Using Gimp to Fix Chain Shirt 5: An armor reskinning tutorial for NWN2 by Barrel of Monkeys Version 1: July 7, 2008 This tutorial will walk a beginner through the steps of modifying the textures of an armor using the free drawing software Gimp. The specific armor we ll be fixing is the human female version of Chain Shirt 5. This write-up assumes the user has no prior knowledge of how to use any of the tools listed in the tutorial, but does require that the user knows how to extract files from.zip archives and is comfortable with basic Windows file manipulations. Programs you ll need for this tutorial: - the game Neverwinter Nights 2 and it s expansion Mask of the Betrayer - Gimp : http://www.gimp.org/ - the DDS plugin for Gimp : http://registry.gimp.org/node/70 - RunnerDuck s MDB UV Ripper : http://nwvault.ign.com/view.php?view=nwn2tools.detail&id=46 Part 1: Getting Started 1. Install all the software needed for this tutorial. 2. Get the files we ll need for making our changes: P_HHF_CH_Body06.mdb, P_HHM_CH_Body06.dds, and P_HHM_CH_Body06_t.dds, and copy them to a temporary work directory. P_HHF_CH_Body06.mdb will be found in archive Program Files\Neverwinter Nights 2\Data\NWN2_Models_X1.zip. The DDS files will be found in archive Program Files\Neverwinter Nights 2\Data\NWN2_Materials_X1.zip. 3. Run the UV Ripper program, and load P_HHF_CH_Body06.mdb from your work directory. Set the UV Size setting to 1024 x 1024. Save the UV under the name chain06f_uv.jpg to your working directory. This image represents how the 3D model s surface maps to a 2D texture. We now have everything we need to make changes to the texture.
Part 2: Setting up Gimp and making a layered texture resource 1. Start up Gimp and load P_HHM_CH_Body06.dds (We ll call this the diffuse texture from here on out.) from your working directory. Uncheck load mipmaps when loading the DDS. 2. If you don t have the Layers dialog open, open it now by clicking on the Dialogs menu option and selecting Layers from the pull down list. 3. Load chain06f_uv.jpg (the UV image) from your working directory. Copy this image by hitting CTRL-C while the image s window is selected. You can now close the window holding this image. 4. Select the diffuse texture window, and hit CTRL-V to paste the UV image over the texture. 5. Right now, your Layers dialog window should have 2 entries: a floating selection and the main entry. Right click the floating selection and turn it into a new layer. Double click your pasted layer and change its name to UV Grid. Finally, change its mode to Difference. This allows you to see through the UV grid to the textures beneath it, providing you with a where to color guide. 6. Save this layered version of the diffuse with File > Save As in your work directory. Save it as a Gimp XCF file to preserve the layering information.
We are now ready to start making modifications to the diffuse texture. While we work, we will use the XCF file version of the texture and only convert it to a DDS file to test the image in the game. Looking at the original model in the game s toolset shows us that there are 4 major bugs with the default texture: A. There s a hole around the left shoulder. B. There are holes in the back of the legs. C. The texture seam is broken on the inseam of the calf and thigh areas. D. The texture seam is broken on the inseam of the sleeve and wrist areas. Parts 3, 4, 5 and 6 of this tutorial will cover and fix each of these issues separately. Comparing the diffuse image to what we see on the 3D model, we can determine what regions of the texture corresponds to each part of the body on the model. This will help us pinpoint the specific areas that we need to modify to change the model appearance.
Part 3: Fixing the shoulder 1. Using Gimp, open file P_HHM_CH_Body06.xcf. (made from Part 2 of this tutorial) From the menu bar select Layer > New Layer and make a new 1024 x 1024 transparent layer named Shoulder Fix. 2. Select the Shoulder Fix layer and move it below the main surface layer by hitting the green down arrow. All the changes we ll make to the texture in this part of the tutorial will be done on the Shoulder Fix layer. 3. Go to the Gimp tool window and select the clone tool. Set the brush size to Circle(19). Checkbox the Hard Edge. Set the source to Image, but leave Sample Merged unchecked. 4. Select the main surface layer from the Layers dialog, and then in the diffuse image window, CTRL-click a spot on the leather texture of the thigh. This sets the clone tool s source image to that region of the main surface layer. 5. Select the Shoulder Fix layer and in the diffuse image window fill in the edges of the left shoulder until you see the edge of the torso UV grid in the image.
Now we re going to convert the image to a DDS and look at the results in game. 6. Save the image as an XCF file, and make a back up of this file. 7. In the Layers dialog, click on the eye next to the UV Grid layer to hide the grid. From the menu bar, select Image > Merge Visible Layers, and make the merged layer clipped to image. 8. From the menus bar use File > Save As to save the selected layer as a dxt5 DDS named P_HHM_CH_Body06.dds. Copy this DDS to your MyDocuments/Neverwinter Nights 2 /override/ directory. Untinted When we look at the new texture in the toolset, we see that the shoulder hole is gone (Yay!), and we can now move on to part 4.
Part 4: Fixing the back of the legs 1. Using Gimp, open file P_HHM_CH_Body06.xcf. (made from Part 3 of this tutorial) From the menu bar select Layer > New Layer and make a new 1024 x 1024 transparent layer named Back Leg Fix. 2. Select the Back Leg Fix layer and move it below the main surface layer by hitting the green down arrow. All the changes we ll make to the texture in this part of the tutorial will be done on the Back Leg Fix layer. 3. Go to the Gimp tool window and select the clone tool. Set the brush size to Circle(19). Checkbox the Hard Edge. Set the source to Image, but leave Sample Merged unchecked. 4. Select the main surface layer from the Layers dialog, and then in the diffuse image window, CTRL-click a spot on the chain texture of the calf. This sets the clone tool s source image to that region of the main surface layer. 5. Select the Back Leg Fix layer and in the diffuse image window fill in the gaps between the rags of the leg leather on the thigh about half way. 6. Save the XCF file and back it up, then hide the grid, collapse the visible layers, and save it as a DDS to the nwn2 override directory. (see Part 3, steps 7 and 8 for details) The texture should now look something like this in game. If you are still seeing holes in the back of the leg, repeat the steps and fill in a little more of the gap. Untinted Tinted Notice that in the tinted version, the tint now paints too far past the rags and needs to be fixed. We ll save all the tint fixes for Part 7 of the tutorial.
Part 5: Fixing the leg inseam 1. Using Gimp, open file P_HHM_CH_Body06.xcf. (made from Part 4 of this tutorial) From the menu bar select Layer > New Layer and make a new 1024 x 1024 transparent layer named Leg Inseam Fix. 2. Select the Leg Inseam Fix layer and move it above the main surface layer. All the changes we ll make to the texture in this part of the tutorial will be done on the Leg Inseam Fix layer. 3. Go to the Gimp tool window and select the clone tool. Set the brush size to Circle(19). Checkbox the Hard Edge. Set the source to Image, but leave Sample Merged unchecked. 4. Select the main surface layer from the Layers dialog, and then in the diffuse image window, CTRL-click a spot on the chain texture of the calf to set the clone source. Pick a spot close to the top of the calf area UV grid. Select the Leg Inseam Fix layer and in the diffuse image window fill in the black areas outlined by the calf area UV grid on the left and right edges of the grid. Start your pen at the top of each dark edge and use a long downward stroke to fill the area. 5. Select the main surface layer from the Layers dialog, and then in the diffuse image window, CTRL-click a spot on the chain texture of the calf to set the clone source. Pick a spot close to the bottom center of the calf area UV grid. Select the Leg Inseam Fix layer and in the diffuse image window fill in the black area outlined by the calf area UV grid on the bottom edge of the grid. Start your pen to the left of the dark area and drag your pen to the right in a long horizontal stroke to fill the area.
6. Select the main surface layer from the Layers dialog, and then in the diffuse image window, CTRL-click a spot on the leather texture of the thigh to set the clone source. Select the Leg Inseam Fix layer and in the diffuse image window fill in the black area outlined by the thigh area UV grid until it s all filled in. 7. Hide the UV Grid layer by hitting the eye icon next to it in the Layers dialog. Go to the Gimp tool window and select the smudge tool. Set the brush size to Circle Fuzzy(11). Leave all the checkboxes empty. Use the tool on the Leg Inseam Fix layer to smooth out any areas of the thigh that look rough. 8. Save the XCF file and back it up, then hide the grid, collapse the visible layers, and save it as a DDS to the nwn2 override directory. (see Part 3, steps 7 and 8 for details) Untinted Tinted Viewing the armor in the toolset, the inseam of the leg now looks closed. There are still some color discrepancies in the leather portion of the leg, but that s being caused by missing normal map data in the areas we just filled in. Unfortunately, trying to fix the normal maps with just Gimp goes beyond the scope of a beginner tutorial and won t be covered here.
Part 6: Fixing the inseam on the arm 1. Using Gimp, open file P_HHM_CH_Body06.xcf. (made from Part 5 of this tutorial) Go to the Gimp tool window and choose the rectangle select tool. Set the mode to replace current selection and leave everything else unchecked. 2. Select the main surface layer from the Layers dialog. In the diffuse texture window, draw a selection box around half of the sleeve s texture starting from the top right of the shoulder and ending below the leather cuff, right before the third rivet. Hit CTRL-C to copy that region of the texture and CTRL-V to paste it back into the image. 3. From the Layers dialog window, convert the pasted floater to a new layer and name it Arm Inseam Fix. (See part 2 step 5 on converting floating selections to layers) Move the new layer to right below the UV Grid layer. If your UV Grid layer is hidden, unhide it by clicking on the region where the eye should be. 4. Go to the Gimp tool window and select the move tool with the settings Move: layer and Move the active layer set. In the diffuse texture window, move the Arm Inseam Fix layer until the lower right corner of its leather bracer covers the lower right corner of the sleeve s UV grid.
5. Go to the Gimp tool window and select the rotate tool with the settings set to Transform layer, Direction normal, Interpolation cubic, Clipping adjust and Preview image. When you click in the diffuse texture window, a circle wheel appears, and a rotate dialog will popup displaying current rotation values. Click and drag the circle wheel to the lower right corner of the leather bracer. This is the point that the image will pivot around. Click anywhere else inside the yellow box and drag to rotate the layer until the bottom of the left edge of the leather bracer is lined up with the sleeve s UV grid ( about -9 degrees of rotation) Click the Rotate button in the rotate dialog to change the layer to it s new orientation. 6. Select the Move tool again and move the Arm Inseam Fix layer so that the top edge of the leather bracer fits seamlessly with the original texture and the lower right corner of the bracer matches the contour of the sleeve s UV grid. 7. Choose the Free Select tool from the Gimp tool window, and in the diffuse texture window, select the area covered by the collar area UV grid. Hit CTRL-X to delete the region of the Arm Inseam Fix layer obscuring the original collar texture.
8. From the menu bar, select Layer > Layer to Image Size to give layer Arm Inseam Fix drawing space around the wrist area of the texture. Select the clone tool and set its brush size to Circle(19). Checkbox the Hard Edge. Set the source to Image, but leave Sample Merged unchecked. On the main surface layer, CTRL-click on the chain texture to set the clone source near the center base of the wrist UV grid area. Select the Arm Inseam Fix layer and in the diffuse image window fill in the black areas outlined by the wrist area UV grid on the left edge of the grid. Start your pen at the bottom of the edge and use long upward strokes to fill the area. 9. Hide the UV Grid layer and select the Before smudge tool. Set the brush to Circle Fuzzy (11) and use it to hide any seam lines you find in the leather bracer. After 10. Save the XCF file and back it up, then hide the grid, collapse the visible layers, and save it as a DDS to the nwn2 override directory. (see Part 3, steps 7 and 8 for details) Untinted Tinted Viewing the armor in the toolset, we fixed the seam, with some minor discoloration from the normal maps. Now all we have left to do is fix the tint map and we re done.
Part 7: Altering the tint map to match our diffuse changes 1. Using Gimp, open file P_HHM_CH_Body06.xcf. (made from Part 6 of this tutorial). Next, use CTRL- Alt-O to open file P_HHM_CH_Body06_T.dd s (tint image), no mipmaps as a layer. 2. Name the new layer Tint Map. Set the layer mode to overlay, and move the layer to the top of the list above everything else. This allows us to use everything beneath it as a tracing guide. 3. Pick the Zoom Tool and set it to zoom in. Draw a rectangle around the leather bracer on the sleeve to get a closer view of the area. Select the Pencil Tool and set its brush to Circle(05), scale 1.00, leaving everything else unchecked. Click on the color square in the gimp tools window and change the color to green RGB(0,255,0).
4. Using the pencil on the Tint Map layer, trace the upper contour of the leather bracer. Make sure none of the chain part gets covered in green. If you mess up, hit CTRL-Z to undo the brush stroke. Increase the scale of the pencil and fill in the rest of the bracer until its all green. Hit Shift- CTRL-E to restore the view back to the full image. 5. Change the pencil color to blue RGB(0,0,255). On the Tint Map layer, color around the thigh area until it s all covered in blue. 6. Use the Zoom Tool and zoom in on the back leg fix area. Select the Eraser Tool and change it s settings to brush Circle(05), scale 1.00 with hard edge checked. Use the eraser on the Tint Map layer to remove the blue from the chain areas between the ragged leather fringes. Hit Shift-CTRL-E to restore the view back to the full image.
7. Save the XCF and back it up. Select the Tint Map layer and set it s mode to normal. Save the layer as P_HHM_CH_Body06_T.dds (remember the _T part of the name). Copy the DDS to your NWN2 override directory. With all the changes you ve made with this tutorial, your version of chain shirt 5 should now look like this: These texture changes will carry over into all the PC versions of chain 5 for both male and female, since they all use the same textures. -End