Questions about editing skins

[Fenris2k]

First let me say that I am going to use MTA/GTA to make some short movies. I'm not going to use it for a traditional multiplayer game.

I will run my own multiplayer server, letting me and my friend control several characters in a map. We want to edit the skins of the characters, so we can du screen captures on "our own models".

MTA San Andreas:

Can this be done in MTA San Andreas? I have not found any info about the character skins, apart from chosing pre-defined ones , have I missed something? I checked the GTA SA game and MTA SA directories but didn't find anything. Where are the skins stored and in what format are they? Is it possible to edit them "quite easily"?

MTA Vice City:

I found some info about skin editing in GTA Vice City. I don't have the game installed, but the skins should be in the ./skins/ folder. Is it perhaps preferred that I shall use MTA Vice City instead of San Andreas? If so, what is the current/latest version of MTA Vice City and where can it be downloaded? When googling, the only link I found was this one, is it tha latest release? Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Multi Theft Auto mod 0.5: http://download.cnet.com/Grand-Theft-Au ... 61947.html.

Finally, can all these questions be answered?

If not, why?

[darkdreamingdan]

First off, the /skins/ folder found in GTA3/VC is actually a feature of GTA itself, and is purely cosmetic. GTA3MTA/MTAVC never synced these custom skins either. Therefore i highly reccomend you opt for GTASA instead.

MTASA supports the replacement of Ped Skins (Non-CJ models) with the use of its Lua scripting engine. You can use the engineLoadTXD and engineImportTXD scripting functions to replace your models without making any modifications to the game. This however requires basic knowledge of MTASA's resources and scripting system.

Despite this, MTASA doesnt make any hard checks against a modified version of GTASA. Although you'll be banned for modifying your game in a public server, you're more than able to do so in your own server. You should be able to quite easily modify skins manually by editing the gta3.img file. I reccomend you look up some tutorials on general GTASA modification if you wish to go this route. Remember, this wont be synced either as it'll only affect players with the modified files.

Both methods require knowledge of GTA's TXD format - which are basically archives which contain the Skin image inside them. You'll need to properly extract these in order to modify them.

[Fenris2k]

Thanks a load for the input Talidan!

I figure using MTASA and making our own pedestrian skins will be the easiest way. Eeek, and I havn't used Photoshop since 99 ..

I've just started to look at the tutorial, and I have a follow-up question: Since we wish to have some NPCs walking around "in the city" (well in the map), is it much work/scripting needed to get "a load" of NPCs walking around in a map? Just to make it look some what populated and not deserted.

[darkdreamingdan]

Thanks a load for the input Talidan!

I figure using MTASA and making our own pedestrian skins will be the easiest way. Eeek, and I havn't used Photoshop since 99 ..

I've just started to look at the tutorial, and I have a follow-up question: Since we wish to have some NPCs walking around "in the city" (well in the map), is it much work/scripting needed to get "a load" of NPCs walking around in a map? Just to make it look some what populated and not deserted.

It is quite a lot of work to get NPCs walking around the map. However, we have a traffic and peds script already in progress that's currently unreleased. I've been meaning to release it on behalf of the developer for quite some time now, i'll try and see what i can do this weekend.

[robhol]

Thanks a load for the input Talidan!

I figure using MTASA and making our own pedestrian skins will be the easiest way. Eeek, and I havn't used Photoshop since 99 ..

I've just started to look at the tutorial, and I have a follow-up question: Since we wish to have some NPCs walking around "in the city" (well in the map), is it much work/scripting needed to get "a load" of NPCs walking around in a map? Just to make it look some what populated and not deserted.

It is quite a lot of work to get NPCs walking around the map. However, we have a traffic and peds script already in progress that's currently unreleased. I've been meaning to release it on behalf of the developer for quite some time now, i'll try and see what i can do this weekend.

Soon?

* runs *

[Dark Dragon]

[...] Soon [...]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

[Mr.Hankey]

a more or less working ped/traffic resource would be a pretty nice christmas present

[Fenris2k]

I've been changing a few Ped-skins (with Paint.exe ). In the end, it came out quite OK. But, I would also like to manipulate the 3d model/skeleton, that is the corresponding .dff-file right??

I googled around and got the impression that 3D Studio Max can handle dff-files (perhaps with some plugin?), is that correct? I would like to change some proportions of the model. As shoulder width, head-size (to get a "bigger hair"), etc.

I fear that changing the .dff-file would screw up the skin/txd-mapping, would it? If so, are there any applications that let me alter the dff and/or the skin/bmp/txd file in a way that "they all fit together as I want"? I mean, now I use Paint.exe, and edit the bitmap straight on, as http://img525.imageshack.us/i/foobarr.jpg/. That is: Edit, save stuff, start game, check model, close game, edit more, save, start game, check model, close game, etc... Quite tedious in the end, since I can't view the 3d-model with the skin applied unless I start up the game.

The applications I use now are:

IMGTool.exe: For handling the gta3.img file.

TXD Workshop 4.0B build 14030X: For handling TXD-files.

Paint.exe: For editing bitmaps.

[Woovie]

This topic is sexy. So is Talidan.

[[XTreME]]

First off, the /skins/ folder found in GTA3/VC is actually a feature of GTA itself, and is purely cosmetic. GTA3MTA/MTAVC never synced these custom skins either. Therefore i highly reccomend you opt for GTASA instead.

MTASA supports the replacement of Ped Skins (Non-CJ models) with the use of its Lua scripting engine. You can use the engineLoadTXD and engineImportTXD scripting functions to replace your models without making any modifications to the game. This however requires basic knowledge of MTASA's resources and scripting system.

Despite this, MTASA doesnt make any hard checks against a modified version of GTASA. Although you'll be banned for modifying your game in a public server, you're more than able to do so in your own server. You should be able to quite easily modify skins manually by editing the gta3.img file. I reccomend you look up some tutorials on general GTASA modification if you wish to go this route. Remember, this wont be synced either as it'll only affect players with the modified files.

Both methods require knowledge of GTA's TXD format - which are basically archives which contain the Skin image inside them. You'll need to properly extract these in order to modify them.

Can you tell me how to use a custom dff?