Make your own custom colored suits with Kerbal Space Program 1.10: "Shared Horizons”

[Just Jim]

Hi everyone. We hope you all are enjoying KSP 1.10: "Shared Horizons”.

We wanted to take a minute and point out something you all might not be aware of yet, but we here think you're going to really like.
Not only do we have the new Suit Picker in 1.10, it is very easy now to make your own custom colored suits!!!

 

 

 

So here are the complete instructions. You will find the link to download the blank texture files at the bottom of this post.

 

The Suit Picker

It is a tool introduced in KSP 1.10 Update, designed to let players choose among the available suits and colors for EVA.

The Materials

Attached you will find the following (link to attachment below):

A UV Map file that lets you identify the wireframe of the model of the character.

 

And an ID Map so it is easier to select colors and create combinations.

Adding Customized Suits - Instructions

In order to add a new suit variant the player has to create a folder called Suits inside the GameData/Squad folder.

Inside Suits, other three folders called Config, Icons and Textures.

Then in the Config folder we need to create a .cfg file called SUITCOMBOS with the following properties:

• DisplayName: The name of the variant shown at the suit title in the suit picker window.
• SuitType: The suit type the variant belongs to; Default, Vintage (Making History) or Future (Breaking Ground)
• Gender: The gender this variant belongs to; Male or Female
• Name: A unique string to identify the suit combo, example CustomSuit1
• Suit Texture: The path where the custom suit texture is (Textures folder).
• Sprite: The path where the texture variant icon is (Icons folder).
• Primary Color: The primary color used in the texture variant button, in hexadecimal.
• Secondary Color: The secondary color used in the texture variant button, in hexadecimal.

 

Example:

SUITCOMBOS
{   
    SUITCOMBO
    {
        displayName = Custom Suit 1
        suitType = Future
        gender = Male
        name = CustomSuit1
        suitTexture = Squad/Suits/Textures/futureSuit_diffuse_redBlue
        sprite = Squad/Suits/Icons/kerbalicon_suit_future
        primaryColor = #012957
        secondaryColor = #b3313a
 	}
}

 

To add more variants there’s no need to create multiple files, adding a new “SUITCOMBO“ block in the cfg like the one above is enough.

 

PNG or DDS:

PNG or DDS file formats have a different orientation in the game, if you notice your texture isn’t displaying in a correct way it may be missing a vertical flip.

 

ICON:

Icons should be added to the “Icon” folder. It should be a small image only 33 pixels width 54 pixels height, preferably with transparency.

Make sure to add the texture and icon files in their respective folders: Icon and Textures. And more importantly; have fun!

 

 

Here is the link to the map files you can use.

 

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite features in 1.10, and all of us here really look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Edited July 5, 2020 by Just Jim

[VoidCosmos]

Wasn't it already posted?

But a repost would not hurt I guess?

Edited July 2, 2020 by VoidCosmos

[Just Jim]

1 minute ago, VoidCosmos said:

Wasn't it already posted?

In the modding notes, yes. But not everyone reads them.

[VoidCosmos]

1 minute ago, Just Jim said:

In the modding notes, yes. But not everyone reads them.

Oh okay.

Thanks for the reply

[RealKerbal3x]

@Just Jim Thanks for reposting this for everyone! I've been thinking of making a mod for a while and now I think it just might be a suit texture pack

One question: is it possible to add new suit models, or are we limited to only making textures?

[Just Jim]

9 minutes ago, RealKerbal3x said:

One question: is it possible to add new suit models, or are we limited to only making textures?

Just textures

[kpdavatar]

I like it.

Hmm, if hack my save, I could add a Tony Stark Kerman.

hehehe

 

[Geonovast]

32 minutes ago, kpdavatar said:

Hmm, if hack my save, I could add a Tony Stark Kerman.

No need.  You can create kerbals with the Alt + F12 menu.

[kpdavatar]

lol, I am noob. Thank you.

[Space_Coyote]

Now if we could only make each kerbal' face unique that would be fun to see

[Just Jim]

1 hour ago, kpdavatar said:

I like it.

Hmm, if hack my save, I could add a Tony Stark Kerman.

hehehe

 

I thought about making a red and gold suit for this   

Edited July 2, 2020 by Just Jim

[severedsolo]

@Just Jim - I know this should go on the bug tracker probably? But this isn't really a bug unless you're poking at it in code, so thought I'd just mention it to you (feel free to tell me to go away!) - just something I came across while making a mod

If you happen to change a Kerbals ComboID (suit variant) via code - the suit picker window doesn't pick up on the change. It will still report the default suit when opening it.

As I said, I don't consider this a bug because it's impossible to get this behaviour in stock, it requires a mod to actively change the ComboId - but I was wondering if this wasn't a bit of low hanging fruit that could be picked up for 1.10.1 - just read the Kerbals ComboId when loading the suit picker window.

 

[RealKerbal3x]

@Just Jim I have another question: when we make new suit textures (and their configs), will they only work if they're in Squad/Suits, or can I create my own folder in GameData and put them in there?

Also, what image editing software would you recommend for this? I figure I won't be able to use MS Paint

[Just Jim]

16 hours ago, severedsolo said:

@Just Jim - I know this should go on the bug tracker probably? But this isn't really a bug unless you're poking at it in code, so thought I'd just mention it to you (feel free to tell me to go away!) - just something I came across while making a mod

If you happen to change a Kerbals ComboID (suit variant) via code - the suit picker window doesn't pick up on the change. It will still report the default suit when opening it.

As I said, I don't consider this a bug because it's impossible to get this behaviour in stock, it requires a mod to actively change the ComboId - but I was wondering if this wasn't a bit of low hanging fruit that could be picked up for 1.10.1 - just read the Kerbals ComboId when loading the suit picker window.

 

I will pass this on, thanks!

 

38 minutes ago, RealKerbal3x said:

@Just Jim I have another question: when we make new suit textures (and their configs), will they only work if they're in Squad/Suits, or can I create my own folder in GameData and put them in there?

Also, what image editing software would you recommend for this? I figure I won't be able to use MS Paint

I will have to double check, but to the best of my knowledge, they only will work in the Squad/Suit folders

As for editing software, I'm happy to tell you the textures for the suits I showed above were done using just MS Paint   
The ID map (included in the download above) makes it real easy to identify which part of the texture file matches which part of the suit, and I did 99% of them with just the color picker (the eyedropper) and fill with color tool (the paint bucket)... that's it.
The only thing I haven't quite figured out yet is making a transparent background for the icons using Paint. I used Photoshop for that. I'll post an update if and when I figure it out. But the transparent icon background is not a requirement...  it just looks better. You can also have a medium grey background that closely matches the game and get away with it. So yes, everything can be done using just MS Paint.

Edited July 3, 2020 by Just Jim

[Bej Kerman]

On 7/2/2020 at 1:46 PM, Just Jim said:

So here are the complete instructions. You will find the link to download the blank texture files at the bottom of this post.

[snip]

 

 

You know, it probably would have been easier to just add an in-game editor than to write those instructions.

Edited July 4, 2020 by Gargamel
Huge Gratuitous Quote Removed

[RealKerbal3x]

5 minutes ago, Just Jim said:

I will have to double check, but to the best of my knowledge, they only will work in the Squad/Suit folders.

OK. I was just thinking for the purposes of modding that it would be useful to be able to just drop a folder with the suit textures and configs in GameData.

6 minutes ago, Just Jim said:

As for editing software, I'm happy to tell you the textures for the suits I showed above were done using just MS Paint.  

Great! I'd better get to making some suits

[TriggerAu]

6 hours ago, RealKerbal3x said:

@Just Jim I have another question: when we make new suit textures (and their configs), will they only work if they're in Squad/Suits, or can I create my own folder in GameData and put them in there?

Also, what image editing software would you recommend for this? I figure I won't be able to use MS Paint

 

6 hours ago, Just Jim said:

I will have to double check, but to the best of my knowledge, they only will work in the Squad/Suit folders

 

You should make your own folder in GameData so your items are not affected by upgrades, etc that we do with the Squad folder, same as adding mod content. The system uses the GameData folder in its entirety, if its not working like that then we done messed up  

[DirtyFace83]

On 7/2/2020 at 7:46 PM, Just Jim said:

Hi everyone. I hope you all are enjoying KSP 1.10: "Shared Horizons”.

I wanted to take a minute and point out something you all might not be aware of yet, but we here think you're going to really like.
Not only do we have the new Suit Picker in 1.10, it is very easy now to make your own custom colored suits!!!

 

Just wanted to say thanks for the suit picker. Great addition!

Edited July 4, 2020 by DirtyFace83

[Just Jim]

23 hours ago, RealKerbal3x said:

OK. I was just thinking for the purposes of modding that it would be useful to be able to just drop a folder with the suit textures and configs in GameData.

 

17 hours ago, TriggerAu said:

You should make your own folder in GameData so your items are not affected by upgrades, etc that we do with the Squad folder, same as adding mod content. The system uses the GameData folder in its entirety, if its not working like that then we done messed up  

Following up in what @TriggerAusaid, I made a folder called MySuits in the GameData folder, moved everything I already made from the Squad/Suits folder into this new one (the Config, Icons, and Textures folders) and changed my texture cfg to the new folder location for the suit and icon files, and it works just fine.  

[pandaman]

On 7/2/2020 at 8:17 PM, kpdavatar said:

lol, I am noob. Thank you.

No worries, alt/f12 (on PC) opens the 'cheat menu' there is a 'Create Kerbal' option in there somewhere.   You will still have to use @Just Jim's guide to create the suit though.

[klesh]

Hey thanks @SQUAD for including the blank templates.  Your lawyers are probably don't like it, but it saves us all from having to rip these contents and use them in a grey legal area fashion.  Thanks for giving us the keys.

Good tutorial Jim, I'll give this a shot.

[Just Jim]

8 hours ago, klesh said:

Hey thanks @SQUAD for including the blank templates.  Your lawyers are probably don't like it, but it saves us all from having to rip these contents and use them in a grey legal area fashion.  Thanks for giving us the keys.

Good tutorial Jim, I'll give this a shot.

You're welcome... But for the record, the dev's wrote most of the tutorial part. I just threw together the suits in the screenshots... lol. 

We look forward to seeing what you... and everyone else... comes up with!  

[StrandedonEarth]

35 minutes ago, Just Jim said:

We look forward to seeing what you... and everyone else... comes up with!  

This is fascinating, but I'm not sure if I can wrap my head around it (as Lethal Weapon's Roger Murtaugh said, I'm too old for this *stuff*)

Any recommended editing software for this? I assume the FutureSuits can be made to light up, if I can find the right place on the map?

Spoiler

I'd love to try and paste a Kerbal or Terran globe on the helmet. On second look, I guess parts of the mesh are mirrored, so unlikely. But perhaps names could be put on helmets...

 

Edited July 5, 2020 by StrandedonEarth
reality sets in...

[Idontevenkno]

im confused where do i put the PNG and GIF files that were in the download i created the cfg file and i dont know where to go now?

 

[DirtyFace83]

@Just Jim

What are the filenames of the IVA, Backpack and Chute textures? - I use Texture Replacer, so these (i think) can be assigned by that mod, but if I didn't - let's say I wanted to make new suit textures to be compatible with TR and Stock - can IVA, etc textures be linked by simply putting the correctly named textures into the same folder as the custom EVA texture that the suit picker draws from - or is there more to it?

(I hope that's not too long-whinded and is an intelligible question)

 

Also:

Is there actually a subtly different suit model for each gender? Or is the gender tag there just to make certain suits available to only one gender?