8 wasn't ready for the year following CS2 though, and Falcom always makes one game a year, hence TX's fairly rushed development. It's not that bad a game considering how fast they made it. It's a shame the translation was less than stellar. It was something of a sleeper hit in Japan, on the Vita that is. Otaku liked the Vita and they liked games where they played as highschoolers going on adventures so TX did well in Japan. The subsequent release on PS4 for the ex version didn't however, certainly not compared to the Vita version.

 

When it came time to port the game west Falcom was adamant that the Vita version (which had fewer features) be ported as well as the ex version. I don't think they realized that the Vita was long dead in the west by then, if it ever could have been considered alive in the first place. The rumor is this is what caused the falling out between XSeed and Falcom. The story goes Xseed refused to do the Vita version because they said it wouldn't sell, Falcom insisted because of how popular the Vita version was in Japan and XSeed passed on the project. In order to do Akiba's Beat...in retrospect, not a great choice. Falcom contracted Aksys for a quick and dirty localization job of TX, got the Vita version they wanted, which flopped predictably and all in all I think the game never did very well here. After that NISA successfully courted Falcom (which they had apparently been trying for years) and that's where we are now.

[PepeLordd]

9 hours ago, undeadclown99 said:

You don't seem to be getting this. If the game was on the Vita then that's it. Vita is the graphical cap. Yes they were put on other systems, that doesn't matter at all. Vita is still the graphical cap. The models are the same in every version because they were made for the Vita. Tokyo Xanadu and Cold Steel were both vita games, thus they look like Vita games. The model quality is almost the same. TX used a ton of assets from Cold Steel. Falcom reuses assets all the time to keep up with their massive crunch schedule and TX is very clearly built from a lot of those parts, from textures to animations.

 

did you even read anything that i wrote you clown? I'm done arguing with someone repeating the same shit in a different way just to add a pile of text into their argument.

1 hour ago, undeadclown99 said:

Yes, though it's not really explained why. It's more of a developer in-joke. And yes, I'm not trying to say the entire game was completely devoid of unique assets, but there was a lot of reused stuff. The dungeons were also very simply designed with basic art assets because they were made quickly.  The game was made to slot in very quickly between CS2 and Ys 8, both of which were from much higher profile franchises in Falcom's library.  Ys 8 wasn't ready for the year following CS2 though, and Falcom always makes one game a year, hence TX's fairly rushed development. It's not that bad a game considering how fast they made it. It's a shame the translation was less than stellar. It was something of a sleeper hit in Japan, on the Vita that is. Otaku liked the Vita and they liked games where they played as highschoolers going on adventures so TX did well in Japan. The subsequent release on PS4 for the ex version didn't however, certainly not compared to the Vita version.

 

When it came time to port the game west Falcom was adamant that the Vita version (which had fewer features) be ported as well as the ex version. I don't think they realized that the Vita was long dead in the west by then, if it ever could have been considered alive in the first place. The rumor is this is what caused the falling out between XSeed and Falcom. The story goes Xseed refused to do the Vita version because they said it wouldn't sell, Falcom insisted because of how popular the Vita version was in Japan and XSeed passed on the project. In order to do Akiba's Beat...in retrospect, not a great choice. Falcom contracted Aksys for a quick and dirty localization job of TX, got the Vita version they wanted, which flopped predictably and all in all I think the game never did very well here. After that NISA successfully courted Falcom (which they had apparently been trying for years) and that's where we are now.

man, you're hopeless.

[amorrow28]

1 hour ago, Switch608 said:

Well, let me explain why I want to unpack and pack the phrye files.
Not for NS, of course, I'm only interested in PC game mods.
My purpose is mainly to get the skeleton.
Because using 3dmigoto I can only get the meshs and textures, not other things, especially the skeleton (maybe there is a way to get it, I don't know). 
With the skeleton I can adjust the weights，so that the model does not deform when doing various actions.
But so far it looks fine, even without adjusting the weights there is no big deformation.

 

I'm just interested in trying to see if I can get it.
I tried the links you provided and those tools can't get the skeleton. 
It seems like you said, I have to research phrye engine. 
So I've decided to give up and thanks for the help you provided. ?

That’s too bad. Well, at least we’ve had some fun with the tools in the meantime. ?

[untestedpower]

6 hours ago, PepeLordd said:

did you even read anything that i wrote you clown? I'm done arguing with someone repeating the same shit in a different way just to add a pile of text into their argument.

Yes I did, you said:

 

20 hours ago, PepeLordd said:

Towa is higher poly in xanadu than in cold steel 1 and 2 and if you really think they look the same go get your eyes checked.

You've been trying to say TX's graphics were somehow a huge improvement over CS's, I posted two models to show, no, they weren't. Both of them are Vita games and look like it.

6 hours ago, PepeLordd said:

man, you're hopeless.

Sorry that I know a lot about Falcom? I have no idea why you're so mad.

[PepeLordd]

14 hours ago, undeadclown99 said:

You've been trying to say TX's graphics were somehow a huge improvement over CS's, I posted two models to show, no, they weren't. Both of them are Vita games and look like it.

You sure love to keep bullshiting your way through your arguments

 

14 hours ago, undeadclown99 said:

Sorry that I know a lot about Falcom? I have no idea why you're so mad.

Saying you're hopeless and somehow I'm mad? either way in the ignore list you go.

[untestedpower]

9 hours ago, PepeLordd said:

You sure love to keep bullshiting your way through your arguments

I mean you could try explaining how the two images I posted look all that different graphically. If I am making this up as you claim, that should be easy right?

9 hours ago, PepeLordd said:

Saying you're hopeless and somehow I'm mad?

I mean, yes. You're the one insulting me. I'm not sure how that would somehow make me the mad one.

[Ayking]

@amorrow28thank you for your mods and tutorials. With your tutorials, im thinking about giving modding a try once I figure out how to get my laptop running again from it's BSOD.

 

I do have a question somewhat related to your unskirt mod, based on a question I pitched in October. Is it possible to just remove the panties, and (now that we have a more detailed nude mod) replace the panties with the nude texture? So basically, no panties. That's literally it, no adjustments to the rest of the girl's costumes or anything.

[amorrow28]

2 hours ago, Ayking said:

@amorrow28thank you for your mods and tutorials. With your tutorials, im thinking about giving modding a try once I figure out how to get my laptop running again from it's BSOD.

 

I do have a question somewhat related to your unskirt mod, based on a question I pitched in October. Is it possible to just remove the panties, and (now that we have a more detailed nude mod) replace the panties with the nude texture? So basically, no panties. That's literally it, no adjustments to the rest of the girl's costumes or anything.

Yes, girl by girl.* I tried and never got a good result, so I gave up. I’m no digital artist - all my results are from shuffling existing textures around. Someone with art skills could probably do a lot better.

 

(Actually there’s a really easy way - you could just get rid of the panties by painting over them with skin tone and relying on the shape of the body to give you the look you want. It looks very plain though.)

 

If you succeed, I’d love to see it! Clearly I enjoy bottomless, given the nature of my mod. ?
 

EDIT: I say girl by girl, but there’s actually only about 3-4 key baked shapes that would need to be painted, and the rest is done by copy/paste. So if anyone with the skill wants to do it… I can help by providing the 3-4 key textures. (Off the top of my head, I would think Alfin, Sara and Musse ought to do it. Pretty much everyone else can be propagated from there.)

Edited June 10, 2022 by amorrow28

[Ayking]

5 hours ago, amorrow28 said:

Yes, girl by girl.* I tried and never got a good result, so I gave up. I’m no digital artist - all my results are from shuffling existing textures around. Someone with art skills could probably do a lot better.

 

(Actually there’s a really easy way - you could just get rid of the panties by painting over them with skin tone and relying on the shape of the body to give you the look you want. It looks very plain though.)

 

If you succeed, I’d love to see it! Clearly I enjoy bottomless, given the nature of my mod. ?
 

EDIT: I say girl by girl, but there’s actually only about 3-4 key baked shapes that would need to be painted, and the rest is done by copy/paste. So if anyone with the skill wants to do it… I can help by providing the 3-4 key textures. (Off the top of my head, I would think Alfin, Sara and Musse ought to do it. Pretty much everyone else can be propagated from there.)

 Thank you for the insight. I figured the "easy" way of color matching the panties would be a quick workaround. I also figured copy/pasting the nude texture would work too, but I guess not. That just goes to show how little I know about modding. If no one plans to take it on, and I figure out how this program works, Ill may give it a try.

 

Out of curiosity though, how did your attempt look? I'm interested in seeing your results.

[amorrow28]

3 hours ago, Ayking said:

 Thank you for the insight. I figured the "easy" way of color matching the panties would be a quick workaround. I also figured copy/pasting the nude texture would work too, but I guess not. That just goes to show how little I know about modding. If no one plans to take it on, and I figure out how this program works, Ill may give it a try.

 

Out of curiosity though, how did your attempt look? I'm interested in seeing your results.

i don’t have anything saved, unfortunately. Using the nude texture is  a non-starter as it’s not mapped the same (not even close).

 

Nude-color panties is probably the easiest way to still have a professional-ish result, but it does look like they’re wearing them.

 

I really don’t want to pretend to be an authority here though - I’ve seen some incredible work on this forum. I think this would be achievable, just not by me!

 

Anyway, I’ll try to be helpful. I’ll see if I can’t put up a small tutorial on the basics of texture work {on panties} in this game later to at least get you (and others) going. Sometimes I find the barrier to success is literally not knowing how to get started.

[amorrow28]

Index of my CS4 tutorials and where to find my mod:

Spoiler

My first post linking to Fairy Tail mod video and how I adapted for CS4:
https://www.loverslab.com/topic/166239-trails-of-cold-steel-4-mod-request/?do=findComment&comment=3730952
How to edit existing mods (and how to setup Blender):
https://www.loverslab.com/topic/166239-trails-of-cold-steel-4-mod-request/?do=findComment&comment=3757792
How to get a model into Blender (basic modding part 1):
https://www.loverslab.com/topic/166239-trails-of-cold-steel-4-mod-request/?do=findComment&comment=3767886
How to get a mod back into the game (basic modding part 2):
https://www.loverslab.com/topic/166239-trails-of-cold-steel-4-mod-request/?do=findComment&comment=3771501
How to work with textures in CS4:

{that's this tutorial}

How to work with weights:
https://www.loverslab.com/topic/166239-trails-of-cold-steel-4-mod-request/?do=findComment&comment=3786873

 

If you don't care about tutorials and just want the mod I made, here it is:
https://www.loverslab.com/topic/166239-trails-of-cold-steel-4-mod-request/?do=findComment&comment=3775051

 

Info on how to use the nude mods with my mod here:
https://www.loverslab.com/topic/166239-trails-of-cold-steel-4-mod-request/?do=findComment&comment=3832221

 

 

Tutorial time!  Today let's delete tights / change underwear.  (This is really a basic tutorial on how to get textures in and out of the game as well as how to manipulate them, but it's more satisfying to do something fun.)

 

 

Disclaimer:  This is NOT a tutorial on how to use Paint.NET or other graphics programs, I'm going to assume you either know how or are willing to watch a short youtube video or something.  Having said that, even if you don't really know how, you can probably follow along.  Here is my workfile in case you want to pull it apart, or literally use as is if you like the final result:

 

Elise Tutorial File.7z

 

First, set Blender, plugins and python scripts up.  My tutorials are using Blender 2.93 LTS.  Basic instructions on setup at the top of this tutorial:  https://www.loverslab.com/topic/166239-trails-of-cold-steel-4-mod-request/page/13/#comment-3757792

 

Second, you want to know how to get a model into Blender in the first place.  Please try this tutorial here at least once, then come back:  https://www.loverslab.com/topic/166239-trails-of-cold-steel-4-mod-request/page/14/#comment-3767886

 

Ok, let's go!

 

Step 1:  Getting the texture and UV map (preparation)

 

Quote

 

First, we're actually going to use index buffer hunting this time instead of the prior method, just because then you'll know both methods.  Turn OFF mods (F2), get your model in frame, enter hunting mode (F12), dump the frame (F8), and merge the buffers.  (Steps 1-4 of the model import tutorial)

 

Use NumPad7 / NumPad8 to find the relevant index buffer hash, you'll know it when the mesh of interest (in this case the tights) disappears.  Use NumPad9 to copy the hash to the clipboard (it's also in the upper left corner of the screen, for Elise it should be 85350212 as you can see in the image).

 

Spoiler

 

When I searched my frame dump for 85350212, I found it belonged to mesh #93.  You can see in the frame dump which mesh corresponds (use file search to find it). Notice that the texture itself is in ps-t2.  There is no normal map (would be in ps-t3) and the gradient map is smooth (ps-t3, would be in ps-t4 if there was a normal map in ps-t3) - if either of these are not the case, you'll have a little extra work to do, but it's a bit beyond the scope of this tutorial (if you're eager to learn what to do here, I suggest you dissect my mod a bit!).

 

Spoiler

 

Open the texture in Paint.NET, and save it as a PNG.  (Don't close the program, we're coming back in a sec!)

 

Open the mesh in Blender.  (Or if you used the whole model import method from my last tutorial, select the relevant mesh by clicking on it.)  Switch to Shading mode by clicking on the tab at the top.

 

Spoiler

 

Press New to create a new material.

 

Spoiler

 

Drag the PNG you saved into the workspace.

 

Spoiler

 

Connect its Color node to the material's Base Color node by left click dragging from one yellow dot to the other.

 

Spoiler

 

Now you should see your texture applied (only half the model will be correct).  Switch to UV mapping mode by clicking the tab at the top.

 

Spoiler

 

Zoom out (mouse wheel scroll) until you see both the texture and the map.  Notice they don't line up!  Open the sidebar (press 'N').

 

Spoiler

 

Let's line up the map on the texture.  Select all, go to the image tab on the sidebar, and select UV Vertex - Y.

 

Spoiler

 

Remove the integer part of the number, leaving the decimal fraction.  (2.50677 would become 0.50677 for example).  IF the number is negative, subtract it from the next whole number (for example if -2.50677, subtract it from 3, so 3 - 2.50677 = 0.49323)

 

Spoiler

 

The map should now be lined up.  Save the map (UV -> Export UV Layout) as a PNG.

 

Spoiler

 

Go back to Paint.NET. Open the UV map as a new layer, or just drag the map onto the texture from file explorer.

 

Spoiler

 

Now you should see how the CS4 engine maps the texture to the model in game.

 

Spoiler

 

If you do this a lot, you'll notice that certain characters have identical mappings.  For example, here is Alfin's texture, the map is identical.

 

Spoiler

 

Here's Tita's, the texture is rotated 90 degrees but you can still see it's the same map.  (sometimes it's smaller, or bigger, but the polygon shapes are the same.)

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

Step 2: Transplanting the texture

 

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Time to insert a new texture!  Let's go with cotton today.  I rotated Tita's texture 90 degrees.  Measuring the edge to edge width of the legs on the UV map, they match (573 pixels to 573 pixels) so we don't even need to resize first!  I copied the texture and pasted as a new layer into Paint.NET.

 

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Moving the texture into place, I can already see 3 problems.  The texture doesn't quite reach her boots, the knees are out of place (although not too much), and the shoe is overlapping the chest texture (shoes for boobs??).

 

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Let's fix the shoe overlap first.  Select the overlap area with the lasso tool, and hit delete (make sure you're on the correct layer).

 

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Moving the knees down a little has a few steps.  You'll want to work on a second layer, so first duplicate the transplanted layer (right red arrow).  You're going to want to work with the upper layer.  Select the crotch and delete it from the upper layer (When making your selection, HAVE IT STOP AT THE STRAIGHT LINE - you'll thank me later!).  Hide the lower layer to make your life easier.

 

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Move the layer until the knees match up with the UV map.  (If you can't tell where it should be, look at her original legs in relationship to the map.)  Notice I had originally cut on the lowest straight line, and now the upper layer is quite a few pixels below that line).

 

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We need to shrink the thighs so that it once again smoothly meets the crotch.  Luckily this is easy in paint.net.  Select from just below (above?) the knees down to the edge.  Use "move pixels" and drag the edge back up to the straight line.

 

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Hide the UV map layer so you can evaluate your join.  You might need to adjust so that it's seemless.

 

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Now let's extend the calves so that it gets all the way to the boots.  Select above (below??) the knees to the edge.

 

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Using Move Pixels, drag the top until the entire map is covered.  Don't worry about covering the lace above, we're only using this texture on index buffer 85350212 and you can see from the map this buffer isn't the one that draws that lace.

 

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Ok, you could just stop here if you wanted to use white panties, but for the sake of this tutorial let's change the color too.  (BTW I almost always do this, helps hide the fact that I'm blatantly stealing the same texture over and over again haha)

(to be continued in the next post)

Edited August 30, 2022 by amorrow28

[amorrow28]

Step 3: Color change

 

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Ok, let's change the color of the panties.  First, duplicate the bottom transplanted layer (the one with the panties, not the one with the corrected knees).  Drag it up to just below the UV map.  Select the panties.  Use the lasso tool, it works better than the magic wand.  Select part, and then select more.  (Hold Ctrl while selecting to add to the selection, and Alt while selecting to subtract from the selection.)

 

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Invert the selection (Edit Menu -> Invert Selection, or Ctrl-I) and then delete everything except the panties (Edit Menu -> Erase Selection, or Del key).  Now you have the panties in their own layer.  (Consider duplicating this layer so you have a backup!)  Sorry for the crap screenshot.

 

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Let's pick a color.  Often I use an accessory (you could use eye color!) but I've already done teal in my mod, so I'm going to use her hair color this time.  Use color picture (press K) then click on the color you want.  You could use a screenshot of the game, but for better color accuracy I opened up her hair texture file.

 

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Let's shade.  Switch back to your workfile, and select the Recolor tool (press R).  Set the brush width to something gigantic, and tolerance to 100%.

 

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Paint on the new color by clicking and dragging.  Where you start matters - it takes the first pixel as the target shade, so if you pick a light area then the end result will be darker and vice versa.  Here I just clicked without dragging to show you what will happen.  Hmm, I think the shade is too dark.

 

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Let's adjust the color.  Open the color palette if it's not open (F8), then extend it (press "More") so you see RGB and HSV values.  (HSV = hue, saturation and brightness).  I have the best luck by leaving H alone and adjusting S and V.  Here I'm leaving H at 278 and S at 15, while changing V from 54 to 77.

 

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Yes, I like this more.

 

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Paint over the entire thing.

 

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Save your work! (as a PDN file)

 

Ok, now save as a DDS file.  CS3/CS4/Hajimari supports BC7 compression with mipmaps, so use that for best quality.  Paint.NET defaults to BC1, which looks like crap.  Just copy my settings below.

 

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Step 4: Injecting the texture into the game
 

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First, you need the index buffer (IB) hash (you got that in step 1) and its associated pixel shader (PS).  In step 1, I opened mesh #93.  Looking in the frame dump output folder, I can see what the IB and PS hashes are.

 

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For this next part, make sure you can see file extensions.  At the top of windows file explorer, go to View and check file name extensions.

 

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Create a new folder inside {CS4}/bin/Win64/Mods and put your .dds texture file in the new folder.  Create a new .ini file.  Right click, new -> new text document.  Rename it.

 

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Make sure it ends in .ini!

 

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Open the document in notepad or equivalent.  You need at a minimum two sections.  The first is the resource section, and maps your new .dds file to an object name that 3DMigoto can work with.  The second identifies the IB hash, and when the game loads that resource, 3DMigoto replaces the asset with your custom one.  (The pixel shader must also be flagged, but if you're using my mod, it will already be flagged.  If the changes doesn't show up in game, add the third section.  You can see in my screenshot the third section is there but disabled using semicolons.)

 

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Now load up the game and see how it looks!  (If you're already in game, press F10 to reload all the mods.)

 

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Note: If you're using my mod, it already overrides hash 85350212.  Go into Mods/UnSkirtMod/Elise/Elise.ini and delete the entire 4-line bottom section called [TextureOverride_EliseTights].

 

 

Congrats on making it to the end!  This was a long one, but hopefully you now have the confidence to do some texture work.  As always, if you like what you make, I hope you share with us.

Edited June 10, 2022 by amorrow28

[amorrow28]

18 hours ago, Ayking said:

 Thank you for the insight. I figured the "easy" way of color matching the panties would be a quick workaround. I also figured copy/pasting the nude texture would work too, but I guess not. That just goes to show how little I know about modding. If no one plans to take it on, and I figure out how this program works, Ill may give it a try.

 

Out of curiosity though, how did your attempt look? I'm interested in seeing your results.

 

Ok, this is what I meant by painting over literally with nude color:
 

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Original modded texture by me:

 

Literally obliterating the texture with flat paint:

 

The result, as you can see, is pretty lacking in definition:

 

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Here's a closeup, honestly the backside isn't bad:

 

 

If this is enough to make you happy, I say go for it.  Follow my texture tutorial above, but instead of doing all that fancy stuff, literally paste in a flat rectangle.  Once you get the hang of it, you could probably do each character in maybe 5 minutes.  Here's the Elie one I just did.

 

ElieTightsDelete.dds