Altering A stock texture and getting the game to load it?

[Dungchunker]

Hey guys, can some one help me with how to get my altered "strut connector" texture to load to the stock part...The image is currently PNG. I just altered the color and added a few details to it...but i need the game to load it onto the model in place of the original.. I know there is an argument i can use in the Part CFG to direct it to load my custom texture...but I'm not sure what that argument is. Appreciate any help! And as a side note .. I would gladly use Texture Replacer if need be ...in that case what would the argument be in the CFG to direct it to my custom texture. I just need an example of how to write it into the CFG...thanks!

[nli2work]

add a line after mesh = blahblah.mu

texture = partPathinGamedata/newTexture

that should work.

or remove mesh = blablah

add

MODEL
{
     model = muPathinGamedata/muFileName  //no need for dot MU extension
     texture = originalTextureName, newTexturePathinGameData/newTextureName   // no need for texture format extension. PNG or MBM is preferable in 0.25
}

[Dungchunker]

Thats Exactly what I needed..thanks much!

[nli2work]

assuming it all works. strutConnector is really old part looking at the config file, it's still referring to a nonexistant DAE model.

[Dungchunker]

assuming it all works. strutConnector is really old part looking at the config file, it's still referring to a nonexistant DAE model.

Yea...been working on this for a minute now...cant get any of the arguments to work properly...In the Debug menu i can see that it is loading using the "texture = partPathinGamedata/newTexture" argument...but it's trying to load both textures. Debug shows that model000 (original texture) and impStrut (new texture) are both loading ...so the model ends up without a texture (white). When I used the second option

MODEL

{

model = Squad/Parts/Structural/strutConnector.DAE

texture = model000, Squad/Parts/Structural/strutConnector/impStrut

}

The Textues load in Debug...but the model doesn't.

If you can think of a fix for this or a work around it would be greatly appreciated...I can make any static parts and texturing is a specialty, and i can use Unity well enough ...but i haven't figured out the whole animations thing or I would just make a new strut altogether.

Or maybe there's is something wrong with my punctuation or structure in the Argument???..

Edited November 12, 2014 by Dungchunker
addtion

[Dungchunker]

I have also done a re-texture of the liquidEngineLV-909 which is NOT an older DAE model...it's MU, using the same arguments structure as above and i cannot get the new texture to replace the Vanilla ones...same results as with the strutConnector.. I'm at a loss until someone can post some links to example files i could look at or give me some insight on what I'm doing wrong...I really need to be able to do this to finish Jand's mod textures.

[nli2work]

last resort is replacing the old texture with new one. or copy the MU and config to a new folder with new textures.

strut model doesn't load because the DAE doesnt' actually exist. try changing it to model = Squad/Parts/Structural/strutConnector/model\

using MODEL{} with Squad parts seems to be hit or miss. not sure if it's because the models are hardcoded to look for MBM or something else.

Edited November 13, 2014 by nli2work

[Dungchunker]

last resort is replacing the old texture with new one. or copy the MU and config to a new folder with new textures.

strut model doesn't load because the DAE doesnt' actually exist. try changing it to model = Squad/Parts/Structural/strutConnector/model\

using MODEL{} with Squad parts seems to be hit or miss. not sure if it's because the models are hardcoded to look for MBM or something else.

I got the MODEL{} command working!! thanks. now just to understand how the game places Normals and spec maps...as in how i need to name my custom Normal, or specular...et...maps to get the game to load them properly. EX: impEngine3_n (for normal) impEngine3_s (for specular)...does the game look for a particular structure in the way the normal map (and others) texture and such is named to know where and how to place it on the model? Another words i would have to have say the _n in the end og my normal maps textures name for the game to recognize it as the normal map? is that needed for proper loading of the textures>?

[nli2work]

I got the MODEL{} command working!! thanks. now just to understand how the game places Normals and spec maps...as in how i need to name my custom Normal, or specular...et...maps to get the game to load them properly. EX: impEngine3_n (for normal) impEngine3_s (for specular)...does the game look for a particular structure in the way the normal map (and others) texture and such is named to know where and how to place it on the model? Another words i would have to have say the _n in the end og my normal maps textures name for the game to recognize it as the normal map? is that needed for proper loading of the textures>?

all that depends on the shader that was used when the MU was first exported. you can guess by looking at existing textures for a model. if there's only 1 texture, most likely it's a simple diffuse or diffuse/specular shader. and the most you can use is a RGB(a) PNG or MBM.

_NRM is the required postfix for normal maps. there's no separate spec or alpha map. both are in the alpha channel of a texture. if a specular shader is used, the alpha channel controls spec intensity and color. if a transparency shader is used, alpha controls opacity. specular size/gloss is controlled by a slider. some of that is in the config settings if you look at the strutConnector. but I diont know if they are still working.

for KSP shaders you only deal with 3 map types. Diffuse(a); NRM (tangent space normal map); and Emissive that controls self illumination. Normals are converted to DXT5n and if you open it directly after conversion it will look like a gray scale map.

you'd have to write your own shaders if you want shaders to work more UE4