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How difficult it is to change an armor's color/texture?


hashigicc9

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After trying to wrap my head around on skyrim's mods, I know that the mesh is supposed to be technically the "body" ? And the texture is the "coloring"? 

 

So, I want to ask, because, I want to at least try to provide something for everyone, how hard it is to change an armor's/outfit's color for a game? 

 

Like, is there a specific modding tool out there that I could use? And, if I do that, will this work for any game on PC? Please, someone with the knowledge, enlighten me, I've no idea, completely, and I am afraid the big guide you have here is giving me more questions than answers, like, I can't even wrap my head on it, too much and complicated information. 

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39 minutes ago, hashigicc9 said:

After trying to wrap my head around on skyrim's mods, I know that the mesh is supposed to be technically the "body" ? And the texture is the "coloring"? 

Basically, yes. Though it is more like, the Mesh being a bare wall, and the texture is a wallpaper(i.e for a wall in a real home, etc), or paint. Though for the textures in newer games, there can be more than one texture - Skyrim specifically can use 4 - A base texture(Diffuse), a normal map(provides definition), a specular map(how shiny something is), and a texture used to mimic the translucency of the skin - though that is mostly for actual skin textures, like for the male and female playable races. Sometimes the game can involve a fifth texture, one used for things meant to glow, like the Vampire eyes with Dawnguard. 

 

For most other things, they use two, the base Diffuse texture and the normal map, but some use the specular to define shine as well. 

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So, I want to ask, because, I want to at least try to provide something for everyone, how hard it is to change an armor's/outfit's color for a game? 

This can depend on how good one is at editing an image. Which since Skyrim uses the .dds format, programs like Photoshop and Gimp will need a plugin to edit them. But just changing a color should not be too difficult. Otherwise, you'll also need a program to extract .bsa files, which can be found on the Nexus.

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And, if I do that, will this work for any game on PC? 

It depends on the game. Some can easily accept mods, like say Skyrim or Fallout, but some games might require certain programs to force the game to use non-vanilla(default) textures. It all depends on the game you refer to, though. 

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21 minutes ago, Kuroyami said:

Basically, yes. Though it is more like, the Mesh being a bare wall, and the texture is a wallpaper(i.e for a wall in a real home, etc), or paint. Though for the textures in newer games, there can be more than one texture - Skyrim specifically can use 4 - A base texture(Diffuse), a normal map(provides definition), a specular map(how shiny something is), and a texture used to mimic the translucency of the skin - though that is mostly for actual skin textures, like for the male and female playable races. Sometimes the game can involve a fifth texture, one used for things meant to glow, like the Vampire eyes with Dawnguard. 

 

For most other things, they use two, the base Diffuse texture and the normal map, but some use the specular to define shine as well. 

This can depend on how good one is at editing an image. Which since Skyrim uses the .dds format, programs like Photoshop and Gimp will need a plugin to edit them. But just changing a color should not be too difficult. Otherwise, you'll also need a program to extract .bsa files, which can be found on the Nexus.

It depends on the game. Some can easily accept mods, like say Skyrim or Fallout, but some games might require certain programs to force the game to use non-vanilla(default) textures. It all depends on the game you refer to, though. 

Thank you so much for the answers! I really appreciate it! Well, to be fair, I have a completely different - also very brand new - game in my mind to change some color of some outfits, though, I am very much afraid I cannot say the name of the game here, as it has nothing to do with Skyrim, and I wouldn't want to make the moderators mad. 

 

Hmm...I am starting to wonder about many things about how to approach this issue, I really am eager to make something and share it freely to everyone.

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as far as skyrim goes changing color is as easy as opening textures in paint.net or other software that handles .dds and just sliding the color slider

as far as any other game goes you have to do the research and see how textures are handled and how accessible they are for modification

skyrim is easy to mod since it uses common file formats but modifying other games can lie beyond mere mortal's reach

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9 hours ago, faky said:

as far as skyrim goes changing color is as easy as opening textures in paint.net or other software that handles .dds and just sliding the color slider

as far as any other game goes you have to do the research and see how textures are handled and how accessible they are for modification

skyrim is easy to mod since it uses common file formats but modifying other games can lie beyond mere mortal's reach

I could believe that, even I know Skyrim is supposed to be "easier" and more "accessible" on modding, because you can literally tweak anything from it's files and even make new standalone ones, I hope it is easy for me too, been looking on changing colors on some things in Skyrim. 

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20 hours ago, hashigicc9 said:

I could believe that, even I know Skyrim is supposed to be "easier" and more "accessible" on modding, because you can literally tweak anything from it's files and even make new standalone ones, I hope it is easy for me too, been looking on changing colors on some things in Skyrim. 

i would suggest paint.net because it can open .dds out of the box and seems to be more straightforward than gimp for me. also turns on quicker. as was already mentioned modifying vanilla assets would require unpacking .bsa (and i suggest you do not pack it back up, loose files will overwrite .bsa files if you maintain appropriate folder structure)

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